Chapter 26: The Plan — Is the Safe House Really That Important? Part 3

“That’s great! In that case, we can head to Cheng’an City with peace of mind tomorrow,” Ji Li said with a smile.

“Wait, we’re going to Cheng’an City tomorrow?” Chen Jianxin, who had been listening quietly, was startled. “I thought the plan was to wait for the Black Tide to come, then lure them over?”

“Right, which is exactly why we need to go to Cheng’an City and get familiar with it first.” Ji Li glanced at the earthen kiln—white smoke still rising from the kiln mouth—and explained carefully to Chen Jianxin.

“To lure the Black Tide into Cheng’an City, we don’t actually need explosives and speakers—just driving a car ahead of them will do. The problem is, after leading the Black Tide into Cheng’an City, how do we escape? That’s why we need to enter the city in advance and prepare.”

“As long as we pick a few suitable spots to place explosives and detonate them at the right moment, we can break out of Cheng’an City and return to the school.”

“Isn’t that too dangerous?” Chen Jianxin frowned. “To lure the Black Tide into Cheng’an City, we could just use explosives—there are so many construction sites around here, more than enough.”

“But we don’t have enough explosives,” Ji Li said, spreading his hands helplessly. “None of us are demolition engineers. To blow up buildings and cause collapse and vibration, we’d have to go overboard to guarantee enough explosive. And to lure the Black Tide into Cheng’an City, the choice of detonation points is critical.”

“The distance has to be far, the blast has to be big, and it has to be within Sister Luyao’s line of sight. There’s no suitable spot nearby—we have to go into Cheng’an City. Since we’re going anyway, we might as well lure the Black Tide there on foot and save some explosives.”

Chen Jianxin had nothing to say, but his face was still full of unease. Gao Lan reassured him, “Relax. With Yang Haoran and Qin Xiaoxiao, plus Yu Shen as a Living Map, Cheng’an City isn’t that dangerous.”

“We’ll also bring explosives and speakers—we won’t charge in unprepared,” Ji Li added.

Chen Jianxin was silent a moment, then nodded heavily. “Fine! We’ll do it your way!”

At the evening meeting, Ji Li laid out his ideas in greater detail.

“First, everyone must be familiar with the roads and streets around the Elevated Bridge area, so we can shake off the Black Tide and escape in an emergency.”

“Second, we need to find a high vantage point where Sister Luyao can take up a favorable position. After the others lure the Black Tide into the city, she’ll set fire to buildings and detonate the explosives, helping the lures escape.”

Under everyone’s gaze, Ji Li spoke with clear logic.

“What we need to prepare in this period: first, hunt zombies and stockpile as many Points as possible, so that if there’s an emergency and others can’t come to the rescue, we can rely on the System Shop to get out of trouble.”

“Second, plan the route for luring the Black Tide, and place speakers and batteries along the way. The thing I haven’t figured out is how to activate the speakers—ideally by remote.”

As he spoke, Ji Li looked hopefully at Yang Haoran, hoping he’d offer a solution.

But Yang Haoran looked troubled, and finally stammered, “Maybe… just throw them out? The thing is, the speakers and batteries are all cobbled together, connected by wiring—can’t make a remote control… I don’t know how to make one either.”

Ji Li was a little disappointed, but not surprised.

“Fair enough. But if that’s the case, we’ll need two cars. The lead car carries Yu Shen, Brother Yang, and Sister Xiaoxiao, and we’ll need another car to toss the speakers…”

Hearing her own name, Qin Xiaoxiao jolted in fright, nearly leaping up. “I have to go lure the Black Tide too?!”

Gao Lan frowned briefly, but quickly smoothed her expression and said gently, “Don’t worry. The Black Tide’s speed is limited—driving is safe. We’re bringing you in case we get surrounded.”

Ji Li explained too. “And it won’t last long. Once we’re off the Elevated Bridge, the car can accelerate away, and our setup will draw the Black Tide off.”

These words seemed to reassure Qin Xiaoxiao, and her complexion improved somewhat.

