Chapter 413 - 188: Xin’an City

Chapter 413: Chapter 188: Xin’an City

The rain fell all night.

The next morning, Xu Mo walked to the window and looked outside.

The sky was washed clean, a clear, pale blue, as if the previous day’s violent downpour had been just a dream. Sunlight spilled across the land, making the rain-washed plants glitter.

Under the canopy of the tollbooth, the animals that had huddled together for shelter the night before were long gone, leaving a mess on the ground.

Xu Mo’s gaze fell on his SUV. It was still parked quietly under the canopy, completely intact.

Seeing his vehicle was still there, Xu Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

His recent experiences of losing one vehicle after another had left him with considerable anxiety. Now, seeing this one parked there safe and sound, he felt the blissful relief of having recovered something he’d thought lost.

After a quick bite to eat, Xu Mo packed his gear, pushed open the door, and went outside.

The air was exceptionally fresh. The ground was still a bit slick, but not enough to affect driving. Xu Mo tossed his gear bag into the SUV, then settled into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

The SUV let out a low rumble and got back on the road.

Xu Mo stepped on the gas, continuing toward Xin’an City. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to get there by the afternoon.

After about an hour of driving, Xu Mo noticed a change in his surroundings.

The vegetation in the wilderness looked completely different from how it had a few days ago.

The once-withered, yellowed plants had mostly regained their vitality, turning a lush green. Wild grasses had sprouted new leaves, and even the trees he thought had long since died now had hints of green budding at the tips of their branches. The entire wasteland seemed to have been repainted with a green brush, brimming with vibrant life.

Watching the green landscape pass by, Xu Mo couldn’t help but remark, "If you set a fire to this now, it probably wouldn’t burn everything away."

After his musing, Xu Mo’s gaze shifted to the sky in the distance, where a flock of birds was circling endlessly.

There were a great many of them, tracing one circle after another in the air as if drawn by something, refusing to disperse.

Xu Mo narrowed his eyes. As the car drew closer, he could make out the type of birds. Most of them were carrion birds. They circled in the sky, with one or two occasionally diving down before flying back up, as if fighting over something.

Seeing these carrion birds, a thought struck Xu Mo.

He recalled seeing a similar scene before: a flock of carrion birds gathered over an area where zombie corpses were piled up like mountains. The birds had treated the place like an all-you-can-eat buffet, pecking at the rotting flesh.

He hadn’t driven much farther when he caught a foul, bloody stench.

The smell was thick, carried on the wind, and he could smell it even through the closed car windows. Xu Mo frowned, subconsciously slowing the car and looking to his right.

The flock was gathered about two hundred meters to the right of the road. On the ground, he could vaguely make out a dark mass. Some of the carrion birds were on the ground, while others circled low overhead. There was no doubt a grand feast was underway.

"A feast, just as I thought."

Xu Mo muttered to himself but didn’t stop, continuing to drive. He had no desire to go check it out.

Going over there would only lead to one of two discoveries: either a pile of survivor corpses or a pile of zombie corpses. Xu Mo had seen both scenarios too many times to find them novel. Besides, the stench was truly nauseating, and he had no interest in experiencing it up close.

The SUV drove on, but what happened next made Xu Mo start to feel that something was wrong.

After another twenty minutes of driving, he saw another flock of carrion birds.

They were also circling, also pecking at something on the ground. Then came a third flock, and a fourth...

Xu Mo’s frown deepened. If it were just one or two spots like this, he could understand.

But after driving for two hours, Xu Mo had seen seven or eight such places, one almost every ten-or-so kilometers. This was no coincidence; it was some kind of pattern.

’What in the world is going on?’

Xu Mo’s curiosity grew stronger. When he saw another flock of birds circling ahead, he finally decided to stop and take a look.

Parking the car on the roadside, Xu Mo drew the Mountain-Cutting Saber from his waist and walked toward the flock.

The carrion birds were gorging themselves on the ground, not noticing the approaching human in the slightest—or perhaps they simply didn’t care. It wasn’t until Xu Mo was only twenty or thirty meters away that some of the birds finally reacted.

But they didn’t flee in fear. Instead, quite a few of them turned their heads to stare at him with their dark, beady eyes. Several particularly large vultures even spread their wings and lunged at him.

Xu Mo’s eyes turned cold. He tightened his grip on the Mountain-Cutting Saber, dodged a vulture’s lunge, and his blade flashed in an instant.

"SQUELCH!"

The lunging vulture was chopped in two at the waist, sending feathers and fresh blood splattering everywhere.

Several other vultures charged at him. Xu Mo didn’t retreat; he advanced, his Mountain-Cutting Saber weaving arcs of cold light. In the space of just a few breaths, a dozen bird carcasses lay on the ground, their blood staining the soil red.

The carrion birds finally knew fear. The ones gathered on the ground scattered in a panic, taking to the air with a frantic flapping of wings. They circled above Xu Mo’s head, letting out piercing screeches.