AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

He always had the urge to bite Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing felt a little uneasy looking into Feng Yimo’s overly dark and serious eyes. The feeling of his heart racing was strange.

Feng Yimo was a man, and so was he.

He was actually feeling his heart race for a man.

“Then eat quickly,” Ji Yanqing mumbled, lowering his head to continue eating what was in his bowl.

Feng Yimo didn’t get an answer and continued eating absentmindedly.

Ji Yanqing quickly finished all the vermicelli in his bowl.

Ji An and Ji Le still had a pile of vermicelli left in their bowls. They were eating it listlessly, looking like they were in pain.

“Can’t eat anymore?” Ji Yanqing asked.

The two little ones immediately nodded their little heads.

They knew it was wrong to waste food, but they really couldn’t eat anymore.

Ji Yanqing looked at their bowls, calculated that the two little ones had eaten a lot of bok choy, and simply scooped the remaining vermicelli from their bowls into his own.

Even though they were relatively well-stocked now, they couldn’t just throw it all away. That would be too wasteful.

Knowing that Ji Yanqing was willing to help them eat, Ji An and Ji Le immediately smiled.

Feng Yimo looked at Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing looked over. Feng Yimo also had a lot of vermicelli left in his bowl.

Ji Yanqing sighed, “Eat it yourself.”

“Oh.” Feng Yimo sounded a little aggrieved.

Ji Yanqing ignored the itchy feeling that spread from his heart because of that “oh.” He focused all his attention on his bowl.

He had already eaten a bowl of vermicelli, and after eating the leftovers from Ji An and Ji Le, his stomach quickly became uncomfortably full.

He hadn’t actually eaten that much, just the normal amount for an adult meal, but he hadn’t eaten this full in a long time. He even felt like he was overeating.

Ji Yanqing rubbed his uncomfortably full stomach, enjoying this happy and luxurious problem.

Seeing Ji Yanqing enjoying himself like this, Ji An and Ji Le, sitting on the cardboard box, followed suit and rubbed their own round little bellies.

Feng Yimo reached over towards Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing slapped Feng Yimo’s hand away with a confused glare. If Feng Yimo wanted to rub a belly, he should rub his own. Why was he rubbing his?

Having eaten their fill, not just Ji Yanqing and the others, but everyone in the camp had a look of contentment and happiness on their faces.

Since the apocalypse, it had been a long, long time since they had enjoyed the happiness of being full.

After resting for a while, Li Pingsen walked over to Ji Yanqing. He gave Ji Yanqing the list of supplies they had brought back from the town and the four guns from the four people who had died earlier.

Seeing this, almost everyone looked at Ji Yanqing.

Many people stared at the four guns in front of Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing already had an idea. He selected four people who had shown themselves to be calmer and more outstanding in the previous operation and distributed the guns to them.

After distributing the guns, Ji Yanqing looked at the list in his hand.

Li Pingsen summarized, “We didn’t find a water purifier in the town, but we did find a generator. The food and water we found in the town can probably last for four to five days. Adding that to what we had before, that’s a total of eight to nine days’ worth.”

“There’s still some bok choy in the fields on this side of the town. It’s probably enough to cook noodles or rice for about four days. But once this stuff is cut, it quickly loses water, wilts, and rots, so it’s best to cut it when we’re about to leave.”

“The bok choy is big and takes up a lot of space, and it can’t be compressed for long. I think we can get two more vehicles, and we can also get some more gasoline to take with us in case we run out of gas on the road.”

“It’s best to test the generator after we’ve moved a distance away from this town, otherwise the noise is too loud and might alert the zombies in the town.”

After saying everything that needed to be said, Li Pingsen looked at Ji Yanqing quietly.

“Okay, we’ll do as you said,” Ji Yanqing said.

Ji Yanqing let out a slight breath. Li Pingsen had considered everything that needed to be considered. He basically didn’t need to specifically explain anything else.

If it were before, just these trivial matters would have kept him busy for two or three days.

Now, as the number of people in their team grew, many things gradually became simpler and no longer required him to worry about them.

Li Pingsen nodded and made a note of it.

“By the way, where’s Lu Qing?” Ji Yanqing asked. As he spoke, he turned his head and looked around, but after looking around, he didn’t see Lu Qing.

Was Lu Qing still alone in the city?

“In the truck,” Li Pingsen pointed to one of the trucks.

Ji Yanqing’s position wasn’t facing the truck, so he couldn’t see inside.

“Lu Qing,” Lan Zi, who had been paying attention to Ji Yanqing’s side, patted the back of the truck.

After a moment, an excited Lu Qing popped his head out from the back of the truck.

Ji Yanqing looked over, “How’s the research going?”

Having been asked, Lu Qing, perhaps finished with his mysterious research, jumped out of the truck. He took off the gloves on his hands, threw them away, and walked happily towards Ji Yanqing.

“Do you know anything about octopuses?” Lu Qing suddenly asked.

Hearing his words, the others in the camp looked confused, but Ji Yanqing instantly understood.

He had thought the Awakened Zombie looked a bit familiar before, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it looked like. Now, he suddenly realized that the Awakened Zombie was evolving in a surprising direction.

Sure enough, Lu Qing said, “That Awakened Zombie is evolving into a creature similar to an octopus.”

