Chapter 114: Hello, Boss, p2
“Xiao Yibai, help me find some blood crystals and supplies. I’ll see if there are any working vehicles.”
After about two or three hours of searching, Lin Xiwan and Huayibai found a working Voodoo Cult vehicle and about half a car’s worth of supplies.
While loading the supplies, Lin Xiwan had Huayibai use a rock to scrape the Voodoo Cult stickers and symbols from the jeep.
The once stylishly modified jeep now looked battle-worn.
As for her sister, Lin Xiwan had untied her, removed the belt and ropes, and placed her in the passenger seat.
After securing everything, they got in the car.
Her sister was sleeping soundly, leaning against the reclined seatback. With less cargo in the back, Lin Xiwan had been able to lower the seat for her.
Several red marks from the ropes were visible on her sister’s legs, a sight that made Lin Xiwan’s heart ache.
Such beautiful legs… I shouldn’t have tied them so tightly… I’ll use cloth next time.
And no more shorts for her sister; she needed long pants for protection.
But those red marks on her sister’s smooth, white thighs… they stirred a strange feeling within her.
They looked… even more… appealing…
“Dad… Sister, what are you doing?” Huayibai asked innocently from the back.
“Ah? N-nothing, just… massaging the bruises on her legs,” Lin Xiwan said, quickly withdrawing her hand from her sister’s thigh and placing it on the gear stick.
“Oh…” Huayibai nodded, then asked, her eyes shining, “Can Yibai help?”
Huayibai’s logic was simple: if she helped Mommy, Mommy might praise her when she woke up.
“No, it’s okay, Yibai, be a good girl and go rest,” Lin Xiwan patted Huayibai’s head and started the engine.
“Roar—”
The loud engine almost startled her; she glanced back at her sister, relieved she hadn’t been woken up.
As expected of a Voodoo Cult modified engine, loud.
Just as she was about to pull away, she heard the roar of engines from the road to her left.
“Huh?!”
Her eyes widened.
The Voodoo Cult?!
She slammed on the brakes. The approaching vehicles, also seeing her sudden stop, braked hard.
“Screech—”
“Screech—”
The entire convoy braked, but a few still rear-ended each other, a chaotic pileup.
“What happened?!” A voice from a loudspeaker, asking about the sudden stop.
And armed men started pouring out of the vehicles, heading towards the front.
“Wait! It’s a misunderstanding! We’re friendly! I recognize them, they just have a different car!”
The middle-aged man from the lead vehicle jumped out, his hands raised.
Lin Xiwan, having shifted into reverse, preparing to escape, saw the man.
Him?
She recognized him. He was from the Panlong Plaza Camp’s advance team, the ones they’d encountered earlier.
And behind him… the main force.
She placed her left hand on the Voodoo Cult rifle beside her, ready to fire.
“Don’t come any closer! Stay back!” the man shouted, waving his arms, stopping the others before they reached the intersection.
So many armed men approaching would scare anyone away.
Then, unarmed, he walked towards them alone.
Seeing only one person approaching, Lin Xiwan didn’t retreat.
They hadn’t had any conflict earlier; this camp’s advance team seemed… reasonable; they wouldn’t start a fight unnecessarily.
They were all just survivors, displaced by the Voodoo Cult; there was no need for hostility.
And, more importantly, she wanted to trade for some supplies – they had lost a lot in last night’s battle, especially the water; the jeep carrying most of it had been crushed.
She wanted to trade for more water.
“Hello again,” the man said, reaching their jeep and knocking on the window. After she lowered the window, he smiled.
Then he noticed the wreckage behind their vehicle.
That is…
He’d only glanced at it initially, but then he froze, his eyes fixed on the debris.
That… that… that… that V symbol?!
Voodoo Cult markings?! Voodoo Cult vehicles?!
And their jeep… it was different, a new one.
Had they…
Wiped out an entire Voodoo Cult convoy?!
He noticed the “powerful” young woman in the passenger seat, lying down, seemingly resting.