Just then, Zhang Luyao suddenly asked, “For the ignition—is there any way to communicate in real time? Otherwise, what if we blow up our own people?”

“All I can think of is using Brother Monkey’s skill to notify you of the timing—when the lead car exits the Elevated Bridge and accelerates—then you estimate the timing and throw the explosives.”

Ji Li sighed and spread his hands. “No communication equipment, so this is all we’ve got. If we find walkie-talkies while clearing zombies, things get much simpler.”

When Ji Li finished, Gao Lan looked around at everyone. “Any other questions? If not, we proceed with this plan. Tomorrow, everyone enters Cheng’an City together—first confirm the Black Tide’s position, then hunt zombies and gather supplies.”

Everyone agreed in turn and rose to leave. Gao Lan watched Qin Xiaoxiao’s retreating back, a flicker in her eyes, then found Chen Jianxin. The two whispered for a while before parting ways.

The next day, ten people set out for Cheng’an City in three cars.

The lead car carried Gao Lan, Yu Shen, and Qin Xiaoxiao, responsible for scouting; the second car carried Chen Jianxin, Lu Zihan, Shen Shuyan, and Yang Haoran; the third carried Skinny Monkey, Zhang Luyao, and Ji Li.

Getting in, Ji Li set Eno on the center console and gave the passenger seat to Zhang Luyao.

Zhang Luyao looked at the little robot with great curiosity. “Isn’t that the EMO desktop robot? You brought this over with you?”

Ji Li froze, then hurriedly denied it. “No, I found it here. Doesn’t it look just like one? I named it ENO—Eno.”

“Found it here? It looks exactly like an EMO.”

As Zhang Luyao spoke, she reached out to pick Eno up for a closer look, but the little machine dodged with surprising agility, scurrying to the side near the driver’s seat and standing on tiptoe toward the back seat, shouting away.

Eno: ヾ[óò]ﾉﾞ

Eno: ヾ[꒪꒪]ﾉﾞ

Ji Li looked utterly resigned. “All right, all right, I’m right here. Be good and remember the route—Daddy’s safety depends on you.”

Eno: [☍º]

Eno: [づº]

Eno: [ºº]ゝ

After finishing its salute, the little robot turned and walked to the windshield, pressing itself flat against the glass and facing outward. The whole sequence left Zhang Luyao gaping.

“Okay, now I believe you found it here… An EMO could never be this lifelike!”

“What do you mean, lifelike?” Skinny Monkey had just pulled open the car door and heard this, asking curiously.

Zhang Luyao immediately described Eno’s antics, leaving Skinny Monkey astonished. “For real? This robot’s gone and become a spirit, hasn’t it?”

Seeing others marvel at Eno’s cleverness, Ji Li lifted his chin proudly. “Really! And Eno can memorize routes and navigate. The reason Sister Lan and I made it back from Cheng’an City safely last time was entirely thanks to it.”

“Whoa! That capable? Then do we even need to memorize the route?” Skinny Monkey started the engine and stepped on the gas, teasing.

“No, we still memorize. Eno’s navigation time is limited—in the end, you can only rely on yourself.”

“True enough. Relying on anyone beats relying on no one, but relying on yourself beats them all.” Skinny Monkey gripped the wheel and followed the car ahead.

Today they had only one goal: map out the Black Tide’s main range of activity, avoid them, and learn the roads.

With the help of three human motion detectors, things went very smoothly. They even discovered the reason the Black Tide’s activity zone had shifted overall.

“So there’s a river here. No wonder there’s almost no Black Tide in the suburbs or on the hills,” Ji Li murmured, watching the river cutting through the city beside the road.

“The river isn’t loud,” Zhang Luyao said, rolling up the window, also keeping her voice low. “Sounds about the same as road noise.”

“That’s because we’re crawling at minimum speed. If we sped up, engine noise would drown out the water,” Skinny Monkey said, following the car ahead onto the ring road.

They drove until three in the afternoon, when the convoy stopped in an alley near the Elevated Bridge for a rest.

“This area is relatively safe, as long as we control our volume,” Gao Lan said, drawing a circle on the simple map. “So this is our zone for clearing zombies and gathering supplies from now on.”

