AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 69

Chapter 69 

Feng Yimo, Ji An, And Ji Le Were Corpse Kings.

---

Hearing his familiar voice, confirming that the man before them was truly the one they had obsessively searched the world for, the already stunned Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen found their minds completely unable to function.

Lan Zi, still wrapped in Ji Yanqing’s embrace, couldn’t stop her tears. “Waaaah…”

For so many nights, she had been jolted awake by nightmares of Ji Yanqing being devoured by a horde of zombies. In her dreams, his lifeless eyes would stare straight at her as he told her he didn’t want to die, that he was in so much pain. Every time she had that dream, she would spend days unable to shake off a suffocating feeling, no matter how many times she told herself it wasn’t real.

She could convince herself that dreams were just dreams, but she couldn’t ignore the waking truth. Ji Yanqing had led them all this way, only to be betrayed in the end by one of their own.

Did he ever regret it? Regret saving them, regret taking them in? Was it because he was disappointed in them, so disillusioned by the betrayal, that he had left so quietly?

“You… I thought…” Lan Zi had so much to say, so many questions to ask, but in that moment, she couldn’t form a coherent thought. All that mattered was that Ji Yanqing was alive.

Ji Yanqing raised one of the arms that had been holding her shaking form, squeezing her shoulder in response.

Below the bus, Li Pingsen’s remaining eye grew even redder, filled with bloodshot veins. He had thought about what he would do when he finally found Ji Yanqing. Would he cry his heart out while hugging him? Would he grab him by the collar and demand to know why he hadn’t come back? Or would he punch him soundly for making them worry so much?

Ji Yanqing was alive. He was back. He had come back alive, and he had even said to them, “Long time no see.”

“I’m sorry,” Ji Yanqing said.

“What… what happened?” Li Pingsen struggled to keep his voice steady, but the words that came out were incredibly hoarse.

“It’s a long story—”

“Then make it short,” Xia Shen Shu cut in, his red eyes fixed on Ji Yanqing, his chest heaving like a starved wolf on the brink.

Ji Yanqing looked at him.

“I’m sorry.” Meeting Xia Shen Shu’s bloodshot gaze, that was all he could manage.

Xia Shen Shu’s lips moved. He wanted to say more, but the words wouldn’t come. His usual playful smirk was gone, and he didn’t look like himself at all. It was the first time Ji Yanqing had ever seen him like this. It was strange, and the sight filled him with guilt. He had truly hurt him. Hurt them all.

Xia Shen Shu turned his head away, unable to look at him any longer. He needed a moment, or he was afraid he would actually charge into the bus and punch Ji Yanqing in the face. Does he have any idea how worried I was? I thought he was dead.

“I will explain everything to you,” Ji Yanqing said, a bitter taste in his throat. He knew he had made them worry, but now wasn’t the time to talk about it. He had to find the right moment. The fact that there were three Corpse Kings in their team was no small matter. If word got out, the entire gathering would erupt into chaos, and Sunward would immediately become public enemy number one.

Xia Shen Shu had only one question.

“Was it Xia Chen?”

“…Yes.” Hearing that name again felt like swallowing a blade. “He tricked me into the mall and locked me inside.” After a pause, Ji Yanqing added, “ And then he … killed Su Luo.”

Su Luo had only been thirteen or fourteen, still just a child. He had been calling Xia Chen ‘big brother’ until the very end, yet Xia Chen hadn’t hesitated for a second when he raised his weapon. Not for a single second.

At Ji Yanqing’s words, at the mention of Xia Chen’s name, hatred flared in the red eyes of Xia Shen Shu and Li Pingsen. Even Lan Zi lifted her head from Ji Yanqing’s shoulder.

“That bastard…” Li Pingsen ground out through his teeth.

Ji Yanqing didn’t want to dwell on the topic. “Where’s Lu Qing?” he asked. He hadn’t seen him yet.

*

In a dilapidated earthen house with only half a roof.

“Don’t push your luck!” a man in his forties with narrow, shrewd eyes spat through gritted teeth. This punk is taking advantage of the situation.

Lu Qing glanced at him, then at the machine he had selected from the pile. “I’ll take this too.”

The other survival team had clearly looted a pharmaceutical factory. They had brought back a large quantity of common medicines, which Lu Qing had little interest in. But this machine—this he had to have.

“You—”

Before the man could finish, a commotion erupted from the bustling alley outside. Years of apocalyptic survival had everyone present instantly on alert, their eyes darting outside. Through the window, which had long since lost its glass, they saw several people running toward the edge of the village, moving so fast they knocked over several people in their path, causing a stir.

“What’s all the noise?” the man asked.

“I heard that Sunward’s long lost captain-”

Before the person at the door could finish, Lu Qing had already dropped the machine in his hands and bolted outside.

“Hey, you…” The man in his forties was startled and scrambled to catch the machine. He didn’t know what it was, but if Lu Qing treasured it so much, it must be something valuable. After fumbling to secure it, he looked toward the door and saw that Lu Qing was gone. He couldn’t help but mutter, “Is he crazy?” One moment he was clinging to the machine for dear life, and the next he just tossed it aside.

*

Lu Qing burst out of the village and into Sunward’s, quickly weaving his way through the convoy. Before he could even ask what was going on, his attention was drawn to a crowd gathered ahead. He immediately pushed his way through. “Let me through…”

Making his way to the center of the crowd, he saw the grim faces of Xia Shen Shu and Li Pingsen and heard Lan Zi’s muffled sobs. Unable to suppress his labored breathing, Lu Qing’s lips parted. Then he stared blankly at the scene before him.

In front of them, Ji Yanqing was stepping off a bus.

Seeing Ji Yanqing, seeing that familiar face, Lu Qing’s pupils constricted violently. All his blood rushed to his head.

