Chi Ruanfan and Jinzhu left Y City and headed south.
There are many zombies in the city and many mutant plants and animals outside the city.
After a few days, the number of D-level crystal cores they collected increased dramatically, enough for Jinzhu to eat as snacks.
The only thing that remains unchanged is that no C-level crystal core has been hunted down yet.
The sun was rising higher and higher. Chi Ruanfan, who was sitting in the car, yawned and took out the map to look at it.
After being with Jinzhu for a long time, Chi Ruanfan developed the habit of staying indoors during the day and going out at night.
The few hours at noon when the sun is strongest are his sleeping time.
Now, it was almost time for bed, and he was approaching the first target location he had identified.
"Go further along the mountain path. There is a village there where you can stay."
Chi Ruanfan recalled his experience of staying in a hostel in his previous life, put away the map, rubbed the head of Jinzhu who was standing beside him in a daze, and said:
"The target we are looking for should be in the mountains of that village."
“Roar~”
Jinzhu had been quiet in the car, and Chi Ruanfan's rubbing of his head seemed to give him a signal that he could get close to her. His body immediately turned into black mist, floated onto Chi Ruanfan's body, condensed, and began to rub against him.
Chi Ruanfan thought that the village was not far from here, and was reluctant to push Jinzhu back and fasten her seat belt.
He lowered Jinzhu's head a little, started the SUV, and drove onto the winding mountain road in a manner that would definitely get him a ticket before the end of the world.
Soon, Chi Ruanfan saw a roadblock made of cement bags and wooden fences.
He stopped the car, looked up at the village behind the roadblock and the mountains surrounding the village, and matched them one by one with the memories of his previous life.
The entire village is located in a basin terrain. At first glance, it looks like a large water droplet, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only a road leading into the village at the tip of the water droplet.
Once the road was closed, the village was isolated from the outside world.
It is precisely because of this terrain that the people in the village can continue to live almost the same as before after the end of the world.
Not long after stopping the car, Chi Ruanfan heard the villagers shouting.
They communicated in a difficult-to-understand dialect, and people from every household came out, holding long sticks or shovels, and came towards this side.
Chi Ruanfan asked Jinzhu to sit back in the passenger seat.
He took the sunglasses from the side and put them on Jinzhu, then raised his index finger to his lips and made a gesture to him to keep quiet.
After being together for such a long time, Jinzhu understood the meaning of most of Chi Ruanfan's gestures and soon calmed down.
At this time, the team composed of young and strong men in the village also arrived behind the roadblock.
They exchanged some words, and after a while, a middle-aged man with reddish-brown skin and wearing dark gray clothes said loudly:
"There is no road ahead. Go back."
Chi Ruanfan certainly wouldn't leave like this, he lowered the car window and said:
"We would like to stay here for a day and exchange our salt for it."
As soon as these words came out, there was an immediate commotion among the villagers.
In such an almost isolated village, the villagers can be self-sufficient in rice, vegetables and meat, but they cannot produce salt.
It is still the first month of the apocalypse, and every household still has surplus salt. From now on, we will have to risk going to the town to find salt.
The villagers quickly came to a conclusion, and the person who spoke earlier continued:
"Each of you will have a bag of salt, and you can enter the village."
"Sure." Chi Ruanfan had no problem.
In the city, the survivors always give priority to collecting instant foods such as biscuits, but few people take things like salt.
Almost every supermarket shelf has half the salt left.
Chi Ruanfan anticipated that he would have to carry out this deal, and since he would need seasonings for the barbecue from the mutated animals he hunted, he collected a lot of salt.
The man then asked, "None of you have been scratched or bitten by zombies, right?"
"Of course not," Chi Ruanfan said without blushing or panting, "If someone was bitten, we wouldn't be together."
Jinzhu was scratched by zombies, but Jinzhu is not a "human".
Besides, after reaching level C, Jinzhu not only changed the condition of his skin, but also repaired the wound on his arm, and that wound no longer existed.
Maybe it was because Chi Ruanfan's eyes were too sincere that made them believe what he said.
It may also be that the villagers did not care and did not check at all, so they removed the roadblocks and allowed Chi Ruanfan to drive in.
The villagers really didn't care.
They are numerous and powerful, and all of them are skilled at working. The farm tools in their hands are their weapons. Even if there are infected people among the outsiders in the car, they can deal with them.
The village chief brought Chi Ruanfan and the other man to his home, and Chi Ruanfan quickly took out two bags of salt.
The village chief took the salt and his face showed more joy.
He handed the salt to the villagers behind him, and asked with a smile whether they needed one room or two rooms. After getting the answer, he asked his son to lead the two of them to the room.
