Ling Qingyun had been holed up in this construction site killing zombies, but truthfully, he still felt a bit uneasy.
Although the country could no longer confidently guarantee the safety of all survivors like it did in the beginning, safe zones like the one in S City still frequently dispatched helicopters to rescue people. These helicopters didn’t fly high and would constantly monitor the situation on the ground—so naturally, he was afraid of being discovered.
And it wasn’t such a big deal if he was discovered, but if Zhuang Cheng’s abnormal condition were noticed…
Because of this, Ling Qingyun stayed constantly alert, always observing his surroundings and checking the skies for anything unusual. With his current capabilities, it was relatively easy for him to spot such signs in advance. And so, he realized—not a single helicopter had flown overhead or even nearby.
After his merit points surpassed one thousand, Ling Qingyun felt that his control over his body had improved greatly, and his five senses had become more acute. He had overlooked this earlier due to the joy and disbelief of seeing Zhuang Cheng again, but now, standing side by side with him killing zombies, he could feel all of it clearly.
His reaction speed had increased, making everything around him feel slow, as if it were all within his control. Ling Qingyun believed that if he encountered another mutant zombie—those classified as Level 2 zombies by “Xiao Gong”—he definitely wouldn’t find them as difficult to handle as before, even though he didn’t currently have a gun.
A spiked club was indeed very effective for smashing heads, but compared to that, guns were far more efficient. In such an open area, if he had a decent gun and some bullets… Ling Qingyun believed he could easily wipe out all the zombies here in a single day—and that would be over a thousand merit points!
But right now, he had a gun with no bullets, so he could only slowly take them out one by one in close combat. Still, with Zhuang Cheng by his side, he felt quite happy.
That evening, after Ling Qingyun was once again surrounded by a group of zombies and Zhuang Cheng helped drive them away, he didn’t continue fighting. Instead, he returned to his SUV to get something to eat.
Naturally, Zhuang Cheng followed him, but for some reason, Zhuang Cheng didn’t go into the vehicle—instead, he once again sat on the roof.
After eating, Ling Qingyun checked his supplies. Although he had prepared food, it wasn’t much. If they stayed here another two days, he’d probably have to think about going somewhere else to scavenge.
Zhuang Cheng was now very strong, and there was basically no need to fear zombies hurting him. Ling Qingyun also had space to hide in when needed… He realized that, perhaps now, the city was actually a more suitable place for him and Zhuang Cheng. They could live among the zombies, kill them together, and earn merit points. What a great plan!
Once they were done clearing out the zombies here, he’d take Zhuang Cheng to downtown S City! Ling Qingyun thought about it and finally made up his mind.
As he ate heartily, glancing occasionally at Zhuang Cheng on the roof of the car, Ling Qingyun felt that Zhuang Cheng’s clothes were truly filthy. The Zhuang Cheng he used to know, who loved cleanliness, would never have worn clothes like that. But now, Zhuang Cheng probably wouldn’t want him to help change them, would he? Ling Qingyun pondered whether, the next time they came across a clothing store, he should pick out some clean clothes for Zhuang Cheng. Gloves were also a good idea—if Zhuang Cheng wore gloves, Ling Qingyun wouldn’t have to be so afraid of his claws anymore! And finally, a motorcycle helmet could help hide his teeth!
Thinking along those lines, Ling Qingyun suddenly realized that he could completely disguise Zhuang Cheng as a human who had fully geared up for food scavenging or missions. But if he were to actually take him into a safe zone… Zhuang Cheng might not be able to resist the urge to eat people, right?
The idea of bringing Zhuang Cheng into the safe zone swirled around Ling Qingyun’s mind for a moment before he firmly suppressed it. Still, if he wrapped Zhuang Cheng up completely, wouldn’t that mean he could finally have the courage to hug him? Even hugging him through clothes would be great! And kissing… even if it was through a motorcycle helmet, being able to kiss him at all would still be a wonderful thing, wouldn’t it?
As night gradually fell, Ling Qingyun had long since finished eating. What he wanted most now was a good night’s sleep. But… he also wanted to spend a bit more time with Zhuang Cheng. In the end, the second desire won out—after all, it was still early, wasn’t it? Ling Qingyun was just about to climb onto the roof of the car to sit with Zhuang Cheng when he suddenly heard a burst of footsteps—much faster than those of ordinary zombies.
