AFTCKCTCKATD - Chapter 80
Chapter 80
“I Like You, Feng Yimo.”
---
Ji Yanqing’s long, slightly curled eyelashes trembled, casting a shadow on his face. His heart pounded wildly.
He instinctively avoided Feng Yimo’s gaze, feeling quite flustered.
Feng Yimo always did this, always caught him off guard.
When Ji Yanqing looked up again, Feng Yimo’s deep, dark eyes were still staring straight at him, as if trying to peer into his soul.
Ji Yanqing, still off balance, changed the subject. “Death is currently the largest of all Corpse King factions. If possible, I hope to form an alliance with them. Even if the alliance isn’t strong, it’s important to us. At least it can buy us some more time.”
Using Feng Yimo as leverage was indeed a bit despicable. He wanted Feng Yimo beside him, he wanted the Death faction to ally with them, and he wanted everyone to live. He was too greedy, too insatiable, but he had to do it.
Behind him was an entire alliance, over ten thousand people struggling to survive. He had to seize every fleeting opportunity.
He looked at Feng Yimo, a sour ache in his chest. Feng Yimo was clearly unhappy about this.
What would Feng Yimo think of him?
Greedy?
Calculating?
But when he looked, he met a pair of expectant eyes.
Feng Yimo was still waiting quietly. He wanted to hear those three words from his lips.
Feng Yimo didn’t care about any of the rest. He just wanted Ji Yanqing to say he loved him.
The sour anxiety in Ji Yanqing’s throat paused. His eyelashes trembled again, and his eyes grew hot. He had to look down at Ji An and Ji Le to avoid Feng Yimo’s overly direct gaze.
Feng Yimo’s gaze was scorching; there was nowhere to hide.
“Let’s go back…” Ji Yanqing led the two little ones forward, intending to pass through the gap between the trucks into the center of the camp.
“Ji Yanqing…”
Seeing him walk away, Feng Yimo immediately followed like a puppy.
He wanted to hear Ji Yanqing say he loved him too.
In the darkness, the wind and snow howled past, large flakes slapping mercilessly against the faces of Tong Yue and the others, snapping them out of their wide-eyed stupor.
Exchanging glances in the dark, they stood dazed in the wind.
Their minds went blank again. They tried to organize their chaotic thoughts, but too much had happened in an instant. The scattered pieces in their brains refused to reassemble.
Ji Yanqing led the way back to the center of the camp, surrounded by over two hundred vehicles.
Several tarps had been strung up over the space between the trucks. In the center of the camp was a large bonfire, three or four meters wide. The flames danced in the snow, illuminating the camp and bringing warmth.
As soon as Ji Yanqing appeared by the fire, the anxious crowd looked at him.
“Captain Ji?”
“What happened?”
“What did they say?”
There were thousands of people in the camp. With everyone talking at once, the quiet night instantly became a clamor of noise.
Ji Yanqing made a gesture for silence.
The crowd gradually quieted down until only the sound of the wind and the crackling of sparks remained in the night.
Facing all those faces, Ji Yanqing took a deep breath and said, “Two things.”
“First, the Devil’s City has been destroyed. There are no more Corpse Kings in the Devil’s City. We must go there as soon as possible to search it for supplies.”
After a brief silence, the camp erupted like water dropped into hot oil. Everyone was boiling over the revelation.
The Devil’s City was gone?
That massive Devil’s City, the one that had threatened them for so long, was just gone?
“Could it be a mistake?”
“Didn’t they say the Corpse Kings inside were all killed?”
“But how is that possible? That’s the Devil’s City!”
“Who did it?”
“Death did it,” Ji Yanqing answered.
“Death?”
“He’s in the Devil’s City?”
“Why would he do that?”
Ji Yanqing glanced at Feng Yimo, who had followed him.
Why did he do it?
That was a good question, because the ‘Death’ who had done it was currently looking just as confused.
“I don’t know.” Feng Yimo’s dark eyes revealed a hint of innocence.
Ji Yanqing had the urge to rub his temples. He looked back at the crowd. “Second thing. The Corpse Kings outside are from Death’s faction. They are following us in order to find Death.”
He paused, then said in a single breath, “Death is in our alliance. I invited those Corpse Kings to join us. There is a very high probability that Death’s Faction will join our alliance.”
The noisy camp instantly became quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Tong Yue and the others, who had just recovered enough to follow them into the camp, heard this the moment they entered. Their brains, which had barely started working again, began to throb with pain once more.
The ordinary members were equally stunned. After a moment of confused murmuring, their first reaction was to look at each other, suspecting they had misheard.
Seeing the confusion and doubt on everyone’s faces only made those seeking answers more uneasy.
Did they all mishear?
“Death… is in our alliance?” In the crowd, Hei Long raised a trembling hand, the muscles on the tattooed side of his face twitching.
“Yes,” Ji Yanqing nodded.
Hei Long’s face became a masterpiece of expression.
