AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 11
Chapter 11
“"Why are you following me instead of searching?"
Listening to the constant roaring sounds, a chill ran down the spines of all the group members. The forest seemed more sinister somehow.
“Should we move?” Lan Zi asked.
They thought they had traveled far enough, but now it seems it was far from sufficient.
The Corpse King and ordinary zombies are entirely different entities. If the commotion were caused by mere zombies, they would not have been overly concerned, but facing the Corpse King, they only wish to flee as far as possible.
“The sky will turn dark soon,” Zhang Guxian said. “Moreover, the reservoir is just around here.”
Mentioning the reservoir caused Lan Zi’s throat to dry up with an itchy and stinging sensation, rendering her speechless. Whether discovered by the Corpse King and meeting a grisly end or dying of thirst because she couldn’t find water, death seemed inevitable.
“Let’s spend the night here, and head to the reservoir as soon as the sun rises tomorrow,” Ji Yanqing suggested lightly, casting a glance at the bald man who had passed out on the ground. The reservoir was at least a two-hour journey from them, and it was too risky to travel through unfamiliar mountains at night.
“Did you say you found a cave before?” Ji Yanqing looked at Lan Zi lightly.
“This way.” Lan Zi took the lead towards the cave.
Ji Yanqing carried Ji An on his back, while Xia Shenshu and Zhang Guxian lifted Baldy from the ground together. A group of people followed as they moved along.
Lan Zi discovered a cave not far away, but it was rather small. To call it a cave might be an overstatement; it was more like a gap beneath a giant boulder.
The entrance of the cave was just big enough to accommodate them, albeit cramped and low. However, having some shelter was better than none at all.
“Let’s see if we can cover the surroundings later,” Xia Shen Shu said.
No one objected, and together, they helped place the bald man under the rocks, seizing the opportunity to check on each other before night fell.
They were relatively fortunate; aside from the bald one, no one else was caught in the predicament.
As for the reason, the group speculated two possibilities. First, the mutated rice... thing does not survive long after being separated from the stalk. Second, activating it requires a sufficient amount of moisture, and the human eyeball contains 99% water.
Regardless of which possibility it was, just based on the outcome alone, everyone was able to breathe a sigh of relief for the moment.
After checking each other, they took off all their clothes that might have gotten seeds stuck to them and discarded them. Then, the group scattered in all directions to search for tree branches.
By the time it reached six o’clock, in less than ten minutes, the entire forest became so dark that one couldn’t see their own hand in front of their face.
A group of people quickly gathered the branches they had picked up and hastily arranged them around the rocks, barely F{}r b3}st c{}nt3nt, visit {}ur s1t3 d1r2ct1y @ https://rottentledits.blogspot.com/covering the inside, before they eagerly squeezed underneath the rock formation.
Without lighting a fire, they groped in the dark to take out the leftover red dates and dried mushrooms, dividing everything between them, and ate in silence.
This was their last ration. After finding water tomorrow, they must hurry to seek new sustenance, or else, even if thirst doesn’t claim their lives, hunger certainly will.
Half an hour later, the cave gradually became quiet.
The cave was very narrow, and once everyone lay down, their shoulders touched one another’s.
Ji Yanqing lay lightly in the corner on the inside, flanked by Ji An and Ji Le.
Upon seeing Ji Yanqing lie down, Ji An reluctantly spat out the date pit he had been holding in his mouth, which had long lost its sweetness, and lay down beside Ji Yanqing. Ji Le was lying even further inside; he was already drowsy and on the verge of falling asleep.
Watching the two boys, Ji Yanqing felt a sourness welling up in his chest.
If this were in the past, a child of Ji An’s age would undoubtedly have been the treasure of the entire family, cherished to the extent that if he wished for the moon in the sky, his family would have endeavored to fetch it for him with a ladder. But now, he could only reluctantly spit out a date pit after sucking it completely dry, extracting every last bit of sweetness.
As the surrounding breathing sounds gradually grew longer, Ji Yanqing found it hard to fall asleep, his body slightly chilled. The temperature, nearing below zero, caused an uncontrollable shiver to course through one’s body.
They discarded all the coats that might have been contaminated with rice seeds. Some of them had spare clothes, but he did not, as he had left his backpack in the city. The backpack he had now was previously used for carrying Ji Le.
