Chapter 219: What If There Really Is a Miracle

Village Chief’s assistant Xiao Zheng walked from the front of the village to the back, stopping at every house to check whether the residents’ defenses were ready.

He also handed each household a talisman for protecting the home.

“This is a protective talisman made by Pathfinder Zhan. He explained how to use it during training, you all know what to do, right?”

“Stick the talisman on your door, and do not go outside!!”

“Mm… but don’t misuse it, each household gets only one!”

“Even the Daoist doesn’t have many of these!”

“Keep it safe, don’t bend or crush it, this is your family’s life-saving talisman!”

“Want another one? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“The Five Thunder Talismans? You really dare to dream. Even I don’t have those, ordinary people like us can’t use them!”

“That’s it. For these next few nights, close your doors and windows tight! Do not go out at night, and if you have children, watch them closely!”

“Make sure every member of your household knows!”

Xiao Zheng tirelessly repeated these warnings at every door.

Some of the warned villagers were impatient, some listened seriously, some nodded obediently and kept quiet.

Finally Xiao Zheng would take out a sketch portrait and point at the pretty girl in it, asking, “Do any of you recognize this young woman? Her name is Xue Qing! She’s about…”

After receiving negative answers each time,

Xiao Zheng would again urge the villagers to lock their doors.

Those whose doors had been knocked on didn’t feel annoyed;

they always asked a few extra questions.

The villagers’ faces were fearful, but not overly so.

After this long in the apocalypse, those who remained had developed some mental resilience.

Only this time, because the Village Chief obviously took things very seriously, people were a little more worried.

“Isn’t it tiring, going through every household and repeating the same warning?”

Xue Nan looked at the protective talisman in his hand and said, a little speechless.

Xiao Zheng chuckled, “What can I do? Some people, you tell them once or twice and they just won’t take it seriously. You have to keep repeating it!”

“But even so, there are still people who ignore it.”

“If I can save even one life by doing this, it’s worth it!”

“Sigh… there aren’t many of us left!”

That “us” referred both to the village and to humanity.

Xue Nan curled his lips, “People like that wouldn’t exist in our convoy.”

Xiao Zheng pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose, “Well… if we can save even one life, it’s something.”

“Now it’s the apocalypse. Those fools might avoid danger once, but they can’t escape every time. What you’re doing is just wasting time.”

Xue Nan’s tone was a little cold, but it was true.

Xiao Zheng only smiled bitterly, then turned and knocked on the next house’s door.

Xiao Zheng and Xue Nan were both assistants.

During this period they were the two who interacted most frequently;

most of the deals made with the Superhumans were handled by Xue Nan for details and aftercare.

So over time their relationship had quickly become familiar.

Xue Nan had also come to see Xiao Zheng with a purpose.

Divine Elephant Village had one thousand people.

Xue Nan wanted to see with his own eyes whether any familiar face was among those thousand.

Even if he didn’t see that familiar face, getting some clue would be helpful.

But unfortunately, up to now, no one knew anything about his sister, not even a scrap of information.

They worked until late into the night and only parted at the far end of the street.

At this time, the blood moon had already dyed the clouds in the sky crimson.

Xue Nan looked at the protective talisman Xiao Zheng had given him.

He hadn’t seen this kind of talisman at the previous trading meetings.

Presumably that Daoist didn’t have many of them himself, so he hadn’t brought any to the trading post.

But Xue Nan also guessed the talisman’s effect against Anomalies would be limited.

A pile of talismans mass-produced by a single Celestial Master Sequence 2 Exorcist Taoist could hardly make the Anomalies keep their distance.

Even the convoy’s top expert, Sun Xixi, might not be able to do that.

Still, that Daoist had some skill, managing to create a few hundred protective talismans, one per household.

That was impressive!

The idea of “home” in Divine Elephant Village was different from what Chu Che and his convoy thought.

Here it was more like a dormitory.

Many survivors had been separated from their families, so in Divine Elephant Village several people often shared a single room, and that counted as a “family.”

Of course, you could also call it a dormitory.

Thinking of home made Xue Nan think of his sister Xue Qing.

He stared at the sketch portrait in his hand.

Xue Nan muttered, “Sister, I’m almost forgetting the sound of your voice.”

At that moment, a weary figure walked down the street.

Seeing the figure, Xue Nan only lifted his eyes briefly, didn’t think much of it, and continued walking.

He knew who the tired figure was.

It was Zhou Xiaoxiao, who had just acknowledged Ding Dong as her master.

Zhou Xiaoxiao had become front-page news in the convoy recently.

They walked on opposite sides of the street like two unrelated parallel paths.

Just as they were about to cross, Xue Nan still said, “If you keep training like this, you’ll only end up crippling yourself. You won’t become a Superhuman.”

Zhou Xiaoxiao halted mid-step, then answered in a hoarse voice, “This is the only path I can take.”

Xue Nan sighed and was about to leave.

Zhou Xiaoxiao’s hoarse voice called after him, “Any news about Xue Qing?”

“No!”

The sadness in Xue Nan’s voice was indescribable.

Zhou Xiaoxiao paused, then said, “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

“Mm, you too…”

They passed each other and didn’t exchange another unnecessary word.

Everyone actually knew deep down how difficult it was in the apocalypse to find lost family or belongings.

Maybe everyone understood that that dreamed-of reunion might never happen.

Yet no one had given up.

What if, by chance, there really is a miracle?

Even if it’s extremely unlikely…

…

“Village Chief, I swear that Chu guy is a total lunatic!”

Inside the Village Chief’s house,

the Slovenly Daoist spoke with lingering dread, grabbing the Village Chief’s teacup and draining it in one gulp, even chewing down the tea leaves left in the cup without restraint.

“What? What did you see?”

Hearing the Daoist’s words, Big Head Village Chief grew interested.

At the same time, in another room, the Eavesdropping Radio listening in on the Village Chief’s conversation also perked up.

Since last time, after gaining the upper hand in negotiations, Captain Chu had become very interested in eavesdropping on the Village Chief’s talks.

Not listening for a day made him itch.

And clearly this village was hiding some secrets.

Of course, in front of outsiders, Captain Chu was still the righteous Captain Chu.

He didn’t even put the Eavesdropping Radio on screen that often.

The radio carried the Slovenly Daoist’s crude voice.

“Village Chief, you wouldn’t believe how disgusting that guy is.”

“When I passed that way earlier, I saw the bastard squatting in a corner talking to a lighter saying, ‘I love you.’”

“Ew~~~ it was so cheesy!”

“He kept saying ‘Every minute and every second I miss you tortures me!’”

“And ‘In this life I will only love you!’”

“Ugh…”

“Village Chief, you should’ve seen the expression on his face;

if you saw it you’d puke!”

“So gross, you wouldn’t expect someone with thick brows and big eyes to be like that…”

“Ugh~~~”

At that moment, Captain Chu, who was listening to the radio, froze as if turned to stone.

No…

No no no…

I was so careful just now, how did he see me?

Damn it…