Ch 101: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

The bald man’s ability level was two tiers higher than Song Kaiji’s. After all, teleportation was something all spatial ability users could perform once they reached level three—it was just that no one had discovered this before. Song Kaiji had first used it in a moment of crisis, right when he advanced from level two to level three, so perhaps he had already been capable of it even before leveling up.

The bald man was on good terms with Zhuang Ye and had previously heard from him that Song Kaiji was a spatial ability user. Song Kaiji’s crystal core had originally been “reserved” for him by Zhuang Ye. If Song Kaiji could teleport, then why couldn’t he? In the past, he had never considered the possibility, but now that Song Kaiji had set an example, it only took him three minutes to comprehend and master the technique—using it even more effortlessly than Song Kaiji.

With a vicious grin, he raised his blade and slashed toward Song Kaiji’s neck. Killing everyone in the vehicle was unrealistic, but as long as he could behead Song Kaiji, he would not only avenge his brother Zhuang Ye but also claim Song Kaiji’s crystal core as his own.

Qu Weiwei, standing beside Song Kaiji, was fully focused on weaving the rubber net and couldn’t spare any attention to react. Meanwhile, Song Kaiji was gravely injured and had no means to resist. At the critical moment, Zhang Sujuan suddenly lunged from behind the seat and rammed into the bald man’s lower back with all her strength.

Caught off guard, the bald man stumbled, but time was of the essence—he had no time to waste dealing with Zhang Sujuan. His priority was to kill Song Kaiji and teleport away. However, Zhang Sujuan clung to his waist and refused to let go, and before he could shake her off, Li Aiguo also rushed in and wrapped his arms around his legs. Furious, the bald man kicked at them viciously, but still couldn’t shake Li Aiguo off. “Damn it, you two old bastards—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the grenade outside the vehicle finally exploded.

Even with Qu Weiwei and Ge Bingbing’s rubber net and ice shield as barriers, the impact of the explosion was still immense. The ice shield instantly melted, leaving only a third of its original thickness. Ge Bingbing quickly reformed it, but the thin layer of ice was shattered by shrapnel. A wave of air pressure and sparks rushed toward their vehicle. Qu Weiwei’s hands trembled from the shock, and even the ground beneath them quaked. Their car, already disabled due to its punctured tires, remained upright only because it was leaning against an abandoned vehicle. But now, the explosion and the shockwave flipped it over, sending it rolling several meters away.

When Song Kaiji finally managed to crawl up, the sight before him made his heart nearly burst with grief. Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo lay unconscious on the ground, covered in blood. The bald man was already dead—his chest and neck riddled with seven or eight bloody holes, nearly torn apart. Shen Qing was kneeling beside his corpse, drenched in blood, clutching a broken metal spike that had been snapped off from Song Kaiji’s wound.

“Dad! Mom! Shen Qing!” Song Kaiji struggled to crawl toward them, but Sun Cheng grabbed him from behind and hauled him away. “Get off the vehicle first! We’re too close to the other car—if it ignites from the sparks and explodes, we’re done for!”

Qu Weiwei wiped the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, used vines to lift Song Kaiji’s parents, and then unwrapped the vines around Li Liang and Li Li, letting them escape on their own. Finally, she shouted at Shen Qing, who was still frozen in shock, “Don’t just stand there! Move!”

Shen Qing’s chest rose and fell rapidly. It took him a long moment to steady his breathing. The bald man’s lifeless eyes stared at him, empty and unblinking. He had killed someone… He had hunted wild boars, other animals, and zombies before—but never a living human.

The terror and anxiety of taking a life for the first time made Shen Qing’s head spin.

When the bald man had suddenly appeared, Shen Qing had been searching for a weapon, fully intent on killing him. He was different from Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo—some people’s first instinct in the face of danger was to flee, to dodge, to sacrifice. But Shen Qing always thought of resistance. At worst, he would perish alongside his enemy—he would never let those who bullied him have an easy way out!

