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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Seventy-Seven: Town Survivors
As night fell, everyone had taken turns driving for an entire day and was feeling somewhat fatigued. To ensure their safety, they decided to rest for the night before continuing their journey. After all, the Coal Mine wasn’t going anywhere.
The two vehicles pulled away from the agricultural market and stopped in front of a budget hotel. With the National Day holiday just a few days away, the night air was chilly, making it unsuitable to spend the night in the cars. Moreover, having witnessed so many corpses at the school and hospital, sleeping outside at this hour felt unsettling.
The budget hotel was small, three stories high, with a service desk at the entrance. A world clock hung on the wall, its hands long since frozen. The lobby was desolate and dark, with no light visible. The convenience stores on either side had been rummaged through by the group, but unfortunately, there was nothing useful left. The street wasn’t long; just a hundred meters ahead lay an intersection. Many vehicles were abandoned on the road, stained with blood and heavy with mildew, yet there were no bodies in sight. Inside the shops, it didn’t appear as though they had been looted; all the shelves were neatly arranged but devoid of any goods.
With no other options, they resorted to DIY methods, removing a few short-handled axes to fashion some torches from wax sticks.
The two vehicles were parked askew at the hotel entrance. Each person grabbed a weapon for self-defense and some food before locking the doors and following those holding torches up to the second floor.
Although there were no zombies in this town, an odd atmosphere permeated everywhere. Jiang He couldn’t quite put a finger on why it felt so strange, but it seemed that everyone else shared similar sentiments.
Ming Junwei lowered his torch and pushed open a door near the corridor. It was a double room—small but quite clean. One by one, they entered, stirring up fine dust from the beige carpet beneath their feet.
From the window, they could see the vehicles below; visibility was good and close to the stairs. Ming Junwei inserted one of the torches into a gap in the radiator and checked the bathroom to ensure there were no dangers.
“Dr. An, you two can stay in this room,” Ming Junwei said upon noticing that the little boy was yawning repeatedly, allowing him and his mother to enter.
“Wheat and Luo Luo, you two can also stay here,” An Zheng said as he shook off dust from the bed linens and tucked the already drowsy little boy into bed.
The two young girls were equally exhausted; with two beds in the room being quite spacious, it was more than enough for their petite frames.
Jiang He and others checked several more rooms to settle everyone in comfortably; all rooms were adjacent to each other facing the street for easy access should anything arise.
The moon sank low, and the bright moonlight quietly peeked out, casting a layer of silver frost.
Chao Yifan leaned against the bed, holding the Great Cleaver, his eyes wide open.
Ming Junwei lay diagonally on the bed, smoking. Seeing Chao Yifan's expression, he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you tired?"
"Not tired, just thinking," Chao Yifan replied, scratching his bald head and staring out the window in a daze.
"What are you pondering?" Ming Junwei propped himself up with a pillow and tossed a cigarette to him.
"Don't you think this place is strange? It's one thing to have no people around, but not even a single Zombie?"
"It is somewhat illogical, but it doesn't matter. We won't be here long; we'll leave by morning."
Chao Yifan nodded, placing the Great Cleaver beside him and lying down. Then he remembered something and asked, "Is someone keeping watch tonight?"
"Yes, Zhuzi Brother and the others are taking turns. Our vigilance isn't great; being awake is just like being blind." Ming Junwei chuckled as he extinguished the torch. "Get some sleep; we need to set off early. Otherwise, we'll arrive at the mine in the middle of the night, and it won't be convenient to work."
"Brother Ming, do you really think there will be anyone at that mine?" Chao Yifan felt strangely alert and had no intention of sleeping, his mind racing with thoughts.
"It's hard to say; it's my first time hearing such a broadcast. Regardless of its truth, we should go take a look since we have plenty of time now." Ming Junwei sighed and shifted the topic. "Are you still anxious?"
"Oh?" Chao Yifan turned his head to look at him, understanding what Ming Junwei meant. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'm okay. Good people don't live long; disasters linger for a thousand years. That bastard Zhou Huai won't die easily; he'll eventually fall into my hands."
