Back to the Apocalypse Chapter 87

translator: xiin
editors: Juurensha & Macabre
His guess was correct. Zhang Qiucheng was now looking rather pale as he cursed Bai Jing in his heart for being an asshole. Based on common sense, with high-level ability users in front of him as a buffer, the vehicles following behind should be safe. Who could've known that the ants would act as though they were blind to the Hummer that was ramming through them and rush to the cars in the back instead? If anyone told him that this wasn't Bai Jing's plan all along, he would refuse to believe it even if it killed him. However, at the end of the day, it was his own miscalculation. He would have never thought that Bai Jing would have a power like this.
“Fuck!” The people in the car were all cursing angrily as they desperately attacked with their abilities. Fortunately, Zhang Qiucheng was the boss. Their car was one of the few modified cars, and the people in the car were all powerful and capable. Otherwise, they would probably have been swept under by the ants by now.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Ant claws smashed against the window, reverberating a ghastly sound. They didn't know when the ants would break through the window; their bloody mouths gaped under their antenna, revealing cracked teeth as they opened and closed in the dim light. Their desire to eat and devour filled the space with an atmosphere of bloodthirsty fear.
Colorful flashes of abilities being used blossomed in the dark tunnel. Bai Jing looked at the rearview mirror and felt a little peace of mind. Although he didn't like Zhang Qiucheng, he didn't really want to kill him. Although this man was fierce, he was still a talented person. Moreover, they all say that misfortune lasts for a thousand years; Bai Jing refused to believe that this level of danger could really put him down. If that was the case, then he was simply too useless.
Xiao Sa drove the car forward wildly, and Bai Jing did not dare to delay at all, suppressing his nausea to gather the rocks in the tunnel into his storage space the entire way. He wasn't worried about much else, but he was afraid of scooping up the ants - he didn't want to put these terrible things into his space.
“Drive faster, the space screen won’t last long.” The clock was ticking, but they had only passed through half of the tunnel. Bai Jing secretly began to worry; although the space screen was very useful, it could only be used for ten minutes at a time, and he wouldn't be able to use it again until two hours had passed. If they didn't manage to get through the tunnel in ten minutes, they would soon be up against a difficult fight.
Xiao Sa naturally understood his worries. Having acted together for so long, they had a certain degree of understanding about their respective abilities. Although he wasn't afraid of the ants, it was true that ants could bite an elephant to death. If he could save himself from having to exert any effort, who would purposely go and seek a fight? Let alone the ants, the exhausted and frustrated Zhang Qiucheng would definitely not have any goodwill towards them after meeting with misfortune and having been tricked by Little Jing.
The gas pedal under his foot was floored to the ground regardless of whether there were rocks in front of them or not. Bai Jing and Xiao Sa cooperated very smoothly, and Bai Jing ignored his nausea. In any case, he had a lot of room in his space, so he collected everything that blocked the road…
Zhang Qiucheng noticed the situation and urged his subordinates to move forward quickly. Their car had been beaten up beyond recognition, and they couldn't afford to delay. He didn't believe that Xiao Sa would accelerate suddenly for no reason.
They could see the exit to the tunnel up ahead. There were only a few dozen meters to go, and looked very close, yet very far away. Fenghuang Mountain Tunnel was once very famous in Z State. It was 13 kilometers long. Their speed was not slow, but it was still too late.
“Bang!” When the space screen disappeared, the ants suddenly found delicious food nearby. Their unfocused pupils suddenly contracted, shining with a fierce light as they rushed forward with open mouths and claws.
Zhang Qiucheng could see the scene clearly from the back. Their car was instantly under much less pressure. There was a moment of quiet in his heart; he had had a rough idea that their ability to isolate their auras must have a time limit. However, even before he could let out a breath of relief, he heard a sound – "Boom!" and the car in front of them shot up from the ground and flew across the sky. Although the ants were extremely ferocious and numerous, they had no way to deal with things in the air.
Zhang Qiucheng’s expression changed, and he thought to himself 'not good'. His teeth itched with how much he hated the two people in front of them. He could only watch as the ants became even more agitated as the food in front of them suddenly disappeared. They were incensed and attacked even more fiercely; since there was no way to touch the car that had been in front, the unlucky one would naturally be the following car. Following the repeated attacks, the car started to shudder non-stop, the shell turning uneven and dented, fissures started to appear, and even more cracks flowered across the windows.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The ants' antennae eventually pierced the hard shell of the car. Hands holding knives chopped down, and one antennae was cut off, but another one came in from elsewhere. By now, their car was like the broken dam of the Yellow River; even if there was only one gap, they would soon be submerged in the face of severe floods. He saw that the situation was getting bad, but the body of the car suddenly shook and flew up from the ground. The ants danced around and snarled from the ground in frustration before quickly turning their gazes to the next target.
Zhang Qiucheng wasn't careless at this point. He knew that it was the two in front who had helped him. Although he really did not want to accept the current situation, he still ordered everyone to open the windows and attack the ants that were converging on the cars behind him. At this point, it could be said that all of his people were in Xiao Sa’s hands. If Xiao Sa abruptly withdrew his powers, and the car landed on the ground, given that they no longer had the windows for protection, they would probably all be eaten by the ants.
