Xingxing disappeared from the back seat.
Su Nian’s heart lurched. Ignoring the zombies only fifty meters away, she closed her eyes and let her consciousness sink into her space.
Xingxing was lying curled up on the black soil in the planting area. She could sense his breathing, steady and even.
Su Nian let out a sigh of relief. She drew closer with her consciousness, sending her voice to him through their connection.
“Xingxing, don’t be afraid. Mommy is outside. It’s safe here, so stay here for a little while.”
Xingxing opened his eyes and looked around. Hugging his arms tightly, he curled up even more, clearly frightened.
“Be good. Close your eyes and count. Mommy will come get you very soon.”
Xingxing nodded and buried his face against his knees.
Su Nian wanted to move him into the storage space, but an invisible wall separated the planting area from the storage space, preventing Xingxing from crossing over.
A row of glowing numbers suddenly appeared above the space.
60:00.
Then it changed to 59:59, 59:58. The numbers continued to tick downward, one second at a time.
Su Nian stared at the countdown, gradually understanding.
Was this the amount of time Xingxing could stay inside the space?
Sixty minutes.
What would happen when the countdown reached zero?
She had no time to think about it.
Opening her eyes, she saw the zombies had already closed to within ten meters. Besides those pinned beneath the fallen rocks, there were still eleven or twelve more. Even without Xingxing on her back, breaking through them would not be easy.
The leading zombie lunged at her with its mouth wide open. Su Nian dodged to the side and swung her machete, chopping straight into its neck.
Without Xingxing on her back, she could move much more freely, but there were simply too many zombies. Every time she cut down a few, more surged forward from behind.
As she fought while retreating, her eyes suddenly caught sight of a pile of large rocks by the roadside. Shaking off the nearest zombie, she sprinted toward them.
Just as she reached the rock pile, two more zombies slid down the slope on her left, crashed onto the road, and immediately scrambled toward her. Running circles around the rocks, Su Nian continuously stored them inside her space.
The instant the zombies closed in, she released the rocks.
Large and small boulders rained down from midair, smashing zombie heads to pieces. Even those farther away had their legs crushed beneath the falling stones.
She dared not stop. She kept storing more rocks before dropping them again, pinning the zombies to the ground until they could no longer move.
After scrambling another several dozen meters, she rounded a bend and finally stopped, gasping for breath. Leaning against the mountainside, her legs trembled, her hands shook uncontrollably, and she could barely keep hold of the machete.
Black blood covered her clothes, its foul stench filling her nose. She quickly stripped off her outer jacket.
Closing her eyes once more, she checked the space.
Xingxing was still lying on the black soil.
The countdown had reached 52:15. Although the numbers continued to fall, lying safely inside the space was still far better than clinging to her back in the cold wind.
Opening her eyes again, she took out the electric scooter from her space, climbed on, and continued forward.
The road leading to the county town was rough, filled with loose stones and deep potholes. Twisting and weaving around them, she rode for about forty minutes before finally leaving the zombie horde far behind.
She stopped beside the road and checked the space again.
There were just over ten minutes left on the countdown. Xingxing had changed positions and was now lying on his side, his breathing still steady.
She rode on for a while longer before stopping in a relatively flat area.
Then she waited for the countdown to reach zero.
Comparing the countdown with the time displayed on her phone, she found they differed by only a few seconds. During the final minute, she stared fixedly at the glowing numbers, her heart lodged in her throat.
00:00.
Xingxing emerged from the space, appearing out of thin air on the road. Drowsily opening his eyes, he saw Su Nian, his lips immediately trembling as he was about to cry.
Su Nian crouched down, gathered him into her arms, and touched his forehead.
It was still burning hot.
After waiting for a moment, she tried putting Xingxing into the space again.
It didn’t work.
Xingxing remained where he was, and the space gave no response. She tried once more.
Still nothing.
There was probably a cooldown period.
With no time to study its rules, Su Nian carried Xingxing onto her back and took the pickup truck out of her space.
Xingxing sat in the passenger seat while Su Nian fastened his seat belt. The little boy still looked exhausted. His lips were cracked, and his breathing had become rapid and shallow again.
Starting the engine, she drove toward the county town.
