Sickly Girl Doesn’t Die in Zombie Simulator 197

Chapter 197: Jiang Chun of the Northern Alliance

“Woo—”

Several jeeps sped down the highway, as if being chased. But in the darkness, the road was surrounded by vast, barren plains, not even a blade of grass in sight. The wind whipped up dust devils; there was no sign of any pursuers.

“Bang—”

Suddenly, a tire on one of the jeeps blew out with a loud bang, the whole vehicle shaking violently.

“Buzz… Son of a bitch, I’ve got a flat!”

An irritated voice crackled over the walkie-talkies in the other jeeps. In the passenger seat of the lead armored jeep, a man picked up his walkie-talkie.

“Stop, regroup.”

The jeeps slowed down and pulled over, lining up on the side of the road.

In the apocalypse, there was no need to pull over to the side. There were rarely other cars on the road. Forming a line wasn’t ideal for escaping danger.

Before the vehicles had even fully stopped, several young men jumped out of the jeep with the flat tire. They quickly retrieved a spare tire and tools from the trunk and began changing the tire under the headlights.

Two men also got out of the lead jeep, one with dyed yellow hair and the other with a braided green ponytail. They leaned against the car door and lit cigarettes.

The flickering cigarette butts looked like fireflies in the night.

“Damn it… the detour was perfectly fine, but no, we had to take this route. Almost got us killed passing through Quancheng…”

“Don’t just blame me, I didn’t come up with this idea. Talk to Brother Wei,” the man with the green ponytail and sunglasses exhaled a smoke ring and shrugged. “Besides, if it weren’t for your smart mouth on the radio, we wouldn’t be stuck doing this.”

“Heh, who was the idiot who wanted to meet that cute radio host but was too chicken to do it himself, and had to drag me along?”

“Alright, alright, enough bickering. At least we’re on the right track.” The green-haired man glanced back, saw that the tire change was almost finished, and tossed his cigarette butt. “If that person is from Shangjing, we’ll definitely run into her on the Jinghu Expressway.”

“Damn it, don’t throw away half a cigarette every time.”

As the green-haired man got into the driver’s seat, the other, stocky man with yellow hair squatted down and picked up the cigarette butt.

He pinched off the filter end, took out a small pair of scissors from his pocket, and cut off the burned part of his own cigarette, carefully preserving the remaining tobacco.

He poured the salvaged tobacco into a small bottle, then inserted the picked-up cigarette butt into the gap he had just created in his own cigarette, moistened it with saliva, and continued smoking.

Free half a cigarette, nice.

Save enough of these, and he could roll a new one.

“Knock, knock—”

“Old Smoker, get in the car.”

The green-haired man knocked on the car door, urging the yellow-haired man to get in.

“Hold your horses.” The stocky yellow-haired man took a few more drags, finishing the salvaged butt, then snipped off the burning end with his scissors and put the remaining half back in his cigarette case.

“Click—”

Getting in and settling into his seat, the yellow-haired man casually looked ahead.

“Qian’er?”

“What?”

“Look ahead.”

“Hmm?”

The green-haired man with the ponytail, called Qian’er, who was in the driver’s seat, lowered his head slightly, letting his sunglasses slide down his nose, and looked ahead.

On the vast, empty plain and highway, he could see headlights in the distance.

Because of the distance, they could only see the lights, nothing else, not even the type of vehicle.

Was that the car?

“Attention, attention, all engines off, lights out.” The yellow-haired man reacted quickly, picking up the walkie-talkie and issuing rapid commands.

Then, he quickly took out his binoculars, raised them to his eyes, and slowly adjusted the focus.

“It’s a red dump truck, Qian’er. Let’s go take a look, it should be the target.”

“Alright.”

“Click—”
“Click—”

The sounds of two rifles being cocked echoed in the night. Carrying their rifles, they walked towards the distant dump truck with its lights on.

When they were about two hundred meters from the dump truck, the green-haired man suddenly reached out and grabbed the yellow-haired man’s shoulder. The yellow-haired man seemed to know what he was doing and stopped.

Their bodies almost blended into the night, but two illusory figures continued walking forward.

If you didn’t look closely, you would be fooled by their seemingly careless actions.

They stood there, hidden in the darkness, rifles raised, watching the two illusory figures approach, waiting for the dump truck to react.

But even when the two illusory figures bumped into the front bumper of the dump truck and shattered, dissipating into thin blood crystal threads, the truck didn’t react.

“Beep, beep—”

Two short horn blasts came from the truck, signaling its presence.

“It should be her.” The two men exchanged glances, reaching the same conclusion.

It was the same dump truck as in the description, and the driver displayed the calmness expected of a B-rank Awakened. There was no ambush around.

Unless they were incredibly unlucky and just happened to encounter another camp driving an identical gas-guzzling dump truck on the same road, then the person in the dump truck should be their target.

They holstered their rifles and continued walking forward. When they were about fifty meters away, they finally saw the figure in the darkness.

“Hey, Sister! We’re from the Northern Alliance, here to pick you up! No need to get out, we’ll come over and say hello…”

The figure opened the car door and jumped out of the driver’s seat, but stumbled upon landing, falling to her knees.