Before he could say anything, another group of people pushed through the crowd beside him. They were all original members of Ji Yanqing’s team. Squeezing through, they saw Ji Yanqing surrounded by the others, and shouts immediately erupted.

“Boss!”

“Captain…”

“Waaah…”

The sound of wailing filled the air, turning the already lively Sunward camp into a chaotic scene. As more people entered the camp and heard the crying, their eyes reddened before they even got close. They quickly pushed through the crowd to get to Ji Yanqing.

Seeing this, hearing the continuous shouts and cries, even Hei Long, who had been preparing to gloat, found his eyes turning red.

The newer members of Sunward watched in bewilderment as not only Hei Long, but the other four famously ruthless squad leaders—Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, Li Pingsen, and Mo Xian—all had red-rimmed eyes. They watched as people continuously swarmed around Ji Yanqing. The new Sunward members craned their necks, looking left and right, chattering like a brood of chicks that had lost their mother hen, completely lost.

And they weren’t the only ones stretching their necks to see.

Hearing the shouts and cries, almost everyone at the gathering had become aware that Sunward had finally found their captain. The story of Sunward’s lost captain, and it’s members going mad as they continued searching for him nonstop, had long since spread among the survival teams. Now that he was back, everyone was craning their necks to get a look.

In the apocalypse, the human heart was the most unpredictable thing. For an entire group to go crazy over one person was, to them, simply incomprehensible. Many had seen Xia Shen Shu and the others before, and it was clear to any discerning eye that they were not ordinary people. This only made them more curious about what kind of person Sunward’s captain could be.

Their gazes quickly found the person at the center of the crowd.

Ji Yanqing had fair skin and a cleanshaven, handsome face. He didn’t have three heads or six arms. In fact, compared to the fierce-looking Li Pingsen and the others, he looked almost innocent and pitiful. If this were before the apocalypse, a passerby seeing him surrounded like this might have called the police to rescue him.

Seeing his face, so different from what they had imagined, the curious crowd’s expressions began to twist in confusion. They found it even harder to understand why Sunward’s people had gone so crazy over him.

As more and more people began to discuss Ji Yanqing, infamous long lost Captain of Sunward, a larger crowd began to gather near their camp.

The commotion lasted for a long time. Ji Yanqing’s group had arrived at the gathering around nine in the morning. By the time everyone in the Sunward camp had seen him, and the camp had gradually quieted down, it was already two or three in the afternoon.

After the initial shock and excitement had subsided, the original members of Sunward looked at Ji Yanqing, their hearts filled with a turbulent sea of complex emotions. Their anxiety, despair, and anger had now crystallized into two questions: What exactly had happened back then, and if he hadn’t died, why didn’t he come back to his people?

Ji Yanqing only briefly recounted what had happened in front of the mall. As for why he hadn’t returned, he didn’t explain at that moment. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, but everyone’s emotions were running high. If word got out that Feng Yimo and the others were Corpse Kings, things would become very troublesome.

The newer members of Sunward couldn’t understand this, and even the original members frowned, but no one said anything. If Ji Yanqing said he would explain eventually, he would explain eventually. And if he felt it was something that couldn’t be said casually, then it must be of critical importance. Seeing Xia Shen Shu and the others accept this without question only deepened the confusion of the newer recruits.

“Alright, everyone disperse,” Hei Long waved his hand, shooing the crowd away from Ji Yanqing. “Get back to what you were doing.”

The crowd quickly scattered.

Ji Yanqing looked at the group of rabbits beside him, human shaped rabbits staring at him with aggrieved, red-rimmed eyes. He forced a wry smile and changed the subject. “So, what’s the current situation?”

“Not good.” Reminded of his task, Lu Qing was the first to react. He quickly ran toward the village in the center of the pit to find the other survival team and get the machine back. Things were different now. Once you missed an opportunity, it was hard to get it back. With their current resources, they couldn’t afford to travel through several cities just to find one small machine.

Ji Yanqing watched Lu Qing hurry away. He didn’t even need to ask to know it was something related to zombies.

“We were planning to trade for more medicine and saw a team exchanging disinfectant and some wound medicine, so we made a deal with them…” Xia Shen Shu began.

The situation was close to what Ji Yanqing had guessed. The only difference was that the other team hadn’t just tried to scam Sunward; they had already scammed several smaller survival teams before Sunward. Many small teams had formed temporary alliances, banding together to come to the gathering. But they were the main targets of underhanded trading, because even if they caused a fuss, it wouldn’t amount to much. Xia Shen Shu had only caught wind of this unscrupulous team after hearing the complaints of those smaller teams.

---

“Let’s go take a look,” Ji Yanqing suggested. He had been away for too long. Xia Shen Shu and the others were handling most of Sunward’s affairs now, and it wasn’t appropriate for him to suddenly interfere.

Xia Shen Shu nodded. “We need to go pick up our goods anyway.”

Lan Zi led the way into the gathering, explaining the situation as they walked. “A lot of survival teams came this time. There are more than ten with over five hundred members each, and even more small teams that have banded together—at least twenty or so…”

As Ji Yanqing listened, he watched the people coming and going. The main area for trading and socializing was the abandoned village in the center of the mining pit, which was mostly made up of one or two-story earthen houses. Before the apocalypse, most of these houses had already been abandoned. The roofs and walls had collapsed, and the courtyards were overgrown with weeds, giving the place a desolate feel. After the outbreak, however, lush green grass had grown over the rooftops, the ground, and the alleyways, transforming the village from a place of ruin into something out of a fairytale, a whimsical nature-filled wonderland, where one might expect to see an elf rounding a corner.

Survival teams with goods to trade had each taken over one of the houses. They displayed their wares for passersby, engaging in trade via bartering. The dazzling array of goods, the crowds of people haggling and bartering—it all gave the village a rustic, dreamlike quality.

If you ignored the exhaustion and pain etched on everyone’s faces, that is.