“An octopus?” Li Pingsen was quite surprised. “Didn’t you say that zombies that awaken in the direction of strength usually turn into beasts? Are octopuses considered beasts?”

Many people shared Li Pingsen’s doubts. In their view, octopuses shouldn’t be considered beasts.

“That’s what makes it interesting!” Lu Qing’s voice was trembling, and his cheeks and ears were flushed. “Have you ever seen an Awakened Zombie or a Corpse King similar to an octopus before?”

The group in the camp looked at each other. Everyone shook their heads. All the Awakened Zombies and Corpse Kings they had seen before were beasts.

“This is the first time I’ve seen one too. At first, I thought I had made a mistake, but after I dissected it, I knew I wasn’t wrong. This type of Awakened Zombie does exist.”

“Its upper limbs are degenerating, its leg bones are disappearing, and suckers are growing on its legs. Its abdomen and lower back are also growing soft, boneless tissues like octopus tentacles.”

Lu Qing glanced at Ji Yanqing. “You shot it for a long time before and didn’t kill it, not because your firepower wasn’t enough, but because you were shooting at the wrong place. Its brain wasn’t in the conventional skull. Its brain had begun moving downwards.”

“Moving downwards?” Ji Yanqing couldn’t imagine that scene.

Lu Qing pointed from his chin to his throat. “Its entire face had become a mouth, and the brain that should have been in the skull was slowly moving down. Roughly estimated, it should’ve been moving to the lungs. The reason why it was hanging on the signal tower and sleeping all the time is probably because it was undergoing this evolution.”

Hearing Lu Qing’s analysis, the expressions on the faces of the group in the camp were quite strange.

Ji Yanqing’s was similarly scrunched up in a mixture of thought and disgust.

They had tied the Awakened Zombie’s neck with a rope before, and the people who were shooting were afraid that the bullets would hit the rope and ruin their efforts, so they all aimed at the face.

Ji Yanqing was no exception.

“What killed it was your last blow. Because of the height difference, the handle of your axe stabbed upwards from below, piercing its throat and damaging its brain, which was probably in the throat area,” Lu Qing looked at Ji Yanqing.

Speaking of the brain, Lu Qing was very happy. “Do you want to see it?”

“See it?” Lan Zi looked over.

“I brought it back.”

Lan Zi was stunned for a moment before realizing that Lu Qing was talking about the Awakened Zombie’s brain.

For a moment, everyone in the camp had an indescribable expression on their faces.

“No need,” Lan Zi refused.

Lu Qing immediately looked at the others.

Everyone he looked at quickly looked away.

No one was willing to look at his new prized toy, and Lu Qing was instantly disappointed.

“That thing is too dangerous. In the future, don’t—” Ji Yanqing originally wanted to tell Lu Qing not to bring that kind of thing back to the camp in the future, but seeing Lu Qing’s disappointed look, he changed his words, “Don’t show it off randomly. That’s a precious material. It would be a shame to lose it.”

Lu Qing thought about it and seemed to think it made sense. “We need to find a way to get a refrigerator.”

The expressions on the faces of the group in the camp became even more interesting. Was Lu Qing planning to find a refrigerator, freeze that thing, and keep it with him all the time?

“Conditions are limited now. Let’s wait until later,” Ji Yanqing looked away.

Lu Qing seemed to understand, and launched into all the interesting things he had noticed about the brain.

Ji Yanqing nodded, not daring to stop him, afraid that he would get excited and really bring that thing out for him to see. He was feeling full and uncomfortable right now, and he wasn’t sure he could hold back from throwing up.

Finished, Lu Qing happily walked towards the truck.

With Lu Qing gone, everyone in the camp breathed a sigh of relief.

After sending Lu Qing off, Ji Yanqing fell into a brief period of contemplation.

Although Lu Qing’s personality was a bit strange, he had indeed played a very important role.

If it were them, they probably wouldn’t have been able to figure out why they could shoot that monster’s face to pieces and it could still survive.

In addition, they also realized that zombies that awaken in the direction of strength don’t just evolve into conventional beasts. Although the probability is very small, they should also evolve into other creatures.

This information seemed insignificant, but when they had enough understanding of Awakened Zombies and Corpse Kings, they would no longer be as terrifying, and hunting them would no longer be impossible.

“This hunting operation was quite successful. Although there were casualties, overall it went much smoother than we expected,” Ji Yanqing said in a voice that everyone could hear after he came back to his senses.

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s summary, everyone smiled.

“Let’s rest for another day, and we’ll leave the day after tomorrow,” Ji Yanqing said.

Hearing that they could rest for another day, the smiles on everyone’s faces grew even wider.

The amount of rest they had in the past few days was already more than they had in the past six months combined.

This kind of blissful life made them reluctant to leave.

After saying this, Ji Yanqing waved his hand, dismissing the meeting.

After doing this, Ji Yanqing rubbed his stomach again to help with digestion.

After enduring the two hottest hours of the day, in the afternoon, as Ji Yanqing was dozing off, Xia Shen Shu and Li Pingsen took a group of people back into the city.

When they returned in the evening, they brought back a considerable amount of gasoline. They had also found two smaller trucks in the city and filled them with gas, ready to be driven away when they left.

In addition, they also found some blankets and put them in the two trucks in the city.

