Back to the Apocalypse

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“Give chase!” Xiao Sa’s dark eyes were cold. He leapt up to chase after the retreating zombies, leaving only a shadow in the night. When Bai Jing saw his figure flash by, he also disappeared from his spot. Wu Guoan showed his worth as Xiao Sa's direct subordinate at this point when he hastened to say, "Level two ability users follow me. Everyone else keep their positions." After that, he also raced in the direction Xiao Sa had disappeared to.

Others were equally careful as they quickly picked their weapons off of the ground. Not only did they bring the guns in their hands, they also hung grenades around their waists. When they finished their preparations, they rushed towards the place where the zombies were roaring.

By this time, it was almost dawn.

"Level four zombie--" When Bai Jing arrived, Xiao Sa was engaged in a close fight with a level four zombie and two level three zombies. Seeing that he was losing ground, Bai Jing didn't even think twice before rushing forward. At this moment, Bai Jing's eyes were bright with the excitement of having caught sight of prey. His movements were quick, accurate, and fierce, and he grew more and more energetic as the fight continued. The fatigue from before was nowhere to be seen.

Before long, Wu Guoan and the others arrived. Although they had only cooperated in battle together once, their actions were still very well coordinated. Nothing was said, but Qin Lie and Yang Lin immediately began to target a level three zombie. Xiao Sa was left with the level four zombie while Bai Jing dealt with the other level three. Everyone else began to deal with the low levelled zombies, and like this, all responsibilities were smoothly divvied up amongst them.

Xiao Sa’s powers were not just for show, but the level four zombie wasn't so easy to deal with. Its body was as hard as a copper and iron wall, and its sharp nails glinted with cold light. Its attacks didn't seem to follow a set pattern, it attacked extremely fast, and when its empty fists hit the ground, it would send smoke and dust flying as the ground instantly split apart, often forming deep pits.

Xiao Sa refused to give way. The golden light that signified his powers shone fiercely as it roiled through the air like a whirlpool, smashing into the zombie's body with a "clang" sound, as though metal and metal had just collided together.

Discovering that its body had been injured, the zombie became thoroughly enraged and was so angry that it howled. Its figure flashed by as quick as lightning as it tried to attack Xiao Sa and hurt him back, but how could Xiao Sa let it succeed? He did not try to evade it, but pulled together a golden protective barrier around himself instead. In a frontal collision, his metal powers condensed into a sharp sword that flew through the air, aiming straight at the zombie's head. The zombie had no other choice; if it didn't want to be pierced through the head, it could only retract its claws, but at this time, another wave of attacks from Xiao Sa had already arrived. The golden barrier turned into a thick chain, winding round and round the zombie's body. Although it was unable to cause any harm to it, the chains could still temporarily stop its actions.

Opportunities were fleeting; Xiao Sa seized the moment and took advantage of the zombie being trapped by the chain to launch a violent attack. In the blink of an eye, the sword struck the zombie and pierced through its head. There was a crack, and the zombie became a true corpse, green liquid leaking out from its head. The golden chain that was wound around the zombie slid down, broken into segments, but the zombie that had been pierced through the head had no way to recover.

After Xiao Sa removed the nucleus from the level four zombie, he didn't rest at all before turning his head to take in the situation on the battlefield. He joined Yang Lin and Qin Lie to take down a level three zombie. As for Bai Jing… Xiao Sa's lips twitched. He really didn't have to involve himself there and be meddlesome at all.

The third level zombies fighting against Bai Jing were quite pitiful. Bai Jing was very careful with his own life and understood himself very well. Although he was invincible against level two zombies, he still had some difficulties with level three zombies. If he wasn't able to take them on directly, he could only use his brains, which meant that if he couldn't just straight out kill them, he would simply grind them to death. Even if the zombies were tireless, Bai Jing kept catching them off guard, attacking again and again. Although he didn't aim for the head, a zombie with broken arms and legs could still be worn down and eventually killed.

The team didn't dare delay; although they were in a good position now, who knew what unknown dangers still existed? The group made a quick decision and first eliminated the high level zombies, and then with Xiao Sa and Bai Jing's help, the remaining small shrimp were soon wiped out.

After collecting all the crystal nuclei, everyone quickly returned to the camp.

Wu Guoan had already given orders for the campsite to be cleaned up, and right now, everyone was either sitting or lying down. Only the women and children who hadn't participated in the fight were now shuttling through the crowd, bringing water and food for the injured as well as dressing wounds.

“Brother Sa!” Wu Guoan gave a lazy greeting and pointed to the mountain of crystal nuclei on the ground. "This is today’s harvest, it's all here.”

Xiao Sa glanced around at the crowd and nodded in satisfaction. Very good, nobody had tried any underhanded moves to take the nuclei for themselves.

Bai Jing smiled and didn't say much as he returned to the car. He couldn't wait to start absorbing the energy from the level three nuclei. The rest could be handed over to Xiao Sa; today's battle had been a very fruitful one.

“Take the nuclei and split them up. There will be more zombies on the road ahead, and everyone should first increase their power level. Those who didn't obtain a share shouldn't be discouraged, you'll be given priority next time." Xiao Sa spoke calmly, then turned to get back to the car. He had just discovered that his own powers had improved a lot after launching that large-scale attack, and he believed that it wouldn't be long before he could advance again. His most pressing task now was to absorb the energy from the level four crystal nucleus; he was more than satisfied with the harvest from their recent battle.

After Xiao Sa had spoken, everyone was burning up with excitement. Even the level two ability users who weren't able to get a share were enthusiastic, because they knew that today's harvest was just the beginning.

The next afternoon, people heard from the radio that a survivor base less than 20 kilometers away from the battle last night had also been attacked by the zombies during the night. There were no survivors in the city, and only a few teams who had been working outside escaped.