The closer they got to the center of the village, the thicker the crowds became. Brushing past strangers, Ji Yanqing felt a momentary sense of disconnect, as if he had traveled back to the time before the virus.

“There are so many people,” he couldn’t help but remark.

“Yes, a rough estimate would be around fifteen or sixteen thousand,” Lan Zi said.

Ji Yanqing was taken aback. The number was smaller than he had expected. Before the outbreak, even a small city district would have had a population in the millions.

“Aside from a few teams that couldn’t make it in time, the people gathered here… Might be all of the living humans in this entire region,” Lan Zi added.

Ji Yanqing was stunned again, a bitter taste filling his throat. He looked around once more. These ten-thousand-odd people were all that was left of humanity in this vast area?

“We’re here,” Li Pingsen’s voice came from ahead.

Ji Yanqing looked forward.

Before them was an earthen house with a collapsed roof and one collapsed wall. It wasn’t large, just three rooms wide. The debris had been cleared out, and the place looked relatively clean. On the floor were various medical supplies, quite the comprehensive collection. A corner was even piled high with rubbing alcohol, so much that even Ji Yanqing’s eyes turned a little green with envy.

They had clearly looted a pharmaceutical factory.

Inside, Lu Qing was arguing with several people.

“What’s going on?” Li Pingsen stepped forward.

“They’re refusing to hand over what was agreed on,” Lu Qing said, turning his head.

Li Pingsen’s brow furrowed immediately, and he shot a dark look at the men opposite them. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Just give them what they’re owed. Why spoil the harmony?” The speaker was a burly man, at least 1.85 meters tall, with a rough voice that carried an undeniable, forceful tone.

Xia Shen Shu, gun in hand, stepped forward with a smile. “That’s not how it works. Business is about trust. He broke that trust first. What’s wrong with us asking for a little compensation?”

The gruff-voiced man looked at Xia Shen Shu. “I’ll have him give you what you’re owed. That is trust.” His tone was unyielding. In the apocalypse, there were no laws or rules to follow. There was only the word of the one who walked holding the bigger stick.

Hearing this, Xia Shen Shu’s smile widened, while Lan Zi and Li Pingsen’s faces darkened.

“It’s you.” Ji Yanqing recognized the opposing team leader at once. In his forties, not tall, with a buzz cut and narrow, shrewd eyes. It was Zhang Yang, the leader of the Sharp Knife survival team he had met before. It was from him that Ji Yanqing had first learned about Hei Long’s Swift Dragon unit.

Seeing Ji Yanqing, Zhang Yang was equally surprised. His gaze swept over Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and the others before landing on Ji Yanqing. Guessing that he must be Sunward’s lost captain, his surprise deepened.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Zhang Yang said.

“You know each other?” the gruff-voiced man asked.

Xia Shen Shu and the others also looked at Ji Yanqing.

“We’ve met before,” Zhang Yang said.

The gruff-voiced man looked at Ji Yanqing. “Since you know each other, this is simple. Let’s all take a step back and let this go.”

Ji Yanqing’s gaze swept over the man and Zhang Yang. He had no intention of backing down. “I don’t think that’s right. A deal was made, but you shorted us on the goods. Is this kind of thing allowed at this gathering?” He didn’t know who the gruff-voiced man was, but he doubted the gathering organizers would permit such behavior. Besides, it was clear that Zhang Yang had been the one with dishonest intentions from the start.

Before encountering them, Zhang Yang had already scammed several smaller teams. But those teams were too small to dare provoke a larger one like his. They had simply taken the abuse, not even daring to speak up. Ji Yanqing had no intention of seeking justice for them, but if Zhang Yang was bold enough to do this, he should be prepared for the consequences of a dog-eat-dog world.

“So what if it’s not allowed? It’s not your place, Sunward, to police it,” the gruff-voiced man sneered. His words were a direct challenge, tearing away any pretense of civility.

A smirk played on Xia Shen Shu’s lips, while Lan Zi and Li Pingsen’s faces turned black.

The gruff-voiced man ignored them, looking down his nose at Ji Yanqing.

Ji Yanqing met his gaze without flinching, his own eyes cold.

The atmosphere in the room grew tense, ready to explode at any moment.

Just as the tension reached its peak, a commotion came from the crowded path outside. Everyone in the room turned toward the noise. A group of more than a dozen people was heading their way.

At the head of the group was a young man. He was an adult, but only about 1.65 meters tall. His short stature wasn’t a point of pity; on the contrary, it seemed to fit him perfectly, as he had a baby face and a distinctly childlike voice. If not for his clothes, one could easily believe he was only fourteen.

“Then why don’t you tell me who is in charge of keeping the order in all this?” the man asked in his childish voice, though his face was terrifyingly grim.

At the sight of him, both Xia Shen Shu’s and Zhang Yang’s groups paled slightly.

Entering the room, the man looked up and shot a fierce glare at the gruff-voiced man before turning to Ji Yanqing. His gaze lingered on Ji Yanqing’s face for two seconds, and the grimness on his own face softened slightly.

“What happened?” the man asked.

Lan Zi glanced at him, reined in her anger, and quickly explained the situation.

Listening to her, Zhang Yang’s face lost its smile, replaced by anxiety and nervousness as he watched the cute-looking man with the childish voice. Ji Yanqing noticed this and took a closer look at him as well.

After hearing Lan Zi out, the man’s face was grim as he looked at Zhang Yang, but he addressed Lan Zi. “What was the compensation you agreed on?”

Lan Zi glanced at Xia Shen Shu. “An extra half of the original transaction amount.”

Getting his answer, the man didn’t linger on the topic. He abruptly turned to Ji Yanqing. “Your name is Ji Yanqing?”

Ji Yanqing nodded.

The man turned suddenly to Zhang Yang. “Compensate them with double the amount.”