Was it a zombie or a human? The footsteps were extremely fast… Ling Qingyun looked up, and sure enough, it was a mutant zombie—one that moved much quicker than regular ones!
Zhuang Cheng liked the crystal cores inside mutant zombies’ heads, and Ling Qingyun was naturally happy to collect those for him. But unfortunately, he hadn’t seen any mutant zombies in this area. Now that one had finally shown up, he couldn’t help but feel excited.
Grabbing his spiked club, Ling Qingyun climbed out of the car, planning to use himself as bait. level 2 zombies could now be found all over the world, and it had already been proven that—just like level 1 zombies—they had no intelligence and no ability to assess danger or benefits. As long as Zhuang Cheng did nothing, the zombie was sure to take the bait.
Sure enough, the zombie picked up speed, charging straight at him—ready to die and offer up its crystal!
In the past, Ling Qingyun had thought mutant zombies were fast, but now he didn’t think so at all. As the zombie came running at him with outstretched arms, he easily sidestepped it, and with a swift and precise swing, his spiked club smashed right into its skull.
The moment the zombie’s head was crushed, it collapsed to the ground, motionless. Only then did Ling Qingyun realize it had once been a woman wearing pajamas.
But what it was before didn’t matter—what mattered was that it had a crystal core in its head!
Just as Ling Qingyun was about to retrieve the core, he saw Zhuang Cheng had already darted in front of him and quickly dug the crystal out of the zombie’s head, about to stuff it straight into his mouth.
“Don’t!” Ling Qingyun shouted, snatching the crystal from his hand with quick reflexes. That thing still had zombie brain matter on it—how could he just stand by and watch Zhuang Cheng eat it like that? Even if Zhuang Cheng was a zombie now, it was still unacceptable!
After snatching the crystal, Ling Qingyun immediately grabbed a bottle of water from the SUV, thoroughly washed the crystal, and then even rinsed off Zhuang Cheng’s hands to clean off the brain matter. Only then did he hand the crystal core back to him.
Watching Zhuang Cheng devour the core quickly, Ling Qingyun finally breathed a sigh of relief—completely unaware that just moments earlier, he had nearly lost his life.
Zhuang Cheng, having eaten the crystal that smelled so good, finally forgave his food’s earlier behavior. In fact, he was starting to find his food more and more pleasing to the eye.
Last night, he had been waiting the entire time. Fortunately, by morning, he finally saw his food return. He had discovered that when his food couldn’t handle others of his kind, he would choose to disappear. But then, just when he was about to be hurt by one of his kind, his food appeared again to drive the other away. Now, as night was falling again, he was wondering whether his food would vanish once more—only to see a rather strong member of his kind arrive.
He didn’t like his own kind, but he wouldn’t kill them either, so he didn’t care much. What he didn’t expect was that his food would directly kill that fairly strong member of his kind.
So fragrant… It made him feel even hungrier… So hungry… He suddenly realized that after one of his kind died, something on them gave off a scent he found incredibly appealing—something he really wanted to eat. Naturally, he reached out for it.
It was a bead—exactly the same as the ones his food had given him last time. He was just about to eat it when his food suddenly snatched it away from his hand.
He had been hungry for a very, very long time! He wanted to eat! Even if he couldn’t bear to eat his food, his food couldn’t just take away the thing he was going to eat!
He was furious. He wanted to eat his food—who dared to take his bead—together with the bead.
He really wanted to pounce and devour his food. From the moment he had met him, he had thought about it constantly. But for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to really eat him…
While he was hesitating, his food used something to wash off the sticky white goo from the bead—and from his hand too, which he also didn’t like—and then gave the bead back to him.
Good. His food wasn’t trying to steal his bead. Now that it was clean, he liked it even more!
He ate the bead in one bite. Feeling slightly better at last, he gave his food a look of approval. Raising a piece of food like this wasn’t so bad after all. Even though he was always reluctant to actually eat him, his food would find edible things for him! Mhm, that bead earlier—his food was the one who brought it to him. So, next time he ran into another of his kind with a tasty bead inside, should he take action himself?
Tilting his head, he thought it over. He decided to see how things went. After all, his food really liked killing his kind—so he could let him do the killing. Then once the bead was cleaned, he could eat it right away!
In a good mood, he tolerated his food’s sudden disappearance that followed. Even though it made him feel a bit uncomfortable, he still believed—
He would come back, wouldn’t he?
He had been waiting for him to return… Even though he was so hungry, he hadn’t left…