Before, Xia Shen Shu had given the him a shirt, which he now draped over Ji An and Ji Le.
Such circumstances persisted for a long while, until the night grew so cold that the tips of his fingers and toes ached with the chill, finally lulling him into sleepiness.
In the quiet of the night, Lan Zi, who was on watch, glanced back to make sure everyone was still there. She breathed a sigh of relief, and then almost laughed at herself for feeling relieved so dramatically.
She was overly nervous.
Lan Zi couldn’t help but look towards the entrance of the cave, her gaze lingering on the twisted trees surrounding them. They resembled people screaming in agony, as if truly coming to life, ready to pounce at any moment.
Those trees are extremely unsettling to look at during the day, and this feeling intensifies even further as night falls.
Once again, Lan Zi couldn’t help but look back to make sure everyone was present; she tightened her grip on the knife in her hand.
She was about to convince herself that she was overthinking things when, from the darkness, a faint “rustling” sound emerged, indicating something was moving.
Lan Zi immediately looked towards the direction from which the sound came. Over there stood a massive tree, so wide that it would take about ten people to encircle it with open arms. The canopy of the tree swayed as if it had just stretched its back…
Lan Zi swallowed, a chill running down from the tip of her head and down her spine, whole body alert.
“It’s a tree,” Xia Shen Shu’s voice suddenly rang out.
Lan Zi was taken aback.
Xia Shen Shu stood up and moved beside Lan Zi. He looked out through the gap, “These trees have been planted for at most a few decades. To have grown this much in just over half a year means they must be growing at a rate of four to five years’ worth each day.”
A tree so large that it takes ten people to encircle it must be at least a thousand years F{}r b3}st c{}nt3nt, visit {}ur s1t3 d1r2ct1y @ https://rottentledits.blogspot.com/old. To grow to such a size in just over half a year far exceeds common understanding. In a sense, it might truly be said that they have “come to life.”
“I’ll take over the watch; you should go get some sleep,” Xia Shen Shu said.
Lan Zi moved to the spot where Xia Shen Shu had been lying down, just about to settle herself when she realized that Ji Yanqing was lightly awakened. “Did I wake you?”
Ji Yanqing shook his head gently and turned over to continue sleeping, facing Ji An.
Turning around, Ji Yanqing met a pair of eyes that emitted a faint halo in the darkness. Ji An was also awake.
After taking an afternoon nap together, Ji Le, perhaps because his body hadn’t fully recovered, fell asleep again, but he found himself without the slightest hint of drowsiness.“Go to sleep,” Ji Yanqing said softly.
Ji An shifted his arm, seizing Ji Yanqing’s hand.
Ji An’s hands are very small, with slender, bony fingers as if they could easily be snapped with a little force. In the chill of the night, his hands are ice-cold.
Ji Yanqing gently took Ji An’s hand, preparing to warm it when something appeared in his palm. It was a small, round object, wrinkly and light.
Ji Yanqing brought the object to his nose and took a sniff; it was a red date.
Ji Yanqing glanced towards Ji An.
Ji An gently nudged Ji Yanqing’s hand, encouraging him to eat.
The red dates are sweet and utterly delicious.
Ji Yanqing found himself unable to speak.
Because there was not much food left, when it was distributed earlier, each person only received three or four red dates and three or four small dried mushrooms. Ji An and Ji Le got even less, with each receiving only two red dates and two dried mushrooms.
The little bit of food was far from enough to satiate their hunger; it merely kept them hanging on by a thread, doing nothing to diminish the gnawing sensation of a slow death.
He thought that Ji An had already eaten everything up long before, especially considering how Ji An had previously held a red date pit in his mouth for ages, seemingly unwilling to part with it.
Ji An kept nudging Ji Yanqing’s hand, coaxing him to eat.
He knew that Ji Yanqing’s water supply was originally the most abundant among everyone. He had always been frugal, it was only because he needed to share it with him and Ji Le that it was consumed ahead of time.
Ji Yanqing pretended to put something in his mouth, and Ji An’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Ji Yanqing gently caressed his head.
Having his head gently patted, Ji An was extremely pleased, his eyes brimming with happiness and laughter.
“Go to sleep,” Ji Yanqing whispered gently.
Ji An yawned and closed his eyes.
In the darkness, a faint roar echoed from the city, as if it was there and yet not.