“Really?”
“…Where is he?”
“Why would he be in our alliance?”
“What does he want?”
“But isn’t he a Corpse King?”
“You idiot, some Corpse Kings have human forms.”
As they argued, everyone soon arrived at the same question.
If Death was in their alliance, didn’t that mean there were Corpse Kings among the people around them?
A chill more biting than the snow instantly flooded everyone’s bodies, turning the faces of the excited crowd green.
Most of the people here had experienced being hunted by Corpse Kings, or at least seen it happen. That memory instantly recalled the despair of death.
Many instinctively stood up, gripping their guns.
“There are indeed Corpse Kings in our alliance.” Ji Yanqing dropped another bomb as the crowd quieted down. “Kang Xiaodong is one.”
This was an opportunity. A chance for everyone to understand the situation and prepare themselves mentally.
Corpse Kings couldn’t be killed off completely, and he didn’t have superpowers to change the world instantly. There was only one path left: acceptance.
The process would inevitably be painful and fraught with danger, but this was the best future he could reach, standing on his tiptoes.
The moment Ji Yanqing’s voice fell, everyone moved fast.
The group sitting or standing around Kang Xiaodong quickly retreated, leaving him at the center of a barren circle. Everyone chambered a round, and a dense forest of black muzzles pointed straight at him.
Sold out for the second time, Kang Xiaodong’s lips curved into an awkward but polite smile.
He really wanted to punch Ji Yanqing. Ideally until he was black and blue.
Seeing Kang Xiaodong become the target of everyone, the black beast immediately cast him a sympathetic look.
“Besides him, they are too.” Ji Yanqing stepped aside, revealing the black beast and the badger-like pangolin Corpse King standing behind him.
The black beast, who had just been sympathizing with someone else, showed a very human-like expression. Its facial muscles twitched. It wanted to kill someone.
The guns were no longer just pointed at Kang Xiaodong; half of them were aimed at the black beast and the pangolin.
Feeling the killing intent directed at him halve, Kang Xiaodong looked sympathetically at the two beasts.
The black beast’s mouth twitched again.
The whole county knew Ji Yanqing kept a few mutated animals. They had suspected it before, but the creatures had always been well-behaved and never bitten anyone, so over time, they had gotten used to it.
“Captain Ji, stop joking…”
The black beast stepped forward.
The surrounding crowd immediately retreated, nerves stretched to the limit, the atmosphere explosive.
The black beast’s body grew rapidly before their eyes. In the blink of an eye, it became taller than the surrounding tents.
It lifted a section of the tenting.
A thick layer of snow had accumulated on the tarp. With its movement, the snow began to slide off, throwing the camp into chaos.
BANG!
“Ah…”
“Scatter! Don’t bunch up!”
“Thirteenth Squad, rally to me!”
…
Amid the panic, the black beast, having taken several bullets, shrank rapidly, returning to the size of a large dog.
Losing their target, the panicked crowd looked around frantically.
They soon found the black beast sitting obediently beside Ji Yanqing, no worse for wear. They immediately aimed their guns at it, instinctively ready to pull the trigger, but seeing Ji Yanqing standing right next to it, they forced themselves to stop.
No one spoke in the darkness. Only the howling wind, the flickering flames, and the sound of terrified panting could be heard.
Ji Yanqing reached out and patted the black beast’s head.
Touched on the head, the black beast instinctively dodged to the side and bared its teeth. If Ji Yanqing treats me like a dog and touches my head again, I’ll bite his hand off.
Seeing the interaction between Ji Yanqing and the black beast, the crowd, whose palms were slick with cold sweat, swallowed hard. Their bloodless faces were full of shock.
They knew exactly what kind of existence a Corpse King was. Cruel, bloodthirsty, killing for fun. There was no way they would let a human pat their head.
Was that black beast really a Corpse King?
After petting the beast and ignoring its bristling snarl, Ji Yanqing looked at the terrified crowd. “Sleep early. We go back tomorrow.”
Leaving these words, he ignored them, took Ji An and Ji Le, and turned toward a truck to go to sleep.
Ji An and Ji Le usually slept early and were already sleepy. Hearing they could finally sleep, Ji An immediately let out a big yawn.
Feng Yimo followed.
The black beast also headed toward Ji Yanqing. After two steps, it went back to pick up its friend, who was still in a daze over missing the chance to escape.
Kang Xiaodong looked at Ji Yanqing, then at the forest of gun barrels and the pale faces of the crowd. He gave an awkward laugh and quickly followed Ji Yanqing.
He was an intelligence-type Corpse King; he didn’t have impenetrable skin. And he had seen the poison Ji Yanqing’s group had developed. If he got hit, he would lose a chunk of flesh.
Watching Ji Yanqing leave, the people left behind were a mess in the wind. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
Opposite them, Ji Yanqing lifted the two little ones one by one into the truck, then climbed in himself.
