AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

That night, Ji Yanqing had a beautiful dream.

“Are you alright?” The child’s voice held a curious edge. He leaned forward slightly, trying to see Ji Yanqing’s face in the deep gloom of the room.

Ji Yanqing took a deep breath. When he looked up again, his expression was perfectly normal. “It’s nothing.”

“So, will you join us?” The child’s face was alight with expectation as he asked.

Ji Yanqing remained silent.

Sensing Ji Yanqing’s hesitation, the child grew a little anxious, but he didn’t press him. Instead, he said, “Why don’t you rest for the night? You can decide tomorrow, no rush.”

He patted his chest with a small thump. “Don’t worry, I’m on watch tonight. I’ll guarantee your safety.”

Ji Yanqing glanced at the child’s slender frame, noncommittal.

While the two were talking, the others had already finished the biscuits they’d been given.

The girl, around twenty-one or twenty-two, and the man with the injured leg had each found a spot and settled down again, preparing for sleep.

The elderly man in his sixties took his granddaughter to one side and found a place to sit. A folded quilt lay there. He unfolded it, let his granddaughter lie down inside, tucked her in, and then carefully smoothed the corners of the blanket.

“Grandpa…”

“Hmm?”

“I’m still so hungry.”

The old man’s hand, which was smoothing the blanket, paused momentarily. “You won’t be hungry once you fall asleep.”

Looking at the folded quilt, images of Ji An and Ji Le’s small faces immediately flashed in Ji Yanqing’s mind.

Feng Yimo clearly didn’t have the first clue about looking after children. He definitely wouldn’t be finding quilts for Ji An and Ji Le at night, let alone tucking them in.

A pang of bitterness twisted in Ji Yanqing’s chest.

Even as Corpse Kings, Ji An and Ji Le still felt the cold. Feng Yimo was just too careless.

“What’s your name?” Ji Yanqing turned his attention to the child who had brought him back.

“Gu Wenmo!” The child beamed, a wide, happy grin. “Our team’s called the Ink Dragon Squad!”

Ji Yanqing’s lips twitched, an unwelcome memory stirring within him.

He scrutinized Gu Wenmo’s head, and seeing that the child had no immediate plans to shave it bald and tattoo a caterpillar onto his scalp, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

“What is it?” Gu Wenmo touched his head, a strange, chilling premonition tingling across his scalp.

“How much supplies do you have left?” Ji Yanqing asked.

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s question, the other three adults in the pitch-black room, who were just settling down to sleep, instinctively tensed, becoming guarded.

Survival teams preying on each other was commonplace. What did Ji Yanqing want to know this for?

Gu Wenmo’s expression also turned peculiar, but he quickly answered, “Nothing. The biscuits we just ate were the only food we’ve found in the last three days. Before that, we only had a little water.”

“Water?” Ji Yanqing’s gaze swept across a corner of the room. There were traces of a fire on the ground there, and a dried-out pot sat beside the fire pit.

He quickly understood. Gu Wenmo and his group must have been boiling snow.

That snow was definitely contaminated; they must know it too. After all, the snow was intensely acidic and bitter.

In the past half-year, they must have witnessed people dying from eating mutated plants or drinking contaminated water.

They simply had no choice. Driven by extreme hunger and thirst, it was their only way to survive.

“Are you familiar with the area?” Ji Yanqing asked.

Gu Wenmo hadn’t expected this question. He paused, then nodded hesitantly, a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “We’ve been staying around here for a few days now.”

“Is there a supermarket nearby? Not a small convenience store, and not a large supermarket either. A medium or small one.”

Gu Wenmo grew even more puzzled. “There is one, nearby actually…”

“Take me to it.” Ji Yanqing picked up his axe and backpack, getting to his feet.

“Huh?” Gu Wenmo looked utterly bewildered. “What are you going to do? We already checked it out before. The supermarket is swarming with zombies…”

Gu Wenmo trailed off mid-sentence, remembering how effortlessly Ji Yanqing had killed those two zombies earlier.

Although they were just ordinary zombies, Ji Yanqing had taken less than two seconds in total. Even the strongest members of their previous survival team couldn’t have achieved that.

“It’s dangerous at night. You need to listen to me and not do anything rash,” Gu Wenmo instructed Ji Yanqing, while leading the way out of the door.

Zombies were plentiful around the city outskirts, but nowhere near as dense as in the city center. Plus, Gu Wenmo had been in the vicinity for days and knew the surroundings well. In less than five minutes, Ji Yanqing spotted a medium-sized fresh food supermarket ahead.

The supermarket was on the ground floor, a string of shopfronts knocked together, spanning several hundred square meters. Inside, besides the usual drinks and snacks found in small supermarkets, it also stocked rice, flour, oil, salt, and even vegetables and meat.

Since the virus outbreak and the zombie infestation, the shelves inside had long been plundered of anything edible, save for some odds and ends. Many of the shelves had even collapsed.

Ji Yanqing moved past Gu Wenmo, who was still lingering at the corner, crossed the street where only two zombies wandered far away, and approached the supermarket. From the edge, he peered through the glass window inside.

Roughly estimated, there were only forty to fifty ordinary zombies inside the supermarket. Not too many.

Though the shelves had been thoroughly ransacked, the cabinets beneath them were still closed. There was still hope.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the two distant zombies who hadn’t noticed them yet, crossed the street again, and returned to the corner.

