Chapter 64
As the morning sun rose up, dried black bloodstains could be seen in the dark corners of the city. A thin, pale man hobbles, dragging his body with difficulty. His clothes were relatively intact, but in the darkness, several pairs of eyes stared at him with ill intent.
He doesn’t seem to have anything to eat, but his clothes are intact, and he keeps looking around cautiously.
Attacking such a crippled man isn’t difficult, but the problem lies in how to quickly run away with the stolen food without being attacked again by other malicious individuals…
So, one must wait, wait until those who are hungry can’t bear it any longer and pounce first…
Soon, the opportunity arose. A disheveled man with bloodshot eyes growed slowly. In his hand, he held a weapon, which was just a small mason’s shovel.
Before the apocalypse, it was most commonly seen as a tool used by roadside vendors to make iron plate fried rice. But the tip has been sharpened to a keen edge, with splatters of blood on it.
But before this fierce blow landed, a white frost enveloped the shovel, tightly and firmly, extending along the handle. The person being attacked screamed in pain, instinctively letting go of the shovel, which then fell heavily to the ground. As he struggled to get up, he found the ground beneath him covered in ice.
An Esper!!
This was simply the most terrifying situation one could encounter, so the person desperately pleaded for mercy.
“Do you have any family?”
“I do… no, I don’t, they’re all dead…”
“That’s good then!”
The cripple lowered his head, his voice oddly subdued, “My name is Zhou Liang. I believe you’re not stupid. Following me means you won’t starve to death. The better I live, the more hope you’ll have…”
Who in the post-apocalyptic world would refuse such a heaven-sent opportunity?
Well, to refuse is to die!
Similar scenes unfolded all over the world. Those powerful Espers were all looking for followers, and they absolutely did not want ordinary Espers. This was a sign of a change in era and mindset.
As for the reasons, the initiator, Xia Yi, was still in a daze, burning with fever!
In the waters near Fuzhou, Annie whispered to Li Shao:
“After we land, apart from the two bodyguards with military backgrounds in the team, we need to get rid of everyone else. We’re extremely vulnerable. The impact of sound waves is even greater than I imagined… Damn it, we must have enough ordinary people to protect us when we can’t use our abilities in combat!”
“But once we reach the land, what about these people?”
Can they survive?
“Li Shao, you’re being too motherly! We’ve already brought them back to our homeland from Saipan Island, from the Pacific! What more do you want?”
Li Shao was taught a lesson and dared not say a word. His thoughts turned to his followers. This term felt like something out of a fantasy novel.
There must be at least one or two magicians among them for protection, he thought!
He stole a glance at Annie again. She had a great figure, but she was too fierce. However, she was still a suitable object for fantasy.
Li Shao, in his twenties and never having been in a relationship, clicked his tongue and scratched his head. He simply didn’t know how to make girls like him. But compared to Xia Yi, who couldn’t even talk to people, let alone anything else, it wasn’t worth mentioning!
There were many burly men on the seawall holding steel pipes and machetes, glaring at their life raft with hostility.
Before they could close in on them, Li Shao picked up an empty tin can and smashed it fiercely. His strength was more than enough to win the world weightlifting championship, but his aim was poor. Instead of cracking the nearby electrical pole, he sent one of the big men flying. Suddenly, there was silence on the seawall.
Someone quickly checked on the man he hit. It was a gruesome sight. At least three ribs were broken in his chest, and the tin can was embedded in it. Blood and bits of organs kept spewing out of his mouth, and it was clear he wasn’t going to survive.
As the life raft approached the seawall, Li Shao was stunned.
“I killed someone…” he muttered to himself.
Annie slapped him on the head. “This isn’t your first kill!”
“But they weren’t Chinese before…”
They were natives of the island, American soldiers stationed in Saipan.
“You fool, murder is murder, regardless of who the other person is, whether they’re good or bad… That stain never fades…”
Annie said with a complicated expression, as if recalling something, then sighed deeply.
“You’re not bad. At least, not in the apocalypse.”
After a while, Li Shao suddenly realized something, horrified, as he looked at Annie.
When the life raft reached the seawall, the burly men with crude weapons didn’t rush forward to avenge their companion. Two months of surviving in the apocalypse had changed their mindset.
Nothing was more important than their own lives. The one who rushed forward wouldn’t gain any benefits; they’d just die the fastest, because you never knew when someone would stab you in the back.
Like other coastal cities, this group had been causing trouble on the beach for a long time and had even provoked Espers. So they understood what kind of person Li Shao was. He wasn’t running away purely out of determination; he was reluctant to give up this treasure trove.
But Annie and Li Shao weren’t interested in catching mice. They refused to eat fish or shellfish anymore. They were limited in their abilities, and the fish they caught were small, and the shellfish smelled fishy, making them want to vomit.
“The guys who used to charge hundreds or thousands for seafood should all be dragged into the apocalypse! Let them taste the freshness of seafood!”
Li Shao muttered, causing the tour guide who had escaped from Saipan Island to roll his eyes.
“Fool, that’s because you never had good ones!”
