After consuming microwave-heated convenience meals, Luo Jie and the others left the apartment, once again taking to the road while protecting Ju Chuan Jingxiang.
Ju Chuan Jingxiang was initially reluctant to leave the comfortable apartment, but her naturally carefree and optimistic personality soon took over. Her attention quickly shifted to the new designer clothes she was wearing. Happily clutching her ever-present small medical kit, she followed behind Luo Jie, occasionally pointing out the way for him.
Thud! Thump!
Strange noises sounded from behind. Luo Jie didn't need to turn around to know it was the two members of the "One-Winged Angel" team efficiently dispatching a straggler.
"Ugh, Ye Yan," Ross complained, leaning heavily on a five-pronged hay fork and wiping sweat from his face and head, breathing heavily. "Walking is slow as molasses. How long is this going to take?"
They had found the large fork in an agricultural supply store along the way. It was an F-rank green quality item—its power was mediocre, but its key strengths were its defensive capability and considerable reach, making it surprisingly suitable for Ross, a low-mana mage drained after just a dozen spells. Consequently, Ross had been reluctantly forced into the role of a spear-fighter. Whenever he spotted a lone dead body, he'd charge forward with a yell, pinning it against a wall or the ground with the hay fork, allowing Saffi to finish it off with a single, crushing blow from her spiked club. While their clearing speed was slow, the method was safe and reliable, perfect for mopping up the stragglers Luo Jie left behind.
Luo Jie casually dispatched a snarling dead body lunging at him with a precise stab to the head. He glanced sideways, his expression impassive. "Stop bitching, work more. You're not the only one walking."
In truth, since their escape from Fujimi Academy the day before, Luo Jie had realized some things weren't as simple as he'd assumed. In the original story, the protagonists like Kohta and the others had driven their bus out of the academy at dusk, traveling until evening when streetlights came on before being blocked by an out-of-control bus packed with dead bodies.
The reality within this instance was far closer to actual chaos. Bedlam City was a metropolis with a population exceeding one million. The density of people within the city limits was extremely high, and vehicle ownership was staggering. The dead body virus had erupted around 2:00 PM. While not peak rush hour, the roads were still heavily congested. Countless vehicles crashed in chain reactions as drivers suddenly turned. Wreckage lay everywhere, vehicles piled haphazardly across streets, some still burning, belching black smoke.
Luo Jie had considered emulating Takashi Komuro from the original story by using a motorcycle's agility for quick movement through the city. However, after some experimentation, he found this approach equally unfeasible. While motorcycles were maneuverable, they lacked essential protection and stability. Even a stray severed limb from a dead body could easily send a rider flying at speed. Trying to navigate through hordes also made riders vulnerable to being pulled down by dead bodies that had no concept of traffic accidents, making a quick recovery nearly impossible. Unless it was the Avenger 100 amphibious ATV Komuro and Saeko found later in the story, even the modified military Humvee H1 parked in Nanri's yard likely wouldn't get far in these conditions.
Luo Jie had previously held some disdain for the Japanese player teams from the first few instances who couldn't even protect an NPC. Now, he felt a glimmer of understanding for the sheer, dog-screwed frustration they must have felt upon realizing that practically no vehicle could reliably transport their mission objective.
After clearing a few more stragglers, Saffi walked up, an unusual occurrence. "Ross might just be whining to avoid work, but he's not wrong. If we don't figure something out soon, even if we hold up, I doubt your Miss Jingxiang can last much longer..."
Luo Jie glanced back. Ju Chuan Jingxiang was bent over, hands on her knees, breathing heavily. Her pendulous breasts swayed rhythmically with each gasp beneath the pull of gravity. Beads of sweat traced glistening paths down her pale chest, converging into tiny streams that vanished into the deep valley between them.
"That does seem to be the case," Luo Jie admitted, rubbing his chin where stubble was beginning to show—a recent habit when deep in thought. "But what do you mean, 'your Miss Jingxiang'? Is that like 'your Mentos' or something?"
"Don't pretend you don't know Ju Chuan Jingxiang slept in your room last night," Saffi retorted with a cold smirk. "Hmph. You men are all the same. See a woman with big tits, long legs, and a pretty face, and all you think about is how to get her into bed... The only difference is that some men have the skill to pull it off, and some don't."
Achoo—!
Ross sneezed loudly behind them. His eyes were fixed on the view down Ju Chuan Jingxiang's slightly drooping collar, an unconscious, lecherous grin spreading across his face.
BANG—!
A sudden gunshot shattered the relative quiet hanging over the street, instantly setting off a chorus of piercing car alarms in the distance.
"What's happening?" Saffi and Ross snapped to alertness, instinctively drawing their firearms from their storage spaces.
Ross held a compact revolver, the kind often seen with Hong Kong police—small and pocket-sized, looking distinctly underpowered. Saffi wielded a Remington M870, the classic wood-stocked pump-action shotgun ubiquitous in American films, as brutally straightforward as her personality.
Luo Jie swiftly sheathed his sword, drawing the [Bloody Bride M92F Custom] pistol instead. He moved back to shield Ju Chuan Jingxiang with his body. While it was unlikely any player would be foolish enough to deliberately target the mission NPC, bullets were indiscriminate. The thought of Ju Chuan Jingxiang, whom he'd protected all this way, being taken out by a stray round was a prospect that would leave him utterly devastated.
"Sounded like the next block over," Ross said after listening intently. As a spirit-focused player, his senses were sharper than Saffi's.
"Right. Find cover first. I'll send the drone to check it out," Luo Jie ordered.
A nearby 24-hour convenience store served as their refuge. They cleared the few dead bodies inside and barricaded the large windows and entrance with shelves and racks.
From a second-floor window, Luo Jiet launched the [USS Micro Recon Drone]. It zipped towards the intermittent gunfire. Within moments, the view from its camera feed projected into the visual field of all three players.
From the aerial vantage point, the scene below was clear. The center of the not-too-wide road had been deliberately blocked by a large pile of debris and junk. Behind this makeshift barricade, dozens of thugs armed with an assortment of firearms and crude melee weapons were entrenched, pinning down a group of players further down the street who dared not expose themselves to the hail of gunfire.