AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Daddy, who are you calling Daddy???
Without a second thought, Ji Yanqing quickly scanned his surroundings.
Amidst the pitch-black darkness, a towering, menacing figure bore down on them, sending shivers down their spines. Yet, before despair could fully consume them, the beast vanished, its tail between its legs, as if the fires of hell were at its heels. This unexpected escape left their minds a blank canvas, incapable of coherent thought.
“Let’s go!”
Ji Yanqing lightly tied the axe to his right hand with a rope to prevent it from falling. His hand had been injured in the previous battle.
Regardless of why the beast suddenly turned and ran, one thing was certain: they must escape this place as quickly as possible.
They couldn’t bear the risk. Who knew if it would run halfway and then suddenly decide to return to eat them before continuing onward?
As Ji Yanqing’s words fell, the crowd, frozen like they were in an icehouse, gradually came to their senses.
“That....” Lan Zi’s face turned pale. Her legs felt soft and she froze, her mind racing.
She had brushed death more than once, but this time was definitely the most spine-chilling.
“Lan Zi!” Ji Yanqing re-focused her. They didn’t have time to waste.
With that reminder, not only Lan Zi, but the others also came to their senses.
The crowd turned their heads to look in the direction the beast had left, but it had already escaped the city limits and vanished into the darkness.
The ground faintly reverberated as if the animal was still running, but they couldn’t tell if it was the actual vibrations from its movements or just an illusion caused by the uncontrollable trembling of their bodies.
Withdrawing their gazes, the group set off.
Ji Yanqing swiftly grabbed the man beside him who was turning towards the right, pulling him back, “Not that way, this way.”
Ji Yanqing led the way and swiftly made for the lane between the two buildings.
This part of the city was neither as big nor as bustling as the previous ones. The buildings that lined the streets and the shops that occupied them had clearly been there for years. The feeling of age, coupled with the darkness that made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of them, gave the whole place an unsettling air of eeriness.
As the noise created by the beast’s retreat[e/n: bout of zoomies] spread, a horde of zombies nearby became agitated, rushing towards the source.
In the darkness, there was an indistinct rustling, and faintly, they could even hear some eerie, ambiguous murmurs.
Before they could even turn a corner after swiftly crossing the alleyway, they were suddenly met head-on by several crooked and twisted figures rushing over at an incredibly fast speed.
Ji Yanqing swiftly stepped forward and joined the crowd. The axe in his hand swung before those few zombies could make a move, knocking them down.
Without looking back, Ji Yanqing walked straight out of the alley.
A small lane extended from the center of the alley, a back road behind two main streets.
The stone floor was long ago sealed by the perennial sludge and rainwater. By the side of the road a few weeds tenaciously poke their heads out and grass roots stuck through the packaging of snacks that had not been cleared for who knows how many years.
The alleyways gave off the unique earthen smell of an old district.
“Over here.” Ji Yanqing quickly assessed the situation with a light tone.
He turned into the alleyway, where increasingly more zombies began to converge towards them. However, the alley proved to be much safer than the outside.
Sprinting all the way, they reached the end of the alley in five or six minutes.
At the end of the alley was an old and weathered perimeter wall.
Ji Yanqing maintained his swift pace, and upon drawing closer, he kicked off the wall with his back foot. Like an ancient shadow guardsman[e/n: the raws said 夜night 精灵 spirit / fairy / elf / sprite / genie], he scaled the wall with ease and without a sound.
Outside the wall was a one-way street, lined with vehicles. On both sides of the street stood shops, yet the scene was far from bustling, and not a single zombie was in sight.
“Alright, it’s safe to come over.” When Ji Yanqing climbed back over to pick up Ji An and Ji Le, the others had just run to the wall.
After Xia Shen Shu and Lan Zi, along with a few others, climbed over the wall, Ji Yanqing quickly and nimbly passed Ji An and Ji Le over the wall.
Sitting at the top of the wall after passing over the cubs, he turned his gaze towards the person still lingering behind the wall. The man he had just encountered was staring at the spot where Ji An and Ji Le had just been.
The night was too dark, and Ji Yanqing could not clearly see the other person’s face.
Ji Yanqing extended his hand gently, “Let me pull you up.”
