AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 45
Chapter 45
He decided to let it go and let Ji Yanqing have the final say.
Feng Yimo raised his long blade high. The edge shimmered with a faint, cold light, the blade itself not even half the length of the massive Corpse King’s arm lying on the ground. Yet, it was enough to make the Corpse King flinch.
The moment the blade began its descent, the Corpse King scrambled to the side in a panicked roll. He had no regard for his dignity as a king; he tumbled all the way to the other side of the street, crashing heavily into a wall. Feng Yimo’s blade cut only air.
“Ah!” A sharp, piercing shriek, filled with rage and sounding eerily like a banshee’s wail, echoed through the city. The Corpse King, whose head was grotesquely enlarged, was completely enraged. The glass in the surrounding buildings shattered from the force of his fury.
He channeled the potent healing power unique to Corpse Kings. New flesh and bone sprouted visibly from the stumps of his severed legs. He would regenerate his legs. He would kill this bug!
Feng Yimo frowned. “Don’t move around.”
It made him harder to cut.
The monster, with it’s eerie infant shaped giant head, sat up from the ground. Its eyes, bloodshot and furious, locked onto Feng Yimo. It would kill him, eat him! It opened its maw, a sound building in its throat—a sound so sharp that at close range, it could shatter reinforced concrete. This puny creature, with its slender frame, would surely explode.
But the sound never came. The creature’s head lolled to the side. Only when the head landed on the ground, rolling away, only when it saw its own thin body still in a seated position from a distance, did it realize that Feng Yimo had decapitated it.
Its pupils contracted sharply in disbelief. It stared at Feng Yimo. A Corpse King’s skin was bulletproof; its neck, reinforced by a spine harder than steel, how could it be severed by a human…?
But Feng Yimo paid it no mind. He was frowning, scanning his surroundings. Ji Yanqing was gone.
After a full turn, still unable to find him, Feng Yimo fell into deep thought, his eyes vacant. Had he lost Ji Yanqing again?
Feng Yimo immediately sprinted down the alley ahead, determined to find him.
Watching Feng Yimo’s retreating back, the light in the eyes of the massive severed head gradually faded, the last vestiges of resentment in their depths dissipating.
“Thump.” The headless body, still upright, toppled to the ground.
Feeling the tremor that resonated through the ground like a giant falling, Hei Long and his group, hidden behind a street not far away, whimpered collectively. Many faces, streaked with tears and despair, darted panicked glances around, terrified of seeing the large-headed Corpse King.
“Run, to the edge of the city!”
The group of nearly a hundred people moved swiftly, heading towards the city’s outskirts. Those who reacted a bit slower, startled by how far the others had run, scrambled to catch up.
Everyone tried to be as silent as possible, but the pervasive fear still drew occasional sobs from the group.
“Zombie!” someone shouted, followed by a wave of panicked commotion.
All eyes turned towards the source of the sound. It was just an ordinary zombie.
“Hit its head!” A man stepped forward, using his backpack to shield himself from the zombie. But the promised help never came. His face paled as he looked back. The others behind him had all taken advantage of his distraction to run ahead, with no intention of helping.
Understanding dawned, and the man’s face turned ashen. Fear and boundless rage filled his eyes. How could they do this? He was about to throw down his backpack and run when it was too late. The zombie had grabbed the backpack and lunged at him from the right.
“Ugh...” Facing the approaching pale, decaying face, the man instinctively closed his eyes.
“Clang!”
“Don’t stop, run!”
The expected pain and death didn’t arrive. The man opened his eyes. A young man, perhaps in his late teens, was yelling at him. He held a long wooden plank, likely scavenged from somewhere, and had smashed the zombie’s head.
The zombie wasn’t quite dead; its limbs still twitched. The man scrambled to his feet and fled. As he ran, he glanced back. The young man with the plank was already helping others; two more ordinary zombies had appeared in the short time he’d been running.
Two other people were helping the young man. They all wore backpacks. They weren’t Lu Qing’s people; Hei Long’s squad didn’t carry backpacks. These people were from Ji Yanqing’s team…
“Roar!” A huge, beastly creature, resembling a dog with mottled skin and messy fur, suddenly appeared among the fleeing crowd. It was the Corpse King from outside the city, emerging from a side alley.
“Corpse King!”
“It’s the Corpse King!”
“Run!”