Zhang Qiucheng sighed in his heart. He had lost a lot this time, but there was no other way. Who told him to set it up so that his subordinates were the ones at the front? His elites were not cannon fodder, and losing even one of them would make his heart hurt. Let alone losing them, if he remembered correctly, there were still two space ability users in the car behind them. It didn't matter if people died, but if they lost supplies…
Zhang Qiucheng’s eyes were dark, and his expression was very ugly. He had been blinded by greed and lost his conscience, which was why he would end up spending two boxes of arms and three boxes of bullets and still managed to find trouble for himself. He had clearly known that those two men were not good to provoke, but he still went and tried his best to provoke him. He had originally only wanted to probe their strength and conveniently make use of their power. Unexpectedly, he tried to steal a chicken but lost rice instead; he had managed to probe their strength and take advantage of their power, but unfortunately it was not the strength he wanted to learn about! This time he was forced to eat the loss, smile while he was eating it, and even thank the other party afterwards. Zhang Qiucheng hadn't lost like this in years, and his anger was bottled up with nowhere to vent - how depressing!
Xiao Sa quickly drove the car out of the tunnel. He looked around, directed the car to fly towards a slope, and landed it safely, but he was not so kind to the other vehicles that followed behind. There weren't as many ants at the exit to the tunnel, and everyone was responsible for his own subordinates; Zhang Qiucheng could deal with it himself. At the moment, Bai Jing was pale, obviously in distress, and he was in no mood to continue saving people.
“Little Jing.” After stopping the car, Xiao Sa was in a panic. Ever since they met, other than when he was advancing his powers, he had rarely ever seen Little Jing appear so weak.
“Don’t worry, I’m alright.” Bai Jing shook his head, and a big drop of cold sweat oozed from his forehead. The sharp pain from his brain made him weak; he leaned gently against Xiao Sa and signalled for him to help him out of the car.
Xiao Sa didn't ask anything else. Even though he was worried, he also understood that Little Jing hadn't hidden his weakness from him not only because they were intimate lovers, but also because they trusted each other. He liked Xiao Jing’s frankness, where they faced everything together regardless of whether it was good or bad. Self-righteous worry and concealment were the best ways to trigger doubts between their feelings.
“Take me to the side of the mountain.” Bai Jing didn't try to put up a front, either. He leaned close to Xiao Sa in discomfort and pointed out the way after getting out of the car.
“Okay.” Xiao Sa responded even though he wasn't entirely sure what was going with Bai Jing. Little Jing was a rank one ability user, and he hadn't used his power excessively just now. He couldn't help but be nervous about the current situation, his hands clutching tightly at Bai Jing who was in his arms.
Seeing his lover pretending to be calm and trying to act as though everything was okay, Bai Jing smiled softly and somehow no longer felt as uncomfortable. Once they reached the side of the mountain, he hurriedly cleared out the stones that had been placed in his space, including the damned mutant ants that had ended up inside.
“Whoosh!” Rocks rolled into the mountain stream, along with soil and debris. There was so much of it that even Xiao Sa was shocked. Fortunately, this was a valley; if others had seen it, they would probably start to look at Little Jing with suspicion. How big of a space did he have in order to contain so many random stones and debris?!
After cleaning up his space, the suffocating feeling instantly disappeared. Although his brain was still tired, the sharp stinging pain was gone, and the nausea in his stomach had also subsided. He felt revitalized as he breathed in large gulps of mountain air.
Xiao Sa naturally noticed this change, and his worries lessened slightly. He asked in concern, "What happened?"
Bai Jing looked disgusted and frowned as if he had eaten a cockroach, “I can't put ants into my space. Placing them inside makes me feel gross." It was nauseating, like something was crawling around inside his body, and his breathing would turn ragged. He knew that this reaction was caused by the rejection of the space. His space could hold living things and variant ants would not be a problem, but zombie ants were a different matter. They were neither living nor dead, and he could clearly feel the space rejecting them. His stomach, heart, body, and even the tip of his tongue and nostrils were filled with the taste and smell of zombies, and if it hadn't been an emergency, he wouldn't have endured it for even a minute. It was really disgusting!
Xiao Sa laughed quietly and his heart relaxed. He only attributed Bai Jing's discomfort to his lover's love of cleanliness.
Bai Jing stared at him, leaning against Xiao Sa in a bad mood. He felt a little disappointment in his heart; he had originally planned to kill in all directions, and if he could place zombies into his space, it would make for an amazing attack ability. He hadn't thought about it before, but who could've known that it would be so irritating? The zombies hadn't died, but the space rejected them, and he had almost died of nausea. Even now, the nauseating taste still lingered. Bai Jing thought to himself that he did not want to ever try this again in this life.
“It's good as long as you're alright.” Xiao Sa carefully embraced Bai Jing, treating him like a precious treasure. To him, as long as Little Jing was okay, everything would be fine.
Bai Jing’s heart warmed, his lips curved, and he rested lazily against Xiao Sa. Although he was fine now, his body had not yet recovered. Regardless of how chaotic and fierce the battle was over there, he naturally had to look out for himself first. Besides, since Zhang Qiucheng had wanted to test them out, he also wanted to see Zhang Qiucheng's strength and prevent him from acting high and mighty all day long, putting on an enigmatic façade.
To put it plainly, Bai Jing was jealous. Zhang Qiucheng acted almost like an immortal, and was always measuring and calculating. Bai Jing had already been unhappy for a long time and was willing to admit that he was extremely happy to pull this false immortal down from his altar.
Zhang Qiucheng naturally did not know what Bai Jing was thinking, nor did he realize that it was his own cleverness that had brought on his current troubles. His eyes were red at the moment, and even if he had always kept a straight face in both happiness and anger, while he was currently as busy as a dog over here, the two of them were leisurely flirting with each other over there. How could he not be angry?! In fact, if he had looked carefully, he would have discovered Bai Jing's current weakness, but he had just eaten a big loss and was now busy dealing with the ants. Where would he find time to calm down and thoughtfully observe?