Upon hearing this, the man’s mind whirred into action as he turned to gaze at the hand Ji Yanqing gently extended towards him.
The night was too dark; Ji Yanqing could not make out his face, but he could see those chillingly cold black eyes.
Under that gaze, at that moment, Ji Yanqing felt a peculiar sensation, as if he had been thrown into the icy depths of the ocean. All around him was endless darkness and cold, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t escape.
The man placed his hand in Ji Yanqing’s palm.
Ji Yanqing gently yet firmly grasped the slightly cold hand, exerting force simultaneously with his arm and waist, swiftly pulling the person up and over the wall.
The man was half a head taller than Ji Yanqing, yet he was neither heavy nor clumsy. His movements were exceedingly agile, no less swift than Ji Yanqing’s.
After being pulled up, both of them turned and dropped to the other side, landing simultaneously, both as silent as falling feathers.
“This way.” Ahead, Xia Shen Shu had already found a safe route.
Everyone immediately ran in that direction.
They ran breathlessly through the darkness for over twenty minutes, not stopping until they had put considerable distance between themselves and the spot where they had encountered the Beast Corpse King. It was only when everyone’s legs began to tremble and could no longer carry them that they stopped, finding a staircase nearby to rest.
In the darkness, heavy breaths rose and fell in a relentless rhythm.
“How far are we from your camp?” Baldy’s voice was weak. His eye had not yet recovered, and he had sustained injuries from dealing with that woman in the woods. He was at his limit.
“We’re almost there,” Xue Gang said.
As he spoke, Xue Gang glanced at the person beside him.
A group of people exchanged glances, and a few who had previously received the least water stepped forward. They were clearly still out of breath, panting heavily as they quickly moved ahead to scout the path.
A few minutes later, the individuals who had left returned; they had found the path.
With swift eyes and quicker hands, Ji Yanqing lightly grasped a certain someone who was sneaking off in the direction they had just come from, yanked the person back, and then took the lead to follow up.
All the zombies nearby had been lured away by the beast earlier, making their journey ahead relatively safe for the time being.
After advancing in the darkness for another twenty minutes or so, they suddenly found themselves in an open space. The cluster of buildings had disappeared, replaced by a vast expanse of ruins.
The steel-reinforced buildings were laid to ruin, with various debris scattered in all directions, leaving a scene of utter devastation.
Xue Gang and his companions had previously encountered the attack of the Beast Corpse King right here.
“Spread out and find them,” Xue Gang said.
His men dispersed in all directions to search for the team.
Ji Yanqing gradually mastered the art of pulling back a certain someone who was attempting to wander off to check out the situation on their own. He didn’t want to end up having to search for him again after finally regrouping with the larger survival team.
Xue Gang’s men were swift; in less than five minutes, they had found traces of the main force.
“They have already departed from here, heading in that direction,” someone in the group pointed out, “They are numerous, so they couldn’t have gone far.”
“Tsk!” Xue Gang clicked his tongue in displeasure, his brows and eyes filled with malevolence as he hid in the darkness. “Chase them!”
Everyone tensed up once more and continued to move forward.
After nearly an hour of rapid movement, with nerves stretched to their limits, everyone’s pace slowed down. In the darkness, the sound of uncontrollable panting filled the air.
Ji Yanqing took it upon himself to lead the way, as, among the entire team, aside from him, only that certain man was somewhat capable. However, he feared that if he let the other take charge of navigating, they might never be able to leave this city in their lifetime.
As they pressed on, after more than three hours, even Ji Yanqing was nearly at his limit. From afar, they caught sight of figures on the rooftop of a row of houses.
In the darkness, a figure moved cautiously back and forth across the rooftop, keeping vigilant watch over the surroundings. He had taken great care to remain concealed, yet Ji Yanqing still recognized him at a glance as the night watchman.
Upon finding the main team, everyone’s spirits were immediately uplifted.
With Xue Gang leading the way, they swiftly made their way towards the row of buildings.
As soon as they approached, the person keeping watch on the rooftop spotted them. Clearly taken aback for a moment, the watcher quickly made their way down towards them.
Xue Gang did not wait for the other party to reach the door; instead, he led his people inside directly.