“What are you doing…?” Gu Wenmo was already burning with anxiety. Was Ji Yanqing trying to get himself killed?

“Let’s go back,” Ji Yanqing said, taking the lead and heading back.

In the darkness, Gu Wenmo peeked from the corner at the two zombies in the distance. Forgetting his lecture, he hurried to follow.

Back inside the room, Ji Yanqing began rummaging through the cabinets and drawers, searching for a flashlight.

He carried rope with him, but no flashlight.

The previous occupants of this room, where Gu Wenmo and his group were staying, had clearly lived here for some time. There were a lot of everyday items scattered around. But the place had also obviously been ransacked before, with many household objects pulled out and tossed everywhere.

Ji Yanqing searched the room but couldn’t find a flashlight. He did, however, find a power bank.

The power bank had a built-in flashlight.

Ji Yanqing switched it on to test it. The power bank only had one bar of charge left, but it would barely suffice.

Ji Yanqing tied the power bank with rope, then turned back to the group of people in the room, who were watching him with puzzled expressions. “Does everyone have a bag?”

“What are you going to do?” Gu Wenmo had a guess, and it made his face turn very strange.

“Go to the supermarket.”

Gu Wenmo was speechless. After a long silence, he finally managed to stammer, “…There are so many zombies in the supermarket. Maybe we shouldn’t.”

There were at least forty or fifty zombies inside that supermarket, and including Ji Yanqing, there were only six of them in total.

Forget the fact that those zombies were irrational and would bite. Even in a fight between humans, forty or fifty against six, they stood no chance.

“Starve to death here, or take a gamble. You decide,” Ji Yanqing didn’t bother to slowly explain or persuade them. He left these words behind and headed out the door with his gear.

Seeing Ji Yanqing leave, the group inside exchanged glances.

Gu Wenmo scanned the faces of the people in the room, then looked back at the doorway. He hesitated, wavered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and grabbed his own backpack from the side.

“Xiao Gu…” The old man with his granddaughter tried to stop Gu Wenmo.

“It’s death either way,” Gu Wenmo said, looking at the people in the room.

Hearing his words, everyone in the room froze for a second.

The next moment, wry smiles involuntarily spread across their faces.

They hadn’t wanted to admit it, hadn’t wanted to think about it, but that was the reality. The packet of biscuits Gu Wenmo had brought back earlier was the only food they had eaten in the last three days.

That meager amount wasn’t enough to even satisfy their hunger, and none of them could guarantee they’d find anything again in the next three days.

“Let’s just go take a look first. Maybe it will work out?” Gu Wenmo said.

They exchanged glances again and then, one by one, picked up their bags and went out the door.

Gu Wenmo led the way, and the group quickly moved through the buildings, reaching the previous corner.

When they arrived, Ji Yanqing was already using his clothes to wrap the axe, prying open the back door of a building opposite the supermarket.

The iron door screamed as the axe brutally forced it open, a sound so grating it set teeth on edge.

Hearing that noise and surrounded by the darkness, cold sweat quickly broke out on the foreheads of Gu Wenmo and the others.

Ji Yanqing expertly pried the door open. The moment he pulled the door open just a crack, a zombie lunged at him.

Ji Yanqing dodged sideways. Before the zombie could even make a sound, his axe flashed down.

After dispatching the zombie, he casually dragged the body away from the doorway. Ji Yanqing glanced at Gu Wenmo and the others, whose expressions had frozen solid as they witnessed the scene. Then, he led the way upstairs.

Most of the doors on the floors above were closed, except for one that was open. The zombie from earlier must have come out of that room.

Ji Yanqing closed the door and led the group to the rooftop.

Reaching the top floor, Ji Yanqing looked down from the edge.

The building they were in wasn’t directly opposite the supermarket. The supermarket’s main entrance faced an alleyway. The alleyway led to a distant crossroads after two turns.

The crossroads was clogged with abandoned vehicles, and zombies could be seen moving between the cars.

Ji Yanqing turned to Gu Wenmo and the five others. He singled out the man with the injured leg who couldn’t run. “You stay on the rooftop. When the zombies come out, turn on the flashlight and shine it down. Don’t lower it too much, or else they might grab it. Then use the light to lure them towards the right-hand corner.”

The man with the injured leg was stunned for a moment, then instinctively took the rope and power bank.

Ji Yanqing looked at the others. “The child stays here. The rest of you, follow me down to find a chance to get into the supermarket.”

With that, Ji Yanqing headed downstairs.

Gu Wenmo and the twenty-something-year-old girl hesitated briefly, then followed. But the old man with his granddaughter didn’t move.

Gu Wenmo and the girl looked back.

“Uncle Wang?” Gu Wenmo looked at him, puzzled.

“Don’t you understand yet? He’s going to have us choose someone to lure those zombies out,” the old man, Uncle Wang, shielded his granddaughter. “Those zombies are inside the supermarket. It’s so far from here. Luring them out with just a power bank is impossible, unless someone goes to the supermarket entrance to draw them out.”

Hearing his words, Gu Wenmo and the others’ faces paled drastically.

Gu Wenmo looked at Ji Yanqing, wanting to ask if he was really planning to do that.

Ji Yanqing glanced back at them, but offered no explanation, and continued downstairs.

“You…” Gu Wenmo’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

“…” The girl around twenty-one or twenty-two beside him also moved her lips, but still couldn’t speak.

