At the seaside.
With Chino on the lead, the other children were playing with the huge dog called Oreo. The other children were some survivors that the Unit had saved on their way. Of course, for safety there are some adults watching not far away from them. This includes the General, Uncle Wu, Wang Lei and Lou Lan.
The Old Butler stood closer to the children especially shadowing his young master. This old man had missed his young master and was not willing to let him out of his sight. He is doing his job as the Chino's protector as he promised Ximen Xueya.
Seated at the porch of the villa Cao Junye gazed at the soldiers who wanted to smoke a cold glance. There's obviously a warning within those purple orbs. Those who really wanted to smoke a cigarette had to move few meters away from the young master before they could feel that the general is no longer glaring at them
Lou Lan asked, "General since when did Chino come over?"
"According to Uncle Wu, Xueya dropped by in the middle of the night yesterday. Since Chino wanted to see me, Xueya brought the child over. Chino would be staying with us for a few days or so." replied Cao Junye as his eyes always wonder back to where his son is.
Wang Lei spoke, "General with this we could speculate that Master Ximen is indeed an ability user and a very powerful one at most."
"Of course he is powerful. He is my wife after all." replied Cao Junye with a grin.
Lou Lan murmured, "But your wife is still angry at you and is not willing to go home. Serves you right~"
Wang Lei warned to his lover, "Lan'er don't be rude!"
"Hmp! I only spoke the truth!" said Lou Lan before moving away from these two annoying men and walking towards the children instead.
Wang Lei spoke, "General please forgive Lan'er's rudeness."
"I don't mind. As he says it's the truth anyway."
"What do you think is Master Ximen's ability?" asked Wang Lei.
"High leveled Space and Ice Elements." answered Cao Junye without hesitation as if he was sure that his right.
"Dual Ability User!? Is this for real!?"
"Yes. What are surprises for? I am a Dual Darkness and Thunder Ability user. While my son could control both Ice and Light Elements. It's normal in our family."
Wang Lei who is only a Wind Ability User remained silent in the unfairness of the world.
"Gather the injured men after lunch. I will ask my son to treat them. Afterwards prepare for tomorrow's departure." commanded Cao Junye.
Wang Lei salutes as he receives his orders.
"Yes Sir!" Then he watched as his general stood up and approached Chino with a pampering smile. He played with the young master like how father's play with their sons.
---
X District
It's supposed to be a land full of golden colored grain plants standing proudly in line of the farms on each side of the road. Normally those plants would be swaying in accordance to the direction where the wind blows. Sadly the season is not up for it.
The sudden dropped in temperature instantly turned the place into an ice land. There are some man made scarecrows standing at the middle of the farmland but even those turned into an ice statue.
The district is abandoned like all other districts. The land is silent and only the sound of wind blowing partnered with snow could be heard and seen.
Knowing that they've arrived in their destination, Yun Suisen woke up his lover as he was told to do so. He gently shook the elder man napping beside him gently.
Yun Suisen whispered, "Ge. Ge! We are here!"
The sleeping man groggily opened his eyes from being shaken. He looks at the outside scenery from beyond the car windows.
Shi Moye yawns and says, "So we're here. Drive straight then turn left. The last warehouse would be our target building but there would be survivors inside. Keep you guard up but don't be the first one to attack. The other side has a larger number."
"Yes, sir!" responded by his team members.
It didn't take a while for them to reach their destination. As Shi Moye expected, those people who resided inside the warehouse had noticed their arrival.
Some men left to guard the warehouse entrance were holding guns on them. When they've noticed the lights from the incoming car they know that there are survivors coming over their temporary hideout.
"Is that a car?"
"There are survivors! Inform the leader. We gave guests."
"Okay! Right away!"
One of the guards ran inside to report. While the others block Shi Moye and his team from directly entering their territory.
Shi Moye ordered one of his men to have a conversation with one of the men guarding the warehouse. He told him to inform them that they were people from Z District base called Hope.
Hearing that they were people from Hope Base, another person was tasked to report once more. This time reporting the identities of the guests before them. Upon hearing they were people from Hope Base, the other side had temporarily welcomed them inside the warehouse.
From Shi Moye's side only him and Yun Suisen had gone down the cat to meet the leader of the other side. They were escorted inside the warehouse. Yun Suisen followed Shi Moye without fear on his face.
After working for the Ximen Family for years, Suisen had met all kinds of people from politicians to military, business men to elite working men, even mercenaries and police authorities had been welcomed by him to the Ximen Mansion as long they were his Master's guest.
Shi Moye reacted calmly as usual. He is someone who had the standing as a Major in the military. He also had met the former State Head and Prime Minister as well as the notorious General Cao. It would be hard to make him anxious for this kind of event.
They were escorted to meet the leader of the opposite group. After entering the interior of the warehouse Shi Moye could see that the opposite side had members ranging from 20 to 30 people.
At the center of the group is a muscular man who wears all black clothes from top to down. The tightly fitted clothes on him made his stone hard muscles to be easily traced even with his clothes on. This man is quite handsome but not as much as General Cao.
His wild look and beast like aura made it feel that they were facing a wild beast instead of a human.
Shi Moye's thoughts: 'So this man is Su Liye. According to my past memory this man had killed over half of the elite clan members who lied at him. He killed both those who sinned and innocent ones during his raging anger and hatred for being lied for.
Unfortunately he still died under the hands of General Cao who wasn't able to bring back this man's sanity for losing all his members due to schemes. At the end this man died with regrets not even being able to close his eyes properly to welcome his death. He is such a pitiful person.'
