A dark figure hung from the large tree outside the general store, liquid continuously dripping from it.
Drip, drop!
Each drop hammered against Qiao Xi’s nerves.
Only when she drew closer did she see it was a fresh corpse, hung from the tree by bound hands.
Covered in blood from head to toe,
muscles, tendons, and even bones were clearly visible.
Her pupils constricted violently—this person had no skin.
Her body instinctively urged her forward.
Crack!
Something burst under her foot, liquid splattering onto her instep.
Qiao Xi’s heart lurched. She forced herself to look down,
and found an eyeball she had accidentally stepped on and crushed, reddish-brown fluid splattering everywhere.
Qiao Xi’s scalp went numb. Nausea and fear intertwined,
and she could no longer hold it in—she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Ah!!”
The scream pierced the night sky,
but only for a moment before she abruptly clamped her hand over her mouth.
As she struggled to tear her gaze away from the corpse and regain control of her body, her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a figure standing at the base of the wall to her left.
A black hoodie that almost blended into the night, a deathly pale face—
it was the boy from this afternoon.
She turned her head with difficulty to look at him.
The boy stared straight at her, a slow grin spreading across his lips as he raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture.
Soon, Qiao Xi heard people rushing out from behind her.
The footsteps came to an obvious halt at the sight of the corpse ahead.
By now Qiao Xi was nearly face-to-face with the body.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the corpse’s ghastly face.
The next moment, a familiar scent entered her nose, and then she was grabbed by the arm and yanked aside.
“What are you doing here?”
Qin Wang’s voice was cold and stern, his gaze scrutinizing her.
Qiao Xi couldn’t care about anything else. She grabbed Qin Wang’s collar, trying to use him to steady her failing legs.
“Hold me.”
Qin Wang didn’t move.
“Hold me!”
Qiao Xi’s tone was fierce.
Qin Wang didn’t understand, but he did as she asked.
He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, then glanced at the hanging corpse. By now, the boy had disappeared.
He was about to take Qiao Xi back first, but after only two steps, he suddenly frowned and looked toward the alley entrance.
The wind blowing from that direction carried not just the stench of rot, but what seemed to be the musky smell of animals.
Qiao Xi felt it too. The air was trembling slightly,
as if… something was coming this way.
And there were a lot of them.
Not zombies—
zombies weren’t this fast.
As she pondered, she saw Qin Wang’s expression suddenly change.
He carried her quickly toward the general store while shouting to the others, “Grab your things and leave through the back door!”
“Hurry!”
Qiao Xi sensed the danger too—it was something even she, a monster herself, found terrifying.
Not long after they entered,
panting, huffing sounds grew from far to near.
Dense packs of zombie dogs gathered at the door—at least thirty to fifty of them.
The largest were nearly the size of a small calf, while the smallest were only a bit bigger than a cat.
Each one reeked of decay, fangs jutting outward, saliva dripping from their mouths.
Several large zombie dogs surrounded the tree. They crouched on their hind legs and leaped high, biting into the corpse’s feet and legs.
The branches above couldn’t bear the weight and snapped. The corpse fell to the ground and was quickly devoured clean.
The zombie dogs that hadn’t gotten any food sniffed the ground restlessly, pacing in anxious circles.
Some had already started scratching at the general store’s front door.
The scent of living humans inside excited them.
The door trembled.
Barking was almost right at their ears.
They had just reached the back door when a loud crash sounded from the other direction.
Qiao Xi turned her head and saw the front door shattered.
Several zombie dogs squeezed their way in, sniffing around the floor of the general store.
“They’re inside!” Xia Manman shrieked, her face pale.
Some zombie dogs perked up their ears at the sound and looked in their direction.
These creatures were agile, had terrifying bite force, were fast, and always appeared in packs.
The worst part was that zombie dogs weren’t picky eaters—when hungry enough, they’d even eat zombies.
Qiao Xi had always avoided them before.
“Get in the car!”
Outside, Chen Zhiang rolled down the window and shouted at them.
The zombie dogs behind had already given chase.
Xia Manman shoved Qiao Xi aside and sprinted toward the vehicle.
