The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

"The military has means to monitor communications. Before, when you were near the troops, they didn't dare contact you because your signal might be intercepted if you sent a message. Now that we're further away, it's safe."

Su Mu glanced at the message but didn't reply. He waited for her next one.

"I was targeted by the hunter. He chased me for a long time, from the outer edge of the Dark Zone all the way here. I thought I was going to die, but then I discovered that this military squad was operating in this area, so I hid at the edge of their detection range. The guy was wary of this squad and didn't dare to get too close, but he also refused to leave. He kept circling around the perimeter, looking for an opportunity."

Su Mu frowned slightly.

"Then why don't you show yourself? It's safer for you to come with us than to hide on your own."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then a reply came: "The reason he's targeting me is because I have something he wants. If I show myself, he might rush over and snatch it without hesitation. In that case, you'll be at a disadvantage trying to protect me."

Su Mu thought for a moment, then asked, "So... you want that thing... from his body too?"

"That's right. I found a rare artifact in a ruin in the Dark Zone, the one from the time he attacked me. I kept the artifact, but he stole several other items from the ruin. At least two, and they were of high quality."

Su Mu remained silent for a moment. The hunters were not chasing Lin Yuwei for pleasure, but for the strange object she possessed. And Lin Yuwei refused to leave because of those treasures on him.

"Those items, are they very powerful?"

Lin Yuwei's reply was short, but her tone was very confident: "You will definitely be interested."

Su Mu didn't ask any more questions. He had already obtained the information he needed... The Hunter's real target wasn't the Black Kill Squad, but Lin Yuwei.

Lin Yuwei was near the Black Kill Squad, so the Hunter was also near the Black Kill Squad. He refused to leave because Lin Yuwei refused to leave; Lin Yuwei refused to leave because she was thinking about those treasures.

Lin Yuwei is currently nearby.

Su Mu cursed inwardly.

This woman is truly a jinx. Wherever she goes, trouble follows. But now is not the time to dwell on such things. The hunter possesses a treasure that Lin Yuwei covets, and he also has a share in Lin Yuwei's treasure. Fortune and misfortune are intertwined; at least this trip won't be in vain.

The communicator stopped vibrating. Lin Yuwei's message stopped there.

Su Mu put away the communicator and gripped his rifle tightly again.

Ahead, Xiao Jiu's figure cast a long shadow in the moonlight. The petals of the plant in his arms swayed gently in the night breeze, their deep purple light like the only light in the darkness.

Su Mu took a deep breath, remaining cautious and vigilant.

Deep in the Dark Zone, in the shadows of an abandoned building, the Hunter crouched on the edge of a broken floorboard, observing the small figure on the street through a palm-sized lens in his hand.

Xiao Jiu.

His lips slowly parted to reveal a cruel, somewhat crazed smile.

"That woman was indeed lingering near this group," he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse as if squeezed from deep within his throat. "Damn it. If I hadn't been afraid of alerting them, and had killed all the survivors around here first, would I have been afraid of this special squad? If I had wiped them all out, where could that woman have hidden?"

His gaze, peering through his glasses, swept over the scattered figures in the distance. Bai Liuxi, Lao Wei, Zhao Cheng, Su Mu...

His smile faded slightly, and a hint of apprehension appeared in his eyes.

"That guy with the sniper rifle..." He touched his chest, where there was a wound that hadn't fully healed, left by that bullet.

The bullet pierced his trench coat and tore his skin; if it weren't for the amulet he was wearing, dug out of the ruins, that could protect him from fatal damage, the bullet would have killed him.

The hunter's gaze fell on Su Mu.

"Close combat probably isn't that great," he muttered to himself, as if trying to convince himself. "How strong can a sniper rifle be in close combat?"

His gaze returned to Xiao Jiu. The child carrying the flowerpot was walking alone on the empty street, followed by the scattered members of the Black Kill Squad, growing further and further away.

The hunter laughed.

"Splitting your forces? To lure me out?" He licked his lips. "You underestimate me. Since you dare to split up, I'll kill the weakest one first. Whatever your schemes, a dead man is immune to them."

He put away the glasses and stood up from the edge of the floor.

The hem of the trench coat fluttered in the night wind.

His gaze was fixed on Xiao Jiu's back, like a vulture locking onto its prey.

The night wind from the dark area blew in from the end of the street, stirring up the dead leaves and dust on the ground.

Xiao Jiu paused for a moment, as if she sensed something.

He hugged the plant in his arms tightly.

The deep purple petals trembled slightly in the night breeze.

......

Hearing news about Lin Yuwei,

Su Mu was still thinking, but his gaze fell on the building across the street.

It was a stadium. The gray-white exterior walls gleamed sadly in the moonlight, and the huge dome resembled an inverted bowl, with several sections collapsed, revealing a dark, hollow interior.

The words "Ash City Sports Center" above the main entrance are still faintly discernible, but the iron gate has been smashed open by something and hangs crookedly on the frame, like a knocked-out tooth.

Su Mu adjusted his glasses. Through the white lenses, the outline of the stadium was simplified into pale blue lines and blocks of color, with each floor and room of the building clearly visible.

On the second floor, on the east side, there were eight red dots of light moving slowly... not the dark red of monsters, but the bright red of survivors.

Eight people.

Su Mu's brow twitched slightly. He took off his glasses, examined them in his hand, and then put them back on.

"Xiao Jiu," he said into the communicator, "move forward. Three hundred meters."

There was a moment of silence on the communicator, then Xiao Jiu's voice came through, much calmer than before: "Understood."

Su Mu didn't explain why. Bai Liuxi remained silent for a moment on the other end of the communicator, but didn't ask either.

Three hundred meters is a delicate distance.

The hunters might see an opportunity from afar, while Su Mu could arrive within ten seconds. And those eight people in the stadium… Su Mu had already pictured them in his mind… the perfect “feeding” for the hunters.