This startled the two men, and they quickly rushed over.

“Are you alright, Miss Jiang?” The green-haired man reached out to help her, but was stopped by a blood-covered left hand.

As the two watched, the red-haired woman stood up shakily. They then saw the horrific wound on her right shoulder.

It looked as if her arm had been ripped off, leaving a mangled wound.

Because the wound had become infected before healing, it had even started to fester. Although her strong physique was preventing it from becoming debilitating, if left untreated, it would eventually require amputation below the neck.

“Zhang Qian, water.” Seeing the woman’s cracked lips, the yellow-haired man stopped joking and quickly told his companion to get the water bottle.

But just as Zhang Qian fumbled for the water bottle on his tactical belt, a pale hand extended towards them, holding a car key.

The yellow-haired man instinctively took the key and heard the woman’s hoarse voice.

“The fuel is in the truck bed.”

After saying this and leaving the key, the red-haired woman turned and started walking back the way she came.

“Hey, Sister, don’t go!” When it came to social graces, Zhang Qian was quicker than the yellow-haired man.

She was a B-rank, yet she looked so disheveled, her clothes covered in bloodstains and bits of flesh, her body reeking of days without a bath. The smell was almost unbearable.

Most importantly, judging by her movements, she probably hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for days, surviving solely on her Awakened physique. An ordinary person, even a non-muscle-type D-rank Awakened, would have been long dead.

Zhang Qian knew why she was like this.

During the meeting before their departure, Li Wei had clearly relayed the woman’s situation.

That truck carried not only a load of pure seeds, but also the hopes of potentially thousands of lives.

Who wouldn’t be driven to the brink in that situation? He would have gone crazy too.

But he couldn’t just leave this B-rank Awakened to die. Firstly, it wouldn’t look good, and secondly, he admired her.

She was, after all, a benefactor of the Northern Alliance. They couldn’t just abandon her.

Hurrying after the woman, Zhang Qian racked his brains, chattering non-stop.

“Sister, the camp just got hot water, interested in a bath?” “Sister, you must be tired from the road, why don’t you sleep in my car? You’ll be there in no time…” “Sister…”

He was laying it on thicker than a bathhouse attendant.

But no matter what he said, no matter how outrageous his attempts at conversation, he couldn’t get a single response.

Seeing the dump truck getting further and further away, Zhang Qian gritted his teeth and blurted out:

“Sister Jiang, do you think everyone from Survivor’s Light is dead?”

This organization’s name sounded much better than the Northern Alliance. Zhang Qian remembered it clearly.

As expected, the red-haired woman paused slightly upon hearing the name.

She slowly turned around, staring at Zhang Qian with an icy gaze, as if she would kill him if he said another word.

Of course, Zhang Qian knew she was capable of that.

He quickly raised his hands in a mock salute and said appeasingly, “Let me finish, just let me finish…”

“Look, Survivor’s Light is such a big place, with so many people, how could they all be killed by those sea monsters in one go? Right?”

“Besides, even if they all… I said even if, okay? Just as an example, even if they were all killed, shouldn’t there be bodies?”

“Sister Jiang, did you see all the bodies? Did you notice if any of the organization’s vehicles were missing?”

“Even in the worst-case scenario…”

Just as Zhang Qian was about to continue his line of reasoning, Jiang Chun suddenly turned around, grabbed his shoulder with her left hand, and asked:

“How do you know my surname is Jiang?”

“I heard your voice on the radio, but how do you know my surname is Jiang?”

Zhang Qian felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, but he didn’t dare to breathe, fearing this B-rank would crush him with a single squeeze.

The B-rank Awakened who accompanied them was still circling with that B-rank zombie in Quancheng. Before they separated, they were told to bypass Quancheng and cross the Yellow River after picking up the person. Now, the strongest people in the convoy were only the two dyed-hair C-ranks.

“Well, that’s what I’m getting to,” Zhang Qian forced a smile and said slowly, “Even in the absolute worst-case scenario, besides you, there’s still a powerful A-rank Awakened alive, right? It was that comrade who told us about your situation and asked us to come pick you up…”

The more Zhang Qian spoke, the softer his voice became, because he didn’t see any excitement on Jiang Chun’s face, only confusion.

A-rank? Told them about her situation?

What A-rank? How did they know about her situation?

“Who? What’s their name?” Jiang Chun asked slowly, looking at Zhang Qian.

“Wait a minute.”

Zhang Qian said, slowly lowering his left hand and reaching behind him. After a while, he took out a large, army-green water bottle.

He handed the water bottle to Jiang Chun and said with a smile: “Have some water, have some water, and then listen to me carefully. I haven’t used this bottle, it’s squeaky clean. I usually only drink beer, I don’t usually drink water…”

Jiang Chun stared at Zhang Qian, and after confirming that he wasn’t lying, she slowly took her left hand off his shoulder, took the water bottle, which he had helpfully opened, and slowly took a sip.

“Here, this bottle is yours, consider it a goodwill gesture… ahem, back to business.”

