113: Chapter 113 Keep it clean

"Everyone in the camp, maintain personal hygiene.

No spitting, no littering, and wash your clothes immediately if they get dirty.

The rule of the anomaly at Hongfan Plaza was that unclean people would be erased.

Even if the rules for this anomaly are different, staying clean is never wrong."

After the meeting, the patrol team moved into action immediately.

Shifts lasted thirty minutes, continuing day and night. More firewood was added to the campfires, causing them to burn several times brighter than usual.

The firelight illuminated the surroundings, and shadows flickered across the tents.

Everyone held a torch in their hand, shining light wherever they went.

Zhou Che stood on the roof of his RV with his blood moon scepter propped beside him, looking down at the brightly lit camp below.

Luo Xi stood beside him, her halberd held horizontally behind her back.

"Do you think this will work?" Luo Xi asked.

"I don't know," Zhou Che said, "but having something is better than nothing. If it doesn't come out, we'll just wait it out.

Once it comes out, I'll show it what it means to be a turtle in a jar."

He didn't say the second half of that; he was waiting not just for the anomaly, but also for the rule it possessed.

The purification rule had given him a taste of success. No need to consume his Sequence, no price to pay, just direct use.

When you get a freebie like that, once you take it, you want to take it again.

A night passed. Nothing happened.

The daytime patrols didn't find anything unusual either.

The atmosphere in the camp became even more tense than before.

Every time the patrol teams changed shifts, everyone had to take a headcount.

If one person was missing, the whole team would go on alert, only to find out someone had gone to the bathroom, resulting in a false alarm.

Zhou Che walked around the camp with his Perceiver Sequence constantly active.

That faint, elusive aura of the anomaly was still there, neither growing stronger nor weaker.

Like a thin mist, it spread evenly over the entire camp, making him feel as though something was watching him from the shadows.

This anomaly was too patient.

He knew this couldn't go on, but he had no other choice.

The Prophet Sequence had already been used, and neither the Shield nor the purification from the book of rules could help him locate the anomaly.

He could only wait. Wait until the anomaly couldn't hold back anymore, then strike.

Until the evening of the next day, just as the sun set and the sky darkened.

The third patrol squad was walking along the fence on the north side of the camp.

The captain was Ruan Xiaoxiao, the deputy was Shen Fei, and there was also a newly joined Transcendent named Zhao Dali.

The three of them walked in a triangular formation, with several ordinary survivors in the middle, each holding a torch.

The north side of the camp was the supply storage area, where several floating cars were parked.

Next to them were piles of cotton-padded jackets and quilts just brought back from Linshui County, which hadn't been fully distributed yet.

When the wind blew through here, it was blocked by the supply piles, creating a sheltered area that was much quieter than the rest of the camp.

Zhao Dali was walking at the very back. He was a taciturn middle-aged man.

He never spoke while patrolling; he went where he was supposed to go and stopped where he was supposed to stop.

Shen Fei felt confident in him. But now, as he walked at the back, he hadn't made a sound for a minute.

A moment ago, he could still hear his footsteps, but now the footsteps were gone too.

Shen Fei turned around abruptly. Zhao Dali was gone.

Where he had been standing, a torch lay on the ground, its head pointing downwards, already extinguished.

Shen Fei felt his scalp tingle. "Big Sister Xiaoxiao! Where's Dali?"

Ruan Xiaoxiao turned around, her slingshot half-drawn. "He was right behind me just a moment ago!"

"Don't move!" Shen Fei shouted. "Everyone stand where you are and grab the hand of the person next to you!"

The ordinary survivors hurriedly grabbed the hands of those beside them, one holding the next.

Some people's hands were shaking, and some palms were covered in sweat.

Shen Fei picked up the walkie-talkie, his fingers trembling as he pressed the talk button.

"Mr. Zhou! Third squad! North area! Zhao Dali is gone!"

Zhou Che was crouching by the campfire, warming his hands.

When Shen Fei's voice exploded from the walkie-talkie, he threw the wooden stick in his hand and stood up.

Beside him, Luo Xi had already raised her halberd.

"It's here," Zhou Che said. There was no panic on his face; instead, there was a hint of irrepressible excitement.

Son of a bitch, finally.

By the time Zhou Che arrived at the north area, only one torch remained on the ground.

Its head pointed downwards, stuck in the mud, extinguished.

Ruan Xiaoxiao stood beside the torch, her slingshot still drawn, her knuckles white.

Shen Fei stood behind her, his lips moving, but no sound came out.

"Where is he?" Zhou Che strode over, dragging his blood moon scepter along the ground, carving a deep groove.

"He's gone."

Ruan Xiaoxiao lowered her slingshot, her throat dry.

"When we were counting off just now, it was Zhao Dali's turn, and he didn't respond. I turned around, and he was gone.

Just this torch was left on the ground, nothing else."

"Did you see the anomaly?"

"No."

Shen Fei took over, his voice still trembling.

"We didn't see anything. He was walking behind me, only three meters away.

Three meters. He was gone without me even hearing a footstep."

Zhou Che crouched down and picked up the torch.

The head of the torch was still warm, stained with Zhao Dali's sweat.

He tossed the torch aside, stood up, and swept his gaze over the supply piles in the north area.

The cotton jackets and quilts were stacked neatly, the floating cars were parked in their places, and the fence was intact.

There were no signs of a struggle, no bloodstains, no footprints.

"Everyone," Zhou Che turned around and ordered the Transcendents gathering around him.

"Search this area for me.

Behind every pile of supplies, under every car, twenty meters outside the fence—don't miss a single spot."

The Transcendents dispersed.

The torchlight flickered across the north area of the camp, illuminating the gaps between the supply piles, the muddy ground under the vehicles, and the withered grass outside the fence.

Luo Xi walked at the front, carrying her halberd, the blade pushing aside bundles of quilts.

Wang Laowu crawled under a vehicle, shone his flashlight around, then crawled out and shook his head.

Captain Liu Ruyan walked along the fence twice, her long whip dragging trails on the ground, but she didn't flush anything out.

Twenty minutes later, everyone returned to the spot.

"Nothing."

"Nothing here either."

"There isn't even a footprint outside the fence."

Zhou Che stood beside the extinguished torch, listening to one "nothing" after another, his expression growing increasingly grim.

His Perceiver Sequence was still active, and the aura of the anomaly was still there.

It was everywhere, but he couldn't lock onto any specific source.

It felt like falling into a quagmire; it was all mud, but when he reached out to grab it, he couldn't catch anything.

At Hongfan Plaza, he could at least see those two Mannequins. But here, he couldn't even touch the shadow of the anomaly.

Run.

He had to run.

The anomaly at Hongfan Plaza at least had clear rules: unclean people would be erased.

Once he found the rule, he could force the anomaly to appear.

But this anomaly was different.

It killed without a pattern, or perhaps there was a pattern, but he hadn't figured it out yet.

The Prophet Sequence had already been used, and he couldn't use it again for another month.

He didn't have time.

If he kept waiting, the next one to disappear might be Ruan Xiaoxiao, or Captain Liu Ruyan, or Luo Xi.

"Everyone, listen up."