Feng Yimo, Kang Xiaodong, the black beast, and the others also got in. Before closing the door, Ji Yanqing didn’t forget to remind them, “Sleep early.”
The corners of the mouths of the people holding guns twitched.
Sleep early?
Does he really think we can sleep tonight?
---
Faced with the shut door, the bewildered crowd looked around blankly. They saw the same fear, shock, confusion, and daze on everyone else’s faces.
It was a long time before they slowly lowered their guns.
They didn’t sit down. They stood there, holding their weapons, silent. In the darkness, only the popping of sparks from the bonfire could be heard.
Ji Yanqing’s few casual sentences had delivered too much information. They couldn’t digest it all at once. They didn’t even know where to start being surprised.
After the initial shock, someone reacted quickly: the members of Sunward.
Scattered throughout the crowd, they exchanged furtive glances, seeing complex emotions in each other’s eyes. After the initial surprise, they even felt a strange sense of vindictive pleasure.
Ji Yanqing had always been this way. Every now and then, he would pull something like this. Before, they were the ones scared half to death. Now, finally, they got to see others scared half to death.
Though they felt a sense of relief, none of them dared to make a sound.
They tried their best to look serious, afraid that the others would notice their abnormality and decide to beat them up first.
-
Inside the truck.
After lying down, Ji Yanqing tucked clothes around the two little ones, who were already drifting off to sleep. In the county, Ji An and Ji Le usually went to bed as soon as it got dark. Today’s delay meant it was already past one in the morning.
Finished, Ji Yanqing looked at Feng Yimo, who had been staring at him the whole time.
Feng Yimo’s dark eyes were cold, his emotions usually imperceptible, but Ji Yanqing could read them at a glance.
“Go to sleep,” he whispered.
Not hearing the words he wanted, the expectant light in Feng Yimo’s eyes dimmed, replaced by a faint disappointment.
Ji Yanqing pretended not to notice and closed his eyes.
He knew what Feng Yimo wanted to hear, but he couldn’t say it.
It was true. In all this time, he had never once told Feng Yimo he liked him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like him. He just couldn’t match Feng Yimo’s unreserved, intense sincerity.
Unlike other children, he had learned what “love” was at a very young age.
His mother loved his father so much that she risked her life to give birth to himself. His father loved his mother so deeply that he went mad with grief after her death, falling gravely ill.
That love was scorching hot. Whenever his relatives spoke of it, their tone was complex and envious, as if it were something amazing.
As a child, he might have envied it. But as he grew up, it became a terrible curse, a nightmare he wanted to avoid at all costs.
He knew his situation with Feng Yimo was different, but he still couldn’t say those words.
More accurately, the act of loving someone without reservation was what terrified him most.
He always felt that saying those words would flip a switch, plunging him into a state of madness for love.
Feng Yimo was a Corpse King. That was a fact. He couldn’t help but wonder what he would do if he ever had to make a choice.
He could make decisive, correct choices for the alliance and the survival team, but in this matter, he was paralyzed by worry.
The more he worried, the less he could speak.
Ji Yanqing lay with his eyes closed for a long time. Only when he was sure Feng Yimo was asleep did he open his eyes to look at him.
In the darkness, even in sleep, Feng Yimo’s brow was slightly furrowed.
Ji Yanqing slept poorly that night, drifting in and out of consciousness.
Each dream that woke him was different. Sometimes he would be sleeping peacefully and suddenly start thinking of Feng Yimo. Other times, he would finally fall asleep only to dream of the time before the virus.
He carefully climbed out from between Ji An and Ji Le. As soon as he got out of the truck, he was met with a sea of pale faces.
Thousands of people were in the camp. Their faces were frozen blue-white, their eyes bloodshot with dark circles underneath. They looked like a gathering of vengeful ghosts.
“Didn’t sleep well?” Ji Yanqing asked.
The sleepless crowd fell silent. How does he have the nerve to ask that?
Those were Corpse Kings! Corpse Kings!
And not just one, but several thrice-evolved ones.
Thinking of this, not a single one of them dared to close their eyes. Last night, aside from Ji Yanqing, not a single person in the camp had slept.
The Sunward members were sleepy, but they were afraid of being targeted or beaten up, so they didn’t dare sleep either. They could only stare wide-eyed, suffering alongside everyone else.
Seeing Ji Yanqing now, their eyes held a bit more resentment than the others.
“Any movement last night?” Ji Yanqing looked toward Death’s faction.
“…There are a lot more of them, but they didn’t come over,” Lan Zi said.
Ji Yanqing walked through the gap between two trucks and looked out from the front.
After a night of heavy snow, the camp, the distant mountains, the entire world was covered in white. All death and despair were hidden. The world was spotless, the cold air crisp and pure.
In the distance, several Corpse Kings were peeking out.
There were more of them in the mountains now, at least fifty or sixty. They were hiding in the forest, seemingly afraid of Feng Yimo.
