Everyone in the camp already knew about the water shortage. The moment they saw the pile of water in front of them, everyone was instantly filled with vigour.
Without hesitation, everyone sprang into action.
At this moment, they simply threw themselves into the work and left the rest to adrenaline.
Lu Li was also happily hauling water, two containers at a time. Although he sometimes needed to stop halfway up to rest, he did not feel tired at all, because the excitement had yet to wear off.
Just as the first batch of water containers was almost finished being moved, Jun Shutong and the others returned.
And this time, they had actually come back with six vehicles.
Two of them were loaded with water, while the other four were packed with people.
Ten people somehow squeezed out of a five-seat sedan—men and women, young and old alike.
Lu Li handed the water in his hands to someone nearby, then walked over to Jun Shutong.
“Sister Jun, did you pick up some unexpected gains along the way?” Lu Li asked in surprise.
“These are survivors we ran into in District 2. Some of them had nearly gone an entire day without food, so I decided to take them in,” Jun Shutong explained.
Jun Shutong did not think there was anything wrong with that. After all, the whole reason she had established the camp in the first place was to help more people survive.
Lu Li nodded in understanding.
He knew Jun Shutong far too well. If someone begged her to take them in, there was no way she could bring herself to refuse.
“Oh, right. There’s also a real unexpected gain. Come to my office tonight and I’ll tell you about it in detail.” Jun Shutong gave a sly smile, deliberately keeping him in suspense.
Her words successfully piqued Lu Li’s curiosity, but she had already turned around to direct everyone in moving the water. Lu Li scratched his head and could only follow after her helplessly.
Lu Li deliberately counted the number of new survivors Jun Shutong had taken in.
There were twenty-seven in total. Only seven were elderly, while the rest were young people.
For Dawn Camp, which suffered from a serious aging problem, this was undoubtedly encouraging news. However, the sudden influx of twenty-seven survivors also placed considerable survival pressure on the camp.
Fortunately, it had rained today, and they had managed to collect so much water. Otherwise, with so many people suddenly joining, the camp would definitely have fallen apart.
While everyone was working at full steam, a manhole cover not far away was suddenly knocked aside by something from below.
A strange, water-blue Pokémon with fleshy lumps growing on its head poked its head out and looked toward the crowd. Before long, two more identical Pokémon crawled out behind it.
Gururu~
Gururu!
Gururu.
The three blue Pokémon seemed to be discussing something. A moment later, the leading Palpitoad impatiently smacked the smallest Palpitoad.
It leaped out of the sewer and let out a low cry directly toward the crowd.
A wave of energy silently spread in all directions, and the people who had been busily working suddenly heard a pleasant cry.
It was a strange kind of music, closer to pure instrumental music. It sounded extremely soothing, even somewhat mesmerizing.
Even Lu Li subconsciously tilted his head to listen when he heard it and could not help becoming absorbed in the sound.
Something’s wrong!
Lu Li abruptly snapped awake.
It was already the damn apocalypse. What normal person would dare play music in an environment like this? And instrumental music at that! Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?
Lu Li hurriedly looked around, and then he spotted the three Palpitoad brothers slowly making their way toward them.
As soon as Palpitoad arrived in the real world, it looked downright ugly.
It had a thick, round body, no arms, and water-blue skin. Its body was covered in many icy-blue, tumor-like growths wrapped in black skin.
The most eye-catching feature was the three lumps on its head, with the one in the middle absurdly large.
It literally looked like it had a tumor on its head.
Palpitoad needed to reach Level 25 before it could evolve. Lu Li had no idea what kind of destructive power Level 25 represented in the real world.
But one thing was certain.
A Level 25 Palpitoad was definitely not something they could afford to provoke right now.
Lu Li grabbed Jun Shutong by the shoulders with both hands and shook her hard twice. “Sister Jun, fire a warning shot! Then get everyone to retreat immediately!”
As Jun Shutong’s senses returned, she instantly realized that she had probably just been affected by something. Upon hearing Lu Li’s words, she obeyed almost reflexively, without even bothering to confirm which Pokémon was responsible.
Jun Shutong raised her gun and fired a shot into the air.
The dull gunshot jolted everyone awake.
“Everyone, drop the supplies and run! Run as fast as you can!” Lu Li shouted as he dragged Jun Shutong toward Entrance No. 7.
By the time he finished speaking, he had already darted inside the mall.
In the apocalypse, once you encountered a Pokémon, the only way to survive was to run faster than your teammates.
Seeing the prey that had practically reached its mouth about to escape, the leader Palpitoad immediately panicked.
With those two short legs, how could it possibly outrun these fake humans on land? It sucked in a deep breath, and dark yellow energy rapidly gathered into a sphere in front of its mouth.
Clumps of yellow mud shot toward the crowd. Those struck by the mud were not pierced through by it, but instead were completely wrapped up, left cosplaying there like terracotta warriors.
The two Palpitoad behind it also sprayed foamy beams at the crowd. Anyone hit by the beams instantly stiffened in place, as though they had been struck by a paralysis spell.
If someone observed them closely from nearby, they would discover that these people were not actually motionless. Rather, they were moving extremely slowly—so slowly that they appeared completely still.
Once they entered the emergency exit, Lu Li let go of Jun Shutong.
After all, when going up stairs, being pulled by someone made it very easy to lose one’s balance.
“Don’t go back to the camp! Head to the arcade!” Lu Li shouted toward several elderly members of Dawn Camp running ahead.
He was not sure whether the three Palpitoad would chase after them, but just in case, they definitely could not return to the camp. The arcade was the better option.
Being controlled by Mimikyu and starved for a day was still better than being eaten by Palpitoad.
Besides, Mimikyu had already eaten its fill yesterday. Right now, everyone happened to be terrified, so this group of people would practically be a feast delivered straight to Mimikyu’s doorstep.
After another full meal, Mimikyu probably would not keep them around to continuously produce fear.
When people unleashed their will to survive in desperate circumstances, they could display astonishing potential.
From the first floor to the sixth floor, the fastest person took less than a minute and a half.
Outside the arcade.
Panting heavily, Jun Shutong began counting everyone.
After finishing the headcount, Jun Shutong sat down beside Lu Li with a sorrowful expression.
“Nine people didn’t make it,” Jun Shutong said sadly.
Lu Li did not know how to comfort her.
Seeing that Lu Li remained silent, Jun Shutong continued, “Seven of the newcomers, and two elderly people from the camp.”
“You can’t protect everyone. Besides, you still saved nineteen people,” Lu Li could only comfort her like this.
Jun Shutong slowly nodded. Her tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she was temporarily consoled.
Then, Jun Shutong also felt a wave of relief.
They had survived again, and every time they survived, it was thanks to Lu Li.
“Those demon beasts’ methods are far too bizarre. If you hadn’t reacted so quickly, all of us might have been left behind there,” Jun Shutong remarked with a look of relief.