Zhang Yang’s face turned ashen. He quickly looked to the gruff-voiced man beside him. If he paid double, he would have almost nothing left of what he had brought. This entire trip would have been for nothing. His deal with the gruff-voiced man would also be off.

The gruff-voiced man’s face darkened instantly. “Tong Yue, there’s no need for us to spoil the peace over such a small matter.”

“A small matter?” The man called Tong Yue glared back, his face grim. “This gathering is hosted by Equator, my team, yet you lot from Cradle come here to cause trouble, and then you dare tell me not to ‘spoil the peace’?”

Seeing that Tong Yue wouldn’t give him any face, a flash of anger crossed the gruff-voiced man’s eyes, and his words became more aggressive. “If you insist on this, then the alliance our teams had so carefully negotiated… is off.”

“Off it is, then.” Tong Yue sneered. He had never been one to shy away from trouble. After dealing with the man from Cradle, he turned to Zhang Yang. “Either pay double the compensation, or pack your things and get out now.”

“And my machine,” Lu Qing added.

Hearing this, Ji Yanqing and the others couldn’t help but twitch their lips. When it came to anything related to zombies, Lu Qing was fearless.

Tong Yue, still fuming, glanced at Lu Qing. “And the machine.”

Lu Qing beamed.

While Lu Qing was happy, the gruff-voiced man’s face had turned as black as thunderclouds. He shot Lu Qing a venomous glare, then turned to Tong Yue. “Don’t push it.”

“If you’re not happy, you can pack up and get out too.”

The gruff-voiced man choked back his anger, his face turning a purplish-red. He looked from Tong Yue to Ji Yanqing, then snorted and turned to leave.

Seeing him go, Ji Yanqing couldn’t help but look at Tong Yue again. He was small and looked young, but he had a fiery temper. To have such a temper, to dare to tell someone from Cradle to get lost, Tong Yue had to be one of Equator’s two team leaders, or at least a high-ranking member.

“Thanks,” Ji Yanqing said, though he was somewhat puzzled. Tong Yue seemed to be siding with him. He had heard that relations between Cradle and Equator were tense, but from their conversation, it seemed they had just reached some kind of peace agreement. An agreement like that shouldn’t be something to be thrown away so lightly. Even if Tong Yue had designs on Sunward, he shouldn’t have been so quick to nullify it.

“No need. I should be the one thanking you,” Tong Yue said with a smile, his previous disgruntled expression gone.

Ji Yanqing was momentarily stunned.

“You saved my people before.”

---

Ji Yanqing was surprised. It wasn’t that he had forgotten he had saved people from Equator; he was just surprised that such a small matter would be remembered by a team leader like Tong Yue. Equator was a large team of over seven hundred people.

“My younger brother was in that squad,” Tong Yue explained, noticing Ji Yanqing’s surprise.

“Your brother?” Ji Yanqing was once again taken aback. He knew Equator operated with two team leaders who were brothers, but he hadn’t realized Tong Yue’s brother was in that particular squad.

“The one with the beard who was leading them,” Tong Yue said, his cheeks puffing out in annoyance.

Ji Yanqing was stunned for a moment. The next instant, he couldn’t help but stare at Tong Yue’s face. He had to exert all his self-control to keep from laughing. If he remembered correctly, the bearded man was nearly 1.9 meters tall, burly and rugged, and looked to be in his thirties. In contrast, Tong Yue looked to be only thirteen or fourteen, was barely over 1.6 meters tall, and had a childish lilt to his voice.

How could two people so completely different be brothers?

“It’s not my fault I look like this,” Tong Yue grumbled, clearly annoyed.

Ji Yanqing fought the urge to pat him on the head. Now, however, he had a better understanding of where Tong Yue’s fiery temper came from. With his brother as such a stark contrast, Tong Yue’s baby face must have been the subject of endless comments.

After his bout of anger, Tong Yue looked at Ji Yanqing’s face—unquestionably the most handsome among all the survival team leaders—and his impression of him improved even more. Ji Yanqing must have suffered a great deal because of his looks. Seeing him, Tong Yue felt a sense of kinship.

“There’s a meeting later between the leaders of Equator, Cradle, and a few other large teams in the area. Do you want to come?” Tong Yue asked.

“Yes,” Ji Yanqing agreed.

A meeting between the leaders of Equator, Cradle, and the other major teams would certainly not be about trivial matters. A single word from them could be earth-shattering news for other survival teams. Even if a team was powerful, they likely wouldn’t be able to attend such a meeting without an invitation. If he could get in, even just to listen, Ji Yanqing wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.

Tong Yue nodded. “The meeting is set for this evening, after the snow starts. As soon as it starts snowing, come to the Equator camp and just say I sent you.”

“Alright.”

After giving his instructions, Tong Yue shot another fierce glare at Zhang Yang, then led his people away with an imposing air, off to find trouble with someone else.

Ji Yanqing watched him go, only looking away after he had disappeared into the distance. When he turned back, he was met by several pairs of dark, accusing eyes.

“…You sure know a lot of people,” Xia Shen Shu said, his tone dripping with acid. His accusatory stare made it seem as if Ji Yanqing was the unfaithful husband who had been philandering, and he was the resentful wife left at home.

It wasn’t just Xia Shen Shu. Lan Zi, Li Pingsen, and Lu Qing all had the same look of mournful reproach.

The corner of Ji Yanqing’s mouth twitched.

“This … is not good,” Feng YimoFeng Yimo and the kids weren’t mentioned for an entire 3k words, I wondered if they still even existed xD said, agreeing with Xia Shen Shu for the first time. He even nodded seriously after speaking.

Ji Yanqing shot him a fierce look. What are you stirring up trouble for?

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

His gaze swept over the faces of Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, Li Pingsen, and Lu Qing. Seeing their mournful, reproachful expressions, an irrepressible, brilliant smile spread across his face. In that moment, he felt as if he had broken through the surface of the water, a refreshing sense of being alive washing over him.