And the others… they didn’t seem injured, only the younger girl had some marks on her legs…
They’d clearly been in a fight…
He nodded to himself, relieved he’d followed their lead earlier, a chill running down his spine.
If he hadn’t followed them, if he hadn’t let them pass, what would have happened?
He might have encountered that Voodoo Cult convoy himself…
Thinking of the Voodoo Cult’s brutality, he shuddered.
His voice, involuntarily, became more respectful.
“Where… where are you esteemed ladies headed? And… what happened back there…?” he asked, his voice trembling slightly.
He now regretted coming alone; he should have brought a few men for… moral support.
These women… they’d taken down an entire Voodoo Cult convoy!
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” Lin Xiwan said, seeing the fear in his eyes as he looked at the wreckage. She decided to take advantage of his misunderstanding.
Leaning against the window, she said casually, “Let’s make a deal.”
“A deal? What kind of deal? Tell me,” the man said quickly, recognizing her strength.
In this world, strength was everything. Angering her could mean death for his entire convoy.
As long as her demands weren’t too unreasonable, even if it was robbery, he would have to comply.
“I need some water,” Lin Xiwan said, gesturing vaguely behind her. “The rest… is yours.”
She wanted to trade the scavenging rights for a few containers of water.
This wasn’t a loss for her; she couldn’t carry all that loot anyway.
And for the man standing by her car… this was a fantastic deal.
“Water?” He was stunned.
They had plenty of water. If it weren’t for the news about the Voodoo Cult’s advance, they could have continued drawing water from the lake in Panlong Plaza.
Boil it, and it was safe to drink. Their vehicles were fully stocked.
Of course, he wouldn’t insult these powerful figures with lake water; he would give them bottled water.
After quickly assessing the available space in their jeep, he gave an okay sign.
“No problem. I’ll have them back up a bit. There might be some engine noise.”
After explaining, he ran back to the convoy, seemingly to speak to their leader.
Lin Xiwan saw someone cautiously peek around the corner, their gaze fixed on the wreckage behind them, and then quickly disappear.
A scout, confirming the situation.
Soon, boxes of water were stacked by the roadside, engines roared to life, and then the entire convoy reversed, creating a large distance between them and the intersection.
Then, three bare-chested men, carrying the water boxes, approached the jeep. Lin Xiwan opened the trunk, and they loaded the boxes, filling it completely.
After carefully securing the boxes, they retreated.
Lin Xiwan, confirming the trunk was full, didn’t say anything more, but started the engine, turned sharply, and drove onto the national highway towards the next highway entrance.
Only after they were long gone did the convoy return. A large group of men emerged and began scavenging the Voodoo Cult’s vehicles.
Although much of it was damaged, there were plenty of weapons, grenades, and food.
After a short while, they had more than enough to compensate for the water they had given away.
“Truly… generous… those bosses…” the man who’d spoken to Lin Xiwan earlier said, looking at the loot.
Lin Xiwan and her sister had gained water, supplies, and blood crystal stones; the Panlong Plaza convoy had gained much-needed weapons and equipment.
Only the Voodoo Cult had suffered.
“Second Brother, should we follow them?” the camp leader asked the middle-aged man, his voice low.
He knew they had been following a group of powerful Awakened and was worried about angering them.
“Boss… take a look at this carnage,” the man, called Second Brother, said, gesturing at the wreckage and the craters. “If we encountered them, do you think we would survive?”
The leader looked at the devastation and, after a moment of silence, replied, “No.”
Their camp had many families, children; they traveled slowly, often stopping in cities to rest during the night. They would be no match for the Voodoo Cult.
“So it’s better to follow them, at least until we’re out of Guangdong,” Second Brother said. “If they get angry, we can beg for mercy. Could we beg for mercy from the Voodoo Cult?”
“You’re right.” The leader nodded, then raised his voice. “Grab some food, everyone! Time to move! Don’t get left behind!”
He had made his decision: follow these powerful women until they found a safe place, or at least, until they left Guangdong.
