Ethan certainly did not know why, so he had no way to answer Chen Peng's question.

The two of them circled the area outside, confirming that while the streets were a complete mess, there were two routes still passable by car.

Limited by their reconnaissance range, neither of them knew if the roads remained open further ahead, or if they would be blocked before reaching their destination.

"Thinking about that is pointless. The other routes could also be blocked."

When they returned to their lodging, Wang Hai and Zhou Shulin were still awake. Seeing Ethan return, they asked about the situation.

After a brief explanation, Ethan told them to rest directly. He then took over guard duty from them. At dawn, he woke Zhao Ying and Zhang Yi, who had gone to bed first.

They took turns resting like this for the night, and with sufficient food, everyone's mental state had significantly improved.

However, this continuous strenuous exercise was still a bit much for those who usually only exercised moderately or not at all. They experienced various physical discomforts, especially Fat Man Wang Hai, who felt like his whole body was falling apart.

"If I could, I really wish I had never been fat."

Everyone was already aware of the situation. There were now two routes passable by car. One led to a large supermarket.

The other route led to the library.

"Which one should we choose?"

"The priority is definitely the supermarket. That way, even if the car cannot pass halfway and we have to abandon some supplies, we will still have enough food, water, and even warm clothing available."

There was no doubt about this. The supermarket was definitely the best option, so everyone's goal was to choose the large supermarket.

A large supermarket offered ample open space and plenty of small rooms. They could establish multiple defensive positions. Even if all the zombies in the city surrounded the supermarket, they could fight and retreat, delaying time and trying to last these thirty days, now less than thirty days.

"I actually hope that once we establish our base, the temperature drops drastically and freezes all the zombies outside to death."

"If it dropped to that temperature, would we not also die?"

After loading all the supplies into the car, the group drove toward the supermarket.

The sound of the engine attracted the attention of the surrounding wandering zombies. Before the car could even pick up speed, a few zombies had already sprinted and rushed toward them.

Gunshots began to ring out, attracting the attention of more zombies, but they did not care about that. The group just wanted to take down these few crazily sprinting zombies.

Unfortunately, their marksmanship was very poor. Facing such fast-moving targets, even when they charged in a straight line, they did not hit many shots. The few bullets that did hit only struck their bodies, doing little more than slightly delaying the zombies' movements and having no significant effect.

It was Ethan who raised his rifle and fired several bursts, headshotting these zombies and resolving the immediate threat.

"Why do I feel like the guns are weaker?"

"It is not that the firearms are weaker. It is that these sprinting zombies have undergone a certain degree of evolution. Small-caliber pistols do not inflict as much damage on them anymore."

To deal with zombies, you do not actually need large-caliber weapons because hitting their bodies does not do much. One bullet is enough to destroy their heads.

That was why Wang Hai chose 9mm pistols. The power was sufficient to deal with these zombies, they had a large magazine capacity, and they were easy to use.

You could not say Wang Hai's choice was wrong. If they had bought a bunch of large-caliber weapons from the start, these newcomers would likely be dead by now, with no chance to adapt to those weapons.

"We also bought a few large-caliber pistols, originally for dealing with potential mutated monsters."

The weapon Wang Hai chose was not the Desert Eagle that Zhou Shulin was most interested in, but a large-caliber revolver, perhaps a double-action revolver, produced by Smith & Wesson.

"Could it be the legendary M500?"

Zhang Yi looked at the few silver revolvers in the bag and thought of the artifact many called a hand cannon.

"Ha, ha, ha."

Wang Hai gave a few awkward laughs and shook his head.

"What are you thinking? Who could use that thing? These are just ordinary large-caliber pistols, .44 caliber. Even weapons of this caliber are difficult for us to use well."

These weapons were heavy, had low capacity, and high recoil, definitely not toys for beginners. Among the group, perhaps only Zhou Shulin had the physical conditioning to handle such firearms well. The rest could not.

"Try not to use these things as much as possible. If you carry them and are forced to use them, remember to aim for the zombie's stomach."

Ethan originally intended to say aim for the feet, but that seemed too mocking, so he changed his words at the last moment.

