The Invasion Day – Chapter 60

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 60

In the past few days of the journey, they never met other humans.

On one hand, it was because the road they drove on was rather isolated, and on the other hand, the aliens had slaughtered all the villages and small towns along the road, so much so that even dogs didn’t escape that fate.

So knowing that someone had taken one step ahead really shocked them, for they weren’t prepared for this at all.

Would their encounter with these unknown survivors turn out to be friendly or hostile?

At least for now, with regards to the resources available, Fu Shiwu’s team and these other survivors seemed to be on opposing sides. If the other party had gotten their hands on those, there wouldn’t be anything left for them. Neither would have a mind to leave resources for the other.

Tang Xuhai straight away said: “I just saw a private gas station in that village.”

“What?! For real?” Liu Zhao and the others were taken aback. Since they weren’t in the same car as Tang Xuhai, they never heard him mention that these villages nearing the border would have places that offered gasoline.

Unfortunately, before their surprise could even rupture into joy, Tang Xuhai directly poured cold water on their heads: “But don’t even think about it. It must have all been taken.”

Their excitement quickly became deflated.

Tang Xuhai said: “Our advantage from taking the provincial road may already be gone. The next villages may just be the same as this.”

“What should we do?” Ma Dong spilled the words before he was even aware of it. The honest worker with the sand attribute ability was truly at a loss.

“Now there are only two options: one is to continue taking this provincial road, perhaps there are still villages that haven’t been totally wiped out, and the other is to return to the national highway.” Tang Xuhai said.

Hearing about having to return to the national highway, some men in the team felt their hearts flutter.

By now, they had tasted the sweetness of taking the provincial road, where there was hardly any alien nor other survivors who would likely want to jump into conflict with them.

Wen Zhaoming looked at Tang Xuhai’s expressionless face, then he thought for a moment and said: “I think it’s better to go back to the national highway. If we continue like this, we’ll likely run out of gas at one point and may have to abandon the car in the end.”

This was an outcome that no one was willing to take. Beside the dangers they could face with abandoning the car and going on foot, they would waste lots of time and supplies too.

Originally, because of the wild growth of weeds, the roadbed was destroyed and they could only reduce their speed. If they were to walk, when would they even be able to reach the military’s survivor base?

That said, if they went back to the national highway, they were likely to encounter large waves of aliens. Right now, there was no alien wave on the provincial road. This was because these aliens had all gathered along the main road, where a much larger population of humans could be found.

Although these aliens had way better physique than ordinary humans, they might also grow tired and need a rest. Of course if they could choose to run on asphalt roads, they would do it at once; why would they want to struggle through high mountains and thick forests?

“But even if we go back to the national highway, we might still run out of gas.” Liu Peiqi frowned: “The people who choose the national highway might have taken all the remaining gas long ago.”

“True, if we’re doomed to abandon the car in the end, we might as well take the provincial road. At least it’s safer to meet humans than to meet aliens?” Wu Shan also voiced out.

Fu Shiwu hugged his arms and remained deep in his own thoughts, as if he hadn’t heard other people being extremely unwilling to return to the national highway at all.

He looked up at Tang Xuhai and asked: “Do you think it’s better to get back to the national highway?”

Tang Xuhai hesitated for a moment before finally saying: “I think both are okay. It just takes more time for us to reach our destination using the provincial road. If we chance upon other groups, we can just snatch their supplies.”

Tang Xuhai said it so nonchalantly that all the people present were petrified.

Fu Shiwu paused for a second, but he didn’t seem to be surprised. At such a time, sympathy was a lost cause. In this desperate situation where everyone wanted to live, the only thing that mattered was each man’s own strength.

However, if it wasn’t a last resort, he wouldn’t want to fight with his own kin. After all, they still had a common enemy, and only when they were united could there be hope.

“Miao Jia, go take a look, is there any place nearby that’s most likely for a large number of humans to gather?” Fu Shiwu spoke to Miao Jia as he relaxed his head, still deep in thought.

“Okay.” Miao Jia nodded and walked away from the bonfire, then he climbed into the car and pulled out his laptop.

“Uhm… I can’t see clearly now, let me take a look at the daytime images.” Miao Jia lowered his head and fiddled with the machine. This was the first time people in the other cars saw this ‘intelligence agent’ at work, so they curiously trotted to his side.

“Found it!” Miao Jia’s eyes lit up as he exclaimed with excitement: “The nearest and largest town is Ping Nan, a third-tier town. Let me see… there seems to be a gathering point near the city, a rather big one. Yes, it can hold tens of thousands of people. There are many alien activities around there.”

“That’s expected.” Fu Shiwu nodded.

“Well, it should be the people from this gathering point who came here to collect things.” Tang Xuhai also agreed.

This was the same as the special operations team he followed at the beginning. Sooner or later, these large-scale refugee camps wouldn’t be able to support everyone’s consumption, hence they must head out to search for more.

