In a daze, Ling Qingyun seemed to see a fairyland. Endless pavilions and towers were connected by long corridors. The columns along the corridors were carved with various exquisite designs, and red lanterns hung beneath the eaves. All kinds of rare flowers and plants he had never seen before grew outside the corridor. There were countless artificial rockeries and ponds. From afar, he could even see a hillside covered with lush green vegetation. However, this fairyland was overly quiet, the blooming flowers did not move at all, making them look more like lifeless objects.
He walked inside the corridor for quite a while but saw nothing. Meanwhile, sharp pains repeatedly struck his head. Eventually, a round, chubby little dog suddenly jumped out and circled around his feet.
Still dazed, he followed the dog forward and finally saw a grand hall. The ground in front of the hall was probably paved with white marble. The towering hall, with its red bricks and yellow tiles, looked solemn. The golden doors were tightly shut. On the left side of the door was written: “Cultivate the Tao to become immortal and defy Heaven, merit bring sainthood and follow the Way of Heaven.” On the right side was: “Cultivate merit to overcome birth and death, only true moral nature can save all beings.” Surprisingly, the characters were in simplified Chinese!
“What the heck!” Ling Qingyun saw those two lines of text seemingly glowing and complained, frowning. Then, the pain in his already throbbing head felt like it was splitting open, unbearably intense, finally waking him up.
When he opened his eyes, it was already daylight. Ling Qingyun felt some discomfort on his face. When he wiped it, he touched a hand smeared with dark red, nearly congealed blood.
Startled, he realized that being injured now was a serious matter. What if he accidentally turned into a zombie… Suddenly standing up, he found himself still on the rooftop. The mutated zombie he had killed last night lay at the other end. Ling Qingyun finally sobered up a bit. Judging by the color of the blood on his head, he had been injured for quite some time. But since he hadn’t turned into a zombie after all this time, he should be okay, right?
They had come out for a mission, fully equipped. Ling Qingyun used a water bottle to wet a towel and wiped his face. Only then did he realize why his head hurt after everything was over—it was because his head had been smashed! But how could he have been hit on the head while on the rooftop? Could it be that he was distracted last night and a helicopter flew overhead? It couldn’t be a meteorite—if it was, he surely wouldn’t be alive! As he wiped his face, when he reached his forehead, he gasped.
Something seemed to have grown on his head! And after bleeding so much, he hadn’t even felt pain!
The thing on his forehead was round, like an extra lump of flesh. Ling Qingyun looked around, using his motorcycle helmet and the stainless steel railing on the rooftop as mirrors to take a closer look. When he finally saw it clearly, he was at a loss for words.
There was a round object stuck on his head, and to make things worse, there were words on it! Ling Qingyun stared for a long time before he vaguely recognized the traditional Chinese characters: Infinite Merit (功德無量). Perhaps the first thing he would do once he found a mirror was to take a careful look at his face!
Infinite Merit? Having such a thing on his head, wouldn’t others think he was a fool?
But… Ling Qingyun touched his forehead. That protruding thing had completely fused with his flesh. This kind of thing was just too mystical…
Even the appearance of zombies was different from what movies showed. No one knew the cause of this phenomenon that swept the entire Earth in such a short time… Touching the thing on his head, Ling Qingyun put on his motorcycle helmet. He didn’t know what was going on now, but having already lost the fear of death, what was there to fear from a little mystical thing?
The morning air was cool. Because of inexplicably sleeping on the rooftop all night, Ling Qingyun felt numb, his limbs cold. However, lying there the whole night without incident was already good luck.
When he walked over to the mutated zombie he had killed with a stick earlier, Ling Qingyun suddenly caught a glimmer of light in the morning sun. More importantly, he suddenly felt that thing might be useful.
Jewels? Or some other strange and rare thing?
If it had been before, Ling Qingyun definitely wouldn’t have touched anything from a dead person’s brain matter. But in these past few days, he had smashed quite a few heads, and had seen plenty of brain matter splattered around, so he was already used to it.
Using his spiked club, he scooped the white crystal out from the disgusting mixture. Ling Qingyun then poured a little water on it before picking it up with his gloved hand. He was always very careful, afraid that if he had any wounds on his body and touched these things, he might turn into a zombie himself.
Just as Ling Qingyun put the item away and arrived at the rooftop door, he heard a familiar voice. The middle-aged man who had just joined the team was babbling nonstop: “Captain Zhang, I told you that Ling Qingyun must have gone off to do something bad! Judging by the situation now, he definitely robbed someone’s house and ran off!”
Zhang Yi ignored him and only told the new security guard to find the keys to that household. Ling Qingyun knew they must have gone upstairs and, after confirming the stairs were safe, started clearing zombies from the residents’ rooms from the top down.
