AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 36

 Chapter 36

He Was Clearly Clingy And Easy To Coax.

After quickly arriving at Ji Yanqing’s side and standing next to him, Feng Yimo glanced coldly at Xia Shen Shu without saying a word.

Xia Shen Shu took a deep breath and smiled brightly.

When he could finally beat him in a fight…

Coming up beside Ji Yanqing right after Feng Yimo, Xia Shen Shu looked at him. “Why are you back so early?”

Because of Feng Yimo, their operation had gone surprisingly smoothly, but Ji Yanqing and the others shouldn’t have finished so quickly. Yet, Ji Yanqing had returned before them.

“Don’t even mention it. The clinic I saw before had been completely looted. It seems like it was the survival team ahead of us who did it.” Xia Chen’s face was full of resentment.

He knew that those medicines didn’t belong to anyone. Whoever arrived first got them. But working hard for half a day and ending up empty-handed wouldn’t feel good to anyone.

“The survival team ahead of us?” Xia Shen Shu instantly understood. “The police station was also raided. There were still zombie corpses on the ground. It looks like it was the same group.”

Ji Yanqing had guessed as much and wasn’t surprised.

“Let’s go find Li Pingsen and the others,” he said, leading the way back.

He knew the general area where Li Pingsen’s team was searching. After walking for a while, they soon spotted the lookout Li Pingsen’s team had left at a corner.

They crossed a street littered with abandoned vehicles and zombies, arriving at the shop Li Pingsen’s team had chosen. Inside, the team was busy stuffing clothes, shoes, and socks into their backpacks. Li Pingsen had chosen a brand-name sportswear store, not for its fame or quality, but because the clothes were more suited to their needs.

They had been on the run for a long time and needed underwear, shoes, and socks made of breathable and comfortable materials. For coats and pants, they preferred looser and warmer styles. This store fit the bill.

“Back so soon?” Li Pingsen stood at the entrance, gun in hand. Seeing them enter, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

“Don’t even ask…” Xia Chen gave a brief account of what had happened.

Hearing that both the clinic and the police station had been looted by the survival team ahead of them, Li Pingsen was surprised and quickly fell into thought. “If that’s the case, then we must not be far behind them.” After a moment, he looked at Ji Yanqing. “What do we do?”

The other group had four or five hundred people; their speed was definitely slower. This meant that if they set out now, they could catch up quickly.

The others in the shop stopped what they were doing and looked at Ji Yanqing.

He had been thinking about this since discovering the looted clinic. He shook his head. “Let’s rest first.”

Xia Shen Shu and the others exchanged glances and breathed sighs of relief. None of them wanted to encounter the large survival team just yet.

The purpose of contact between survival teams was to exchange supplies and information.

Although they now had a decent amount of food and water, it wasn’t much compared to a team of four or five hundred people. Moreover, they didn’t have many bullets, medicine, or other vital items.

They did possess a lot of information about corpse kings and zombies, but their team was small, and their condition wasn’t ideal. What if the other team’s leader was someone like Xue Gang, or worse? If a conflict broke out, their team wouldn’t stand a chance.

“If we’re not contacting them, then we can’t keep following them. They’re ahead of us and will take all the easily obtainable supplies,” Xia Shen Shu said, troubled.

They had been lucky with the supermarket, obtaining a large amount of supplies without firing a shot, but they might not be so lucky next time.

“Did you get the map?” Ji Yanqing asked.

Xia Shen Shu patted his bulging pocket.

Ji Yanqing nodded. “We’ll look at it when we get back.”

He then glanced at a children’s clothing store across the street.

The store Li Pingsen had chosen mainly sold adult apparel. Ji An and Ji Le couldn’t wear those. “I’m going to take a look across the street.” After a quick glance at the oblivious zombies on the street, he crossed over to the shop.

The door of the children’s clothing store was wide open, as it had been when the virus broke out, but it was deserted inside.

Shelves in the middle of the room had been knocked over. There were dried, dark bloodstains on the clothes and the floor.

Ji Yanqing went around the blood and the collapsed shelves, walking towards the back. The store wasn’t big, but it was packed with merchandise – coats, shirts, pants, shoes, socks… everything. Complete outfits were displayed on the walls, and piles of boxes and unopened clothes were stacked in the corners.

