Chu Han was aware of the three outcomes that awaited him regarding his parents; they could be alive, alive but moved somewhere else or dead. Death was widespread after the apocalypse, and nobody knew what would happen in the next quarter.
Everyone kept silent. Wei An wanted to say something, but she restrained herself.
Chu Han didn't linger around, and he left as soon as the ferry pulled ashore. After he disappeared from the crowd's field of vision, he summoned the Wrangler from the dimensional space and hopped on it.
Although they had traversed through the river, he had a long way to go if Chu Han wanted to reach Anluo City. Of course, he was really worried.
…
"Wei An! Where are you going!?" Wang Shixiong asked.
Wei An packed her things and got off the ferry after Chu Han's departure.
"Thank you for taking care of me in these two days," Wei An said slightly, "I want to go and find my boyfriend, who was in Anluo City before the apocalypse's escalation.
Wei An's words shocked them, especially Zhou Chunlei. "You have a boyfriend?"
"Yes," said Wei An with a trace of worry in her eyes. She didn't know if he were still alive or not. At first, she wanted to go with Chu Han, but she discarded that idea as she thought she would be a burden. Instead, she decided to go alone.
"I'll come with you." Li Yi stood up and offered to carry Wei An's backpack. Then he said to the others, "Two months. We'll return with Chu Han, if not then don't wait for us."
"Let's go." Li Yi strode forward and gave no time to Wei An to talk, "You should be in charge of cooking, and I should be in charge of fighting."
Zhou Chunlei couldn't help but yell when he saw the two people walking away. "D*mnit! Li Yi, you stole this opportunity of me!"
"Save it!" Zhan Guangyuan glanced at him. "If you accompanied Wei An, then she'd be the one protecting you."
…
Chu Han was unaware of Wei An and Li Yi's departure, and he kept rushing to the city with the Wrangler. The road to Anluo was filled with danger as they had to pass through mountains. Occasionally, a few beasts would jump out of their hiding places and attack.
"Chu Han, I can sense a dimensional space," Wangcai said suddenly, "It's not far, but the vehicle can't traverse that path, so we'll have to go on foot."
Chu Han looked at the direction Wangcai was pointing at and he could not help frowning, "Are you sure it's the phase-2 testing area?"
"Yes." Wangcai rolled its eyes, "How could I be wrong about it!?"
"Let's take a look then," Chu Han got off the vehicle and stored it in the dimensional space. Then, he walked toward the tall grass near the road.
The place, which Wangcai was pointing at, was a village at Anluo's borders. The village's population was not big, so there were fewer zombies.
After the apocalypse, a lot of people would retreat to remote villages, wastelands or the wilderness, as they were less populated than cities. Moreover, strong evolutionaries or small organizations would take them under their wings to protect them and form small strongholds, like tribes. Most of them were ordinary people so his parents may be there.
Chu Han would search every nook and cranny if there was hope to find his parents.
The path through the tall grass was hard to cross as there were many natural obstacles and all kinds of crazy animals could attack from nowhere.
However, to Chu Han it was nothing. He kept rushing all the way and reached the village in merely two hours! A normal phase-2 evolutionary would need half a day to do that!
Outside of Yu Village's entrance, there were a lot of traps hidden underneath the muddy road. The road was also blocked by high bars, so the village should have a lot of residents.
When Chu Han bypassed some traps filled with sharp blades and closed in the village, a middle-aged man's voice came from the distance.
"Chu Han?" The man's voice was filled with surprise when he said that name. "Are you Chu Han?"
Chu Han looked back and then he looked at the middle-aged man, who was familiar with those traps, who stared at him with an astonished look. The middle-aged man was slim, probably because of malnutrition or over-working. His clothes were in tatters, and he looked like a refugee. Chu Han could not identify who he was.
Two people in rags were following behind the middle-aged man, but it was hard to distinguish their gender. Those two were not familiar with the traps, so they had a hard time walking.
"Chu Han, don't you recognize me?" The middle-aged man got closer and kept looking at Chu Han. He was really excited. "I am your neighbor, Zhou Zhu! Don't you remember the time I took you to the zoo? You'd come to my house every time you were naughty to avoid the beating from your parents. Do you remember?"
"Oh!" Chu Han nodded, and his eyes revealed a trace of excitement. "Uncle Zhou! It's you?"
"Yes!" Zhou Zhu cleaned his hand, and his sharp eyes noticed Chu Han's clean clothes. "Chu Han, you should be an evolutionary, right?"
"Yes." Chu Han gave a casual answer, and then he got to the point, "Uncle Zhou, do you know anything about my parents?"
Zhou Zhu hurried to lead the way for Chu Han. "Follow me!"
Chu Han's heart was about to jump out of his chest from excitement; his body even involuntarily trembled!
Ten years! He had not seen his parents for ten years! Zhou Zhu unexpectedly told him that his parents were alive and they were even in the village!
It was so great!
"Wait! We can't keep up with you!" The two people suddenly said with an unfriendly tone, "We were here first, and the road is so tough. Why are you going so fast?"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry." Zhou Zhu hurried to slow down. "I was excited since I met my neighbor's child."
"Uncle Zhou, I will go to the village first, and you can lead the way for them." Chu Han couldn't bear to wait for the slowpokes. He wanted to meet up with his parent as soon as possible!
"Wait!" Zhou Zhu shouted, but Chu Han had already crossed ten meters.
The village's entrance was almost the same as the small base that Chu Han had found in the forest. It was made of thick trunks and stood high. It seemed that a large number of people lived there, as a handful of dozens of people could not possibly construct something like that.
Chu Han rushed to the high gate and waited outside. Chu Han took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement.
Typically, bases like that had many rules. Taking the two people led by Zhou Zhu as an example, they would not be allowed to enter the base if there was no proxy like Zhou Zhu.
After the apocalypse, most people were famished, so they had to carefully consider who to let in.