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Chapter Sixty-Seven: Night Fire
When Cao Liang crawled out of the collapsed old house, the moon was already high in the sky. He lay back in the overgrown yard, the twinkling stars above and the flickering flames creating an abstract painting against the night sky.
The fire at the farmhouse had not been extinguished; instead, it had ignited the neighboring old house. The yard was not like the two-story small building, lacking concrete and metal, mostly consisting of old thatched roofs and wooden beams, with wooden windows and doors. The yard was piled high with excellent kindling: firewood and charcoal, which would catch fire easily without needing a strong wind.
Cao Liang had narrowly escaped a disaster. At that moment, he and Song Yao had rushed to the backyard to try to put out the fire, only to be caught off guard when a zombie unexpectedly lunged out of the flames. Realizing they could not hold the backyard, the three of them planned to go upstairs to call An Zheng and others to escape together. However, they soon discovered that the kitchen sliding door had been locked from the outside by someone, and no amount of shouting or banging would attract anyone's attention.
The fire in the backyard was fueled fiercely by the yellow wind, with flames as thick as old trees roaring loudly. With each gust of wind, they crashed into the kitchen, quickly igniting a circle of flammable materials. The cramped kitchen turned into a steam chamber in an instant, thick smoke and fiery tongues licking everywhere while the three had nowhere to hide.
Fortunately, during their earlier firefighting efforts, they had been interrupted by zombies, leaving plenty of water in both barrels. Cao Liang decisively urged the two girls to climb inside while he tried to remain calm and find a way out.
At that time, Jiang He and his companions were leading zombies toward the pigpen. Cao Liang peeked through the kitchen window and saw a massive horde of zombies roaring as they passed by. Many zombies were drawn to the light from the backyard fire, swaying as they stumbled into the narrow passage between the small yard and the old house.
Cao Liang had once been an outdoor coach and possessed some basic survival knowledge. He knew that if he stayed in the kitchen any longer, he would either choke on smoke or be burned to a crisp. Faced with this dilemma, he chose to break out, grabbing a kitchen knife from the counter before leaping through the window.
His physical condition had always been good; although the alley between the two yards was narrow, it was unrealistic to think he could leap across in one bound. Relying on his strength, Cao Liang forcefully knocked down several zombies clinging to the window ledge and stepped over their piled-up bodies to scale over the earthen wall of the old house.
His intention was to join up with Jiang He's group; most of the zombies were distracted by gunfire from three people, allowing him to quickly cross over to them. Unfortunately, zombies did not give him that chance. Before he could rise from the weeds, zombies were already crawling through the gap in the earthen wall drawn by the noise. Looking toward the front door revealed a chaotic scene where hordes of zombies were pouring in; stepping out with just a kitchen knife would be reckless. Reluctantly, he decided to retreat into the abandoned old house, planning to wait until outside hordes dispersed before making his move.
However, things did not go as planned. As soon as Cao Liang stepped into the old house, zombies followed closely behind him into the yard. Unlike the farmhouse, there was no security door in this old house. Just as Cao Liang slammed a door shut with all his might, one of its wooden panels shattered into two pieces! Before he could curse under his breath, zombies surged forward relentlessly. One zombie lunged precisely at where he had just closed off access; half its body got stuck in the broken door frame while a decayed face nearly pressed against Cao Liang's nose.
Even though Cao Liang was bold and tough-skinned, this sudden attack startled him into a cold sweat; his scalp tingled as he instinctively recoiled backward. As a result, neither of the wooden doors managed to hold back; zombies crashed through one after another, toppling tables and chairs in their wake.
The old house was a single-story structure, shrouded in darkness, with only one window allowing a fierce glow of firelight to seep in. In a moment of desperation, Cao Liang had no choice but to run again. After stumbling multiple times, he finally managed to climb onto an old-style cabinet by stepping on the stove.
Zombies, as always, did not require orderly lines; the firelight and scent served as their guiding beacons. Many Zombies rushed into the old house, surrounding the cabinet beneath Cao Liang. They raised their arms high, exposing their ghastly toothless grins towards him.
Cao Liang was broad-shouldered, and lying atop the cabinet required him to lift his legs high to avoid being dragged down by the Zombies. As he saw a swarm of dark figures flooding into the old house with no escape in sight, he couldn't help but sigh in resignation, waiting for the moment when the Zombies would topple the cabinet.