“Ah...”
The already panicked crowd erupted into chaos. Everyone abandoned all other thoughts, focusing solely on escaping with their lives.
“Roar!” The Corpse King’s enormous eyes flashed red at the sight of humans. It lunged at the group in front, snatching four people in its jaws. It chewed amidst their screams, reveling in the thrill of the hunt and the atmosphere of terror.
“Ah!”
“Move, get out of the way!”
“Run!”
“Don’t pull me, run yourself...”
Screams and cries intensified in the suffocating fear. Everyone’s heart hammered against their ribs, each beat so forceful it felt like their chests would burst. Their lungs burned as if they were rotting, each breath agonizing.
No one dared to stop. They gritted their teeth and ran as if their lives depended on it, because they did.
They ran through the maze of buildings until their initial burst of energy was spent and their limbs turned to jelly. Hiding behind a cluster of buildings, the group looked back. The beastly Corpse King was nowhere in sight, but there was no relief, only the sound of devastated cries.
In that short time, they had lost nearly twenty people, all devoured by the Corpse King.
Nearly ten people among the weeping, gasping survivors, after a moment of stunned silence, ignored their pounding hearts, aching lungs, and burning throats. They frantically searched the crowd.
After a thorough search, they couldn’t find the two little ones. Panic gripped Ji Yanqing’s team. When had Ji An and Ji Le disappeared?
Ji An and Ji Le were always well-behaved, sticking close to Ji Yanqing and never causing worry. In the chaos, they had forgotten about them.
“I’ll go back and look,” one of the team members said.
As soon as he spoke, five or six others stepped forward. Ji Yanqing had entrusted Ji An and Ji Le to their care. If the boys were lost, even if they escaped, how could they face Ji Yanqing? How could they tell him that in the face of danger, they had only cared about their own survival and lost his children?
They couldn’t bear the shame.
Seeing these people heading back, Hei Long’s and Lu Qing’s people stared at them with a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment, as if they were looking at lunatics.
“We’ll go wait by the vehicles,” someone from the remaining twenty or so members of Ji Yanqing’s team said. He glanced at Hei Long and Lu Qing’s people. If they managed to escape but the vehicles were gone, everything would have been for nothing.
The five nodded, their faces pale. Exchanging glances filled with terror, they turned and ran back towards where they had last seen the Corpse King.
On the snow-covered street, littered with footprints, Ji Le, looking especially small in his oversized coat, stared with wide, gold-flecked eyes at the enormous beast before him.
Stay away from me!
The bestial Corpse King, blood still clinging to its maw, froze mid-stride, its mind blank, as if someone had pressed pause.
“Huu...” Ji Le’s head swam, his consciousness flickering.
His control wavered, and the bloodlust returned to the Corpse King’s eyes. Seeing only two small children on the street, it paused in confusion. Then, it focused its attention on those two small, vulnerable figures.
“Roar!” The Corpse King took a step forward, its massive form like a physical manifestation of despair, about to engulf them.
“Don’t come any closer!” Ji Le stared again, golden light flashing in his eyes. At the same time, a sharp pain shot through his head.
This time, the beast wasn’t completely under his control. It snarled, struggling against the mental hold. Its movements were slow, but it was advancing. It would devour this morsel first!
The color drained from Ji Le’s small face. The pain in his head intensified; he was losing control.
Ji An stepped forward. He rushed to a pile of debris from a nearby building, grabbed a fist-sized rock, and hurled it at the Corpse King’s head. “Go away!”
Ji An knew his strength was insignificant, but he threw with all his might.
The stone whistled through the air, striking the beast squarely on the head. The rock, not even half the size of an adult’s head, landed with the force of a thousand pounds, slamming the beast’s head into the side of a building with a sickening crack. The building itself fractured from the impact.
“Aowuhh...” The blow stunned the Corpse King.
Seeing his attack was effective, Ji An quickly gathered more rocks, gritting his teeth and throwing them with all his might.
“Roar!” The Corpse King lunged at Ji An.
“Stop!” Ji Le commanded.
The massive body halted instantly.
Ji An hurled another rock.
“Thump! Thump!” Dull, heavy impacts echoed in the air, each strike carrying more force than a bullet.
Within moments, the Corpse King was forced back, new wounds appearing on its body. Ji An threw his last stone, hitting the beast squarely in the head and knocking it to the ground. He then grabbed Ji Le’s hand and ran.