With more vehicles and increased storage space, they could bring some blankets with them, so they wouldn’t have to endure the cold at night.

They still ate bok choy at night, but this time it was bok choy noodles.

After getting his share of food, Ji Yanqing gave all the bok choy in his bowl to Feng Yimo, Ji An, and Ji Le.

As the leader, he couldn’t show favoritism, but he could give his share to them.

After a night’s rest, the next day, after breakfast, the camp quickly became lively.

After an afternoon and a night of reflection, the group that had participated in the hunting operation started a self-reflection meeting, and those who hadn’t participated watched with interest.

They thought about where they went wrong and where they could have done better.

In fact, they did make quite a few mistakes. They failed to trap the creature several times. Their fear after the failures was also a problem, as was their carelessness at the end.

The Awakened Zombie wasn’t strong. Ji Yanqing might have been able to handle it alone. They had panicked when they were together, and it was thanks to Ji Yanqing that the whole operation didn’t simply fall apart. Otherwise, they might have all been wiped out.

After summarizing the mistakes, everyone also made various hypotheses, imagining how they should have acted at that time to increase the success rate.

Unlike before when Ji Yanqing proposed to hunt the Awakened Zombie and the whole camp fell silent, this time everyone was very actively involved in the discussion. Everyone was eager to express their ideas, and everyone was imagining how to kill the Awakened Zombie.

The Awakened Zombie provided them with good experience and boosted their confidence. Some of the methods proposed were even ridiculously bold.

Ji Yanqing watched from afar but didn’t stop them.

The fear of Corpse Kings was already deeply ingrained in everyone’s souls. Instead of reminding them not to get carried away, he wanted them to have confidence.

The reflection meeting lasted until night, and even when it was time to sleep, everyone was still enthusiastically discussing.

After a good night’s sleep, the next day, Ji Yanqing woke up from his sleep when it was still dark.

He woke up at four o’clock, and it was still snowing.

A little later, close to five o’clock, when the group in the camp gradually woke up, it was still snowing.

The group braved the snow to go to the vegetable field, cut down all the bok choy they had previously marked, carried them back to the camp, and loaded them onto the trucks. It was almost half-past five when the snow finally stopped.

Facing this snowfall, which stopped nearly an hour later than usual, everyone in the camp looked a little uneasy. They had more or less noticed that as they moved north, it was getting colder and colder.

The snow didn’t stop until after five o’clock, and the thick snow on the road made it impossible for vehicles to move. Their departure time was delayed by nearly half an hour, and they didn’t set off until after eight o’clock.

Having already stolen vehicles twice, and with few zombies in this town, Xia Shen Shu easily led the people to drive out the two trucks they had previously spotted and filled with gas.

After leaving the town and driving for more than two hours, they found a relatively secluded place to stop.

They fixed the bulky blankets to the roof of the vehicles, re-distributed the supplies, and tested the generator they had found earlier.

The generator worked, but it was too noisy.

The electricity from the generator couldn’t be used directly. Generally, it also needed to be connected to a transformer and a battery. They had found these things according to what Lu Qing had said.

Lu Qing fiddled with the pile of things for a long time and then charged his tablet.

Xia Shen Shu also quickly took out the walkie-talkies he had been treasuring and asked him to charge them.

As soon as the computer was usable, Lu Qing couldn’t wait to take out the brain he had been carrying with him to photograph and record it, and also recorded some information about the previous Awakened Zombie.

They let the generator run for an hour.

After doing this, the two hottest hours of the day had passed, and they set off again with the four vehicles.

If the weather was getting colder, the further they went, the harder it would be for them to survive and move.

The water purifier Lu Qing wanted wasn’t a household model but a commercial one. Although that type of water purifier was also used in some places with wells, it was generally used more in food processing plants.

The several urban areas ahead were arranged in a line, very close to each other, and there were no large wilderness areas or mountains between them. There were villages or towns everywhere, and various roads, highways, and national roads crisscrossed the area.

Driving in such a place, a little carelessness could attract thousands of zombies.

Ji Yanqing chose the smallest of the several urban areas ahead. There was a relatively far wilderness area between that urban area and another large urban area next to it, making it relatively safer.

The vehicles headed in that direction, and the group made plans in advance.

“Our main goal is to find a water purifier. Unless there are not many zombies in the urban area, we will leave immediately after finding the water purifier. We will replenish food and other supplies at the next location,” Ji Yanqing said.

Lan Zi and the others nodded and smiled wryly.

That was an urban area, an urban area with a population of over a million. How could there not be many zombies?

“At that time—” Xia Shen Shu was about to say something when the walkie-talkie he was holding suddenly beeped. The driver of the vehicle behind them was calling them.

The person who had just gotten the walkie-talkie wasn’t familiar with its operation. The machine kept making static noises. He talked for a long time, but Ji Yanqing couldn’t understand him.

Ji Yanqing simply got up.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Yanqing asked, leaning out the back of the truck.

The driver in the vehicle behind them stuck his head out the window and shouted directly, “Captain Ji, we’ve spotted people.”

“People?”

Ji Yanqing looked around.

They were passing through a flat grassland. The grassland wasn’t wide, and they could see mountains and forests in the distance.

No people were seen in the grassland.

