Xiao Sheng invited Qin Kewei, who was recovering from her injuries. It had to be said that the recovery ability of ability users was indeed that strong. In just five days, Qin Kewei had fully recovered.
Lu Xian, Jin Zijue, and Guo Pinming searched underground for a long time but still found nothing. Moreover, the zombies underground seemed to have entered hibernation mode, which indicated that there were no more living people underground. This was why the zombies had entered hibernation; otherwise, they would have killed all humans they encountered.
Qin Kewei was invited by Xiao Sheng to the mountain where they were stationed. This was the place Lu Xian had chosen. Based on his deductions, he believed that if Shen Feng was still alive after his disappearance, he would definitely be active in this vicinity. The traces of Shen Feng that he had been following had also disappeared around here.
Qin Kewei sighed helplessly and said to Xiao Sheng, "It's not that I want to discourage you, but the hope of Shen Feng being alive is really slim. During the days I was recovering in the hospital, I kept searching for news from underground. I found that only seven people had safely left the underground! Yue Hengyi and I could open a passage to leave the underground ourselves. As for the civilian master Wang Aoye, he also had an earth-controlling ability user who could open a passage. As for Zhang Jue, he discovered it the earliest and fled when he saw the situation was bad. As for Shen Feng, his ability is wind, and underground is not a suitable place for him to fight."
Qin Kewei had already spoken very tactfully. She couldn't directly say that Shen Feng was dead, as she had to consider others' feelings, but the implication was very clear. Fifteen days had passed, and Shen Feng had not emerged for such a long time; he definitely wouldn't survive.
Lu Xian quickly said, "Sister Qin, please help us. You must help us find the City Lord. Give us a few more days, and the City Lord will definitely still be alive."
Qin Kewei shrugged and nodded helplessly, saying, "Alright, let's try again. However, I don't think there's any hope!"
It was still snowing. It had been snowing for almost a day since last night. The ground was once again covered in snow. Searching for someone in such conditions was extremely difficult, but Qin Kewei ultimately did not refuse. After all, when she escaped from underground five days ago, it was Xiao Sheng who had arrived in time to kill the pursuing mutated zombies. A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring. It didn't matter if it was hard work; she could consider it repaying Xiao Sheng's favor.
The sky was gradually darkening. Fang Qinghao and Zhang Zi were cooking for everyone. Qin Kewei felt that time was of the essence, so she placed her hands on the ground and began to sense seriously. Material-type ability users would sense diligently during use, just as Guo Pinming could sense iron elements, Qin Kewei could also sense the earth.
Qin Kewei's maximum sensing range was fifty meters; she couldn't sense anything further. Although she could create earth walls several kilometers long in one go, her sensing range was far smaller than her attack range.
Ability users all had shortcomings in their sensing range. For example, Shen Feng could summon strong winds within a range of one to two kilometers with ease, but his sensing range was only tens of meters, not much larger than Qin Kewei's.
Qin Kewei sensed patiently for a while, determined the direction of the tunnel, and then walked to the top of the tunnel, using her ability to directly open a passage leading downwards. Xiao Sheng threw a fireball into the passage, which immediately illuminated the scene below. However, underground, other than zombies, nothing else could be seen.
Qin Kewei did not give up and continued to sense the underground situation, opening one passage after another. Although this action consumed considerable physical strength, it was the only way at the moment.
Zhang Zi couldn't help but say, "Big sister, if you could directly open a crack from the ground, wouldn't all the scenes below be clearly visible?"
Hearing this, Qin Kewei couldn't help but shake her head and say helplessly, "You're thinking too much. If I could do that, I could casually split a mountain. Then I would be like a living immortal, and I wouldn't bother to save people!"
Zhang Zi smiled and said while watching Qin Kewei open the tunnel, "My dream is to be able to casually use ice to create a palace. It's just that my abilities aren't that great. At most, I can control ice blocks for attack. I don't know if I'll be able to do it in the future."
Finally, by the next morning, Qin Kewei discovered something unusual. She found an upward passage near the stone wall. This passage didn't look like it was dug by zombies because it was too narrow. Such a passage could only barely allow a person to pass through.
Therefore, Qin Kewei quickly called out to the people around her, "Quick, come here! I've found a clue!"
As she spoke, Qin Kewei opened the straight downward passage. Everyone quickly looked down and found that the passage was dug for ten meters downwards, with clear signs of excavation. It was obvious that this was a man-made passage. And in this area, only Shen Feng had explored before, which meant that Shen Feng had previously tried to dig a passage upwards from here!
Lu Xian suddenly realized and said, "No wonder we couldn't find the City Lord around here. It turns out he fell into the second layer of the cave, which is why we couldn't find him!"
Guo Pinming quickly carried the steel bar over and used his ability to create a ladder leading downwards. Everyone filed in and reached the second layer of the cave fifty meters below. Here, they found traces of humans having temporarily stayed, but now, no one could be found on the second layer.
"Did Shen Feng leave here? Why didn't he continue digging upwards? He was only ten meters away from reaching the ground!" Xiao Sheng couldn't help but wonder. In his impression, Shen Feng was not someone who would give up halfway. However, it was too strange that Shen Feng had dug forty meters upwards and then suddenly gave up.
Fang Qinghao saw the cracks in the stone wall and the bowl-shaped area dug out below the cracks, and immediately realized, saying, "They must have run out of water. Look at these cracks. It was sunny before, and when the snow melted, it flowed down along the cracks. Shen Feng and the others could barely survive, but it started snowing yesterday. Shen Feng must have had to leave because of a lack of water."
