Volume One Mutation Chapter Nineteen Rescue!

Mutant creatures were growing more numerous beneath them; the dense horde of zombies and common mutated cats and dogs surged toward the rain, with new mutants constantly joining from the sides—a scene reminiscent of streams converging into a river. Watching the vast tide of mutated beasts, even Liu Cong felt his scalp prickling. No wonder the cities they’d passed through earlier, though ruined, had shown so few traces of mutant creatures—all of them were pursuing the black rain.

He had to admit he’d underestimated the allure of the black rain for these mutants.

Wait—there were people!

Liu Cong focused his gaze downward. Ahead of the zombie tide, two off-road vehicles were fleeing at full throttle, only a few meters ahead of the surging undead.

The zombies at the rear, faces twisted in ravenous anticipation, seemed to believe their prey was within reach. They ran with frenzied excitement, mouths splitting wide in terrifying howls that chilled the soul.

"Wang Xin, drive faster! Step on it! They're catching up!" In the rear of the trailing vehicle, a man sat clutching his seat, eyes fixed on the approaching horde, his terror palpable as he shouted at his friend up front.

At the wheel, Wang Xin floored the accelerator, only to see the needle stubbornly unmoving. He snapped, "Stop yelling! This is as fast as it goes! Li Dong, throw something out!"

Panicked, Li Dong scrambled to the back, swung open the rear door, and tossed crates of food onto the road. Zombies tripped over the rolling boxes, falling en masse. The horde behind them failed to brake, stumbling over one another in chaos, and the gap with the vehicles widened.

It worked!

Li Dong, eyes bright with hope, threw whatever he could find, heedless of what was inside the boxes, tossing them out in a frenzy.

Wang Xin, glancing back as he drove, cursed when Li Dong began hurling a crate of bottled water. "Li Dong! Damn it, that's all our water! What are we supposed to drink? Enough—stop throwing!"

"Ah? Oh, okay, got it." Li Dong finally snapped out of his manic relief, pausing to shut the door. But closing it proved much harder; the SUV's rear door, fully opened, was taller than a man. He braced himself against the sides, carefully reaching for the handle.

Just then, the vehicle bounced over a steep rise, launching forward at high speed. Li Dong lost his balance and tumbled out, rolling across the ground like a spinning top. Fortunately, the half-meter tall grass cushioned his fall, sparing him from serious injury.

"Wang Xin!"

Watching his friend vanish into the grass, with the zombie tide so close behind, Wang Xin instinctively prepared to stop. A voice crackled from the radio: "Li Dong can’t be saved now. Do you want to die with him?" Wang Xin drew two shaky breaths, releasing his trembling foot from the brake. The two vehicles sped away, their passengers straining to look back.

Despite curling himself into a ball as he fell, protecting his head, the momentum sent Li Dong rolling more than ten meters before he stopped. Pain lanced through every inch of his body, and his right leg now hung limp and misshapen, unable to move. As the zombies drew closer, despair overwhelmed him. He glanced back at the receding vehicles, then closed his eyes.

Whoosh—

The instant a zombie leapt for Li Dong, a sharp sword streaked through the air, pinning it to the ground like a skewer. Li Dong opened his eyes to see a grotesque, mutated face glaring at him. He nearly fainted, but upon spotting the magical black-and-white sword lodged in the creature’s back, relief washed over him. Yet the next moment, the horde was upon him—he could read their bloodthirsty excitement in their eyes, the hunger for fresh prey.

Just then, black flames ignited around the sword, soaring skyward and spreading outward, forming a barrier of fire that encircled Li Dong. Every zombie and mutant creature that tried to breach the flames was incinerated into ash, the scene gruesome and unforgettable. The agonized, distorted faces of the dying mutants etched themselves forever into Li Dong’s memory.

Hovering just above the ground, Li Dong watched the black fire devastate the monsters, thinking with satisfaction, "So black fire makes short work of these T1 beasts." When the zombie horde finally avoided the flames and walked around, Liu Cong descended, pulled the sword from the earth, and the unlucky zombie had already disintegrated into a pile of ash.

