The moment the warning blared from the lead vehicle’s loudspeaker, the atmosphere in the convoy snapped tight.

Engines downshifted. The convoy slowed to a crawl.

Inside the SUV, Zhou Xiaoxiao grabbed a baseball bat from under the seat, her knuckles white as she peered through the windshield. But her view was completely blocked by Iron Lion’s massive bus directly in front of them.

“Sis?” Her voice trembled.

“It’s okay,” Zhou Lan said, though her own hands were gripping the steering wheel too tightly. “We have Captain Chu. We have Nana. We have… Chen Ye. They’re Sequence Beyonders. We’ll be fine.”

She tried to sound confident, but deep down, she knew the truth. In the apocalypse, finding other survivors wasn’t a reunion. It was a threat assessment.

Hearing the alert, Chen Ye immediately throttled down. His left hand steadied the tricycle’s handlebars while his right hand reached for the [Hand Crossbow] at his waist.

He tried to cock the mechanism with one hand.

SNAP!

The bowstring, already frayed to its limit from the battles in Longevity Village, sheared apart with a sharp twang. The tension vanished instantly.

“Great timing,” Chen Ye muttered.

He didn’t waste time mourning the weapon. He tossed the useless crossbow into the passenger seat and unsheathed his [Heavy Machete].

Like the Zhou sisters, his first instinct was suspicion. In this new world, humans were often more dangerous than Anomalies.

He scanned the horizon with his enhanced right eye. The convoy ahead was visible now, but something was wrong.

They hadn’t reacted.

Captain Chu’s horn had been loud enough to wake the dead, yet the vehicles ahead remained motionless.

An Anomaly?

No. If it were a supernatural threat, Chu Che wouldn’t be inching the convoy forward.

As they drew closer, the scene resolved itself through the heat haze.

It wasn’t a blockade. It was a graveyard.

Dozens of vehicles were scattered across the desert highway. The lead car, a rugged off-roader, had flipped and buried itself halfway into a sand dune. Behind it, a chain reaction of collisions had crumpled sedans and trucks into a twisted mess of steel.

Several vehicles were charred husks, blackened by fire.

The desert sun beat down on the wreckage, the air shimmering with heat. It was at least 40°C (104°F) out here. Yet, amidst the carnage, there was no movement. No people. No shouts for help.

Just silence.

Chen Ye frowned. This doesn’t feel right.

The convoy ground to a halt.

Up ahead, Captain Chu Che stepped out of his vehicle. He was barefoot, the hot sand seemingly not bothering him. He looked at the wreckage, then knelt and grabbed a handful of sand.

He tossed the grit into his mouth and chewed slowly, his eyes unfocused.

Pathfinder Sequence Ability, Chen Ye noted. Tasting the earth to find the way.

Chen Ye killed his engine. Wearing only shorts and a UV-protective jacket, he walked up to the command group.

Nana and Iron Lion were already there.

“Captain, what’s the situation?” Nana asked, her voice edgy. She adjusted her wide-brimmed sun hat and oversized sunglasses. Leaving the air-conditioned car had clearly put her in a bad mood, but her hand never strayed far from the hilt of her sword.

Chen Ye glanced at her gear with a pang of envy. In this blinding glare, sunglasses were a luxury item.

Chu Che swallowed the sand and narrowed his eyes. “You see it. Major pileup ahead. The road is blocked.”

“Is it an Anomaly?” Nana asked, her posture sharpening.

The lack of reaction from the wreckage was suspicious. If it was a trap, it was a quiet one.

“No Anomaly,” Chu Che said, shaking his head. “Just metal.”

“Easy enough then,” Iron Lion rumbled. He turned toward the bus and shouted, “Little Fu! You’re up!”

A moment later, the bespectacled college student scrambled off the bus. He hopped onto a motorcycle—the same one that had belonged to the man who froze to death last night—and gunned the engine.

Little Fu sped toward the wreckage, a brave but visibly nervous scout.

He returned a few minutes later, his expression a mix of confusion and relief.

“Brother Iron, Captain, Sister Na, Brother Ye,” the student listed everyone politely, his ‘clear-eyed innocence’ on full display. “There’s nobody there.”

“Nobody?” Iron Lion frowned. “Not even bodies?”

“Nothing,” Little Fu shook his head. “Every car is empty. No corpses, no zombies. Just… empty cars.”

The group exchanged glances.

“Well,” Chen Ye said, pulling a cigarette from his pack. “Only one way to find out.”

“Agreed,” Chu Che nodded.

They returned to their vehicles. The convoy lurched forward again, but the mood had shifted. Caution was still there, but now it was mixed with greed.

If those cars were abandoned…

Chen Ye felt a spike of adrenaline.

His tricycle, despite the upgrades, was still a tricycle. It was slow, heavy, and underpowered. If he could snag a proper off-road vehicle from that pileup? If he could feed a Jeep or a Land Rover to the System?

The potential for an upgrade was intoxicating.

Fifty meters from the crash site, they stopped again.

Iron Lion dismounted first. His massive frame moved toward the wreckage like a walking tank, radiating a sense of safety.

Nana had climbed onto the roof of her SUV, her sword drawn, scanning the perimeter for threats.

Despite Little Fu’s report, nobody survived the apocalypse by being careless.

Chen Ye took a massive drag of his Huazi cigarette, burning half the tobacco in one breath. He exhaled slowly, the smoke thickening around him into a low-hanging haze.

Meow.

A faint, spectral cry echoed from the smoke.

Chen Ye’s right eye locked onto Iron Lion’s back. He waited.

Finally, the giant raised his hand and gave the “All Clear” signal.

Chen Ye let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. The tension in his shoulders vanished, replaced instantly by the thrill of the loot.

Look at all that metal.

With that many vehicles, surely there was one he could salvage.

He was done with the “small horse pulling a big cart” life. He was done being the tail-end Charlie.

It was time to join the four-wheel club.