Shi Moye and Su Liye exchanged glances. They've recognised each other as former partners who had worked together before.
Su Liye, "Major Shi of Sky Wolf special force."
Shi Moye, "Su Liye of Metropolitan Police Head District."
"You've survived. It's not unexpected." said Su Liye with a smirk.
Shi Moye smiled a bit and replied, "I'm more surprised to see you here. Aren't you supposed to be abroad doing missions?"
"Got back last Christmas Eve. But who would have thought that the world would suddenly arrive. Shit!"
"Your family... Sorry, forget I've asked."
"It's fine. I wanted your help to find them. How high is your position at the Hope Base?"
"Just below General Cao. Since the former isn't back yet I am currently the nominated leader of Hope Base."
Su Liye's eyes sparkled when he heard Shi Moye's answer. He took large strides and walked towards Shi Moye with urgency at every step. Once he stood straight in front of Shi Moye, Su Liye suddenly lowered his head. His members also followed his action and lowered their heads as well.
This scene astonished Yun Suisen. Only Shi Moye reacted calmly and stayed silent.
Su Liye spoke, "Please help us check whether our family safely joins your Hope Base. I am willing to provide you 70% of the grains in this granary."
Everyone echoes after him, "Please help us look for our families!"
Shi Moye was startled at first but reacted as soon as possible. He pats Su Liye's shoulder and makes him look up.
"I will help you. Please raise your heads. With my life in line, I vow to provide you help to find your families in Hope Base. As the current leader of Hope Base will try my best to provide anything you need."
Everyone including Su Liye was delighted with Shi Moye's promise because of this the two sides had happily entered party mode for the rest of the day. Providing food from both sides, everyone had joyously enjoyed the happy moment. Shi Moye's protagonist halo had worked properly for this event since Xueya had made no movement of interference.
The groups choose to take the rest of the day. Staying at the warehouse, enjoying the short peacefulness they have right now. What they didn't know is that the weather outside the warehouse started to change dramatically. The snow had stopped falling and even the temperature had started to escalate. In this situation it would only take a few days for the accumulated snow to completely melt. When that time comes all the frozen zombies would once again start to bring chaos to the land of living.
---
Three days had passed peacefully.
The snow had started melting to the point people could notice the changes. Except for the bit of coldness in temperature, there is no need for the people to wear thick clothes like before. A simple coat or jacket would be able to protect them from the slight coldness in air.
Within those few days, Cao Junye and his team had successfully reached S District. Unlike before the unit under the orders of the general didn't waste their time to make some stop over to some district to gather materials. This is thanks to Ximen Chino who had a full 3 warehouse sized resources stored on his ring. Those resources were something his daddy had intentionally left in his son's space ring to be indirectly passed to his father and his unit use.
Ximen Chino happily gave away his space right to his father after being coaxed properly by Cao Junye. With the rest of Chino's redemption ticket he was able to buy another space ring for his own use. His Uncle Yue who was protecting him in silence didn't forget to provide him the necessary materials for his nephew's use. Thought most of these resources were taken from the dimensional space his host owns.
They are now about roaming around the S District. The small yet luxurious town was now ruined. The buildings were all semi destroyed and wrecked for some unknown reason. Ever since Cao Junye and the rest had entered this district, there's a weird feeling that made them want to leave this place as soon as possible. But they couldn't as the sun is about to set. It is more dangerous to take their leave during the night than in the morning.
Cao Junye is looking around the area with surveying and guarded gaze while walking beside his son who is riding on the top of Oreo. The little bun is happily humming a children's song he learned from his playmates. Sadly his playmates couldn't roam outside with him. They are weaker and unawakened unlike him. So most of the children and elderlies were riding on the bus which was left abandoned in some districts.
A small team led by Cao Junye and Wang Lei played a vanguard for the unit. They were walking instead of riding the car because Chino says he wanted to play around outside. In the beginning Cao Junye didn't want to allow Chino to walk around and there was a car. Only when he heard that Xueya indulged the boy to play around unhindered in this kind of situation, that he had no other choice but to spoil the little bun as well. Afraid of being ignored by his own son. Moreover if he made his son cry, his wife would kill him for it.
"Father, Chi-chan remembers this place. Chi-chan's old house is in this place!" said Chino.
Lou Lan who was walking on the other side of his nephew finally remembered that the Ximen Family used to reside in S District. The Ximen Mansion exists in this area.
"Now that our little darling says it. The Mansion should be not far away. Baby~ did your daddy change the security code of the house?" asked Lou Lan sweetly to the boy beside him.
"Code?? No~ Before we leave for vacation, there are still servants in this place."
Chino answered clearly the meaning of his answer is vague. The little bun was saying that before his daddy had taken him to a long drive there were still servants left in the mansion. Which could only mean that the possibility of the security code of the mansion being left unchanged has a higher chance.
Cao Junye decided to use the Ximen Mansion as their temporary base as they couldn't really leave this area now that the sun is about to set.
"Head to the Ximen Mansion. We will stay the night there." said Cao Junye.
"Baby~ tell father which way is your old house."
Chino pointed the direction to his old house happily. "Okay~ go that way, father. Our house is just few streets away~"
Smiling at his son's playful tone, Cao Junye could really see the resemblance Chino has with Xueya. Only towards him that they both act childish and coquettish. The last one is done by Xueya when flirting with his husband.
Their group followed the young master's direction which leads to the Ximen Mansion. What they didn't know is that within the small forest that surrounds the whole district a pair of huge vertical bearded irises watching them silently. Those eyes stare at them from a distance but could still perceive their existence, it watches the group as if staring at their future prey.