“Since that storm, both the environment and the climate have been changing.” Jiang Shian glanced sideways. “In a situation like this, I need your ability to assist me.”
Song Jinhe ate her noodles in big mouthfuls, her tone doubtful. “You trust me that much?”
This was exactly the kind of situation where a blackout made betrayal easiest for her.
“Why wouldn’t I? If I die, can you survive and leave here alone?” Jiang Shian’s lips curved slightly as he looked at her right hand.
Of course, he wasn’t completely unguarded either.
“That’s true.”
After finishing their food, the two of them went back to the second floor and used string and empty bottles found in the bar to set up a warning line on the stairs, ensuring they would hear any movement if zombies came in while they were sleeping.
At the very end of the second floor was a room that used to be the bar owner’s living quarters, just a bed and a sofa.
Song Jinhe had spent the past two days sleeping uneasily in a car, so to her, even the sofa was fine; as long as she could sleep, it was enough.
But Jiang Shian told her to take the bed instead, saying poor rest would affect the performance of her ability. She didn’t refuse.
“There’s water for washing in the bathroom, but it’s cold.” Jiang Shian looked at her.
“Where did the water come from?” It hadn’t rained for days.
“Didn’t you want to know my ability? That’s where it came from.”
Song Jinhe paused. She hadn’t said anything, how did he figure it out? Had she made her probing too obvious?
In the bathroom, Song Jinhe took out the hot water she had previously boiled at a bathhouse and mixed it into the basin. Lukewarm was enough; they had to conserve hot water.
Feeling clean and refreshed was wonderful. These past two days, she had felt like she was being pickled in the stench of corpses.
Washing with one hand wasn’t convenient, so it took her quite a while to get everything done.
At night, with the lights off, the room was extremely quiet. The sounds of zombies were just a wall away, and occasionally she could even hear the scraping of claws. The pain in her injured hand came in waves, and several times she almost fell asleep only to be jolted awake by it.
She could sense the steady breathing of the other person nearby. Although they weren’t close and were still wary of each other, in this zombie-filled night, there was an inexplicable sense of comfort in it.
At least she wasn’t spending the night alone outside.
Song Jinhe woke up without even opening her eyes, first confirming her surroundings. The zombies hadn’t gotten into the room, and the other person was sitting calmly on the sofa.
Then, when she opened her eyes, she realized it was still completely dark. She clearly felt like she had slept for quite a while, yet the wristwatch showed 9:03 a.m.
For a moment, she thought she had gone blind. She stretched her hand out and waved it twice in the air, but after her mind fully cleared, she realized it was simply because daylight hadn’t come.
Outside, an entire street of zombies was still gathered.
Song Jinhe got out of bed and walked to the sofa, lowering her voice. “Two of those screaming-type zombies are heading this way. They’re extremely sensitive to the scent of food.”
“You’ve encountered this type of zombie before?” Jiang Shian cut straight to the point.
“Yes. I ran into one in the city before. It was very troublesome.” Song Jinhe frowned.
Jiang Shian fell silent for a moment. He had long known that special variants would appear among zombies, the virus and genetic recombination were constantly evolving.
He had stayed in the city precisely to look for these kinds of zombies, but had never encountered one.
“Besides being sensitive to smell, are there any other traits?”
“They’re faster in reaction speed and can summon companions, basically an upgraded version of ordinary zombies.” Song Jinhe looked around. “This place shouldn’t be that easy to find.”
She had no idea how long the darkness would last, but just sensing how terrifying the zombie movements outside were made her extremely uneasy.
If they were discovered, with her injured state, she would have no chance of survival here relying only on her perception ability.
At around three in the afternoon, the sky was neither fully bright nor fully dark, and soon after, it slipped back into night again.
They couldn’t go downstairs. Song Jinhe split the bread with Jiang Shian. By around nine in the evening, when she sensed zombies occasionally bumping into the door below, her breath almost stopped.
Ten o’clock.
Bang!
A sudden impact on the window made Song Jinhe jolt.
“There’s something outside. It’s large in size, and the number…” she hadn’t finished speaking.
Crash, the glass shattered, and a black shadow flew in, sweeping right between them.
“It’s bats.” Song Jinhe quickly dodged the attack.
Ordinary bats wouldn’t be this large, they looked to be at least 30 centimeters long.
It carried a strong stench of blood mixed with a strange rotten odor, and its fur was covered in oozing pus.
A few more flew in. Under the cover of darkness, they spread their wings wide, baring yellowed teeth as they launched attacks at the two humans inside the room.
“It’s right behind you, duck your head!” Song Jinhe grabbed the blanket and threw it over her head, wrapping herself up tightly first.
That thing looked like it was entirely made of viruses!
Hearing the warning, Jiang Shian quickly dodged to the side. His dagger pierced into the mutated bat’s body. It flapped its wings, struggling wildly before crashing heavily into the corner.
The wildly flailing bats knocked over furniture in the room, and the noise still drew the attention of the zombies outside.
Piercing screams mixed with flapping and scratching sounds, and more and more zombies began to converge toward the house.
Song Jinhe, moving with awkward evasive steps, retreated to Jiang Shian’s side. “There are still a lot of bats outside. Under the cabinet, your front!”
Jiang Shian twisted his wrist, swinging his blade from the bat’s right wing into its body. Thick, foul-smelling liquid splattered out immediately.
He had just been about to tell Song Jinhe to stand behind him so she wouldn’t get accidentally hurt—
When he turned his head, he saw Song Jinhe had turned on the emergency light, then quickly pulled her hand back into the blanket as if it had been burned. She gripped it tightly from inside, exposing only half her face as she watched him, her self-protection measures extremely thorough.
As another dying bat struggled, she smashed it to the ground with a hammer in her left hand, then immediately retreated back into the blanket again.
She was surprisingly good at surviving.
Jiang Shian withdrew his gaze, pulled out a pistol from his waist, flicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger, shooting down two bats that were flying through the air.
Even with a suppressor, gunfire still made noise, but they had already been discovered by the zombies anyway, shooting or not made no difference now.
Song Jinhe threw off the blanket she had wrapped herself in and helped Jiang Shian use tables and chairs to temporarily block the broken window.
A loud crash sounded below as the door was forced open halfway. Zombies surged in one after another, rushing up the stairs with terrifying speed.
The bottles they had set up earlier shattered. Song Jinhe smashed two more bottles of alcohol downward. If they still couldn’t hold them back, they would have to set fire.
The first to rush up were the screaming-type zombies. It took three shots to the head before one finally went down.
There were too many zombies. Even when set on fire, they wouldn’t die immediately; instead, they would burn while still lunging at people. No matter how skilled Jiang Shian was with his gun, reloading still took time.
The crackling of flames and the greasy stench of burning fat filled the air.
They kept fighting while retreating toward the skylight, where the emergency light could no longer reach.
Just as a messy zombie with blood-red eyes reached out to grab Jiang Shian’s arm from the side, Song Jinhe stepped forward without hesitation despite the pain and slashed at it with a knife.
Her hand hurt so badly that the strike didn’t completely kill the zombie, and the knife was knocked away. She immediately rushed forward again, her left hand locking tightly around the zombie’s head while her right hand drove the knife straight into its eye socket.