At that moment, even the sounds of chewing behind them stopped. The zombies began slowly closing in again.
Xiao Ziran immediately felt an enormous pressure bearing down on him, making his scalp tingle.
Quan Xiaoyu gradually regained consciousness, his eyes going from bewildered to clear.
The first thing he said when he opened his eyes and saw Xiao Ziran was, “Where’s Chu Tian?”
Xiao Ziran gave a bitter smile. How would he know where Chu Tian was? Chu Tian had clearly been with Quan Xiaoyu.
Judging from Quan Xiaoyu’s condition, he had probably become separated from the others and eventually found his way back to the shopping mall. However, the other three had never returned.
“Don’t ask about Chu Tian yet. Take a look at the situation we’re in first.”
Only then did Quan Xiaoyu sit up and see what was happening.
He and Xiao Ziran were surrounded by a group of zombies. Yet the zombies merely glared at the two of them menacingly without launching an attack.
“Ho… ho…”
Seeing Quan Xiaoyu sit up, Xie Mingxuan, who had been standing protectively in front of the two of them all this time, became excited. He bounced on his feet and clapped his hands, making “ho-ho” sounds, looking as happy as a child—
If only his appearance as a zombie weren’t so terrifying!
“Lawyer Xie?!”
After taking a closer look, Quan Xiaoyu immediately recognized Xie Mingxuan as well. He was utterly shocked.
Unlike when Xiao Ziran and the others had called Xie Mingxuan’s name earlier and received no reaction, Xie Mingxuan was clearly extremely sensitive to Quan Xiaoyu calling him.
“Pro… protect…”
Xie Mingxuan uttered a few indistinct words and reached out toward Quan Xiaoyu again.
Quan Xiaoyu simply stared at him, unable to process what he was seeing. He had considered the possibility that Xie Mingxuan might have died, and had even felt guilty about that possibility, but he had absolutely never imagined that Xie Mingxuan would reappear in this form.
With no other choice, when Xiao Ziran saw that Quan Xiaoyu did not react to Xie Mingxuan reaching toward him, he instinctively blocked the hand again.
After all, it was a zombie!
Xie Mingxuan immediately became enraged.
Now that Quan Xiaoyu was no longer in Xiao Ziran’s arms, Xie Mingxuan seemed to have no reservations. His sharp claws viciously raked toward Xiao Ziran’s head.
Xiao Ziran clearly hadn’t expected him to attack without warning. Caught completely off guard, he failed to dodge.
“Stop!”
Quan Xiaoyu shouted.
He hadn’t expected Xie Mingxuan to suddenly attack either. He reached around instinctively, only to discover that the katana he never went anywhere without was no longer at his side. He immediately panicked.
Neither of them had really expected the command “Stop!” to be capable of stopping a zombie. After all, not everyone was Yu Ning. Even Yu Ning had needed to communicate through mental power. With Chu Tian gone, neither of them was a psychic-type ability user.
Yet at that very moment, upon hearing Quan Xiaoyu’s voice, Xie Mingxuan immediately stopped.
His face took on what looked almost like a wounded, aggrieved expression, and his round-dot pupils stared straight at Quan Xiaoyu.
Quan Xiaoyu exchanged a glance with Xiao Ziran.
Xiao Ziran nodded at him.
Only then did Quan Xiaoyu tentatively say to Xie Mingxuan, “Come here. Don’t hurt anyone.”
Xie Mingxuan actually nodded.
He walked toward Quan Xiaoyu and reached out his hand again.
This time, Xiao Ziran didn’t block him, and Quan Xiaoyu didn’t retreat.
Xie Mingxuan carefully patted Quan Xiaoyu on the head with his outstretched hand, just like an elder would.
Then he withdrew his hand and began clapping again like a child.
Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes immediately grew hot. The guilt he had buried deep in his heart for so long surged out once again.
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry for abandoning you.
Even though I knew you might die, I still didn’t reach out to help you.
I’m sorry.
No matter how much guilt he felt inside, in the end, all he could say aloud were those three words.
“He saved us just now.”
Xiao Ziran pointed behind them and said to Quan Xiaoyu, “All those monsters—more than a hundred of them—were eaten by the zombies.”
He then briefly explained everything that had happened after Quan Xiaoyu lost consciousness.
Then he suggested, “We should leave here as soon as possible. Being surrounded by a bunch of zombies makes me feel like a piece of meat on a chopping block.”
Quan Xiaoyu pulled Xiao Ziran to his feet. He took a step forward and said to Xie Mingxuan, “Can we leave?”
Who knew whether Xie Mingxuan understood what he meant, but he still nodded.
Quan Xiaoyu and Xiao Ziran took several more steps forward. Xie Mingxuan didn’t stop them, so the two of them began walking away at a faster pace.
After going a few meters, Quan Xiaoyu couldn’t help turning around. He couldn’t bear to abandon Xie Mingxuan yet again.
But the moment he turned his head, he saw Xie Mingxuan following closely behind them.
And the horde of zombies behind Xie Mingxuan was following closely behind him as well.
The two of them finally understood what Xie Mingxuan meant.
They looked at each other.
“He seems to want to follow me. Why don’t you go ahead first?” Quan Xiaoyu said to Xiao Ziran.
Xiao Ziran, however, supported his chin and fell into thought.
After a while, he said, “Have you considered taking him with us?”
“What?”
Quan Xiaoyu thought he had heard wrong.
“He… he’s a zombie now!”
Back when Xie Mingxuan was still human, no one on the team had been willing to accept him. And now, he was a zombie…
“Yes! Precisely because he’s a zombie!”