If the sea monsters knew about this viewpoint, they would definitely agree. Humans were just so ignorant. The best places to eat were underwater. Good things were roasted, grilled, and fried with some deadly ingredients.
Who knew what they were eating? You couldn’t even tell what it was ==
Yellow-lipped fish were only found along the southeast coast of China. They were large, which was good. Only the small fish were eaten by the Neoptolemus, living in waters around fifty meters deep. The flesh was extremely delicious, especially its swim bladder.
Hmm, there’s a saying that the swim bladder of the yellow-lipped fish is one of the eight most delicious foods in the world.
As Abitha gnawed on the fish, he stared eagerly at the aircraft carrier.
Merfolk had many habits that were different from other sea creatures. For example, after two mermaids fought each other and suffered serious injuries with uncontrolled bleeding, it would attract sharks and other predators.
At that time, the victorious or equally wounded mermaid had no strength left, and there was a limit to their healing ability. So mermaids would carry a conch shell with them, containing the dried swim bladder of the yellow-lipped fish, and seal the mouth of the conch shell with seaweed mud.
In cases of excessive bleeding from severe injuries, mermaids would dig out the swim bladder of the yellow-lipped fish from the conch shell and swallow it.
It stopped bleeding and restored strength, at least enough to let the mermaid escape from the shark’s siege.
The conch shell that the sirens carried originally served this purpose. However, without encountering any of their kind for a long time, although it was sealed, the seaweed mud still had moisture, causing the swim bladder inside the conch shell to rot. After several throws, the sirens simply didn’t replenish it.
Fortunately, the habitat of the yellow-lipped fish wasn’t too far away from here.
The siren reluctantly left Xia Yi’s lips, with the taste of the melted swim bladder between his lips. However, Xia Yi was burning with a high fever and couldn’t taste it at all, but the siren felt that this wonderful taste should still have Xia Yi’s breath.
He raised his head and stared in the direction of the island.
There was a feeling of fear, very tempting.
For the past two days, the siren had hardly eaten anything, but he didn’t want to leave Xia Yi. The negative emotions that were very tempting to merfolk had little effect on him.
But there were humans there…
By nightfall, Xia Yi’s fever had subsided, but he slept restlessly, with a furrowed brow.
Abitha clung to the aircraft carrier, unwilling to let go even though she was exhausted:
“Siren, can I stop playing now?”
… Then push this ship into the sea.
The fact that there were humans on the island was of great concern to the siren.
He didn’t want Xia Yi to come into contact with other humans.
The octopus tentacles suddenly slid down from a row of F22 fighters and silently slipped into the sea.
This wasn’t a joke; it wasn’t like Eurybia, who was too dumb to have any energy left.
After waking up in the middle of the night, Xia Yi used his restored abilities to conjure a large amount of fresh water, so the siren didn’t dare approach him. He could only watch as Xia Yi rinsed his body from top to bottom.
In fact, Xia Yi just felt uncomfortable with the taste of salt residue left in his wounds after they dried.
Because of his good control over his abilities, he didn’t need to move much, but when he lifted his leg slightly, Xia Yi stiffened for a while.
There was dried white liquid between his legs because that area hadn’t been touched by seawater.
It took Xia Yi a long time to climb up from the deck, his legs weak. He almost stumbled after a few steps. He felt the scorching gaze on him and suddenly thought, if the siren had been following him, then when they were on the island—
After a moment of silence, Xia Yi continued forward.
It was only then that he realized the aircraft carrier was too big, and the journey to the cabin felt torturous.
Xia Yi didn’t attempt to conceal anything. He struggled forward, but everything had already happened. It was pointless to cover it up.
He just didn’t want to see the siren. It would remind Xia Yi of many things, many irreparable mistakes.
So he didn’t know how he looked in the eyes of the mermaid, who hadn’t eaten for two days…
Well, some things could be endured when they hadn’t been tasted, but once they had been, they couldn’t be resisted anymore.
Xia Yi heard a sound behind him and didn’t look back.
But soon, he felt his foot being grabbed, and with his already weak strength, Xia Yi fell directly, landing in the siren’s arms.
Xia Yi suddenly sensed that something was wrong and stared closely at his arm—was that a leg?
Although the outer side was covered with pale silver scales and the ankle was too thin, it didn’t look like it could support walking at all, but it was definitely…
Xia Yi didn’t know where the strength came from, but he suddenly broke free.
Although he had guessed vaguely, he still found it unbelievable.
The mermaid in front of him should have a pale silver fishtail, with a beautiful fan-shaped tail fin. Now, his upper body remained unchanged, but from the waist down, he had long, slender legs. Except for the scales and the abnormal ankles, there was no difference from a human.
Especially below the waist, there were only scales, no hair, everything was clear.
Or rather, the siren’s appearance was even more deceptive than before, with his arms supporting the ground, he couldn’t stand up, and what was even worse was that he couldn’t walk. Just now, Xia Yi was struggling to move forward, but he was even more miserable, crawling almost on all fours.
The jade-colored conch shell was tightly pressed against his chest, heaving violently. Looking at the siren’s expression, it seemed like he was enduring something.
He reached out his hand, then withdrew it:
“I just want to hold you…”
