The roads in E Province were relatively flat, but there were too many cars scattered haphazardly on the highways. Especially every so often, abandoned vehicles would be found, making it difficult to restore traffic flow anytime soon. When passing by, it was often necessary to clear the vehicles on the road, otherwise, the convoy could not move forward at all.
Shen Feng's massive convoy had been on the road for two days and had been stuck on the highway. It wasn't that any zombies dared to provoke them, but rather there were too many vehicles on the road. If they didn't get out to clear them, it would be very difficult to proceed.
At this moment, Shen Feng also began to yearn, muttering to himself, "If only I had an airplane, then I could go wherever I wanted."
Ke Yiming personally handled the moving of the obstructing vehicles. He also hoped to deliver Shen Feng to Lianyungang as soon as possible. Originally, they were supposed to gather in Qingdao to head to Tianjin, but the number of zombies was too great, and the nearby military forces were quite sparse. There was no time or manpower to deal with these zombies, so the assembly point had to be changed to Lianyungang.
After a whole day of traveling, as dusk approached, Shen Feng issued an order, "Set up camp, cook, and continue tomorrow."
"Alright!" The soldiers cheered enthusiastically. Although they were all sitting in vehicles, the air inside the carriages was too foul, and not many people could stand it. Thus, now that it was finally time to rest, everyone began to cheer happily.
Shen Feng also had his tent set up, ready to rest and wait for dinner.
But just then, Yang Chang, in a panic, rushed to Shen Feng's tent with his men and said anxiously, "Boss, President, City Lord! Something has happened by the river, please come quickly and take a look. None of us dare to fetch water, and we're all waiting hungry!"
Shen Feng frowned and quickly asked, "Did a mutated beast appear? You all have guns, can't you defeat it?"
"No, it's too strange. There are no mutated beasts. You'll know when you come with us!" Yang Chang said quickly.
Yang Chang, after all, was someone who had experienced major events, but he was so flustered now that it made Shen Feng very curious. What exactly had happened?
Yang Chang led Shen Feng away. Near the highway, there was a small river. Shen Feng had originally planned to set up camp here and replenish his water supply, but now he suddenly realized he had miscalculated; it seemed the riverside was not safe either.
By the river, hundreds of people stood dumbfounded on the bank, looking at the river water hesitantly. They all held buckets in their hands, but not a single person dared to step forward to fetch water. They looked at each other, their faces filled with disbelief at the situation before them, simply unable to believe their own eyes.
It turned out that along the riverbank, there were dense clusters of corpses, not only human corpses but also zombie corpses and mutated beast corpses. The dense corpses covered the bank, emitting a stench. Clearly, these corpses had been dead for a long time. Countless flies swarmed around. Even in winter, these flies were busy laying eggs.
"What's going on?" Shen Feng arrived and quickly inquired.
Everyone pointed collectively at the dense corpses by the river. If the number of corpses was calculated according to what they saw, it definitely exceeded ten thousand. And all these corpses had a large hole in their abdomen, through which the internal organs of the corpses could still be vaguely seen. These animals were abnormally thin and seemed to have lost a lot of blood.
"Too many animals died by the river, and we don't dare to get close. It might be dangerous!" Cai He scratched his head and said.
Among the more than a hundred people present, many were evolved individuals. If they were fighting zombies, they would undoubtedly be brave and mighty, as their physiques had long surpassed those of ordinary people. But at this moment, everyone was terrified by the layers of corpses by the river, not knowing what kind of thing could kill so many animals, and even zombies!
The unknown was always the most terrifying, because no one knew when or where danger might suddenly appear.
Shen Feng frowned and said in a low voice, "You all stay here and don't move. I'll go up and drag a corpse back to observe. Maybe I can figure out the culprit. It's really strange, if it were a mutated beast, after killing so many zombies and animals, why wouldn't it eat them?"
Yang Chang scratched his hair at this moment and suddenly thought of a way. He quickly used his ability, and many silver ornaments on his body turned into liquid, which was then melted and forged into a chain. "City Lord, you grab the chain with one hand. If there's danger, I'll pull you back."
Shen Feng thought about it and was about to refuse, but he finally remembered the advice from his senior sister at their farewell. For safety's sake, he couldn't be too arrogant. So, he grabbed one end of the silver chain and slowly approached the riverbank. Everyone watched Shen Feng nervously, and some were guarding the surroundings, fearing that some monster might suddenly appear and attack.
The closer he got to the riverbank, the more confused Shen Feng became. Because in his eyes, he could only see corpses, both zombies and animals. Whether it was mutated cats and dogs or mutated wild boars, their huge bodies lay on the bank. If the culprit was after food, they should have eaten these foods. However, apart from the large holes in their abdomens, the corpses had no other injuries.
"Could it be that they were after the internal organs, which is why so many animals were attacked?" Shen Feng couldn't help but speculate.
What Shen Feng worried about most was that there might be monsters in the river. If these zombies and animals were attacked by creatures in the water while drinking, then the wounds would indeed appear in their abdomens. And the animals in the river couldn't get ashore, so the corpses piled up on the bank like this!
Along the way, Shen Feng hadn't encountered any danger, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed the culprit was not in the river.
However, at this moment, an old woman suddenly ran out from the distant mountains, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Hey, young man over there, run quickly! The Plague God is coming! The Plague God is coming!"
The old woman's shouts alerted the people on the bank. Everyone quickly picked up their weapons and began to guard, all on alert for the appearance of enemies. Whether it was zombies or mutated beasts, they had ways to make these things die under their gun muzzles.