To maximize space, the shopkeeper had even hung rows of clothes racks from the ceiling. Boys’ clothes were on the left, girls’ on the right.

Ji Yanqing looked at the clothes on the left.

Before the outbreak, he had rarely entered a children’s clothing store. Now, looking around, he realized how flashy children’s clothes were. There were all kinds of styles, chasing the latest trends, many even more beautiful than adult clothes.

The clothes were even categorized by style: warm and cute with adorable patterns, and cool styles with dark colors, chains, and accessories.

Ji An and Ji Le’s little faces appeared in his mind. Although small and thin, their features were delicate and clean. If dressed up carefully, they would be incredibly cute.

His gaze lingered on the cool-looking clothes before turning to the plainest cotton undershirts and sweatpants.

He estimated the two little ones’ size and picked out two sets of dark-colored clothes for each, along with two black coats that were a little big, and some shoes and socks that were easy to run in.

After packing everything into his backpack, he quickly returned to the shop across the street.

By the time they crossed half the county town and returned to the row house, it was almost 9:00 AM, and the weather was getting hot.

Entering through the window, they took out all the clothes, shoes, and socks, and told the others about the looted shops in town.

Ji Yanqing found suitable clothes and changed, then helped Ji An and Ji Le into their new outfits. The clothes he had brought back were a little big. The sleeves and pant legs had to be rolled up, and the coats reached their knees. This made the already small boys look even thinner, tugging at one’s heartstrings.

The two little ones didn’t seem to mind. After putting on their new clothes, they immediately went to study their pockets, figuring out how much they could carry.

Ji Yanqing watched them for a while. After Xia Shen Shu and the others finished changing, he asked for the map and began studying their next route.

It took him some time to determine their current location and direction. Before the outbreak, he hadn’t had many opportunities to use paper maps. Navigation apps had been so convenient that he hadn’t needed to pay attention to directions.

Ahead of the county town lay a large urban area, the main city center. It covered over 100 square kilometers and had a population of two to three million people. It was more than twice the size of the mountain-adjacent urban area they had just passed through.

“There must be Awakened zombies in a large urban area like that. There might even be a corpse king,” Xia Shen Shu said, sitting down next to him.

Ji Yanqing nodded in agreement.

After encountering three corpse kings in a row, he had developed an aversion to such places.

If they didn’t go to the urban area ahead, they only had two choices: left or right.

To the left, about two days’ journey away, was a small town surrounded by five or six villages.

Five or six days further from the town was another urban area, about half the size of the one ahead and relatively close to it. By bus, it would have only taken four or five hours to travel between them.

To the right of the county town, the entire route was much more remote. The nearest village was four or five days away, followed by scattered, small villages. It would take about ten days to reach a small town.

“That large survival team will definitely head to the urban area ahead. Otherwise, they would have gone left. The villages on the right aren’t worth it for them. The supplies they consume in half a month wouldn’t be replenished by a few small villages,” Xia Shen Shu analyzed.

“The beast corpse king also went left,” Li Pingsen, who had finished changing, added.

That night, after escaping the city, the beast corpse king had gone straight towards the distant mountains. If they hadn’t miscalculated, it had headed towards the smaller urban area on the left.

Ji Yanqing looked at the small villages to the right. They didn’t have many options.

After traveling right for more than ten days and passing five or six small villages, the next town would be near a canal. There was also a large urban area on the other side of the canal.

“There will probably be many survival teams near the canal,” Li Pingsen sighed. Ji Yanqing looked at him, prompting an explanation.

“It’s so hot now, and water resources are scarce. The closer to the canal, the more abundant the water will be,” Li Pingsen explained.

“We don’t even know if the water in the canal is still drinkable,” Xia Shen Shu said, frowning. In this apocalyptic world, danger came not only from zombies and corpse kings. Perhaps humans were even more dangerous.

“But it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

Xia Shen Shu was speechless as more and more people in the house gathered around, eager to join the discussion.

“What do we do, then? How about we just go left?”

“There’s a beast corpse king on the left, and the other survival team might have gone that way too.”

“I think we should go right. At least there’s more water there.”

