Chapter 59 Ivy
As dusk fell, the convoy slowly drove into an abandoned highway service area.
The service area was eerily silent; most of the windows of the main building were shattered, and several car wrecks lay in the parking lot. Following established procedure, the convoy quickly came to a stop, forming a defensive perimeter.
The soldiers got out of the vehicle first and quickly cleared away the scattered zombies wandering near the gas station.
"First platoon, take charge of the gas station area and collect all usable fuel! Second and third platoons, guard the perimeter! Other squads, search the main building and collect any usable supplies! Be efficient, finish before dark!" The commander's orders were clear and unambiguous.
Ruan Ning's squad and some soldiers entered the service area supermarket.
The room looked like it had been ransacked countless times; shelves were overturned, and empty packaging bags and broken debris were scattered on the floor. Anything useful had long been looted. All that remained were some unusable appliances, broken furniture, and a thick layer of dust.
Zhou Min surveyed the area and shook his head: "There are no signs of life, and the remaining energy is very weak; it's basically empty."
The group didn't linger and quickly left.
As night fell, the temperature dropped significantly, and a howling wind howled through the broken windows. Open flames were strictly prohibited at the gas station, making it impossible to provide warmth. The commander ordered everyone to move to the relatively intact restaurant inside the service area to spend the night.
Although it was equally dilapidated, at least it had walls on all four sides, which could block out some of the cold wind.
The restaurant was spacious enough, but it felt somewhat crowded at the moment. Ordinary survivors spontaneously gathered in a corner, huddled together, using each other's body heat for warmth.
They were dressed in thin clothes, shivering in the increasingly cold weather, their lips turning purple from the cold, and they could only maintain a little warmth by constantly stamping their feet and rubbing their hands. No one complained; this was just a common sight in the apocalypse.
The situation is slightly better for those with superpowers. As their superpower level increases, their physical abilities are comprehensively enhanced, and their tolerance to cold also increases significantly.
They were scattered throughout the rest of the restaurant, and although they could feel the chill, it wasn't unbearable. The members of the Thunder Leopard Squad were even able to check their equipment and talk in hushed tones as if nothing was amiss.
Ruan Ning found a spot against the wall, with a solid wall behind her and a view that covered most of the restaurant. She could feel the chill, but the active water energy flowing through her body and her mental power made her indifferent to this level of cold.
She saw that Lin Xi and Yang Fan had also found a relatively sheltered spot, and the mutated German Shepherd was snuggling close to Lin Xi, seemingly providing some warmth.
The soldiers set up sentry posts at the entrances and windows, wrapped themselves tightly in their overcoats, and vigilantly watched the darkness outside. A small bonfire was lit in the center of the mess hall, in a completely safe place away from flammable materials and ventilation, mainly for lighting and to provide a little warmth to the weakest wounded, but the amount of heat distributed to each person was negligible.
As night deepened, only the howling wind, the crackling of firewood, and the suppressed coughs and chattering of the survivors remained in the restaurant.
Ruan Ning closed her eyes, seemingly to rest, but in reality, half of her mind was on alert, while the other half was slowly circulating energy within her body, both as a form of cultivation and to better resist the cold.
Late at night, the service area restaurant was completely silent, with only the howling of the cold wind through the broken windows and the suppressed breathing sounds rising and falling.
A soldier on night duty, holding his gun, leaned against the door, vigilantly watching the darkness outside.
Just then, the two men who had been rescued from the supermarket cautiously approached, rubbing their hands together and saying in a low voice, "Brother, could we borrow a flashlight? I need to go to the restroom; it's too dark outside."
The soldier frowned, but seeing how uncomfortable the other man looked, he took a military-grade high-powered flashlight from his waist and handed it to him, instructing, "Go and come back quickly, don't go far, and be careful."
"Okay, thanks, bro!" The two thanked him repeatedly, took the flashlight, and encouraged each other, quickly walked toward the public restroom located a few dozen meters away behind the main building.
The bathroom is a separate low-rise building, the exterior walls of which have been covered with dense ivy at some point.
These ivy plants had clearly mutated after the apocalypse; their leaves were as big as washbasins, a dark green, and their vines were as thick as a child's arm, making them appear particularly eerie under the pale moonlight.
During the hurried search during the day, no one paid any special attention to its unusualness.
As the two walked to the bathroom door and were about to push open the half-closed door, which was also entwined with vines, a sudden change occurred!
The still vines on the wall seemed to come alive instantly, shooting out like lurking venomous snakes! They were so fast that they left only afterimages! A thick vine suddenly wrapped around the waist of the person in front, while another precisely coiled around the neck of the person behind!
A tremendous force erupted instantly, and before the two could even utter a short cry of surprise, they were violently pulled into the dense, claw-like patch of ivy!
At the same time, several huge, thick leaves with finely serrated edges quickly closed, tightly enveloping and swallowing the two like a Venus flytrap!
The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, with only the slight "rustling" sound of the vines rubbing against the wall and the leaves closing up, and the extremely faint, almost negligible muffled groans after the mouth and nose were covered.
Silence returned, except for the wall covered with ivy, which seemed even more "full" than before, its leaves swaying gently without wind, as if silently chewing.
At the restaurant entrance, the soldier who had lent out the flashlight waited for about ten minutes, but the man hadn't returned, and a sense of unease crept in. Even if it was a serious matter, shouldn't it be over by now? Besides, it was unusually quiet outside.
He immediately reported to the platoon leader in a low voice over the walkie-talkie: "Platoon leader, there's a situation. Two men borrowed a flashlight to go to the toilet and haven't returned for more than ten minutes."
Upon hearing this, the platoon leader's expression sharpened, and he immediately snapped awake. "Roger that. Wake up your squad and come with me to check this out! Maintain vigilance!" He gave the order while quickly waking the sleeping soldiers beside him, and strode towards the area where the commander and the superhumans were resting.
The soldier on duty immediately woke up his comrades in the same class. The group picked up their guns, loaded them, and looked nervously toward the area in the direction of the restroom, where the darkness appeared particularly deep under the moonlight, as if a giant beast was lurking.
The tranquility of the restaurant was broken, and many people were awakened, looking blankly and uneasy at the soldiers who were tensely gathering at the door.
Ruan Ning opened her eyes as the platoon leader approached, her mental energy spreading outwards like mercury, instantly "locking onto" the ivy wall with its unusually active energy fluctuations, exuding a rich life force and a faint smell of blood.
Her eyes suddenly sharpened.
"There's something... outside," she whispered to Lin Yan and Zhou Min, who had also woken up.
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