The ground floor of the building housed a large chain cosmetics store, where originally expensive bottles and jars were now shattered across the floor, and the shelves were in a complete disarray, toppled over in utter chaos.
Behind the lowered iron gate, behind the barely cleaned shelves, two to three hundred people huddled together in a disheveled and crowded manner, sleeping.
The long period of fleeing had etched signs of dishevelment, panic, and exhaustion on everyone’s faces. The despair pressing down on their chests was so heavy that even in sleep, their brows were furrowed in distress.
Hearing the noise and seeing someone enter, the ones on night watch and a few others who were still awake became flustered and rose from the ground in a panic.
“Captain Xue...”
Before the man could finish his sentence, he was sent flying by a kick from Xue Gang and crashed into the shelving unit.
“I told you to run, but did I fucking[e/n: at first it said something like “I told you to run, I damned well told you to run...”, but I think I don’t understand something since it would make more sense for him to say the opposite, if you read onwards. From my understanding, the team was attacked by Wolfy boy, and split up, but he’s angry that the team didn’t stay put and wait for him at the attack site, and instead traveled somewhere 2 hours away. Considering what we learn about him, they could have been trying to escape his rule- lemme know your thoughts!] tell you to run away from ME?” After kicking the guy to the ground, Xue Gang turned around and smashed the gun he held into another person’s head. Although the man was on guard, he was still struck hard enough to fall, with fresh blood streaming down his forehead.
After beating the man, Xue Gang still felt unsatisfied. Lifting his foot, he unleashed a series of fierce kicks to the man’s abdomen, cursing, “Damn it, I’ve provided for you, and this is how you repay me?”
Xue Gang was seething with anger that these people had chosen to flee instead of waiting for him to return. Indeed, had it not been for the fear of attracting zombies with the gunfire, he would have shot them long ago.
The commotion had long since awakened the others who were originally asleep in the house. Everyone, either squatting or sitting on the floor, lowered their heads, daring not to make the slightest sound.
This was clearly not the first time such an incident had occurred.
Ji Yanqing glanced at Ji An and Ji Le. If he wasn’t mistaken, Ji An and Ji Le had previously been part of this survival team.
In the corner, Ji An and Ji Le’s faces were as white as sheets, devoid of any color, and their tiny bodies trembled uncontrollably.
Memories of familiar pain and fear enveloped them like a storm, and they instinctively bit down on their lower lip, striving to hold back tears and suppress any sound.
If they cried, if they made any sound, Xue Gang would strike them even harder, beating them mercilessly.
“Damn it!” Xue Gang, after kicking until he was exhausted, landed one last kick on that person’s head.
Ji An and Ji Le’s slender bodies trembled involuntarily as they instinctively lifted their heads in fear.
Lifting their head, the moment they caught sight of that familiar figure ahead, all their efforts to be strong suddenly seemed meaningless. They bit their lower lips hard, trying to stifle the sobs, but tears still spilled from their eyes, tumbling down in large, heavy drops despite their best efforts to hold them back.
Feng Yimo, who had been closely observing Ji An and Ji Le, furrowed his brows in confusion. He couldn’t understand why Ji An and Ji Le were crying, nor why their tears were so full of sorrow.
“Daddy!”
“Daddy...”
Feng Yimo was momentarily taken aback, feeling a bit uneasy, yet he chose not to say anything.
Their relationship could indeed be considered that of father and sons, for it was he who had bestowed upon them a new lease on life. If they insisted on addressing him as “Father,” it wouldn’t be entirely out of place.
Watching the two little ones pitifully crying and throwing themselves at him, Fēng Yìmò’s icy façade showed signs of cracking. He stepped forward, slightly bending over, and extended his hand.
Ji An and Ji Le, who had already dashed up to him, circled around and lunged headfirst towards Ji Yanqing. Extending their hands, they each clung to one of Ji Yanqing’s thighs, one on the left and the other on the right.
Embracing Ji Yanqing, they felt his presence deeply. In that moment, all the fear, anxiety, and pain buried in their hearts seemed to find release, leaving them weeping silently in front of Ji Yanqing.
Bent slightly at the waist, Feng Yimo maintained the posture of his outstretched hand, completely rigid, and then disintegrated like dust in the wind.
Daddy, who are you calling Daddy???
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