Endless Throne - Chapter 26

Song Yao pushed the chicken head away a little bit—it was too close.

“We can start preparing now.” He paused, then pushed the old hen that had squeezed over again a bit farther away.

The old hen’s face was full of displeasure, her small eyes revealing strong condemnation.

“Cluck cluck!” Stingy!

Song Yao had the feeling she was cursing at him.

The chicken Zhou Yuan raised also carried his strong personal style—truly remarkable.

A sound of bells rang out as a huge black shadow leaped directly over the fence, rushing toward the laboratory.

Its posture was agile, sleek and glossy.

It’s back! It’s back! It’s back!

“Good evening, Lord Ergou!” Song Yao was the first to speak, with the other shelter residents following suit:

“So it’s Lord Ergou!”

“Lord Ergou is so handsome…”

The giant dog slowed its pace and nodded toward their direction, having fully mastered the essence of leadership inspection.

The three heads smiled in perfect unison, all with the signature mischievous curve unique to huskies.

Ergou quickly disappeared, leaving only a mysterious silhouette.

The old hen showed eyes full of worship, shock, and amazement, unable to recover for a long time.

After dark, Ergou returned home, and the shelter gates no longer needed guarding. Lin Yebai stood up, holding a knife in his left hand and a thermos in his right, unhurried and composed.

The old hen immediately organized her books, picked them up, and followed closely behind Lin Yebai step by step.

The lounge chair and small stool were left in the nearby security room—they were departing tomorrow and might never use them again.

“Brother Lin, I just caught this fish, I’ll carry it back to make soup…”

Zhou Yuan returned at this moment, carrying a two-to-three-meter-long black fish on his shoulder.

He left the shelter squad and followed behind Lin Yebai, using his Zhou-style rhetoric to describe his brave and fearless fishing process.

The fish was still fresh, its tail flapping from time to time, showing a strong will to survive. After getting home, it quickly became a pot of fish soup.

After dinner, Lin Yebai told them about heading north tomorrow.

“Leaving at daybreak?” Coach Wang frowned.

“Dreams have awakened~ hearts no longer afraid?” Zhou Yuan immediately continued the song.

“Be serious, get some rest early tonight.” Coach Wang stepped on Zhou Yuan’s foot.

“You meanie~” Zhou Yuan’s eyes were full of resentment.

Coach Wang’s eye twitched, his fists clenching.

At four in the afternoon, the sky turned completely dark.

Lin Yebai continued reading documents, with only the gentle sound of turning pages remaining in the room—a peaceful silence.

The next day, before departure, Xiahou Yun brought over a seven-seat SUV, proactively opening the car door and inviting Lin Yebai to get in.

In the back seat, a humanoid child sat obediently, holding a teddy bear. As soon as Zhou Yuan got in, he grabbed the child’s chubby cheeks with a mischievous smile.

Coach Wang squeezed into the back seat with his cat carrier and the old hen—the seven-seat car was just enough.

The disaster had come too suddenly, weapons were far from normal people’s lives, and the ammunition they could find was extremely limited. The shelter had always adhered to the principle of saving when possible, mainly placing their hopes on the aberrant squads.

Normal people who hadn’t mutated rode in buses, protected in the middle position, with aberrant squads protecting them front and back.

With life and death at stake, everyone was orderly, boarding vehicles in sequence.

At Song Yao’s command, the vehicles started, driving along previously scouted routes.

After Xiahou Yun developed the serum, aberration had become relatively controllable. Song Yao chose not to use the serum, maintaining human form throughout, managing the shelter in perfect order through his own efforts alone.

[Peace for a Lifetime]: Hope baby can safely reach the destination, the whole family together

[Then Just Call Me Your Majesty]: Sweet-talking

[Deep Sea Tentacle Monster]: Full of death flag vibes!

[Pickled Fish]: I’m already starting to panic!

Whether it was Zhou Yuan’s tail or Coach Wang’s eight legs, both were somewhat inconvenient while driving. Xiahou Yun had good driving skills, so he served as driver, steadily following behind the main convoy.

“Little friend, what’s your name?” Zhou Yuan poked the child’s face.

“Wang Zherongyao.” The child suddenly showed eyes that looked down on all living beings, the corners of his mouth rising wildly. (TL: 王者荣耀 wáng zhě róng yào= Honor of Kings)

“Ah this…” Zhou Yuan looked toward Coach Wang, his gaze suddenly becoming profound:

“Same as Old Wang, both surnamed Wang.”

“By the way, Old Wang, I’ve never heard you introduce yourself. What’s your name?”

“Classified.” Coach Wang seemed to remember something unpleasant, his brow furrowing tightly.

“Wang Classified?”

“No.” Coach Wang’s brow furrowed even tighter.

“Wang No?”

“I’ll tell you when there’s a chance.” With so many storms in the past, Coach Wang didn’t want to bring it up.

“Awoo~”

“Awo~”

“Awoo awoo~”

After the convoy had driven some distance, mournful howling came from the direction of the university.

Husky sounds were different from normal dogs—easily recognizable.

With its way of thinking, it couldn’t quite understand why these humans were leaving. With Lord Ergou’s protection, they didn’t have to worry about monster attacks every night—wasn’t that good?

They had praised it for being handsome last night, then left early this morning. Humans really were all heartless liars!

“Awoo~”

The husky’s howling grew closer.

In the rearview mirror, they could see a three-headed giant dog chasing from behind.

It was about to catch up, making everyone somewhat nervous. Ergou’s combat power was not to be underestimated—if it really became aggressive, it would be very difficult for them to escape today. But everyone hoped more that it would catch up and leave together with them.

With only a few dozen meters left, Ergou slowed down, standing quietly without approaching further.

