43: Chapter 43 Going Out

"Huh? Why are you going out again? Your injuries from yesterday haven't even healed yet!"

Hearing that Chen Ze was going out again, her heart couldn't help but tighten, and she spoke up hurriedly.

"I'm going out to pick someone up, and while I'm at it, I'll see if I can deal with Guo Changzheng and those guys."

Chen Ze was the type to always repay a grudge. Since Guo Changzheng had provoked him time and again, it was time to settle the score.

"Then... then you must be careful!"

After spending two days together, Wang Yalan knew that while Chen Ze might listen to her opinions on small matters, when it came to decisive actions, he was always swift and resolute; once he had made up his mind, he would never easily change it.

She pursed her lips.

"If you run into something you can't handle, don't try to be a hero! I'll be waiting for you to come back to the Fortress!"

"Yeah! I know!"

Chen Ze nodded and turned to walk out of the Blockhouse.

Pushing open the heavy iron door, a wave of heat rushed toward him; Chen Ze could even feel fine beads of sweat secreting from his pores.

"This damn weather, it's probably close to 40 degrees."

Reaching out to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight, Chen Ze felt as if the air itself was slightly distorting, as if it might ignite at any moment.

Suddenly, he saw a small figure in the room directly opposite, staring straight at him.

Chen Ze paused, his gaze falling on the little girl.

He remembered that the little girl should be named "Yunyun," the child of the couple from last night.

The little one was small in stature, with dark hair tied back, and some loose strands stuck to her face mixed with sweat.

Her two little hands were tightly clutching a piece of dry bread, nibbling on it in small bites, her cheeks puffing in and out.

Noticing Chen Ze's gaze, Yunyun immediately stopped, shrinking back timidly.

Seeming to see Chen Ze smiling at her, Yunyun poked her head out again. Her dark, round eyes timidly circled around Chen Ze before she spoke in a childish, milky voice.

"Do you want to eat bread too?"

This childish question instantly struck a chord in Chen Ze's heart, and he softened.

Truly, no matter what time it is, children are always pure.

"Uncle isn't hungry, Yunyun, you eat."

Perhaps hearing Chen Ze's voice, a familiar face poked out of the window; it was the woman from last night.

"Mr. Chen, is that you?"

"Yeah!"

Chen Ze nodded and prepared to leave, but after walking a few steps, he stopped and turned back.

He walked to the woman's window and asked.

"Why is Yunyun eating this? Is there no food left?"

Upon hearing this, the woman pursed her lips and only spoke after a long while.

"There is still some, but the days ahead are long. We've traded all the good things for dry rations, leaving only dry bread for Yunyun."

Chen Ze knew the woman wasn't lying because he saw her food—a piece of steamed bun that was so hard it crumbled, with visible teeth marks on it.

Chen Ze took a deep breath and didn't respond.

He gently patted Yunyun's head, took two Snickers bars from his backpack, and placed them in front of her.

"Eat up! Eating these will help you grow!"

"Mommy, it's chocolate. Can I eat it?"

Yunyun looked timidly at her mother, but the latter was already sobbing uncontrollably.

In the three days since the apocalypse, she had seen too many cruel things.

Just yesterday, the family of four living behind their Fortress was killed, and the perpetrators' motive was merely some pork that was about to spoil.

She hadn't expected, and certainly didn't dare to hope, that anyone would reach out to help them.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen, thank you!"

The woman said, choking back tears.

Chen Ze nodded, said nothing, and turned to leave.

In fact, he still had over 3,000 survival coins. Even if he gave more, even if he supported the family of three, he could do it, but he wouldn't.

In the apocalypse, one must kill the saintly first.

He understood this principle; he certainly couldn't be a saint himself. The two chocolate bars would just be the price he paid for the last bit of compassion left in his heart.

...

Following the direction in which Guo Changzheng and the others had fled yesterday, Chen Ze walked for about half an hour.

Along the way, he kept his eyes on the mysterious beast hide, and whenever he encountered a Fortress with a cluster of red dots, Chen Ze would deliberately observe for a while.

Only after seeing the people inside clearly would he quietly retreat.

Along the way, he discovered a problem: the areas around those survivors who huddled together were mostly much more desolate.

There were seven or eight, sometimes more than a dozen, of those houses completely destroyed, reduced to fine rubble.

"Has order collapsed so quickly?"

Chen Ze understood the reason; it was nothing more than two possibilities. One was that people abandoned their Fortresses to group up with others, but the number of ruins didn't match up.

The second was that someone had already started to Plunder these people's resources!

They not only killed the people inside but also destroyed their Fortresses, turning them into materials for upgrading!

"These people are really ruthless! Yet I, the owner of an SSS-grade Plunder talent, have been quite well-behaved instead."

Chen Ze laughed at himself.

Right now, the Blockhouse had been upgraded, and the second talent slot was still empty. How he wished someone with a high-level talent would jump out, provoke him fiercely, and then be smashed to pieces by him!

"I can only hope that guy Guo Changzheng's Fortress talent is decent."

Chen Ze muttered to himself and continued forward.

Not long after, a huge steel-structured warehouse suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Before Chen Ze could check the mysterious beast hide, a sharp female voice pierced into his ears.

"I'm talking to you, Guo Changzheng. How can you, a grown man, be so shameless? Don't think I don't know about your little schemes!"

Chen Ze was all too familiar with this woman's voice; it was his former landlady, Sister Hong.

Chen Ze sneered.

"Truly, I searched high and low, only to find it without any effort! Guo Changzheng, count your days, kid!"

Following the sound, he reached the vicinity of the warehouse in a few steps.

To ensure safety, Chen Ze crouched down against a rusted steel column, using the discarded steel and broken wooden crates piled in the corner to conceal his figure, and slowly poked his head out to look into the warehouse.

The iron gate of the huge warehouse was half-open, and several cold corpses lay crookedly on the ground at the entrance, their clothes tattered, with large pools of blackened blood congealing beneath them; the scene of their deaths was horrifying.

In the warehouse, several large wooden crates were scattered about, and seven or eight women were surrounding one person. Chen Ze focused his gaze—who else could it be but Guo Changzheng?

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