Chapter 312: The golden fruit 23.

The figures were not human.

They were taller, thinner, and covered in dark crystal.

Bai Li’s expression sharpened.

"The energy is coming from them."

The nearest creature opened its mouth.

A beam of green light formed inside.

Bai Li stopped the motorcycle.

Yan Cijin stepped off.

The creature fired.

Bai Li raised one hand.

The blast split around her.

One half struck the pavement.

The other half passed over Yan Cijin.

She did not move.

When the light disappeared, the two women stood untouched.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li.

"I suppose that is your idea of a warning."

Bai Li looked at the mall.

"No."

"What is it?"

"An invitation."

The mall doors opened wider.

The darkness inside seemed almost deliberate.

Bai Li got back on the motorcycle.

Yan Cijin climbed behind her.

"Then let us accept it."

Bai Li started the engine.

The Kawasaki moved forward.

Behind them, far down the avenue, a line of headlights appeared again.

The convoy had returned.

The armored figure stood at the front.

Bai Li did not look back.

"Hold on."

Yan Cijin wrapped both arms around her.

The motorcycle accelerated toward the mall.

Above them, the green light grew brighter.

The system flashed one final warning.

[Critical alert.]

[Major energy event imminent.]

Bai Li’s expression changed.

Yan Cijin noticed immediately.

"What?"

Bai Li looked up.

The clouds opened.

Something enormous descended from the sky.

And just before it reached the city, the weapon behind them fired.

The weapon behind them fired.

The sound was so deep that it did not feel like a sound at first.

It felt like the city itself had cracked.

A white line tore across the night behind Bai Li and Yan Cijin. It came low, almost level with the road, slicing through abandoned cars, shattered traffic signs, lamp posts and a row of concrete dividers with the casual violence of a giant blade. The air behind them compressed, then burst outward. Windows that had survived the apocalypse exploded all at once.

Bai Li did not panic.

She did not even turn her head.

She twisted the throttle.

The Kawasaki Ninja 400 shot forward.

Yan Cijin felt Bai Li lean the motorcycle hard to the side. Her own body followed automatically. The white beam passed so close above them that the tips of Bai Li’s hair lifted in the heat.

The motorcycle slid through a gap between two overturned delivery trucks.

The beam hit behind them.

BOOM.

The road jumped.

A wall of dust and broken concrete surged down the avenue.

Yan Cijin tightened her arms around Bai Li’s waist for one second.

Only one second.

Then she calmly said, "That was close."

Bai Li glanced at her in the mirror.

"You call that close?"

"Yes."

"The beam missed us by at least three meters."

"That is close when you are sitting on a motorcycle."

Bai Li’s lips moved slightly.

"That sounds like complaining."

"I am making an observation."

"Then observe quietly."

Yan Cijin smiled against the back of Bai Li’s shoulder.

"I can do that."

The smile faded when the road ahead disappeared behind the dust.

Bai Li’s eyes narrowed.

There was no need to slow down.

Her spiritual sense had already spread across the avenue.

Ten vehicles ahead.

Six overturned.

Three blocked the road.

One was moving.

No.

Three were moving.

Bai Li shifted gears.

The Kawasaki roared.

The rear wheel kicked loose gravel into the air.

The first moving shape came out of the dust.

A mutated zombie, nearly three meters tall, with one shoulder swollen into a mass of black crystal, stumbled into the road. Its mouth opened and a jagged hiss escaped.

Bai Li did not brake.

"Yan Cijin."

"Hm?"

"Left."

Yan Cijin understood.

She released one arm from Bai Li and drew her weapon.

The motorcycle passed the zombie.

Yan Cijin struck.

Her blade flashed once.

The zombie’s head separated from its body.

The motorcycle continued forward.

The corpse collapsed behind them.

Another zombie jumped from the roof of a bus.

Yan Cijin turned while seated on the pillion.

Her blade moved in a smooth arc.

The creature’s claws missed Bai Li’s back by less than a handspan.

Its upper body spun away.

Yan Cijin returned to her seat before the motorcycle even straightened.

Bai Li looked at the mirror.

"You nearly got blood on me."

"I was careful."

"You were not."

"You are still clean."

"That is because I am fast."

Yan Cijin paused.

Then she said, "You are also very proud."

"Obviously."

The road opened in front of them.

For three seconds, nothing attacked.

Then the third creature came.

It did not rush from the side.

It fell from above.

A dark crystal body crashed onto the hood of a burned sedan directly ahead.

The sedan folded beneath it.

The creature sprang from the wreckage.

Bai Li accelerated.

The motorcycle jumped onto the sedan’s hood.

Yan Cijin instinctively leaned forward.

Bai Li used the wrecked car like a ramp.

The Ninja 400 flew.

For one beautiful second, the motorcycle and the two women were suspended above the street.

The creature below looked up.

Bai Li raised one hand from the handlebar.

A thin blade of spiritual energy appeared between her fingers.

She flicked her wrist.

The energy blade cut down.

The crystal creature split in two.

The motorcycle landed on the road.

Bai Li immediately settled back into a steady rhythm.

Yan Cijin looked over her shoulder.

The two halves of the creature slid apart behind them.

"You could have simply gone around."

Bai Li shrugged.

"That would have been slower."

"You made a ramp."

"It was convenient."

Yan Cijin shook her head.

There was almost laughter in her voice.

"You really are impossible."

Bai Li smiled.

"I know."

The convoy behind them disappeared into the dust.

But the road ahead was not empty.

Far beyond the next intersection, a cluster of headlights flickered.

Not infected creatures.

People.

Bai Li could feel them.

Twelve humans.

Eight adults.

Four children.

Fear so strong it was almost physical.

.

.

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TO BE CONTINUED.