Chi Ruanfan pulled Jinzhu into the house.
The villagers didn't pay much attention to the man wearing sunglasses and who didn't say anything. Instead, they started discussing how to distribute the salt.
Most of the houses in the village are two-story detached buildings. The room arranged for Chi Ruanfan and his wife is on the second floor, and there is a small balcony outside.
But the room was empty except for a bed.
A bed is enough.
"We've been traveling all day and are very sleepy. Let's take a nap first." Chi Ruanfan said to the villager who brought them up.
The villager expressed his understanding, looked at the two people who were still holding hands, and helped close the door before leaving.
Chi Ruanfan took off the sunglasses on Jinzhu's face, kissed his face, and praised:
"Bamboo is awesome. It didn't make any noise."
Jinzhu seemed to know that the reason why he was not allowed to make any sound was for the sake of the humans downstairs.
He hugged Chi Ruanfan and rubbed him gently, letting out a low growl from his throat that only the two of them could hear.
After Chi Ruanfan got close to Jinzhu for a while, he habitually condensed the water mirror and transported the supplies in the box into the room.
The two of them had a simple meal, and then Chi Ruanfan used his water-based abilities to wash the bed, and then washed himself and Jinzhu.
Chi Ruanfan took Jinzhu and lay on the bed.
He took out his useless cell phone, set an alarm, handed it to Jinzhu, and said:
"I will wake up when it rings. Then, we will go find the mutant white tiger together."
He needs to recover his energy and adjust to the best condition before he can go find the white tiger that may have reached level C.
"roar."
Jinzhu held the phone in his hand, staring at the countdown on it seriously.
This was not the first time Chi Ruanfan gave Jinzhu a cell phone. At first, Jinzhu didn't know what he meant, but she understood after doing it many times.
When the number reaches zero and the alarm rings, Chi Ruanfan will open his eyes, and then he can rub, hug and kiss her.
Jinzhu looked at the item in her hand, then raised her eyes to look at Chi Ruanfan, repeating the cycle over and over again.
From beginning to end, only his eyes were moving; his body did not move at all, nor did he make any sound.
The voices downstairs were getting louder and louder. Jinzhu blinked, and black mist surged up, covering the entire bed.
In the darkness, only the phone screen glowed.
“Ouch—Woo—”
The roar of a tiger came from the mountains and forests, shocking the entire village.
The black fog blocked out all sounds, and Chi Ruanfan fell into a deep sleep.
Jinzhu shifted her gaze from the fluorescent screen and glanced at Chi Ruanfan carefully. Seeing that he was not woken up, she relaxed.
Jinzhu gently put down the phone, his body turned into black mist, and quietly left the room, avoiding human sight, and headed in the direction where the tiger's roar came from.
Four hours later.
As the alarm rang, Chi Ruanfan reached out for his cell phone and turned off the alarm.
He opened his eyes, only to find darkness all around him.
"Is it dark already? Why can't I see anything?"
Chi Ruanfan had just woken up and was still a little confused.
He was surrounded by the scent of Jinzhu, which made him feel safe, so he let himself fall into confusion.
He lowered his eyes and checked the time on his phone.
15:00…
Chi Ruanfan gradually opened his eyes wide.
If it was dark, with his enhanced five senses, it would be impossible for him to not see anything.
It was not the night that enveloped him in darkness, but the black fog of Jinzhu.
But Jinzhu was not by his side.
Chi Ruanfan sat up instantly, groped his way out of the bed, and walked out of the area covered by the black fog.
The sun was still shining outside, but it was surprisingly quiet.
With his excellent hearing, Chi Ruanfan heard the village chief and his family saying something in a trembling voice in a room downstairs.
"It's so scary... The forest has turned white, all ice."
"The black fog disappeared..."
"And the roar of a tiger, too."
Ice? Black fog? Tiger
Key words connected in Chi Ruanfan's mind, he quickly ran to the balcony and looked around anxiously.
I saw a mountain in the distance covered with ice and snow, and many trees were broken and fallen.
There were no figures of fighting, nor any brocade bamboo or black fog. One could only vaguely see a gigantic white tiger lying on the ground through the gaps between the trees.
Chi Ruanfan was so anxious that he forgot to put on his shoes and jumped down from the balcony.
One arm went around his waist and held him from behind.
A familiar breath came from behind him, and Chi Ruanfan paused.
"Jinzhu?!"
Just as Chi Ruanfan was about to turn around, he saw a hand raised and stretched in front of him.
The hand was open, and an ice-blue crystal core lay quietly in the palm.