“In the woods over there. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but they are indeed people. They even waved at us,” the man pointed to the left side of the convoy.

Ji Yanqing immediately looked in that direction.

The vehicles were moving fast, and the surrounding scenery was quickly receding. Even so, he quickly caught sight of a group of people in the distance under the trees.

Those people were too far away, only a small black dot. They were waving at them.

Zombies don’t wave.

Seeing that their convoy didn’t stop, some of the people chasing after them even took off their coats and waved them above their heads, fearing that Ji Yanqing and the others wouldn’t see them.

“What should we do?” the driver asked.

“Here.” Xia Shen Shu pulled out a telescope from somewhere and handed it to Ji Yanqing. He also had one in his hand and was already looking in that direction.

Ji Yanqing took the telescope and looked over there.

The telescopes they found were toys. The specifications were already very high, but they were still not as good as professional ones.

Looking into the distance, although the figures that were originally only the size of small black dots were magnified several times, they could still only see a general outline.

“There’s no one in the woods. It doesn’t look like an ambush. There aren’t many of them, seventy or eighty. Should we go and take a look?” Xia Shen Shu asked.

Lan Zi took the telescope from Xia Shen Shu’s hand and looked.

After thinking for a moment, Ji Yanqing said, “Stop the car first.”

The city was ahead, and the fact that these people were nearby meant they had likely just left the city. They might know something about the city ahead.

Moreover, they only had about thirty bullets left, which was practically nothing. They were about to enter the city, and they needed to find a way to get some bullets.

Xia Shen Shu immediately used his precious walkie-talkie to notify everyone on the channel.

The convoy quickly stopped.

After the vehicles stopped, Ji Yanqing got out of the car.

He took the telescope and looked over there again. The people over there were very happy to see them stop and were quickly approaching them.

“Should I take some people over there first?” Xia Shen Shu looked at Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing nodded and reminded him, “Take Hei Long with you.”

Hei Long was a strange person, but so far, he was also the person in their team who had met the most survival teams.

Xia Shen Shu understood. He had his team prepare and also asked someone to get Hei Long.

A few minutes later, after getting ready, Xia Shen Shu hung his precious walkie-talkie on his waist, held his gun, and led the people towards the other group with a swish of his foxtail.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the first time they had come into contact with other survival teams, but their previous encounters, whether with Lu Qing or Hei Long, weren’t very formal, which made Ji Yanqing a little nervous.

After approaching them for a distance, the other group stopped their main force and only sent forward a small group of people, equal in number to Xia Shen Shu’s group.

A few minutes later, the other group and Xia Shen Shu’s group met in the middle of the grassland.

The two sides were five or six meters apart, both maintaining a high level of vigilance.

The distance was too far, and Ji Yanqing couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the communication seemed to be going smoothly, at least the atmosphere wasn’t tense.

Two or three minutes later, Xia Shen Shu and his group turned around and walked back towards them.

At the same time, the walkie-talkie in Lan Zi’s hand beside Ji Yanqing rang, and Xia Shen Shu’s voice came from the walkie-talkie, “Boss, boss, this is Unit One, please respond.”

Lan Zi replied dryly, “You’re already walking back, save your battery and walk faster if you want to report.”

Xia Shen Shu loved his walkie-talkies. Ever since they were charged and usable, he had been playing with them whenever he had the chance. However, they had been traveling smoothly, and he had hardly had the opportunity to use them.

Now that he finally had the chance, he immediately showed them off.

Having just been wagging his foxtail happily, Xia Shen Shu suddenly deflated after being scolded.

A few minutes later, Xia Shen Shu and his group returned to the team.

Xia Shen Shu looked at Ji Yanqing with a wronged expression, “There are about seventy to eighty people, about fifty of them have guns. Many of them are injured. They look very worse for wear.”

“I asked, and they said they encountered Corpse Kings fighting in the city. Their team originally had more than three hundred people. Some died, some scattered, and now only they are left. They aren’t from the cities ahead.”

Hearing the words “Corpse Kings fighting,” everyone frowned.

That’s how terrifying Corpse Kings were. A large team of more than three hundred people was reduced to this just because they encountered Corpse Kings fighting in the city.

“What do they want?” Ji Yanqing asked.

“They want to trade for food and water. They lost most of their supplies. They said they have information about a gathering,” Xia Shen Shu said.

“A gathering?”

Hei Long immediately and eagerly spoke up, “You can think of it as a large-scale exchange meeting between survival teams, usually organized by a large team, to allow survival teams to exchange supplies and information with each other.”

“Many teams will go. It’s said that you can exchange for all kinds of strange things at the gathering, maybe even heavy weapons like tanks and rocket launchers.”

“In addition to supplies, you can also exchange information, such as information about edible mutated plants.”

“But these gatherings are usually very dangerous. The teams that go generally give the organizers face and behave during the gathering, but after the gathering, it’s hard to say, since there are no laws to restrain them now.”

Hearing Hei Long’s words, everyone looked surprised. They had never heard of this before.

And in their impression, there weren’t many people left alive in this apocalypse. They hadn’t even thought that there could be such a large gathering.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Lan Zi asked.

“These gatherings are usually passed on by word of mouth among survival teams. I’ve only heard about them before and never had the chance to participate,” Hei Long looked at Lu Qing excitedly, “He should have heard of them.”

