AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 3

 

Chapter 3

He Didn't Even Dare To Cry Loudly In His Dreams.

Before Ji Yanqing could recover from the bitter, heart-wrenching emotions, his gaze was captivated by the new red mark on the left side of the child's chin.

The scarlet mark was fresh, never having been there before.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the piece of bread missing a corner on the ground, then at the child whose little stomach had been grumbling non-stop. After surveying the ground and not finding a biscuit wrapper, he turned his gaze back to the fire.

By the fire, Sun Haifeng was happily enjoying his own share of rations.

Ji Yanqing retracted his gaze slowly, picking up the small bread from the ground and placing it into the child's embrace.

As he moved, his short, ash-brown hair gently shook, becoming fluffy and tousled. Coupled with his deliberately indifferent, stern, and fierce demeanor, just seeing him was enough to melt one's heart.

"Eat it all," Ji Yanqing insisted in a firm tone.

Hearing Ji Yanqing's icy words, the child seemed frightened, staring at Ji Yanqing with wide, round eyes.

He didn't dare to go against Ji Yanqing's wishes. Although Ji Yanqing was handsome and had fluffy hair, he was much taller and stronger than him, certainly capable of throwing a painful punch. So, he quickly complied and started eating the small bread.

The aroma of bread rushed into his nostrils, and the sweet taste once again burst in his mouth. His attention was quickly captured, focused solely on devouring the bread.

He was truly famished; he couldn't even remember how long it had been since he last ate. He couldn't bring himself to devour the small piece of bread in one bite. Instead, he nibbled at it, bite by bite, much like a little hamster.

Ji Yanqing sat back down after finishing the last bite of his bread. He tossed the wrapper aside and looked at the other child lying on the ground.

That child appeared somewhat younger than the one awake, likely around three years old or so.

Before, Ji Yanqing always thought that he was asleep. Furthermore, since they had to prioritize finding a place to set up camp and looking for food, he hadn't had the time to examine him in detail. Only now did he realize that something was amiss.

Ji Yanqing gently reached out to touch the child's forehead, and the moment his palm made contact, his eyebrows furrowed because beneath his palm was a burning heat.

Ji Yanqing gently turned the child's head, aiming to get a clear view of his face.

The child's face was dirty, with dried blood mixed with dirt staining half of his face, also concealing the blush on his cheeks caused by the high temperature.

The fabric of his clothes felt somewhat stiff over his shoulders, as if they had been wetted by some liquid and then dried. Upon gently turning him over, a sense of dread clenched Ji Yanqing's heart as he discovered the back of his clothes were indeed stained with dried blood, and there was a gash as long as a palm on the garment at his lower back.

The child was thin, the gash almost spanning his entire back.

Ji Yanqing prepared for the worst-case scenario. They had barely any food or water left, not to mention medicine. If he were to suffer a serious injury, death would be certain.

Ji Yanqing gently lifted his clothes, yet found no wounds on his back.

Ji Yanqing was momentarily stunned, then he lifted his clothes to check again. Indeed, there was a hole stained with blood on the clothing, looking as if it had been slashed by something sharp like a stone. The wound must have been wide and deep, a fact supported by the bloodstains on the fabric. Yet, astoundingly, there was no injury to be found on the child's back.

Ji Yanqing felt a moment of confusion.

"What's wrong?" Xia Shen Shu's voice came through.

Ji Yanqing looked on lightly.

Xia Shen Shu was just about to extinguish the fire.

The undead are attracted to light, making lighting a fire at night extremely dangerous, even if it's just a faint glimmer.

"It's nothing." Ji Yanqing gently laid the child down, taking a bottle of water from his own backpack to give the child a few slow sips. Then, he passed the water to the one awake beside them.

The child glanced at him timidly, not daring to disobey, and since he was indeed extremely thirsty, he carefully cradled the water bottle with both hands.

After taking just a tiny sip, he quickly handed the water bottle back to Ji Yanqing.

Xia Shen Shu extinguished the campfire.

The world was engulfed in pitch darkness.

Along with the darkness came the silence of death and an omnipresent sense of terror.

After the fire died down, a group of people waited in silence for a moment until everyone became accustomed to the darkness.

After ensuring there were no dangers around, Xia Shen Shu looked towards the two people in the darkness; it was their turn to stand guard tonight.

"I'll go up to the rooftop to watch; the building is safe as long as no zombies come in from outside," a woman's voice sounded as she got up.

"Then I'll take the second half of the night," said the other person.

Surviving alone in this kind of environment is incredibly challenging. There are no safe places left outside, and no one knows what might happen once they fall asleep. Having someone to keep watch during the night, even if it only means getting two hours of deep sleep, can significantly increase their chances of survival.

Everyone else found a place to lie down and went to sleep to recover their energy.

Ji Yanqing put bottle back in the backpack and traded it for a t-shirt. He changed the child's bloodstained clothes in the darkness.

After doing this, he took out a coat from his bag and put it over the other person, despite the fact that the temperature during the day was as high as 60 or 70 degrees, the nights turned the world into an icebox. Technically, it was winter.

A winter day when the outdoor temperature reaches sixty to seventy degrees.

The apocalypse arrived very suddenly.

