AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
It Clearly Did It, But It Actually Didn’t Admit It.
Listening to the heart-wrenching cries, the group of individuals casually chewed on the red dates and dried mushrooms they got, all while vigilantly keeping an eye on their surroundings.
They did not say much.
They once had families—parents, siblings, lovers, or children. But now, they each stood alone.
They were no longer children, no longer possessing the privilege to impulsively throw themselves into another’s arms, crying their hearts out until they felt torn apart.
The adults in their group could restrain themselves, but Ji An couldn’t. Hearing the sobs, Ji An’s eyes gradually reddened, and large tears kept sliding down. By the time Ji Yanqing looked over, Ji An was already crying so hard that he was gasping for breath.
After being picked up by Ji Yanqing, he has been very well-behaved. He only ate a little, drank a little, and even followed along on his own. He tried hard to appear capable, but after all, he is only three years old.
The grievances of being abandoned, along with fear and unease, never dissipated from the depths of his heart.
Watching Ji An with his pitiful demeanor, Ji Yanqing gently reached out his hand towards him.
Ji An saw him and quickly rushed into Ji Yanqing’s embrace, inhaling the scent of Ji Yanqing’s body, feeling the warmth of Ji Yanqing’s arms around him. He, too, began to sob uncontrollably.
The sound of weeping persisted for a long time.
By the time the crying ceased and Ji Yanqing looked again, both individuals had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.
After venting the unease and fear in their hearts, the sleeping ones clung tightly to Ji Yanqing’s clothes, just like grabbing a lifeline, with rare peace evident on their dirty faces.
Their appearance, coupled with the streaks of tears on their faces and eyelashes still damp with moisture, was enough to make one’s heart involuntarily clench with a sour ache just by looking at them.
Ji Yanqing had to exert some effort before he could finally pry their hands apart.
He placed Ji Le into his backpack.
Lan Zi brought over her backpack, from which she took out and discarded a thick jacket, allowing Ji Yanqing to carefully place Ji An inside her backpack.
Each of them carried a backpack, but the contents were scant—aside from food, water, and a few basic necessities, there were only a handful of clothes for changing.
After getting both children ready, Ji Yanqing took the lead in standing up. They were out of time and had to find water as soon as possible.
“Are you crying?” A voice tinged with playful mockery came from behind, after they had walked a little distance.
Ji Yanqing looked on lightly.
The bald man glared at Xia Shen Shu and rubbed his left eye, which was red as though he had just been crying.
Crying doesn’t leave just one eye red.
Lan Zi asked, “What happened?”
“Something got in my eye.” The bald man rubbed his eyes, not particularly concerned.
There were no zombies in the forest, much to everyone’s relief, which lightened the mood.
However, this did not last long. Soon, everyone lost the interest to continue their casual conversations. Speaking not only consumed their energy but also made their throats increasingly dry and itchy.
The trees grew abnormally, their trunks thick, and their crowns lofty, making the forest a better option than being directly under the scorching sun, yet it remained unbearably hot and stifling. As they walked through, everyone’s breathing became significantly heavier.
Marching onward, the group initially comforted themselves with the hope of finding water soon. However, as they continued, merely forcing themselves to take another step consumed all their energy. Overwhelmed by the stifling heat, fatigue, thirst, and hunger, along with the drowsiness induced by the high temperatures, they trudged on in a daze, as if walking through a dream.
“How much farther?” Half an hour later, Ji Yanqing asked Zhang Guxian softly.
When asked, Zhang Guxian was momentarily dazed before he realized someone was speaking to him. Glancing around at the numerous strange and robust, twisted trunks, he hesitated for a moment before responding, “We have to cross over two mountains...”
He had already lost track of how far they had traveled.
Ji Yanqing glanced at the sky through the thick canopy overhead; they had just scaled a mountain.
It was already past five o’clock, and by six, it would be dark.
The mountains here are towering, and even if they were to circumvent them by taking a side route over the mountains, crossing a single mountain would require at least two hours. It’s already too late.
The mountains seem relatively safe for now, at least there have been no sightings of zombies. However, it’s uncertain if other things might emerge at night.
Ji Yanqing was contemplating whether to continue moving forward or to find a place to set up camp when he heard voices coming from behind.
