The Chef Rules the Last Days
Chapter 380 - 379: Coming Down the Mountain

Chapter 380: Chapter 379: Coming Down the Mountain

If it were the waterfall he spoke of, then falling from such a high angle would either kill you or turn you into an imbecile.

Lu Chen lifted her up, still swimming in the water, placing her on a concave rock with a plate of pumpkin on her lower legs.

Once her condition was enhanced again and the orange protective shield expanded, he put away the plate, picked her up, and continued swimming forward with her against the relentless waves.

The sound of water and wind grew louder by his ears.

Su Mo’s arms were so sore that lifting them was problematic.

She shook her legs and bit her teeth, struggling to follow.

Ahead, the light grew brighter, accompanied by bouts of cold wind. The mist hit her face, blurring Su Mo’s vision, but she distinctly felt the water’s speed increase beneath them, without resistance, both were rapidly pulled toward the cave’s exit.

"Hold on tight to me."

Following his words, Su Mo tightly clung to the man’s waist, and together with the current, they plunged down a waterfall several meters high.

Black turbulent water smashed against Lu Chen’s back; he held the person in his arms tightly as they fell into the water, the tremendous impact resisted by the protective shield.

Su Mo closed her eyes tightly, and when he brought her back up to the surface, she took a deep breath.

They were flushed out over a river, not far from the riverbank.

Su Mo barely turned her head to survey the surroundings; she was at the foot of the mountain now. From this angle, looking up, she could see the rolling mountains interlinked with one another.

The river nestled among the mountains connected all the ranges.

She was pulled ashore by Lu Chen, taking deep breaths, the excitement of a narrow escape didn’t last long before her gaze suddenly fell upon a distinctly odd mountain. Her heart contracted, and her body shivered—the mountain top appeared as if it had been flattened by a bomb, bare, with large areas of trees collapsed and some fires still burning.

She narrowed her eyes for a closer look, her expression becoming extremely grim, "Lu...Lu Chen, isn’t that where we just were?"

Her finger pointed there, the man wringing his clothes, followed her gaze, hesitated for a moment, then darkened, "Change clothes, let’s go check it out."

Su Mo frantically pulled clothes from the System Bag and after both were changed, they rushed toward the mountain top that was almost completely destroyed.

It took them an afternoon, but the two finally returned to the summit, surrounded by zombie corpses. Su Mo walked with extreme caution at every step, afraid of mistaking anyone.

When she recognized someone, she would walk over, shaking, flipping the corpse, feeling a relief when they were not whom she thought, her heart poised high then falling back.

Surrounded by corpses, she squatted in the middle, her eyes frantic, "What happened after we left? Could it be Yang Yichu..."

She couldn’t bear to imagine the scene that might have unfolded.

Lu Chen knelt on one knee before a blasted tree, pinching a fallen piece of shell with his fingers, his expression murky, "People from the laboratory came here."

Su Mo turned her head and saw what was in his hand—a fragment of a bullet she hadn’t seen before, made of a special material unfamiliar to them. Her eyes filled with hope, "Are they still alive?"

Lu Chen threw the shell away and stood up, pulling her up, "Very likely."

"We have to go to the Western Laboratory; we need to bring the people back!" Su Mo held his hand tightly, her gaze filled with hatred, these people always relentless.

The hand holding his right hand grew incredibly strong, Lu Chen lowered his gaze and felt the ring finger suddenly crack, followed by an excruciating pain that traveled from his finger to his heart.

Su Mo’s initially excited emotions abruptly stopped, and her hand unconsciously relaxed when she saw his fingers bending unnaturally. She stepped back, glanced at her right hand with a look of panic, "What... what happened?"

She clearly hadn’t used much strength!

While it was painful, Lu Chen realized he might have scared her and walked a few steps closer to her, one hand fixing his own dislocated little finger back in place, and comforted in a soft voice, "It’s okay, it’s just a fracture."

Su Mo backed away a few steps with her hand covered, "Don’t come closer, let me figure out what’s going on first!"

Fearing she might hurt him again, she refused bodily contact and carefully examined her right hand. Was it that energy she still couldn’t digest playing tricks?

She clenched her fist and then picked up a piece of broken stone from the ground, slightly exerting some strength, the stone smeared with black soil instantly shattered in her hand.

Back at the Dark River, she hadn’t noticed this peculiar phenomenon.

But wasn’t that a Wood Element Crystal Stone? Why did it seem like it was from the Power Element? Su Mo stared at her hand, lost in thought.

"We should head down the mountain now, it’s getting dark, and it’s not safe here," Lu Chen approached her, grabbed her arm, and started to lead her down the mountain.

This time he grabbed her left hand, and Su Mo did not resist, only muttering, "This thing is really strange."

As night fell, they descended the mountain. They were no longer on the Cult’s territory. Below was a large abandoned amusement park, sprawling in area, and at a glance, there appeared to be no abnormal situations.

The two directly stepped over a fence rusted and entwined with much ivy.

Withered yellow leaves, muddy ground, several of the small wooden horses on the carousel had fallen off and were lying aside, covered in a thick layer of dust.

There were only a few bodies here, behind the toy bumper cars, a little girl with pigtails lay face up on the ground, clutching a doll, her body already rotting through. Her two hollow eye sockets were without eyes, and the flesh on her body was almost entirely eaten away.

Su Mo glanced at it and silently averted her gaze. A lot must have happened here when it got dark.

A huge clown doll loomed over a toy shop.

Su Mo walked up to the entrance of the store and looked up at the clown’s face, lost in thought.

Lu Chen checked the surroundings and, deeming it safe, pulled her into the toy store.

A row of dolls, several of which had fallen to the ground, a long, somewhat blackened trail of blood ran straight from the doorway into the store’s interior.

Lu Chen walked ahead, his Ice Blades silently floating around him.

Several terrifying sounds reached their ears, Su Mo cast her gaze into that darkness and whispered, "There are zombies."

Behind the checkout counter, there was a sound of nails scraping on the floor along with the sound of dragging limbs.

The two stopped behind the counter, and the Ice Blades around Lu Chen suddenly disappeared into thin air.

It was a woman whose lower half was severed. Half of her torso was dragging on the ground, badly damaged in several places, her thin ribs protruding at her chest, her golden yellow hair almost all fallen out, and a Chanel earring on her ear indicating that this zombie used to love beauty.

Lu Chen, expressionless, crushed its head with a foot.

The lowest level Level 1 zombie, with no attacking capability.