The highway was much easier to travel than the dirt road, but abandoned vehicles littered every lane. Su Nian constantly swerved around them, sometimes squeezing along the shoulder just to get through.
At one point, an overturned cargo truck completely blocked the road, forcing her to store the pickup truck and continue on foot.
After driving for nearly an hour, a small town came into view ahead.
Su Nian slowed down and took a dirt road around the outskirts, unwilling to pass directly through the town.
She could see zombies wandering along the main street. There weren’t many, but if she could avoid them, she would.
The detour added another twenty minutes to her journey.
Dawn was approaching.
Glancing at her phone, Su Nian estimated she was about forty minutes away from the county town.
But the road ahead was blocked again.
This time it wasn’t abandoned vehicles, but collapsed walls and fallen utility poles lying across the road.
There was no way through.
She stored the pickup truck, switched back to the electric scooter, and continued with Xingxing.
Xingxing lay against her back, coughing softly from time to time. The sound was dull and heavy. Reaching back, Su Nian touched his legs.
They were cold.
The ruined highway was strewn with shattered glass and the burned out shells of cars.
At last, Su Nian caught sight of the outline of the county town.
She stopped the electric scooter and looked at the city from afar.
She remembered where the clinic was. It was tucked away in an alley in the old town district.
Storing the electric scooter, she carried Xingxing on her back and walked into the county town.
Meanwhile, on another highway outside the county town…
Lu Chen crouched behind an overturned cargo truck, wiping the blood from his machete against one of its tires. Several people stood behind him, their bodies smeared with black zombie blood.
“Brother Lu, the county town is just ahead.” Da Zhuang pointed toward the hazy cluster of buildings in the distance and panted. “Are we going in?”
Lu Chen did not answer immediately.
Squinting toward the distant skyline, he watched the county town emerge faintly through the haze. From time to time, the low growls of zombies drifted over from that direction.
“We’re going in.” Lu Chen stood up and tucked the machete into his belt. “We’ll find medicine and food, restock our supplies, then leave.”
Ah Hu peeked out from behind the cargo truck, glanced around, and lowered his voice.
“There aren’t many zombies on this side. If we circle in from the east, we should be able to avoid the larger groups.”
Lu Chen nodded.
Looking once more toward the county town, a thought flashed through his mind.
Had Su Nian safely reached Shuixi Village?
“Let’s move,” he said.
Keeping close to the roadside bushes, the group hurried toward the county town.
The moment Su Nian entered the county town, the overwhelming stench of decay rushed toward her.
Garbage and broken glass lined both sides of the street. Dried bloodstains, now dark brown, streaked the walls and ran down onto the pavement. As Su Nian stepped over the shattered glass, it crunched loudly beneath her feet.
Several charred corpses lay in the middle of the road, blackened beyond recognition. It was impossible to tell whether they had once been human or animal.
Keeping close to the walls, Su Nian passed through several streets without encountering a single zombie.
Perhaps most of the residents were still alive.
As she turned another corner, she heard it.
A familiar low growl came from ahead.
Su Nian immediately stopped and pressed herself against the wall before cautiously peeking around the corner.
At the intersection ahead, a group of at least thirty zombies crowded together around an overturned van, tearing into something. The nauseating stench of rotting flesh drifted toward her, mixed with the smell of gasoline, making her eyes sting.
There were zombies wandering along the street to the left in small groups.
There were zombies on the right as well.
The clinic stood diagonally across from her, less than fifty meters away in a building across the street.
But the road between them was filled with zombies.
Su Nian withdrew and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
This was the fastest route to the clinic.
If she took a detour…
Xingxing’s body against her back felt burning hot. His breathing had become even faster and heavier. She took out an electronic thermometer.
39.1°C.
His fever was even higher than before.
The space was still on cooldown.
She tried again. He still couldn’t be taken inside.
Su Nian looked at the street ahead, then at the zombies on both sides.
If she were alone, she might still have a chance of making it through.
But with Xingxing…
She needed to leave Xingxing somewhere safe before searching for medicine by herself.
But would anywhere truly be safe?
What if a zombie found him while she was gone?
Xingxing coughed weakly against her back. His voice was hoarse, as though something were lodged in his throat.
Su Nian reached back and gently touched his face.
It was frighteningly hot.
She couldn’t take him charging through the zombies either.
How was she supposed to do this?