Ji Le, having pushed his power beyond its limits to control the Corpse King, had a streak of red dripping from his nose.
Ji An ran as fast as his small legs could carry him, pulling Ji Le along, until the Corpse King was out of sight. He pulled Ji Le behind an overturned car that had been thrown into a storefront.
They had barely hidden when an enraged roar echoed nearby. The Corpse King had recovered and was pursuing them.
Ji An squeezed Ji Le’s hand.
The Corpse King didn’t stop; it continued running past them.
“Brother...” Ji Le’s small voice trembled.
Ji An looked at him.
Ji Le, nose bleeding, his eyes filled with fear and anxiety, was terrified. “I...”
When they were attacked, he had just looked at the Corpse King, willing it to stop, and it had.
What was happening to him?
“Don’t be afraid,” Ji An said, squeezing Ji Le’s hand tighter. Despite his reassuring words, his own small voice was filled with unease. He didn’t understand what was happening either.
“Brother...” Ji Le was on the verge of tears.
“We might be turning into little zombies...” Ji An couldn’t hold it back any longer. He told Ji Le everything, about why they couldn’t eat normal food, about what he had been feeding him.
Ji Le’s clear, bright eyes widened in disbelief. Then, his lower lip trembled, and tears welled up.
“You’re lying...” Ji Le refused to believe it. If it were true, Ji Yanqing would hate him. He wouldn’t want him anymore. He might even kill him…
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re a liar! I don’t like you anymore!” Ji Le yanked his hand away from Ji An’s and pushed him.
They were huddled close together behind the car. The sudden push sent Ji An tumbling to the ground.
Ji An, caught off guard, was stunned. Ji Le hadn’t meant to push him so hard. He instinctively reached out to help him up, but then pulled his hand back. Ji An was a liar. He had lied!
“I’m not lying...” Sitting on the ground, his bottom sore, Ji An felt a surge of aggrievement. It wasn’t his fault he was changing. It wasn’t his fault Ji Yanqing might hate him!
“Wuu...” Ji Le’s eyes, red-rimmed and brimming with tears, stared at Ji An.
He didn’t want to believe it, but the tears wouldn’t stop. He burst into sobs. He was going to become a little zombie. Ji Yanqing would hate him. He would be abandoned. He might even be killed…
“Daddy...”
“Waaa...”
The search party had just entered the street when they heard Ji Le’s heart-wrenching cries in the distance. Relieved to know where the boys were, they rushed towards the sound, a pang of guilt stabbing at their hearts. It was their fault. No matter how mature Ji An and Ji Le seemed, they were still just children. They should have kept a closer watch on them.
They burst into the store, and without giving the two children a chance to react, scooped them up and ran back.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry...” the person holding Ji Le cooed.
Hearing the soothing words and feeling the embrace, Ji Le’s mind filled with thoughts of Ji Yanqing. His tears flowed even harder, his heart overwhelmed with sorrow. He didn’t want Ji Yanqing to hate him. He didn’t want to be abandoned…
“Daddy...”
Seeing Ji Le’s inconsolable grief and hearing him cry out for Ji Yanqing, tears welled up in Ji An’s eyes as well. He wiped them away with his hand, his lips trembling as he fought to hold them back. He was the older brother. Big brothers didn’t cry.
Carrying the sobbing Ji Le, the rescue party ran back towards the street they had left. Within moments, they arrived. The others had already left, heading towards the edge of the city.
The group glanced back at the pier, where gunfire continued to erupt, then at the city downstream, where angry roars echoed from afar. They quickly set off towards the city’s edge.
The town’s zombies had long been stirred by the commotion, but most were drawn to the sounds of fighting at the pier and the bridge. The city’s outskirts were relatively clear.
After running for several minutes, they saw a group of figures ahead. Their scalps prickled, fearing more zombies, but as they got closer, they saw twenty panicked faces.
“It’s you...”
The twenty were members of Hei Long’s squad who had betrayed him and sided with his deputy. Only two carried guns; the rest were ordinary members.
The men carrying Ji An and Ji Le exchanged a look and hurried past, continuing their run towards the edge of town.
The twenty lost souls, seeing a potential escape route, quickly followed.
***
“Roar!”
