Chapter 9: Esper Dog
After a moment, driven by the trust she had in Li Chen from both lifetimes, Mo Chu thought for a while and said softly, “I want to go to Hai City.”
From here to Hai City, it was a thousand miles away, and in a world where there were no high-speed trains or cars, with zombies roaming, it was impossible to predict what dangers she might encounter along the way.
However, this decision was not made impulsively by Mo Chu. She knew the dangers involved, and she understood what it meant for a Healing-type Esper like her to travel alone for over a thousand miles without any teammates. But after careful consideration, she still decided to go to Hai City.
It wasn’t because she had familiar friends or family in Hai City that she chose to go there. In fact, two years before the apocalypse, her parents had already died in a plane crash, and she had no attachments.
She wanted to go to Hai City because there was an irresistibly attractive reason that compelled her to do so.
— Hai City had crude oil.
In the third month of the apocalypse, a Survival Zone called Bai Island was established on the outskirts of Hai City, relying on the once-largest oil well in the city.
In the first year of the apocalypse, Bai Island became the most competitive Survival Zone on this continent thanks to the availability of crude oil.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, everyone fought for food, clean water, Espers, and weapons, without realizing the importance of crude oil. But in reality, the significance of crude oil in the apocalypse was beyond imagination. In the apocalypse, Survival Zones without crude oil could barely move.
Bai Island thrived and grew due to its supply of crude oil. Although it had nothing else, it possessed crude oil, which made it almost unstoppable as it grew and expanded year after year in the apocalypse.
Mo Chu arrived at Bai Island in the third year of the apocalypse, relying on her special identity as a Healing-type esper to gradually establish herself there. Afterward, she rarely wandered outside the island.
Eventually, she died on Bai Island.
Whether it was due to the uniqueness of Bai Island’s crude oil survival zone or the special emotional attachment to her previous resting place, Mo Chu wanted to go back and take a look.
In her memory, the situation in Bai Island was quite the opposite of the Survival Zone she was currently in, Lin City.
The first Survival Zone in Lin City was established and controlled by the military. It was indeed well managed in the beginning, but as time passed, the problem of insufficient resources became apparent. At one point, even ordinary people had to exchange zombies for food, and a first-level zombie could only be traded for a pack of biscuits.
During that time, she was with Chu Ming and others in that Survival Zone. It was also during that time that Chu Ming revealed his fangs and used food to threaten Mo Chu into submission.
Later on, as other Survival Zones were established in Lin City, the pressure on the first Survival Zone was relieved, and the situation was not as dire.
With memories from her past life, these matters were almost devoid of secrets for her, so after careful consideration, she chose to go to Hai City.
However, she knew the reasons for going to Hai City herself. If Li Chen asked about it, how would she explain?
Mo Chu was pondering whether to find an excuse, like looking for relatives in Hai City, when she heard Li Chen calmly say, “Then I’ll go with you.”
Mo Chu raised her head in astonishment.
Looking at her surprised face, Li Chen smiled slightly and said, “I’ll go with you.”
Li Chen… wanted to go with her?
He didn’t even ask what she was going to do in Hai City; he just wanted to go with her.
Honestly, from the beginning, Mo Chu never thought that she would travel with Li Chen.
Firstly, she saved Li Chen simply to repay. She did it to express gratitude and to follow her own heart, but she never thought that he would accompany her after being saved. In her view, Mo Chu was Mo Chu, and Li Chen was Li Chen. After she saved him, they should each lead their own lives, and there should not be any overlap. Who could guarantee that if he liked her in the past life, he would still like her in this life?
Secondly, she had no reason to ask someone to follow her for over a thousand miles without any complaints.
While she hesitated, she heard Li Chen ask, “You… don’t want me to come along?”
Mo Chu hesitated for a moment and asked softly, “Don’t you need to find your family?”
The young man said calmly, “I don’t have a family.”
Mo Chu fell silent.
Suddenly, she remembered that Li Chen and Chu Ming seemed to be good brothers.