The middle-aged man grew even angrier when Zhang Yi ignored him and began telling others his guesses. Ling Qingyun frowned, even if he wasn’t picky, he didn’t like people like this! He was about to go downstairs and teach that man a lesson when he heard Zhang Yi say: “Shut your mouth! Now is not the time for you to talk nonsense! Qingyun has clearly already killed the zombies in the hallway, he’s probably encountered danger now!”
“Exactly! What nonsense are you talking? If you have the guts, go rush to the front like Brother Ling!” another voice spoke up. It was He Yuan, the youngest in the team and recently enlisted.
Ling Qingyun had never talked much with He Yuan but didn’t expect the younger man to call him “Brother Ling.” He opened the door and headed downstairs.
“Ling Qingyun! Why are you on the rooftop? Why didn’t you return to the team last night? You didn’t answer your phone either!” Zhang Yi looked up sharply at the voice and spoke sternly. He had high hopes for Ling Qingyun and had been worried about him all night, barely sleeping. Naturally, he was a little angry now.
Ling Qingyun suddenly froze. At first, he didn’t respond. Now he realized the rooftop wasn’t far from the floor below, and the rooftop door was very thick. Before, there was no way he could have heard that middle-aged man’s complaints so clearly… Could it be because of the thing that suddenly appeared on his forehead? Was that why he was like this? Various emotions churned inside him, and for a moment he forgot to answer Zhang Yi’s question.
“Ling Qingyun! I’m asking you!” Zhang Yi saw that Ling Qingyun looked fine and his anger eased somewhat. But as the team leader, he still had to be fair and asked again.
“Captain Zhang, I encountered a mutated zombie on the rooftop yesterday. It was hard to kill it, and I was a bit exhausted afterward,” Ling Qingyun said, choosing a suitable excuse.
“Mutated zombie?” Zhang Yi gasped sharply. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Ling Qingyun came down. “But we need to be more careful from now on. If we encounter mutated zombies again…”
“Slow down opening the door,” Zhang Yi called to the person who had found the key but dared not open it without orders. “Let’s go up to the rooftop and take a look.”
The rooftop was very spacious. The zombie that Ling Qingyun had killed last night lay on one side, with scattered bones thrown around. Ling Qingyun had already seen the situation here last night, but for the others, especially the few new team members, it was their first time seeing it, and their faces looked somewhat grim.
Zhang Yi looked around upstairs and approved Ling Qingyun’s explanation: “You’re okay? You were on the rooftop the whole night?”
“I’m fine,” Ling Qingyun replied. He was normally quiet and even less willing to speak now. His hearing seemed normal, so was what happened before accidental or inevitable? What exactly had happened to him?
Before, Ling Qingyun had always been the one using the key to open rooms containing zombies and clearing the way. This time, Zhang Yi didn’t give him the key but had someone else open the door first.
As soon as the door was opened, a purple-black hand stretched out from the gap. The team member who opened the door was startled and instinctively stepped back.
It seemed there were more zombies behind the door because it suddenly slammed shut with a bang. The hand was stuck in the door gap, still reaching outward.
Seeing the zombies, Ling Qingyun’s anger flared up again. He stepped forward and kicked the door open. Then, aiming at the female zombie’s head whose hand was reaching out, he struck it with his club. At the same time, he kicked the male zombie and took a few steps forward to finish him off.
Then, he stood still.
“One soul delivered, gained one point of merit.”
“One soul delivered, gained one point of merit.” As Ling Qingyun killed the two zombies, this phrase echoed twice in his ears.
Delivered? Merit? What was that about?
Ling Qingyun was stunned, but the others acted quickly. There was no other movement in the room, so they began searching for supplies. However, when they opened another door, they found a corpse — a body, not a zombie.
It appeared to be a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl, lying on the bed with many cuts on her wrists. Blood had soaked the sheets beneath her and had fully congealed. Beside her were some food supplies, enough to last several days.
The master bedroom door was broken open. Perhaps the girl had realized her parents had turned into zombies, but was too afraid to go out into the corridor. She may have felt that waiting any longer wouldn’t bring rescue and chose to commit suicide in the room…
At this point, such things no longer stirred others’ sympathy. Zhang Yi immediately ordered a search of the room’s food supplies before they headed downstairs. Ling Qingyun quietly focused on his own thoughts. He was certain that the voice saying “gained one point of merit” was something only he could hear, since the others showed no reaction. But what exactly was it? What use did it have? Was it related to the thing on his forehead?
Last night, he wasn’t hit by some falling pie from the sky, right? But now Zhuang Cheng was already… no matter how big the pie was, it was useless to him anymore!