82: Chapter 82 First to Act

Having eliminated his major threat, Song Yang did not linger on the second floor, turning around to return to the first floor by the same route.

When he walked to a corner near the exit, a casual glance from the corner of his eye made him pause.

It was an inconspicuous corner, piled with some damaged cardboard boxes.

And in the gaps between the boxes, a small tree about half a meter tall was stubbornly growing.

However, this small tree was charred black all over, clearly having been dead for a long time.

Yet, on these dead branches, five fruits were sparsely hanging.

Each fruit was only a quarter the size of a fist, its skin emitting a faint blue light.

bodhi fruit!

Song Yang's heart stirred; this was exactly the bodhi fruit he had exchanged for at the Exchange earlier!

He hadn't expected to find five of them here all at once!

He stepped forward, picked all five bodhi fruits, and put them into his system space as well.

"Thud! Thud!"

Just as Song Yang finished putting away the bodhi fruits, a burst of footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the supermarket's main entrance.

More than one person!

Song Yang raised an eyebrow, choosing not to force his way out through the main entrance.

His figure flashed, and he slipped silently out through a broken window on the side of the supermarket.

In a few leaps, his figure completely merged into the darkness and vanished without a trace.

The footsteps approached from afar, and three flashlight beams swayed in the dimness.

The person leading them was none other than Du Haoxuan.

His face had a few abrasions, and his clothes were somewhat torn, making him look quite disheveled.

But his eyes were shockingly bright, revealing a near-manic excitement.

"Hurry! Faster! That thing must be in this supermarket, before that monster comes back!"

Du Haoxuan lowered his voice, but his tone could not hide his urgency.

Their original team of nine was now reduced to just the three of them; the cost was undeniably heavy.

But precisely because of this, they were even more determined to obtain the treasure that was about to be in their hands.

The three of them began to search the first floor cautiously.

"Damn it, there's nothing on the first floor!"

Du Haoxuan cursed under his breath and kicked away an empty, crushed can.

"Could that thing be upstairs?" Uncle Biao muttered.

A fierce glint flashed in Du Haoxuan's eyes:

"It must be upstairs! Let's go, let's go up and check!"

The three of them did not hesitate any longer, stepping onto the dust-covered stairs and walking up to the second floor step by step.

As they went higher, the faint, strange fragrance in the air grew stronger.

The moment the three of them stepped onto the second floor and their flashlight beams illuminated the scene ahead, even Uncle Biao, who had seen many battles, couldn't help but gasp.

It was a scene of total devastation.

Even more shocking were the dozen or so shriveled, twisted "corpses" scattered on the floor!

These corpses had bizarre forms; they didn't look like they had died normally, but rather as if they had been drained of all essence by some power, leaving only skin and bones.

And among the corpses, a clear trail of footprints stretched from the top of the stairs deep into the second floor, finally disappearing beside a toppled shelf.

Du Haoxuan stared fixedly at those footprints, scanned the corpses on the ground, and finally fixed his gaze on that toppled shelf.

That was where the strange fragrance was strongest, but now there was only scattered debris; it was completely empty.

The mysterious object he had envisioned was nowhere to be seen!

An indescribable rage erupted from the bottom of Du Haoxuan's heart like a volcano!

"Impossible!"

"Where is my mysterious object? Who? Who stole my stuff!!"

For this thing, he had lost six subordinates and paid a huge price. Just when it was about to be in his hands, someone had beaten him to it!

This huge disparity, falling from heaven to hell in an instant, made him nearly insane!

"Pfft—"

Du Haoxuan felt a sweetness in his throat, and a mouthful of blood sprayed out violently.

"Young Master, what's wrong?"

Uncle Biao hurried forward to support him.

However, Du Haoxuan rolled his eyes back, his body went limp, and he collapsed, fainting.

Several kilometers away, in the upper floors of an abandoned office building, the door of a certain room was locked from the inside.

Song Yang stood before a dusty window, gazing out in the direction of the distant supermarket.

That group of people from earlier must be furious by now.

So many people died, and in the end, it was all for nothing; anyone would cough up blood over that.

However, what did that have to do with him?

In the apocalypse, finders keepers; it was only natural.

He didn't dwell on it further, took out a folding table and chair from his system space, and deftly laid out some food.

A steaming bowl of braised beef noodles, a plate of peanuts on the side, and a can of ice-cold beer.

After finishing the beef noodles, Song Yang let out a comfortable burp, then slowly picked up some peanuts, savoring them with the remaining beer.

At this moment, he looked like an ordinary person who, after a hard day's work, could finally relax and enjoy a moment of peace.

Recalling the bizarre illusion on the second floor, Song Yang still felt a lingering fear.

The yellow flower's illusion was truly eerie; if not for his mental power far exceeding that of an ordinary person, and his timely suppression of desire, he might have truly fallen for it and become one of those dried corpses.

"Once I return to the Villa and get settled, I must properly study that blue flower."

Song Yang took a sip of beer and calculated in his mind, "And this yellow flower I just got; I also need to figure out what it's all about, and see if it has any other uses besides creating illusions."

Everything has two sides. Since it's a mysterious object, it must have benefits he doesn't know about yet.

After eating and drinking his fill, Song Yang took out a folding bed and took a short nap.

When his energy had recovered by seven or eight tenths, he put all his items back into his system space and left the building.

...

On the other side, inside an abandoned bus.

Du Haoxuan's eyelids fluttered a few times, and finally, he opened his eyes.

His vision was blurry at first, then gradually became clear, and Uncle Biao's face, filled with anxiety, came into view.

"Young Master, you're awake? How are you feeling?"

Du Haoxuan felt a splitting headache, and his temples were throbbing.

"Water!"

Uncle Biao hurriedly took an unopened bottle of mineral water from his backpack and handed it over.

Du Haoxuan took it, twisted off the cap, and took a few fierce gulps, which helped his chaotic thoughts clear up a little.

"Help me up!"

Uncle Biao and another person hurriedly helped him stand steady.

The first thing Du Haoxuan did was reach for the walkie-talkie at his waist, tune it to a specific channel, press the talk button, and say, suppressing his anger:

"Dad, it's me, Haoxuan."

A hoarse crackle of static came from the other end of the walkie-talkie, and a moment later, a steady male voice spoke:

"Haoxuan? How is the situation? Did you get 'that thing'?"

Hearing his father's voice, Du Haoxuan's expression became even uglier, and his voice trembled slightly:

"Dad, the thing was stolen by someone beforehand! We even lost six of our men!!"

There was silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie for a few seconds; that suppressed rage seemed to be transmitted through the electrical current:

"Stolen? Who did it?!!"

"I don't know!"

"When we arrived, there was nothing left! That bastard! Don't let me run into him, or I'll skin him alive!"

Uncle Biao listened from the side and sighed inwardly.

The losses this time were too great; not only did they fail to get the item, but they also lost most of Deputy Mayor Du's trusted aides, which could be called a heavy loss.

If this matter were to be known by other high-level officials in the Shelter, it would likely be a big problem.

Just at this moment, a figure happened to walk past the bus—it was Song Yang, who had just walked out of the office building!