AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
There Are Also Zombies With Particularly Bad Brains?
Ji Yanging didn’t pull open the child’s hand that was clutching the front of his shirt, but instead tugged on his overcoat to cover the small hand, preventing the cold from seeping in.
He glanced at the pitch-black sky outside the seams of the netting above and adjusted to a comfortable position, leaning against the pillars with his eyes closed.
The exhaustion of his physical strength, the constant tension in his nerves, the hunger and cold he had already gotten used to, all of this caused him to quickly fall asleep.
During his slumber, his eyebrows remained furrowed, and his cherubic face was calm and translucent beneath the moonlight, as if he belonged to this eerie darkness – a lonesome soul that could vanish from this world at any moment.
Feeling the warmth that had become blurred in their memories and appeared only in dreams, the two children held in his embrace gradually relaxed their furrowed brows in the darkness. Their anxious and fearful hearts found a moment of safety.
The smaller child, who had been sleeping soundly, opened his eyes drowsily. His pair of strange golden vertical pupils, unlike those of humans, glanced at Ji Yanging in confusion before quickly fainting again.
Amidst the engulfing darkness, time trickled by with an ethereal stillness.
Before Lan Zi’s hand could reach Ji Yanqing’s face, Ji Yanqing abruptly opened his eyes that were once shut.
A flash of bewilderment and fatigue crossed his eyes, quickly replaced by wariness and coldness that were at odds with his handsome features. Ji Yanqing was like a lone wolf sensing danger, ready to pounce and tear at the other person’s neck.
Lan Zi held her breath, as her arm was instantly covered in goosebumps.
Ji Yanqing glanced at Lan Zi, recognizing her as one of his own. The moment he became fully alert, his body, previously tensed and ready for battle, relaxed. “What happened?”
Lan Zi paused and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “Something’s not quite right. Come and take a look.”
Ji Yanqing glanced behind Lan Zi. Xia Shen Shu and the others were still asleep. Ji Yanqing looked at the time again. It was a little past twelve.
Ji Yanqing placed the two warm little buns, which had been sleeping tucked into his coat, on the ground. Then, he took off his coat and put it on top of them, after-which he stood up.
Lan Zi quickly took the lead toward the stairs, up to the next floor.
Lan Zi is the only female in the team. Her height of more than 1.6 meters seemed a bit small among a group of male team members. Despite her lack of strength, Lan Zi compensates for it with her incredible agility and responsiveness.
The two quietly ascended to the rooftop of the seven-story building. Lan Zi led Ji Yanqing to a corner of the platform.
Lan Zi cut a circle into the surrounding mesh and made a simple watchtower, from which she could clearly see the open space and the front door of the building on three sides.
Ordinary zombies are devoid of independent thought and instead simply shuffle around aimlessly making incoherent sounds, responding only to movement, light, loud noises, and the presence of blood.
The protective net of this building is quite strong, and apart from the main entrance, it envelops the entire building. Ordinary zombies do not think and therefore will not lift the protective net to get in by themselves; so at night, they only need to guard the singular main entrance.
The temperature at night was very low, close to freezing. After the net was cut, the icy night wind poured into the building. Ji Yanqing, who had taken off his overcoat, froze all over. The ends of his slightly messy hair were also blown around.
“Over there.” Lan Zi pointed from a hole in the protective netting towards the construction site outside.
Over there was a new residential area. Not many people had moved in yet, and in the darkness, the empty windows and doorways of the unfinished houses looked like gaping mouths, sending chills down one’s spine.
Ji Yanqing didn’t understand what Lan Zi was referring to until he saw a figure appear on the way to the apartment building.
Ji Yanqing’s slightly pale pink lips parted slightly as he shivered. A human? “He’s been doing rounds there for over an hour already, circling that neighborhood around seven or eight times.” Lan Zi’s tone is complicated.
Ji Yanqing slightly narrowed his eyes, trying to use this method to see that figure more clearly.
That place was too far away from where they were, and in addition, the entire city was pitch-black. He looked for a long time but couldn’t make out their face. He could only roughly determine from the outline of their figure that they were a young man.
“Is it possible that they’re a lost survivor?” Ji Yanqing asked lightly.
The person didn’t look like a zombie because he wasn’t shambling or wandering around aimlessly, and his speed was normal.
A normal human being who has wandered astray?
As Ji Yanqing finished his question, Lan Zi immediately refuted, “Impossible. Even if he was lost, and that’s why he was wandering around that area, there’s no way he wouldn’t realize he was lost after over an hour.”
At first, she had harbored some doubts, but after witnessing how the person spent more than an hour wandering around that spot, she had to dismiss this speculation.
Lan Zi continued: “Besides, who dares to hang around such an eerie place in the middle of the night?” Ji Yanqing thought about it and agreed with Lan Zi’s opinion. Wandering around this ghost town full of zombies in the middle of the night, the other party must either be crazy or a complete idiot.
Ji Yanqing said nothing and observed quietly.
As he and Lan Zi were talking, the man had already walked to the end of the passage between the two buildings, the entrance to the south of the residential area.
Ji Yanqing’s heart tightened. Just as he thought the man was coming towards them, the man walked along the road outside the residential area, full of abandoned vehicles, and went around to the north gate of the residential area.
Arriving at the entrance, he didn’t hesitate at all; he just turned and walked into the residential community.