A deathly silence descended on the pitch-black rooftop.

“Should we go back…?” the man with the injured leg asked.

Gu Wenmo glanced at the stairwell where Ji Yanqing had disappeared, then at the people on the rooftop. His face was a mask of hesitation and conflict. Three seconds later, he bit the bullet. “You do as he says. Everyone else, come downstairs.”

Gu Wenmo took the lead and headed towards the stairwell.

The girl in her twenties glanced at Gu Wenmo, and hesitantly followed.

Uncle Wang’s face was ashen as he shielded his granddaughter. He would absolutely not go down. He couldn’t die. If he died, his Yin Yin would be left with only one path: death.

When Gu Wenmo and the girl reached the ground floor, Ji Yanqing was already observing the supermarket situation from the corner across the street, to the left of the building.

Gu Wenmo and the girl glanced at the distant zombies and quickly dashed across the street to Ji Yanqing’s side.

Hearing footsteps, Ji Yanqing looked up. Seeing that not everyone had come, he wasn’t surprised.

“You two hide well here. Don’t come out until I tell you,” Ji Yanqing instructed.

Gu Wenmo and the girl exchanged glances. So, who was going to lure the zombies?

Ji Yanqing gauged the weight of the axe in his hand, then stepped out from the corner, heading towards the supermarket.

A moment later, Ji Yanqing stopped at the far right end of the supermarket’s glass wall.

The main doors were positioned at the leftmost end of the glass wall, facing the alleyway, placing him quite far from the entrance.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the two zombies lingering in the distance at the alley’s end, then peered through the glass into the supermarket. Finally, he looked up at the rooftop across the street.

The person he had left on the rooftop with the rope was staring down at him in surprise, clearly not expecting Ji Yanqing himself to be the one luring the zombies.

Ignoring the man’s astonishment, Ji Yanqing gestured from below, indicating for him to prepare to lower the flashlight.

Seeing the signal, the man frantically fumbled to turn on the flashlight on the power bank and immediately started lowering it.

Ji Yanqing quickly made a stop gesture. The signal was intended for after he drew the zombies out, not before.

If it were Xia Shen Shu and the others, he wouldn’t even need to give specific instructions. Xia Shen Shu and his team would have coordinated with him seamlessly.

The man on the roof was too flustered. Seeing the signal to stop, he hastily pulled the power bank back up, which had already descended some distance.

The power bank ended up bumping against the wall, thankfully without making too much noise or getting damaged.

As he retrieved the power bank back to the rooftop, the man’s face was pale with panic, his forehead slick with cold sweat.

Ji Yanqing gestured again, communicating the timing as simply as possible.  After confirming that the man understood and nodded, he took a deep breath and refocused his attention on the supermarket.

He strolled along the roadside glass wall of the supermarket, reaching the front doors.

Night was too dark, plunging the supermarket into a murky gloom. In the darkness, the zombies swayed aimlessly, completely lost in their own world, oblivious to the uninvited guest who had arrived at the entrance.

Ji Yanqing raised the axe in his hand and tapped it lightly on the glass door beside him.

“Clink, clink.” The sound of metal against glass was crisp and jarring.

Ji Yanqing could have also thrown something to create noise and lure the zombies out, but the supermarket’s main entrance was directly across from the crossroads. He couldn’t risk startled zombies running out onto the distant main road and alerting the zombies amongst the stalled cars.

Hearing the sound, all the shadowy figures in the supermarket instantly froze.

The next moment, in perfect unison, they swivelled their heads towards the direction of the noise.

Ji Yanqing tapped the door once more, then unhurriedly turned around, stepping out of the supermarket and onto the street.

“Graaah…”

Almost as soon as he reached the street, a chorus of low growls erupted from the previously silent darkness, followed by the thud of running feet. All forty or fifty zombies in the supermarket surged towards the entrance.

They jostled each other, their mouths dripping with drool, like a pack of ravenous ghosts starved back to life. They lunged toward Ji Yanqing, intent on tearing him apart and devouring him.

Ji Yanqing didn’t look back. As soon as he heard the commotion, he sprinted with swift, light steps towards the building diagonally opposite.

Reaching the opposite street, Ji Yanqing used a public trash bin as a foothold, leaping upwards. Using the axe to hook onto the second-floor window’s security bars, he quickly scaled to the second floor.

Thud!

Crash…

The trash bin, anchored to the ground with iron nails, was overwhelmed by the onrushing figures, tilting sideways.

Ji Yanqing hung from the third-floor security bars with one hand, glancing down at the zombies reaching for him below, then looking up at the rooftop.

The man responsible for lowering the rope on the roof only just then seemed to snap to attention. He hastily switched on the power bank’s flashlight and began lowering the rope.

Seeing the light, seeing it sway in the air, all the zombies below were instantly captivated. They emitted guttural sounds from their throats, not unlike excited beasts.

Faced with the sea of decayed faces tilted upwards towards him, the man on the rooftop felt his scalp prickle, his limbs growing clumsy. He bit down hard on his lower lip, using the pain to shock himself back to focus, preventing himself from turning and running away.

Following Ji Yanqing’s instructions, he carefully used the flashlight to guide the swarm of zombies below towards the right-hand corner, leading towards the crossroads, but still some distance away.

While he was doing this, Ji Yanqing quickly climbed upwards.