A deafening roar, filled with rage and bloodlust, echoed through the city. The sound reverberated in Feng Yimo’s ears.
Having already crisscrossed the city four or five times, bewildered by how he had lost Ji Yanqing again, Feng Yimo looked up impatiently at the bestial Corpse King before him.
“Roar!”
Feng Yimo lunged at the beast. It was because of these creatures that he had lost Ji Yanqing. He had explicitly told Ji Yanqing not to wander off.
Thinking of Ji Yanqing’s face, Feng Yimo’s dark eyes grew colder as he faced the Corpse King. Ji Yanqing must have been frightened by the chaos and hidden somewhere.
Amidst the buildings near the pier, hearing the roar, Ji Yanqing glanced back in the direction of the sound. He grabbed Lu Qing and pulled him towards a row of shipping containers. Not to mention the two Corpse Kings in town, there were at least two more Awakened Zombies outside the city. Every second they wasted brought them closer to death.
“Lead the way,” Ji Yanqing said, releasing Lu Qing as they reached the pier.
Their escape had left them both injured. Cuts from flying glass and debris marred Ji Yanqing’s back, arms, and face. Lu Qing was in a similar state.
Lu Qing, physically weaker, had been practically dragged along by Ji Yanqing. Without him, he would have been dead already.
“This way,” Lu Qing said, his excitement undimmed despite his injuries. He eagerly led Ji Yanqing towards the back of the container area, eager to show him his treasure.
The pier was vast, a labyrinth of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of shipping containers stacked in rows. Lu Qing knew the area well. He quickly led Ji Yanqing to a far corner near the canal.
There, a dozen large shipping containers, each dozens of meters long, were stacked like building blocks, forming a massive structure.
Seeing this, Ji Yanqing glanced back at the other high stacks of containers and suddenly understood why this place had felt off. Containers weren’t usually stacked so high. These stacks were Lu Qing’s doing, meant to conceal the “house” within.
Lu Qing stopped at a container with a crudely welded door. The door was double-layered, both layers reinforced from the outside for extra security.
After passing through the container, Ji Yanqing saw what Lu Qing had called a Corpse King.
Inside the large container “house,” formed by five stacked containers, a crocodile-like Corpse King lay pinned beneath the lowest container on the concrete floor. Its long body still vaguely retained a humanoid shape. Its lower half was trapped, its forelimbs bound by thick iron chains as thick as a man’s arm, which ran up to the ceiling, hoisted by a crane, preventing it from digging.
Black, raised bumps covered its back, not scales, but likely serving a similar purpose. Its snout was long and wide, filled with rows of needle-sharp teeth, promising a bone-crushing bite from which there would be no escape.
Seeing Lu Qing, the Corpse King’s intelligent, malevolent eyes glared at him. It struggled to free itself from beneath the container, rocking the entire structure, but its bound limbs prevented it from pushing it off completely.
“Morning, little croc...” Lu Qing greeted the Corpse King cheerfully.
The corner of Ji Yanqing’s mouth twitched. “How do we release it?”
Lu Qing pointed to the crane above. The crane, normally used for loading and unloading containers, now had its hook lowered through an opening in the ceiling, its chains binding the Corpse King’s forelimbs. The crane’s arm was already bending under the strain of the Corpse King’s struggles, looking as if it might snap at any moment.
Ji Yanqing looked at the crane, then at the Corpse King. If they released its forelimbs, it would easily escape from under the container.
“Done,” Lu Qing said, smiling as he walked towards Ji Yanqing.
Ji Yanqing, who had been surveying the area, blinked in surprise. Had Lu Qing already released the chains?
Before Ji Yanqing could react, the sound of rattling chains echoed through the air. He looked up sharply. The chains that had been suspended from the crane were descending.
As the crane arm lowered, the chains slackened, and the chains binding the Corpse King’s forelimbs fell to the ground.
The Corpse King froze for a moment, then thrashed violently.
“Bang!” The thick chains snapped, flying off and gouging a hole in the concrete floor.
Ji Yanqing’s lips twitched. He grabbed Lu Qing, who was strolling casually nearby, and sprinted for the exit. They were supposed to release the Corpse King, yes, but Lu Qing’s abrupt method hadn’t exactly factored in their own potential demise.
Ji Yanqing was fast, but they had barely made it through the container door when a tremendous crash echoed behind them. The entire container structure collapsed.
