“Survivors?” Bai Mingxi was somewhat puzzled. Most survivors nowadays had joined one base or another. He had brought a team to this town before, and he hadn’t found any survivors here.
“Probably,” Chu Tian said with a smile that seemed to hold some deeper meaning.
Even Quan Xiaoyu couldn’t help looking at Chu Tian a few more times, curious about what he was thinking.
Seeing Chu Tian deliberately keep everyone in suspense, Bai Mingxi pursed his lips behind his back and secretly rolled his eyes at him.
Keep showing off, and you’ll get struck by lightning.
As though he had eyes in the back of his head, Chu Tian reached back and smacked Bai Mingxi on the head. He didn’t even look at him as he got out of the car and walked ahead.
The other two saw this and exchanged sympathetic smiles before hurrying after Chu Tian. Bai Mingxi clutched his head, furious but not daring to say a word.
The two little beasts didn’t show any particular reaction this time. They obediently followed behind everyone.
The door of the small supermarket was open, but it hadn’t been damaged. Once they entered, everyone saw a bizarre scene.
A group of humans, men and women, young and old, stood in two rows, holding hands. They had formed a human wall that firmly blocked the way forward, keeping Xie Mingxuan outside. And the one they were crowding around and protecting was actually a zombie.
The zombie looked like a young woman. Her face had once been bitten and gnawed at, and it no longer looked remotely human, yet one could still make out that she had once been a human being.
While Quan Xiaoyu, Bai Mingxi, and Li Nan were still staring in astonishment, Xie Mingxuan suddenly rushed back and threw his arms around Quan Xiaoyu. The aggrieved expression on his face made him look like a child who had been bullied and had finally found his parent.
Every person in the human wall wore an expression of wariness and vigilance. Seeing the newcomers enter only made them even more resolute in their stance.
As for Chu Tian, the moment he had stepped through the doorway, a clear message had entered his mind.
“Please, I’m begging you. Don’t hurt them.”
A mental-type ability?
Chu Tian was surprised. He sent a strand of mental power toward the source of the message, entering the other party’s mind.
Huh? No, that wasn’t it!
The thought had traveled along Xie Mingxuan’s mental power. The words had originally been directed at Xie Mingxuan, but they had reached Chu Tian through him.
Chu Tian’s mental ability had advanced another step. He tried to communicate with the other party directly.
We won’t hurt them. Were you the one who smashed our car?
Once their thoughts were directly connected to Chu Tian’s mind, the other party seemed extremely surprised.
“You… Who are you? Can you understand what I’m saying?”
The thoughts were clear and logical. If not for that appearance, Chu Tian would have found it hard to believe that he was conversing with a zombie.
But in that very instant, he understood.
This zombie’s evolution had taken the direction of intelligence, not mental power!
“What do you want?!” someone in the crowd finally shouted.
The person who spoke was a man in his fifties or sixties. He looked like their leader and was the first to address the newcomers in an openly hostile manner.
“She smashed our car, so we followed her to see what was going on,” Quan Xiaoyu answered calmly.
Normally, Chu Tian would have handled this sort of conversation. But just now, Quan Xiaoyu had noticed that Chu Tian seemed momentarily stunned, so he had taken over.
As he spoke, Quan Xiaoyu pointed toward the female zombie behind the crowd.
He was confused, too. Xie Mingxuan was a Level Six zombie with mental-control abilities. Because of his limited intelligence, he could influence humans more easily than control them outright. However, dealing with zombies of a lower level should have been effortless for him. So why did it now look as though he was the one being bullied?
When the people across from them heard this, they immediately understood what had happened. They didn’t seem like unreasonable people, and their expressions softened somewhat.
The elderly man stepped forward slightly and bowed to them.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you all. But she meant no harm. She was only trying to find us some food. She has never hurt anyone, truly. We…”
He gestured awkwardly at their surroundings.
“We really have nothing we can give you as compensation. I hope you can be magnanimous and let this matter go. Would that be all right?”
His tone was sincere and embarrassed. Looking at the people around him, the others noticed that most were gaunt and sallow, probably from prolonged hunger. Their lips were cracked from a lack of water, and their clothes were filthy. Only then did the newcomers notice the strange, unpleasant smell inside the building.
The old man didn’t look like someone accustomed to bowing his head. He knew that many people might consider his explanation shamelessly unreasonable, but the truth was that they had absolutely nothing left with which to compensate the newcomers.
“Uncle, don’t worry. We won’t hurt anyone, and we’re not here to hold you responsible for anything. We only followed her because we saw a zombie. We originally thought we’d kill her so that—”
“No! She has never harmed anyone! Don’t even think about it!”
Chu Tian had just recovered enough to respond, but before he could finish his sentence, the other party’s fierce reaction forced him to swallow the rest of his words. He could only smile wryly.