A five-story residential building, Ji Yanqing scaled it to the top in just a few minutes.

Seeing Ji Yanqing disappear over the rooftop edge, the few zombies who had been still fixated on him also redirected their attention to the light in the air, starting to move along with it.

Reaching the rooftop, Ji Yanqing glanced at the man who had lowered the rope, ignored the other man who was shielding his granddaughter, and swiftly headed towards the stairwell they had used to come up, intent on descending.

Gu Wenmo and his group were too few in number.

Ji Yanqing soon returned to the ground floor.

Once the last two zombies had turned the corner, Ji Yanqing gestured to Gu Wenmo and the girl across the street, leading them quickly towards the supermarket.

“Move quickly and quietly.” Entering the supermarket, Ji Yanqing gave a brief instruction before immediately scanning the interior to ensure no other zombies remained inside.

Gu Wenmo and the girl exchanged a glance. Their legs, already weak with tension and excitement, felt like jelly. They quickly grabbed their backpacks and began rummaging through the supermarket.

“Graaah…”

A low growl echoed through the supermarket.

Gu Wenmo and the girl instantly froze, their bodies stiffening.

Axe in hand, Ji Yanqing moved towards the sound. Beneath several toppled shelves, a figure wearing a black down jacket was pinned. The person was likely one of those who came to the supermarket for food after the virus outbreak.

They obviously hadn’t been lucky.

Without hesitation, Ji Yanqing silenced the groaning figure permanently.

After dealing with it, Ji Yanqing looked at Gu Wenmo and the girl. “Don’t stop.”

Looking at Ji Yanqing’s calm face, hearing his composed words, Gu Wenmo and the girl felt goosebumps erupt all over their skin.

They dared not hesitate any longer, frantically searching through cabinets and shelves for food and water.

After circling the supermarket once, Ji Yanqing went to the entrance. From the doorway, he gazed distantly towards the corner, at the swarm of zombies now agitated by the light above.

Beyond the alleyway at the supermarket’s entrance, was the road choked with vehicles. More and more zombies were being drawn in by the commotion. The group of zombies at the corner had now swelled to nearly a hundred.

“Done!” Gu Wenmo’s voice called out.

Ji Yanqing paused, turning back.

Gu Wenmo and the girl were slinging backpacks over their shoulders, backpacks that looked completely stuffed.

Ji Yanqing choked back a sigh. If the backpacks were full, they could use cardboard boxes to carry more.  After all the effort they’d gone to, getting as much as possible was a given.

Back when Lan Zi and Li Pingsen were around, these things wouldn’t even need to be said, they’d think of it themselves.

Ji Yanqing wanted to remind them, but looking at the growing mass of zombies gathering at the crossroads, he ultimately held his tongue. He led the two back across the street towards the stairwell of the building they’d climbed earlier.

Reaching the entrance, Ji Yanqing looked at Gu Wenmo. “Go call them down.”

Feeling the satisfying weight of the backpack, Gu Wenmo’s grin stretched almost to his ears. Forgetting that he was supposed to be the leader, he eagerly scrambled back upstairs.

A few minutes later, the three from upstairs descended.

“Let’s go back. Be vigilant on the way,” Ji Yanqing added, worried that their excitement might make them careless.

They hadn’t created too much commotion. Apart from the swarm of zombies around the corner, the rest of the area remained quiet.

The return trip was smooth. In less than five minutes, the group was back in the room.

Closing the door, Gu Wenmo took off his backpack and placed it on the floor. He pulled out item after item of food and water, a delighted chuckle escaping him. “So much! This should last us for days…”

Ji Yanqing stared silently at the meager amount of food and water extracted from the two backpacks, not saying a word.

“My heart was about to jump out of my chest just now,” said the girl in her twenties who had gone to the supermarket with Gu Wenmo.

“Me too, my hands are still shaking,” the man who had been on the rooftop with the rope added, his voice still trembling with fear.

As they spoke, the three exchanged glances, seeing excitement reflected in each other’s eyes.

It had been a long time since they had seen so much food and water. Not even when they were with the previous large survival team had they had this much. Back then, they weren’t even allowed to touch any of the supplies.

In their excitement, their stomachs rumbled loudly. Their throats involuntarily bobbed. They had been parched and starved for too long; they barely had any saliva left.

They were hungry, but none of them dared to touch the pile of food and water first. All of them turned to look at Ji Yanqing across from them.

Seeing Ji Yanqing’s face in the dim light, his facial features only vaguely discernible, the group’s emotions were a complex mixture.

Especially those other than Gu Wenmo, when they initially saw Gu Wenmo bring Ji Yanqing back, they had been resistant and disapproving.

They were barely surviving themselves. What good would adding another mouth to feed do? Just make dying together more crowded?

But now, having witnessed Ji Yanqing calmly dispatch the lunging zombies, having seen him stroll down the street knowing a horde of crazed zombies were behind him, and experiencing his sheer audacity, they were now filled with awe and respect for this mysterious and clearly capable newcomer, Ji Yanqing.

That respect even carried a hint of fear.

In the corner, the old man, Uncle Wang, looked even more pale than before.

Ji Yanqing picked out a small portion of the food from the pile. “Divide it into portions of this size, one for each person. Store the rest away for later.”