The deafening roar reverberated through the city, shaking the ground. Along with it came a surge of murderous intent.
“Hiss!” The Corpse King, freed from its confinement, charged straight at them.
It moved on all fours, but with a speed far exceeding that of a normal crocodile. It was almost instantly upon them.
“Get down!” Ji Yanqing shoved Lu Qing aside and rolled to the side.
“Bang!” Where they had been standing moments before, the crocodile’s tail slammed into the ground, leaving a deep gash.
Ji Yanqing scrambled to his feet, grabbed the stumbling Lu Qing, and continued running. They weaved through the maze of containers.
The enraged crocodile smashed through everything in its path, its immense strength easily shifting and denting the multi-ton containers. Its tail ripped through steel, and its blows cracked the thick concrete floor. Like a raging bull, it was an unstoppable force of destruction.
“Open fire!” Xia Shen Shu’s furious roar echoed from outside the container area, followed by a hail of gunfire.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Amidst the rain of bullets, Ji Yanqing and Lu Qing ran towards Xia Shen Shu and his group. Behind them was the rampaging Corpse King; above, a storm of bullets. The gunfire roared in his ears, his blood pounding in his veins.
The bullets sparked harmlessly against the crocodile’s thick hide, unable to penetrate, but Xia Shen Shu and the others didn’t relent. They couldn’t injure the creature, but they could distract it, buying Ji Yanqing precious time.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
“Clang!”
Amidst the flying bullets, something massive was lifted and hurled from behind Ji Yanqing, sailing over his head towards Xia Shen Shu’s group. Ji Yanqing only had time to glimpse a huge object flying overhead before a shipping container slammed into the building above Xia Shen Shu and his men.
For a moment, Ji Yanqing’s breath caught in his throat.
“Crash!... Boom!...”
The container struck the building and then, along with a shower of debris, came crashing down.
“Xia Shen Shu...” Ji Yanqing’s mind went blank. In what seemed like slow motion, the container bounced off the building and landed, its metal twisted and mangled.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The gunfire resumed.
A bloodied Xia Shen Shu emerged from behind the overturned container, using it as cover. Beside him, Xia Chen and the others were dragging several unconscious people, injured by the falling debris, towards the safety of the buildings behind them.
Seeing this, Ji Yanqing’s heart started beating again.
“The large-headed Corpse King is gone...” Xia Shen Shu yelled, his face grim.
The large-headed Corpse King had been near the pier. Their plan had been to release the crocodile Corpse King and lead it towards the other, hoping they would fight each other. But now, the large-headed Corpse King was nowhere to be found.
After it had chased Ji Yanqing, they had followed for a while, but soon lost its trail. Not daring to stray too far, they had returned to the pier to wait. They knew Ji Yanqing would come back.
He had, and he had successfully released the other Corpse King. But the large-headed one had vanished.
Hearing Xia Shen Shu’s words, Ji Yanqing frantically scanned his surroundings. There was no sign of the large-headed Corpse King. His face paled. Finding the two Corpse Kings would take time, and time was not on their side.
“Aaargh!”
Just as despair threatened to engulf him, two inhuman shrieks pierced the air from their left. Everyone, their hope rekindled, turned towards the sound. Their faces lit up with joy at what they saw.
Two figures, their skin pale, their heads deformed and sprouting hair, their limbs recognizable but grotesquely thick and animalistic, were approaching. Two Awakened Zombies, the ones who had been part of the horde attacking them earlier.
“Awakened Zombies!” someone shouted in delight. It was the first time in the months since the outbreak that they had been so happy to see Awakened Zombies.
A wide grin spread across Xia Shen Shu’s face. For a moment, he felt like rushing over and kissing those hideous creatures.
“Hello there!” Xia Shen Shu shouted, sprinting towards the approaching figures. His tone was overly cheerful, his smile overly enthusiastic.
The two Awakened Zombies, having just emerged from the building, flinched at his approach. It seemed like a large piece of meat was running towards them, but instead of feeling hungry, they felt a sense of unease. This meat was clearly not right in the head.
“Gaaah...” One of the Awakened Zombies shuffled backward, a clear urge to flee in its eyes.
Seeing the zombie’s retreat, the smile froze on Xia Shen Shu’s face. He raised his gun and fired a burst of shots. “Run, my ass!”
