Clues

The silver luxury motorcycle sped along the elevated bridge.

After leaving the apartment, following Ning Yu's planned route, they headed towards Yida Plaza in the suburbs of City A.

A large horde of zombies followed behind them in chaos.

From many crashed cars along the way, zombies continuously tumbled out and began chasing the motorcycle.

Today, Shen Yiyue's driving skills had improved somewhat, and her speed had increased - she was practically a veteran driver now.

Ning Yu barely fired her gun, mainly because they were moving too fast; many zombies were left behind before they could even get close.

"You're not using your ability to dodge, are you?"

Ning Yu rested her head on Shen Yiyue's back, appearing lazy and relaxed as if they were on a casual vacation.

She reminded Shen Yiyue to prevent her from using her ability to dodge, which would cause her to faint while driving.

"No, Xiao Yu, I've turned it off already."

Shen Yiyue didn't turn around, her voice mixing with the howling wind.

The "Future Reading" ability could be controlled - by deliberately blurring one's vision for a period, it could be turned off.

The same method could be used to turn it back on.

This was something Shen Yiyue had discovered through experimentation, and Ning Yu had tried it too - her copied version of "Future Reading" could be controlled the same way.

This was quite important - if it stayed on constantly, they could collapse at any moment.

The two continued along Ning Yu's planned route, about to exit the elevated bridge.

"Wait."

Ning Yu suddenly called out to Shen Yiyue, patting her to signal her to slow down.

"Look over there."

Ning Yu pointed to a blurry area in the distance where numerous vehicles lay scattered about, suggesting a severe multi-car pileup had occurred.

"Xiao Yu, what's over there? I can't see clearly."

Shen Yiyue slowed the motorcycle while straining to look, but still couldn't make anything out.

It wasn't that she was nearsighted - it was simply too far away.

After Ning Yu's spiritual power reached 10, her eyesight seemed to have improved many times over, allowing her to see clearly at great distances, unlike Shen Yiyue.

Ning Yu hesitated whether to tell Shen Yiyue, but after some thought, she spoke:

"There's a crashed bus over there with 'Tianshen Elementary School' written on it."

"What..."

Shen Yiyue's face instantly turned pale, her body beginning to tremble involuntarily.

Ning Yu rubbed her back to comfort her and continued:

"Let's go take a look to know for sure."

"...Okay."

Shen Yiyue steered the motorcycle towards that direction.

It was an exit ramp from the highway, with merging lanes beside it.

In the chaos of escaping the apocalypse, people probably hadn't had time to watch for other vehicles - at least a dozen cars had crashed into each other here, including the Tianshen Elementary School bus.

The smoke from the accidents had completely dissipated by now, and even the blood stains near the vehicles had dried almost black.

Some withered zombies were trapped in the cars, mindlessly moving their limbs.

When they saw Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue approaching on their locked motorcycle, they began howling loudly and violently banging their heads against the windows.

The already dirty windows cracked like spider webs, and the zombies' heads oozed blood that was also black.

These zombies had been trapped here too long, their bodies seemingly further decomposed, but this didn't diminish their hunger.

Ning Yu tossed her gun and dagger to Shen Yiyue, then took the long sword Shen Yiyue threw to her.

With Shen Yiyue's "Future Reading" ability, she was better suited to using guns now.

And since Ning Yu's Crimson War Blade wasn't fully nourished yet, they might as well switch weapons, with her taking the sword for slashing.

The zombies following the motorcycle's sound hadn't caught up yet, so the two quickly approached the Tianshen Elementary School bus.

Ning Yu glanced up - from below, there were no signs of zombies. There were two possibilities.

Either the student zombies were too short to be seen.

Or everyone had gotten off the bus.

"I'll guard down here, you go up and look. Be careful."

Ning Yu held the long sword, preparing to take out the zombies crawling out of the surrounding cars, while turning back to caution her.

Shen Yiyue nodded, her heart extremely anxious, holding a gun in one hand and a dagger in the other as she kicked open the battered bus door.

Neither had taken immunity capsules - Ning Yu didn't need them, and Shen Yiyue, with the enhancement of "Future Reading," wouldn't easily be attacked anyway.

The smell of dust, the distinctive nauseating bus odor, mixed with the stench of rotting flesh, rushed out as the damaged bus door opened.

Shen Yiyue didn't rush in, but first threw a stone inside. Sure enough, "roars" came from within.

The zombie sounds were somewhat shrill - clearly the kind that only underage zombies could make.

Shen Yiyue was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, not daring to imagine Shen Qianqian as a zombie.

Ning Yu glanced at her and said calmly:

"Go on, whether good or bad, we must face reality."

She turned and thrust her sword into the head of a zombie crawling out from under a car, killing it instantly.

Black blood seeped from its head, as if the long sword had struck oil.

This time, for the awakening, it was mainly her spiritual power that had greatly increased.

Ning Yu discovered her ability to sense danger had greatly improved, and her perception of the surrounding environment had become more refined.

Perhaps she had focused too much on physical abilities before - mental power was quite important too.

Shen Yiyue boarded the bus, nervously swallowing as she looked inside.

The cabin was empty except for a few student zombies, still restrained by their seat belts, unable to move.

Seeing a living person board, they immediately bared their teeth and claws, showing fierce expressions, making the seat belts shake.

The student zombies' eyes were grayish-white, and some teeth were missing in their open mouths - they had been in the process of losing baby teeth when they turned.

Shen Yiyue went up to identify them one by one.

For each one she identified, she thrust her dagger into their head, and that zombie would then fall silent in its seat, time forever frozen on this bus.

"How is it?"

After quickly dispatching about ten zombies crawling around outside, Ning Yu jumped onto the bus too.

She saw Shen Yiyue looking at a window where the safety hammer was missing and the window completely shattered.

"I didn't find Qianqian's body - some people must have escaped!"

Shen Yiyue turned around, looking at Ning Yu excitedly, her eyes unable to hide their hope.

Ning Yu scanned around, noting only student zombie corpses, and said:

"Very likely. The PE teacher's body isn't here either - he might have led some students to escape."

Ning Yu walked to the window and saw traces of black blood near the broken glass.

She picked up a piece of glass and said to Shen Yiyue:

"Look, these are marks from when they got scratched by the glass while jumping out."

"Let's go, we'll follow this direction and see what we find!"