His Sunward was still the Sunward he remembered.

And they were still the same people.

Seeing the bright smile on Ji Yanqing’s face, a look of helplessness crossed the faces of Xia Shen Shu and the others. When they had the chance, they were going to make him explain everything he had been up to.

“My machine,” Lu Qing said, his mind still on his prize. Now that business had concluded, he immediately looked sharply at Zhang Yang.

Reminded, Ji Yanqing and the others finally remembered the other people in the room and all turned to look at them.

Under their collective gaze, Zhang Yang, who should have been fuming, instead broke into a wide smile. He turned to his men, who were still in a daze. “Go on, tally everything up.”

Then he turned back to Ji Yanqing. “How about I have them deliver it to you later? There’s a lot of stuff, it’ll take a while to count. I can’t have you all just waiting here.”

Zhang Yang’s attitude had changed so quickly that Ji Yanqing had a hard time adjusting.

Seeing him hesitate, Zhang Yang immediately smiled and said, “I was out of line before. I apologize. The machine is yours as well. Let’s let bygones be bygones and be friends, what do you say?”

Hearing his words, Ji Yanqing quickly understood. The reason the man from Cradle didn’t want Zhang Yang to compensate them wasn’t out of concern for him, but because the two of them had a deal. Cradle wanted this batch of medicine as well. Now that almost all of it was going to Sunward, their deal was off. The man from Cradle had lost face and would likely not be pleased with Zhang Yang.

In this exchange, Zhang Yang had lost both the battle and the war. Not only was his medicine gone, but he had also left a bad impression on both Equator and Cradle. If he also made an enemy of Sunward, his future would be bleak. Zhang Yang was greedy and dishonest, but he was also very shrewd.

Looking at his smiling face, Ji Yanqing quickly made up his mind. He didn’t put on a stern face and replied politely, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

There was no need to make an enemy of Zhang Yang. There were probably only twenty or thirty thousand people left alive in this entire region, including the small teams that couldn’t make it to the gathering. With so few people, if a conflict broke out between teams, the number of allies could be a crucial factor.

Seeing that Ji Yanqing was willing to reconcile, Zhang Yang beamed.

Ji Yanqing nodded, exchanged a few more words, and then left with his group.

As they watched them leave, Zhang Yang’s men gathered around him with long faces. “Boss…”

“Cut the crap and start counting.”

“Are we really giving it all to them? If we do, we’ll have nothing left…”

Zhang Yang looked in the direction Ji Yanqing had left, then at his own dejected men. He smacked each of them on the head. “Who told you to mess with that bunch of devils?” he snapped. When he had first met Xia Shen Shu’s group, his impression of them had been based entirely on the rumors of their loyalty and righteousness. Who knew they were just a bunch of bandits?

“Weren’t you the one who dealt with them…”

Zhang Yang, who had been about to leave, turned back and gave them another round of smacks on the heads of his own group of bandits, sending them scattering around the room.

*

After leaving Zhang Yang’s shop, Ji Yanqing took a quick tour of the gathering trading grounds. There were a lot of people, but the items up for trade were mostly the same: medicine, weapons, and some miscellaneous things like signal transmitters and walkie-talkies. There was food, but among all the goods, it was the cheapest.

Qin Yue and Huang Rongyue were also here. Both of their teams had shops, and Ji Yanqing went to check them out, but he didn’t see either of their respective leaders. Sunward didn’t have a shop because their main goal was to bring supplies back. They hadn’t even planned on staying until the end of the gathering; they needed to get back as soon as possible to continue their search for him.

After touring the village and getting a general feel for the gathering, Ji Yanqing glanced at the darkening sky and led his group back to their camp.

The camps of the various survival teams surrounded the central village. Many had already set up tents between their vehicles. Since there were no zombies nearby, some teams had even built campfires. As the sky grew darker, more and more fires were lit, making the entire encampment look like a large-scale camping trip from a distance.

Sunward also had its own campfire, which provided warmth at night and served as their cooking area. By the time Ji Yanqing’s group returned, the members of Sunward were already preparing dinner in the deepening twilight.

Figuring the snow would start falling soon, Ji Yanqing turned to the group behind him. Tong Yue had invited him to the meeting later. He hadn’t said he couldn’t bring anyone, but the number of people he could bring was probably limited. Sunward had five squad team leaders: Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, Li Pingsen, Mo Xian, and Hei Long. He couldn’t possibly take all of them.

“Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, Li Pingsen, you’ll come with me later. The rest of you will stay here,” Ji Yanqing decided.

They nodded.

“I’m going too,” Feng Yimo said.

Ji An and Ji Le looked at Ji Yanqing expectantly. They wanted to go too.

Ji Yanqing looked at him. “I probably can’t bring many people. You should stay at the camp.” Feng Yimo didn’t even care about survival teams or camp dynamics. It would be a waste of a spot to bring him instead of one of the others.

Rejected, Feng Yimo looked at Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen, and felt a clear sense of crisis wash over him.

Ji Yanqing was taking them, but not him. Did that mean his status in Ji Yanqing’s heart was lower than theirs?

---

Ji Yanqing crouched down and stroked Ji An’s and Ji Le’s small faces. “I’ll be back soon. I’m not going anywhere else.” He knew they were afraid he would leave again.

Ji An and Ji Le exchanged an anxious glance, their dark, clear eyes filled with unease.

“I promise.”

“You’ll be back when it gets dark,” Ji An said, clutching Ji Yanqing’s sleeve while he stared at him with a mouth that was making demands while his eyes seemed to be begging.

“You two eat first. By the time you’re full, I should be back,” Ji Yanqing said with a smile.

Ji An and Ji Le nodded reluctantly.

Ji Yanqing stood up and looked at Xia Shen Shu and the others behind him. In just those few moments, snow had begun to fall. The three of them were ready.