“Could you guys take a look at my eye for me?” The bald man’s voice carried a clear note of pain.
Ji Yanqing looked closely. The man’s left eye, which had been uncomfortable ever since the group had entered the forest, was now completely bloodshot and red. Tears mixed with blood streaked down his face. He was constantly rubbing the eye, having endured the discomfort all this way, but now he had reached his limit.
Ji Yanqing leaned in for a closer look, and the moment he saw clearly, his scalp tingled.
“What’s wrong?” the bald man asked, forcing himself to open his eyes for Ji Yanqing’s examination, yet the intense pain made them involuntarily shut again.
There’s something growing, Ji Yanqing realized. He gently unhooked his backpack and placed it on the ground.
“How do you feel?” Ji Yanqing asked lightly, opting not to answer but to counter with a question instead.
The abrupt change made everyone nearby stop in their tracks and draw closer, eager to get a clear look at the bald man’s left eye. A collective gasp of shock rippled through the crowd.
“What exactly happened?” The bald man reached out, wanting to give it a rub.
Ji Yanqing caught his hand in a swift motion, “Don’t rub it.”
The bald man’s left eye was completely bloodshot, with strands of blood constantly seeping from its corners. However, these were not the reasons that made Ji Yanqing so careful, and the others gasp in shock. What truly astonished them was the appearance of something that looked like grass roots sprouting from the eyeball.
Thin and long as a thread, the grass root pierced through his eyeball, growing into it.
All the roots and rhizomes eventually disappeared beneath his upper eyelids.
Ji Yanqing hesitated for a moment before summoning his courage to lift the bald man’s eyelids, looking into his eyes. Beneath the eyelids, numerous white, grass-root-like strands intertwined, among which faint, slender green leaves could also be discerned.
“Mmm...” The bald man winced in pain and ducked away.
Ji Yanqing had never encountered such a situation before. He turned to look at the others, whose expressions had turned peculiarly unsettling— a mix of fear, disbelief, and horror intertwined, making one want to turn around and flee.
“What the heck is going on?” the bald man grew impatient.
He reached out to touch his eye, feeling a sharp pain emanating from the eyeball. Taking his knife, he found a spot where the light was good and used the knife’s reflection to take a closer look.
Two minutes later, when he could finally make out the roots under his eyelids, his face turned ashen. “What the hell is this?”
Xia Shen Shu said, “It must have been the rice plants we saw earlier. When those rice plants bloom, their pollen, which essentially acts as seeds, can grow wildly upon contact with water. You must have gotten some of that stuff into your eyes. There might be substances within them capable of paralyzing animal nerves to some extent...”
Hearing him mention this, the crowd remembered those rice plants. Indeed, the things in the bald man’s eyes resembled the roots of those rice plants, albeit much finer.
Baldy opened his mouth, itching to unleash a torrent of abuse, but the words halted on his lips, unable to be voiced.
Lan Zi attempted to offer comfort, but the words reached her lips only to be swallowed back down. Experiencing something oneself is utterly different from witnessing it in another.
“What should we do now?” the bald man instinctively reached out to touch his eyes, but his fingers stopped just before they could touch them, realizing both of them were covered in that powder.
“We can only dig it out.” Xia Shen Shu said.
The muscles at the corner of his bald head twitched fiercely. “Dig it out?”
“We have to eliminate all traces before they take root in your brain,” Xia Shen Shu warned. Even before the virus outbreak, there was no guarantee he could save his eye, let alone now.
Deep within the forest, a deathly silence enveloped the area, creating an eerie atmosphere.
The bald man’s Adam’s apple slid, a fine layer of sweat forming on his forehead.
Moments later, he extended the knife in his hand and asked, “Who will do it?”
A group of people looked at each other in dismay, none daring to move.
Killing zombies and gouging out the eyes of the living are two completely different matters.
“I’ll be damned if I die here. Who knows how much longer this damn thing is going to grow until it reaches my brain and kills me- or worse?” Baldy cursed fiercely.
Xia Shen Shu accepted the knife, “...I’ve never gouged someone’s eyes out while they were awake before.”[e/n: O_O]
Xia Shen Shu eyed the bald head seriously; they had no anesthetic.