“That’s not necessarily true. It’s been over half a year since the outbreak. Unless the canal water is still drinkable, it must have been claimed by other teams. And don’t forget, the more people there are, the faster the supplies in the towns will be consumed. Whether there’s still anything edible over there is a question.”

“Can’t go forward, can’t go left, can’t go right, can’t go back… Then what do you suggest we do?”

“I’m not the one saying we can’t go. The facts are right there.”

Seeing that they were about to start arguing, Ji Yanqing’s voice, deliberately lowered yet still gentle, interrupted them. “We’ll go right.”

Everyone quieted down and looked at him.

He raised his head. His black eyes, clear and bright, swept over everyone’s faces.

His tone was gentle, but his words carried an undeniable force. “Our survival team is still too small. Unless we avoid all cities and other survival teams in the future, it will be too disadvantageous for us, whether we encounter a corpse king or another team.”

The people who had been arguing about which route was safer were stunned. They hadn’t thought about it that way.

Now, they instantly understood and couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Ji Yanqing was right. They only had a little over thirty people. With this number, with this level of firepower, unless they avoided all cities and other teams, they would always be at a disadvantage.

“Then…” Xia Shen Shu smiled, already guessing Ji Yanqing’s intention. His smile was incredibly bright.

“First, we need to expand the team,” Ji Yanqing said. “To have the right to contact other teams and exchange supplies and information, we need at least a hundred people.”

With a hundred people, even if they didn’t have many guns, the other party would hesitate before attacking.

Hearing this, Xia Shen Shu’s smile grew even brighter.

The others in the house exchanged glances, seriousness and solemnity reflected in their eyes.

When they had been in Xue Gang’s team, they hadn’t needed to think about these things, and they didn’t have the right to. They hadn’t even had the right to eat a proper meal or drink water, hadn’t even had the right to be considered human.

Now it was different. Now, they were members of this team, and they had to think, work, and fight for its future.

Understanding this, realizing that this team was also their own, that they were working to improve it, everyone straightened their backs.

The smiles disappeared, replaced by solemnity.

The atmosphere in the room shifted accordingly.

Ji Yanqing, sitting on the ground studying the map, vaguely sensed the change and looked up at the faces around him, a little confused.

Xia Shen Shu took in everything. The bright smile on his face was incredibly vibrant. He realized that Ji Yanqing might be very suitable to be the captain, despite his delicate features, which didn’t seem to fit the image of a survival team leader.

He looked at Feng Yimo, who was completely indifferent to all of this, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, resting.

Xia Shen Shu was speechless.

“So that’s settled, then?” He looked at Ji Yanqing. “We’ll go right, to the area near the canal, and see if we can find other survival teams and expand our own?”

“Okay.” Ji Yanqing nodded.

Everyone took a deep breath, and when they looked at each other, there was excitement in their eyes.

They had forgotten their exhaustion and pain, feeling an urge to pack up and set off immediately. Ji Yanqing didn’t act impulsively.

He took out a pen and began marking their previous route on the map. The starting point was the city where they had met Ji An, Ji Le, Feng Yimo, and the beast corpse king.

Ji Yanqing had been to several cities before that, but at that time, he had mostly been alone.

Later, although he met Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and the others, they had avoided going deep into cities because of their small numbers, foraging only at the edges.

Naturally, they hadn’t obtained much useful information. After he finished marking the route and put away the map, the people who had been gathered around had dispersed. Some were lying down and sleeping, while others were chatting in small groups. Although the people were the same, the atmosphere had changed drastically.

Everyone seemed happier.

Ji Yanqing was confused.

He looked at Ji An and Ji Le.

“Papa!” The two little ones had finished admiring their new clothes. Seeing that he was done, they ran over and threw themselves into his arms.

Ji Yanqing hurriedly caught them. Their bodies were soft and warm. Being jumped on, hugged, and called “Papa”... his heart melted.

Despite constantly being on the run, the two little ones were now chubbier and had better complexions than when he had first found them. Sometimes, it even made him wonder what kind of life they had been living in Xue Gang’s team that they could gain weight even in such harsh conditions.

“Are you still feeling unwell?” He held them, one in each arm, and touched Ji Le’s forehead with his cheek.