Xia Shen Shu led the way toward the Equator camp. As snow began to fall in earnest, people in the central trading village started to retreat to their own camps, paths bustling with people carrying their things. The scent of cooking food drifted from the surrounding camps. The night, the snow, the aroma of food, and the flickering campfires created a warm and lively atmosphere.

The Equator survival team was one of the first to arrive at the gathering, and they had chosen a spot to the right of the village, with a convoy of thirty to forty vehicles. The vehicles were parked in a circle, enclosing a large rectangular open space. In the center of the space was a huge bonfire, its flames dancing in the night. Around it, a crowd of people sat eating from their bowls.

When Ji Yanqing and his group arrived, they were immediately led to a relatively intact earthen house in the village, near the Equator camp. The house was guarded by a ring of people, not just from Equator, but from several other large survival teams as well.

Quite a few people had already arrived inside. Several of them, likely team leaders, were seated at a wooden table, waiting. Surrounding them were their deputies.

Ji Yanqing led his group inside.

Upon entering, he immediately became the focus of everyone’s attention. At the same time, he sized up the people in the room. News that Sunward had found their captain had already spread throughout the gathering. As soon as he walked in, most of the people in the room recognized him, a flicker of surprise in their eyes. Sunward had not been on the original list of attendees.

“What are you doing here?” the gruff-voiced man he had met that afternoon asked, his face dark.

Ji Yanqing wasn’t surprised. To be able to argue with Tong Yue, even if he wasn’t Cradle’s leader, he had to be high-ranking. It seemed now that he was, in fact, the team leader.

“I invited him. Any objections?” Tong Yue followed Ji Yanqing into the room.

“I have no objections,” Qin Yue said. He met Ji Yanqing’s gaze and nodded in greeting.

Ji Yanqing nodded back.

“I have no objections either,” Huang Rongyue, the only female team leader in the room, said. Seeing Ji Yanqing again, she let out a sigh of relief.

Ji Yanqing was a little surprised to see her here, but then he remembered that her team had numbered over three hundred before they had even met, and it made sense. To be able to manage over three hundred people so effectively in this harsh environment, Huang Rongyue was anything but ordinary.

Including Ji Yanqing, there were eightRaw had 7… maybe didn’t count Tong Yue? Maybe I just can’t count? survival team leaders in the room. Three of them had no objection to his presence. The man from Cradle glanced at the remaining few, then fell silent, his face grim.

Ji Yanqing ignored him and studied the other three men in the room. Besides Tong Yue, Qin Yue, Huang Rongyue, and the man from Cradle, there were three other unfamiliar team leaders at the table. All three were men, two in their late thirties or early forties, and one in his fifties.

The man in his fifties had graying hair and seemed a bit out of place among the younger leaders. Ji Yanqing couldn’t help but look at him a second time. The man noticed his gaze and smiled, nodding in a friendly gesture. Ji Yanqing nodded back, but he didn’t underestimate him because of his good nature. No one who could sit in this room was ordinary. To be sitting here at his age was even more impressive.

“Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s cut the crap and get started,” Tong Yue said, his fiery personality on full display as he took the main seat.

The room quieted down, and everyone took their seats. Ji Yanqing sat down in a corner seat. As soon as he was seated, Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen stood behind him.

There were a total of eight team leaders in the room, each with two to four supporting team members. Not all of them were tall and imposing; some were small and frail. There were women among them as well. They were not just guards; they were key members of their respective teams, capable of helping their leaders manage their people. They all stood behind their respective leaders.

Ji Yanqing instinctively glanced back at his own group. He saw Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen with twitching lips, and next to them, squeezed in with a blank, emotionless face, was Feng Yimo. The corner of Ji Yanqing’s mouth twitched. When did he sneak in here?

Feng Yimo stared straight ahead, expressionless, determined to stay put.

Ji Yanqing rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I trust you’ve all heard about Lou Ye,” Tong Yue began.

Hearing the familiar name, Ji Yanqing’s attention was instantly pulled back.

“So far, have any of you personally seen a thrice-evolved Corpse King?” Qin Yue asked.

“Are you suggesting there’s no such thing?” Huang Rongyue countered.

“Not at all. I’m just wondering if they would really go to the trouble of infiltrating our groups. What’s their motive? To kill us? If that’s all they want, they could just kill us directly,” Qin Yue reasoned.

Hearing his words, the leaders in the room frowned.

“The name Lou Ye is known to more than one team. Many have heard of him and the story of him hunting Death. Even if the story of him infiltrating a group was fabricated, what about him hunting Death?” the man in his fifties said.

A brief silence fell over the room. No one spoke.

They had all but confirmed that thrice-evolved Corpse Kings were real, but the story of Lou Ye disguising himself as a human and joining a survival team was something they were reluctant to believe. If it were true, the situation would become incredibly complicated. No one wanted a Corpse King hidden in their team.

“Lou Ye does exist, and he does infiltrate survival teams. I have a reliable source. The person who told me met a team that had been attacked by him,” the man from Cradle said.

Ji Yanqing glanced at him. He didn’t like the man, but he wasn’t wrong. He had a thrice-evolved Corpse King right behind him, smugly pleased with himself for having squeezed his way in, his tail practically wagging high in the air.

“How can you be sure the team your source met didn’t just hear the story from someone else and made it up?” Huang Rongyue challenged.

The man from Cradle frowned.

“I still don’t believe it. At least, not without proof…”

Ji Yanqing looked at the uneasy faces around the table and spoke, his own feelings complex. “It’s true.”

All eyes turned to him.

“How do you know?” the man from Cradle sneered. He might agree with Ji Yanqing on this point, but that didn’t stop him from disliking him.

Ji Yanqing looked at him. “I was the one who gave Zhang Yang that information. The team he met was mine.”