Ji Yanqing slightly lifted his head and saw that Xia Shen Shu and Lan Zi were also looking up.
The roar quickly subsided into silence.
The three of them held their breath and listened attentively for a while, and only relaxed after hearing no other sounds.
After they find water tomorrow, they must leave as soon as possible.
In the city.
Under the shroud of night, a cold gleam flickered briefly in Feng Yimo’s eyes. With an expressionless face, he looked down at the enormous beast lying before him, too beaten to rise again. “Where are they?”
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“Wu...” The massive body of the beast shrank back, its eyes filled with deep-seated fear.
It truly didn’t know!
Feng Yimo, who could not understand the beast language but could roughly grasp its meaning, immediately drew his sword.
“Aoo!” I can help you find it!
Feng Yimo furrowed his brows.
“Aoo?” What are you looking for?
The beast attempted to get up with all its might, but neither paws nor limbs could do its bidding. The beast had given its all against Feng Yimo, but not even a scratch had been inflicted.
“Two children.”
A look of surprise emerged on the beast’s large face, smeared with blood and marred by wounds. Human children?
“I fed them my blood,” Feng Yimo said.
When he found them, they were already dead, beaten to death by humans. Their small bodies were curled up in an effort to protect themselves, and their lifeless eyes were filled with fear.
He fed them his blood, which, in theory, should have left his scent on them. However, just healing their fatal wounds to bring them back to life required a significant amount of power. Additionally, since they had not fully awakened yet, their scent was barely detectable.
He had vaguely sensed their presence before. However, that feeling vanished in the blink of an eye, disappearing before he had a chance to locate them.
Surprise and complexity filled the beast’s eyes. For a moment, it didn’t know whether to be more astonished that Feng Yimo had actually shared his own blood[e/n: this is reminding me of some demon slayer post I saw where people were arguing about how the demons were just vampires.. I mean, compared to a zombie, a vampire would be pretty catastrophic right? I want... I want vampires... ] with a human, or that it couldn’t defeat Feng Yimo even after he had just given his blood away...
A Corpse King has the ability to share his blood with others, but what he shares is not just blood—it also includes his power. This can create absolutely loyal followers for himself, but at the same time, it significantly weakens him. Typically, a Corpse King would not readily do such a thing.
Feng Yimo had recently given his blood to two humans, yet the beast had still been overwhelmingly crushed. This just demonstrated that Feng Yimo’s existence was far beyond its own.
Feng Yimo is no longer an ordinary Corpse King; his blood might be potent enough for those two children to bypass the zombification stage and ’‘awaken’ directly. Even more, upon their awakening, they might immediately reach the level of a Corpse King themselves.
“AoAoo...” How did you manage to lose them?
Feng Yimo cast a cold glance at the chatty big dog in front of him. How? Wasn’t it the fault[e/n: and incase you’re confused, Feng Yimo thinks Doggy has some power that messes up his senses, making him get lost and lose the kids. I prefer to believe that FM is just zombie brained... hehe. I mean cmon, imagine you have this overwhelming force of death and destruction... and he’s walking in circles around a neighborhood looking for his kids...] of this overgrown furball?
Stared down, the beast felt inexplicably more wronged even though it really hadn’t done anything. If it had known that Feng Yimo was so difficult to deal with, it would have avoided him at all costs, never daring to provoke him in the first place.
“Find them before dawn.” Feng Yimo turned around to leave, ready to search for them once more.
The beast watched him leave, maintaining its gaze until his silhouette vanished around the corner. Only then did it let its strength ebb away, collapsing to the ground.
Even bullets could hardly penetrate its thick fur, yet now its body was riddled with countless wounds, large and small, and almost all of its ribs were fractured. The Corpse King’s powerful regenerative ability may continuously mend its body, but the pain doesn’t just fade away.…
It had no intention of fleeing, for it knew well that if Feng Yimo discovered its attempt to escape and decided to kill it, there would be nowhere to hide. All it longed for now was to swiftly heal its wounds and then track down those two rascals.
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It looked behind itself, hearing a sound.
Feng Yimo, who had just left, emerged from the building behind its tail.
Seeing it, Feng Yimo’s face turned cold. "Why are you following me instead of searching?"
Confronted with righteous indignation, the wild beast, which had been trying to tuck its large tail beneath its belly to hide it, paused in its actions. Its gaze towards Feng Yimo gradually turned peculiar.
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