Ji Yanqing watched for a while but saw no movement. He returned to the camp and told everyone to prepare breakfast.
Last night’s events had plunged thousands into fear and anxiety, but bellies still rumbled. Hearing about breakfast, the group quickly got busy.
The bonfires were relit, and giant pots of water were set to boil.
Hearing the noise, Ji An and Ji Le woke up.
Groggy from sleep, the two little ones swayed on their feet, looking as if they might fall over.
By the time Ji Yanqing lifted them out of the truck and set them on the ground, the smell of food was already wafting through the camp.
Breakfast was rich: porridge with bok choy, noodles made from other mutated plants, and compressed biscuits boiled with canned beef.
Smelling the food, the sleepy children perked up and eagerly dragged Ji Yanqing to get in line.
Ji An, Ji Le, and the other Corpse Kings seemed to particularly like the mutated plants. Not just them—Kang Xiaodong, who was being stared at like a thorn in everyone’s side, also brazenly grabbed a bowl and followed Ji Yanqing.
When it was Kang Xiaodong’s turn, the person serving food looked at his bright smile and the bowl thrust in front of him, suppressed the urge to run, and filled it.
Getting his food, Kang Xiaodong ignored the stares and happily found a place to eat.
Corpse Kings liked the mutated plants but not the rice or noodles mixed in.
Ji Yanqing skillfully swapped with Feng Yimo and the children, giving them all the bok choy from his bowl and taking their noodles.
“Ready to eat?” Ji Yanqing looked at Ji An and Ji Le, who were standing in front of Lan Zi not far away. She had called them over.
Hearing his voice, they ran back.
Lan Zi must have said something to them, because when they returned, they were acting secretive, their pockets bulging.
“What is it?” Ji Yanqing looked at their pockets.
They leaned in close, opening their pockets to show him.
Inside was a pile of thumb-sized, oddly shaped black beans. The skin was black, but the inside was a milky white powder. They tasted faintly of milk and were soft and delicious.
The plant’s leaves could grow ten meters wide, and the underground tubers could be bigger than a basketball, yielding ten to thirty beans each.
This was one of the edible mutated plants they had found. It grew underground but wasn’t a potato; likely a mutation of a peanut or something similar.
They had dug up quite a few in the vegetable fields around the previous city, including many immature beans like these.
Roasted in the fire, their dusty, misshapen forms gave off a milky scent that was quite appetizing.
After showing off their treasure, they reached into their other pockets and pulled out the two biggest beans, offering them to Ji Yanqing.
“I won’t eat them. You keep them,” he said, not taking them.
Food was usually scarce, so they had no concept of snacks. Suddenly having so many treasures, and delicious ones at that, made their ears turn red with excitement.
“For you.” Ji An shoved the bean into his hand.
Ji Le copied him, shoving his own bean at him. “This is the biggest one.”
They had good food, so of course they had to share it with him.
Ji Yanqing wanted to give them back—he preferred watching them eat—but he swallowed his refusal. “You’re giving me the biggest ones?”
“Mn.”
“This one is the biggest. It must taste the best.”
They nodded vigorously, shaking their heads so hard he was afraid they’d get dizzy.
“You’re such good boys. Thank you,” he praised.
Praised, they beamed, looking ready to fly from the joy alone.
“Eat it quickly, before it gets cold.”
“Yeah, eat it quick.”
He peeled the thin skin off one.
Soft, milky sweet, the taste was excellent. Even he liked it.
“Is it good?” Ji An asked expectantly.
“Very good.”
Having shared with him, the two little ones looked at Feng Yimo nearby, whispered something to each other, and then walked toward him with serious faces.
Ji Yanqing watched, curious. They were usually afraid of Feng Yimo and rarely approached him.
Getting close, they carefully shoved a bean each into his hand, then turned and ran.
Running back to hide behind Ji Yanqing, they peeked out. Seeing Feng Yimo looking at them, they quickly ducked back.
Ji Yanqing was surprised. “Why did you give him some?”
Ji Le leaned against him and whispered in his ear, “He’s unhappy.”
Ji An also leaned in to whisper. “He feels sour here.” He pointed to his own little chest.
“This is yummy. He’ll be happy if he eats it,” Ji An said.
Ji Yanqing’s smile faltered slightly. He gently stroked their heads.
Having received treasures, they were excited. After sharing with Feng Yimo, their attention shifted to the black beast and the pangolin. They wanted to give them some too.
“Eat, doggy.” Ji Le held out his hand to the black beast.
Sleeping on the truck, the beast opened one eye. You’re the dog.
“Eat.”
The beast opened its mouth and lapped up the two beans.
It had no interest in human food, but the beans tasted pretty good.
After feeding the black beast, they gave two to the pangolin-like Corpse King.
Kang Xiaodong, having finished his breakfast, sat nearby, watching them expectantly.
Ji An and Ji Le turned and ran. Not sharing with him.
Kang Xiaodong’s smile froze, then cracked.