The man from Cradle froze, then his face contorted as if he had tasted something disgusting.

Seeing his reaction, Ji Yanqing was certain that he had gotten his information from Zhang Yang.

“…You met Lou Ye?” Tong Yue’s sharp mind was the first to connect the dots.

Hearing his words, the others at the table looked at Ji Yanqing in astonishment.

Ji Yanqing nodded. “Yes. He looked exactly like a human. He could talk and interact normally, even laugh and get angry. When I met him, he was pretending to be human to infiltrate a survival team and gather information about Death. He was planning to kill everyone after he got his answers. He seemed to … revel in the shock on everyone’s face when he was uncovered. Looked forward to their faces when he...”

The faces in the room turned ugly.

A Corpse King that looked exactly like a human, that could get angry, be happy, and even speak naturally…

Imagining the scene, a chill ran up their spines. They exchanged glances, all sharing the same absurd, terrifying thought: there could be a Corpse King among them at this very moment.

They swallowed hard, their throats suddenly dry. If that were true, they would all be dead. It had been a long time since they, as team leaders of large groups, had felt such a clear and potent sense of despair. It made their skin crawl.

“Lou Ye is already dead,” Ji Yanqing said.

“And how would you know that?” the man from Cradle sneered.

Ji Yanqing looked at him coolly. “I killed him.”

---

Hearing Ji Yanqing’s words, delivered in a tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather, the group, who already had goosebumps, was stunned. The next moment, their expressions became a colorful mix of emotions.

Ji Yanqing killed Lou Ye?

Ji Yanqing killed a thrice-evolved Corpse King?

While they were still debating whether Lou Ye even existed, Ji Yanqing had not only encountered him but had already killed him?

“He.. you…” Tong Yue’s face contorted. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.

“After the third evolution, his bones became harder, and his self-healing ability became stronger. He was much harder to cut down than a normal Awakened Zombie,” Ji Yanqing explained. “But the fact that he’s smaller also makes him an easier target.” After a pause, he added, “He can also control more zombies—not just normal ones, but Awakened Zombies and even other Corpse Kings. He can even use the Awakened Zombies he controls to command other normal zombies.”

Ji Yanqing felt no need to hide this information. While a Corpse King with a personality as vile as Lou Ye’s was likely rare, it wasn’t impossible that there were others like him. If everyone was aware and took precautions, it would be a good thing. If all the other survival teams were wiped out, it would be difficult for them to survive alone.

The room fell silent, everyone’s attention focused on a single word.

Cut down?

With their teams having grown to their current size, they had all had direct encounters with Corpse Kings. Some of them had even hunted one down.

But cut down?

With what? A knife? An axe?

Their own hunts had been the result of expending massive amounts of ammunition. Ji Yanqing had cut one down with a knife or an axe? A thrice-evolved Corpse King?

Was he joking?

They all wanted to ask, but seeing the matter-of-fact expression on his face, the words died in their throats. They swallowed instinctively, a buzzing in their ears.

Behind Ji Yanqing, the faces of Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen also twisted for a moment, but they quickly swallowed their astonishment. Xia Shen Shu smiled faintly. Lan Zi and Li Pingsen held their breath, forcing themselves to look calm.

So what? Ji Yanqing had just cut down a thrice-evolved Corpse King. No big deal. Thrice-evolved Corpse Kings are just a snack for him. He probably eats three at a time—one with ketchup, one with spicy sauce, and one plain.

As they struggled to maintain their composure, Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen felt a familiar sense of helplessness. It was just like before. Sunward was still the same Sunward, and Ji Yanqing was still the same Ji Yanqing—the one who would occasionally do something that caught them all completely off guard.

Beside them, Feng Yimo nodded with an air of importance. He had helped too.

After a long silence, the room stirred again.

Tong Yue’s expression was grim. “So there really are thrice-evolved Corpse Kings that can infiltrate human groups?”

Ji Yanqing knew what he was worried about, but he still nodded. “Yes.” Once this news spread, it would be even harder for scattered survivors to join larger teams, because everyone would be afraid. But it was the truth.

Tong Yue stared into Ji Yanqing’s eyes, and Ji Yanqing met his gaze without hesitation. Their stare-down lasted for three seconds.

Then, Tong Yue rubbed the bridge of his nose with a headache. At the table, the other leaders also frowned, their own heads starting to ache as they tried to remember the last time their teams had accepted new members.

“Do they have any distinguishing features?” the oldest man asked.

After a moment of thought, Ji Yanqing said, “Besides the color of their blood being different from ours, there are no other abnormalities.” He had recognized Lou Ye and the girl in his team at a glance, but he felt that was not something everyone could do. It was more of a combat instinct. Feng Yimo also gave him a special feeling, but not the kind that made his skin crawl. Lou Ye and the girl had felt dangerous from the very first glance because they were full of killing intent. No matter how well they hid it, that intent could not be concealed.

Hearing that the blood color was different, knowing there was at least one way to identify them, the group at the table breathed a collective sigh of relief. As they pondered whether to conduct a thorough check of their teams, they couldn’t help but look at Ji Yanqing again.

Ji Yanqing had not been on their original list of attendees. He was a latecomer. They had initially looked down on him, but now they were forced to re-evaluate. This was especially true for Tong Yue, the organizer of the gathering and the meeting. He had a good impression of Ji Yanqing because he had saved his brother and because he had an unusually handsome face, but that was all. Before, he had seen him as just another capable person, of which there were many among the survivors. But now, he had to reconsider.

Anyone who could hunt a thrice-evolved Corpse King, anyone who could make Sunward’s people search for him so frantically, was anything but ordinary.

Tong Yue glanced at the others. “It seems we’ll have to be more careful at future gatherings.”

Everyone knew what he meant. If there was a Corpse King at this gathering, they would all be wiped out. From now on, they would either have to stop attending such gatherings, or future gatherings would require strict screening.

