"Zhuanzhuan, do you really not want Mommy to come with you?" Zhao Yuxiang watched her daughter change clothes and prepare to go out. Outside, the Xu family's driver had already arrived. Yang Ailan was originally going to come and pick up Yuan Zhuan to go to school, but something came up, so she asked the driver to come instead. She would go directly to the school gate to wait after she finished her business.
"No need, Mom. This is nothing. The shop is very important to our livelihood. You need to manage it well. I need the money." Yuan Zhuan packed the paper, pen, and paperwork into her schoolbag, refusing Zhao Ma's offer to accompany her.
They're already in their fifties or sixties. It's one thing for them to be in elementary school, but to have their mother accompany them is embarrassing.
Yang Ailan stood at the entrance of Beiyu Elementary School, carrying a small handbag. Her eyes were somewhat glazed over, her mind filled with the events of the past few days. A mix of frustration and unease lingered in her heart, leaving her feeling depressed.
The first thing Yuan Zhuan saw when he got out of the car was Yang Ailan's blank expression.
"Zhuanzhuan, you're here! Oh my, you look so good in your sportswear today. Come on, let's go inside the school. I've already talked to the principal, so we can get the paperwork done as soon as we get there." Yang Ailan greeted him with a smile and took Yuan Zhuan's hand.
Although it was embarrassing, Yuan Zhuan forced himself to resist the urge to shake her off. Fortunately, once they entered the school, Yang Ailan automatically let go. "Zhuanzhuan, look, the school is very big, over a hundred acres. There are ten classes in each grade, and each class has more than forty children. Look at that tall building over there, that six-story one, that's where the children live. And look..."
As they walked, Yang Ailan introduced the facilities, and Yuan Zhuan listened with a smile, taking it all to heart. He was somewhat amazed by the beauty of modern society. The elementary school, with facilities almost like those of a postmodern school, was truly remarkable in the 1990s, especially since it was a public elementary school. With such modern educational facilities, the school was probably a focus of attention from higher authorities.
"Zhuanzhuan, your Uncle Xu's Beiyu High School is the top high school in the seven provinces of Guizhou. Beiyu Elementary School is also ranked first in the seven provinces of Guizhou. By studying here, you've already got one foot in Beiyu High School. You may not know about Beiyu Affiliated High School, but it's ranked third in the province. Graduates from Beiyu Elementary School are all directly admitted. In high school, as long as your scores are decent, the high school admits the largest number of students. Only the very top students from other schools can get in. Of course, Auntie believes you're definitely not bad."
Yang Ailan smiled at Yuan Zhuan, but she was still a little uneasy. After all, the file she had retrieved for Yuan Zhuan was not very satisfactory. If it weren't for what had happened before, she would have even suspected that she had found a fake Yuan Zhuan, and that this Yuan Zhuan was not the same Yuan Zhuan as the real one.
"Zhuanzhuan, what do you think? How about you start from first grade?" Yang Ailan thought for a moment and then voiced her thoughts. She genuinely hoped that Yuan Zhuan could study hard and have a good education that would better match her abilities. The records she retrieved showed that even during the nine-year compulsory education system, which was free, the child hadn't really attended school properly. He was often taken home by his grandmother to do chores, and he consistently ranked last in his class.
If she didn't explain, she'd be going to first grade with the snotty-nosed kid. "Aunt Yang, my grades are pretty good. I used to deliberately not do the problems, not because I didn't know how. If I did well on the tests, my family would make me drop out of school; they weren't going to spend money on my education." It was true. The original Yuan Zhuan wasn't incapable, she just couldn't. If she did too well, her parents would beat her. Because they wouldn't allow it, she didn't do the problems. The books in her house were practically worn out; she'd mastered them all herself, learning them while chopping wood in the mountains.
Perhaps it was because Yuan Zhuan's tone was too calm that Yang Ailan imagined something, her eyes reddened, and her voice choked up. She silently took Yuan Zhuan's hand and stroked it, saying, "It's okay, Zhuan Zhuan. This won't happen again. As long as Aunt Yang is alive, you will never have to go through this again."
At this moment, Yang Ailan forgot about Yuan Zhuan's abilities.
Yuan Zhuan's expression twisted for a moment, but he didn't say anything more and followed along step by step.
She couldn't explain it; that girl wasn't her. She couldn't find any trace of the original owner's soul, not even a hair's breadth.
After a good night's sleep, Zhang Feng got up full of energy and drew back the curtains. Outside, it was still a golden yellow, with no distinction between day and night.
His family's van was running low on gas, so he needed to find someone to exchange some. The people in the group were all short of gas, so even if they agreed to exchange some for him, it wouldn't be much.
According to the information he had heard on the radio, there was a commodity exchange base 120 kilometers to the east. It was set up by the government and managed by the city's superhumans. It did not accept individual customers and only provided commodity exchange services. He knew the location but had never been there.
"Supply exchange point?" Zhu Xiao looked at Zhang Feng in surprise, his suspicion undisguised. After all, Zhang Feng had all the supplies he could want, so why would he need other exchange points? Besides, the items at the exchange points were very expensive; ordinary people like them couldn't afford them.
"I need gasoline." Fortunately, Zhang Feng answered my question.
"Huh? Oh!" Zhu Xiao nodded, understanding. It was true. They had food, but no gasoline, so they couldn't set off. They were running low on gasoline and needed to exchange it. "But they need to exchange it for crystal cores there." They had worked for a nearby base, building basic fortifications. Mining crystal cores was never their job, and they were paid with food supplies. They had never even seen what crystal cores looked like.