It watched the departing convoy, finally turning around and heading back.

“Goodbye Lord Ergou, we’ll all miss you.”

Song Yao raised a megaphone and shouted, waving to Ergou.

Ergou looked back once but didn’t respond.

The convoy continued forward, the distance between them growing, the bell sounds gradually fading.

Suddenly the bell sounds became urgent as Ergou charged after them again.

But when it was about to catch up a second time, its steps came to an abrupt halt.

It stopped, its howling changing from anger and accusation to grievance, beginning to whimper:

“Awoo woo woo woo…”

“Ah woo…”

It had originally thought, how could the dignified Lord Ergou cry? If these shit-shovelers weren’t useful, just replace them with another batch—there were more and better shit-shovelers waiting for its summons.

Then it realized it was just a little dog and didn’t need to care about human opinions at all, tears flowing uncontrollably.

“Awoo woo woo woo…”

The crying continued for a long time, with Xiahou Yun frequently checking the rearview mirror until Ergou became a small black dot and could no longer be seen.

“Why did Ergou stay there?” Zhou Yuan was also feeling bad.

“Waiting for its former master.” Xiahou Yun sighed slightly, telling Ergou’s story:

“Ergou was raised by a retired old professor. The professor had no children and no other relatives, treating Ergou very well. Later, when the professor’s condition worsened, he sent Ergou to a friend’s house, and he passed away soon after.”

“Ergou ran to the school every day, unwilling to be adopted, always staying at school waiting for the old professor to return.”

“The professor used to take it to the park for walks. It remembered the route and would walk itself every day, only returning at night.”

After Xiahou Yun finished speaking, everyone in the car fell silent, all feeling somewhat sentimental.

“It should know the old professor passed away by now, right?” Zhou Yuan asked.

“Mm, all the bodies in the morgue came back to life. It thinks the old professor will return too.” Xiahou Yun’s voice was heavy.

“The old professor’s body isn’t in the morgue?”

“He chose to be buried with his wife.”

In most areas, cremation was required before burial.

“Sigh…” Zhou Yuan looked dejected, his whole person lacking energy, though he confirmed one thing:

“Dr. Xia, when you said you came from underground, you were just scaring me, right?”

“Are you a teacher or professor here?”

“I used to work at a medical research institute, later became a fellow patient with the old professor.” Xiahou Yun kept it brief, not going into detail, leaving room for imagination.

After the convoy had driven some distance, strange sounds came from behind. The sounds grew closer, like something chasing in groups.

Song Yao ordered acceleration, but the sounds still caught up, vast and mighty, creating a strong sense of crisis.

As dawn approached, the entire city was shrouded in a thin layer of gray mist that didn’t affect visibility. The pursuing creatures gradually revealed themselves.

Countless aberrants converged toward the convoy’s direction—most were humanoid, mixed with huge mutated animals. They cooperated with each other without infighting, clearly under someone’s control.

Compared to this, the group of aberrants that had run a marathon behind the truck the night before was nothing.

During the day, aberrants hid in dark places. This dense appearance exposed their various hideous forms to the light, making people’s scalps tingle and bodies go numb.

“Don’t panic. We’ll cross a big bridge, then blow up the bridge piers to stop them.” Song Yao calmed down and quickly thought of a solution.

Zhang San held a megaphone, standing among the aberrant crowd with a half-smile, turning the volume to maximum:

“The entire city is Lord Factory Manager’s territory. You are all Factory Manager’s slaves—where do you think you’re going?”

“Stop now and you still have a chance to live.”

“Keep driving and only death awaits you!”

“Drive!” Song Yao remained unmoved. Putting one’s life in someone else’s hands and hoping for kind treatment was undoubtedly foolish.

Zhang San continued shouting:

“I also want to thank Dr. Xia from your shelter for tipping me off. Without him, I wouldn’t have known you were escaping!”

“Dr. Xia has already seen the light. Those of you with sense should follow Dr. Xia and come over.”

“Surrender now and get upgraded treatment.”

“If you insist on resisting and we catch you, you’ll be the lowest slaves…”

“Dr. Xia?” Zhou Yuan remembered the photo he’d taken earlier, half-believing. Xiahou Yun had met Zhang San privately not long ago. Could it really be that Xiahou Yun had sold out the shelter’s information?

“That’s not true.” Xiahou Yun’s face was dark, his ears tense, his hands gripping the steering wheel with visible veins, burning with anger at Zhang San’s words.

Song Yao’s clear voice came through the megaphone:

“Everyone knows what kind of person Dr. Xia is.”

“Don’t listen to Zhang San’s lies. Prepare for battle.”

“If we stay here, they’ll capture us and consume us completely. If we break through, we still have a chance.”

[Class Representative]: I am Xiahou Yun, and right now I want to say: “My surname is Xiahou.”

[Watermelon Patch Sinner]: This is a successful class representative

[Peace for a Lifetime]: Hope baby safely gets through this crisis, the whole family together, amen

[The Ordinary Me]: Peace, say that one more time and I’ll knock your head off

[Wang Situ]: The enemy is numerous while we are few—we cannot match them in strength

[Watermelon Patch Sinner]: Join Dr. Xia in seeing the light, first infiltrate the enemy, then slowly undermine them?

Lin Yebai unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of water.

Everyone in the car looked over, deeply moved by his composure and calm.

“Won’t have time to drink water later.” Lin Yebai explained.

Looking at the countless aberrants, Xiahou Yun made a difficult decision:

“Mr. Lin, I could surrender—perhaps you all could escape unscathed.”

“I don’t want to surrender.” Lin Yebai screwed the thermos cap tight and slowly wiped the bone knife in his hand.