When the explosion flipped the car, he had watched helplessly as the bald man’s blade fell toward Li Aiguo and Zhang Sujuan. Rage and fear overwhelmed him, spurring him into action like a wild beast. He pounced like a hunting leopard, stabbing the bald man’s neck and heart repeatedly with mechanical precision, as if he felt no exhaustion.

Yet, now that the deed was done, a wave of constriction tightened around his heart.

Yu Le crawled out from beneath the backseat, trembling, and shook him vigorously. “Boss, boss… let’s go already!”

Shen Qing finally snapped out of his daze, his limbs weak. He and Yu Le supported each other as they ran.

Fortunately, the surrounding zombies had long been wiped out by the stray attacks of the two battling groups. The survivors ran two or three hundred meters before stopping at a safe distance, ensuring they wouldn’t be affected if the car exploded.

Song Kaiji slumped to the ground, his parents still partially wrapped in vines beside him. Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo had suffered various degrees of injury—Zhang Sujuan had two deep slashes on her back, while Li Aiguo had a gash on his shoulder and had been brutally kicked several times in the chest. Having already endured starvation and hardship on the mountain for a month, their physical condition was severely weakened. Now unconscious, they looked even more miserable. With trembling hands, Song Kaiji reached out to check their breathing—thankfully, they were still alive.

Seeing his parents in this state, Song Kaiji felt his heart shatter into pieces. Overwhelmed with grief and guilt, his gaze instinctively searched for Shen Qing.

Noticing that Shen Qing was also covered in blood, he anxiously asked, “Are you okay? Where are you hurt?”

Shen Qing belatedly touched the blood on his face. “I’m fine.” The bald man had looked strong, but his abilities were limited to space manipulation and teleportation—he was no match for Shen Qing in close combat. “This is all the bald guy’s blood… I killed him…” His eyes momentarily lost focus before he quickly regained his composure and looked past Song Kaiji. “How are Uncle and Aunt?”

Song Kaiji wiped his face with his sleeve, uncertain whether the wetness was blood, sweat, or tears. “…They’re seriously injured… It’s not looking good… All because of me…” His voice trembled with both sorrow and regret. Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo had been hiding safely beneath the seats, but they had come out to save him. If not for them stalling the bald man, they wouldn’t have been hurt…

Panic and guilt rendered his thoughts incoherent. Shen Qing immediately pulled him into a firm embrace, intending to pat his back in comfort, but hesitated, afraid of touching his wounds. Instead, he spoke gently, “Don’t panic. Take out a vehicle from your space—let’s hurry back to Red City Base and find a healer. Uncle and Aunt can still be saved!” He understood Song Kaiji’s pain but knew that worrying wouldn’t help. Song Kaiji needed to pull himself together. “You still have medicine in your space, right? Let’s get in the car and bandage Uncle and Auntie first. And your injuries too…”

Half of Song Kaiji’s body was drenched in blood, and he was barely holding himself together. Now that Shen Qing mentioned it, the pain finally registered.

Shen Qing held Song Kaiji’s hand tightly, as if trying to transfer his strength to him. “Uncle and Aunt are unconscious right now—you have to stay awake. They’re counting on you.”

“R-right.” Song Kaiji took a deep breath. The icy winter air stung his lungs, jolting him back to reality. “I have to stay strong.”

How painful it was to grow up—especially when forced to mature in an instant. The sight of Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo lying on the ground, barely alive, silently compelled him to take responsibility. He could no longer hide behind his parents and be a child. Even when they weren’t around, he had always felt a sense of security in their presence. But he was twenty-one now. Shen Qing, younger than him by two years, was already so mature and resilient… How could he shy away from adulthood?

No one could help him with this—not even Shen Qing.

Steadying himself, he summoned two vehicles from his space: one a standard five-seater sedan, the other a seven-seater SUV. He placed Zhang Sujuan and Li Aiguo in the back seats separately.