But Shen Feng saw something different. The river water, which had been rippling in the setting sun, suddenly turned black. Or rather, it wasn't the river water that turned black, but something from the riverbed appeared on the surface. The density was so exaggerated that it even blocked the light, making it look like the river water had suddenly turned black.
"Snap, snap..." One after another, worms jumped out of the river water and attacked the people on the bank. The first to face these worms was Shen Feng, as he was closest to the riverbank. The worms were about to reach Shen Feng.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Shen Feng quickly used "As the Wind Follows," turning himself into an afterimage and rapidly moving away from the riverbank.
But the worms that appeared in the river water were relentless and continued to charge towards Shen Feng. Hundreds of people panicked. No one expected the enemy to be such tiny worms. Bullets seemed useless because the targets were too small.
Shen Feng made a decisive move and shouted loudly, "Everyone squat down, I'm going to use my ability!"
Everyone had experienced the battle with Shen Feng before and understood what he meant, so they quickly squatted down, minimizing their exposed surface area.
"East Wind Rages!" Shen Feng shouted, and a gust of wind instantly swept across the nearby small river. Shen Feng's ability could now affect a radius of one to two kilometers. Although the killing power of "East Wind Rages" was not strong, its range was sufficient.
The worms in the river were similar to leeches, with long, slender bodies like earthworms, but much shorter. They originally lived in the water, but at this moment, they were hopping on the bank, their targets directly aimed at humans. Such astonishing jumping ability was rarely seen.
However, the strong wind summoned by Shen Feng had already arrived. The area around the small river was enveloped by the gale. This gust of wind came from behind Shen Feng, stirring up dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, as well as countless pieces of trash. In an instant, the riverbank became a scene of flying sand and stones. Shen Feng's group squatted down, and some quick-witted individuals put on goggles, managing to open their eyes.
However, under the fierce wind, even if they could open their eyes, the visibility was very low. The scenery more than a meter away was completely invisible. Opening their eyes revealed nothing. Everyone had no choice but to squat on the ground and pray for the wind to pass. At the same time, everyone knew that these worms could not get close.
With such violent winds, even birds could not fly against the wind, let alone these worms that were originally aquatic.
The gale lasted for ten minutes. Shen Feng felt it was enough and slowly retracted his ability. The wind and sand gradually subsided. Everyone tentatively opened their eyes and looked around, as if guarding against the appearance of worms.
They quickly surveyed the surroundings and found many long, slender worms covered in dust on the ground. They were unknown worms, and these worms clearly could no longer jump. On the bank, these worms, having left the water, obviously could not survive for long.
"What is this thing?" Shen Feng squatted down, grabbed a worm with a wooden stick, and observed it carefully, but he didn't know what this worm was for.
Just then, Ke Yiming from the camp walked over, covered in dust, and cursed at Shen Feng, "Shen Feng, are you crazy? We were starting a fire, and you, with a gust of wind, extinguished all the fires in the camp. We have to relight them."
Shen Feng turned around and explained helplessly, "We were in danger at the time, so I had to use my ability. Besides, you are a fire ability user, aren't you best at starting fires?"
"Danger? Where is the danger nearby?" Ke Yiming quickly looked around but found nothing.
Chu Chaoyan also walked over. He was also concerned about Shen Feng's situation and couldn't help but ask, "What happened over there?"
Shen Feng was too lazy to explain, pointed to the riverbank in the distance, and said, "As you can see, there are many worms in the river. I think it's better to clarify this matter, otherwise, we won't be able to cook today, nor wash our faces and feet."
Saying that, Shen Feng walked towards the distant woods. An old woman had warned everyone earlier, and it was clear that this old woman should know something. Ke Yiming and Chu Chaoyan quickly followed Shen Feng's footsteps. Both of them were prepared to get to the bottom of the matter, what kind of danger it was that made Shen Feng use his ability.
The old woman, caught off guard, was blown to the ground by the gale and was still covered in dust.
At this moment, Shen Feng found the old woman who had fallen to the ground, quickly helped her up, and asked, "Elderly lady, how are you?"
Seeing Shen Feng appear, the old woman couldn't help but pat the dust off her clothes and sighed, "Young people nowadays are truly bold and skilled. You dared to do such a dangerous thing just now, truly remarkable. I'm fine, I was just blown down by that strange wind."
Shen Feng awkwardly explained, "The wind just now was mine. Please don't mind it. Can you tell us about the situation of this river? If you don't mind, you can come to our camp and have dinner together."
The old woman nodded, then pointed into the woods and said, "There are still more than a dozen people from our village in the woods. Can they also come for dinner?"
Shen Feng quickly agreed, saying, "No problem, come and have dinner together. More than a dozen people, it's just a few more pairs of chopsticks. However, please tell me about this river."
Chu Chaoyan quietly tugged Shen Feng's clothes, preparing to take Shen Feng aside to say something.
But Shen Feng didn't understand Chu Chaoyan's meaning, so he directly said displeasedly, "If you have something to say, just say it directly, don't be so indirect."
"There's no water in the camp, so we can't cook," Chu Chaoyan said directly, too lazy to try.
Hearing this, Shen Feng said to the old woman helplessly, "Don't worry, even if we can't cook, we can still give you flatbread. I won't go back on my word."
Upon hearing this, the old woman suddenly looked at Shen Feng carefully and whispered, "Are you all soldiers? Our village has a well, it's groundwater, there's no Plague God, just many zombies in the village."
"It's okay, take us to the village. My men can kill zombies," Shen Feng said quickly.