Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 893: Chapter 878

The hesitation in Old Xu’s rescue efforts was interpreted by Derek as fear.

Since Old Xu’s military uniform was already damaged, Derek was unaware of Old Xu’s identity as a soldier.

In his view, although the opponent was formidable, when it comes to climbing high and moving low, he clearly wasn’t up to the task.

After all, this isn’t a skill you can learn just by brute strength; it involves techniques that take three to five years to master.

Especially for newcomers like Old Xu and his team, who have never tried climbing or parkour before.

Because of this, Derek couldn’t help but worry about their "audacity".

Of course, this wasn’t to say that Derek truly cared about Xu Renjie and Lei Tong’s lives; he was just afraid that if something happened to them during the climb and they fell, causing the zombies in the garden to riot, how would he be able to go out in the future to find supplies? How would he continue trading with the Japanese students?

Thinking about this, Derek almost instinctively blurted out, "Old Xu, this climbing business is no joke. I know you’re strong and capable, but climbing isn’t as simple as it looks. If you’re not careful..."

With a lift of his hand, Xu Renjie interrupted Derek’s words, then patted the young man on the shoulder, "You don’t need to worry about our issues, just do what you need to do. By the way, do you remember what we talked about earlier?"

"Huh?" Slightly taken aback, Derek was a bit slow to react to Old Xu’s abrupt change.

"It’s the excuse for meeting with ’Japan’ later," Xu Renjie’s eyes squinted, clearly displeased with Derek’s denseness.

"Oh, that, yeah, I remember!"

Derek responded quickly, of course, he remembered the excuse Xu Renjie and Tang Xiaoquan had repeatedly instructed him on the way.

He knew that it was something that could save his life; he didn’t want to get punished by the "Japan" students for bringing survivors back to the school without their permission because of a slip of the tongue.

Hearing the young man’s affirmative answer, Old Xu nodded in satisfaction.

"You go first. If you encounter the ’Japan’ students up there, be smart and appease them, understand?"

"Understood!"

"Alright, move out!"

With Old Xu’s command, Derek started climbing up the pipe.

Old Xu lifted an eyebrow watching the young man’s movements. Although his climbing speed wasn’t very fast and the technique seemed a bit rough, judging by Old Xu’s experience, it was impressive for someone so young to reach this level.

However, it clearly wasn’t the time to admire skills. To prevent Derek from running away once he got on the roof, Xu Renjie followed closely behind.

He darted up like a monkey, and before long was right behind Derek.

Derek could clearly hear the movements below, but due to his action, he couldn’t look down.

Once he climbed to a hanging air conditioning rack on the left, Derek finally had a moment to clearly see who was following him.

Without Derek blocking the way, Old Xu moved straight up. Unlike Derek, he didn’t alternate between the AC rack and the window sill.

He went directly along the pipe all the way to the top, then used the small seam in the wall to gradually inch toward the target window with the strength of his fingers.

When Xu Renjie safely landed on the air conditioning cabinet under the target window, Derek was left standing dumbfounded at the bottom.

Is this still a person? As they say, amateurs watch the spectacle, professionals watch the techniques.

Although Derek didn’t dare to claim himself an expert, he had been involved in climbing and parkour for over 3 years, so he was very clear about the route Xu Renjie had just taken.

This is what you call taking the road less traveled; Old Xu was doing just that.

First of all, climbing the drainage pipe is a process that severely tests technique and stamina.

The reason Derek switched to using the air conditioning rack and window sill alternate advance after climbing to the second floor was due to his lack of physical strength to complete a ten-story climb.

Secondly, vertical moving along wall seams is an even more significant test of strength and willpower.

To know that, when there’s nothing under your feet, relying solely on ten fingers to move, the risk involved... to be honest, it’s no different than committing suicide.

At least in the circles Derek was in, few people, whether in parkour or climbing, would attempt something like this.

Especially when doing it after climbing almost ten stories of pipe.

This guy must be incredibly strong! Derek even thought that the man above was several times stronger than his climbing school coach.

Seeing Derek standing there dumbfounded, staring at him, Xu Renjie’s sword-like eyebrows furrowed.

Is this kid chickening out, too scared to climb?

Due to the complicated environment, Old Xu didn’t want to call out to him and urged him on, so he waved his hand at Derek, signaling him to hurry up.

After all, they were in zombie territory. Although zombie eyesight significantly decreased due to the virus, it didn’t mean they were blind.

Moreover, after adapting for half a year, various evolved mutant zombies kept emerging, so who could guarantee there weren’t creatures with sharp eyesight around at the moment?

Snapped out of his daze by Old Xu’s hand waving, Derek shook his head and once again drove his arms to begin the difficult climbing journey.

After 8 minutes, having battled a tough path, Derek finally completed the entire path just as he was running out of strength.

He leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths, and as he rested, the tall and robust figure of Lei Tong appeared in front of him.

"How is it? Are you okay?"

Derek glanced at Xu Renjie and Lei Tong. He seriously wondered what these two ate to grow up.

He considered his physical fitness to be pretty good among peers, but in front of Xu and Lei, he felt like a child.

This huge gap left Derek a bit deflated. He took quick gulps of powerful qi and replied immediately, "I’m fine, no problem!"

"Good!" Xu Renjie was quite impressed with the young man’s decisiveness in the "extreme challenge".

Without saying anything else, at least along the way, the perseverance and fearlessness of the young man before him did not escape Old Xu’s notice.

If only his stance was clearer, Old Xu really wished he could recruit him.

Quietly opening the aluminum sliding window, under Old Xu’s gentle and slow movements, the track of the aluminum sliding window didn’t make much noise.

All set, Old Xu gestured Derek to enter.

Derek braced himself and leaped in lightly.

Following closely, Old Xu and Lei Tong turned over and got in.

Once everything was settled, Old Xu carefully closed the aluminum sliding window and locked it with a latch.

"Alright! Let’s go!"

"Yeah, follow me closely!" Derek walked forward crouched. According to what the youngster mentioned before, the school was composed of two teaching buildings.

There was an open-air corridor linking the two buildings. Old Xu and company were currently on the east side of the teaching building, while the area where the survivors were was on the west side of the teaching building.

In other words, Old Xu and the others must traverse quite a distance to reach the target location.

This considerable distance wasn’t entirely safe, as Derek mentioned that there were still wandering zombies along the way.

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