Xiao Ziran’s eyes gleamed with excitement. At this moment, he seemed to have transformed back into the eccentric doctor he had been when they first met.
“He listens to you. With him around, we can prevent zombie attacks altogether. Look at him. He’s controlling the entire zombie horde perfectly—better than Yu Ning ever did.”
Xiao Ziran truly deserved to be their leader. The moment he discovered that Xie Mingxuan could understand Quan Xiaoyu and would only obey him, an enormous plan had already begun taking shape in his mind.
Quan Xiaoyu thought about it and nodded.
After what had happened with Yu Ning, he no longer viewed high-level zombies as completely lifeless corpses devoid of life and emotion.
“But what does he eat?”
Quan Xiaoyu raised an important question.
“Mutated beasts. I’ve discovered that mutated beasts eat zombies, and zombies eat mutated beasts too.”
Xiao Ziran was still brimming with excitement. The concept of an ultimate bodyguard was taking shape in his mind.
“All right.”
Although this doctor slipping into a crazed state of excitement was something Quan Xiaoyu hadn’t seen in a long time, he was already quite familiar with it.
He didn’t ask anything else. Instead, he walked back and carefully took Xie Mingxuan’s hand.
“Are you willing to come with us?”
Xie Mingxuan was obviously delighted by Quan Xiaoyu’s gesture. He carefully retracted his sharp claws and nodded repeatedly at Quan Xiaoyu with a “ho-ho.”
“Okay.”
Quan Xiaoyu smiled at him, then pointed behind him.
“But they can’t come with us.”
At those words, Xie Mingxuan immediately let out a long howl.
The entire horde of zombies stopped in its tracks.
Half an hour later.
Outside the city was a scorched wasteland left behind by the battle.
There were all kinds of scraps of flesh and patches of blackened blood everywhere.
But apart from the traces left by the battle, the area outside the city was exceptionally quiet. It was as if the disaster and war had already passed far into the distance.
A sliver of dawn appeared along the horizon.
Daybreak was almost here.
Ouyang Jing, who had led the team out of the city, had already been waiting there for quite some time.
The mutated beasts and zombies had all disappeared by now, making the area look extremely safe. Yet they couldn’t leave, because their captain was still confronting tens of thousands of zombies.
“How about this? You guys head north first. Zuo Li, Old Wu, you lead the group. I’ll go into the city to find Captain Xiao and Xiaoyu.”
Ouyang Jing slammed his right fist into his left palm and made his decision.
The agreed-upon time had already arrived.
Xiao Ziran hadn’t come out.
So he had to go in and find him.
“No. Captain Xiao is my captain. I should be the one to go find him.”
Old Wu objected at this moment.
For a while, the two of them argued without either giving way.
While they were locked in a stalemate, three figures suddenly entered everyone’s field of vision.
“Stay alert. Attack immediately if anything seems wrong.”
Ouyang Jing and the others reacted quickly. Before they could determine whether the approaching figures were friend or foe, he immediately ordered everyone to prepare for battle.
“Ouyang, it’s us!”
Xiao Ziran’s voice came from far away.
He knew his own team well enough to guess that they would certainly have gone on alert by now.
Hearing Xiao Ziran’s voice, everyone was overjoyed.
Soon, Quan Xiaoyu appeared before them with Xiao Ziran.
Everyone knew about his speed ability.
The group cheered happily and hugged one another. Only when Xiao Ziran returned did they truly feel as though they had escaped from the jaws of death.
Ouyang Jing happily slapped Quan Xiaoyu on the shoulder.
“You’re back! You’re back! Where are Chu Tian and the others?”
The moment he asked this question, everyone’s happiness suddenly fell silent.
A trace of gloom also appeared on Quan Xiaoyu’s face.
Ouyang Jing realized that he had said the wrong thing.
Chu Tian was one of the core members of the team. If he hadn’t returned with them immediately, then something must have happened.
Besides, Quan Xiaoyu, Chu Tian’s lover, had returned while Chu Tian had never appeared.
That alone said enough.
Everyone fell silent.
At that moment, no one dared to make a sound.
“It’s okay. He must be fine. Maybe he’s just hiding somewhere, waiting for me to find him.”
Quan Xiaoyu’s voice was hoarse, but his tone was extremely firm.
In any case, he refused to believe that anything had happened to Chu Tian.
All four of them had been together at the time. Xiaobai and Xiaonan were both safe and sound. He had searched through the place where the incident had occurred and hadn’t found a single human corpse.
Therefore, Chu Tian had to be fine!
After going through his breakdown and regaining his composure, Quan Xiaoyu was absolutely convinced of this.
No one said anything else.
And no one dared ask about Bai Mingxi and Li Nan either.
This time, their team had already lost far too many companions.
After such a difficult and desperate battle, what chance of survival did those who had become separated from the team really have?
“Let’s get moving while we can! It’ll be dawn soon. Everyone, hold on a little longer. Once we find a safe place, we’ll rest and regroup.”
Xiao Ziran changed the subject.
And so, the group set off once again.
The vehicles had long since been abandoned. For now, they could only travel on foot.
Only then did Ouyang Jing notice the presence of a third person.
That person was extremely strange.
His entire body was wrapped up tightly, and he followed Quan Xiaoyu step for step, never leaving his side.
“Huh…?”
Ouyang Jing was just about to ask when Xiao Ziran grabbed him and pulled him away.
“Don’t ask. I’ll explain everything to you on the way.”
“Oh.”
That was all Ouyang Jing had time to say before he was quickly dragged away.
Meanwhile, Quan Xiaoyu led the strange man along slowly at the back of the group.