Chapter 659: You're the Captain

Aside from the person killed by Xu Lina, who was still relatively normal, the other four had died in extremely bizarre ways.

Their eyes seemed to have vanished, and where their eyes should have been, wrinkles resembling chrysanthemums had grown.

It was as if they had never possessed eyes at all.

This reminded Xu Lina of the eyeless old woman she had encountered before.

If the Silent Council hadn't arrived in time, she might have been among those corpses too.

"Did the Concealment Talisman not work?"

Chu Che's voice was low and slow.

He remembered giving Xu Lina some Concealment Talismans before. Under normal circumstances, the talisman should have been effective—even if their stingy captain had only exchanged for the lowest-grade ones.

Xu Lina shook her head. "The Concealment Talisman is fine. I heard their screams earlier. They must have encountered an Anomaly in the truck bed and couldn't bear the pressure, so they made noise and got detected."

Chu Che sighed.

According to Xu Lina, that eyeless old woman likely had the ability to randomly appear in certain places.

More precisely, she could appear randomly in spaces near or inhabited by living humans.

The Concealment Talisman could mask the aura of the living, yes, but if those people actively made noise and courted death, even the talisman was useless.

"Bury them tomorrow morning."

"A lot of new graves have appeared in Rest Eternal Garden."

Everyone fell silent. Chen Ye turned to look toward Rest Eternal Garden.

That God Worshipper Sequence user seemed to be there again.

Chen Ye had a nagging feeling that guy was up to something.

The God Worshipper Sequence had the ability to turn the dead into gods.

Wu Jianshan from before had left a deep impression on everyone.

"By the way, what exactly did you encounter this time? Why are you back so late?"

There had been too much to deal with, and only now did they have a chance to ask properly.

Inside the large tent at the center of the Fair Convoy's camp, a bonfire had already been lit.

The fire crackled with soft pops, occasionally sending sparks flying, leaving trails of fiery meteors in the pitch-black night.

Since it was already two in the morning and Chen Ye couldn't sleep anyway, he sent Xu Lina and the others off to rest while he talked with Chu Che about what had happened today.

Squad Leader Chu also picked up his captain's notebook, planning to record Chen Ye's account.

Chu Che's captain's notebook was already thick, and the copies transcribed from other captain's notebooks were even thicker.

When the conversation turned to the Hanging Corpse Forest in Room 23, even Chu Che, with all his experience, drew in a sharp breath.

"You're saying neither Xixi nor Dantai Bie found the boundary there?"

Chen Ye nodded. "Based on my estimation, it's another space entirely."

"That's very possible! But... why does it have to be in Xi City? Or rather, why Sunset Avenue? That's our assigned zone."

"Why did those corpses appear there? Why were they hung from the ceiling?"

"And the Eternal Life Society—what is it exactly? Is it connected to the Silent Council?"

Chu Che furrowed his brow, a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind without a single breakthrough.

"That, I don't know. You're the captain. That kind of thing is for you to figure out."

Chen Ye couldn't be bothered with it.

Now that he knew about the Hanging Corpse Forest in Room 23, he was definitely going to avoid Haosheng Hotel from now on.

Only idiots would go exploring the secrets hidden there.

In those horror movies...

Those were all morons...

Seeing Chen Ye's complete surrender to mediocrity, Chu Che cursed, "Son of a bitch. Xi City is going to be our turf in the future, and you're just going to wash your hands of it?"

Chen Ye spread his hands, looking utterly unconcerned, and repeated, "You're the captain!"

"You..."

Chu Che didn't know what to do with Chen Ye.

Actually, Chen Ye's reaction was the most correct one—knowing Haosheng Hotel was dangerous meant staying far away.

But Chu Che was different.

He was the captain. He couldn't let a dangerous unknown like that exist in his convoy's territory.

If something went wrong there in the future...

The Fair Convoy would be the first to suffer.

But changing locations now was impossible.

Every convoy had its own fixed territory.

Unless a new convoy had its entire team wiped out.

And even if they moved somewhere else, there would probably be new problems.

A known problem was always better than an unknown one!

"Forget it. It's not like we haven't encountered places like this before. The Sea of Chaotic Graves wasn't much better than this!"

"This world... sigh... is it even the world we used to live in?"

As he said this, Chu Che seemed to have aged a few years.

Years of nomadic life had placed the entire convoy's fate on his shoulders.

Wind, rain, and the side effects of Wonders had aged Chu Che considerably.

Chen Ye and Chu Che were originally around the same age.

But Chen Ye lived with a "one day at a time" mentality, so his psychological burden was much lighter than Chu Che's.

Combined with his thinning hair,

if you judged by appearances alone, Chu Che looked much older than Chen Ye.

People might believe Chu Che was in his forties.

"Who cares? We're all going to die sooner or later anyway. Every day we're alive is a bonus!"

Chen Ye stretched lazily, pulled a Ta cigarette from his pocket, and tossed one to Chu Che.

He lit it and took a satisfying drag.

Then he slumped into his chair like he didn't give a damn about anything.

Chu Che stared at the cigarette in his hand, lost in thought.

That guy always had more secrets than anyone else, but whenever anyone asked, he wouldn't say.

Eventually, everyone stopped asking.

"What's your plan?"

Chen Ye asked, seeing Chu Che lost in contemplation.

Chu Che thought for a moment. "Tomorrow, you'll search the remaining two buildings of Haosheng Hotel, clear out the extra Anomalies, and then seal the entire place off!"

"I was planning to use Haosheng Hotel as a stronghold, but that's no longer possible."

"That place is off-limits from now on."

"That works. We weren't planning to stay long anyway. One day at a time!"

Chen Ye agreed with Chu Che's decision.

Chu Che raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that..."

"You know exactly what I mean. Don't tell me you actually think Xi City can be permanently settled even after we take it?"

Chen Ye said lazily.

Chu Che remained silent.

Chen Ye continued, "This Return to the City Plan, in my opinion, is just an experiment—preparation for the future!"

"If humans live in Xi City, they'll be fine for a day or two. Maybe even a month or two."

"But if you think it'll be fine forever? I don't buy it."

"News that there are living people here will always spread."

"Anomalies are everywhere in the world now, Squad Leader Chu. Some of them are no less intelligent than humans!"

"Can they not get the information and figure something out?"

"When that happens, Xi City will end up just like that fake Oasis."

Chen Ye spoke coldly, laying out the brutal truth.

Chu Che shook his head. "You're too pessimistic."

Chen Ye chuckled. "It's not pessimism. It's an objective analysis based on objective facts!"

"Unless we humans get our first Sequence 9."

"Or Sequence 0, the one above Sequence 9."

Chu Che said nothing. Truth be told, he was thinking the same thing as Chen Ye. He believed Xi City couldn't survive long-term without a Sequence 9 standing guard.

You can't walk by the river without getting your feet wet.

The news of humans gathering here could be contained for a short time with the Superhumans' various miraculous abilities.

But long-term containment? Clearly impossible.

Chu Che also believed that many people back at the base thought the same way.