Entering the district, the man acted as if it was his first time there, starting to walk about ceaselessly within the district.
Ji Yanqing’s voice was faint and hoarse.
The two main gates of the residential area were on the left and right, and apart from being somewhat large, the houses inside the residential area were uniformly arranged in rows. The layout could be said to be clear at a glance, but the other party stubbornly turned it into a maze and couldn’t get out for a long time.
Ji Yanqing’s lips quivered slightly. After thinking for a moment, he straightened his face and said in a cold voice that matched his aloof persona, “Wake them all up. We’re leaving.”
In addition to normal zombies, there are currently two more known types of zombies, both of which have evolved from normal zombies.
One of them has developed self-awareness and can think simply, its speed and strength have also been enhanced. It’s already difficult to handle an ordinary zombie, and it’s imaginable how terrifying a zombie is that can think, and has enhanced speed and strength.
If you encounter this kind of zombie, you will die for sure.
Another is the Corpse King.
If encountering ordinary zombies gave them a fighting chance, and encountering evolved zombies would ensure their demise, then the Corpse King was a creature of even greater despair.
Each battle with Corpse King is marked by countless human casualties, and these beings can even destroy a city with ease. They represent terror, despair, and death, and no one who encounters them has ever lived to tell the tale.
That man was clearly not human, or at least he didn’t seem like a normal person. He probably wasn’t just any ordinary zombie, and the likelihood of him being a Corpse King was also slim. So, the most likely, but still worst possible scenario was that he was an early-stage awakened zombie…
Upon hearing her Captain’s orders, Lan Zi quickly went downstairs to wake the others up.
Regardless of what exactly the other party was, it was too risky for them to gamble. The safest and most logical course of action was to leave.
Ji Yanqing didn’t go downstairs right away, he looked in the direction of the residential area once again, until he saw the man taking a detour away from the main gate instead of heading straight to exit the complex. Only then did he turn to leave.
As he walked downstairs, Ji Yanqing’s long and slightly curled eyelashes fluttered, and his brows lightly furrowed. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around what was happening.
Are there also zombies that have particularly bad brains? As Ji Yanqing walked downstairs, Xia Shen Shu and the rest, who had previously been in deep slumber, had already awakened, packed their belongings, gotten dressed, and readied their weapons.
In the darkness, no one complained. They had gotten used to it a long time ago.
Discovering it before they were attacked, they even felt fortunate.
Ji Yanqing looked towards where the two children were. The younger one was still asleep, but the older one had woken up.
Upon regaining consciousness, the child looked around with unease and tried to wake up the bun beside him. He knew what had happened, and they needed to leave as soon as possible.
The younger one didn’t respond.
Unable to wake him up, the child called out the younger bun, attempting to haul him onto his back to carry him, but he himself was merely a little bean sprout, reeking of milk, with short arms and legs and little strength, making it impossible to carry the other.
Unsuccessful in either waking the bun or carrying him on his back, the child grew increasingly anxious.
He looked at Ji Yanqing and his group with fear. In the past, at moments like this, he couldn’t escape a beating. He disliked being beaten because it was excruciatingly painful, the pain sometimes indistinguishable from death itself.
He was afraid, but he dared not cry. He didn’t even dare dodge because he knew that if he burst into tears or tried to dodge, he would be met with an even more deplorable fate.
Adults do not like children who cry and hide; they would abandon them.
But compared to the pain that felt like death, he was more afraid of being abandoned. He had been thrown away once, and he didn’t want to be discarded a second time.
He did not wish to be all alone in the darkness filled with zombies.
Ji Yanqing quickly took yesterday’s empty backpack that he had brought back with food and stepped forward.
Instinctively, the child lifted a hand to protect his head as he neared.
Steeling himself for the blow, the pain never came.
Ji Yanqing crouched in front of him, placing the still unconscious, smaller child into a backpack. Although the child was already three years old, he was so thin that his skin clung to his bones, making the not-so-large backpack surprisingly spacious for him.
Seeing a chance to show her loyalty, Lan Zi didn’t wait for Ji Yanqing to look up before reaching out, picking up the backpack, and slinging it over her chest.
Ji Yanqing’s eyebrows softened slightly, and his eyes became gentle. He quickly picked up his overcoat from the ground and put it on, then packed another overcoat into his backpack. Slipping the backpack on, he promptly scooped up the child from the ground. The little face, which had braced for a beating, was filled with surprise.
Armed with his trusty axe, Ji Yanqing took the lead as he exited the area with light feet, the others following swiftly behind.
****
Under the cloak of darkness, in the distance, within a neighborhood.
Standing close to 1.9 meters tall with a slender frame and limbs, Feng Yimo had his waist-length hair casually tied up. His thin lips were tightly pressed together as he expressionlessly drew the long sword in his hand, coated with rotting fluid. Twisting his wrist, he flicked the liquid off the blade.
His gaze shifted from the zombie corpse at his feet to the building beside him. A ripple of emotion crossed his deep, cold black eyes. He frowned slightly, a hint of confusion hidden deep within them.
He began to ponder a serious question with a solemn expression on his face. He had been walking for over an hour; why hadn’t he reached the two children’s location yet?
Also, why do the surrounding buildings seem a little familiar?
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Aww the poor little babies :( lmfaooo that last line
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