"Hoo~"
Big Hu let out a heavy sigh as he got into the car. He pulled out a crumpled pack of Su Yan from his jacket pocket, handed one to Jack, lit one for himself, and after a long pause, leaned weakly against the back of the seat and said, "This time, it really is a total loss. Thanks to you, man, otherwise none of us would have made it out!"
"I'm just trying to protect myself!" Jack said calmly, his eyes fixed on the road ahead as he drove.
"Man, where are we going?" Boss Hu asked, taking a puff of his cigarette.
"I'm heading to Nanzhou. As for you guys, I'll drop you off when I come across the next gathering place!" Jack said expressionlessly.
"Then it's hard work for you, man!" Boss Hu said nonchalantly.
"Brother Lin, I'm not going anywhere, I just want to follow you!" A Xue in the back seat suddenly spoke up, while Cao Mei moved her lips but didn't say anything, because she knew that although Nanzhou looked like it was only a couple of hundred kilometers away, the journey was fraught with danger, and one misstep could lead to disaster. She didn't have the courage to seek her own death.
"Hehe~" Jack chuckled, waving his hand and looking at A Xue in the rearview mirror, saying, "Following me could get you killed very quickly, and as you saw tonight, that hellish Jack the Ripper is just a minor threat; there are some big guys that even I can't handle!"
"It's okay, I will definitely learn to not be afraid. As long as I can follow Brother Lin, even if I die, I won't have any regrets!" A Xue clenched her fists in the back seat, her face full of determination.
"Let's see, we don't know when we'll encounter the next gathering place, so you can decide then!" Jack said slowly.
...
The car swayed as it headed south, with a full moon hanging in the sky, larger than ever before. The four people in the car, except for Jack, hadn't been in a vehicle for a long time. After a brief excitement at the beginning, they soon fell into a deep sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, the Mercedes-Benz B200 slowly came to a stop. The world was no longer what it used to be; survivors lived in constant fear. So when the car stopped, even A Xue and Cao Mei woke up suddenly, while Boss Hu was already craning his neck to look around.
"Man, why did it stop?" Boss Hu patted his somewhat dazed face to force himself to wake up a bit.
"We're almost out of gas, we need to stop and refuel!" Jack turned on his powerful flashlight, opened the door, and jumped down. After checking the surroundings with the flashlight and confirming there was no danger, Jack walked to the back of the car and pulled out a large fuel can from the trunk.
Minutes later, the fuel can in Jack's hand was empty. He tossed the can back into the trunk and was about to get in and start the engine when he saw Cao Mei sitting in the driver's seat, smiling at him.
"Lin Ye, why don't you take a break on the side for a while? I'll take over!" Cao Mei said with a smile, gripping the steering wheel.
"Aren't you tired?" Jack asked expressionlessly.
"I've slept for over two hours, that's enough. For more than a year, I've just been sleeping all day, so I don't mind this little bit!" Cao Mei replied with a smile.
"Alright then!" Jack nodded, noticing that Hu Laoda in the passenger seat had already moved aside, so he turned and sat in the passenger seat, saying, "Just keep going south on this road, don't get on the highway, don't go into the city, stop at any gas station you see!"
Cao Mei obediently nodded, skillfully started the engine. Perhaps because she hadn't driven in a while, she was a bit nervous. She exhaled lightly, shifted into gear, pressed the accelerator, and the car was finally back on the road.
Jack observed Cao Mei's driving skills for a while and found that she was driving quite decently, so he relaxed and leaned back to take a nap.
"Bang…"
Suddenly, the roof of the car shook and made a muffled sound.
"What's going on?" Jack was startled and immediately woke up from his half-asleep state, sitting up straight.
"I... I don't know? It seems like something hit the roof of the car!" Cao Mei stammered as she drove, having momentarily lost her focus and not really paying attention to what it was.
Jack looked around at the pitch-black surroundings; the moon had long since hidden away, and aside from the faint light in front of the car, everything else was dark enough to make one feel uneasy. Occasionally, he could see the charred remains of a burned-out car or a few scattered wandering corpses, which also made him feel uncomfortable.