Hearing his words, and taking it as an order, Gu Wenmo, who was already so hungry his stomach was sticking to his back and his limbs were weak, quickly moved to action. Following Ji Yanqing’s example portion, he rapidly divided the food into several portions, handing them out to the people around him.

After the girl in her twenties and the man with the injured leg had received their portions, Gu Wenmo carefully glanced at Ji Yanqing. Seeing that Ji Yanqing didn’t seem angry, he plucked up his courage and tentatively offered a portion to Uncle Wang.

“One for each person,” Ji Yanqing stated, having noticed Gu Wenmo’s hesitation.

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s words, the group in the room, who had all noticed Gu Wenmo’s action, were stunned, especially Uncle Wang.

Gu Wenmo quickly took another portion and gave it to the little girl.

Uncle Wang stared, his lips slightly parted, his face a mixture of bewilderment and complex emotions. His eyes quickly reddened. He was overwhelmed, unsure how to react.

He had initially genuinely believed that Ji Yanqing would make one of them sacrifice themselves to lure the zombies, in exchange for the survival of the others. When he realized Ji Yanqing hadn’t made anyone else go, but had gone himself, he was already filled with surprise.

Back in the room, his mind was still in turmoil.

Looking at the pile of food and water that Gu Wenmo and the girl had brought back, and seeing Gu Wenmo distributing it, he felt increasingly ravenous, but he had also braced himself to be excluded.

Not just excluded, he had even prepared himself to be targeted by Ji Yanqing.

He hadn’t expected Ji Yanqing to not hold it against him.

“Th-thank you… thank you…” He wanted to say something more, but couldn’t find the words. He could only choke out ‘thank you’ over and over again.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the little girl behind Uncle Wang, who was happily munching on her food, then turned and went into one of the bedrooms, wanting to sleep.

He hadn’t bothered to explain himself earlier because he knew no one would believe him even if he did.

In the apocalypse, trust between people was already fragile and easily shattered. Many would do anything for a bite of food, for a sliver of advantage, even if you had once saved them and treated them like friends.

Entering the room, Ji Yanqing bolted the door and windows, drew the curtains, and lay down on the bed, clutching his axe.

That night, Ji Yanqing had a beautiful dream.

He was back at the camp in front of the city mountain range. They had found an opportunity to shake off Li Xiao, and the group continued to move forward as before.

Ji An and Ji Le were still his little tails, and Feng Yimo was still off in his own world in a corner with his blade, ignoring everyone but him.

Xia Shen Shu was always plotting something mischievous, Lu Qing would absentmindedly pull out a zombie brain at any moment, Lan Zi was wholly focused on her sniper rifle, and Li Pingsen and the others packed into several vehicles.

More and more people in their team were getting guns. Three squads were far from enough. Xia Chen became a new team leader, and Su Luo got the new gun he wanted…

Vehicles roared along the road, bringing gusts of cool wind.

Just before dawn, a faint sound from outside the door jolted Ji Yanqing awake.

Ji Yanqing used the axe handle to nudge the curtains aside and peeked at the dim sky outside. He didn’t linger in the warmth of the bed or the pleasant memories of his dream, immediately getting up.

After getting ready, Ji Yanqing slung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed his axe, and opened the door to leave.

When he came out, all five of Gu Wenmo’s group, except for Uncle Wang’s granddaughter, were already awake.

Seeing Ji Yanqing come out, Gu Wenmo and the others, having recovered from their excitement of the previous night, all looked at Ji Yanqing with complex expressions.

Ji Yanqing’s actions last night had made him seem even more mysterious and powerful. He seemed to belong to a different world, making them both fearful and strangely secure in his presence.

Seeing the backpack Ji Yanqing was carrying, they all froze for a moment.

“Are you leaving?” Uncle Wang was the first to react.

“Yeah.”

“But…” Gu Wenmo opened his mouth, wanting to ask Ji Yanqing to join them, but the words caught in his throat.

He had dared to shamelessly invite Ji Yanqing before because he had thought they were on the same level. But after what happened last night, he realized that Ji Yanqing was incredibly capable. Someone like him would be a central figure in any large team of hundreds.

Having Ji Yanqing join them would be a great advantage for them, they would be the ones holding Ji Yanqing back.

“The things from last night, I’ll leave them for you,” Ji Yanqing said, glancing at the small pile of food and water on the ground.

He had thought they could bring out more, but Gu Wenmo and the others clearly lacked experience in supermarket scavenging.

Hearing this, Gu Wenmo and the others exchanged glances. None of them looked ecstatic. Instead, their eyes reflected a sense of bitterness.

So much food and water, and Ji Yanqing was just giving it to them…

“Are you leaving because of me?” Uncle Wang’s face was full of guilt. He was eager to apologize, eager to explain, but didn’t know where to start.

“No.”

Ji Yanqing glanced at the little girl sleeping soundly on the ground. She was snug under the quilt, her cheeks flushed in sleep. She knew her grandpa would always be there to protect her, so she slept peacefully.

When they were by his side, Ji An and Ji Le had been the same.

“Then how about… I make you the vice-captain?” Gu Wenmo tried to persuade Ji Yanqing to stay.

Ji Yanqing looked at him, his face impassive, but inside he was both amused and exasperated.

Being stared at, Gu Wenmo seemed to have misunderstood. His face flushed visibly. He stammered for a long time before finally forcing out, “Or… or you can just be the captain! You can be the captain and I’ll be the vice-captain! But we have to agree, we’re going to Sunward, that can’t change.”

