109: Chapter 109 I'll Let You Go

Zhou Che leaned against a lamppost, the blood moon scepter held horizontally in front of him, and that blade of grass still dangling from his mouth.

He tilted his head to look at Zhuang Zeqiang, his expression half-smiling, as if he were watching a stray dog that had run in the wrong direction.

Zhuang Zeqiang slammed on the brakes, his shoe soles scraping against the stone bricks with a harsh sound.

The expression on his face was as if someone had stuffed a live toad into his mouth; he gaped, eyes wide, unable to speak.

He had clearly been running backward.

How did he end up in front of Zhou Che?

He looked back; behind him was that back street.

Wang Laowu and the others were still standing in the distance, and Luo Xi's halberd was still thrust into the ground.

He turned back around, and Zhou Che was still in front of him.

The distance hadn't changed, the direction hadn't changed, yet he had clearly been running with his back to Zhou Che.

"Fuck!" Zhuang Zeqiang cursed, turned, and ran to the side.

He rushed out of the alley entrance.

Zhou Che was standing at the alley entrance, leaning against the wall, holding the blood moon scepter in his hand, that blade of grass still dangling from his mouth, tilting his head to look at him.

The exact same posture. The exact same expression. Even the slight curve of his mouth hadn't changed.

The color drained from Zhuang Zeqiang's face in an instant.

Only a deathly pallor remained on his scarred face, the scar appearing exceptionally hideous against the pale skin.

His lips were trembling—not from cold, but from fear.

He had been hanging around Linshui County for so long and had seen countless bizarre things, but he had never encountered something like this.

"What is going on..."

He muttered, stepping back, his heel hitting an empty soda can, making a clanging sound that gave him a start.

He changed direction and ran again.

This time he learned, running while constantly looking back to confirm that he was indeed moving away from Zhou Che.

Then he looked up.

Through the broken window of the van, he saw the lamppost across the street.

Zhou Che was leaning against the lamppost, the blood moon scepter held horizontally in front of him, that blade of grass dangling from his mouth, tilting his head to look at him.

Zhuang Zeqiang plopped down onto the ground.

He understood.

It wasn't that he had run in the wrong direction, nor was it that he had lost his way; it was that he couldn't run out at all.

No matter which direction he ran, how far he ran, or how many turns he took, he would eventually return to the starting point.

Zhou Che didn't even need to move; he just stood there waiting for him, and he would run back on his own.

Zhuang Zeqiang scrambled up from the ground, his legs shaking—not from fatigue, but from fear.

He walked forward step by step, exiting the parking lot and reaching that back street.

His four brothers were there too, each with the same expression on their faces—the fear of having seen a ghost.

They had also run, changed directions, gone through alleys, and climbed over walls, but in the end, they had all come back.

Zhuang Zeqiang glanced at Zhou Che standing by the lamppost, then at Luo Xi holding her halberd.

And Wang Laowu, who was grinning while holding a bone, Wang Zhiming, who was adjusting his glasses with a cracked lens, and Zhang Lijuan, who was holding a stack of talismans.

He took a deep breath, then started running.

Not running away, but running towards Zhou Che.

When he reached a spot three meters from Zhou Che, his knees suddenly buckled.

His whole body slid forward, using the momentum of his run, his knees grinding a long mark into the stone bricks.

A slide-kneel.

A standard slide-kneel, the posture so fluid it was as if it had been rehearsed countless times.

His knees scraped along the ground, sliding to a stop right at Zhou Che's feet.

"Big brothers and big sisters!"

Zhuang Zeqiang's voice went out of tune, carrying a sobbing tone and a tremor.

The gap where his front teeth were missing made his pronunciation slurred.

He knelt on the ground, hands pressed together, looking up at Zhou Che, his face smeared with blood and tears.

"I was just blinded by greed for a moment! I was blind! I was pig-headed! I shouldn't have targeted you!"

His voice grew louder and faster, as if he were afraid that if he spoke too slowly, he would never have another chance.

"We have a strange object! A high-ranking strange object! Please spare our lives! I beg you!"

Zhou Che looked down at Zhuang Zeqiang kneeling at his feet.

He still had that blade of grass in his mouth, his expression unchanged, as if he were looking at a worthless piece of merchandise.

He waited until Zhuang Zeqiang had finished kowtowing three times before slowly taking the blade of grass out of his mouth.

"Oh?" Zhou Che's voice was low, carrying a careless laziness. "How high is the ranking?"

Zhuang Zeqiang looked up, his face covered in tears and snot, and shouted, "It's as high as a three or four-story building!"

Zhou Che didn't speak, just looked at him like that.

Zhuang Zeqiang felt his heart crawl with fear under that gaze and quickly corrected himself: "No, no, no, no, no! Ranked over four hundred! Over four hundred!"

Over four hundred. The expression on Zhou Che's face finally shifted.

A strange object ranked over four hundred is not low.

strange objects in the apocalypse are as numerous as ox hairs; anything that can make it into the top five hundred is something with real ability.

His blood moon scepter is only ranked a little over three hundred.

A strange object ranked over four hundred would be a treasure at the bottom of the box for any The Convoy.

"Keep talking." Zhou Che put the blade of grass back into his mouth.

"It's a safe house!" Zhuang Zeqiang knelt on the ground, shuffling forward on his knees half a step.

"Ranked four hundred thirty-three! It can shield the life force of living people within a certain range!

We only survived in Linshui County until now because of this! Really! If you don't believe me, I'll take you to see it!"

Shielding the life force of living people.

Zhou Che narrowed his eyes.

"Lead the way." Zhou Che straightened up and pulled the blood moon scepter from the ground.

"As long as the strange object is real, I will spare your life."

Zhuang Zeqiang clearly hesitated.

He knelt on the ground, his eyes rolling, his lips twitching a few times.

He wasn't stupid; in the apocalypse, promises were the most worthless things.

The other party saying they would release him didn't mean they actually would.

He had done this kind of thing himself many times—promising to let someone go, then stabbing them in the back once he got the goods.

"Do you have a choice?" Zhou Che's voice turned cold, and he tapped the scepter in his hand against the stone bricks.

Crushed stones flew up and hit Zhuang Zeqiang in the face.

"Either die now, or take me to get the strange object. Choose one."

Zhuang Zeqiang shrank his neck.

He looked back at his four brothers behind him.

The eyes of the four men were all saying one thing: we have no other choice.

He gritted his teeth and scrambled up from the ground, gravel still stuck to his knees, his pant legs worn through into two large holes.

"Okay. I'll lead the way."

Zhuang Zeqiang walked in front, with Zhou Che and his group following behind.

Luo Xi walked side by side with Zhou Che, her halberd not put away.

Wang Laowu clutched that white bone, glancing at the back of Zhuang Zeqiang's head from time to time, his hands itching terribly.

Wang Zhiming adjusted his broken glasses and took out a map to mark the route on the side.

Zhang Lijuan brought up the rear, still clutching the talismans in her hand, guarding against any tricks from the few Transcendents nearby.

Zhuang Zeqiang's gathering place was in a residential compound on the east side of Linshui County.

The compound wasn't large, with seven or eight residential buildings forming a semicircle.

In the middle was a dried-up fountain and a patch of withered greenery.

Zhuang Zeqiang led them through the central road of the compound to a villa at the very back.

Zhuang Zeqiang fished a key out of his pocket and opened the door.

Just as the door was pushed open.