After clearing out the monsters inside the underground parking lot, Lin Ye grabbed the light machine gun and charged into the emergency stairwell. A few monsters still lingered inside the stairwell. The prison guards weren’t in there—they had likely already returned to the Back Kitchen.
Lin Ye went back to the underground parking lot. Jeffrey was inspecting the other prison transport vehicles. The one they’d used before was practically totaled. Tomorrow, they’d need to drive another vehicle out of the city.
But those transport vehicles still had some larvae and eggs inside. Lin Ye quickened his pace—he really didn’t want to perform another thoracotomy for anyone.
Before long, they had cleared out the underground parking lot and prepared for departure. Two transport vehicles were still functional, and they had enough gasoline.
"Who is she?"
Once the vehicle issue was settled, Jeffrey finally had time to ask about Little Guardian’s identity.
"When I came over, I found her hiding in the carriage, so I brought her along."
Lin Ye didn’t explain much. It wasn’t really a big deal.
"She was hiding in the carriage the whole time? That’s some insane luck."
Jeffrey didn’t suspect Lin Ye’s explanation. He just thought Little Guardian was incredibly fortunate.
The three of them returned to the Back Kitchen. The prison guards who had gone out with Lin Ye had arrived back earlier, though two of them had gone missing during the escape.
Lin Ye got some food for Little Guardian. After eating, she leaned against him and quickly fell asleep.
After nightfall, Jeffrey arranged for some survivors to stand watch. This time, they kept an eye on the windows for any changes, but the windows remained unchanged throughout the night. They were in luck.
Early the next morning, Lin Ye led the survivors in moving all the supplies into the transport vehicles. Afterward, all the survivors climbed aboard.
At the time mentioned in the broadcast, Lin Ye started the engine and drove the transport vehicle out of the underground parking lot.
Following the city map, Lin Ye steered the vehicle away from the city center.
The road was eerily quiet. Maybe it was because the prison was in a remote area, or maybe other survivors had lured the monsters away—either way, they didn’t encounter a single monster.
Unable to see the road conditions far ahead, Lin Ye drove carefully, maneuvering around the abandoned cars parked on the road.
No one in the vehicle made a sound. Outside the windows was the dangerous mist. Everyone hoped they could safely escape the city like this.
The transport vehicle gradually moved away from the city center. As obstacles on the road dwindled, Lin Ye began to accelerate.
But just a short distance later, Lin Ye suddenly slammed on the brakes, pulling off a short drift on the road.
"What’s wrong?"
Jeffrey, sitting in the co-driver seat, asked in confusion.
"...I’ll go take a look."
Lin Ye got out of the vehicle. He walked forward a few steps and stopped at the edge of a broken road.
It was a massive chasm cutting across the road. Within his field of vision, Lin Ye could only see thick mist. He couldn’t tell how wide or deep the chasm was.
Some survivors with sharp eyesight also got out. They stood behind Lin Ye, their eyes filled with fear and despair.
"Get back inside first."
Lin Ye heard a strange sound coming from inside the chasm. He quickly led the survivors back into the vehicle.
"What do we do now? Can we go back?"
"I suggest we return to the prison first. We can gather more supplies along the way."
"We’ve been isolated. That’s why the military hasn’t come to rescue us."
"What now? If the entire outskirts of the city are like this, there’s no way out. Those monsters will find us sooner or later..."
...
The survivors muttered their fears under their breath. They had left the prison full of hope, only to face this despairing situation.
"Quiet. Let’s drive around the city first. If the outskirts are all like this, we’ll head back to the prison and regroup. Worst case, we find an airplane and fly out—it’s not a big deal."
Lin Ye started the engine and began driving along the edge of the chasm. This time, he drove fast. Going around the entire city would take a while, so they had to find a way out or return to the prison before nightfall.
Scattered monsters attacked the vehicle along the way, but they had plenty of bullets. The monsters were gunned down before they could get close.
During the drive, Lin Ye had to navigate all sorts of terrain that wasn’t ideal for a vehicle. Fortunately, his driving skills were solid, so he didn’t end up steering the transport vehicle into any bizarre places.
After about an hour of driving, they finally found a spot that wasn’t cut off by the chasm.
It was a large bridge connecting both sides of the chasm. Originally, a river flowed beneath the bridge, but now the river was severed by the chasm. The sound of water plunging into the chasm could be heard.
"Great. I thought we weren’t going to make it out."
Jeffrey breathed a sigh of relief. The other survivors let out quiet cheers too.
"You’re celebrating too early. We haven’t crossed yet."
Lin Ye felt that this bridge looked strangely familiar.
"Even if there are monsters on it, this is our only way through. I don’t want to go back and look for a plane."
Jeffrey picked up his rifle and prepared for battle.
The survivors also readied themselves. One prison guard stood behind Lin Ye—if Lin Ye needed to fight, the guard would take over driving.
Lin Ye drove the transport vehicle to the bridge’s entrance. The bridge looked fine at first glance—at least, within what they could see, there were no strange objects.
But a few abandoned cars were parked on the bridge. There were no corpses inside.
Lin Ye stomped on the accelerator, speeding onto the bridge and smashing a path through the cars.
However, when he reached the middle of the bridge, he noticed a section with a different color.
It didn’t seem to be part of the bridge structure—it looked like a part of some giant creature.
It was too late to turn back now. Lin Ye saw that area trembling slightly. The giant creature seemed to be waking up.
Lin Ye could only floor the accelerator while bracing himself for a potential rollover.
If that giant creature moved before the transport vehicle crossed, they would plunge into the chasm with no chance to turn back.
Fortunately, the giant creature didn’t seem fully awake yet. The vehicle made it onto the creature’s body safely.
But the giant creature reacted quickly. It shook its body, and a claw bigger than the transport vehicle itself swiped down at them.
Lin Ye dodged the claw swipe with a drift, but the vehicle was thrown into the air from the shaking. The bridge trembled violently and began collapsing from the middle outward.
The transport vehicle sped through falling debris. Lin Ye floored the accelerator. Massive chunks of stone crashed onto the vehicle, shattering windows and hitting the survivors cowering inside.
A mass of pitch-black tendrils streaked with dark red patterns surged up from below onto the bridge surface. Those tendrils chased after the transport vehicle, as if trying to drag it into the chasm.
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