Chapter 263: Chapter 263: The Fun Continues

The fight dragged on for what felt like hours, but it was actually less than an hour. By the time they pulled back, dozens of corpses littered the street, and their breathing had turned heavy.

Lu Zhen grabbed her wrist. “Enough for today, Baby. You’ll wear yourself out.” He felt sorry for her hard work.

Leng Pan hesitated, scanning the remaining horde. She still wanted to cut down more, but finally gave a small nod. “Fine.” Actually, she was already happy with her activity that day.

They retreated to a nearby building to catch their breath. From the rooftop, they looked out at the city. The mist was slowly lifting, revealing just how desolate everything had become.

Leng Pan leaned on the railing, her gaze distant. “The world feels emptier every day. Supplies scarcer, zombies stronger… and the cold coming in faster than expected.” She wondered if the world would ever go back to normal again.

Lu Zhen stood beside her, his hand brushing against hers. “That’s why we need to keep moving forward. And it is also why we need allies.”

For a moment, silence stretched between them, broken only by the wind. Leng Pan turned her head slightly and met his eyes. His expression was calm, but his gaze burned with the determination to guard what he loved the most.

Lu Zhen had vowed never to lose Leng Pan again. And he intended to keep that vow.

She gave him a small sweet smile, the rare, genuine kind that only appeared when she was with him.

“Okay, we will face this crisis together this time.” She said before turning to look into the distance again.

They stood there for a while longer before heading back, their packs heavier with supplies and their hearts more determined.

They had taken backpacks out of the space so that they wouldn’t go back empty-handed and give those spying on them ideas about them having a space.

When Leng Pan and Lu Zhen returned to the apartment, the others were already waiting anxiously.

The few people who had wanted to join their team were waiting together with their family.

From the window, Xu Man had seen the distant horde moving and heard faint echoes of gunfire.

The tension in the room had grown heavier with each passing minute until the sound of the door being opened rang in their ears.

“You’re back!” Li Yunjia hurried to open the door. “We were worried something happened.”

She was a mother, so she would worry for her son and daughter-in-law.

Leng Pan walked in calmly, her coat still stained with dark blood. She placed her pack on the table with a faint thud. “Nothing we couldn’t handle mother, don’t worry so much about us.”

She was glad to have such a caring mother-in-law, but she likes to scare herself.

Lu Zhen set his own pack down and gave the group a reassuring glance.

“We found supplies and cleared some zombies. The horde nearby has thinned, but there are still too many to deal with all at once.” It was rare to hear Lu Zhen say so much to other people other than his wife. But seeing his mother’s worry, he felt obligated to speak and reassure her.

The family immediately surrounded the table as Leng Pan unpacked. Cans of food, batteries, a few medical items, and, most importantly, the faintly glowing shard from the mutated zombie.

They weren’t greedy for supplies since they knew about the space bangle, but they wanted to know the situation and how the scarcity of supplies was at the moment.

Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight of the shard. They had learned enough to know what it was. It must have come from a mutated zombie.

“A mutant core,” Uncle Li said quietly, his expression both amazed and uneasy. “They’re showing up more often now…”

Leng Pan nodded. “This one was stronger than most. If they keep evolving, the streets won’t be a place anyone can go to for long.”

This was what they were worried about.

Silence fell for a moment. Everyone knew what that meant.

Finally, Xu Man broke it. “At least we have more food and fuel. Luckily, we chopped firewood beforehand.

That will help us last longer indoors once the snow begins to fall.”

Leng Pan glanced at him. “Don’t get too comfortable. Supplies won’t keep us safe forever. Moreover , we might run out of fuel. We’ll need to adapt.”

By midday, a thin layer of frost had already formed on the glass panes. The temperature was dropping faster than expected.

“Snow will come by tomorrow night,” Lu Zhen muttered, watching his breath mist faintly.

This was also one of the natural disasters they faced in their previous lives. It was not a pretty sight as some people froze to death in their sleep.

Leng Pan sat across from him, sharpening her Tang sword with slow, steady movements. “This might also be a good thing. The cold will slow the zombies down.”

Since they had experienced it before, they knew about its effects.

“That is true,” he said, “but it’ll slow down survivors too. The weak won’t last through the extreme cold.”

They hoped to save as many as possible and they hoped that many people had headed their warning and collected fuel.

Leng Pan didn’t respond immediately, but her hand stilled for a brief moment before she resumed sharpening. “That’s not our problem.”

Even so, she knew it was only partly true. The weaker survivors might not threaten them directly, but desperate people could. And desperation always led to bloodshed.

In the afternoon, Ouyang Jin came over from the safe house where his group had been staying. He carried a notebook filled with scribbled observations.

“I’ve been keeping track of the zombie behavior lately,” he said as he laid the book on the table.

“Their activity patterns are changing. At night, they’re moving faster than before, almost like the cold energizes them.”

Leng Pan flipped through the notes. The handwriting was hurried but detailed, with sketches of mutated zombies they had spotted.

Her gaze lingered on one drawing, a tall figure with bone-like spikes jutting from its shoulders. “You’ve seen this one?”

Ouyang Jin nodded grimly. “From a distance. Too dangerous to approach. It didn’t move like the others… more controlled, almost like it was thinking.”

The room went cold despite the wood burning.

“A zombie that can think,” Juan Ke whispered, his face paling.

Lu Zhen’s jaw tightened. “If that’s true, it changes everything.”

Leng Pan closed the notebook and set it down. “Then we should prepare. If they’re evolving, so must we.”

By evening, the apartment felt heavier, as if the walls themselves sensed the oncoming storm. Outside, the wind howled faintly, carrying with it the promise of snow.

Leng Pan stood by the window, gazing into the gray horizon. The city stretched endlessly before her, broken and desolate, yet restless with hidden dangers.

Lu Zhen joined her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been quiet since we got back to our apartment.”

“I’m thinking,” she admitted, her voice low. “About how fast everything is changing. The world is turning harsher by the day. If we don’t find something bigger than this apartment to secure… sooner or later, the cold or the mutants will corner us.”

He tightened his hold. “Don’t worry so much, we’ll find it.”

Her eyes softened at his words. She leaned slightly into his arms, not needing to say more.

That night, as everyone went to sleep in their respective apartments, a hush fell over the city.

The wind grew sharper, rattling the windows. In the distance, faint howls rose, not wolves, but something far more terrifying.

Leng Pan’s hand instinctively reached for her blade even in the dark.

The information brought by Ouyang Jin that day had rattled her. She was no longer feeling safe even in the reinforced apartment.

The change happening wasn’t simple, and she knew the next time she goes hunting, it wouldn’t be as simple as today’s.

Lu Zhen was woken up by the movement and lit a lamp on the bedside table.

“What’s wrong, Baby?” He asked Leng Pan in a hoarse voice still coated with sleep.

“Nothing, I am just agitated. I think we should get your little brother to make some kind of gadget that could be used to locate mutated zombies.

I keep feeling that if we don’t eliminate the mutated ones first, things will get complicated. And our mission will get harder.” Leng Pan shared her thoughts and Lu Zhen agreed with her.

This time it wasn’t because he pampered her, but because that was how he truly felt.

“I will talk to Lu Tao tomorrow and see if he can make something like that. I believe he can. If we can eliminate those faster evolving zombies then we can eliminate the danger of organized raids by zombies.” This was something that had also happened before and it was the main reason for the fall of humans.

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