“I’m not unwell,” Ji Le said in his childish voice, obediently staying still. Ji Le’s fever had subsided quickly and wasn’t very high anymore. Ji Yanqing breathed a sigh of relief. After checking Ji Le, he turned to Ji An. Knowing what was coming, Ji An stayed still, his long eyelashes fluttering.

“I’m also not unwell,” Ji An said softly. He liked being nuzzled by Ji Yanqing. His cheeks were cool and comfortable.

Hearing his soft voice, Ji Yanqing’s heart sank. Ji An’s high fever hadn’t improved.

He had had a fever for several days, and it had remained high.

“Don’t you feel uncomfortable?” Ji Yanqing looked at Ji An.

Ji An shook his head. Knowing he was making Ji Yanqing worry, he hurriedly said, “It doesn’t hurt.”

Ji Yanqing looked into his eyes, making sure that there was no sign of lying. He relaxed a little.

Ji An had been in good spirits recently, showing no signs of discomfort. This made Ji Yanqing even more confused about why his fever wouldn’t go down.

“Children are like that,” a female voice said from the side.

Ji Yanqing looked over.

“My daughter used to have fevers all the time. Every time, I would be worried sick…” a woman in her early thirties said with a smile. Before she could finish speaking, her eyes reddened, and she covered her face with her hand. She was now all alone.

She took a deep breath and couldn’t continue.

Ji Yanqing nodded slightly in thanks and didn’t ask anything.

All the people here now, all the people who were still alive, had once had their own families, loved ones, and friends. But now, they were all alone.

It was already past nine when Ji Yanqing returned from outside. After discussing their next move and checking Ji An and Ji Le’s temperatures, ten o’clock quickly arrived, the hottest time of the day.

They were on the first floor of the row house, and there were vegetable fields directly behind them, so the indoor temperature was relatively low. But it was still incredibly muggy.

Fortunately, they didn’t need to leave in a hurry now, and the surroundings were relatively safe. When it got too hot, they drank some water, found places to lie down, and decided to take a nap.

Ji Yanqing also took a nap with Ji An and Ji Le.

He was a light sleeper. The slightest sound in the room would wake him up. When Ji An and Ji Le woke up, it was already past two in the afternoon, and most of the people in the room had already woken up.

At a little past three in the afternoon, Lan Zi woke up from her coma.

Seeing that she was awake, Ji Yanqing took some food and water over to her, and told her about their current situation, reassuring her that she could rest and recover.

After eating and drinking some water, Lan Zi looked much better. Her voice even sounded stronger. “Thank you.”

“Okay.” Ji Yanqing nodded slightly. As he moved, his hair fluffed up, like a soft ball of fur that made one want to touch it.

Lan Zi didn’t linger on his hair. She knew he had always been sensitive about how he didn’t look fierce enough.

She looked at his face: fair skin, a slightly pointed chin from lack of food, a high nose bridge, pale pink lips… he had always been wearing goggles before. Now, without them, he looked a little unfamiliar.

“Thank you,” she said again.

Ji Yanqing looked at her. She had already said thank you.

She smiled, trying to look happy, but tears welled up in her eyes.

Ji Yanqing was stunned. This was the first time he had seen her cry.

She quickly wiped away the tears and smiled.

This was the second time she had woken up when she had thought she was definitely going to die.

“Okay.” She smiled. It was Xia Shen Shu who had taken care of her on the way. She knew that.

But she also knew that not everyone would take the risk to go to a hospital to find medicine for someone else, not everyone would be willing to have an injured person dragging them down.

Xia Shen Shu was a good person, but he was also decisive. If it weren’t for Ji Yanqing, he would have definitely helped her die peacefully and then left.

She didn’t hate Xia Shen Shu for that. She would even be grateful. But the fact was, things were different with Ji Yanqing.

“Rest well,” Ji Yanqing said.

He didn’t stay for long. After watching her finish eating and drinking, he quickly left, not forgetting to take Ji An and Ji Le with him. The two little ones had been looking at her with worried expressions, like little adults, and he wanted them to let her rest.

They couldn’t make any light at night, so they always ate before dark and went to bed early.

In the morning, Li Pingsen and a few others had brought back a lot of quilts from vacant houses, which made the cold nights much more bearable.

After watching the two little ones finish eating, Ji Yanqing took a quilt, folded it in half, and had them lie down inside.