“It’s not because of that,” Ji Yanqing said.

“Then what is it…” Uncle Wang wanted to ask if it was because they were old and weak, a burden to him, but the words died in his throat.

Ji Yanqing wasn’t that kind of person.

Maybe someone else would leave for that reason, but not Ji Yanqing.

If Ji Yanqing were that type of person, he wouldn’t have bothered to take them to find food and water last night. Why would he take the risk and go to all that extra trouble?

“Following me won’t bring anything good,” Ji Yanqing paused, completely quashing any thoughts they had of keeping him. “There’s a Corpse King hunting me.”

Normally, he wouldn’t mind having a few more people around, but not now.

“You should go find Sunward,” Ji Yanqing said, turning to leave.

Stepping out the door, Ji Yanqing stood at the entrance, gazing at the snowy white world before him, seemingly pristine and spotless, yet full of hidden deadly dangers beneath its clean facade.

He stepped out, heading into the snow.

Watching Ji Yanqing leave, it wasn’t until they could no longer hear his footsteps that Gu Wenmo and the others finally snapped out of their stupor.

They exchanged glances again, and all saw surprise in each other’s eyes.

Being hunted?

By a Corpse King?

Gu Wenmo and the others were momentarily overwhelmed.

They all knew of Corpse Kings. They had even been ‘lucky’ enough to see one from afar once.

The enormous body, the cruel and bloodthirsty nature. It was a terrifying monster far beyond human capability to deal with. Just one glance had been enough to make them tremble even now.

Such a monster, already existing on a plane far above humans, an existence that saw humans as ants that could be crushed with a casual step, was hunting a human?

Gu Wenmo’s lips moved. It seemed impossible, but that impossibility, when applied to Ji Yanqing, somehow became almost plausible.

Ji Yanqing was strong, the strongest person they had ever met. He was also mysterious. Maybe it was true that he had provoked a Corpse King, escaped from its clutches, and was now being hunted…

Inside the room, Gu Wenmo and the others’ throats bobbed, swallowing involuntarily.

Just who exactly was Ji Yanqing?

Reaching the edge of the city, Ji Yanqing stopped and surveyed the distance, pondering which direction to head next.

He had no destination, he was just moving forward endlessly. As for when he would reach the end, he had no idea.

Ji Yanqing started walking again, deciding to just pick a direction and go as far as he could.

“Captain, wait for us!” Just as Ji Yanqing started walking, a shout came from behind him.

Ji Yanqing looked back.

The girl in her twenties from Gu Wenmo’s team was slapping Gu Wenmo on the back of the head. “So loud! You trying to get us killed?”

Being slapped, Gu Wenmo looked aggrieved, but he quickly ran towards Ji Yanqing.

“Captain!” Reaching Ji Yanqing, Gu Wenmo’s face immediately broke into a bright smile.

Ji Yanqing’s gaze swept over their faces one by one. Gu Wenmo was grinning, while the other three adults behind him wore embarrassed and sheepish expressions.

They had all put on their backpacks and grabbed their weapons. They wanted to follow him.

“I know what you’re thinking, but think about it. If we hadn’t met you, we might have starved or died of thirst tomorrow. Starving to death, dying of thirst, or being killed by a Corpse King, dying sooner or later is still dying. Since it’s all death anyway, what difference does it make?” Gu Wenmo said with great conviction. “Following you, maybe we can live a couple more days, isn’t that a win?”

Gu Wenmo’s words were so convincing that even Ji Yanqing almost started to believe him.

“I’m not joking with you,” Ji Yanqing continued walking forward.

“Take us with you, maybe we can even be of some help,” Gu Wenmo pleaded, feigning pitifulness.

Ji Yanqing glanced back, raising an eyebrow. Help?

He really couldn’t think of anything they could help him with.

Gu Wenmo opened his mouth, struggling to think. His face flushed red with the effort before he finally stammered out, “We… we can help you keep watch at night…”

Ji Yanqing turned his gaze forward again. That was… quite the help.

“Captain…” Gu Wenmo called out pitifully, while winking and gesturing wildly at the others beside him.

The others caught on and quickly joined in, calling out.

“Captain…”

“Captain, please take us with you!”

“Captain!”

Ji Yanqing crunched through the soft snow, walking forward. He went a dozen steps before stopping, without turning back. “I’m not kidding. If you still want to follow, then follow. But if you die one day, don’t blame me.”

He knew what Gu Wenmo and the others were thinking. Without him, they would struggle to survive.

If he could help them a little, he would. But if something really happened, he could only say he had warned them beforehand.

Gu Wenmo and the others weren’t Xia Shen Shu and his team. He wouldn’t feel heartbroken if anything happened to them.

“Captain!” Gu Wenmo immediately ran forward, grinning. “Where are we going next? How about we go find Sunward? Sunward’s behind us, not this way. You’re going in the wrong direction.”

Gu Wenmo was young, and naturally talkative. In this environment where everyone else was taciturn, he seemed rather chatty, rambling on and on, a bit noisy.

Ji Yanqing ignored his pointless chatter and continued walking forward.

He had rested in the city for three days, but the exhaustion from the long journey hadn’t completely dissipated. He pondered whether he should find a small village ahead to rest for another two days and replenish his food supplies.