However, the newcomers looked at each other and still understood Ethan's meaning, especially after actually using firearms in combat for two days. They understood that when you shoot, you do not necessarily hit where you aim.

"Just take them as a last resort."

Each of the men took one, and each also took a box of ammunition. These weapons were not used often, so one box of bullets was sufficient.

Zhao Ying gave up after understanding the power and recoil of this weapon. She felt that even if she took one, she would not be able to use it, and it was better to let those who could use it do so. After all, they only bought a few of these guns, and continuous prolonged combat would cause wear and tear on firearms. You could not just use one gun until the end.

"Now I am suddenly curious. What is the deal with so-called infinite ammo weapons?"

Even if the bullets are infinite, how are issues like barrel life and overheating solved?

"When you get to the Main God Space, you can study it properly. We can get out of the car now."

As they spoke, they had already reached their destination. It was a large supermarket in a commercial district located between several blocks. Chen Peng drove the car directly into the supermarket parking lot. They could go upstairs from here and enter the supermarket.

"It seems a little too quiet."

The group cautiously looked around and checked the surroundings, finding it unusually quiet. They did not see a single zombie.

Adding to that, the journey here was smooth, and they did not encounter any trouble at all.

"It is too smooth, so smooth it makes me suspect a conspiracy."

Chen Peng also felt this way. He even specifically looked at Ethan again, which made Ethan helpless. How was this related to him at all?

However, ever since entering this supermarket, Ethan had also felt something was off.

Because ever since he stepped into the supermarket parking lot, he could not sense any energy fluctuations from outside, as if this supermarket was isolated separately.

"Leave here immediately."

Just as Ethan was still observing the surrounding situation, he suddenly felt something was wrong. Someone nearby had torn open the spatial barrier and walked out of it.

The other party made no attempt to conceal their actions or signs. Their energy fluctuations were as obvious as a giant star in the dark night sky, impossible to ignore.

"Is something wrong?"

"Leave here and head to the other target point."

Ethan did not explain but told the group to get in the car immediately, then patted Chen Peng's shoulder.

"It seems my vacation is over. I hope everything goes well for you from now on."

Chen Peng immediately understood Ethan's meaning.

"Coming for you?"

"I would love to say that is impossible, but they are indeed coming for me."

The other party did not send a message to Ethan, but the intention was clear. Ethan could feel a will vaguely staring at him. As soon as he thought about leaving, the other party's energy fluctuations became more intense, while if he stood still, the other party seemed slightly calmer.

"Good luck..."

Cold sweat appeared on Chen Peng's forehead. An existence that could freely enter other people's mission worlds, how powerful and terrifying was such a person? And such a person was targeting Ethan? In his opinion, Ethan was doomed.

But then he thought, how powerful was Ethan exactly? Were all his enemies such terrifying existences?

The more he thought about it, the more he was startled, feeling that this was something he could not get involved in. So he started directing the newcomers to get into the car immediately, then drove the car away from the supermarket.

"They are gone. You can come out now."

After Ethan felt that Chen Peng and the others had left this space, he turned around to face the empty area. In the next second, ripples appeared in that space, and a person materialized from the waves.

To Ethan's surprise, the figure that appeared was a tall middle-aged woman with a friendly smile on her face. The strong fluctuations from her body also became increasingly subtle until they disappeared.

"You are..."

"My name is Madeline. Welcome to my world, young man."

"My name is Ethan."

Through the other party's introduction, Ethan already knew this woman's identity. She was the ruler of this world, or rather, the Main God.

"I apologize for intruding upon your world without notice."

To Ethan's surprise, the other party did not seem to mind his intrusion. Madeline smiled and waved her hand. "You really do seem to be a young man. Actually, this is quite common. If I did not have something urgent to discuss with you, I would have been quite happy to watch this interesting spectacle for a while longer."

"..."

Ethan realized the situation was not what he had expected. Did the Main Gods not care about their territories being invaded? Furthermore, from her words, he learned that if she had not suddenly needed to ask for his help, she would not even have shown up, but would have continued to secretly hide and watch the show.

Were all Main Gods such boring existences?

(To be continued.)

◇◇◇

◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)