“Great! If there’s a large gathering point, can we exchange our things for gas?” Ma Dong said excitedly.

“What should we exchange?” Tang Xuhai asked back.

“Food?” After a second of hesitation, Ma Dong replied, sounding like he wasn’t sure of his own suggestion at all.

Seeing this man in his forties being as timid as a little wife, Tang Xuhai couldn’t bear to look directly at him: “If they have the guts to venture into the wild like us, they might’ve harvested all the food they need. In this autumn full of crops, why would they exchange their precious gasoline for more food?”

Ma Dong’s tongue was tied. 

Wen Zhaoming thought for a while and said: “In any case, gathering points will always attract the aliens. If we choose to go through Ping Nan town, the safety factor is better ensured. If possible, we should try to pass through this gathering point and exchange some gas. We still have some meat from the special ability ox. Meat products are now in demand and should be able to impress them.”

“Then let’s get on the national highway. We’ll drive as far as we possibly can.” Tang Xuhai said with his arms folded.

If Fu Shiwu’s sudden faint earlier and their encounter with the corn king was the first happening of the day, then the discovery that there was a large gathering point next to their camping spot was the second happening.

But that still wasn’t the last strange thing of that day.

At the moment everyone expected the red veil to turn up on the Huaxia night sky, to their utter surprise, the crimson sky they had grown used to seeing for more than seven weeks was nowhere to be seen.

“How can it be?” Miao Jia asked, a wave of uneasiness crashing his heart.

Now that the aliens were running rampant everywhere, people could no longer rejoice to see the moon and stars up high in the sky. Rather, they were all wary of a sudden calamity awaiting them.

“I’ve no idea.” Fu Shiwu gazed solemnly at the crescent moon hanging in the sky: “It should be the same as the time earlier when the sky veil temporarily disappeared.”

“But, why?” Miao Jia asked with puzzlement. 

“Who knows, why don’t you go to your forum to see?” Tang Xuhai grumpily patted Miao Jia’s head.

That had Miao Jia jump up and immediately run to find his laptop.

“The Focus Forum said that this should be a temporary suspension of the sky veil. Suspension?” Miao Jia mumbled to himself in awe.

“Suspension?” Fu Shiwu and Tang Xuhai both showed a suspicious expression, then the two of walked to Miao Jia’s side and looked down at the laptop screen together.

The above statement was taken from a post named ‘Insider News | The Sky Veil’.

According to the latest research, the aliens came to Earth through a specific channel, which was fixed along the orbit of the earth, like a giant net that shrouded the entire planet. However, its position seemed to be stationary and didn’t follow Earth’s rotation, which led to a time difference of more than half a day between the east and west sides of the globe when the sky veil moved above each of them to release the aliens.

After the crimson sky phenomenon first appeared, the seventh day was the first time this suspension happened. Thereafter, as though waiting for sufficient energy to pile up, the sky veil opened again and a full-on alien invasion happened to Earth. So the poster theorised that when the veil opened once more, perhaps even more powerful aliens would descend. Humanity should be fully prepared!

“More powerful aliens?!” Fu Shiwu tightly gritted his teeth: “Now the evolved aliens are already difficult enough to deal with, yet there are still more powerful ones?”

Tang Xuhai’s heart was also flustered. Among them all, he was the one who had fought head-on against the most aliens. Even the best men could barely hold themselves against the evolved aliens. If the amount of aliens surged once again, wouldn’t everyone’s hands be completely tied?

“In any case, we must rush to the survivor base as soon as possible.” Tang Xuhai said with his fists tightly clenched.

The team didn’t rest at all that night. They packed their things and stayed on the wheels throughout the night, no one having a mind to pay attention to any special ability animals or plants on the way. As long as they didn’t encounter a large alien wave, they would charge forward despite all odds.

It wasn’t until very late at night that they completed the detour and finally returned to the national highway. Compared with the bumpy provincial road, this highway was relatively flat. After all, the thickness of a standard highway was several times that of a local road. It would take some time for the mutated weeds to destroy it.

“We’re still lucky…” Tang Xuhai breathed a sigh of relief: “We haven’t encountered any wandering aliens or special ability animals along the way.”

“Uhm. I think it’s not too bad to be on the road at night.” Fu Shiwu pointed at the indicator of fuel consumption. Their modified car had a large body and a 4-wheel drive, which was meant to consume more gas than Huo Enting’s and Hollande’s cars. Now Fu Shiwu was starting to consider that if they eventually had to abandon their cars, should they put all the remaining gas together on one vehicle? After all, it would be a huge pity if they had to leave behind all the food and daily necessities they had gathered till now.

Just as Fu Shiwu was pondering the thought, in the middle of the empty highway, a fire abruptly came into view and Fu Shiwu reflexively stepped on the brake.