Just as the convoy had entered an unremarkable small town, the unexpected happened.
A little boy, looking to be only seven or eight years old, suddenly rushed out from a dilapidated two-story building on the side of the road, spread his arms wide, and blocked the front of the convoy.
He clutched a rusty iron pipe tightly in his hands. His cotton-padded jacket was filthy and torn in several places, revealing the gray cotton batting inside. A mop of fluffy, blond curly hair, like an untended patch of weeds, sat messily on his head.
The convoy immediately came to a stop.
The little boy's clear blue eyes were filled with a terror that belied his age, and… a feigned fierceness that was all bark and no bite. He pointed the iron pipe, which was thicker than his arm, at the lead SUV and shouted in a trembling voice that was trying hard to sound tough:
"D-don't move! Nobody move!"
A car door opened, and Seraph was the first to step out. She had seen a lot. She had heard plenty of sordid stories in the apocalypse about people using children as bait to attract and disarm survivors, only to rob or even kill them.
She looked at the bluffing little boy before her, and her eyes turned somewhat cold.
"Kid," she warned in a frigid tone, "I don't care who's behind you. I'll count to three. If you don't call out your 'adults,' I'll show you what consequences mean."
As she spoke, a blazing ball of fire, radiating intense heat, ignited in her palm with a whoosh. The dancing flames cast a menacing light on her beautiful face.
But to everyone's surprise, Seraph's warning, instead of scaring the little boy, seemed to act as a powerful stimulant. It was as if he were a lit firecracker, and he completely snapped!
"Don't you come any closer!" he shrieked, using a louder voice to mask his inner fear. "If you dare take another step, I'll kill you! I'm warning you, stay away from us! Do you know who I am? My dad is..."
The childish, easily punctured lie made Elara's brow furrow involuntarily. She also got out of her vehicle and stood beside Seraph.
"Where are your adults?" Elara's voice was gentler than Seraph's, but it carried the same unquestionable calmness. "Have them come out and talk."
Before the little boy could answer, a sharp, venom-filled scream came from the two-story building behind him, growing closer.
Then, accompanied by a chaotic clatter of footsteps, a woman rushed to the front.
She was a woman who looked to be in her thirties, her face gaunt, but her eyes burned with a blazing hatred. Behind her followed a group of equally sallow, raggedly dressed elderly, women, and children.
The woman rushed to the little boy's side, first shoving him behind her, then, as if to vent her frustration, raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face several times!
"You useless thing! Who told you to run out on your own!" she cursed.
The little boy staggered from the blows, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he stubbornly remained silent, merely looking at his mother with blue eyes full of fear and hurt.
After hitting her child, the woman finally looked up, staring at Elara and Seraph with a gaze full of vigilance and hostility. At the same time, her peripheral vision kept darting towards the others in the convoy, as if assessing their threat level.
"What are you robbers doing here again?!" the woman's voice was shrill and venomous, like a poisoned dagger. "There's nothing left here! People like you have already looted everything we had! You damned, may-you-die-a-horrible-death..."
It was as if a floodgate had opened. The woman began to curse, using all sorts of vile words, some of which Elara had never even heard before, in a long, almost non-repeating tirade. Her scrawny body trembled violently with agitation. Elara was even a little worried she might curse herself out of breath and pass out.
In the car, Cassian rubbed his throbbing temples. Before the apocalypse, as the chairman of a large company, he had dealt with all sorts of difficult people. He was clearly more experienced than anyone else present at handling such emotionally charged situations.
He stepped out of the car, a gentle and soothing smile on his face. He didn't approach directly but maintained a safe, non-threatening distance.
"Hello, ma'am," his voice was steady and magnetic, carrying a natural, convincing power. "Please calm down. I believe there may be some misunderstanding between us. We are just passing through this town on our way to our next destination. We mean you no harm."
In a few short sentences, he clearly stated their intentions and subtly hinted at their formidable strength, implying they had no need to rob these survivors who already had nothing.
Hearing Cassian's words, the woman's cursing stopped, but her eyes were still filled with deep suspicion and mistrust.
The few people in the cars exchanged glances, quickly understanding Cassian's meaning. Zephyr and Kane silently moved a whole, unopened case of instant noodles from the back of the truck and placed it in the open space between them and the group of survivors.
Seeing the full case of food, the woman's expression visibly softened. The eyes of the elderly, women, and children behind her erupted with an unconcealable craving for food.
The woman was clearly the leader of this group of survivors. As her expression relaxed, the entire confrontational atmosphere eased considerably.
She glanced at the case of noodles, then back at Cassian and his group. The intense hostility in her eyes finally began to fade, replaced by a deep, impenetrable sadness and… despair.
Her gaze dimmed, and she began to recount their story in a hoarse, almost dreamlike voice.
It turned out that their small group were originally residents of this town. After the apocalypse broke out, they had been lucky enough to survive. And among them, a plant-based ability user had emerged.
That ability user, although not very powerful, could grow some edible plants, like potatoes and sweet potatoes, allowing them to barely fill their stomachs in this food-scarce apocalypse. Plus, with their numbers, they could occasionally gather other supplies. Life was hard, but at least… they could survive.
However, a few days ago, their peace was shattered by a group of outsiders with powers.
"They… they were just like you people…" the woman's voice trembled slightly, "wearing clean, neat clothes, driving nice cars, looking very strong…"
After discovering they had a plant-based ability user among them, that group of outsiders revealed their greedy nature. They not only took the plant-ability user away but also looted all the supplies they had painstakingly gathered, even the very last of the plant seeds they depended on for survival.
"We fought back…" a flame of hatred rekindled in the woman's eyes, "but… it was useless. They… they beat Xiao Mu to a pulp… beat him until he was almost dead… We… we had to… agree…"
Hearing this, Elara's eyes flickered.
A plant-based ability user… does that mean it's different from Jorah's wood-based ability, which leans more towards life energy and generation?
She didn't interrupt the woman but patiently continued to listen to her story.