Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Early the next morning, before anyone else had awakened, Wang Chao left the small courtyard with Yiyi, Yang Mengying, and Ouyang En. Liu He wanted to say something to Wang Chao, but ultimately held back. For a moment, he looked over, and in the first light of dawn, Wang Chao's silhouette lingered in his heart for a long time.
That evening, Wang Chao found some ropes and quickly fashioned a few straps to carry Yiyi on his back. This way, he freed his hands. Wang Chao had been feeling frustrated about not having a suitable weapon. He thought to himself, while others had swords and military daggers during the apocalypse, why couldn’t he find even one?
Wang Chao glanced at the kitchen knife in his hand and shook his head.
There were just the right number of zombies on the road. Wang Chao and Ouyang En simply swung their knives; when they encountered a large group of zombies, they ran wildly. It was winter now; although it hadn’t snowed, the weather was still very cold. Both Ouyang En and Wang Chao were sweating despite the chill. As Ouyang En chopped down a zombie, he said to Wang Chao, “Brother Wang, do you feel it too? There’s an indescribable change happening in our bodies.”
Wang Chao had sensed this feeling since the first day. So he asked, “When did you first notice this feeling?”
“The day we jumped from that rooftop over five meters away at the supermarket!” Ouyang En wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, “Normally, I can jump at most three meters. But look at this!” With that, Ouyang En started running down the street and leaped into the air, soaring three meters high before landing on a wall beside the road.
“Brother is amazing!” Yiyi exclaimed from behind, waving her little fists.
Ouyang En jumped down and said, “Brother Wang, you’re even better than me; you must be able to jump higher.” Wang Chao didn’t respond but recalled how easily he and Liu He had jumped onto rooftops several meters high in recent days. He hadn’t tried before but realized that if an ordinary person could jump up there casually, then the profession of thief would surely thrive.
Wang Chao looked down at his taut muscles; they seemed to harbor some mysterious power.
This was unscientific. However, since even zombies—such an extremely unscientific species—could exist, if one day an alien with a huge head came to ask Wang Chao for directions, he wouldn’t find it strange at all. That night, Wang Chao and Ouyang En cleared a safe room for everyone to stay in. The food in their backpacks was enough for four people to last a whole week.
Thus, the four of them walked intermittently for three nights.
On the fourth morning, Wang Chao washed his face with tap water. He didn’t dare drink it, but it was perfect for washing up. After washing his face, he helped Yiyi wash hers and comb her hair. It struck Wang Chao as amusing; being in his twenties without a wife yet managing so skillfully with a child felt oddly satisfying.
Looking at Yiyi, Wang Chao felt the hardest part of his heart soften.
Yiyi inherited her strong-willed mother's genes, displaying a stubborn and resilient personality. Throughout the tumultuous week with Wang Chao and the others, she neither cried nor fussed; instead, she secretly shed tears at night. Wang Chao understood that although Yiyi was only five or six years old, she comprehended everything happening around her. Perhaps she couldn't fully grasp it, but she understood. Whenever Wang Chao saw her, he was reminded of his own childhood; in many ways, they were almost identical.
Yang Mengying watched as Wang Chao washed and groomed Yiyi. Yang Mengying had a job, starting as a low-level employee in a company, unlike Wang Chao who spent his days at home. Although Yang Mengying knew that Wang Chao was always with a little girl, she was surprised at how effortlessly he took care of her. Suddenly, she remembered that it was Wang Chao who cooked dinner every day.
She noticed the tenderness in Wang Chao's eyes, as if they could overflow with warmth.
"Another new day!" Wang Chao exclaimed. "Let's go!"
The four of them perked up and continued toward the hospital.
As soon as they stepped outside, Wang Chao felt an unsettling strangeness wash over him; that familiar sense of anxiety surged again. He didn't understand why he felt this way—it was his most direct response to danger—but he knew it was not a good sign. "Hurry up, something feels off!" he urged, quickening his pace along with the others. As he looked around, realization struck him and he whispered, "Where have all the zombies gone?"
Yang Mengying and Ouyang En glanced around and confirmed his suspicion: the surroundings were eerily empty; apart from the four of them, there were no other living creatures.
No wonder Wang Chao felt something was wrong as soon as he stepped outside. The drastic change felt like a day without sunlight; it was only now that they noticed it. Ouyang En said, "Could it be that zombies have a lifespan? Do they just die off after two weeks?"
"That's not right!" Wang Chao replied. "Even if they die, there would still be corpses on the ground. Look around—it's cleaner than when our leaders come for inspections!"
"What’s going on?" Yang Mengying frowned.
At that moment, a deafening roar echoed from afar. Even the growls of zombie dogs from before seemed less terrifying than this distorted sound. The roar sent chills down their spines; it sounded distant yet ominous. However, Wang Chao dared not linger any longer and said, "Run! We should reach the hospital in about three hours!"
Yang Mengying and Ouyang En nodded, then the three of them started to run.
At the source of the roar.
"What the hell is that? Run! Just run!" a Survivor shouted as he threw away his dagger and took off.
However, a tentacle, as thick as a finger, shot out at a speed far greater than his own, piercing directly into his Heart. Within seconds, the Survivor deflated like a balloon, leaving only a shell behind. Inside the tentacle, something pulsated like blood vessels, directly siphoning away his flesh and blood!
"Uncle!" another Survivor cried out just as he felt a sudden sharp pain in his body. Looking down, he saw a tentacle had already pierced into his Heart. But it was too fast; his brain couldn't react in time. He watched helplessly as his flesh was drained away. Struggling to lift his head and look around, he discovered that similar tentacles were piercing the Hearts of all the Survivors nearby.
"What... what is happening..." He couldn't finish his last word before everything went dark.
Comment 0 Comment Count