The initial viral outbreak led to a devastating zombie apocalypse, overwhelming governments and military forces. In a desperate attempt to contain the infected, countries resorted to using nuclear weapons, but this drastic measure only worsened the situation. The nuclear detonations triggered a chain reaction of power plant explosions, releasing harmful radiation and severely damaging the Earth's atmosphere.

The aftermath was catastrophic, with the destruction of the ozone layer causing chaotic climate changes, extreme weather events, and rising sea levels. Tectonic disturbances led to powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, while disruptions to the magnetic field affected navigation and communication systems. Microbial imbalances and the unchecked growth of mutaded flora and fauna further destabilized the ecosystem, pushing the world towards an irreversible ecological collapse.

The world had already descended into chaos long ago, with danger no longer stemming solely from the zombies.

After eating the bread and drinking some water, the child who was still awake quickly started yawning. Ji Yanqing had him lay down next to the other child.

The only items left on the ground, a small loaf of bread and two tiny pieces of fish tofu, were gently gathered into his backpack by Ji Yanqing

Ji Yanqing did not laydown to sleep immediately, he leaned against the cement column and stared at the sky through the gaps of the green mesh above his head.

The night was pitch black, there was not a single star in sight.

As it is now, there seems to be no sign of hope.

In the darkness, someone slipped through the throng and sat next to Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing cast a glance, and it was Xia Shen Shu.

Xia Shen Shu lowered his voice, addressing him respectfully, "Xiao Team Ji Captain."

"Ji Team is Ji Team, what's this 'little' Ji Team'?" Ji Yanqing was momentarily stunned, his eyes rounding in irritation. However, he didn't forget his persona of being aloof and powerful, so he spoke at an even pace with a cold tone.

Xia Shen Shu was speechless. Even if he couldn’t see, he could still guess the expression on Ji Yanqing's face from his resentful yet deliberately aloof tone. He was the first one to meet Ji Yanqing.

Xia Shenshu sat down and said, "In the afternoon, I saw a police station nearby. I went to see if they had any guns, but there weren't any."

All the weapons had been looted from the very beginning, so naturally, it wasn't their turn to possess them.

Silence hung heavy in their wake as Ji Yanqing played the ice prince, distant and cool.

"We have run out of water, and the remaining water is only enough for one day at most. If we can't find any water within two days..."

Without water in this environment, one would inevitably die.

"I'll continue to look around here tomorrow." Ji Yanqing's gaze softly facing upwards towards the sky emanated with a soft glimmer.

Xia Shen Shu was momentarily stunned. Ji Yanqing's eyes were like the stars.

Xia Shen Shu quickly recovered, "This nearby area has already been searched through by more than one wave of people, and even if there are places that haven't been searched, the weather is so hot that it would have already dried up."

Xia Shen Shu was not wrong when he said that. When Ji Yanqing looked for supplies in the afternoon, he looked for water. But all he found were empty water bottles.

As for what's in the faucet, don't even think about it.

The city had long ago run out of water, and even the sewers and streams had been baked dry.

“Catching up to the team ahead would take at least three days, and it’s not even certain that we’ll find them.” Xia Shen Shu paused for a moment, “There seems to be a reservoir nearby. It’s drawn on the police map.”

"Reservoir?"

"It's quite large, it should be the water reservoir for this city, and it's in the mountains nearby."

Ji Yanqing withdrew his gaze and looked at the ground, at the two little ones sleeping restlessly under the coat-blanket.

Without water in this extreme heat, they would die even faster than the adults. Catching up to the team ahead of them would take at least three days, and that's without any unexpected events. If they didn't catch up...

After deliberating for a moment, Ji Yanqing asked, "Do you remember the directions?"

"I know the general direction."

Ji Yanqing had already made up his mind, "Then let's find water first."

Xia Shen Shu let out a sigh, leaned back on the wall and relaxed.

To catch up to the group ahead, first they had to stay alive, and the larger group may not be as good as Sun Haifeng imagined, and might not be willing to share their precious food and water with them.

"Let's turn in for the night," whispered Ji Yanqing.

"Understood." Xia Shen Shu returned to where he had been before and pulled a coat over himself.

In the brief moment they'd been speaking, the air they exhaled had turned a misty white. Less than an hour had passed since sunset, but the temperature had already plummeted from the sixties to below ten degrees.

Frigid and piercing chilliness hit them from all sides, like a band of lunatics stabbing at them with knives. Their exposed skin could feel the painful sensations brought about by the rapidly plummeting temperatures.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the two shivering children on the ground, hesitated for a moment, then picked them up in his arms and wrapped them in his coat.

Their bodies are too weak, if they do not keep warm, they may not survive the night.

The two children were so thin that Ji Yanqing could hardly feel their weight when he held them in his arms. They were as light as kittens, and their body temperature was very low. Their hands and feet were freezing.

That feeling of weightlessness and the coldness of their bodies together made it seem like life was seeping out from their small bodies.

Held in his embrace, the warmth emanating from Ji Yanqing's body seeped into them. The slightly older child stirred, his tiny hands tightly clutching at the fabric over Ji Yanqing's chest.

Ji Yanqing looked down, originally thinking he had woken up. When he lowered his head, the two eyes were still closed.

He seemed to have dreamt of something distressing, his tears wetting his fan-like eyelashes, and his entire body was trembling from his heartbroken sobs like a tiny kitten shivering out in the bitter cold of winter, "....Papa..."

That call, too, was like that of a small kitten.

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