After all that, having given away many of their beans, the two little ones felt a pinch of regret. They quickly ate the bok choy Ji Yanqing had given them, then sat side-by-side on a box, eagerly eating their remaining treasure.
Ji Yanqing finished his meal quickly and walked out of the camp again, looking toward the distant mountains.
There were even more Corpse Kings now, over a hundred.
The mountain range wasn’t wide, and hiding them all was becoming a struggle. Many were even pushed out into the open, their large hindquarters visible from a distance.
---
In the forest.
“The Third Elder is here.”
The old man with the scarred face followed the messenger Corpse King, complaining as he went. “Why is he so slow? Wasn’t he just in the Devil’s City?”
“He says he was attacked by Heavenly Blaze Corpse Kings on the way.”
“Heavenly Blaze?”
“A bunch of rats in the gutter. All they know is how to ambush,” a rough voice boomed from the trees.
The old man looked over.
A middle-aged man, standing nearly 1.9 meters tall and rippling with muscle, strode out from behind a tree. His face was dark, clearly displeased with the Heavenly Blaze faction. “I’m going to deal with them sooner or later.”
Reaching the old man, he asked immediately, “Are you sure it’s him?”
“We’ve already spoken.” The old man puffed out his chest. He was the first to make contact with the King.
“What did he say?”
“He doesn’t remember me.” The old man paused. “And he doesn’t want to come back.”
The middle-aged man wasn’t surprised.
Rumors of Death had been circulating among the Corpse Kings for a long time. He must have heard them. If he wanted to return, he would have done so already; they wouldn’t have had to go to such lengths to find him.
The middle-aged man fell into thought.
The establishment of their Death faction hadn’t been ordered by Death himself; they had formed it autonomously. Partly because they genuinely submitted to his strength, and partly because they were forced to by the current situation.
As ordinary zombies continued to awaken, there were more and more Corpse Kings. Sometimes, a single city could have three to five of them.
With more Corpse Kings came more friction. Fighting had become commonplace.
Corpse Kings possessed intelligence, and with their numbers growing and the wars intensifying, many chose to cooperate, which only made the situation more chaotic.
There were no so-called “rules” among Corpse Kings. The only rule they followed was survival of the fittest. But “strength” didn’t mean winning a one-on-one duel; it meant whoever survived was strong.
So many Corpse Kings began to plan ambushes, ganging up on the few.
Not every thrice-evolved Corpse King was bloodthirsty, but they didn’t have a choice. Even if they didn’t attack others, others would attack them.
Chaos, disorder, bloodlust, madness. The tension between Corpse Kings had reached a breaking point.
When he first heard rumors from humans about Corpse Kings establishing a new world order, he had scoffed. They didn’t need order. But as he evolved for the third time, he gradually changed his mind.
If things continued like this, the world would become hell.
Even if they didn’t want to, they would be dragged into it. Eventually, all Corpse Kings would be immersed in endless slaughter, killing and being killed, until corpses littered the wilderness and bones covered the earth.
At first, he had thought he would be the one to establish this new world. But he soon faced reality: he wasn’t much stronger than the other Corpse Kings. He didn’t have the ability to make them all obey.
Death helped him realize this reality.
“What alliance?”
“It seems to be a human alliance. A bunch of them gathered together, more than we usually see in cities,” the old man said.
“Corpse Kings joining a human alliance? Hah, wishful thinking.”
“Then do you have a better idea? Should we kill the humans and snatch him back?” The old man looked at him. “You want to lead the charge!?”
The man fell silent instantly.
The ground trembled. A Corpse King came running.
The old man and the middle-aged man looked over.
“Roar.”
They’re coming over.
“Who?” The old man was stunned for a moment.
The next instant, he realized, and his whole body trembled with excitement. Beside him, the hound-like Corpse King was already sprinting full tilt toward the back of the mountain, trying to get as far away as possible.
-
The sun rose, the temperature climbed, and the snow on the ground began to melt.
Having waited in the camp for a long time without a response, Ji Yanqing finally decided to return to the county first.
Since they knew Feng Yimo was Death, the situation had changed.
It was pointless to keep wasting time here. It was better to go back and get ammunition so they would have more combat power if a conflict truly broke out.
They weren’t far from the county. The vehicles had already driven a distance yesterday afternoon. If all went well, they would be back by this afternoon.
The vehicles returned to the highway, but they hadn’t gone far when the group of Corpse Kings hiding in the distant mountains appeared behind the convoy.
There were even more than before, a massive group approaching two hundred. The ground trembled as they ran, a vibration Ji Yanqing and the others could feel even inside the vehicles.
Feeling that tremor, looking at the wall of Corpse Kings, high and thick, the faces of everyone in the two hundred vehicles were drained of color.
They returned to the vicinity of the county around four in the afternoon.
Seeing the county in the distance, the mood in the convoy became complex.
Seeing the returning convoy from afar, the lookouts at the edge of the county were happy, until they saw the massive army behind them.