“That hotel is the high point of this area. Let’s start clearing from there,” Chen Jianxin said, pointing at a spot on the map.

No one objected, and they began discussing which buildings to select as detonation points.

“…Then we pour some gasoline on the top floor, and Sister Luyao just throws a lit Gasoline Bottle over.”

“Then the speakers can’t be placed at the detonation points—what if they get smashed?”

“Just offset them. As long as we make noise across the whole area, it works.”

When the discussion wrapped up, Gao Lan made the call. “Since we’ve settled it, let’s begin. We head back today and start operations tomorrow.”

Everyone agreed, got in the cars, and returned to the school a dozen-odd minutes later.

Getting out, Qin Xiaoxiao covered her eyes and told Gao Lan in a muffled voice, “Sister Lan, I overused my skill—my vision’s blurry and my head’s spinning…”

Gao Lan gave her a long, deep look, then after a moment said, “Then sit and rest a while. I’ll leave the car keys here.”

“Okay… thank you, Sister Lan.”

That night, a sedan quietly left the school. No one was surprised by the outcome—Gao Lan even calmly pointed at the SUV missing its rear window and asked Yang Haoran, “Can this window be fixed?”

Yang Haoran looked it over and nodded. “We can take glass from another car. The problem is lacking tools.”

“I remember there’s an auto repair shop next to the gas station by the Elevated Bridge. I’ll bring you tools tonight when we get back.”

“Okay.”

Leaving Yang Haoran, Shen Shuyan, and Skinny Monkey to monitor the Black Tide’s movements, the other six drove off in two cars toward the hotel.

Over the following days, Ji Li’s group hunted zombies and gathered supplies in Cheng’an City by day, returning to the school at night to divide the spoils and rest. Soon everyone had built up a substantial fortune—even Yang Haoran and Yu Shen had gotten Ji Li to expand a Space Bracelet once each.

“You think Xiaoxiao regrets it, seeing how much we’ve gained?”

That day, Skinny Monkey was driving when he suddenly spoke up.

Shen Shuyan sat in the back seat and gave a soft snort. “Everyone makes their own choices. Besides, Sister Lan didn’t confiscate her wristband, and during those days with Chen Zhixiong, she got her share of cores too. Right, Haoran?”

Yang Haoran grunted. “Plus all those cafeteria supplies from before. Enough to live on for a long time.”

“That’s true, but looking at results, staying was the better deal—and not that dangerous either.”

By now, they all had several thousand Points each, their spaces had doubled, and their stockpiled supplies would easily last past the end of the Main Quest—ten more Main Quests wouldn’t strain them.

“Who can predict the future? And the Main Quest doesn’t end for another four days—don’t count your chickens.”

The moment Shen Shuyan finished speaking, Yang Haoran suddenly shushed him. Skinny Monkey startled and braked at once. “What? Did you hear something?”

Yang Haoran frowned. “Shh! Don’t talk.”

Skinny Monkey covered his mouth, glancing at the rearview mirror in terror, meeting Shen Shuyan’s bloodless face dead-on.

Don’t tell me I jinxed it…

Just as he was thinking it, Yang Haoran spoke. “There’s a car coming.”

“A car?” Skinny Monkey’s nerves loosened. “Oh, just a car—you nearly scared me to death!”

But Shen Shuyan’s brow was tightly furrowed. “Can you tell how many?”

“Just one, moving very fast.” Yang Haoran stuck his head out the window. “Should be visible any second… There!”

Skinny Monkey and Shen Shuyao looked ahead quickly, seeing a silver-white sedan approaching in the distance.

“Why does that car look familiar… Holy crap! It’s Xiaoxiao!”

“Is she waving?”

“She is. What’s going on? Why is she back?”

As the two cars drew closer, the three gradually made out the expression on Qin Xiaoxiao’s face—

Twisted, deathly pale, born of the most direct and deep-rooted emotion carved into human DNA: fear.

Shen Shuyan reacted in an instant, lunging forward to grab the back of the front seat. “Turn around! Go find Boss Chen and the others! Quick—!”