Lu Qing nodded with a gentle and refined expression, just like when Ji Yanqing and the others first met him.

But those who had become familiar with him and had seen him go crazy were no longer fooled. The only reason Lu Qing could maintain his refined demeanor was because the matter had nothing to do with zombies, and he was absent-minded while listening.

“It’s said that such gatherings have been held several times, each time organized by a large team with at least five hundred people,” Hei Long said.

“More than five hundred people?” Lan Zi frowned.

They only had a hundred and twenty or thirty people now. She didn’t even know if all the living people she had met along the way added up to that many.

“In addition to the number of people, the team also needs to have a certain reputation, otherwise who would dare to go without knowing anything? Or to put it another way, only a team that can organize such a gathering can be called a large team.”

“But there aren’t many such teams. As far as I know, there are only two or three in our area.”

Hei Long looked at Ji Yanqing excitedly, waiting for Ji Yanqing to make a decision.

Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and the others also looked at Ji Yanqing, waiting for him to decide.

Ji Yanqing didn’t give an immediate answer but fell into deep thought.

This gathering sounded good at first, as if you could exchange for anything, but the problem was, even if they went, how much could they offer as a bargaining chip?

To survive until now, to grow the team to such a size, none of the leaders of those teams were pushovers. They must have as much information about zombies and mutated plants as they did.

Moreover, such large teams must also have a lot of weapons and resources. Their team of over a hundred people could kill an Awakened Zombie, so those teams must not be too bad either.

It would be fine if no conflict arose with such teams, but if a conflict did occur, it was questionable whether they could retreat unscathed.

Ji Yanqing raised his eyes, “We’ll put the gathering aside for now. They can exchange for food and water, but we want bullets.”

Ji Yanqing thought for a moment and added, “Fifty bullets for one meal’s worth of food and water for their entire team.”

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s firm tone, Hei Long and the others couldn’t help but look disappointed, but no one objected.

Their trust in Ji Yanqing had reached the point where they didn’t even need to think to know that Ji Yanqing would never do them wrong.

Xia Shen Shu nodded and led a group of people back.

The other group had also returned to their team to discuss and were walking towards the middle of the two teams.

A few minutes later, the people from the two teams met again.

Hearing their reply, the faces of the several people in charge of the other team were very unpleasant.

“You’re just robbing us,” the thirty-something-year-old man leading the other team said, his face flushed red and the veins on his forehead bulging.

Normally, fifty bullets were enough to exchange for several days’ worth of food and water for a hundred people, enough to exchange for a whole truckload!

Xia Shen Shu smiled and said slowly, “We are exchanging food for bullets, and you are exchanging bullets for your lives. Whether it’s supplies or bullets, everyone is trying to survive, but right now, the ones who are about to die are you.”

Xia Shen Shu reminded them with a smile, “We could actually do nothing, just follow you from afar until you starve to death, and then take your weapons. At that time, not only your bullets, but even your guns will be ours.”

Hearing Xia Shen Shu’s words, the group on the other side couldn’t help but grip their guns tighter, their already unpleasant faces turning even darker.

Xia Shen Shu’s gaze swept over the hands holding the guns. He was unmoved and still smiling, “If it were me, I would definitely do that, but unfortunately, our leader is a stickler for principles, sigh...”

Hearing Xia Shen Shu’s sigh, the muscles on Hei Long’s face twitched, and the dragon tattooed on his head looked even more like a caterpillar.

He had long seen that Xia Shen Shu was a capable person, but seeing Xia Shen Shu smiling as he said those cold words, seeing another side of him that he had never shown in front of Ji Yanqing, he still felt a chill in his hands and feet.

Ji Yanqing was a very good-natured person, but the people around him were a group of utter lunatics, each more insane than the last.

Hearing Xia Shen Shu’s seemingly regretful words, the muscles on the faces of the group across from them also twitched.

Their faces were unpleasant, but they quickly calmed down. Although they were unwilling, they had to admit that Xia Shen Shu was right.

They were the ones who needed help, the ones who urgently needed food and water, not Ji Yanqing and his team.

The leader took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, “Two hundred bullets for four meals’ worth of food and water. Payment on delivery.”

Xia Shen Shu nodded and hurried back to report to Ji Yanqing.

Returning to the front of the vehicle, Xia Shen Shu reported that the other party had agreed to the exchange.

Ji Yanqing looked at the group around him, “Collect the materials.”

While moving, the group continued to look at Ji Yanqing.

“One meal’s worth” was a very vague term. It didn’t specify the amount. Three bites could also be considered a meal.

“Give them our usual amount,” Ji Yanqing said. Their current reserves were sufficient. If they weren’t, he wouldn’t have agreed to the exchange.

Hearing this, the group moved quickly.

Xia Shen Shu looked at Ji Yanqing with a smile, not surprised at all.

There were many of them, and they quickly found a corresponding amount of food.

Xia Shen Shu led his team to carry the things over there.

They were in the grassland, and the other party could see all their actions. Seeing the several large boxes they were carrying over, the faces of the group holding the bullets softened a lot.

After meeting again and handing over the bullets to Xia Shen Shu, and confirming that the boxes were full of food, their faces became even more flushed.