Seeing the increasingly strange look in Jiang Chun’s eyes, Zhang Qian quickly coughed and cleared his throat, then continued:

“That comrade, their surname is Lin. We don’t know their specific gender or age, only their surname. You should know more.”

“They told us about your encounter and your current situation, and asked us to help you. They also used another excuse to leave several large bags of preservable blood crystal liquid and blood crystal needles for the Northern Alliance, presumably as payment for us to pick you up.”

“Of course, we definitely won’t take advantage of this. Uncle Li will give them the Blood Crystals owed when we see Comrade Lin next time…”

Surnamed Lin…

An image instantly flashed through Jiang Chun’s mind: a small, black-robed figure, its face obscured, held in the palm of a little girl.

Was it the organization in Kun City that asked the Northern Alliance to save her?

The previous warning about the danger at the seaside was also given to her by the people from Kun City…

Was there really an A-rank there?

Was it Lin Jiayao? Or Lin Xiwan?

It was a pity that she received the warning, but before she could get back, something happened to the camp…

“The corpses, about three hundred incomplete bodies,” Jiang Chun said slowly, “The vehicles are all parked in the garage, flooded, none of them can start.”

Hearing Jiang Chun’s words, Zhang Qian was stunned for a moment, then slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Phew… she was finally willing to communicate.

“A few hundred corpses, that’s obviously not everyone. Could that zombie really swallow so many at once? If it could, would it leave a few hundred remains for you to collect?”

Zhang Qian quickly said, his speech rapid, mainly to prevent the other party from thinking carefully.

To put it bluntly, it was to deceive her.

While the other party was mentally weak and muddled, he would deceive her as much as possible.

But after hearing Zhang Qian’s words, Jiang Chun, whose mood had been immersed in silence, actually started to seriously consider this question.

Huh?

Why was she seriously thinking about it now?

Zhang Qian looked at her pondering and was stunned.

Such a big city, it was definitely impossible to search it completely.

But as for how many could survive, it was really hard to say.

Since the other party was really considering this question, Zhang Qian planned to dig deeper into this topic.

“Think about it, are there any strongmen in the organization, the kind who can carry a bus and run dozens of round trips…?” Zhang Qian rambled on, while paying close attention to the other party’s emotional fluctuations.

As long as the topic went a little too far, he would immediately change to a different question, trying to maintain the conversation.

“Other means of transportation…”

After murmuring these words, Jiang Chun’s eyes widened, and she looked up at Zhang Qian.

“Sister Jiang?”

“Helicopter…”

“What?”

“Nothing…”

Although the organization did have a helicopter pilot, in this kind of rainstorm, the helicopter couldn’t be overloaded with people. It would be good if they could carry twenty people out, not more.

Even if more than twenty people really escaped…

Jiang Chun quickly turned around, about to go to the city behind to find a car and return, to search the cities around Donghai.

But a figure quickly blocked her way.

“Sister Jiang, do you also think there might be survivors? But it’s so far away, and everyone has already scattered. Is the radio equipment there still working? Going back now would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, wouldn’t it?”

Zhang Qian said quickly: “Why don’t you come back to the camp with us and rest? We’ll use the radio to help you find people, and we’ll find a strong exploration team to help you search.”

“As for funds, you definitely don’t have to worry. That truckload of seeds is the best funding. They will definitely help you. And our Northern Alliance also has a B-rank with a pure eyeball evolution. Wouldn’t searching be much more efficient than you doing it alone?”

“How about it?”

Finally, persuaded by Zhang Qian, Jiang Chun, who believed that there were still survivors of Survivor’s Light, slowly nodded.

Searching the city by herself would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. If the Northern Alliance could really help her, then she shouldn’t delay and discuss it quickly.

Every second earlier could mean finding those survivors of Survivor’s Light earlier…

Now Jiang Chun only hoped that more people had survived…

…

“PEWWWWW—!”

Another dazzling purple light made Lin Jiayao squint slightly.

Phew… headache…

Lin Jiayao had tried many combinations. Facing this situation with only one logged-in zombie and Huayibai, there really seemed to be no solution.

In the countless attempts before, Lin Jiayao had never included the witch.

Because she wasn’t sure if the witch was still with No. 5, or even if the witch girl would unhesitatingly support Lin Jiayao in this suicidal act.

She had to wait for her mental power to recover, log into No. 5, and extract near Fukushima Prefecture.

If the witch girl was still following her, she would communicate with the witch girl during the extraction.

She was now fluent in Japanese and could finally communicate with the locals.

Dawn had broken, and the Nutrition Department had been built. Lin Jiayao exited the training ground and slowly opened her eyes.

It was time to go out and increase her mental power.

Now, besides training day and night to find the best solution, Lin Jiayao had another advantage that no one else had.

That was that she could continuously evolve the system’s Hideout and obtain some unexpected abilities.

She had to speed up her pace of collecting Blood Crystals and enhancing her mental power…

She needed a large amount of Blood Crystals to start upgrading the Hideout.

Perhaps higher-level buildings, or upgrades to existing buildings, could solve the predicament Lin Jiayao was currently facing.