His unfinished sentence, however, made the other people even more agitated. They tightened their grips on one another’s hands and stood firmly in place.
“If you want to kill her, you’ll have to kill every one of us first!” The old man returned to the group, his expression resolute.
Chu Tian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Quan Xiaoyu and the other two were witnessing such a scene for the first time, and for a long moment, they were too stunned to react.
“Please, relax. We won’t hurt her. Uncle, at least let me finish what I was saying!” Chu Tian explained helplessly.
But the other party remained unwavering on this matter and seemed unwilling to listen to a word he said.
At that moment, the Level Four zombie who had been hiding behind the crowd pushed her way through them and walked forward alone.
“Girl, go back! Everyone will protect you!” the old man said, stepping in front of the Level Four zombie. The others also reached out to pull her back.
The Level Four zombie merely shook her head. She gently patted the old man’s hand in reassurance, then continued forward.
Xie Mingxuan perked up at the sight of her. The moment she appeared, he tried to approach her again. But the female Level Four zombie seemed somewhat afraid of him and made a movement to retreat. Quan Xiaoyu promptly pulled Xie Mingxuan back.
“Don’t worry. We mean no harm. We were just curious and came to take a look. He doesn’t mean any harm either. Otherwise, you’d already be dead.”
This time, Chu Tian addressed the Level Four zombie. Since they had already established communication, he chose to speak aloud so that everyone could hear.
The Level Four zombie nodded, though she still seemed somewhat afraid of Xie Mingxuan.
“Uncle, there’s no need to be nervous. Why don’t we sit down and talk? We really mean no harm,” Chu Tian said, nodding at Bai Mingxi.
As longtime friends, Bai Mingxi immediately understood what he meant. He took some food and water out of his backpack and handed the entire bundle to the old man.
No one knew how long it had been since those people had last seen proper food. The light that suddenly shone in their eyes was something Quan Xiaoyu would never forget for the rest of his life.
With food available, the atmosphere gradually eased. Chu Tian was the first to explain why they had come here. There was nothing they needed to hide, and explaining their purpose would also dispel the other party’s suspicions.
They could have simply left, but Chu Tian had become interested in the Level Four zombie and didn’t mind staying a little longer.
“You killed the monsters in that factory?” The old man’s eyes widened. He looked both incredulous and frightened.
Thinking back to what had just happened, if these people really could kill the monsters in the factory, then killing everyone here would be effortless for them.
“We’ve seen quite a few people go in there, but none of them ever came out,” a young man said, coming closer with his eyes wide.
Chu Tian looked at the several young people who had gathered around curiously and simply recounted their fight with the monsters. Naturally, he embellished certain parts, explaining what could be explained while concealing what needed to remain hidden. The young people listened, their faces filled with shock and fascination.
However, what truly dispelled everyone’s wariness was Li Nan. He treated several people who were suffering from illnesses, especially one child whom everyone had believed was beyond saving.
Only then did the atmosphere become completely friendly.
Seeing this, Bai Mingxi squeezed over beside Chu Tian and muttered, “See? A pure heart works a lot better than your fake smile.”
Chu Tian unceremoniously smacked him away without bothering to respond. Taking advantage of the now-friendly atmosphere, he asked about the girl.
Perhaps the others had also realized that Xie Mingxuan wasn’t human. Since they, too, were caring for a zombie, they felt a certain kinship with him. Combined with the friendly atmosphere, this finally prompted the old man to speak on behalf of everyone and tell them the story of the Level Four zombie.
The village adjoining this town was called Lishui Village, and the old man was its village chief. His surname was Yu.
The Level Four zombie had originally been called Nizi. Her father had died of illness when she was three years old. Her mother had abandoned her and run off with another man, never to return. Her father had no surviving family members, and she had few relatives, so she had become a complete orphan.
But the villagers were kindhearted. They raised Nizi by taking turns feeding her, with one household giving her a meal and another giving her the next. When she reached school age, they pooled their money to pay her tuition, with one family contributing ten yuan and another a hundred.
That was how Nizi grew up, eating meals provided by the entire village.
She was a grateful child who remembered everyone’s kindness. Whenever she had free time, she would go from house to house, helping the villagers with their work.
Her life had been wonderful. Nizi was seventeen that year and in her final year of high school. She was about to take her university entrance examinations and embark on an even better life. The village chief had even begun preparing in advance with everyone, saving up money for her university tuition.
But then the apocalypse arrived.
Looking back on those days, they had been nothing short of hell. Everyone had watched their relatives and friends turn into monsters that devoured the living, biting and tearing away the flesh of their own loved ones, mouthful by mouthful…
It wasn’t that they lacked the courage to kill zombies. They simply lacked the courage to kill their own family members. Those who were still alive had no choice but to flee their homes.
But everything was in chaos at the time. The village chief led the surviving villagers to this town, only to find that they had nowhere else to go.