Li Dong stared in awe at the figure descending from the sky. After a long moment, he asked, "Are you the swordsman from the video—the one who slew the giant wolf with a single stroke?"

"Your leg needs to be stabilized." Liu Cong glanced at the injury, speaking calmly. He found a dead tree, chopped off a sturdy branch with a single swing of his ethereal sword, and pulled some wild grass to use as rope.

Li Dong watched him use that celestial weapon to chop firewood, his mouth twitching. Wasn’t this like using a cannon to kill a mosquito—such a waste?

Without another word, Liu Cong splinted Li Dong’s broken leg, then hoisted him like a chick and flew toward the vehicles ahead. Li Dong hung limply, glancing down at the surging zombie tide below, dizzy with relief—he’d been saved.

Meanwhile, Wang Xin, pale and guilt-stricken, felt terrible. If only he’d driven more steadily, Li Dong wouldn’t have been lost. The other vehicle was equally silent—a man and two women staring out the window, safe for now but feeling no joy, knowing their escape had come at the cost of a friend’s life. Suddenly, the short-haired woman shouted, "Look behind us!"

Everyone turned to see Liu Cong flying rapidly from the sky, carrying Li Dong. While the others were excited, Wang Xin was consumed by mixed emotions—joy for his friend’s rescue, but uncertain how to face him.

Liu Cong landed behind the SUV, stuffed Li Dong inside, and shut the open door. Then he stood atop the roof, manipulating the airflow to push the vehicle forward. The SUV suddenly accelerated as if equipped with nitro boosters. Even if Wang Xin released the wheel, the car sped straight and true.

In the lead vehicle, three passengers stared, dumbfounded, at Liu Cong atop the roof. The SUV pushed forward like a rocket, colliding with the lead car and propelling both ahead, quickly widening the gap from the zombie horde.

With the danger receding, everyone finally relaxed, their eyes fixed on their savior atop the cars. The short-haired woman took out her camera and switched to video mode, grateful for the generator they’d found earlier, allowing them to record these moments even in a world without power.

"Wang Xin! The swordsman from the video is right on your roof! We’re saved, this is incredible! Shouldn’t we ask him to take us as disciples? Maybe we can become revered sword immortals too!" Wang Xin ignored the man’s laughter coming from the radio, carefully climbing to the back to check on Li Dong, who needed his support more than the steering wheel now.

Li Dong kept his eyes closed, refusing to look at Wang Xin’s once-familiar face. He didn’t blame his friend for not stopping; in that situation, he’d probably have done the same. Yet as he looked back, he’d hoped for more—expectation bred disappointment.

Standing atop the car, Liu Cong listened to the conversation inside while scanning the surroundings. The clouds above were thicker and lower, and waves of mutant creatures surged from every direction. Even the sky was filled with flocks of mutated birds. It was as if this approaching rain was a grand festival for them—they howled and screeched, openly yearning for the storm.

They had to hurry! Liu Cong needed to reach Safe Zone 16 before the White Serpent arrived, but the ordinary people in the vehicles slowed him down. They couldn’t withstand the cold or the turbulent air currents of high-altitude flight, so he couldn’t simply carry them ahead.

He pondered the dilemma: If he failed to reach the safe zone before the White Serpent, countless lives would be lost. If he left these people behind, he might save more—but could he really abandon them? They were living souls, after all.

The struggle raged within him, so intense he barely noticed how quickly he was propelling the cars forward. His anxiety summoned more powerful air currents, speeding the vehicles until they creaked and groaned, the force almost too much for their frames. The girls inside, already struggling with the intense g-forces, finally broke out in terrified screams.

Only then did Liu Cong realize what he’d done, hastily slowing the vehicles, shaken by how close he’d come to disaster. Any faster and the cars would have fallen apart, their passengers doomed. This experience convinced him to follow his heart—he couldn’t abandon these people, so he would bring them to Safe Zone 16, though he’d need to find a way to speed up.

Now, time was no longer money—it was a race against death itself.