To maintain her image of a kind-hearted person, Lin Tingxue kept the walkie-talkie in her hand the whole time. Her words also reached the ears of Shen Hegui, Yu Ke, and the others.
Jiang Yuntan, holding the binoculars, turned to look at the gas station. Those women indeed bore marks of recent intimacy, wearing only short skirts or camisole shorts. But the men weren't actively assaulting them right then.
Lin Tingxue had only glanced and decided they were suffering inhuman treatment? Couldn't bear to watch?
No.
Jiang Yuntan was more inclined to believe there was something Lin Tingxue wanted at the station. Why else would she be so insistent on going there?
Seeing Shen Hegui's opposition and his poor tone, Lin Tingxue fell silent about her earlier proposal.
The three cars continued down the adjacent road, trying to turn off and leave. But when they reached another intersection, they found the way blocked by several vehicles, along with tables, chairs, shopfront umbrellas, and iron sheds piled up, with nails scattered on the ground. Clearly, someone had deliberately obstructed the road.
Through gaps, they could see many zombies shuffling on the other side of the barricade. Moving those obstacles seemed unrealistic.
Shen Hegui looked at the map and said, "The nearest route to Jing City is this one. If we turn back, we'll go through the city center and several busy areas, even residential clusters, and we'll definitely encounter many zombies."
"There's a small path nearby, but since this one is blocked, that path might be blocked too."
If this road was sealed, the only way through was via the gas station. So who had sealed it? The answer was obvious.
Jiang Yuntan leaned over to glance at the map in Shen Hegui's hands. The road they were on ran along the coast, a main city artery used by many transport vehicles. It was the fastest and most convenient route out of Hai City to other places.
She murmured, "They wouldn't be waiting there on purpose, would they? Just to fleece passersby?"
"But why? There are still plenty of supplies in Hai City. With so many people, they could gather a lot, right?"
Since they chose this spot, they must have another motive. What could it be? Just to rob vehicles?
Most people leaving Hai City would bring ample supplies, but how could that compare to looting supermarkets and grain markets in the city?
Shen Hegui said, "We'll find out what they want soon enough. Probably they chose this place because it's far from the city center and has fewer zombies."
If it wasn't for material gain, then what they sought must be something even more unacceptable.
When they turned back to the original lane and the gas station came into view, Jiang Yuntan raised the binoculars and caught the eye of one of the men.
She wasn't sure if he noticed, but she calmly lowered the binoculars.
"They seem to have guessed we'd come back," she said steadily. "They're standing there waiting for us."
Shen Hegui took the binoculars from her, looked, and said, "Don't fire any guns when we're inside the station. We don't want an explosion."
"Got it." Jiang Yuntan replied while opening the dimensional showcase, refreshing the ten merchant showcases that appeared today.
This was the first time since the apocalypse began that she felt truly threatened by a group. Even the fire ability user last time hadn't given her this feeling.
She trusted her instinct, so she searched for something to protect herself.
Fortunately, in one showcase, she found a Defense Talisman that could block one attack at the Foundation Establishment level.
She thought: even if they have ability users, the apocalypse started less than ten days ago. No matter how much they've leveled up, they couldn't have reached Foundation Establishment, right?
Anyway, from the novels she'd read, Foundation Establishment cultivators were quite powerful, even able to fly on swords.
Each talisman cost 1000 dimension coins, and there were five in the showcase. Without hesitation, Jiang Yuntan bought all five.
Then she secretly put one in each of her left and right pockets. After doing that, she breathed a sigh of relief.
As for sharing them with Shen Hegui and the others? No way. If she took them out, how would she explain?
Besides, Shen Hegui was the male lead; he could surely defeat that group. Saving her own life was already helping him, wasn't it?
When the cars were less than fifty meters from the gas station, Shen Hegui signaled everyone to stop.
He said over the walkie-talkie, "There are probably more than the dozen people we saw. Let's not go in yet. We'll observe from here."
"We've been out for a while. Everyone, eat something now. If we do end up fighting, this will give us some energy."
Everyone agreed and started eating.
At the gas station, the group had prepared for the three cars to arrive, even setting up roadblocks to trap them. But why had the cars stopped?
One man, thin as a pole, said to a tattooed man beside him, "Brother Qiang, why aren't they coming?"
Brother Qiang gave him a fierce look. "How should I know? They're probably scared. Wait. Since they came here, they must be leaving the city."
"If they want to leave, they have to pass here, unless they're willing to go through the city."
Brother Qiang licked his lips, eyes gleaming with excitement as he stared at the three luxury cars. "Those rich people used to look down on us, always sneering at us. Now it's time for them to taste being taught a lesson by the people they despised."
"The ones we've toyed with before were too ordinary. Now we've got some golden nuggets from rich nests. Their skin must be tender, better than the ones we caught before."
Behind him, a short, fat man said, "I wonder if there are any rich heiresses in there. I've never had one. The other day we caught a minor celebrity, but she was from an ordinary family."
Brother Qiang gave him a meaningful look.
The fat man quickly added, "Even if there are, of course they'll be for you first, boss."
The group was ready to spring the trap. But after more than twenty minutes, the three luxury cars remained motionless where they had stopped.