Courtyard House: I fish in the heavens, a professional bird abuser.

The pickup truck sped along the main road.

The wind whistled in through the cracks in the window that wasn't closed properly.

He Yuanchao gripped the steering wheel firmly with both hands. His eyes were fixed on the road ahead, and through the broken windshield, the outside world looked like a faded old photograph.

Ash.

Dust was everywhere.

The charred trees looked like rotten teeth standing upright on the ground. The roadside utility poles leaned precariously, their wires long since broken, swaying in the wind.

This place is far from the epicenter, but the dust from the nuclear radiation still turned the entire sky into an eerie dark purple.

"This road is really difficult to travel."

Old Tom muttered something in the back seat. He was holding his Remington and looking out the side window.

It's really difficult to walk.

The highways are littered with abandoned cars.

Some car doors were wide open, and black bloodstains remained on the seats inside. Some cars had overturned in the roadside ditches, their four wheels facing the sky, looking quite pitiful.

He Yuanchao had to frequently turn the steering wheel, weaving through the scrap metal.

The tires screeched as they ran over the shards of glass on the ground.

"How much longer until we reach our destination?" Alice asked from the passenger seat.

She carried two guns today, and the Nepalese kukri He Yuanchao had given her was also tucked into her waistband. Once this woman entered combat mode, she seemed like a completely different person. The somewhat bewildered look in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a coldness that even He Yuanchao admired.

"At the current speed, it will take another hour and a half."

He Yuanchao glanced at the dial.

Although the fuel gauge is relatively stable, this frequent deceleration and detours consume a lot of fuel.

"Our mission isn't just to rescue people, but also to bring back the oil. Otherwise, we'll have to rely on our legs to get back."

Jill was also in the back seat, carefully wiping the Beretta pistol with a scrap of cloth.

"Hey, you were too polite to Howard at the camp just now," Jill suddenly blurted out.

He Yuanchao's lips twitched slightly.

"Please? Jill, you're still too young. In that situation, killing him outright would only make the remaining people think I'm a tyrant. Showing them his incompetence was more effective than killing him."

"Moreover," He Yuanchao glanced at Old Tom in the rearview mirror, "I need a negative example. To let those who still had some ulterior motives understand that they have no way to survive except by following me."

Old Tom chuckled but didn't respond. He'd met many people in his life and knew that someone as meticulous as He Yuanchao was the last person you should mess with.

The pickup truck made a sharp turn.

The road ahead suddenly opened up considerably, but a large black shadow appeared in the field of vision.

That used to be an industrial park in this area.

Several huge chimneys were broken in half, lying across the factory roof. The factory's corrugated iron roof rattled loudly in the wind, sounding like someone clapping inside.

He Yuanchao slowed down the car.

The system radar flashed on his retina.

A red dot appeared.

Quite a lot.

There are at least thirty or forty.

They were scattered in twos and threes at the factory entrance and along the transport routes.

"Attention everyone. There are zombies ahead, quite a few of them."

He Yuanchao offered a reminder.

Alice immediately released the safety on her gun. Jill also sat up straight and rested her rifle on the windowsill.

"Charge through or go around?"

"Go around. The terrain here is too complicated. What if there's something jumping out of there? Our pickup truck won't be able to handle it."

He Yuanchao turned the steering wheel and drove the car into a dirt road next to him.

The dirt road was very narrow, with dense shrubs on both sides.

The tree branch struck the car, making a cracking sound, as if someone outside was whipping it repeatedly.

The pickup truck was like a wild boar trapped in the woods, rampaging wildly.

"Damn, this road is really hard on the car."

If Greg saw his beloved generator bouncing around in there, his heart would probably break.

He Yuanchao didn't have time to worry about the car.

His eyes were fixed intently on what was ahead.

The dirt road ends at a gentle slope.

Once we get up that slope, we can get back onto the main road.

But just as the car reached the middle of the gentle slope, the engine suddenly made a muffled noise.

The front of the car suddenly lurched.

I'm hooked.