Ming Junwei sensed the unmasked malice in his words and realized there was no need to advise him further, so he remained silent.
"Sleep well, we have a long way to go."
"Got it."
...
As the night deepened, Zhuzi leaned against the window, which was cracked open to let out smoke.
Zhuzi was on watch for the first half of the night, while Xiaomi and Xiao Wei sprawled across the bed, snoring loudly.
Outside, the street remained unchanged, silent and still, with only the night breeze gently blowing. Yet, a sense of unease lingered in Zhuzi's heart, akin to the inexplicable palpitations he felt with Jiang He. The small town was too quiet, almost unreal in its stillness.
Fortunately, nothing strange had occurred. Zhuzi glanced at his watch; it was already three-thirty in the morning. It was time to wake Xiao Wei for the shift change.
Xiao Wei was sleeping lightly. A gentle pat from Zhuzi roused him; he rubbed his eyes and took up the rifle to take over Zhuzi's post.
"Stay alert. If anything happens, call me immediately," Zhuzi reiterated, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Don't worry," Xiao Wei replied with a smile that revealed two rows of bright white teeth, adding a touch of humor to the moment.
Guarding the night was a tough job. While others were sound asleep, the watchman had to remain awake and vigilant. When Jiang He and the others fled into the woods from the highway, they were all injured to some extent, so they had no choice but to let him take the night watch. However, he ended up dozing off and didn't wake until midday at Bai Yudong's camp. Since then, they never let Jiang He keep watch again.
Xiao Wei found himself bored after more than an hour of keeping watch. He wasn't sure if it was from drinking too much cold water or something else, but suddenly his stomach began to ache. There was a bathroom in the room, but there was no water in the tank. Xiao Wei considered waking Xiaomi to hold down the fort for a moment but decided against it. At this hour, it wouldn't take long to relieve himself; if he woke Xiaomi, that guy would just complain about being woken up for something trivial.
Xiao Wei pulled out a roll of toilet paper from his pocket and quietly made his way to the bathroom in the empty room across the hall. He wasn't used to sitting toilets and had to hold onto the sink as he squatted down.
In recent days, he had hardly eaten anything substantial, surviving on snacks here and there. Even as a soldier, he felt his stomach starting to protest. It had been several days since he last had a bowel movement, and each time was a struggle; the stool was hard, and the pain afterward lingered.
The others were likely in a similar situation. An Zheng had previously instructed Chao Yifan and the others to find some vitamins, but they had run into zombies along the way and ended up with nothing.
Xiao Wei was sweating profusely as he finally managed to relieve himself. He hastily wiped with some paper, rubbed his numb legs, and hurried back to the window.
The cigarette pack was empty; Zhuzi had smoked quite a bit earlier. Xiao Wei remembered that Xiaomi still had a pack in his pocket, so he leaned over to the clothes rack by the window to grab it. However, instead of finding cigarettes, he caught sight of something strange outside.
On what had been an empty street, a crowd of people had appeared out of nowhere. The moonlight was dim, and Xiao Wei couldn't make out their faces, but they all seemed short in stature—there were at least dozens of them. They quickly ran across the street and surrounded their two vehicles, seemingly up to something.
Xiao Wei inhaled sharply, cautiously opening the window to peek outside. The voices below were hushed, many people were leaning against the window trying to get a look inside.
Before Xiao Wei could shout at them to stop, another group of short individuals rushed around the corner, escorting a few people of normal height. At least ten more short figures followed behind them.
Xiao Wei immediately sensed something was off. Memories of what he had seen on the school playground and in the hospital flooded back to him, causing a cold sweat to break out on his back. He quickly shook Zhuzi and Xiaomi awake.
"What’s going on?" Zhuzi rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking confused.
"People are coming!" Xiao Wei urgently pulled him to the edge of the bed, pointing at the shadows surrounding their vehicles.
"Where did all these people come from?" Zhuzi suddenly snapped awake, grabbing the rifle that was propped against the wall and looking puzzled.
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