He had given all the food and water he’d found last night to Gu Wenmo and the others. He himself was now completely empty-handed.

Just as Ji Yanqing was lost in thought, he suddenly whipped his head around.

Seeing his abrupt movement, Gu Wenmo and the others following behind him were momentarily stunned, before belatedly turning to look back themselves.

Turning back, and clearly seeing what Ji Yanqing was staring at, Gu Wenmo and the others’ brows furrowed.

It was a group of five men, each wielding a gun – with two machine guns and three handguns making up their arsenal. They were all in their twenties or thirties, and physically more robust and powerful than Gu Wenmo and his companions. They were members of a survival team.

“It’s them.”

“What are they doing here?”

“Let’s hurry and leave.”

Ji Yanqing shifted his gaze away from the men, who were approaching them from the edge of the city, and looked at Gu Wenmo and the others. “Recognize them?”

“Guys from our previous survival team. A bunch of scum,” Gu Wenmo spat out in disgust. He held considerable resentment towards his former team.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the others; their expressions were equally grim.

“It’s you…”  One of the men approaching Ji Yanqing noticed Gu Wenmo and his group, surprise flickering across his face.

“What do you want?” Gu Wenmo demanded.

“None of your business.” The lead man, clutching a gun, turned his attention to Ji Yanqing. He plastered what was meant to be a gentle smile onto his fleshy, scarred face. “Our boss wants to meet you.”

“We saw the light last night,” the lead man continued, still trying for a harmless demeanor.  “We went to that supermarket this morning after dawn and saw that you’d drawn out those zombies...”

“And?” Ji Yanqing prompted, his tone flat.

“We found quite a bit of supplies in that supermarket,” the man stated.

Gu Wenmo blinked, seemingly caught off guard by this possibility.  A look of annoyance, as though the bad guys had profited, crossed his face.

“Our captain would like to invite you to join us. As it happens, we can return the supplies we found in the supermarket to you. ” The man grinned.  “There’s quite a lot, so we didn’t bring it over.”

Hearing this, the expressions of Gu Wenmo and the others rapidly shifted.  They shot worried glances at Ji Yanqing.

In this current environment, supplies were incredibly scarce and precious. Even someone as mysteriously powerful as Ji Yanqing was still just a man. He needed to eat to survive.

Ji Yanqing turned to walk in the opposite direction, intending to continue leaving. They were still on the city outskirts. He doubted these men would dare open fire here.

Seeing Ji Yanqing ignore the group, Gu Wenmo and the others, who had been filled with anxiety, breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Gu Wenmo stuck his tongue out at the lead man before quickly catching up to Ji Yanqing. “Boss, don’t believe them! They’re seriously bad news.”

“What’s so good about following those few?” The lead man’s smile vanished, replaced by a scowl at being rejected. “We can give you everything they can, and more.”

He had a gun in his hand. In their survival team, everyone treated him with respect. Yet, Ji Yanqing had simply ignored him after he’d spoken so politely.

Ji Yanqing stopped in his tracks.

Gu Wenmo’s face instantly fell.

The man, who was starting to get angry, paused, a flicker of disdain flashing in his eyes.  It dawned on him – Ji Yanqing had been waiting for him to say that.

Realizing Ji Yanqing was just a common man after all, a wave of relief washed over him. He dropped the pretense of politeness and stated directly, “If you’re willing to join us, you can tell our boss any conditions you have. He’s waiting for you.”

Ji Yanqing glanced back at the group of men, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and followed them.

Gu Wenmo and the others’ faces cycled through a range of colors, from green to white.

Ji Yanqing walked a few steps, noticed Gu Wenmo and the others hadn’t followed, and looked back.

Gu Wenmo and the others were stunned, but instinctively hurried to catch up.

Walking through the snow, Gu Wenmo and the others exchanged glances, each seeing confusion reflected in the other’s eyes. What was Ji Yanqing planning to do?

Seeing Ji Yanqing not only go with them but also bring Gu Wenmo and his group along, the men with guns who had come to find Ji Yanqing also exchanged bewildered looks.

They ignored Gu Wenmo and the others, however.  Before they understood Ji Yanqing’s true capabilities, they didn’t want to provoke him unnecessarily.

Reaching the edge of the city, without Ji Yanqing even asking, one of the men who had come to find him proactively stepped forward to lead the way.

Gu Wenmo and his companions had been driven out of this very city. Their previous survival team was still based inside, not far from where Gu Wenmo’s group had formerly resided.

That location wasn’t far from the supermarket either, explaining how the survival team members had spotted the light last night.

It took barely ten minutes to travel from the city outskirts to their camp.

The survival team had set up camp at a secluded logistics company. They numbered around fifty people, mostly young and strong.

The team was visibly divided into two factions. One group, appearing energetic and lively, gathered in the courtyard – likely the core members. The other group, listless and dispirited, sat either along the edges of the courtyard or inside the buildings.

They only had six guns in total. Aside from the five who had gone to find Ji Yanqing, only one other person, standing next to the captain, held a weapon.

The survival team’s leader was a man in his forties, dressed in a garish liver-red jacket that stood out starkly amongst the dark clothes worn by everyone else.

He was sitting on a cargo crate in the courtyard, talking to another man.