Perhaps fate had other plans for him. While lying on top of the cabinet awaiting his demise, Cao Liang suddenly noticed a flickering light nearby. Turning his head, he saw that there was indeed a hole in one of the beams, with tarpaulin and thatch exposed, letting in the light from a fire burning in the neighboring courtyard.
Cao Liang's spirits lifted dramatically; it seemed that the roof had been breached by a Zombie falling from the clifftop. His despair vanished instantly, and he felt rejuvenated like a resurrected outdoor coach!
When one finds themselves in dire straits, emotions can plummet to their lowest point. However, if even a glimmer of hope appears in such circumstances, those emotions can rebound dramatically! Cao Liang silently rejoiced that there was still a way out. He swung his kitchen knife down to sever several reaching arms and carefully steadied himself on both ends of the cabinet before squatting down. The roof of the old house was not high, and being a big guy, he could reach up and touch it while squatting on top of the cabinet.
As Cao Liang's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he carefully assessed his situation and measured the distance to the hole in the roof. Ultimately, he had to abandon any thoughts of escaping through it.
The old house had a rooftop structure with a central beam running through it and smaller beams arranged like fish bones on either side for support. The small beam at the hole was already broken, indicating that its lateral supports were also precarious. The distance from where Cao Liang squatted on top of the cabinet to the hole was less than three meters; under normal circumstances, he could have easily jumped up with a stool. But clearly, there was no chance for that now.
Although escaping through the hole seemed hopeless, it did provide him with some inspiration. Cao Liang reached up to feel the fishbone beam above him; it was relatively dry wood while the earthen bricks had become damp. Digging vigorously for a few moments, he managed to dislodge several pieces of earth mixed with thatch. Old Cao was overjoyed; swinging his kitchen knife down severed several frail arms reaching up at him as he grasped onto a fishbone beam for stability and began digging out more earthen bricks between the wooden beams.
The dilapidated old house had been built many years ago without any cement or concrete used in its construction, making it surprisingly easy to dig through. Before long, he had reached the tarpaulin layer. With renewed confidence, he cautiously shifted his position while avoiding grasping arms below him; his knife continued its work until he finally carved out an opening large enough for his head.
Cao Liang reached out to remove some tiles; using his kitchen knife like a hatchet, he began hacking away at the edges of the hole vigorously. Dirt flew everywhere as he widened it further.
At that moment, gunfire erupted outside; it sounded like it came from the neighboring courtyard. Cao Liang hurriedly quickened his pace; with his head and half of his shoulder now protruding from the opening, he grew impatient and decided against further digging. Instead, he used sheer force to push upward. The section of roof around his head began to rhythmically rise and fall as large chunks of earth fell away and wooden beams shifted slightly with his movements. However, Cao Liang remained oblivious to all this because all his attention was focused on several people perched on top of the wall nearby.
Cao Liang shouted several times, but Luci and the others on the wall did not hear him. By the time he shrank back into the hole and pried open a large chunk of earth with a kitchen knife, there was no one left on the wall. A Golden Cup Van sped by, scraping against the opposite earthen wall, sending sparks flying, before coming to a steady stop at the Farmhouse entrance.
As Jiang He and the others filed into the van, Cao Liang finally managed to dig the hole wide enough for his body to fit through. He braced himself against both sides of the opening, his muscular arms straining as he pushed down hard with his feet. Suddenly, with a loud crack, a piece of wood splintered, and Cao Liang's right leg sank halfway into the ground. The poor-quality plywood cabinet top finally gave way under his weight, splitting open like paper.
Fortunately, with both hands outside the hole, when his feet suddenly dropped, he narrowly avoided twisting his waist as he exerted upward force. Cao Liang silently reminded himself not to rush. He stretched one foot to push against the edge of the cabinet top while his powerful arms pulled him upward once more.
With a furious roar, Cao Liang felt the wooden beams on either side of the hole suddenly loosen. Old Cao's heroic shout transformed into a distorted dolphin sound as the opening collapsed violently, like a deflated lung gasping for air. The entire area around the large hole created by the Zombie's attack crumbled down!
As Golden Cup Bun turned a corner downhill, he only caught sight of the increasingly distant Farmhouse and failed to notice an old house beside it collapsing amidst a cloud of dust.
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