Everyone felt a chill in their heart when they heard this. They felt rather fortunate that they had managed to keep their lives, and that the zombies' main target last night hadn't been them. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for them to win on their own.

Bai Jing smacked his lips after he heard the news. He could only sigh over their luck; he really hadn't expected that Xiao Sa had guessed correctly. There were too few of them, and the high level zombies looked down on their paltry numbers. Otherwise, it really wouldn't have been so easy for them to make it through the night. The harder fights were still to come!

All kinds of emotions rose up in everyone's minds, but primarily, it was excitement. Considering last night’s fighting methods, Xiao Sa’s attack that had taken out thousands, and Bai Jing's endless tricks had left an indelible impression on them all. Despite the fear and trepidation still in their hearts, their desire for greater gains and benefits couldn't be suppressed. Everyone had an appetite for risk in their blood; if 50% profit was enough for them to be shameless, and 100% profit was enough for them to violate all kinds of laws, 300% was enough for them to be willing to do anything, even if that meant there was no corpse left to bury in the end.

Last night, there had been very few casualties, Xiao Sa’s strength and Bai Jing’s supplies had inspired everyone's courage, and nobody would refuse to increase their strength. Following that, the journey that should've only taken them a month, ended up taking them almost four months as they made endless stops along the way. They fought guerrilla warfare against the zombies, and they fought wherever they went. Not only did they run away after each fight, they also aimed for easy targets before planning carefully for the big fights. Four months wasn't too long, nor was it too short, but it was enough for everyone's strength to soar.

What made Bai Jing happiest was that he managed to obtain a lot of jade along the way. This kind of thing was valuable before the apocalypse, but after the end of the world came, it wasn't even as useful as a bag of food. Now that the team had Bai Jing who was like a rich boss who provided both food and drink, everyone was happy to help him collect jade along the way. By the time they arrived at the Capital, Bai Jing was already a proper level three ability user, and wasn't far from breaking through to the fourth level.

In addition, Xiao Sa had also advanced to become a level five ability user. Qin Lie, Xu Feng, Yang Lin, Wei Binyi, and seven other people also successfully advanced to level four. Bai Jing had a lot of complaints about this, but there was nothing he could do. Who asked him to have abilities that went against the heavens and therefore required him to consume a lot of resources just to level up? He had to bear all the advantages and disadvantages of his space, but Qin Lie was deeply moved by this fact. He and the others thought that Bai Jing hadn't advanced because he had given up all the crystal nuclei to them. From then on, it became a very beautiful misunderstanding that Bai Jing and Xiao Sa did not intend to clarify.

They were now one day's journey away from the Capital. They hadn't encountered any zombies since the day before, and it was obvious that they had already been dealt with. There were many mercenaries who came and went as they travelled for their missions on the road that they took. There were very few people who would go to the Capital to try their luck now since it had already been a year since the apocalypse, and many rules had already been laid down. Everyone everywhere knew that the Capital did not accept outsiders, but Bai Jing and Xiao Sa were new faces. Regardless of whether it was the line-up of their convoy, the clothes on their bodies, or the weapons in their hands, they were very conspicuous, and they attracted attention from a large number of people along the way.

“Hey! Fellow brothers, where are you guys from? You guys seem like fresh faces." A Jeep stopped near them and struck up a conversation.

Li Ran raised his head weakly, his expression filled with grievance. "We're coming from the East. We're here to see relatives and will go back in a few days." Heavens knew that this wasn't the first time he had answered the exact same question. Li Ran was in a bad mood, but he could only blame himself for being too talkative. Alas, he had been too kind-hearted, and ever since the first time he had answered a passer-by's question, everyone had been amused watching him rack his brains to talk nonsense and explain what they were doing in detail. In fact, Li Ran only wished that he could turn back the clock as he glared at the few people who had nothing better to do in the car. Yingyingying, Li Ran wanted to cry but had no tears. He didn't want to bring along bullies like these!

During the end of the world, the first thing people learned to do was read expressions. Someone from the jeep said, "Oh!" and stopped asking questions, instead just continuing down the road. Li Ran had answered very clearly that they were only here to see their relatives. Since they wouldn't be staying in the Capital for long, they wouldn't cause any conflict with the various factions. They could maintain a good relationship with them, but there was no need to pull them to their side. Even if the other party wanted to find out their details, they wouldn't be in a hurry to do so.

That night, they camped nearby. Bai Jing sent telegrams to Bai Jingcheng and Zhang Qiucheng. He had the memories from his previous life to work off of, but they still had made many inquiries on the way. The current situation in Beijing was basically stable, and the forces were divided into four major factions. Besides the Song and Zhou families, Bai Jingcheng also made use of the materials he had hoarded and the troops Zhang Qiucheng had brought in order to gain a firm foothold.

In addition, there was also the Qi family. The Qi family was originally from the underworld and had contact with all kinds of officials. After the apocalypse, from the initial panic to the later forming of factions, everyone who wanted to fish in the muddied waters wanted to have their share. The once prosperous Yang Family had already drowned, along with the Wang Family and the Yuwen and Mu Families who had been powerful for generations…

The Qi Family had taken a black road and relied on mercenary teams as well as opportunities from all kinds of officials in order to fight their way up a bloody road. Although their foundation was still weak, the Song Family was currently at odds with the Zhou Family, and Bai Jingcheng had always been in an unstable position. The Qi Family had inserted its fingers into pies everywhere and could at least stand firm within the base.

so… how did you guys end up reading/finding BTTA? i know i was going through an apocalypse phase and found it in 2017; deciding to pick this up and finish translating it was a nostalgic move. what about you all?