Jack took a deep breath, slowly drew his M1911A1 from his waist, and fixed his gaze on the roof of the car without blinking. The car had a sunroof, but the sunshade was closed, so he couldn't see what was on the roof. Cao Mei, frightened by Jack's serious demeanor, asked with a pale face, "Lin... Lin Ye, is there something up there?"
"Keep driving; don't stop unless I say so!" Jack said in a very low voice, still staring at the roof.
"Oh... oh!" Cao Mei nodded, trembling with fear, her grip on the steering wheel so tight that it felt like she might crush it. She really couldn't understand what could be on the roof. With animals nearly extinct, there were hardly any birds to be seen, so what could possibly be up there? It wouldn't be that deadly Ripper again, would it?
In the tense atmosphere inside the car, as if facing a great enemy, Jack suddenly yanked the sunshade open, and to his surprise, he actually saw a dark object lying on top. Without hesitation, he fired his gun.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A flash of fire erupted as Jack fired five shots in quick succession, and the car was immediately filled with a choking smell of gunpowder. However, the dark object on the roof did not fall and roll off the car as everyone had expected; instead, it let out a scream that sounded human, pushed itself up, and flew away like a large bird.
Everyone except Jack was dumbfounded, staring at the cracked glass sunroof. After a while, Hu Laoda was the first to recover and asked, "Bro... man, what was that monster? How could it even fly?"
"I'm not too sure either, because that thing basically doesn't appear in the United States, but if it really is that thing, we're in big trouble!" Jack said irritably as he pulled out a pack of 95 Supreme from the storage box, opened it, and lit one up. However, he no longer had the composure he had earlier; leaning back in his chair, his brows were deeply furrowed.
"Surely it's not the same as that Jack the Ripper, right?" Boss Hu swallowed hard, leaning back in his chair. The excitement tonight was overwhelming, with all sorts of bizarre and unheard-of things coming to light. Not to mention the speed of that hellish Jack the Ripper, which was too fast to see; now there was this one who could actually fly. God knows if another one comes along, we might not even be able to shoot it down. Boss Hu couldn't help but glance at Jack again, wondering whether this person was a blessing or a curse.
"It definitely isn't the same as Jack the Ripper, because they don't have the same boss!" Jack made a rare joke. Turning around, he saw Boss Hu's face, which looked like he was about to be constipated. He exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Have you heard of foreign zombies?"
"Foreign zombies?" Boss Hu was taken aback, scratching his head in frustration. "Do foreign zombies fly too? Those foreign devils would be doomed; they'd have no way to survive!"
"Brother Lin…" A Xue leaned over, hesitantly asking, "You… aren't talking about bloodsuckers, are you?"
"Bloodsuckers???" Boss Hu shuddered, nearly swallowing his own fist in shock.
"I can't be sure, but it's pretty close. I just find it strange that there are usually very few bloodsuckers in the U.S. It seems like God is really preparing to exterminate humanity!" Jack sighed, his expression turning somewhat dejected.
"Bloodsuckers? Are they the same as those bloodsucking monsters?" A Xue asked, puzzled, leaning on the back of her chair.
"Yes!" Jack nodded and said, "That's the title they give themselves. These not-so-bright guys have ideas almost similar to the Nazis; they spend nearly all their time thinking about how to unify the whole world!"
"Unify the whole world? With the world in this state, what's the point?" Boss Hu said with an annoyed expression.
"Who wouldn't say that!" Jack shrugged, also feeling helpless. "It's said that the virus that nearly exterminated humanity this time has a lot to do with them. They probably didn't expect the power to be this great; they aimed to unify the world but ended up destroying it instead!"
"Then why are they still so stubborn? Shouldn't they be standing on the same side as humans now? Without us, what will they eat?" A-Xue said with a complex expression.
"Who knows? Maybe those disgusting things have become stupid from sucking blood!" Boss Hu said angrily, slapping his thigh and speaking for Jack.
After saying this, everyone fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts in the car. Although there was no radio program to enjoy now, the original owner had left a few CDs in the car. Jack pressed the play button, and melodious music immediately filled the air, accompanying the small car as it drove into the unknown night...