Although Ji Yanqing and his team were a bunch of bastards, at least they were a bunch of bastards with some principles.

After exchanging the items, the other party began to move the things.

Xia Shen Shu counted the bullets, confirmed that there were enough, and walked back.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Ji Yanqing walking towards him from afar.

As he got closer, Ji Yanqing looked at the leader of the other team.

The other party was slightly stunned when he saw Ji Yanqing’s face, but he quickly came back to his senses.

Ji Yanqing’s gaze swept over the faces of the people in front of him, then looked at the group of people in the distance behind them. They were indeed very worse for wear. Almost everyone was injured.

They must have not had any water for a long time. Many of them were barely standing, and their consciousness was already blurred. A gust of wind might be enough to knock them down.

“If you give us the information about the gathering, we can take you to the city ahead,” Ji Yanqing said.

He had looked at the map. It was at least half a day’s drive from here to the city. If they were to walk, it would take at least two or three days.

And that was under normal circumstances.

The other party now only had a little food and water, and most of the team was injured. By the time they arrived, at least a third of the team would have died.

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s words, the person was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes immediately lit up, but this was only for a moment. He quickly suppressed his excitement.

“I can’t decide this. I have to go back and ask my leader,” the other party said.

Ji Yanqing nodded.

Leaving these words, the two groups returned to their respective teams.

After returning to the team, Xia Shen Shu handed the bullets to Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing took the offered box. Two hundred rounds of ammunition – something so grand packed neatly into something so small. Heavy enough in his palm, but next to the crates of supplies they carried, utterly insignificant.

Even steeling himself beforehand, a sliver of reluctance still pricked at Ji Yanqing’s heart.

He handed the box back to Xia Shen Shu without comment. Weapons were always Xia Shen Shu’s domain.

He trusted Xia Shen Shu with it implicitly.

“Boss.”

Ji Yanqing turned towards Hei Long. “Yeah?”

“You’re my boss now. Officially.” Hei Long declared, face dead serious.

Ji Yanqing was at a loss. What was with this Hei Chihuahua’s act of pledging loyalty?  

Just as Ji Yanqing was trying to guess what had stimulated Hei Long, a figure detached itself from the other group and started towards them.

Instead of stopping halfway, the man walked straight to Ji Yanqing and his team, halting only when five meters separated them.

He came alone, unarmed, a gesture of open hands if ever there was one.

“Give us a moment,” the man called out. “We’ll come back over once we’ve had a meal.”

Ji Yanqing nodded, understanding.

With his agreement, the man hurried back to his group.

They were fast. Less than ten minutes later, they’d eaten and were approaching.

From a distance, their condition hadn’t been so stark. Up close, they were a mess – bodies streaked with grime and dried blood, movements shaky, faces ghostly pale. Leading the group, a woman walked steadily despite the exhaustion carved into her face.

Ji Yanqing’s surprise was fleeting. Capable women were hardly a rarity in this new world. Lan Zi was proof of that.

Her innate talent with firearms had driven even Xia Shen Shu, with all his experience, into a state of brooding silence.

When the group was closer, the woman stepped forward and introduced herself as Huang Rongyue.

Ji Yanqing nodded in acknowledgment. “Ji Yanqing,” he stated, giving his name.

He then outlined the seating arrangement for the vehicles.

Despite Huang Rongyue’s group looking like they were on their last legs, they couldn’t afford to drop their guard.  Apart from the Bok Choy truck, the newcomers would be distributed evenly across the other three, allowing Ji Yanqing’s team to keep them under surveillance.

The generator, too, was being loaded into the Bok Choy truck.

Neither the mutated vegetable stash, nor the generator were pieces of information they intended to share with Huang Rongyue and her people.

Huang Rongyue wasn’t stupid. She’d clearly anticipated some form of precaution, and readily agreed to the arrangements.

The groups climbed into the vehicles.

Huang Rongyue found herself in the same car as Ji Yanqing.

As they pulled onto the highway, Huang Rongyue volunteered information about the gathering before Ji Yanqing even needed to ask.

It was scheduled for mid-month, almost two months away, in a place called Wucheng.

Huang Rongyue paused, then added, prompted by the food they’d been given earlier and her resulting better impression of Ji Yanqing, “I wouldn’t recommend going straight there.  It’s mostly big teams, three hundred plus, that head to those things.  Arriving with your team as is, you’ll get marked by predators for sure.  Things could get nasty. If you’re set on going, maybe think about cooperating with another team you can trust.”

“Cooperate?”

“Smaller groups often partner with others they trust.  Travel together, leave together.  Then splitting off once you’re clear of the big crowds.”

Ji Yanqing committed this to memory. It hadn’t crossed his mind before. Huang Rongyue’s group was the only other survivor team they even knew about currently.

“Is your team planning on attending?” Ji Yanqing asked.

Huang Rongyue gave a wry smile. “Heading this way was always about getting to that gathering, but…”

They’d been a force of over three hundred. Now, just days later, they were barely eighty, and each one of her team members was worse for wear.

Ji Yanqing offered no empty platitudes.  This was beyond comfort words. “How far back was it when you ran into the Corpse Kings?”

“Not far. Just nearby.”