The muscles on the bald man’s face twitched again; he was about to say something when he suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious. Behind him, Ji Yanqing stood, lowering the handle of his axe.
Xia Shen Shu looked surprised and then, feeling somewhat disappointed, crouched down. [e/n: ???]
Ji Yanqing gently placed the axe down. “Everyone else, go and find a suitable place nearby to set up camp.”
The others exchanged glances, knowing there was no need to stay and watch, and quickly scattered in all directions.
Ji Yanqing squatted down, stuffing some clothes into the bald man’s mouth to prevent him from biting his own tongue and then held him down, just in case he woke up at any moment.
During this time, Xia Shen Shu took the opportunity to sterilize the fruit knife given to him by the bald man using a lighter. They had neither medicine nor any other equipment, so rather than continue to delay, they decided it was better to settle the matter quickly.
The moment the knife plunged into his eyeball, the bald man convulsed in intense pain. Ji Yanqing, much slighter in build, somehow mustered a tremendous strength, pinning him firmly to the ground, immovable.
Xia Shen Shu glanced at Ji Yanqing, who, despite seeing such a scene for the first time, remained unfazed. With a flick of the wrist holding the knife, he deftly scooped out the entire eyeball.
After dealing with the eyeball and ensuring that all the roots were completely cleaned out, Xia Shenshu finally discarded the fruit knife.
By then, the bald-headed man had already been painfully awakened.
“Mmph!!” Veins bulged on his forehead as he kicked incessantly at the ground, his body convulsing due to the intense pain.
Xia Shen Shu took a piece of clothing that was relatively clean, tore it into strips, and directly used them to bandage his eyes. “From now on, it’s all on you. If you can endure this, you’ll live; if not, you’ll die.”
The bald man glanced at the two of them and quickly passed out from the pain once again.
Xia Shen Shu stood up, glancing at the blood on his hands as if savoring a memory. [e/n: ...]
Ji Yanqing gently picked up the knife to inspect the eyeball on the ground. Its roots had already occupied a third of the eyeball. Had they been any later in dealing with it, those roots would have undoubtedly penetrated the bald man’s brain.
A few minutes later, Lan Zi and the others who had gone out to find a camping spot returned.
“There’s a cave over there,” Lan Zi said.
Upon seeing Ji Yanqing fiddling with an eyeball, several people crowded closer. After clearly seeing the roots within the eyeball, they quickly stepped back.
“Let’s check on each other, and if there’s something, we’ll handle it together,” Ji Yanqing said, lifting his gaze gently. Despite his youthful, gentle-seeming face, his words were cold and terrifying. Coupled with the bizarre and twisted woods around them, the stark contrast sent shivers down one’s spine.
Even Xia Shen Shu, with his hands covered in blood and a face full of eager anticipation, became endearing in comparison.
Their faces were indescribably brilliant.
What made them even more uneasy was that among everyone, only Ji Yanqing wore goggles consistently. Although the others covered their noses and mouths, their eyes were all exposed.
Ji Yanqing gently pulled open the zipper of his backpack, ready to check on Ji An, when suddenly a roar of fury erupted from the direction of the city.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look back.
“Roar!”
The familiar vocalizations of the beast were no longer deafening due to the distance, but the anger and madness mixed within still made one’s scalp tingle.
***
“Gurgle…” The Beastly Corpse King, as tall as a three-story building and resembling a wild beast, awkwardly climbed out of the ruins. Its body was covered in blood and it was in a sorry state, a far cry from its previously unbeatable demeanor. Deep within its eyes, there was an unmistakable mix of disbelief and fear.
After awakening, it had sensed the presence of other corpse kings and knew that it wasn’t the only one of its kind in the world. It had always believed that the gap between them was minimal, perhaps even priding itself on being among the best.
It had never imagined that there would come a day when it would be beaten to the point of being unable to fight back.
“Roar!”
“Why are you trapping me?” Feng Yimo demanded.
“Grrr...” It had no idea what Feng Yimo was talking about at all.
Feng Yimo’s wrist twisted, flinging the long sword out. His gaze grew ever colder. Clearly, it was its doing, yet it actually refused to admit it.
----
Lmfaooo gosh this ML
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