"We've been stuck here since last night, and we haven't moved forward even half a meter all night."
The woman's voice was crisp, carrying a hint of a lazy Southern accent.
Carol's just-opened lips closed again.
Ling Feng looked toward the source of the sound.
A white woman with shoulder-length short hair, wearing a gray tight tank top and jeans, walked over.
Close beside the woman was a little boy around seven or eight years old, wearing a baseball cap.
Lori and Carl.
These two faces were far too recognizable in Ling Feng's memory; they were the culprits who triggered the life-or-death fallout between the two war gods at the very beginning of the apocalypse, truly core plot characters.
Lori didn't notice Ling Feng's aggressive scrutiny as she reached out and pointed toward the end of the highway.
"Shane has already gone ahead to check out the situation. He's a police officer and has more experience with these sudden emergencies, so he should be able to bring back news soon."
Shane?
Ling Feng's pupils shrank slightly, and his heartbeat involuntarily skipped a beat.
Shane going ahead to scout the path was definitely a signature turning point in the original plot.
According to his memory, once Shane walked a short distance ahead, he would happen to witness Atlanta being subjected to large-scale bombing by the military, which meant that the grand spectacle was about to arrive.
This city was completely beyond saving, and the true world of the walking dead would fully unfold.
Calmly, Ling Feng touched the metal strap of the tactical gun case on his back, already having a plan in mind.
"Carol, I'm so, so sorry." Lori turned her face to look at Carol, who was holding the child, her tone full of guilt. "When Ed flew into a rage just now, I didn't dare get close. I had Carl with me, and if a fight really broke out, I was afraid it would scare the child."
Just moments ago, Carol had been scolded and almost beaten simply because she wanted to share the canned beans from her own car with Lori.
As a result, Lori had stood right at the rear of a car not far away, watching the entire process unfold without uttering a single word of discouragement. It wasn't until Ling Feng chewed Ed out and drove him away that this woman leisurely strolled over with her son to explain.
Carol was a timid person, but that didn't mean she was a fool.
Of course she understood the subtext in Lori's words.
In this kind of world, who wouldn't want to protect themselves? She had no right to demand that others stick their necks out for her, but having her pure kindness met with such standing-by-and-watching was inevitably disheartening.
"I understand." Carol tightened her embrace around Sophia's arms even more.
She didn't raise her head to look into Lori's eyes, keeping her head down instead, intently helping her daughter straighten her wrinkled collar.
This polite brush-off left Lori a bit embarrassed and unable to step down gracefully.
Since Lori was in the wrong first, she could only stand there awkwardly.
In fact, she had been wondering just moments before whether she should go call Shane over to help, but Shane happened to be absent.
If Shane had been present, he definitely would have punched that domestic-abusing fat pig to the ground.
As for the Asian man who had suddenly popped up in front of her, she had to admit that what he said just now was truly manly.
Thinking of this, Lori shifted her gaze onto Ling Feng.
This man possessed a distinctly handsome and upright Oriental look, with a tall build and broad shoulders. In particular, the fearless, fierce aura emanating from his entire body seemed extremely abrupt on this panic-stricken highway, yet inexplicably made people feel safe.
"Ling!"
Carol called out softly, interrupting Ling Feng's observation.
"What is it?" Ling Feng snapped back to his senses.
Carol jerked her chin toward the side.
Lori smoothly took a step forward, generously extending her right hand with a familiar smile blooming on her face.
"My name is Lori, and this is my son, Carl. It's very nice to meet you, mister. Thank you so much for helping Carol out of that tight spot just now. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have dared to mess with someone as sturdily built as Ed."
The speed at which this woman changed her expression and her social skills truly showed she had some tricks up her sleeve.
Ling Feng sneered inwardly.
This was the notorious trouble-maker in the walking dead, who bounced back and forth and played two tough guys around in circles.
But none of that mattered; as long as she could drop equipment and give Pleasure Points, she was a good woman.
He reached out without any psychological burden, completely enclosing that boneless, tender palm within his own hand.
Her fingers were slender, and her palm was slightly sweaty, feeling extremely delicate to the touch.
"My name is Ling Feng, and I'm single." Ling Feng put heavy emphasis on the word "single," and his broad thumb unceremoniously rubbed slowly against the back of Lori's hand.
[Ding! Detected that the host has made intimate physical contact with the core female plot character Lori!]
[Pleasure Points + 100!]
Listening to the wonderful mechanical prompt in his mind, the smile on Ling Feng's face deepened.
Another 100 points in hand! What the hell kind of heavily endangered doomsday was this; this was basically an ATM custom-built specifically for him.
Amy and her sister, Carol, and now plus Lori—just having these few cards gathered together, it would be hard for future days not to be luxurious and comfortable.