“Are you headed for the city up ahead?” Huang Rongyue asked, not waiting for confirmation before continuing. “Those two Kings … they were both power-types.  Working together.  If I’m guessing right, they’ll be holed up in one of the cities around here by now.”

Ji Yanqing’s long, lightly curled lashes flickered.  Huang Rongyue knew about cooperative Corpse Kings, too?

Ji Yanqing quickly reassessed.  Huang Rongyue’s group had been massive, three hundred strong.  They’d racked up experiences of their own, no doubt.

“Was one of them a massive black dog, by any chance?” Hei Long cut in.

Huang Rongyue blinked. “You know about them?”

“Well…” Hei Long’s face twisted, like he’d just swallowed something rancid.

Before meeting Ji Yanqing, he hadn’t grasped that Kings could cooperate. He’d never connected his encounter with the Black Beast Corpse King to the badger-like Awakened Zombie, just assuming it was three Kings duking it out.

Thinking back, that badger thing had clearly been in league with the beast. Two against one.

Hei Long sketched a rough description of the two beasts he’d faced.

“Sounds like them.  Though when we saw the badger-type, it had already evolved into a Corpse King.” Huang Rongyue replied.

Hearing they were already in a city nearby, and one was supposedly even stronger, Hei Long paled further.

His gaze locked on Ji Yanqing, a silent plea to turn back forming on his lips, but dying unspoken.

Around him, the others mirrored his look, the same unspoken desire for escape, for retreat, caught in their throats.

Every major city now likely housed a Corpse King. Escape was an illusion. There was nowhere left to run, not while they were still alive.

“There are a few different cities up ahead.  Doesn’t mean it’s the one we’re heading for,” Huang Rongyue offered weakly, trying to inject a sliver of hope.

They just stared back.  No one spoke.

Silence settled, thick and heavy, in the car.

***

In the quiet, a colossal black beast suddenly sprang into the air.

“Roar?” The badger Corpse King yelped, startled by the Wolfish black beast King’s actions, leaping back just as high.

Their bulk was immense.  The ground shuddered, buildings vibrated with each jump and landing.

The black beast King, fur bristling, wheeled to face what had spooked it.  A shambling zombie was blindly charging its way.  Logic meant nothing to them; anything that moved was prey.

A single swipe of the beast’s paw sent the zombie flying.

It glanced at its claw, then back at the flattened corpse.

“Roar?” The badger King, slowly calming, having been terrified for a moment, was getting used to its partner’s jumpy nature.

Still nothing?

“Grrr…”  The beast King rumbled, a low growl vibrating deep in its chest.

The more Corpse Kings it devoured, the more uncomfortably distended its body became, straining, swollen, as if on the verge of bursting.  Yet the promised breakthrough remained elusive.

It had even deliberately provoked fights against two Corpse Kings at once, seeking the edge of danger, hoping to trigger the next stage. It had been mauled, badly, but still… nothing.

Puzzled and frustrated, it shook its massive, fur-clad head, turning its thoughts to a different, equally perplexing problem.

An insistent, nagging feeling had been growing in its mind, a certainty that Feng Yimo was about to materialize out of thin air, somewhere close. The sensation was becoming more vivid, more real by the day, as if he was already breathing down its neck. It was so intense that it gave it the shivers.

Could it be developing a fear of the directionally challenged?

***

Huang Rongyue’s group, running on fumes, had barely slept in days. Once in the car, exhaustion claimed most of them, save for a rotating watch, plunging the vehicle into quiet.

The convoy ate up the kilometers of highway slicing through mountain and plain, rapidly shrinking the distance to the city they were targeting.

As the sun dipped towards the horizon, painting the sky in fiery hues, they rolled to a stop just outside the city limits, a little past 5:40 pm.

The city sprawled across the flat expanse of the plain.

The city bore the scars of a past Corpse King clash, a conflict that had clearly ended some time ago. Twisted, collapsed buildings were everywhere, and green shoots of vegetation sprouted from the fractured edges of the ruined structures.

The towering buildings stood like haphazard tombstones, giving the unsettling impression that the entire city was a vast, chaotic graveyard.

They didn’t rush in. Instead, they parked their vehicles in the relative concealment of a small wooded area some distance from the city proper.

The trees weren’t dense, but they offered adequate cover from prying eyes.

Once parked, Huang Rongyue’s group, after exchanging a few words with Ji Yanqing, decided to set up camp nearby as well, postponing any further plans until morning.

They were too drained to push on; rest was paramount.

“Find some bedsheets for them. Then check if there are any spare quilts—if there are, send some over.” Ji Yanqing instructed Li Pingsen.

Li Pingsen, who was rummaging in one of the trucks, glanced over at Huang Rongyue’s group, who were settling down about a hundred meters away. He rummaged deeper, retrieving some tarpaulin sheets intended for tent construction and snow protection, along with twenty or so blankets. He sent someone over to deliver them.

Apart from their guns, Huang Rongyue’s group’s only remaining supplies were the food and water they’d bartered for with ammunition. They had nothing to build shelters against the elements. The night would be brutal without some help.

Receiving the supplies, Huang Rongyue looked towards Ji Yanqing, offering no verbal thanks but inclining her head in acknowledgement.

Ji Yanqing nodded back, then turned away.

Huang Rongyue’s earlier words about the gathering had given him food for thought.