The quilt wasn’t very big, but the two little ones were so small and thin that there was still some space left even after they lay down inside the folded quilt.

Ji Yanqing sat and watched them. After the two little ones fell asleep, he tucked in the corners of their quilt and then took his own quilt and walked to the side.

He sat down in the corner by the wall, near the two little ones’ feet, spread out the quilt, and covered himself with it. The piercing chill was immediately blocked. He let out a silent breath.

As he moved, he instinctively looked around. His eyes swept over the left corner, and he saw Feng Yimo.

Feng Yimo was too cold and solitary. He almost never spoke to anyone on his own initiative, and if someone spoke to him, he never responded. The people in the team had already grown accustomed to his aloof and indifferent personality, and now almost no one took the initiative to talk to him.

At this moment, he was sitting alone in the corner, holding his sword. The space around him was empty.

His black eyes were cold in the darkness. Coupled with the empty space around him, he and the darkness surrounding him gave off a chilling feeling.

There was a quilt beside him, but he didn’t seem to be planning to use it at all.

Ji Yanqing sighed silently and lifted a corner of his quilt.

Almost the moment his quilt was lifted, Feng Yimo moved. He got up, stepped over the people lying on the ground, and walked towards him.

Coming closer, Feng Yimo got under the quilt and sat down next to him.

Ji Yanqing silently pulled the quilt over him and tucked in the corner on his side.

As soon as he finished tucking in the corner, before he could even sit back properly, Feng Yimo reached out from under the quilt and pulled the corner he had just tucked in open.

Ji Yanqing looked over.

Feng Yimo was holding the quilt, his fingertips rubbing against it.

Ji Yanqing was puzzled for a moment before he understood. He couldn’t help but laugh softly. “The quilt you gave me this morning was warmer, so I gave it to them.”

Feng Yimo immediately looked at Ji An and Ji Le.

The two little ones had already fallen asleep. Their fair cheeks were flushed pink under the warm quilt.

Ji Yanqing tucked in the corner again, blocking the cold wind.

The more time he spent with Feng Yimo, the more he felt like he was an inexperienced child. His coldness, aloofness, and seeming lack of human emotions were all an act. He was actually clingy and easy to please.

After doing this, Ji Yanqing adjusted himself to a comfortable position and closed his eyes.

Feng Yimo’s body temperature was always a bit lower than normal, which made him, who had just blocked the chill of the night with the quilt, unconsciously aware of it. And also inexplicably at ease.

He quickly fell asleep in that faint coolness.

Ji Yanqing was always vigilant, even when he knew there was no danger around and the team was resting. The next day, just as dawn was breaking, he woke up.

Half an hour after he woke up, the others in the team woke up one after another.

When it got a little brighter, Li Pingsen took a few people with him to explore the county town again. They were trying to find other pharmacies in the town.

This county town was quite big. There might be other pharmacies.

They did find two other pharmacies in the county town, but the situation was the same as before. The two small pharmacies had been looted, and nothing was left.

Although they didn’t find any medicine, they didn’t stop there. For some reason, they were in high spirits, and went out exploring every day. Over the next few days, they brought back some food and water, as well as some over-the-counter painkillers and anti-inflammatories.

Seeing their enthusiasm, Xia Shen Shu, who was never one to shy away from causing trouble, took the initiative to participate. He made detailed arrangements for everyone in the team, dividing them into two large groups.

The teams were led by Li Pingsen and Xia Chen, respectively, and they underwent a series of simple cooperative training to deal with possible emergencies.

Xia Shen Shu, who’s background was shrouded in mystery, sounded like he knew what he was doing, fooling Li Pingsen and Xia Chen completely.

A week later, when the wounds on everyone’s feet had almost completely healed and their exhausted spirits had recovered, Ji Yanqing once again gave the order to prepare to depart.

Knowing that they were about to set off, everyone’s spirits soared. Without Ji Yanqing saying anything, they began taking inventory of all the food and water and distributing rations in the afternoon.

The food and water they had found before was enough for them to live in this town for about half a month. After a week, they still had about half of it left. This was a good thing, but it also increased everyone’s burden.

There were now thirty-four people in their team. Excluding Ji An and Ji Le, and Lan Zi and the other man who had just woken up from their comas and couldn’t carry backpacks because of their injuries, there were thirty people who could carry weight.