Ji Yanqing, still pulling Lu Qing along, glanced back at the crocodile Corpse King, now charging out of the container area. Gritting his teeth, he ran towards Xia Shen Shu amidst the gunfire.
He had only taken a couple of steps when a shadow loomed over him. Almost simultaneously, gasps arose from Li Pingsen’s group in the distance, and several people panicked, quickly raising their guns at Ji Yanqing.
Ji Yanqing’s body reacted before his mind could process the danger. In a split second, he slammed into Lu Qing, sending him sprawling into a patch of bok choy.
At that very moment, the concrete where they had been standing exploded into fragments. Debris flew everywhere, pelting Ji Yanqing with sharp pieces and adding fresh wounds to his already injured body.
“Lu Qing?” Ji Yanqing looked down.
Lu Qing, dazed from the impact and Ji Yanqing’s weight, lay stunned on the ground.
Ji Yanqing kicked him, sending him rolling away, then rolled in the opposite direction himself.
As he rolled, a massive tail slammed into the ground where he had been. The force of the blow was immense; even though it only grazed his leg, it felt like it was about to break.
Ji Yanqing fought to stand, but his leg was numb with pain.
The shadow fell over him again. He looked up, his mind blank.
“Bang!” A bullet struck the crocodile’s right eye.
Blood and flesh sprayed. A pained roar echoed through the air. The crocodile’s tail veered slightly, giving Ji Yanqing the chance to roll away again.
He scrambled to his feet, his leg still numb. He punched his knee. Pain was the best stimulant; feeling, along with agonizing pain, shot through his leg.
“Get up...” Lu Qing, instead of running, rushed back and grabbed Ji Yanqing. He tried to pull him along, but his strength and speed were no match for Ji Yanqing’s. They barely moved a few meters.
The one-eyed crocodile was upon them again.
“Bang!” A second bullet struck the crocodile in the same eye.
The creature’s hide was incredibly tough; Li Pingsen’s bullets only sparked against it. But even the toughest hide couldn’t protect its eyes. However, ordinary bullets were less effective against a Corpse King’s potent regenerative abilities.
“Hiss!” The enraged crocodile looked towards the distant rooftop where the shots had originated.
“Don’t stop...” Ji Yanqing, ignoring the pain, pulled Lu Qing along.
As they ran across the pier, Xia Shen Shu, at the edge of the buildings, was running towards them with the two Awakened Zombies in tow, a cheerful grin on his face. Ji Yanqing stared at him, then at the two frenzied Awakened Zombies behind him. What a chaotic bunch he had on his team.
Within seconds, the two groups converged amidst the gunfire.
Ji Yanqing and Xia Shen Shu stood back-to-back, facing the Corpse King and the Awakened Zombies respectively.
The crocodile Corpse King and the two Awakened Zombies, now aware of each other, slowed down, their attention shifting.
“Gaaah...”
“Aaargh...”
Rage filled the voices of the two humanoid Awakened Zombies, a rage so intense that even Ji Yanqing, who didn’t understand their language, could feel it. He glanced back. Their eyes were bloodshot, as if in a frenzy.
He looked at Xia Shen Shu. What had he done?
“It wasn’t me...” Xia Shen Shu said, looking wronged. “They were already like this. They’re probably subordinates of one of the other Corpse Kings. I don’t know what happened to that Corpse King though.”
As if on cue, the two Awakened Zombies charged at the crocodile Corpse King with terrifying speed, ignoring the difference in their power levels, driven by a seemingly mindless rage.
The Corpse King didn’t flinch. It charged forward, its tail sweeping through the air.
Their clash point was dangerously close to Ji Yanqing. The force of the Corpse King’s tail whipped through the air, sending shivers down his spine.
Seizing the opportunity, Ji Yanqing grabbed Xia Shen Shu and Lu Qing, and despite the searing pain in his leg, dragged them towards the edge of the buildings.
“Run!”
Hearing this, Li Pingsen fired a series of shots into the air, the signal for the others that it was temporarily safe, that there was a chance, however slim.
As Li Pingsen fired, Xia Chen and the others helped the injured to their feet. They had already given their backpacks to the others, making it easier to carry the wounded.
Five or six people were injured. The container hadn’t directly hit them, but they had been struck by flying debris. One man’s abdomen was soaked in blood.
