Chapter 142: Preparing to Leave

"Sister Xiaochun."

Fang Xia quietly stood up and gave Guo Yu, who was watching the scene with great relish, a light kick.

Reluctantly, Guo Yu stood up and followed Fang Xia out of the hall, looking back every few steps.

Outside the house.

The other young women had already returned.

"Xiaochun is inside reuniting with her family. Let's wait outside for a moment."

"Doctor Jiang, you should get ready and go in with Xiaochun later. Her father seems to be seriously ill."

Jiang Wei nodded.

Before long, the three of them walked out from inside.

"Brother Fang, I'm going to see my father first."

Bai Xiaochun hurried to report.

"Have Jiang Wei go with you."

Bai Xiaochun nodded gratefully, and the two of them left under Bai Bin's guidance.

"Sigh!"

Liu Rui suddenly let out a soft sigh.

She had just listened to Fang Xia briefly recount Bai Xiaochun's family situation.

Her mother had passed away, but her father was still alive, which was ultimately a blessing.

Unlike her, she had no idea where her parents were, or even if they were still alive.

Fang Xia gently pulled Liu Rui into his arms.

"Later on, we'll go and look for your parents too."

Liu Rui's home was quite far away; she was not from this province, and her hometown was in Sichuan.

Liu Rui also knew that trying to go all the way over there right now was definitely unrealistic.

Seeing Bai Xiaochun find her family simply stirred up old emotions within her.

Bai Xing stood quietly to the side, saying nothing. Her family situation was somewhat complicated, and she had never brought it up with anyone.

At least Liu Rui still had a glimmer of hope; she didn't even have that.

Ever since her father passed away when she was young and her mother remarried, that man had treated her family very poorly. As Bai Xing grew older and blossomed into a young woman, that man even began to harbor strange and inappropriate thoughts toward her.

Back then, Bai Xing often didn't dare to go home.

Later on, while studying computer science, she also learned some self-defense techniques just in case.

After starting university, she hardly ever went home except during the Lunar New Year.

Because of this, her sense of belonging to a family was exceptionally weak.

If there was still a shred of longing left in her heart, it was only for her mother.

However, given the current state of the world, there was a high probability that her mother wouldn't survive.

After all, the man she stayed with was never a good person to begin with.

The other young women were genuinely happy to see Bai Xiaochun reunited with her family.

As for what they were truly thinking inside, there was no way of knowing.

It wasn't until past three in the afternoon that Bai Xiaochun returned. A faint trace of sorrow lingered on her face, and her slightly red eyes suggested she had been crying.

She was supporting a middle-aged man.

Behind her, aside from Bai Bin and his son, there were two other females—one older and one younger.

Unsurprisingly, that man was her father, and the other two were likely the family of her eldest uncle.

Jiang Wei had already come over.

Faced with everyone's curiosity, Jiang Wei very consciously spoke up before anyone could even ask.

"Xiaochun's father fell ill due to extreme exhaustion, lack of food, and the sudden, devastating shock of her mother's death."

"Now that he has seen Bai Xiaochun, he's already more than half recovered. The rest will just require gradual recuperation and care."

Fang Xia nodded.

Since she had found her family, they could now start considering preparations for the next stop.

Fang Xia had been worried that having so many Tier 4 beings here might attract a horde of Tier 5 zombies to lay siege, which would be troublesome.

They would stay one more day to scavenge Yancheng thoroughly.

Just three days in total; surely it wouldn't attract any unwanted attention.

Fang Xia thought to himself inwardly.

"Brother Fang, I want to take my father and my uncle's family with us."

That evening, Bai Xiaochun ran over to find Fang Xia.

"Take them along, then,"

Fang Xia replied indifferently.

Wasn't the whole point of letting her find her family to bring them along?

Not only Bai Xiaochun, but the other young women were treated the same way—whomever they found, they could bring along.

Why were the young women willing to follow Fang Xia out of the city?

Without the protection of Fang Xia's team in this apocalyptic world, the prettier you were, the easier it was for something terrible to happen, even if they were Tier 3 fighters.

Following Fang Xia meant eating well and living comfortably, and so far, Fang Xia had led them safely through numerous major dangers.

Most importantly, women tended to be more tender-hearted. Even after being tempered by the apocalypse, upon hearing there was a chance to find their relatives, they were often much more emotional than men.

"Thank you, Brother Fang."

Bai Xiaochun ran off happily; she wanted to share this news with her family immediately.

"Send out the word, we leave tomorrow."

As soon as Bai Xiaochun left, Fang Xia said to Liu Rui beside him.

Aside from Bai Xiaochun, there were three other young women in the group whose homes were in Yancheng, but two were from the surrounding towns, and the other lived in the city proper; none of them had managed to find their families.

"Not waiting a bit longer?"

Today's harvest alone was far greater than what they had gained in Dawning City. If they stayed another two days, they could acquire a massive amount of non-renewable pre-apocalyptic resources.

These supplies were one of their foundations for heading to Shanghai.

The larger the city, the more survivors there were, and the scarcer these commodities became. When the time came, they could certainly trade them at exorbitant prices to successfully establish a firm foothold.

Fang Xia hesitated slightly as well.

Indeed, as Liu Rui said, staying another two or three days would make their backing for the trip to Shanghai even stronger. As for what the survivors of Yancheng would do if he stripped the city bare of supplies, that wasn't something they needed to concern themselves with.

If those people didn't find a way to reach Dawning City, they would perish sooner or later anyway.

"We can't wait."

After hesitating for just a few seconds, Fang Xia made up his mind.

If they waited any longer, he feared other unexpected complications might arise.

Given the strength of his team, they could always acquire resources elsewhere in the future. But if an accident happened—this wasn't Dawning City, after all—they couldn't afford to withstand a Tier 5 zombie siege.

"Alright, I'll go notify everyone right away."

Since Fang Xia had already made his decision, Liu Rui didn't hesitate any longer. She immediately went to instruct the members to prepare for a departure at dawn the next morning.

Since they were leaving, they needed to set off early to ensure they could reach the next city before dark.

Meanwhile, Xiao Qiang also received the news that Fang Xia's team was about to leave.

Right now, he was sitting in his lord's office, feeling indecisive.

The apocalypse had descended for more than three months, and he originally thought he had adapted to it. But he never expected that a single zombie siege would nearly cost him his life, and almost reduce the entire city of Yancheng to a city of the dead.

If Fang Xia's team hadn't arrived in time, who knows how many of the hundreds of thousands of survivors in Yancheng would have been buried here.

Even if they managed to survive this time, what about the next? And the time after that?

Therefore, Xiao Qiang was now facing a crucial choice.

Whether to follow Fang Xia and leave, continue staying in Yancheng, or head to the Dawning City they spoke of.

Staying in Yancheng might allow him to live in luxury for a little while longer, but it inevitably led to destruction.

Going to Dawning City—just looking at the strength of Fang Xia's team was enough to tell: with his Tier 3 strength, he would quickly fade into obscurity among the masses.