Seeing the trailing Corpse Kings clearly, the lookouts immediately shouted at the top of their lungs. Some grabbed guns to guard the front, while others rushed into the county to notify the rest.
A few minutes later, the convoy stopped in the vegetable field outside the county gate.
At the same time, the pursuing Corpse Kings stopped at the edge of the distant mountains.
Seeing this, the panicked crowd in the county fell into stunned silence.
The squad left behind immediately approached the convoy, asking what was going on.
The people got out of the vehicles. Looking at the panicked faces in front of them and the Corpse Kings by the mountain, they didn’t know how to explain.
A few minutes later, understanding the situation—that the enemy was Death’s faction, and that there was a Corpse King in their own camp—the faces of the four thousand-plus people who had stayed behind became quite colorful.
Many couldn’t believe it, but the words died in their throats because the group of Corpse Kings indeed hadn’t attacked them.
Overwhelmed by too much information at once, everyone was dazed.
Those who had been frightened earlier turned to look at the culprit.
“Don’t just stand there, move the supplies inside.” Ji Yanqing, the culprit in question, showed no reaction.
The group exchanged glances and silently went to open the doors and move the supplies.
Their brains were a mess from all the information last night. After calming down this morning, they had thought about running, but where could they go?
The world was full of zombies and Corpse Kings. Most cities were empty of supplies. They had nowhere to go.
Before the county gate, as the group was lost in thought, four Corpse Kings walked toward them.
It was the old man with the scar sitting on the black Corpse King, the hound-like Corpse King with the missing tail tip, and a tall, muscular middle-aged man.
Sharp-eyed people at the gate saw them and immediately went on alert. “They’re coming!”
Everyone raised their guns. Some were so nervous they forgot to chamber a round.
Seeing their disheveled state and the mass of black gun barrels, the leading middle-aged man sneered in disdain. He had seen the Corpse Kings Ji Yanqing’s group killed in the city, but he didn’t think they posed any threat to him.
“Is there something you want?” Ji Yanqing looked at him.
The middle-aged man ignored him and looked at Feng Yimo.
“Shang Chan.” He bowed slightly to Feng Yimo, his attitude respectful.
Feng Yimo ignored him.
Perhaps knowing Feng Yimo’s attitude, Shang Chan didn’t mind. He glanced at the old man and the hound behind him. “They and I are the three Elders of Death’s faction. We have gathered because of you.”
Feng Yimo continued to ignore him.
The surrounding crowd looked at Feng Yimo. They knew Death was in their alliance, but they hadn’t known Feng Yimo was Death.
“We are willing to form an alliance.” Shang Chan finally deigned to glance at the humans nearby. “But not us joining them. Them joining us.”
Ji Yanqing raised an eyebrow. “Is there a difference?”
Shang Chan didn’t want to talk to Ji Yanqing, but Feng Yimo was completely ignoring him.
“The alliance will be led by us, Death’s faction. We have absolute authority. We can allow you to live within our territory, as long as you don’t cause trouble.”
Ji Yanqing nodded slightly. “If that’s the case, there’s no need to talk. You can leave.”
He looked at the Corpse Kings watching from behind Shang Chan. “You are not welcome here.”
Shang Chan sneered. “Why would we listen to the words of a few ants?”
To a Corpse King, humans were ants.
“Even ants can bite people to death if there are enough of them,” Ji Yanqing said cooly.
Shang Chan looked at Feng Yimo.
He couldn’t understand why Feng Yimo would be with a group of humans.
When Feng Yimo disappeared before, they had thought he was dead. But now it seemed that after joining the humans, he had simply stopped hunting Corpse Kings.
Feng Yimo placed a hand on his sword.
Shang Chan froze.
“I said you can leave.” Ji Yanqing glanced at the others who didn’t dare move. “You’re blocking our way.”
The moment Feng Yimo drew his sword, the hound-like Corpse King behind them turned and fled. It was fast, disappearing back into the pack of Corpse Kings in the blink of an eye.
Seeing its practiced escape, the muscles on Shang Chan and the old man’s faces twitched. The group behind Ji Yanqing looked at them strangely.
“Then what do you want?” Shang Chan’s face darkened, but he had to hold his temper in front of Feng Yimo.
Ji Yanqing threw Shang Chan’s words right back at him. “The alliance will be led by us humans. We have absolute authority. We allow the Corpse Kings of Death’s faction to live in our territory, as long as you don’t cause trouble.”
He hadn’t proposed the alliance to make humans livestock for Corpse Kings.
He had hoped for peaceful coexistence, but now it seemed that was impossible.
“You…” Shang Chan glared at Ji Yanqing.
Ji Yanqing was just a human. He was only willing to talk to him out of respect for Feng Yimo.
“Do you think you can call the shots just because you’re a member of Death?” Ji Yanqing looked Shang Chan up and down. “How about this? We fight. Winner makes the rules.”