“Ji Yanqing?” Li Pingsen rushed to support him, noticing his awkward gait and the sweat beading on his forehead.
Ji Yanqing pushed him away. They couldn’t afford to slow down. “Run first.”
Li Pingsen led them into the buildings. Shortly after, Lan Zi joined them.
Without a word, the group raced towards the city’s edge.
“Feng Yimo is missing,” Xia Shen Shu suddenly said as they ran down an alley.
Ji Yanqing whipped around, his eyes lingering on Xia Shen Shu for a moment before scanning the others. Feng Yimo was indeed gone.
Feng Yimo…
Ji Yanqing’s blood rushed to his head, his heart plummeting. Feng Yimo was lost? Lost now, at a time like this?
“You were being chased by that Corpse King, and he didn’t even hesitate to rush into the city to save you...” Xia Shen Shu trailed off, unsure how to continue.
“You—” Ji Yanqing was about to tell the others to leave the city while he went back to search, when he caught a glimpse of a figure flashing through an alleyway near the pier, almost a kilometer away.
Feng Yimo was entering the city from outside.
“Feng Yimo!” Ji Yanqing roared, his voice echoing across the city.
Startled by his sudden shout, Xia Shen Shu and the others instinctively looked in the direction Ji Yanqing was facing, but they saw no one. That was the old city district beyond the pier, practically outside the city limits. Feng Yimo couldn’t be there.
Just then, Feng Yimo, long blade in hand, came running straight towards them. He glanced at them as he ran, and upon seeing Ji Yanqing, he visibly relaxed, then a flicker of aggreivement crossed his features. He had told Ji Yanqing not to wander off.
The corners of Xia Shen Shu and the others’ mouths twitched. They didn’t know whether to be astonished or relieved. It was good that Feng Yimo was back, but why was he coming from outside the city? He had entered the city earlier from the left, heading downstream. Now, he was returning from the right. Where had he been?
Following Feng Yimo were a horde of ordinary zombies, drawn by the earlier commotion at the pier.
Ji Yanqing swung his axe, smashing the head of the nearest zombie. Xia Shen Shu and the others, unable to use their guns in such close quarters, used them as clubs. The weapons, mostly rifles, were heavy and effective against the zombies.
“Let’s go,” Ji Yanqing said, glancing back at the ongoing battle between the crocodile Corpse King and the two Awakened Zombies. He led the charge out of the city. They had no idea how long the Awakened Zombies could hold off the Corpse King; they needed to get away as quickly as possible.
Without another word, the group ran towards the city’s edge, near the pier.
***
Hei Long and his group, who had been waiting at the city’s edge, heard the signal from the pier and immediately rushed out. They sprinted across the open ground towards the forest, wanting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the city.
They had never run so fast. The wind whistled past their ears. Their pounding hearts and burning lungs were numb; their minds were blank. All they could think about was escape.
They covered the ten-minute distance in four or five, with only a dozen ordinary zombies, no Corpse Kings, in pursuit.
They burst into the forest and, upon seeing the large truck waiting there, many were overcome with emotion, tears welling up in their eyes.
Reaching the truck, some scrambled to climb aboard, while others turned to fight off the pursuing zombies.
The dozen or so zombies were quickly dispatched, even without guns.
Once the zombies were dealt with, the rest piled into the truck. They sat, holding their breath, waiting for the engine to start.
“What are you waiting for? Drive! Are you waiting to die?” someone shouted from the back of the truck, peering towards the front.
The driver’s side door was open. A dozen or so members of Ji Yanqing’s team stood anxiously beside the truck, staring back at the city, making no move to start the engine.
Hearing the shouts, unrest stirred within the truck. More people joined the chorus of urging. If the Corpse Kings from the city caught up, they were all doomed.
The dozen or so men guarding the driver’s seat glared at the impatient passengers but remained unmoved.
“Are you crazy!?” The man who had shouted jumped out of the truck and rushed towards the driver’s seat, intending to drive himself. As he approached, several men blocked his path.
“Get out of the—” The man, one of those who had betrayed Hei Long, raised his gun.
Two men pounced on him. One snatched the gun; the other rained blows upon him until he collapsed, unable to move. Violence wasn’t the answer, but in this moment, it was the most effective solution.
The man with the gun glanced at the other passengers who had raised their weapons. Undeterred by the barrels pointed at him, his eyes bloodshot, he pointed the gun right back at them.
