CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER 439: ARRIVING AT THE VILLAGE

The impact created a crater several meters wide, and flames consumed everything in sight, including soil.

When the smoke finally cleared, the massive rat lay on the ground, its charred body twitching before it disintegrated into ash. A crystal core rolled out from the remains, pulsing faintly with red light.

Both Chu Miao and Ye Xuan stood there looking at the crater with only a crystal core in it.

They hadn’t expected the fight to end so easily. The rat didn’t even have the time to fight back.

Chu Miao floated into the crater and picked up the crystal core carefully, sealing it inside a jade container she found in the soul ring.

"Its energy is impure," she said softly. "We’ll have to purify it later and see what it can do."

Ye Xuan exhaled, brushing dust from his clothes. "Let’s leave this place before more of those things show up."

The two walked back to the car while holding hands in silent reassurance.

The others watched them approach, relief flooding their faces.

"Remind me never to underestimate mutated rats again," Jing Xian muttered.

He wasn’t the only one who had that feeling.

Pei Ming chuckled dryly. "At least we know who to rely on when the apocalypse throws another nightmare our way."

The others laughed and gave Ye Xuan and Chu Miao teasing glances.

Chu Miao just smiled faintly, her gaze meeting Ye Xuan’s. "We overcame today," she said quietly. "But something tells me this was only the beginning."

Ye Xuan looked back at the scorched forest behind them, his eyes narrowing. "You’re right," he said. "Whatever caused those creatures to mutate to such an extent is still in this forest. However, we don’t have the time to look for it now.

We will do the search on our way back."

As the convoy rolled forward once more, the wind carried the faint scent of burnt fur and ash, but beneath it lingered another presence.

Deep in the forest, under the layers of soil and stone, something ancient stirred.

The next stretch of the road was uneventful. The convoy proceeded slowly but without danger.

There was the occasional zombie that appeared and it would seem that they were part of the horde that had chased Jun Huang all the way to City A.

But these sporadic zombies were easy to eliminate.

When the sky was starting to change color and turn grey from orange, the people in the car in front driven by Gu Fan saw a village appearing in the distance.

It was extremely quiet. So quiet that they thought that this was a ghost town.

As they got closer, the people in the cars almost got convinced that the village was abandoned.

However, at that moment Chu Miao’s voice came through the comms, "Everyone, stop."

The cars driven by the six brothers belonging to Ye Xuan’s squad stopped immediately.

Only two cars were driven by the visiting soldiers and they moved a few more meters before coming to a stop. Mostly because they were sandwiched between other cars.

"Why did she ask us to stop?" Shouldn’t we enter the village first? It’s only about two hundred meters from here." One soldier sitting in the same vehicle as Jing Xian asked with some discontent and dissatisfaction evident in his voice.

There were others who had come with Jun Huang in the same vehicle and all of them seemed to have the same thoughts.

Jing Xian looked at them before turning to look outside.

It was only after several seconds had passed that he replied.

"She has her reasons. She never does anything without a good reason. If she told us to stop here, then there must be a problem with the village ahead." Jing Xian didn’t like to talk, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t know how to communicate.

The others looked at him, before looking outside.

They didn’t see anything extraordinary about the village and thought that Jing Xian was just defending Chu Miao because she was his boss’s girlfriend.

However, the same scenario played in the different vehicles. Nevertheless, they all switched off the comms first before complaining as they didn’t want to get on the bad side of Ye Xuan.

What they didn’t know was that both Chu Miao and Ye Xuan could hear them loud and clear.

Li Kun being the clown he was, pointed this out.

He was in the third car and was the one behind the wheel. Sitting beside him was one of Jun Huang’s subordinates and Jun Huang himself was in the same car.

He was sitting together with Pei Ming and a few other members of his squad.

Another person who asked the question about why Chu Miao was stopping there with the village in sight was the one sitting next to Li Kun.

"Why are you guys giving the leadership position to a young girl who hasn’t even experienced a single hardship?

Doesn’t she know that as soldiers, we should enter the village early to scout first before setting camp?"

Just like the other one sitting with Jing Xian, the person in Li Kun’s car also switched off the comms first before speaking.

Li Kun looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. His gaze was so intense that the guy thought he was going to confront him.

However, he just said something that surprised everyone in the car, except for Pei Ming of course.

"You don’t have to switch off the comms when speaking. She can hear everything you are saying as if she is sitting next to you." Li Kun said smugly.

"What!?" The guy asked in surprise.

"You are not messing with me are you? How can she hear what we are saying when she is so far away?" He asked, shocked.

"She can definitely hear you. So there is no need to be so secretive. She can also hear those in the other cars.

I am sure that even if someone were talking inside the village, she would be able to hear them.

So, you tell me, you are only a couple of cars away from her, would she hear you or not?" Li Kun asked with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

He didn’t like that these people were questioning their little fairy. To them, it wouldn’t matter that much if anyone questioned Ye Xuan, but no one was allowed to question Chu Miao.

She was their goddess.

"He is joking, right?" Jun Huang who was sitting together with Pei Ming turned to him and asked.

"Nope." Pei Ming replied seriously.

"So, you are saying she can really hear what we are saying?" He found the idea unbelievable and absurd.

How could a normal human being hear what others were saying from such a long distance?

"Don’t doubt it, she can hear us talking now, so be careful what you say." Pei Ming replied once again.

He also wasn’t happy that these people dared to question Chu Miao. Even though she was young, she was so much stronger than all of them and has also taught them cultivation.

She was the reason they were stronger than other human beings and also zombies.

They were particularly grateful for this chance when they saw the mutated rats.

They were sure that if they were the same as the soldiers led by Jun Huang, then they wouldn’t have survived this round of attack.

Even if they managed to escape, they would have had to make some sacrifices.

So, to them, Chu Miao was a savior and a leader even more important than Ye Xuan. Well, Ye Xuan would always be their most respected boss, but his position in their hearts was different from Chu Miao.

Luckily, Chu Miao was their sister-in-law, so there was no conflict of interest if they followed her lead.

"That impressive?" Jun Huang asked with a raised eyebrow.

He seriously hadn’t expected the little girl who could appear and disappear at will to be so powerful.

He wondered whether these soldiers were just praising her so highly to please Ye Xuan.

However, he also thought that there was no need for that since at that moment she and Ye Xuan were a distance away and wouldn’t be able to hear such flattery.

Then there could only be one explanation for what Li Kun and Pei Ming said. Everything was true. Whatever they said about Chu Miao was the truth.

But how did the little girl get so strong?

Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be good to offend her. So, he looked at the soldier in the front seat sternly and the soldier kept quiet.

Even though he didn’t believe what was said, he didn’t want to get on the bad side of his leader.

"Let’s get out of the car and find out why we stopped." Jun Huang said before pushing the car door open to get out.

The others in the car also got out and so did those in the other cars.

Ye Xuan and Chu Miao were the last to alight from their vehicle at the back.