Shang Chan was visibly stunned.
Behind Ji Yanqing, Tong Yue and the others sucked in a cold breath. Is he crazy?
Even if Shang Chan was an intelligence-type Corpse King, he was thrice-evolved. His physical strength and speed far exceeded a human’s.
Fighting a Corpse King? How could Ji Yanqing possibly win?
And did he realize what was at stake? He was gambling with the future of their entire alliance!
---
“Hahaha…” Shang Chan laughed so hard he clutched his stomach, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
Ji Yanqing watched him quietly until he had laughed his fill. “Do we have a bet or not? If yes, see you here tomorrow morning. If not, you can leave now.”
The smile vanished from Shang Chan’s face. He glanced at the silent Feng Yimo beside him, then said with a dark expression, “You said it yourself.”
“I did say it.”
“Fine. I’ll give you points for having guts. I’ll take that bet. If I lose, I guarantee that no Corpse King in Death’s faction will protest your terms.” Leaving this promise, Shang Chan bowed slightly to Feng Yimo again, then turned and walked away.
He had come aggressively and left just as quickly, disappearing into the distance within minutes.
Watching his retreating figure vanish into the forest, Tong Yue and the others finally snapped out of their daze, their faces turning green as they looked at Ji Yanqing.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Tong Yue asked darkly. Even if Shang Chan wasn’t a beast-form Corpse King, his physique alone was something an ordinary person couldn’t beat.
“Intelligence-type Corpse Kings aren’t fast,” Ji Yanqing said.
“You’re crazy…” Even the usually smiling Qin Yue looked grim.
“I’ve killed one before.” Ji Yanqing looked at them.
He stared straight into their eyes, his expression calm, his face devoid of a smile. The seriousness in his gaze made them all hold their breath.
He wasn’t joking. He was serious.
Even if he had to risk his life tomorrow, this alliance must be formed.
Tong Yue and the others might not understand yet, but they had no other path to take. This was the only one.
Even though the Devil’s City was gone, the great war would start as scheduled. And with the Devil’s City gone, the territory had become a prize, meaning the danger hadn’t disappeared; it would now come from all directions.
The threat of the Devil’s City had been fatal, but the threat of other Corpse Kings swarming in was no different for them.
If the alliance succeeded, they wouldn’t have to worry about outside Corpse Kings for a long time; they would only need to deal with Death’s faction.
If the alliance failed, then only death awaited them.
The world was cruel, and they had no choice.
No one spoke. Everyone was shaken by Ji Yanqing’s casual agreement and the determination in his eyes.
Ji Yanqing took a deep breath and softened his tone. “Move the supplies inside. It’s getting dark.”
He had been wondering how to use his connection with Feng Yimo to persuade them. This actually made things simpler.
Ji Yanqing didn’t disturb the dazed group. Instead, he started walking around the perimeter of the county.
They had brought back a lot of mutated plants this time. Combined with what Tong Yue and the others had brought from their settlements and what had been scavenged recently, they had enough to fill nearly half a mu of land.
Before, they had been too busy to focus on it. Every time they brought back mutated plants, they just dug a hole and stuck them in the ground. They were looked after, but crudely.
This time, Ji Yanqing wanted to take the opportunity to properly start farming.
Their current food stocks were enough to feed them for nearly two months.
Food for over ten thousand people for two months—it filled more than ten large parking lots. Everyone in the county was overjoyed, and even Ji Yanqing felt a sense of security. But those supplies wouldn’t multiply.
They were finite. Once eaten, they were gone.
Even if they scavenged all the food from the dozen or so cities of the Devil’s City, it would only last them three months.
After three months, they would have nothing.
Their only option then would be to target the massive cities with populations in the tens of millions. But those places were essentially mini-Devil’s Cities, each containing hundreds of Corpse Kings.
If things went well, great. If not, they could lose hundreds or thousands of people in an instant.
They had to develop agriculture.
They currently had seven types of edible mutated plants.
The first was the mutated bok choy, with a growth cycle of about twenty days to a month. Unlike pre-virus bok choy, this one grew as tall as an adult, and the edible part was its thick stalk.
The second was the potato-like tuber Ji An and the others had eaten. It had the longest growth cycle, needing nearly two months to mature.
The fourth and fifth weren’t originally farm crops but wild plants. It was unclear what they had mutated from, but they had large, water-rich leaves, and each plant grew to waist height.
The sixth was a fruit that grew on trees, the size of a tangerine but growing in clusters like grapes. It was sour, but quite sweet when fully ripe.
The seventh was a type of bean. The pods and beans were large, but they were poisonous. Eating a small amount was fine, but eating too much caused hallucinations. The hallucinations were temporary and wore off with time.
They didn’t know if any of these things had long-term side effects, if eating them would make them grow an extra arm years down the line. But right now, these plants were the only lifeline they could grasp.
For a long time to come, they would have to rely on these things to survive.
