Chapter 159: Guidance

According to Ling Zhe's thinking, he felt there was no need to waste words with the other party.

In this godforsaken place, they had coincidentally run into a car. The behavior of the people inside was completely abnormal, and they even seemed to have figured out Yichen's background—suspicious no matter how one looked at it!

Furthermore, they still had a batch of supplies back near the tunnel. If strangers found out about them, it would likely cause trouble.

Trust was the scarcest commodity in the apocalypse. Compared to Ling Lan, who still held on to ordinary moral and legal awareness and followed the rules, Ling Zhe was far more realistic. In his opinion, talking was never as good as knocking the enemy down directly and hijacking the car!

Having made up his mind, he quietly reached one hand into his pocket and gripped a folding pocketknife.

He had found this among the supplies on the train. Although small, the blade was sharp.

Ling Zhe didn't actually intend to kill and rob; as long as he could preempt the situation, force the other side to compromise, and achieve his goal, that would be enough. If they didn't cooperate, a little physical suffering wouldn't be uncalled for!

Taking advantage of a pause in the conversation, Ling Zhe seized the moment, lunged forward in a single bound, thrust his upper body through the car window, grabbed the T-shirt of the bespectacled young man driving, and flashed the knife.

Who would have thought that at the exact same moment, a pitch-black gun muzzle would be pressed against the tip of his nose.

The man sitting in the passenger seat held the weapon steady and said coldly, "Don't do anything rash!"

Ling Zhe broke out in a cold sweat. Now he was caught in a dilemma—neither moving nor staying still was a good option.

The other party had a gun! They weren't caught off guard at all, and they were definitely not pushovers!

Ling Zhe glanced out of the corner of his eye toward Yichen, only to find that he was still standing in front of the car, completely motionless, with no apparent intention of stepping in to help.

Ling Zhe cursed inwardly. He was a somewhat casual person, but not a reckless one. If he hadn't been counting on Yichen being there, he would never have acted blindly without figuring out the other side's background first.

Now look at this mess. Without support, his heroic attempt had failed, and he had only managed to make things awkward.

Ling Lan was startled by this sudden turn of events, but she quickly recovered, yanked her younger brother back, and scolded loudly, "Ling Zhe, what on earth are you doing!"

She naturally understood what Ling Zhe was trying to pull. It was just that the other party had a gun, and hard tactics wouldn't work; if they kept pushing, they would only be the ones to suffer!

"I'm sorry, my brother is a bit impulsive and lacks a few screws in his head..." Ling Lan forced a smile and apologized profusely.

In her heart, she was already cursing Ling Zhe to high heaven. Even Yichen hadn't made a move, yet he had suddenly lashed out—he was simply a complete idiot!

"Lanhuang, I'm fine, you don't need to pull out the hardware," the bespectacled young man cleared his throat and said.

The gunman gave a cold snort, his expression finally softening as he lowered his weapon.

Only then did Ling Lan get a clear look at the man's appearance.

He possessed refined features and an outstanding demeanor. Although sitting in this Hummer and holding a lethal weapon, he inexplicably gave off the vibe of a aloof, noble young master.

However, what was most surprising was this: his left pupil was entirely milky white, unlike that of an ordinary person!

An infected one? Ling Lan experienced a flash of realization. No wonder he had known that Yichen was out of the ordinary; that explained it completely.

"Where was I... Oh right, we aren't bad people." The bespectacled young man smiled and handed a business card through the window, seemingly not taking the recent conflict to heart.

Ling Lan took it and read: "Fang Qiu, Vice President of the Xijing Online Writers Association..."

"Correct, yours truly is indeed he." The lenses of the young man's glasses flashed.

"My name is derived from the phrase 'sweeping and wielding power,' which signifies passion and boundless vigor. Of course, people of letters are generally refined both inside and out, so I'm not overly boisterous..."

Listening to the other man pedantically quoting phrases and talking endlessly, Ling Lan felt completely凌乱 (disheveled/overwhelmed by the chaos). What was an online novelist doing running out here? Sightseeing? Gathering material?

While Ling Lan remained speechless, Ling Zhe smiled and picked up the conversation: "So your title as the vice president of the writers' association is pretty damn awesome, huh?"

If one were to mute his voice, he would look like he was warmly chatting up an old friend, but paired with the actual content, it was genuinely punchable.

Ling Lan massaged her throbbing temples, wondering how to handle a brother who continuously courted death, while realizing his focus had clearly strayed off course.

"Whether it's awesome or not depends on the market. You guys don't even know who I am—you're not from Xijing, are you?" A flash of displeasure crossed Fang Qiu's face as he turned around, pulled out a book, and handed it over.

"《Apocalypse Survival Guide》?" Ling Lan's jaw dropped.

Aside from the blinding title on the cover of this exquisitely bound book, a few gold-stamped characters were prominently printed: Authored by Fang Qiu.

You really do see everything if you live long enough. The apocalypse hadn't even been around for three months, yet someone had already written and published a book about it?

Ling Lan curiously flipped through a few pages before snapping back to reality—no, now was not the time to leisurely read a book.

"...I'm Ling Lan, and this is my brother Ling Zhe. We have a friend who is seriously injured and needs to get to a hospital for treatment as soon as possible. Can you take us away?"

"Happy to help." Fang Qiu let out a whistle and promptly opened the car door.

Did things really progress this smoothly? Ling Lan and Ling Zhe paused, exchanging a glance.

In the apocalypse, trust was the scarcest thing between people. However, they were desperate to save someone now; regardless of what ulterior motives the other party might harbor, getting into the car came first.

They guessed that the two men in the car hadn't meant to kill them earlier, and pulling the gun was merely an act of self-defense, which was why Yichen hadn't moved. If there had been genuine danger, he definitely wouldn't have stood by idly and would have intervened instantly—there was no need to worry about that aspect.

"Is that zombie getting in the car too? He should listen to you guys, right?" Fang Qiu pointed at Yichen standing in front of the vehicle.

Ling Lan processed this for two seconds, her mouth agape as she nodded.

Fang Qiu's appearance was indistinguishable from an ordinary person, with normal hair color and eyes, so Ling Lan had already ruled out the possibility of him being infected.

Unless... he possessed a special constitution like Lu Yu's, remaining unchanged after becoming infected. However, the probability of them running into a second "Lu Yu" was exceedingly slim.

It was hardly surprising that an ordinary person like Fang Qiu mistook Yichen in this state for a zombie. The strange thing was—he wasn't even afraid. Was this guy a rare eccentric, or simply out of his mind?

Ling Lan suddenly developed a strong interest in the copy of 《Apocalypse Survival Guide》 in her hand. She decided she would read it thoroughly to see how Fang Qiu interpreted this apocalyptic world.

Ling Zhe got into the car first. His heart was bigger than his sister's; as long as the outcome matched his initial expectations, he didn't care what the process looked like.

Yichen sat between the siblings, maintaining his corpse-like silence.

The aloof man named Lanhuang stared intently at Yichen. It was evident that he was extremely interested in Yichen.

"It's such a relief to run into you guys. We can't thank you enough!" Although her mind was filled with doubts, Ling Lan tried her best to look thoroughly grateful.

"No need to be so polite," Fang Qiu said briskly, quickly adding another sentence: "We came all the way out here specifically for you guys."

"What do you mean... You knew we'd be here all along? But how could you possibly know we'd be here?" Ling Lan felt her brain short-circuit instantly, the questions tumbling out of her mouth like a tongue-twister.

Clearly, they had been the ones to actively seek help, but for some reason, the situation was gradually shifting into one where they were being led by the nose.