The man he was addressing stood with his back to the entrance. Ji Yanqing couldn’t see his face, yet his attention was instantly, irrevocably fixed. The man wore a white fur coat, white casual pants, white shoes and socks – a vision in white from head to toe. Tall and slender, he possessed an air of considerable refinement. A strange feeling settled over Ji Yanqing, though he couldn't immediately place its source.

“He’s here.” The survival team captain in the liver-red jacket spotted Ji Yanqing, offering a strained smile.

Ji Yanqing glanced over. The captain’s smile was superficially warm, but clearly insincere. The undisguised arrogance and self-importance etched between his brows instantly reminded Ji Yanqing of Xue Gang.

His gaze swept across the courtyard. Among the fifty-odd members of the survival team, nearly ten were women. They weren't in the courtyard, but huddled inside the buildings, expressions listless, complexions pale. Ji Yanqing understood immediately. He had heard of such things, but this was his first time witnessing it firsthand.

“My name is Lu Yunxiao. Call me Captain Lu. What’s yours?” Captain Lu, seemingly unfazed by Ji Yanqing’s appraisal, smiled with a hint of pride, as if showcasing his collection of ‘belongings.’

“How much do you know about Sunward?” Ji Yanqing asked directly.

“Sunward?” Lu Yunxiao blinked, momentarily surprised. “You’re also planning to go to Sunward? Perfect. We’re headed in the same direction.”

Ji Yanqing remained silent, awaiting a proper answer.

Lu Yunxiao, surprisingly patient, took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know your current understanding of Sunward, but if you’re asking for the latest news, I can share some. Rumor has it Sunward lost their captain. Apparently, the Split Sky team was involved. I don’t know the specifics, but since then, Sunward and Split Sky have been locked in a bitter feud.”

“Sunward set a trap, lured the Split Sky people into the city, and completely obliterated them. Split Sky is no more; their guns are now Sunward’s.”

“After wiping out Split Sky, the Sunward people didn’t leave. Instead, they began a frantic search for their captain in several nearby cities. It’s been almost a month now.”

“If you ask me, they might be crazy. Anyone with a brain knows their captain is dead. He would have come out by now otherwise. But they refuse to believe it, searching city by city, as if determined to find him even if he’s become a zombie.”

“In their search, they’ve already killed two Awakened Zombies and one Corpse King. The bodies are supposedly strung up as trophies along their search path.”

Ji Yanqing’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “…a Corpse King?”

“Yeah, unbelievable, right? Humans killing a Corpse King. Even though three other survival teams joined them after their captain’s incident, bringing their numbers to over three hundred, they're still just humans, yet they killed a Corpse King.”

Ji Yanqing’s lips parted, his throat constricting with a bitter, aching pain. He couldn’t fathom how those people, who used to pale at the sight of Awakened Zombies, had summoned the courage to hunt a Corpse King.

“Where are they now?” A cheerful voice drifted over.

Ji Yanqing turned. It was the man in white, who had been speaking with Lu Yunxiao. Previously, distance had obscured his features. Now, standing before Lu Yunxiao, Ji Yanqing finally saw him clearly.

It was an exceptionally beautiful face, delicate yet defined. But it was also chilling, especially the eyes. They appeared normal, black and white clearly defined, yet the mirth in his smile never reached them. Coupled with the subtle upturn of his eye corners, he exuded a cold, clinging, snake-like quality.

The unsettling strangeness Ji Yanqing had felt intensified, sending a shiver down his spine.

“That team that killed the Corpse King – where are they?” the man asked, smiling.

“We were just about to head that way. If you want, you can join us. We can go together,” Lu Yunxiao offered.

“Hmm…” The man in white narrowed his eyes, drawing out the sound with a predatory interest, the final syllable tinged with bloodlust and excitement.

Sensing his gaze, the man turned to Ji Yanqing.

The instant their eyes met, Ji Yanqing felt as if he had been plunged into an ice cellar. His heart and lungs seemed to seize, ears buzzing in the sudden silence.

“This is Lou Ye. He’s with me, just met him in the city. He came to ask me about the Grim Reaper,” Lu Yunxiao said, seemingly oblivious to anything unusual about Lou Ye.

“Grim Reaper?” Ji Yanqing couldn’t see his own face, but he felt the blood drain from it, leaving him deathly pale.

Lu Yunxiao glanced at Ji Yanqing, suspicion flickering in his eyes. “He wanted to know about the Corpse King people are calling the ‘Grim Reaper’. But I don’t know much. Last I heard, over a month ago, he’d gone north again, but no one knows the specifics.” He added with forced levity, “Strange, everyone’s asking about people today.”

“Do you know where he is?” Lou Ye’s face suddenly loomed close.

Staring at that face inches away, at those smiling, empty eyes, Ji Yanqing’s mind buzzed. He finally understood the source of that unsettling unease he’d felt from the moment he saw Lou Ye.

Lou Ye’s presence… it was similar to Feng Yimo’s.

Lou Ye was a Corpse King. A thrice-evolved Corpse King.

“Run.” Ji Yanqing slowly raised his axe, turning to Gu Wenmo and the others.

Gu Wenmo was dumbfounded. “What?”

“Run! Corpse King!” Ji Yanqing swung his axe at Lou Ye.

Lou Ye had come to ask for directions, but he had never intended to let Lu Yunxiao and his men live after getting them. He hadn't even planned on sparing Xia Shen Shu and the others.

But kill Xia Shen Shu and the others? Would he let that happen?

----

<Prev><TOC><Next>

----