Qin Kewei shook her head regretfully and said helplessly, "What a pity. If they had stayed here, we could have saved them. But now, we don't know where they went!"
The situation had developed to this point, and it could only be described as a twist of fate. If the snow had started a little later, Shen Feng could have dug himself out of the ground with his own strength, or if he had waited a little longer in this dead end, Qin Kewei could have found Shen Feng and Chu Chaoyan. But now, after everyone finally found where Shen Feng might be, he had disappeared.
Lu Xian's mood instantly became low. He had thought they could find the City Lord, but now it seemed it was all in vain.
Xiao Sheng encouraged everyone at this time, smiling and saying, "Everyone, be happy. At least we found evidence that Shen Feng is still alive. We still have hope of finding him. Before, we all thought Shen Feng couldn't survive underground for long without supplies, but now it seems Shen Feng and Chu Chaoyan are living very tenaciously."
Qin Kewei knew that Xiao Sheng was trying to boost everyone's morale and prevent them from slackening just because they had found nothing so far. She quickly agreed, "Let's all search around. Perhaps we can find some clues."
Thus, everyone searched around the vicinity of the passage for another two days. Shen Feng was never seen, but they encountered quite a few zombies. Fortunately, these zombies were all in hibernation and wouldn't be easily awakened. However, as a precaution, everyone killed all the zombies in the passages they passed through.
Seventeen days had passed since the zombie outbreak. The headquarters in Yan Jing no longer believed that there were any living humans underground. Especially the leaders of the Ability User Management Bureau, who directly called Xiao Sheng via satellite phone and asked him to bring his people back. After much persuasion, the leaders of the bureau agreed to give him one more day. If they still found nothing after one day, they were to return to Yan Jing immediately.
The snow had fallen for two days, and it had just stopped today. Xiao Sheng perked up and led everyone to continue searching for Shen Feng on the second level underground. If they still couldn't find Shen Feng today, they would have to give up. He couldn't act on his own and had to obey the orders of his superiors.
Lu Xian and Guo Pinming were both dejected. If Xiao Sheng took his people away, only they two would be left to search for Shen Feng on their own. Without the support of Xiao Sheng and the others, it would be wishful thinking for them to find Shen Feng. Once the zombies went berserk, they would also be driven out of the underground cave.
However, at dusk, Yang Chang, who was far away in Yan Jing, called Guo Pinming's satellite phone and excitedly said, "Stop looking, everyone. The City Lord is back. The City Lord has returned safely!"
"Back?" Guo Pinming couldn't believe his ears. They hadn't found any trace of the City Lord, so how could the City Lord have returned to Yan Jing on his own?
Yang Chang said seriously, "I'm not lying to you. The City Lord is really back, and he's safe. But Miss Chu is not doing well. It's hard to say whether she's alive or dead. She's still in the intensive care unit at the hospital. It's said that the chance of her surviving is extremely low."
Guo Pinming didn't have time to ask more questions and quickly relayed the news to Xiao Sheng, "Mr. Xiao, we don't need to search anymore. The City Lord has returned to Yan Jing. We should also prepare to go back."
Xiao Sheng finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this result. As long as Shen Feng was alive, he could deliver the good news to Shen Yu.
The group quickly packed their belongings and drove back to Yan Jing. Lu Xian went directly to the hospital where Shen Feng was located. Finally, he found Shen Feng sitting on a chair outside the intensive care unit. Shen Feng was wearing a clean hospital gown, but his hair was a mess, like a bird's nest. His feet were wrapped in thick bandages, and bloodstains were seeping through the bandages.
Lu Xian quickly asked, "City Lord, we've been looking for you all these days. We didn't expect you to be back. What happened underground during these days?"
Lu Xian was extremely grateful to Shen Feng for saving him. At that time, there were rampaging zombies everywhere, and getting caught meant certain death. Moreover, the earth-digging zombies were constantly blocking the exit. Fortunately, Shen Feng thought of a way at the critical moment and sent him out of the underground at high speed. However, Shen Feng and Chu Chaoyan were trapped underground in the end, which made Lu Xian feel guilty, thinking that he had dragged the City Lord down.
Shen Feng was in low spirits. Even when Lu Xian walked up to him, he didn't react. The usual spirited look in his eyes had lost its luster. The current Shen Feng could only be described as decadent. Besides this word, no other word was suitable to describe him.
"City Lord, what's wrong?" Lu Xian asked cautiously.
Shen Feng still didn't speak. He raised his finger and pointed towards the intensive care unit in front of him. Lu Xian quickly walked to the door and looked inside through the small window. He saw Chu Chaoyan lying on the hospital bed with a pale face, covered in numerous wires. Some were for monitoring blood pressure and pulse, while others were plastic tubes for infusions. She was also wearing an oxygen mask on her face. Although Chu Chaoyan's heart was still beating, it was barely functioning under the effect of adrenaline. Once the effect of adrenaline wore off, no one knew what would happen to Chu Chaoyan.
"City Lord, you should go rest. I'll stay here," Lu Xian tentatively suggested.
Shen Feng shook his head and said seriously, "No need. I'll just sit here. As for what happened these days, I don't want to talk about it, and you don't need to ask!"
As soon as he remembered the process of leaving the underground, Shen Feng felt endless humiliation. At this moment, he didn't want to say anything. Chu Chaoyan's life was still uncertain, and he didn't want to leave here. He just sat there motionlessly, only blinking occasionally, otherwise, he was like a statue.