Thinking about this, they all let out a breath. As if their living conditions weren’t already bad enough; now survival entailed one more deadly threat. It was as if a giant stone was pressing down on them, making it hard to breathe.

After a moment, the discussion continued.

To Ji Yanqing’s surprise, the group didn’t directly discuss the future direction of their survival teams. They avoided talking about their own plans and instead chatted about mutated plants, the situation of teams in more distant areas, and the increasingly harsh weather. At first, Ji Yanqing didn’t understand, but then he realized. Tong Yue and the others must have sensed the growing tension, but there was also competition between the teams. To openly discuss their future plans would be to give others a chance to get ahead.

Half the danger in this apocalypse came from zombies, and the other half from humans. Understanding this, Ji Yanqing felt a mix of helplessness and bitterness.

The meeting lasted for over half an hour. Apart from the initial topic of Lou Ye, Ji Yanqing learned a lot of new, albeit fragmented, information.

Leaving the earthen house, he walked back to the camp through the heavy snow, still unable to sort through all the pieces of information. Xia Shen Shu and the others were also quiet, lost in thought about what they had heard.

Back at the camp, before he could even collect his thoughts, two small figures rushed forward and clung to his legs. He looked down and saw the small faces of Ji An and Ji Le, and his expression softened. He pinched their thin cheeks gently. “I’m back.”

Ji An and Ji Le, who had been waiting for a while, complained in their childish voices.

“It’s already dark, and you still weren’t back.”

“We were waiting for you.”

Listening to their grown-up complaints, Ji Yanqing bent down with a smile and picked them up. It seemed he would never be able to get rid of these two little tails of his. He kissed their thin cheeks in apology.

Kissed, the two little ones, who had just been complaining, beamed with joy.

Ji Le wrapped his arms around Ji Yanqing’s neck and called out sweetly, “Dad.”

“Hmm?” Ji Yanqing carried them toward the tent.

“I like you the most.”

Not to be outdone, Ji An also hugged his neck. “I like you the most too, Dad.”

“I like you the mostNo, you’re supposed to say ‘I like you even more than the most’ and then break into singing ‘Mother Knows Best’ from Tangled… too,” Ji Yanqing said, his heart filled with a searing warmth.

Just as the words left his lips, he met a pair of dark, brooding eyes.

With his hands full, Ji Yanqing said, “Feng Yimo.”

Feng Yimo froze for a moment, then, with those same dark eyes, approached with an invisible wagging tail, his eyes full of expectation.

Seeing him approach, Ji Yanqing, before the human-shaped dog Corpse King could react, mischievously turned to Xia Shen Shu and the others. “Shall we talk now?”

“Alright.”

“Hei Long, Lu Qing, Mo Xian.” As he walked through the camp, Ji Yanqing called over the three men who were by the fire. Finally, he looked at Bai Haoxuan. “Bai Haoxuan.”

Bai Haoxuan was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up and followed. Sunward had so many outstanding team leaders that he had been rather quiet these past few days. Now, being called along with them, his face flushed red.

“This way.” Ji Yanqing led them toward the edge of the mining pit, away from the camp.

Seeing the group head toward the back of the camp, many people turned to watch them. The sky had long since darkened, and a thin layer of snow covered the grass. This was the coldest kind of snow. As they walked, their shoes quickly became soaked with melted snow, their toes turning icy.

Ji Yanqing led them forward until they reached the edge of the basin, far enough that no one in the camp could overhear their conversation. Then he stopped.

He first looked at Feng Yimo, who was walking at the back of the group. The man who had just been full of expectation was now sullen, staring at him with cold, dark eyes.

I’ve gotten worse, Ji Yanqing thought. I’ve even learned how to bully people.

Seeing the smile in Ji Yanqing’s eyes, knowing he was being teased, a faint look of helplessness crossed Feng Yimo’s face.

A small smile played on Ji Yanqing’s lips, his heart filled with a warm feeling that gave him the courage he needed. The courage to face Xia Shen Shu and the others.

He tore his gaze away from Feng Yimo and took a deep breath. He scanned the surroundings, confirming that there was no one else but them and the wind and snow, then turned to face his team leaders. The people who had fought with him, searched for him, and believed in him.

Knowing what Ji Yanqing was about to say, their faces were devoid of smiles, replaced by a grim seriousness. They were relieved that he was safe, but that only made it harder for them to understand why he hadn’t come back for them. They had been searching for him like madmen, worried, scared, nearly driven insane.

Ji Yanqing took a deep breath, letting the icy wind fill his lungs. “I want to talk to you about two things. One is why I didn’t come back to find you. The other is about the paradise.”

Xia Shen Shu, Lan Zi, and Li Pingsen watched him silently. Hei Long and Mo Xian exchanged a look, their faces equally serious. Bai Haoxuan, his face still flushed, was still a bit out of the loop. He was also curious about why Ji Yanqing hadn’t returned, but it wasn’t as important to him.

Ji Yanqing set Ji An and Ji Le down on the ground. “What I’m about to say is the truth. It’s not a joke. I hope you can listen calmly until I’m finished.”

The group exchanged glances. After all this time in the apocalypse, what strange things hadn’t they seen? They were exhausted by the endless stream of bizarre situations. They no longer had the energy to be surprised. Even if Ji Yanqing told them there was a Corpse King in their ranks, they probably wouldn’t even be shocked.

Ji Yanqing looked into their eyes. “Feng Yimo, Ji An, and Ji Le are Corpse Kings.”

A dead silence fell over the snowy landscape.

After a moment, someone spoke. “What?”

“Feng Yimo, Ji An, and Ji Le are Corpse Kings.”

“What?”

“They are Corpse Kings.”

“…What?”

“I only found out when we were trapped in the mall.”

A dead silence reigned as the heavy snow fell around them.

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