But space was still tight. The SUV could fit one more person, but it still wasn’t enough. Yu Le anxiously clutched Qu Weiwei’s sleeve and whispered, “I don’t need a seat—I can sit in the gap in front of the seats. That way, I can also take care of Aunt Zhang. Please don’t leave me behind…”

She had little connection with most of the group, and with Zhang Sujuan unconscious, she was truly afraid of being abandoned.

Song Kaiji nodded. “Alright, I’ll leave my mom in your care.” Then, he turned to Li Liang and Li Li, tossed them an empty backpack filled with coarse grain biscuits, two packs of instant noodles, and six bottles of water, and said, “You can leave now. I promised my dad I’d let you go.”

He should have dealt with these two long ago. Killing them would have eliminated any future threats once and for all. But he had promised his father to let them go and give them food. Thinking of Li Aiguo lying unconscious in the car, Song Kaiji felt another pang in his heart. If this was the last promise he could fulfill for his father, how could he fail to do it?

Li Li was stunned for a moment, her expression shifting between anger and pleading. After hesitating, she chose the latter. “Cousin, there’s nothing around here—no villages, no towns. If you leave us here, you’re sending us to our deaths! At least take us back to the base. I promise we won’t bother you once we get there. Along the way, I can take care of Second Aunt, and my brother can look after Second Uncle. Let us in the car! Let that woman stay behind instead. I’m your real niece—how can an outsider take better care of them than I can?”

Yu Le, pointed at by Li Li, felt both scared and wronged. Her eyes turned red, but she didn’t dare cry, afraid of making herself even more unwelcome. Shen Qing, however, patted her shoulder, silently comforting her.

He knew Song Kaiji would never take Li Liang and Li Li with them.

As expected, Song Kaiji threw the backpack down and turned away. “If you dare follow us, I’ll kill you.”

“You—!” Li Li was both furious and panicked. With Li Aiguo unconscious, there was no one left to speak for them. She truly feared Song Kaiji would abandon them here! In the dead of night, once Song Kaiji and the others left, the zombies would quickly surround them. And without a sealed vehicle to hide in, they were as good as dead!

“Why are you begging him? You still want to be treated like a pig or dog, tied up by him?” Li Liang sneered and was the first to pick up the backpack. Having been bound like a dumpling for so long, with his mouth gagged, he had harbored deep resentment. If not for the disgusting stench in the car, Song Kaiji might not have even untied him to relieve himself. Now, his temper towards Li Li was just as foul. “You groveled like a lapdog before, and what did you get in return? Second Uncle didn’t even acknowledge you. Did he ever treat us as his family?”

Hearing Li Aiguo mentioned, Song Kaiji pulled out a gun from his space and fired a shot at Li Liang’s feet. “Say one more word about my father, and I’ll make you disappear! Get lost!”

Seeing that Song Kaiji was serious, Li Li no longer dared to argue. Li Liang turned and left, and after hesitating for a moment, she bit her lip and, glancing at Song Kaiji holding the gun, finally chose to chase after her brother.

With them gone, the rest of the group could squeeze in. In the apocalypse, there were no traffic police, no concerns about overloading or improper seating arrangements. Everyone simply crammed into the vehicle however they could.

Before getting into the car, Song Kaiji tossed the bodies of Huang Mao, Yang Sen, and Zhuang Ye’s head onto the roadside. Chen Jiaxi hesitated. “You’re not taking them?” After a brief pause, she added, “And that bald guy’s crystal core—he had the same ability as you, but at a higher level. If you absorb his core… Spatial abilities are different from other powers. Maybe you could even gain access to his space.”

Her voice was as tempting as the devil’s whisper, but Song Kaiji shook his head firmly. “It was different when we were fighting for our lives. But now that the crisis is over, there’s no need.” He glanced at Chen Jiaxi, his tone carrying a warning. “Taking shortcuts like this… Once you start, you might never be able to stop.”