“If you want to run, no one’s stopping you, but no one’s taking this truck,” one of the men guarding the driver’s seat said.
“You’re all insane!” someone shouted back. Ji Yanqing was a madman; his team members who had gone back for his brats were madmen; and these men who were waiting for him were madmen! They were all insane!
The men outside ignored the frantic cries from within the truck, their eyes fixed on the city. They waited, their faith in Ji Yanqing unwavering.
*
Five minutes passed. Still no sign of Ji Yanqing.
“Are they already...?” Hei Long started to say, but he was immediately silenced by a dozen pairs of bloodshot eyes glaring at him. He swallowed his words.
Standing in the truck, he looked at Ji Yanqing’s men, a mixture of anxiety and envy in his eyes. He glanced at the twenty men who had betrayed him. He had treated them well, yet they had abandoned him, taking all his weapons and supplies. He looked at Ji Yanqing’s loyal men, about to ask...why, but then stopped himself.
Why? Because Ji Yanqing was still in the city.
The unrest in the truck intensified.
The men outside felt the anxiety rising within them like a wildfire, a burning ache in their chests. Just as their hope began to dwindle, figures appeared at the edge of the city, more and more of them.
“It’s them!”
Relief washed over Ji Yanqing’s men. Their tense muscles relaxed, leaving them weak with relief.
The forest erupted in cheers and cries of astonishment. They had made it. They had actually survived.
Two of Ji Yanqing’s men jumped into the driver’s seat; the others climbed into the back.
The truck roared to life and sped out of the forest, back onto the main road. They parked a short distance outside the city, waiting.
Seeing that almost everyone had made it out, Ji Yanqing’s men grinned, a warm feeling spreading through their chests.
Minutes later, Ji Yanqing and the others, followed by a horde of zombies, arrived.
The truck started moving slowly. Xia Shen Shu and the others carried the unconscious and heavily injured towards the truck, where others helped pull them inside.
After the injured came Ji Yanqing. His leg was injured, and he could barely stand by the time he reached the truck. Without waiting for him to react, Xia Shen Shu and the others lifted him and hoisted him into the truck.
Once Ji Yanqing was inside, the others followed.
Feng Yimo, after quickly dispatching a zombie that had reached the truck, was the last to jump on board.
As soon as he was in, Xia Shen Shu banged on the side of the truck. The driver slammed on the accelerator, speeding away from the hell they had just escaped. The truck shot forward like a bullet, leaving the pursuing zombies far behind.
Within minutes, they were deep in the forest. The truck turned onto a mountain road, the city disappearing from view.
Once they were certain they were no longer being followed, the tension in the truck eased, leaving them feeling drained and sore. A collective sigh swept through the vehicle, followed by a stunned silence. They had escaped. They had actually survived.
Many were overcome with emotion, tears flowing freely, their sobs lost in the rumble of the truck’s engine.
“Ji Yanqing, are you alright?” Lan Zi asked, her voice filled with concern.
The small space was crammed with over a hundred people, packed together like sardines. Standing next to Ji Yanqing, she could see the sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.
Ji Yanqing shook his head. As he moved, his body swayed, and he would have fallen if not for a strong arm catching him. Feng Yimo held him close, his chest a solid support.
Ji Yanqing leaned against Feng Yimo, his right hand resting on his firm chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart. The pain in his leg eased slightly. He didn’t thank Feng Yimo. Instead, he looked at him, his voice filled with lingering fear. “Feng Yimo.”
“Hmm?” Feng Yimo’s cold, dark eyes met his.
“Don’t run off like that again,” Ji Yanqing said, his voice firm and laced with a hint of iciness. He still remembered the fear that had gripped him when he realized Feng Yimo was missing. In a city like that, with Feng Yimo unfamiliar with the streets, if he were truly lost, Ji Yanqing might never find him. He could have died.
Feng Yimo, who had been planning to tell Ji Yanqing the same thing, fell silent. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, seeing the sweat on Ji Yanqing’s forehead and the pallor of his lips.
“Alright,” Feng Yimo said, his expression unchanged, but a hint of aggrievement flickered in his eyes. Ji Yanqing had been the one to wander off, yet he was being blamed. But seeing Ji Yanqing in such pain, he decided to let it go and let Ji Yanqing have the final say.
----
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