This meant that everyone had to carry about seven or eight days’ worth of food, plus a pile of other things, such as clothes, sunshade cloths, pots for boiling water, and so on.

On average, everyone’s backpack was bulging, at least fifty pounds.

After preparing, they awoke at dawn the next day.

Silently leaving through the window, they bypassed the town and headed towards the mountains they had come from.

Treading through the thick snow, they crossed the mountains and walked some distance towards the plain, ensuring they were far from the zombies on the road outside the county town before turning towards the right.

By the time they reached the right side of the county town, the sky had fully brightened.

The world, blanketed in silver, looked as if it had been cleansed in the crisp, icy air, its beauty making one reluctant to disturb it.

This illusion of beauty didn’t last. Around 7:00 or 8:00 AM, the snow began to melt as the temperature climbed to nearly 30°C.

The sun beat down mercilessly, while beneath their feet the snow turned slushy, making walking difficult.

Ji Yanqing led the way, glancing back frequently to ensure Ji An and Ji Le didn’t sink into the snow.

The boys were light, but their small feet easily sank in.

Around 9:00 AM, the snow had mostly melted, and the temperature was close to 40°C.

They finally walked out of the basin outside the county town and entered the mountains to the right.

The county town’s location had been ideal in ancient times. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, it was easily defended. In modern times, however, it posed a challenge. Winding mountain roads snaked through the terrain, making travel slow.

Fortunately, the mountains were sparsely forested, so they didn’t have to worry about the trees.

Ji Yanqing led the team through the mountains for over an hour. It wasn’t until 10:00 AM that they found a place with relatively dense trees to rest.

They set off again a little after 1:00 PM.

Around 3:00 PM, they finally left the mountains and entered another wasteland.

This uneven wasteland was separated from the previous plain by only a mountain range, but the vegetation and terrain were markedly different.

The previous plain had been flat, covered in thin, long, vibrant weeds.

The weeds on this wasteland, however, were sparse, with patches of bare earth exposed.

There were also more shrubs – large and small, taller than a person, like tumors on the grassland, stretching endlessly.

If the previous plain had been superficially pleasing, with danger hidden beneath its beauty, this wasteland exuded a sense of danger before they even set foot in it.

“There should be a railway up ahead. It passes through two villages. We’ll follow it to the second village and then change direction,” Ji Yanqing said, consulting the map.

Before, they had relied on intuition, walking in the dark. Now, with a map, they could be more certain of their path.

After confirming their direction, he tucked the map back into his backpack.

Two large clusters of shrubs loomed ahead. Up close, they were less intimidating than they had appeared from afar, resembling ordinary shrubs, but still formed high walls, blocking their view and creating an uneasy feeling.

Li Pingsen, Xia Chen, and the others with guns walked around the perimeter of the group, constantly vigilant for anything lurking behind the shrubs.

Ji Yanqing led the way forward.

Thirty minutes later, they were deep within the wasteland, the mountains behind them out of sight.

As they ventured further, the uncomfortable feeling of being enclosed intensified.

Surrounded by shrub walls, they could only see the sky, making them feel disoriented.

After their experience in the inescapable forest, this feeling was unsettling.

Fortunately, after another forty minutes of tense walking, they spotted the railway up ahead.

Beneath the railway lay gravel, topped by two parallel rails stretching towards the horizon like a ruler.

The railway was abandoned, originally intended to reach the county town but halted for some unknown reason.

Stepping onto the gravel, a different texture from the surrounding grass, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s a railway like this behind my house,” Li Pingsen said cheerfully. “When I was little, I’d often go play on it after school. My mom would chase after me and scold me when she found out. Every time, I’d swear I’d never go back. And every time, I’d forget about it two days later…”

He trailed off.

As everyone looked at the tracks beneath their feet, lost in thought and listening to Li Pingsen, Xia Chen, who was on the left, suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Xia Shen Shu looked over.

“Come and see—” Before he could finish, he hurriedly raised his gun.

Everyone jolted and went on high alert.

Almost simultaneously, a figure burst from the shrubs.

Startled, Xia Chen instinctively tried to shoot, but before he could pull the trigger, an axe flew out.

The axe struck the zombie’s head with precision, stopping its lunge towards Xia Chen.