Even before their falling out, Chu Ming himself had said that although they were not biological brothers, they were closer than real brothers.
To be betrayed by a brother he considered as close as kin, with no family to rely on…
Mo Chu let out a soft sigh in her heart.
Li Chen asked again, “Can I come with you?”
She didn’t know if it was out of sympathy for the former great Demon or if she felt she had no reason to refuse, but she hesitated for a moment and unexpectedly said, “Yes.”
After saying that, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly in her heart.
She never expected that in this second chance, she would actually have the courage to travel with the Demon.
She looked up and saw him gazing at her intently, causing her heart to tremble.
After discussing their respective destinations, it was already late into the night. Mo Chu had been awake for two days, and now that Li Chen had woken up, she felt relieved but couldn’t hold on any longer. Sleepiness soon overcame her.
As she drifted off to sleep, she faintly sensed someone lifting her up and placing her on something soft. She shifted her body and fell into a deeper slumber.
The next day, before dawn, she vaguely heard some movement in the warehouse.
This time, she was much more alert and quickly sat up.
Then she saw Li Chen.
He had a large backpack on his back and was fully armed as if he was about to go out.
Mo Chu asked in confusion, “Li Chen, where are you going?”
Li Chen turned his head, looking somewhat apologetic, and whispered, “Sorry for waking you.”
Mo Chu shook her head and asked again, “Are you going out?”
He pointed to the backpack behind him and said calmly, “Today, the rescue team will enter the city. While taking survivors, they will definitely take away the supplies in the city as well. we will not follow the rescue team, so we should try to find more supplies before they arrive.”
Mo Chu suddenly became clear-headed.
She felt regretful that she had been too used to being “Doctor Mo” in her past life, causing her to overlook these basic things.
She immediately jumped up from the mattress and realized that she had been leaning against the wall while sleeping, but somehow ended up on the mattress.
However, she didn’t have time to dwell on that. She quickly grabbed two picked up an empty backpack, saying, “Follow me, I know a good place.”
Then she led Li Chen to the supermarket where she had collected supplies the day before.
On the way, they encountered sporadic pedestrians, mostly groups of seven or eight young adults traveling together. When encountering zombies, they would join forces to deal with them, making it relatively safe without the initial struggles against them.
It had to be said that survivors were becoming more and more adapted to the apocalypse.
As the number of pedestrians increased in the city, she prayed that the supermarket she visited yesterday wouldn’t be completely looted, hoping to find at least something left.
However, when they arrived at the supermarket, she discovered that it was still intact, showing no signs of being looted. It was as clean as when she last visited, with no zombies in sight.
Just like the last time she was here, the supermarket was devoid of zombies, even though there was an abundance of food. It was as if it had not been looted before their arrival.
At that time, she thought she was just lucky to have found an undiscovered supermarket.
But this time, it happened again, and it seemed unreasonable for it to be a mere coincidence.
Moreover, the last time she was here, there was a group of people who were driven out by the students, and they didn’t seem like the type to give up after just one trip. They were more likely to return.
Something was off.
Li Chen also sensed that something was amiss. He subconsciously raised his hand and instinctively shielded Mo Chu behind him.
Mo Chu grabbed his arm and shook her head at him. They exchanged a glance, and Li Chen took a step forward, with Mo Chu slightly behind him, as they entered the supermarket, pretending to collect supplies as usual.
Mo Chu was swift with her actions but remained cautious. When she heard a faint noise coming from a shelf, she immediately tightened her grip on Li Chen’s arm.
Li Chen summoned a few strands of flames in his hand, shielding her as they turned around the shelf.
And there, they saw a Golden Retriever.
Its size was more than twice that of a normal dog, and its eyes were a translucent red, clearly not a typical Golden Retriever.
At first glance, Mo Chu could tell that this was a mutated dog, or rather, an Esper Dog – an awakened animal with supernatural abilities.
And now, this rare Esper Dog was excitedly looking at her, sticking its tongue out and trying to get around Li Chen and wagging its tail happily.