Lori's whole body stiffened, and she abruptly jerked her hand back as if she had been electrocuted.
But Ling Feng's palm strength was too great; she actually failed to pull it away with that attempt.
She raised her head in astonishment, meeting right into the man's deeply aggressive black eyes. That gaze was straightforward and brazen, like a hungry wolf appraising a piece of fresh meat that had already fallen into a trap.
Lori instantly felt her breath stall, and her heartbeat inexplicably lost its rhythm.
In this lawless wilderness, with a fierce man carrying heavy weapons showing such obvious interest in her, she had completely no idea how to react.
After all, she was still a married woman right now, and she was currently getting hot and heavy with Shane.
Fortunately, Ling Feng knew when to stop while he was ahead.
When Lori struggled to break free the second time, he extremely naturally released his fingers, as if the flirting just now had never happened at all.
"Uncle Ling, is that a sniper rifle on your back?"
The little boy's tender voice broke the awkwardness right at the right moment.
Carl hadn't noticed the undercurrents of the atmosphere among the adults at all.
He poked half his body out from behind Lori, his eyes staring straight at the long tactical gun case on Ling Feng's back, his fair and tender little face filled with an unmasked frenzy and excitement.
What little boy could refuse a heavy sniper rifle taller than himself?
Ling Feng lowered his head, locking eyes with that little face wearing a baseball cap.
"Interested in this thing?" Ling Feng asked rhetorically.
Carl nodded vigorously, even subconsciously extending his little hand to touch the metal clasp at the bottom of the gun case.
Slap.
Ling Feng raised his hand and lightly flicked Carl on the forehead with two fingers.
The force wasn't big, but it made Carl cover his forehead and take a step back.
"Listen up, kid." Ling Feng straightened his body, looking down at him from a high vantage point. "This isn't some toy gun you play with at an amusement park. The recoil when this thing fires could directly shatter your fragile little shoulders into pieces. With your skinny arms and legs right now, you don't even have the qualification to touch it."
Carl puffed out his cheeks with some dissatisfaction.
He had always worshipped his strong police officer father and had always dreamed of being able to shoot a gun. Now, being looked down upon so bluntly, his stubborn temper flared up instantly.
"When I grow up, I'll definitely be able to carry it! Uncle Shane said he'll teach me how to shoot in the future!" Carl argued with his neck tilted up.
"Is that so? Then I wish you grow up sooner." Ling Feng shrugged, too lazy to argue with a brat. He knew very well that in this cruel world, growing up often took only a few days.
Lori quickly pulled her son back to her side.
"Uncle Ling is right, Carl." Lori pressed down on her son's shoulders, her tone very serious. "You are still too small now, and these weapons are very dangerous. We agreed before that without an adult's permission, you absolutely cannot touch these things. Have you forgotten?"
Carl pouted his lips; although very reluctant, he still obediently lowered his head.
Lori breathed a sigh of relief, looked back at Ling Feng, and prepared to open her mouth to pull closer in relationship.
Suddenly!
A dull, rumbling sound rolled over from the distant horizon.
This sound had extreme penetrating power, just like countless giant wild bees vibrating their wings simultaneously.
At first it was just a faint buzzing, but after only a few seconds, the sound sharply amplified at a terrifying speed, causing even the asphalt road surface on the highway to vibrate slightly along with it.
The drivers who were still smoking and cursing outside their cars all stopped their actions.
The noisy highway instantly quieted down, leaving only that deafening roar.
Everyone subconsciously raised their heads, looking around blankly.
"What is that sound?" The expression on Lori's face instantly froze, anxiously gripping Carl's hand tightly.
Carol directly picked up Sophia, shrinking her entire body beside the station wagon.
Ling Feng ripped off the tactical gun case hanging on his back, holding it in one hand. With sharp eyes crossing over the endless car roofs, he locked his gaze dead-on toward the direction of downtown Atlanta.
The climax of the plot had finally arrived.
In the sky at the end of their field of view, three black dots rapidly enlarged.
Those were three "Apache" heavy armed helicopters painted in US military camouflage, roaring toward the center of the city in a battle formation at an extremely low flight altitude.
Accompanied by the violent wind sound of the helicopter propellers tearing through the air, shrill air raid sirens sounded simultaneously from every corner of the city.
That siren pierced the sky, desperate and ear-piercing.
The next second.
Between the tall buildings in the distant downtown area, several dazzling bursts of fire suddenly erupted.
Boom——!!!
The earth-shattering explosion swept across a distance of over a dozen kilometers, as if even the air was instantly drained dry. Giant orange-red mushroom clouds, one after another, mixed with rolling thick smoke, soared into the sky from the heart of Atlanta.
The military dropped napalm.
This bustling Southern metropolis welcomed its doomsday.