116: Chapter 116 Zhou Che, Extremely Exhausted

He looked as if he had just been fished out of cold water.

She withdrew her hand, took off her own jacket, and covered Zhou Che with it.

She tucked the book of rules he was clutching closer to his chest, so it wouldn't fall out during the bumps.

"How is he?" Captain Liu Ruyan turned back from the front seat.

"He's asleep," Lin Wan said.

"Or maybe he's passed out. His vital energy is severely depleted, and his Sequence Power has been drained dry."

"Let him sleep."

Luo Xi's voice came from the back of the carriage.

She was leaning against her halberd, full of concern.

The Convoy drove forward for about another half hour before Captain Liu Ruyan found a sheltered mountain hollow and stopped the car.

Dozens of floating cars formed two circles, enclosing the campsite in the middle.

The survivors got out of the cars and quietly set up tents and built fires; no one dared to speak loudly.

With Zhou Che asleep in the lead car, the entire Convoy followed suit and quieted down, as if it were some kind of sacred ritual.

Throughout that day and night, Zhou Che did not wake up once.

Lin Wan kept watch by his side, checking his breathing every few hours.

His breathing was still there; although weak, it had not stopped.

She fed Zhou Che water once, but most of it flowed down the corners of his mouth, and he only managed to swallow a small sip.

Zhou Che's eyelids fluttered, but he didn't open them, and he fell back into a deep sleep.

"He'll be alright, won't he?"

Ruan Xiaoxiao crouched at the car door with her slingshot tucked at her waist; for once, there was no playful expression on her face.

"He will," Lin Wan said, but her brow remained furrowed.

By the evening of the second day, when the sun was about to set, Zhou Che's fingers twitched first.

Then his eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes.

His eyes remained cloudy for a good while before slowly focusing.

He discovered that he was lying on the bed in the car, covered with a blanket, and still holding that book of rules in his arms.

Lin Wan was sitting beside him, holding an enamel mug filled with compressed biscuit paste soaked in hot water.

Seeing Zhou Che open his eyes, she set the mug aside.

"You're awake."

Zhou Che opened his mouth; his throat felt like it had been sanded with sandpaper, and he squeezed out a few words: "How long have I been asleep?"

"A day and a night," Lin Wan said, lifting the mug and holding it to his lips.

"If you hadn't woken up, I was prepared to force-feed you. Not a drop of water for a day and a night—it could kill you."

Zhou Che managed a sip; the warm biscuit paste slid down his throat, scraping his esophagus painfully.

He coughed twice, took another sip, and then pushed the mug away, bracing himself against the seat to sit up.

His movements were very slow, as if every muscle was protesting.

After sitting straight, he took several breaths before resting his head against the car window, looking at the sky outside.

"Turn back."

The carriage fell silent. Lin Wan's hand holding the enamel mug froze in mid-air.

"Turn back?" Ruan Xiaoxiao poked half her body in from the car door.

"Mr. Zhou, did you sleep until you're muddled? We don't even know if those two anomalies have finished fighting, and we barely escaped—you want to go back now?"

"Yeah, Mr. Zhou."

Captain Liu Ruyan also turned back from the driver's seat.

"The Devourer of Calamity and the Wraith Black Mist—either one could swallow us all whole. In your current state, you definitely shouldn't go back."

Zhou Che leaned against the car window; his complexion was still frighteningly pale, but his eyes had regained their clarity.

He slightly raised a hand, signaling them to be quiet for a moment, and caught his breath before speaking.

"I know. I placed a mark on those two things."

His fingers were still trembling, but his tone was much steadier.

"I sensed it before I fell asleep; they weren't fighting in the same place. They must have fought their way further and further away, heading east. The battle site should be empty now."

"So what if it's empty?" Ruan Xiaoxiao asked, confused.

"If it's empty, there's stuff to scavenge."

"wraith cold crystal!"

Zhou Che's mouth twitched, wanting to smile, but the cracks on his lips split open a bit more, making him gasp in pain.

"Two anomalies of that level had a fight; just the aftermath of their battle could crush a whole group of ordinary anomalies. The area near the battle site is actually the safest place right now. If I don't go back and check, I won't be able to sleep."

The people in the carriage looked at each other.

Luo Xi opened her eyes, glanced at Zhou Che, and said nothing; she simply slammed her halberd onto the ground and turned to notify the vehicles behind them to turn around.

She knew that since Zhou Che could say something like "I placed a mark on those two things," it meant he wasn't just showing off—he had calculated it seriously.

Zhou Che was a man who feared death greatly.

But she also knew that wealth is sought amidst danger.

This trip, being driven out of the camp by the Devourer of Calamity, losing his Sequence level, draining his vital energy, and nearly losing his life.

If he didn't go back and fish something out, this account wouldn't settle in his heart.

The Convoy began to turn around and drove back in the direction they had come from.

Dozens of floating cars formed a long line in the twilight, moving slowly and steadily.

Captain Liu Ruyan kept the power source at cruising speed to avoid bumping Zhou Che.

In less than an hour, they reached the site where the battle had broken out.

There was no need for Zhou Che to give directions; everyone saw it.

Before they left, this had been a gravel road with dead street trees and a few abandoned residential houses on both sides.

Now, nothing was left.

The road was gone, the dead trees were gone, and the residential houses were gone too.

In their place was a massive crater.

It was at least two hundred meters in diameter, and the bottom of the crater was too deep to see.

The soil at the edges had been burned into a glass-like state, shimmering with a dark green light under the setting sun.

A ring of cracks extended outward from the edge of the crater, covering the ground for a kilometer in every direction like a spiderweb.

A pungent odor still lingered in the air.

It was like the acrid smell of metal evaporating after being corroded by strong acid, mixed with a faint, elusive hint of blood.

"Holy shit."

Wang Laowu jumped down from a car behind and stood at the edge of the crater, looking down; his legs went weak.

"Is this a fight? This is more like a meteorite hitting the Earth, isn't it?"

Luo Xi walked to the edge of the crater and squatted down, reaching out to touch the glass-like soil at the rim.

As soon as her fingers touched it, the surface of the soil crumbled into powder and fell away in rustles.

She withdrew her hand, brushed the dust off her fingertips, and her expression became unusually solemn.

Two monsters fighting, and the aftermath burned the ground into glass. Zhou Che's decision to run was correct.

But Zhou Che wasn't looking at the crater.

He had Lin Wan help him get out of the car, walked with unsteady steps to the edge of the crater, bent down, and picked something up from the ground.

There were many wraith cold crystals in the vicinity.

"Lin Wan," Zhou Che said, tucking the cold crystal into his pocket.

"Tell everyone to collect all the cold crystals on the ground."

Lin Wan acknowledged and turned to call out to the survivors.

Dozens of people took cloth bags and empty sacks, spreading out along the edge of the crater, bending down to pick up the cold crystals.

They picked up the large ones by hand and used their fingers to dig the small ones out of the cracks in the soil.

In less than half an hour, the cloth bags in everyone's hands were heavy.

A survivor dug a cold crystal the size of half a palm out of the mud.

He held it up for Zhou Che to see; Zhou Che nodded, and the man happily stuffed it into his bag.

Zhou Che, supported by Lin Wan, continued to walk forward.

He walked very slowly, every step feeling like he was treading on cotton, but his eyes kept scanning.

He was sensing his mark.