After circling half the county, Ji Yanqing went back to his apartment, found a map of the county, and started making notes.
The parking lot in front of the county and the lake to the left couldn’t be touched. Everywhere else was usable.
He decided to plant the poisonous beans and the fruit trees far away from the county, while the other crops would be planted in designated zones around the perimeter.
After roughly marking the zones on the map, Ji Yanqing took his axe, a piece of red cloth, and chopped a pile of slender wooden stakes to make simple markers.
He took the markers outside the county and, taking advantage of the remaining daylight, roughly demarcated the areas around the perimeter.
The process was time-consuming. He walked back and forth constantly. By the time he finished, the snow was falling heavily.
Under the night sky, Ji Yanqing walked back against the wind and snow.
The snow was so heavy it blurred the entire county and made it hard to keep his eyes open.
He walked with his head down. As he neared the edge of the county, he saw a figure by the lake to the left. He recognized Feng Yimo instantly.
In the wind and snow, Feng Yimo was staring blankly at the lake.
Ji Yanqing hesitated for a moment, then walked toward him.
The lake had been dug for some time. Because of the heavy water usage, a path had been worn into the loose soil around it. Feng Yimo was standing on the path closest to the water.
He had been standing there for a while; a thick layer of snow covered his head and shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” Ji Yanqing asked.
Hearing his voice, Feng Yimo turned.
Corpse Kings seemed resistant to extreme heat and cold. There was frost on his eyelashes, but his face showed no change.
“Hmm?” Getting no answer, Ji Yanqing moved closer.
The wind ruffled the surface of the lake, and ice was beginning to form at the edges.
“You don’t like me.”
Ji Yanqing paused in his observation of the lake.
He looked up at Feng Yimo.
Feng Yimo was staring straight at him, his dark, usually cold eyes filled with a faint innocence and sadness.
Ji Yanqing’s breath hitched. “Who said that?”
“Then do you like me?” Feng Yimo’s frosty eyelashes trembled, his eyes wet, looking like a big dog abandoned by its master in the snow.
Ji Yanqing couldn’t handle that look; it made him feel guilty. “Let’s go back.”
Feng Yimo didn’t move. “You don’t like me.”
Ji Yanqing stopped and looked back.
“I don’t…”
“What?”
“I don’t not like you,” Ji Yanqing said.
Feng Yimo kept that innocent look. Ji Yanqing just doesn’t like me.
Ji Yanqing’s lips moved, but no sound came out.
A gust of wind blew past, like someone pushing him from behind.
He didn’t know how he started speaking, but when he realized it, the words were already tumbling out. “I was actually quite afraid of my dad. Not the kind of fear where you’re scared of being hit, but a different kind. I thought he was a madman…”
What he feared wasn’t loving someone without reservation, but becoming like his parents. He was afraid that one day, he would go mad for the person he loved and lose all sense of reason.
Although Lan Zi said he was a good person, and many seemed to agree, he knew he was actually quite obsessive. Once he set his mind on something, he would see it through to the end. It was true when he wanted to start the survival team, and it was true now with the alliance.
He felt he had the potential to become a madman.
Feng Yimo didn’t quite understand why Ji Yanqing was suddenly talking about his father, but vaguely, he seemed to understand something. “…You’re afraid of me too?”
Ji Yanqing looked at him and said nothing.
“Because I’m a Corpse King?” Feng Yimo dismissed the thought as soon as he said it. Ji Yanqing might have been afraid at first, but later, he had sensed no fear from him.
“Then what are you afraid of?” Feng Yimo frowned, trying to figure it out.
“I’m afraid that one day, because of you, I won’t be myself anymore. I’m afraid I’ll turn into a complete madman.”
“You won’t.” Feng Yimo stepped closer.
“How can you be sure?” Ji Yanqing lowered his eyes.
Feng Yimo approached suddenly, his scent washing over Ji Yanqing, making it hard to breathe.
He pecked Ji Yanqing lightly on the lips. “I’ll watch over you.”
Feeling Feng Yimo’s puppy-like gesture, Ji Yanqing felt both annoyed and amused. “That’s not logical.”
He turned and headed toward the county. “Let’s go back.”
“I don’t dislike you.” He paused, then added, “I like you, Feng Yimo.”
Once he decided on something, he wouldn’t let go. If he liked someone, he would want to like them forever. Others might just think about it, but he would actually do it.
For many people, that might be a terrifying thing.
Feng Yimo’s steps faltered for a moment.
When Ji Yanqing looked back, the corners of Feng Yimo’s thin lips were curved up. The arc was shallow, like a gentle ripple in a deep mountain pool in midsummer.
Feng Yimo rarely smiled. This was one of the few times.
Ji Yanqing continued walking through the wind and snow.
Feng Yimo quickly caught up. “How can I make your ‘like’ into ‘more than like’?”
Ji Yanqing’s breath hitched.
“How should I know?”
His lips curved into a smile.
“Figure it out yourself.”
----
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