At the same time, a half-human-height zombie dog lunged forward, its gaping jaws aimed at Qiao Xi’s back.
The stench of rot rushed at her from behind. Qiao Xi immediately dodged to the side.
A burly zombie dog landed exactly where she had been standing.
After landing, the zombie dog didn’t continue its attack. It twitched its nose, sniffing, then tilted its half-rotted head toward Qiao Xi’s direction, as if confused.
Qiao Xi raised an eyebrow. This thing could tell she wasn’t alive?
Before the zombie dog could react, a bolt of lightning struck down, turning it into charred ash.
At the same time, Qin Wang grabbed Qiao Xi’s arm and pushed her toward the car.
“Get in!”
A horde of zombie dogs charged toward them, barking wildly.
Qiao Xi didn’t hesitate. She turned and dove into the vehicle.
“The zombie dogs are all coming! Get in quick!”
Xia Manman urged frantically, “Hurry!”
The others were also quickly converging on the car. The bespectacled man was half a beat slower. Seeing that Qiao Xi and Xia Manman had gotten in before him, he scrambled to the side of the car—but just as he pulled open the passenger door,
He was grabbed by the collar and yanked aside.
He stumbled, his face a mess of panic and disbelief.
But in less than two seconds, the Zombie Dog behind him sank its teeth into his lower back.
“Ah!!”
A scream erupted.
The glasses-wearing man was dragged into the pack of Zombie Dogs. Before his scream could even fade, his body was torn apart by several powerful Zombie Dogs.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Li Chuan didn’t look back. He got in the car and slammed the door in one fluid motion.
Then he urged Chen Zhiang to drive faster.
Xia Manman also looked at Chen Zhiang with eager eyes.
Qiao Xi frowned and reminded them, “Qin Wang isn’t in the car yet.”
Chen Zhiang glanced at the back door where Zombie Dogs kept pouring out, then looked at Qin Wang, who was still covering their retreat.
“Brother Qin, hurry up!”
The moment the glasses-wearing man got into trouble, Qin Wang had reached out to grab him, but only caught a corner of his clothes.
He took down the few Zombie Dogs nearest him, then raised a hand to set up a Lightning Sigil at the back door, trying to hold back the Zombie Dogs behind them. Then, as the car slowly moved forward, he jumped into the back seat.
The moment the door closed, a Zombie Dog slammed into it with a bang, leaving several scratch marks on the outside.
Chen Zhiang floored the gas pedal and drove forward.
The Lightning Sigil was shattered in no time. The Zombie Dogs caught the scent of living humans and gave chase relentlessly.
At a bend up ahead, a Zombie Dog of modest size suddenly lunged at the car.
The car couldn’t dodge in time. The dog crashed through the windshield, heading straight for Li Chuan’s face.
Li Chuan reacted quickly. He grabbed the dog’s leg, and the instant it lowered its head to bite him, he used the force of his arm to fling the Zombie Dog toward the back seat.
It happened to be aimed right at Qiao Xi, who was sitting in the middle.
Seeing the Zombie Dog flying toward her, Qiao Xi’s pupils contracted sharply. That despicable Li Chuan.
She instinctively raised her hand to block.
But someone beat her to it. An arm came between her and the Zombie Dog, while another hand seized the back of the dog’s neck.
The moment it lunged, he grabbed it and pressed it down.
The Zombie Dog struggled and snarled, its limbs thrashing as it still tried to bite the people in front of it.
Chen Zhiang was so startled he nearly drove the car into a ditch. The vehicle wobbled and swayed like it was drunk.
Qin Wang had wanted to throw the dog out the window, but the thing was too strong, desperately trying to bite back, and the car was shaking violently.
So he put force into his hands and snapped its spine, finally making it go still.
The corpse was tossed out of the car. The interior finally returned to calm, leaving only the ragged breathing of a few people still shaken from their brush with death.
Chen Zhiang glanced in the rearview mirror at what was behind the car.
Good, the Zombie Dogs seemed to have been shaken off.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a scream exploded in his ears.
Xia Manman pointed at the long wound on Qin Wang’s arm, her face full of terror: “Qin Wang was scratched by a Zombie Dog! He’s going to die!”