Chen Jiaxi didn’t answer. Instead, she took a dagger and cut open the heads of Zhuang Ye and Huang Mao. “If you don’t want them, I do.”

Song Kaiji opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing, silently watching as she extracted the crystal cores.

From the beginning, they had never planned to keep Chen Jiaxi in the group. The moment he met her and her husband, he knew they were not the same kind of people. He had no right to dictate what she did… Once they returned to Red City Base, they would likely part ways and never see each other again.

But thinking of Shen Qing’s secret, Song Kaiji still gave her a warning. “Do whatever you want… but don’t ever forget the oath you swore.”

Chen Jiaxi’s hands paused for a moment before she smiled. “Of course. Do you think I came along on this trip for no reason? You and Shen Qing helped me before, and I remember that—I’ll repay the favor. I have my own principles, even if they don’t align with yours.”

“You can’t accept absorbing human crystal cores, but what kind of people were they? They ate humans—how are they any different from zombies?”

Song Kaiji fell silent. He stood by, watching as Chen Jiaxi calmly extracted the cores, wiped them clean with a wet tissue, and pocketed them. “Let’s go.”

Meanwhile, on the other side, Li Liang had returned to their car and was digging out the bald man’s crystal core. Li Li was extremely uneasy. “Brother, let’s just leave. What if the car explodes? It’s still on fire.”

After everything they had been through, the sibling bond between them had faded considerably. Li Liang, impatient, snapped, “Then get lost!” When he had been bound like a dead dog, Li Li had barely taken care of him, too busy currying favor with Song Kaiji. Now, just the sight of her irritated him.

Li Li felt wronged but didn’t dare leave—Li Liang had all the food Song Kaiji had given them in his backpack. She regretted not grabbing it for herself earlier, but now she had no choice but to force a smile. “Brother, I’m just worried about our safety. Why are you digging out his crystal core? Oh, I get it—you’re planning to use it to pass as a zombie crystal core and trade it for supplies, right?”

“Short-sighted,” Li Liang sneered. “I’m going to absorb it.”

Li Li was dumbfounded. “You awakened an ability?”

“No, but after what just happened, haven’t you realized something?” He glanced at Li Li and scoffed. “You really don’t think.”

Following Song Kaiji had one benefit—it had opened his eyes to many things he had never even imagined. Human crystal cores were this effective? If he swallowed one, he might be able to awaken an ability!

Li Li gaped at him. “S-swallow it? How can you swallow that?”

“Why not?” Li Liang was pleased with his own idea. “If it were a zombie’s core, there’d be a risk of infection. But this is from a human! At worst, it’s just like swallowing a bone fragment or a gallstone. How bad could it be? But if it actually helps me awaken an ability…”

Li Li didn’t know what to say. Li Liang’s logic wasn’t entirely unreasonable. There was no cost, no risk in trying. Yet, her gut instinct screamed that something terrible would happen. She didn’t dare voice her concerns, afraid of angering him, so she forced a smile. “Brother, you’re so smart.”

Li Liang shot her a look. “Go check the other car. See if there are more crystal cores and bring them all to me.”

That bald guy only had a spatial ability. While teleportation was useful, its offensive power was weak. Li Liang wanted to collect different types of abilities—if he could absorb multiple, maybe he could develop a mutation like Qu Weiwei’s powerful vines.

“There’s no car left, just fire and debris…” Li Li was reluctant, but under Li Liang’s pressure, she had no choice but to obey.

The opposite vehicle had been blown apart by the grenade. The four ability users inside had been torn to pieces. Using a stick, Li Li poked through the remains, searching for intact heads, but found none.

Hearing movement behind her, she thought Li Liang was getting impatient. “Brother, I’m really trying! But they were blown apart too badly—”

When she turned around, what she saw was not Li Liang.

It was Li Liang, but he had turned into a zombie, shrieking as he lunged at her.

“Ahhh!!!”

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Thandar: Next chapter is password locked. Pw is ilovehololo