Chapter 692: They Survived

When they heard the news, almost everyone immediately rushed to the windows.

Carefully lifting a corner, they could barely see outside.

Blood-red eyes blinked, like demons peering into the human world.

They saw it, they saw it...

Those long-necked creatures had now turned and changed direction.

Before, these things had kept walking out of the sea, dense and countless, spanning from horizon to horizon, too many to count...

Now, although their numbers were still vast, at least they had begun walking back.

The creatures moved in silence, numb, inching toward the ocean step by step.

Their pace was neither fast nor slow, like eighty-year-old elders.

Each sea anomaly slowly walked into the water; the seawater lapped at their ankles, then their waists, and finally their heads.

Then they completely disappeared beneath the waves.

Every surge of surf swallowed countless sea anomalies.

Those that earlier had gone into the woods or moved toward the distance also came back slowly, emerging from the trees and returning from afar.

Just as they once walked out of the sea, now they walked back to it from the shore.

Slow as they were, at least they brought hope.

It had been roughly three days since the sea anomalies first came ashore.

If that’s the timeline, they should return to the sea in about the same amount of time.

Three more days, and these things would all be gone.

That was at least good news.

For a moment, many people felt their spirits lift.

The superhumans stared at the receding silhouettes of the anomalies with burning eyes, emotions surging out of control.

Chen Ye quietly lowered the corner of the window he’d lifted, forcing down the excitement in his chest.

It’s finally ending, finally ending.

Even he, over the past three days, had countless times imagined death arriving.

The other survivors had it even worse.

When Xue Nan received this news from Iron Lion’s mouth, he too was inexplicably moved.

These days, even someone like him nearly cracked.

The constant, overwhelming cold.

And the unending psychological pressure.

He knew the outside was hell, that unspeakable terror waited beyond the vehicles.

But he couldn’t truly tell what those sea anomalies looked like.

There’s a saying: unknown terror is the scariest terror.

If it weren’t for being in the same vehicle as Iron Lion, he might have already broken down from fear.

If it weren’t for the belief that he would find his sister, he might already be dead.

"Mr. Wu, are you planning to—"

Xue Nan’s eyes flashed wildly, the result of too much excitement.

Iron Lion stammered, "Supervisor Xue, please tell the others this news in a way that won’t make everyone fall into despair!"

Xue Nan quickly understood Iron Lion’s idea.

If such news were announced straight to the convoy’s survivors, some might not control their emotions and shout in excitement.

That would certainly bring disaster for everyone.

Iron Lion did not think he could keep everyone silent in excitement, which was why he sought Xue Nan’s help.

It just so happened Xue Nan was on Bus Number Five while Captain Chu was not around.

Xue Nan nodded, then turned and slowly approached the crowd.

Soon, Iron Lion saw the survivors trembling as they pulled their hands up and clamped their mouths shut.

One after another.

Although they didn’t know the reason, they cooperated with Supervisor Xue’s order.

No one asked why.

Those who would have asked were already dead on the way here.

When every mouth was covered, Xue Nan stepped in front of the group and whispered a few words to the people nearest him.

The eyes of those who heard widened instantly, faces flushed red, and some even had tears welling in their eye sockets.

But their hands did not drop; they kept their mouths tightly covered.

Only their eyes looked at Xue Nan, as if seeking confirmation.

If their hands were free, they would have cried out.

They definitely would!

Xue Nan ignored them and moved to the next few people.

After a few whispered sentences, their expressions mirrored the others.

Many had reddened eyes, tears the size of beans swelling, ready to fall.

But their hands still dared not lower.

Xue Nan continued...

The people finally understood why Supervisor Xue had everyone pinch their mouths.

It was only three days.

To the survivors it felt like a century had passed.

Xue Nan couldn’t tell everyone at once—the noise that would cause would be too large and too dangerous.

So he whispered, repeatedly, to small groups.

Each time just two or three, or four or five people.

Even so, some still made noises in their excitement, and were promptly silenced by those around them.

Victory was within reach.

No one wanted to die now.

That Xue Nan had thought up such a careful method didn’t mean everyone had the same self-control.

Eventually someone made a commotion.

It came from the direction not far from the Fair Convoy.

At first scattered cheers—suppressed excitement breaking through.

People had been repressed for so long; when they heard light was near, they couldn’t hold back.

The moment Xue Nan heard those cheers, he knew things were bad.

He didn’t even need to look to know what would happen.