This dirt road looks dry, but it's actually full of mud. Plus, it's rained these past few days, so the bottom of this gentle slope is already soaked and rotten.

"Grass!"

He Yuanchao pressed the accelerator twice.

The rear wheels spun wildly in the mud, spewing out plumes of black smoke and mud. The mud splattered onto the rear window, covering it completely, obscuring everything.

The car not only didn't move forward, but instead slid back half a meter.

"Get off and push!"

He Yuanchao made a decisive decision immediately.

He was the first to push open the car door and jump out.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, the muddy water reached up to his ankles.

Jill and Old Tom jumped down too.

Alice stayed in the car to keep watch. She held her gun, her eyes scanning back and forth among the swaying bushes.

"Hey, there's some noise over there!"

Alice's voice had just faded.

A dense rustling sound came from the bushes.

He Yuanchao was all too familiar with that voice.

It wasn't blown by the wind.

It is a heavy object moving rapidly.

Then, a piercing roar exploded from the woods on the left.

A gray figure emerged from the bushes.

This thing is incredibly fast. It's not one of those slow-moving zombies; it's on all fours, and the muscles on its back look like they're about to burst through its skin.

Mutant dog.

And there was more than one.

Three.

They formed a triangular shape, trudging through the mud, and rushed toward the pickup truck that was stuck on the hillside.

"beat!"

He Yuanchao roared.

Instead of drawing his gun, he grabbed a spare crowbar from beside the car door.

Because he was less than three meters away from the nearest one.

Jill fired her gun.

"Bang! Bang!"

The crisp sound of gunfire echoed through the valley.

The mutated dog at the very front was shot in the chest. It rolled in mid-air, but after landing, it somehow managed to stand up unsteadily.

This beast has an astonishingly strong will to live.

"Old Tom, hit him on the head!"

Old Tom remained as steady as a mountain. He didn't fire indiscriminately, but waited until the mutant dog jumped up again before pulling the trigger.

"boom!"

The shotgun pellets were extremely powerful at this distance.

The mutant dog's entire head, along with half of its neck, instantly turned into minced meat. Its body slammed heavily against the pickup truck's door, leaving a large patch of dark blood, before sliding into the mud pit.

At this moment, the second one had already reached He Yuanchao.

This beast had a gaping maw that stretched all the way to its ears, and the teeth inside looked like saws.

It pounced suddenly.

He Yuanchao lowered his body.

He swung the crowbar horizontally.

"clang!"

The crowbar slammed heavily into the mutated dog's waist.

The dull thud of metal striking bone was enough to make your teeth ache.

The mutated dog was sent flying by the blow, crashing through two thin tree trunks and rolling around in the mud.

He Yuanchao did not give it a chance.

He strode forward, drew the cold iron dagger from his waist, and plunged it downwards with great force.

"Pfft."

The blade pierced through the beast's skull and went all the way to the hilt.

The mutant dog twitched twice and then became completely still.

The last one was shot in the head by Alice.

The battle ended quickly, in less than a minute.

But the people in the camp were all terrified.

The mutated creatures have spread to this area.

This shows that the outside world is deteriorating at a rate they cannot imagine.

"Quick! Get the car out of here!"

He Yuanchao wiped the mud off his face.

He redeemed two portable hydraulic jacks in the system.

"Alice, take this. Put it under the rear wheel."

The three of them worked together.

Some people lifted the load, others used logs to prop it up, and He Yuanchao coordinated the power from the driver's seat.

With a roar of the engine, the pickup truck finally broke free from the mud pit.

The four of them returned to the car in a disheveled state.

The vehicle was covered in mud and blood, looking just like a hearse that had just come out of a slaughterhouse.

"Keep going."

He Yuanchao gripped the steering wheel again; his hands were still trembling slightly, but his eyes were even colder.

Along the way.

He saw a lot of bones.

Some were still wearing tattered clothes, lying across the roadside weeds.

There is very little trace of civilization left in this world.

The pickup truck roared onto the main road again.

On the distant horizon, the spire of the gas station Claire had mentioned was already faintly visible.