Although he didn’t know where they were going, following them was safer than venturing alone…
…
Lin Xiwan, unaware of being followed, was pleased with her cleverness, securing much-needed water and avoiding a potential conflict.
That man, after seeing the Voodoo Cult wreckage, had been practically groveling.
I have to tell Yao about this later, she thought, imagining her sister’s smile of approval.
What Lin Xiwan didn’t know was that, on the other side of the world, her sister had also encountered a group of survivors.
…
Wisconsin. A mass of “tentacles” emerging from a store on the first floor of a building.
Only after a large number of tentacles had spilled out could they see the body they were attached to.
A small, blonde girl, about ten years old, her hands and feet replaced by translucent, golden tentacles.
“Click—Click—”
After cycling through her eye configurations, Lin Jiayao, having warmed up in the Training Grounds, quickly reacquainted herself with Goldie’s body.
Just as she emerged from the building, checking the location of the extraction point, she heard gunshots in the distance.
Humans?
“Buzz—”
Several green insects flew from her eye sockets towards the sound. They quickly located a vehicle.
A beige, armored jeep, its occupants firing at Sprinters through the gun ports.
“Damn it, when did this district get infested?”
“God only knows. Oh, wait, look over there!!!”
“Holy shit! A bug!”
The Asian driver, startled, cursed in his native language and swerved, trying to escape.
It was still dusk… were these people returning to their camp, passing through here, and being attacked by the zombies she had stationed nearby?
Perfect. She had been planning to find some local survivors and ask about stronger Hive Zombies in the area.
And now they had delivered themselves to her doorstep.
Since they were here, they could answer a few questions.
Under Lin Jiayao’s control, a Sprinter that had been clawing at the jeep’s side climbed onto the hood, blocking the driver’s view, while another jumped off a building, landed on the jeep’s tires, and shoved its arm into the wheel well, jamming it.
The jeep screeched to a halt.
“Roar—”
The other zombies, released from their defensive posture, emerged from the surrounding buildings and charged towards the jeep.
But they stopped at Lin Jiayao’s command, forming a neat line.
She didn’t want to scare the people inside too much; they might detonate a grenade.
Seeing the zombies stop, and unable to restart the engine, the occupants of the jeep, looking at the line of mutated zombies in the rearview mirror, were filled with despair.
Then they saw the Sprinters part, and from among them, a small, blonde girl, her lower body a mass of writhing tentacles, slowly approached.
“Oh God…”
One of them sighed, pulled out a grenade, and said, “It’s a Queen…”
“Queen” was their local term for a Hive Zombie. And for a small team like theirs, encountering a Queen meant certain death.
Although this Queen was… strangely beautiful, almost… artistic… it didn’t change the fact that it was a terrifying Hive Zombie.
“No, George, wait! Look!” A white woman in the back shouted, pointing, and they all looked towards the side.
Through the left window, they saw a swarm of glowing green insects, forming a word.
“HELLO.”
It… was greeting them?
They looked at each other in bewilderment.
They’d never encountered anything like this before.
“Could it be…?” the woman who had spoken earlier said hesitantly, “An Awakened-controlled Queen?”
An Awakened-controlled Queen?
They were stunned. The idea was absurd.
Hive Zombies were notoriously difficult to control, even a C-rank Awakened couldn’t control a low-level Queen.
Controlling such a powerful Queen would require an incredibly strong Awakened.
B-rank?
A-rank?
Impossible. This wasn’t Los Angeles; there were no “Free Hand” members here.
Then, they noticed the insects had rearranged themselves, now forming a question mark, as if asking why they hadn’t responded.
It… it really was an Awakened…
“Click—”
The car door opened.
“Hey! Wait! Monica!”
Before they could stop her, the white woman in tactical gear jumped out.
“Hello, my name is Monica,” she said, her hand trembling slightly as she extended it, unarmed, fighting her fear.
And the Queen, lowering its body, its tentacles writhing, its gaze now level with hers.
“JIN,” it said, wrapping a slimy tentacle around her hand.
Instantly, the fear in the jeep dissipated.
Even the mutated zombies outside seemed less threatening.
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