Xia Chen stumbled back, pale, his hand shaking.

The others also looked grim. They had momentarily forgotten the reality of the apocalypse. If the zombie had reached them, none would have been able to react in time.

Ji Yanqing walked over, grabbed the axe handle, and pulled it out.

The zombie’s body was still fresh, with no sign of decay. It had been infected recently.

Ji Yanqing turned its head with the axe, revealing bite marks on its neck.

“Other survivors nearby?” Lan Zi asked, still shaken.

“Look at the fresh state of its blood. It must have been bitten within the last couple of days,” Xia Shen Shu said, pausing. “It’s possible it was someone from the survival team ahead of us.”

“They came this way?” Li Pingsen was dumbfounded.

“Why would they come this way?” Xia Chen was also surprised. They had assumed that team would have gone to either the urban area in front of the county town or the one to the left.

“What do we do? Should we go back now?” Lan Zi asked.

Ji Yanqing’s lips tightened as he looked down the railway tracks.

He hadn’t planned to encounter that team so soon. Their groups were vastly different in size; they weren’t on equal footing. Meeting them now might not be a good thing.

“You don’t want to see them?”

Ji Yanqing looked over. Feng Yimo had spoken, his eyes deep and cold, as if saying that if Ji Yanqing wished it, he would eliminate them all.

“No.” Ji Yanqing found his own thoughts ridiculous. The other team had four or five hundred people and likely many guns. Even if Feng Yimo was strong, he couldn’t possibly kill them all single-handedly.

Besides, no matter how powerful Feng Yimo was, he wouldn’t resort to mass murder on a whim.

“Everyone be careful,” he warned, leading the way forward.

They had been walking for almost a day, consuming considerable energy and supplies. Their goal was not only to avoid the other team but also to expand their own. Turning back was not an option.

Everyone focused their attention on their surroundings as they followed.

Feng Yimo walked two meters behind Ji Yanqing, with Ji An and Ji Le, hand in hand, in front of him.

Their short legs required them to run occasionally to keep up.

As time passed, Ji Le, whose internal organs had been injured and who needed more energy to heal, hadn’t changed much. But the corpse king’s aura on Ji An had grown stronger.

His fever wasn’t from illness but from his body’s rapid evolution.

Feng Yimo was watching Ji An when a figure appeared beside him.

“Are you concerned?” Xia Shen Shu asked, smiling.

Feng Yimo ignored him and moved away slightly, expressing his displeasure.

Xia Shen Shu’s lips twitched. He took a deep breath, suppressing his urge to throttle Feng Yimo. After all, he couldn’t beat him in a fight.

He moved closer again. “If we run into the other team, what are you going to do?”

Feng Yimo remained silent.

“They have a lot of people, and they’ll definitely have a lot of guns. There might even be some strong fighters among them.” He glanced at Ji Yanqing’s back. “Even if you can kill them, you can’t kill them all instantly. Can you be faster than dozens of guns?”

Even though he spoke of killing with a smile, there was no humor in his eyes, and his voice was cold.

Ji Yanqing was a good person. As long as they stayed with him, they wouldn’t have to worry about being abandoned in danger or betrayed. Even if they were seriously injured, as long as they were alive, Ji Yanqing would carry them out of harm’s way.

This was the reason he was willing to follow Ji Yanqing.

But essentially, he was similar to Xue Gang.

He had a clear distinction in his mind between what was important and what wasn’t. When Lan Zi was injured and Ji Yanqing hadn’t returned, he had seriously considered killing her and leaving.

Even now, if it came to that, he wouldn’t hesitate.

He was supposed to be that kind of person. But he didn’t know when it had started… he had also begun to hope that this team could become strong.

He had only suggested that Ji Yanqing form a survival team on a whim…

Feng Yimo still ignored him.

Xia Shen Shu lowered his voice. “If a conflict breaks out, they’ll target Ji Yanqing first.”

This time, Feng Yimo reacted. He turned to look at Xia Shen Shu, his black eyes cold and filled with killing intent.

Xia Shen Shu’s smile was dazzling. He was learning how to “use” this killing god.

He looked at Feng Yimo. “If it comes to that, don’t worry about the others. Go for their leader first. Take out the head, and the body will follow. ”

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