Chapter 378

Chapter 378: Chapter 378

"Rest for a bit," Mark said, operating the control buttons to lower the window blinds for her.

Suzy closed her eyes.

Their RV slowly rolled forward, quickly approaching the two soldiers.

Instead of letting them pass directly, one of the soldiers tapped on the driver’s side window.

Mark rolled down the window, a look of confusion on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Where are you two headed?" The man asked.

"P City," Mark replied.

The soldier smiled at him. "How convenient—our base is right on the way to P City. Why don’t we travel together? You saved my life back there, and I haven’t even had the chance to thank you properly."

Mark raised an eyebrow, locking eyes with him without saying a word.

Their gazes clashed in the air until the man finally backed down. Spreading his hands helplessly, he said, "You’re pretty sharp, kid. I’ll cut straight to the chase then—do you know anything else about those monsters?"

Mark shook his head decisively. "No."

The soldier stared into his eyes, trying to judge whether he was lying.

"Really?"

"Really."

"If you can share more information with us... we can make a deal."

Mark didn’t rush to answer. After a moment of silence, he asked, "A deal for what?"

"Weapons, food—whatever you want. As long as you’re willing to tell us what you know."

"That’s really all I know," Mark adopted an innocent, honest expression. "This was only my second time encountering the monster. I don’t know anything else; my understanding of them is the same as yours."

Just as the soldier was about to say more, his teammate walked over and gently patted his shoulder.

"Alright, if he doesn’t know, let it go."

The man let out a sigh and added, "Still, I hope you’ll come sit down at our base for a bit. It’s very close."

Mark glanced over at Suzy and caught her giving a subtle shake of her head.

"No thanks, we’re pressed for time," Mark declined politely.

Mark’s refusal was crystal clear, and the two soldiers, being reasonable men, didn’t push any further.

"Fair enough. We won’t keep you then. Have a safe journey."

"Thank you."

Bidding farewell to the military men, the vehicle continued its journey toward Northern River.

They were fairly lucky this time, encountering no further dark curtains—though there were no other vehicles on the road either.

The few cars traveling alongside them earlier had split off at the fork in the road a while back.

Suzy’s RV was now the sole vehicle heading in the direction of Northern River.

Half an hour later, a massive bridge came into their field of view.

"That should be Northern River ahead, right?" Mark squinted his eyes.

Suzy looked forward, then cross-referenced her map location. "Yeah, that’s Northern River ahead. The bridge is quite long."

As the RV drove onto the bridge, people in the distance had already noticed their arrival.

"Wake up, everyone! We’ve got guests!"

On a makeshift tower built on the far side of the bridge, a young man held up a pair of binoculars, locking his sights onto the lone vehicle driving across the bridge.

"Fat or lean?"

The drowsy group nearby perked up upon hearing this, instantly snapping awake.

"Let me see... Tsk, lean as hell. Driving a total piece of junk," the youth grumbled in disgust.

"Maybe they’re just laying low?"

"They’re almost here, see for yourself."

The youth tossed the binoculars over to a man standing nearby.

The man caught them, held them up to look, and his expectant expression instantly soured into disgust.

"Got excited over nothing."

"Why’re you saying that too? Let me see what’s going on." Another man strolled over.

Snatching the binoculars, he looked toward the lone vehicle currently driving across the bridge.

Out in the distance, a battered old minivan was chugging along the flat bridge deck.

"You guys weren’t kidding."

The man took one glance and lowered the binoculars.

A junk car like that wasn’t worth looking at; there probably wouldn’t be many supplies inside either.

What a shame.

While the few were talking, Suzy’s vehicle was closing in.

Inside the car, Suzy was also observing the few people at the end of the bridge, scrutinizing them through her binoculars.

"How many people are over there?" Mark’s voice rang out from beside her.

"Let me see... three," Suzy said.

Mark pressed down on the accelerator, speeding up the vehicle. "Will bringing up Tina really work?"

Suzy lowered her binoculars and cast a glance at him. "We’ll try it first and see. If it doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else."

"What else?" Mark asked.

Suzy said, "Ramming through."

Now that they were already here, if those people intended to block them, Suzy wasn’t going to take a detour.

Not to mention that taking a detour would waste a massive amount of time, even if she had time to spare, she wouldn’t do it.

Suzy felt her own mindset growing increasingly straightforward and brutal.

Four minutes later, their vehicle came to a stop at the bridgehead.

Mark hit the brakes, while Suzy unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the car door, and stepped out.

The three people at the bridgehead had already gathered together, weapons in hand, eyeing them with vigilance.

"Crossing the bridge?" the other side initiated the conversation.

Seeing that it was Suzy—a woman—who stepped out, they were all somewhat surprised.

The youth among them stared straight at Suzy, sizing her up.

Having lived through the apocalypse for so long, it had been a very long time since he had seen a peer—let alone such an attractive one.

"Yeah," Suzy responded briefly.

At this moment, Mark also stepped out from the driver’s seat, coming to stand by Suzy’s side.

The probing eyes of the others shifted onto Mark.

The man with tied-up hair looked at Mark, then back at Suzy. "Are you two siblings?"

Judging purely by appearance, Mark was clearly much younger than Suzy, so he naturally assumed they were brother and sister.

"Does that matter?" Suzy countered.

The man chuckled. "Doesn’t matter, but I’m curious."

"Something like that," Suzy said.

The man smiled. "There’s a toll for crossing the bridge. Where are you heading?"

"P City."

"That’s a nice place."

"So? How much is the toll?"

The man stared at the vehicle behind them without answering right away, seemingly calculating something. After a short pause, he said, "Drive on over first."

He hooked his finger, gesturing for Suzy and Mark to drive the car inside.

Suzy and Mark exchanged a glance, got back into the vehicle, and drove off the bridge surface.

The group had already moved aside the barricades blocking the bridge. The car drove straight through, and the surrounding environment gradually became clear.

Only then did Suzy realize that the end of the bridge was actually a small-scale base.

There were quite a few people here. Besides the three guarding the bridge, there were others inside the base carrying all sorts of weapons, each tending to their own duties.