He hadn’t personally seen exactly how the sea anomalies killed, but he had heard previous screams, wails, and cries for help.

He could imagine what those people would face.

Sure enough...

The cheers barely started before the people realized something was wrong.

But at that point, it was too late to silence it.

What followed were familiar screams, pleas, and roars.

That sequence lasted just over a minute.

Then silence returned.

Xue Nan turned to the dark truck bed with an indescribable calm.

Those idiots are probably dead now.

Idiots couldn’t survive in this world.

The apocalypse would mercilessly weed out those without sense.

The survivors now understood why Supervisor Xue had them cover their mouths earlier.

A sudden scream had turned one migration vehicle at the base into a ruin of cardboard.

Holes riddled across the vehicle’s body cooled the recently heated hope.

Countless sea anomalies continued toward the ocean.

Everything that had happened felt like it had never occurred.

Chen Ye silently lit a cigarette and waited.

He looked at the Concealment Talisman on his body; its glow was much dimmer than before.

When the Silent Council had given out Concealment Talismans, they had said the high-grade ones could last at least three days.

These talismans were high-grade—far better than the cheap ones Captain Chu had bargained for that lasted only three hours.

By that calculation, time was nearly up.

So Chen Ye took out another brand-new Concealment Talisman and stuck it on.

The Silent Council had given the Fair Convoy one hundred talismans.

But the convoy had long since lost even a hundred people.

There were extras.

Those remaining talismans had been pocketed by Captain Chu; every superhuman had gotten at least two.

Ordinary survivors had only one each.

Time was up.

The Silent Council people should be coming to deliver talismans again.

How they would manage to deliver them in this situation was unclear.

The answer came quickly.

When Chen Ye heard the flutter of wings, he lifted the corner of the window.

In the direction of the Silent Council shop, a black bird beat its wings and took to the sky.

This black bird was strange—entirely jet black with no other color. If one didn’t have extraordinary eyesight, one might not even notice it.

This was... Hou Junji’s ability.

This feeder-branch beastmaster superhuman’s power really was peculiar.

That man always seemed to have an endless supply of various birds.

The black bird held a pitch-black little pouch in its talons.

Its appearance seemed not to attract the anomalies’ attention.

A few of the long-necked sea anomalies glanced up at the bird, then paid it no further heed and continued toward the sea.

Chen Ye understood why Hou Junji could send letters through the anomalies’ blockade to reach convoys: birds that didn’t attract anomaly attention.

The bird ignored the sea anomalies entirely and flew straight to a migration vehicle.

It landed on the vehicle’s roof.

People inside that vehicle must have noticed it, as someone cracked open a skylight just a sliver.

The bird slipped through the gap.

A few minutes later, more black birds flew out from the Silent Council shop.

One flew straight toward Bus Number Five and Bus Number Six.

Even Chen Ye’s Monster Pickup Truck had a bird head toward it.

The bird had barely landed on the roof when a tentacle swept out and wrapped it up.

The tentacle retracted into the vehicle, dragging the bird into the truck bed.

Soon that tentacle returned, bringing a black-feathered bird before Chen Ye.

This bird had several long tail feathers, just like the one that had once perched on Hou Junji’s shoulder—only black.

A small pouch hung from the bird’s talon.

Chen Ye opened the pouch; inside lay three Concealment Talismans, quietly resting.

Evidently these three talismans weren’t only for personal use; they also served to steady morale.

The Silent Council must have foreseen that many convoys would hold grievances against them after the sea anomaly incident.

Some convoys had suffered severe personnel losses and thus had greater resentment.

The Silent Council’s actions naturally also aimed to win hearts.

Though three talismans wouldn’t calm the fury of the heavily damaged convoys, they would at least help somewhat.

Once Chen Ye understood that, he didn’t hesitate and pocketed the three talismans.

These were high-grade—good for trading later if not used.

The Silent Council had really spent money this time.

With fresh Concealment Talismans, the convoys calmed.

They only had to wait out the remaining three days.

No more than three days.

When Chen Ye lifted the window corner again and saw far fewer sea anomalies outside, he knew it was nearly over.

The temperature warmed at that moment.

Even the clouds in the sky thinned.

Strips of sunlight pierced the gloom through openings in the clouds.

They were like arrows, splitting the dark, dreary land into pieces.

The frost inside the vehicles also began to melt.

The base remained quiet.

But a thing called life and hope was quietly spreading.

Humanity had survived, once more, through an anomaly-ridden apocalypse.