“Since that storm started, the environment and climate have been changing.” Jiang Shian looked at her from the side. “In a situation like this, I need the assistance of your talent.”
Song Jinhe was devouring her noodles, her tone skeptical. “You trust me that much?”
The pitch-black darkness would be the perfect time for her to practice her backstabbing skills.
“Why wouldn’t I? If I die, could you leave this place alive on your own?” A faint smile touched the corners of Jiang Shian’s lips as he glanced at Song Jinhe’s right hand.
Of course, he wasn’t entirely without defenses.
“Fair point.”
After finishing their meal, they returned to the second floor. Using string and empty wine bottles found in the tavern, they set up a warning line on the stairs to ensure they would hear if any zombies broke in while they slept.
At the very back of the second floor was a room that had once been the tavern owner’s living quarters, containing only a single bed and a sofa.
Song Jinhe had spent two days sleeping fitfully in a car; to her, the sofa was a luxury as long as she could sleep. However, Jiang Shian insisted she take the bed, arguing that poor rest would hinder the performance of her talent. She didn’t argue.
“There’s water for washing in the bathroom, but it’s cold,” Jiang Shian noted.
“Where did the water come from?” It hadn’t rained for several days.
“Didn’t you want to know what my talent is? That’s how it works.”
Song Jinhe paused. She hadn’t said a word—had her probing been that obvious?
Entering the bathroom, she took out the hot water she had boiled previously at the bath center and mixed it into a basin. As long as it felt lukewarm, it was enough; she had to ration her hot water.
The sensation of being clean and fresh was divine. Over the past two days, she felt as though she had been marinated in the stench of corpses.
Washing with only one hand was inconvenient, and it took her quite a while to finish.
When the lights were turned off at night, the room became exceptionally quiet. The sounds of zombies were separated from them only by a single wall; occasionally, she could hear the sound of nails scratching against the exterior. The wound on Song Jinhe’s hand throbbed in waves of pain, waking her up several times just as she was about to drift off.
Sensing the steady breathing of the person nearby, she felt a strange sense of comfort. Even though they weren’t well-acquainted and were still wary of each other, in this zombie-infested midnight, having company made a difference.
At least she wasn’t spending the night outside alone.
When Song Jinhe woke up, she didn’t open her eyes immediately. Her first priority was to confirm her surroundings: no zombies had entered the room, and the other person was sitting calmly on the sofa.
Then, she opened her eyes to find it was still pitch black. She felt as though she had slept for a significant amount of time; her watch read 9:03 AM.
For a split second, she thought she had gone blind. She waved her hand in the air a few times. Once her head cleared, she realized the sun simply hadn’t come up.
Outside, a whole street’s worth of zombies had gathered.
Song Jinhe got out of bed, walked to the sofa, and whispered, “Two Screaming Zombies are heading this way. They are extremely sensitive to the scent of food.”
“You’ve encountered this type of zombie before?” Jiang Shian focused on the key detail.
“Yes, I ran into one in the city. It was a lot of trouble,” Song Jinhe frowned.
Jiang Shian remained silent for a moment. He had long known that special individuals would appear among the zombies; the fusion of virus and genes was constantly evolving. He had stayed in the city specifically to find this type of zombie, but he hadn’t encountered one until now.
“Besides being sensitive to smells, are there any other characteristics?”
“Faster reaction speeds and the ability to summon companions. Basically, an ‘Ordinary Zombie Pro’ version.” Song Jinhe scanned the room. “This place shouldn’t be discovered that easily.”
She didn’t know how long this darkness would last, but the sheer scale of the zombie horde passing by outside made her restless. If they were discovered, an injured person like her would have zero chance of survival relying only on a perception talent.
By 3:00 PM, the sky turned a murky, twilight gray, only to plunge back into total darkness shortly after.
Unable to go down to the first floor, Song Jinhe shared some bread with Jiang Shian. By 9:00 PM, she felt a zombie accidentally bump into the door downstairs, and her breath hitched.
10:00 PM.
Thump!
A sudden sound against the window made Song Jinhe jump.
“There’s something outside. It’s big, and there are…” Before she could finish her sentence—
Shatter! The glass broke, and a dark shadow flew in, brushing past them.
“It’s a bat!” Song Jinhe ducked to avoid the creature’s attack.
Ordinary bats didn’t grow this large—this one looked to be at least 30cm long! It carried a heavy, mixed scent of fresh blood and a strange, rotting stench, with pus seeping from its fur.
Several more flew in. Under the cover of darkness, they spread their wings and bared yellowed teeth, launching an attack on the two humans in the room.
“It’s right behind you! Get down!” Song Jinhe pulled her quilt over her head, wrapping herself tightly. This thing looked like a flying ball of pure virus!
Acting on the warning, Jiang Shian dodged to the side and drove his dagger into the mutated bat’s body. It flapped its wings in a frenzy, struggling before slamming heavily into the corner.
The flying bats knocked over furniture, and the resulting noise finally drew the attention of the zombies outside.
Piercing shrieks accompanied the sounds of thudding and scratching as more and more zombies converged on the building.
Song Jinhe used some “snake-like” maneuvering to retreat to Jiang Shian’s side. “There are still quite a few bats outside. The cabinet downstairs… directly in front of you!”
Jiang Shian twisted his wrist, his blade slicing from the bat’s right wing through its body. A foul-smelling liquid splattered out instantly.
He was about to tell Song Jinhe to stand behind him to avoid being hit, but when he turned, he saw her turn on the emergency light and then retract her hand into the quilt as if she’d been burned. She gripped the fabric tightly from the inside, leaving only half her face exposed to watch him. Her self-protection measures were remarkably thorough.
As a dying bat struggled to rise, she swung a hammer with her left hand, pinning it to the floor before retreating back into her quilt.
Quite the survivalist, he thought.
Jiang Shian withdrew his gaze, pulled a handgun from his waist, toggled the safety, and pulled the trigger, taking down the two bats darting through the air. Even with a silencer, the gun made noise, but since the zombies had already found them, it didn’t matter anymore.
Song Jinhe threw off the quilt and assisted Jiang Shian in using tables and chairs to temporarily block the broken window.
Suddenly, a loud boom echoed from below. The door was halfway smashed open, and zombies poured in one after another, charging up the stairs with frightening speed.
The wine bottles they had placed earlier shattered. Song Jinhe smashed two more bottles of liquor down the stairs; if they couldn’t hold them back, they would have to start a fire.
The first to charge up was a Screaming Zombie. It took three headshots before it finally went down.
There were too many of them. Even if they were set on fire, they wouldn’t die immediately; instead, they would lung toward the humans while engulfed in flames. No matter how skilled Jiang Shian was with a gun, reloading took time.
The sounds of crackling and the acrid smell of burning fat filled the air.
They retreated toward the skylight while fighting. The light from the emergency lamp could no longer reach this far.
Seeing a zombie with disheveled hair and blood-red eyes about to grab Jiang Shian’s arm, Song Jinhe ignored the pain and stepped forward to slash at it.
The pain in her hand was agonizing, and that single strike wasn’t enough to kill the zombie. Her knife was knocked away. She stepped forward again, locking the zombie’s head in a death grip with her left hand while her right hand drove a knife into its eye socket.