As their group expanded, encounters with other survivor teams were only going to become more frequent.

Maintaining distance was necessary, but alongside distance, fostering decent relations could also be advantageous.

This way, they could not only trade resources, but also exchange information about Corpse Kings or other survivor groups.

Huang Rongyue was astute. She was acutely aware of her group’s current precarious state, and clearly desired some degree of amicable interaction, hence her volunteered intel about the two Corpse Kings possibly lurking in the city ahead, and the fact that Kings were capable of cooperation.

A woman as sharp as Huang Rongyue wouldn’t have “let slip” something like that accidentally.

“Head into the city now, or wait until morning?” Xia Shen Shu, perched on a truck hood, asked Ji Yanqing, who was standing beside the vehicle.

“Tomorrow. No need to rush.” Ji Yanqing paused, then added, “Put a couple more people on night watch.”

Xia Shen Shu glanced towards Huang Rongyue’s camp, understanding dawning.

Friendly relations were all well and good, but they were built on a foundation of strength.

Ji Yanqing was easygoing, but he was far from naive.

“Dry rations for dinner then?”

“Yeah.”

If they fired up the stove and cooked the bok choy right here, their new neighbours would instantly know that it was edible.

Lu Qing had mentioned the value of information such as ‘mutated bok choy being edible’ among survivor groups. Ji Yanqing didn’t know if that was hyperbole, but it never hurt to hold onto a few extra trump cards.

With the vehicles parked, the group swiftly set up tents between them and distributed dinner.

During the meal, Xia Shen Shu made a point of reiterating the night watch schedule and the bok choy discretion. Anyone who’d survived this long wasn’t truly stupid, and neither were the people in their group.

Still, knowing they couldn’t enjoy a steaming bowl of bok choy and would be stuck with cold, dry rations – the same fare they’d endured for the best part of a year – a wave of disappointment rippled through them. Their palates had become spoiled by days of hot noodles and soups.

While most only felt a twinge of disappointment, Ji An and Ji Le looked utterly crestfallen, like flowers withered by frost. The light seemed to drain from their bright eyes.

Ji Yanqing, seeing their dramatic faces, couldn’t help but chuckle.

Later that night, Ji Yanqing watched the two little ones finish their portions of food, then coaxed them to drink some water before tucking them into their blankets.

Once they were settled, he touched their foreheads.

Perhaps it was Lu Qing’s antibiotics working, but over the past ten days, their fevers had gradually subsided.

Ji Yanqing had worried that prolonged fever might cause damage; children were so delicate.

But they seemed perfectly fine other than their picky appetites, and even appeared to have gained weight – their cheeks were becoming adorably plump.  He finally allowed himself to relax.

“Sleep now,” Ji Yanqing murmured softly.

Ji An and Ji Le were never any trouble. They obediently closed their eyes and drifted off.

Ji Yanqing touched their foreheads again, then unfolded his own blanket and lay down beside them.

He’d barely settled when something dark shifted and moved closer, then with startling speed, burrowed its way under his blanket.

Instinctively, Ji Yanqing reached for his ever-present axe, only to grasp at empty air. He remembered then that it had broken.

Almost simultaneously, he recognized the icy chill that now shared his blanket – Feng Yimo’s body temperature was always noticeably lower than a normal person’s.

Ji Yanqing peered into the near-total darkness. Even in the dim light filtering from outside, Feng Yimo’s jet-black eyes gleamed coldly.

“What are you doing?” Ji Yanqing whispered.

They had four vehicles now, everyone was sleeping inside, sheltered and warm. People were settled down all around them.

“…No blanket.” Feng Yimo’s voice was deep and gravelly, the low rumble sending a ticklish sensation through Ji Yanqing’s ears.

Ji Yanqing blinked, momentarily stunned. Then he recalled instructing Li Pingsen to distribute some of their blankets to Huang Rongyue’s group.

Ji Yanqing shifted, turning his back to Feng Yimo, creating some distance.

Feng Yimo was too close. He could practically feel the contours of the muscles in Feng Yimo’s chest through his clothes.

Just as Ji Yanqing settled, an arm snaked around his waist.

From behind, Feng Yimo’s arm circled him, pulling him back into a tight embrace.

Sensing the strength in the arm around his waist, feeling the bare skin contact against his back, Ji Yanqing’s breath hitched. He immediately gripped the encroaching arm.

What was Feng Yimo playing at?

“Drafty.” Feng Yimo’s dark eyes were unreadable.

Ji Yanqing swallowed, speechless.

The excuse sounded vaguely familiar.

But wasn’t this the same Feng Yimo who’d previously strutted around in the snow wearing only a thin shirt and trench coat? Why was he suddenly so sensitive to the cold now?

Ji Yanqing gave up trying to understand. He lay on his side, back to Feng Yimo, and closed his eyes.

Feng Yimo’s proximity evoked a strange, unfamiliar sensation within him, but it wasn’t… unpleasant, exactly.

Seeing Ji Yanqing still and silent, Feng Yimo dared not move further. He stared intently at the back of Ji Yanqing’s head. Though it wasn’t the same gnawing hunger he was used to, a new urge had been growing lately – an almost overwhelming impulse to take a bite of Ji Yanqing.

As if Ji Yanqing was… delicious.

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