"Do we need crystal cores for everything? Is there a place where we can exchange supplies for crystal cores?" Compared to Zhu Xiao and the other two families, Zhang Feng's information network was quite limited, and he had been constantly on the verge of starvation, so he had no energy to find out about these things.
Peng Shan leaned closer, "Brother Zhang, I know where to exchange crystal cores." As for why Zhang Feng, who has relatives in the central city, doesn't have crystal cores and doesn't know what crystal cores are, he didn't ask for the time being.
The search teams split into five directions and set off separately. Coincidentally, in Zhang Feng's team, besides Zhu Xiao, Peng Shan, Qiao Mi, and Xu Tuo were all there.
Zhu Xiao arranged the team composition, and Zhang Feng didn't care which teammates he was with.
A small truck, with a carrying capacity of five tons and a crane in the back seat, was given to Zhu Xiao from his family; the other teams used minivans.
The modified truck cab is very durable. When it encounters chaotic rollover scenes and corpses along the way, it simply crashes into or runs over them without affecting the vehicle.
"There are zombies," Peng Shan warned.
Even though the car had been modified to be much quieter, it still couldn't avoid the sensitive zombies.
Groups of zombies emerged from the residential areas on both sides of the road. Upon seeing the moving vehicles, they sped up, hissing and calling to their companions as they charged toward their target.
The zombies were gathering so fast from all directions that Peng Shan broke out in a cold sweat. "Damn it, there are too many. Hold on tight, I'm going to crash into them."
A horde of zombies was closing in from the road ahead!
'Bang bang bang...' They had no choice but to floor the accelerator.
The car crashed through everything in its path, the violent impacts echoing incessantly. The four people inside felt their scalps tingle and their breathing quickened. There were just too many obstacles; they dared not imagine what they would do without a car. With a few quick presses of the accelerator, the fuel was being consumed extremely rapidly.
Zhang Feng observed the situation outside, his heart pounding. He dared not take out the talisman from his chest pocket, afraid that it would get wet from the sweat on his palms.
The horde of zombies outside the window showed no signs of stopping. "What do we do when we go back? There are just too many zombies."
"When we come back, we'll exchange some grenades with Lao Si," Peng Shan replied.
"Are they only selling grenades?" Zhang Feng wanted to buy a firearm.
“There are also mortars, but those things are too expensive. We don’t have the financial means. You… um, you can get another one.” Halfway through his sentence, Peng Shan suddenly remembered that Zhang Feng might soon have that kind of financial means, after all, he had connections in the central city.
"You guys drive, I'll go to the back." Zhang Feng suddenly stood up and pushed open the specially designed sunroof on the roof of the car.
"Zhang Feng, where the hell are you going?! It's dangerous, don't go!!" Qiao Mi hugged Zhang Feng's legs in terror, cold sweat seeping from her scalp, her face flushed. If Zhang Feng were gone, they would starve. They had finally found hope in life, and they didn't want to go hungry at all.
"Jomi, let go, I need to clean up those behind me, I'm worried they'll flow back."
Once the zombies return, their families will likely face certain death. They came out to escape, not to seek death!
The word "return flow" struck Qiao Mi like a thunderbolt, causing his hands to go limp and his strength to give way. He couldn't imagine the consequences of the zombie return flow.
“I’ll go with you.” With a determined look, Qiao Mi was about to get up.
"I have grenades, none of you should come out for now." Zhang Feng's figure disappeared into the carriage, leaving the three people behind with mixed feelings.
He had grenades on him, and they didn't even know it.
The stench of death filled the air, making Zhang Feng feel so nauseous he almost vomit his breakfast.
Zhang Feng's appearance excited the zombie horde even more. Like flies attracted to blood, some swarmed onto the truck bed. Zhang Feng chopped off a head with a single stroke, lit a talisman, and threw it out. With a loud 'boom,' dust, blood, and limbs flew everywhere...
Wielding a long watermelon knife, Zhang Feng relentlessly hacked and slashed, scattering filthy heads across the truck bed. There were so many zombies that they couldn't even clean up the bodies. Perhaps the explosions were too loud, as the zombie horde seemed to be growing, surging in from all directions. Qiao Mi and Xu Tuo couldn't stand it any longer and crawled out to join the hacking and slashing.
"Xu Tuo, throw the corpses down there, there are too many!" Zhang Feng shouted as he killed, adding to the vehicle's load, which consumed a lot of fuel.
Xu Tuo obeyed orders without hesitation. In his heart, he was truly determined to follow Zhang Feng this time. With grenades and supplies from his boss, what reason did he have not to follow?
Zhang Feng threw out talismans in all directions again.
Rumble... Rumble... Rumble...
Before leaving, Zhang Feng had his daughter exchange thirty more tickets, which would be enough for their trip. However, the current situation made Zhang Feng hesitate. If he had known it would be this dangerous, he should have brought Xiaoxiao with him so that he could exchange tickets at any time.
Tu Ling and his team had just returned from clearing the front lines when, as they passed through the previously cleared area, they suddenly heard the sound of grenades exploding one after another, continuously, as if grenades were being thrown out of nowhere.
"Hey, Brother Ling, which big shot from the central city is parading around here? Isn't this Qilin District the area we clean up? Why are there so many zombies again?" Qian Yuan chewed gum and poked his head out, looking ahead with displeasure. They were preparing to return to the largest base nearby to rest, and when they passed through their cleanup area, they didn't expect that the zombies would gather again so soon after they started cleaning.
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