Gripping Cheng Jun’s hand, her nails nearly digging into his flesh, Dou Man’s face drastically changed, her pupils wide open, her voice trembling: “Cheng Jun, what, what, what is that?”
The fatso was so scared he jumped: “Mother! So many ghosts!”
Gurgling and wheezing, making strange sounds, at least a dozen dark figures suddenly stood upright before them; both sides paused in a standoff at this moment. Even Cheng Jun felt the urge to turn and run.
The wind was dark, the moon high, leaden clouds moved eerily in the sky, the moon’s shadow drifted away, gusts of yin wind seemed to blow from beneath the earth, and the street was filled with swirling dark dust.
By the faint light of the moon and flashlights, the three of them could now clearly see the appearance of these dark figures—each with deathly black faces, vacant yet ferocious expressions, and terrifying killing auras all over their bodies.
“Ah—ah—ah, they’re zombies!” Dou Man, who often browsed horror novels and TV shows online, trembled as she uttered this term. Wu Xiaotian’s chubby face trembled, and he was the first to turn and run.
Cheng Jun also retreated several steps. But as soon as they moved, those corpses let out a series of strange gurgling and wheezing noises. The leader roared, and they all began to charge forward; at the same time, one or two dozen zombies also emerged from several alleyways.
“My god! So many zombies!” Wu Xiaotian glanced back while running, his soul nearly leaving his body, letting out a scream like a slaughtered pig.
None of the three dared to stop, running desperately. In no time, a dark, dense mass was behind them, coming in a horde. Though their movements and expressions were sluggish, upon sensing the scent of living humans, their speed immediately became fast, and they were about to catch up with the three.
As the distance closed, gusts of yin wind and killing aura enveloped everything like a shroud. Many corpses let out terrifying roars, and the three felt their hearts turn to ashes.
Cheng Jun only glanced back once and felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest. Because he recognized this group—they were the villagers of Niujiao Village. The burly man leading them was none other than Uncle, still holding a piece of rotting flesh in his mouth, its foul stench assaulting his senses.
“How could this be? How could it be them? How could it be Uncle?” Running, Cheng Jun painfully uttered these words.
“Who are they?” Dou Man, who had been tightly gripping Cheng Jun’s hand and was closest, heard this and asked.
“The villagers of Niujiao Village! Why them?”
“I told you long ago, Niujiao Village is already a mass burial ground, with no living people!” Wu Xiaotian interjected.
“Could they have crawled out from the mass burial ground?” Dou Man said in terror.
“Could they have been following you all the way here?” Wu Xiaotian fearfully made this speculation.
“Impossible, impossible…” Cheng Jun’s mind was in complete chaos, repeating “impossible” several times. But the facts were right before his eyes—the group of dead things behind them were indeed the villagers of Niujiao Village. Others might mistake them, but he couldn’t possibly mistake Uncle. How could this be explained?
Wheezing and panting, Cheng Jun pondered while running, feeling on the verge of collapse.
Then his footsteps slowed for a moment. Suddenly, a violent gust of yin wind and killing aura rushed toward him. Dou Man and Wu Xiaotian screamed simultaneously as a corpse suddenly leaped forward, appearing right in front of him.
But Cheng Jun reacted quickly. Without even turning around, he kicked backward.
Thanks to his childhood training in hurdling, Cheng Jun had ample strength in his legs. With one kick, he sent a zombie flying, but another seized the opportunity to lunge at him.
Cheng Jun was startled, recognizing the figure as the old man. “Uncle! Uncle, it’s me!”
In that moment, Cheng Jun lost his senses, but Dou Man and Wu Xiaotian weren’t foolish. They quickly grabbed Cheng Jun and dragged him backward. At the critical moment, Wu Xiaotian also managed to kick out a clumsy foot.
Wu Xiaotian, trembling with fear, had just saved Cheng Jun’s life and cursed, “You idiot, trying to get yourself killed!”
“Cheng Jun, they’re all zombies now! There’s no ‘uncle’ left! Are you stupid?” Dou Man reminded him, only to have a corpse grab the hem of his clothes.
Thud, thud, thud—Cheng Jun swiftly kicked several times, sending the nearest corpses flying. One of them had its skull cracked open, oozing foul, blackish blood and thick fluid. The splattering mucus forced the three to retreat decisively.
They had heard rumors that the zombies appearing in the East might be infected and controlled by voodoo. No one could guarantee whether these zombies were contagious to the living. To be safe, they had to avoid them immediately.
Cheng Jun led the other two, fighting while retreating. His combat prowess was fierce—leaping, kicking, and striking with his palms—keeping two or three zombies at bay. But once he fully engaged, he couldn’t guarantee the safety of the others.
Although these living dead lacked human intelligence, they instinctively targeted the weak. As Dou Man and Wu Xiaotian fell behind Cheng Jun, their situation quickly became perilous.
Faced with death, Wu Xiaotian threw caution to the wind. Though usually timid, he was not weak. Fighting for his life, he unleashed extraordinary strength, repelling several ferocious zombies with a flurry of kicks and strikes.
Even Dou Man was driven by the desperation to survive. No longer hiding behind Cheng Jun, he suddenly snapped, grabbed a piece of wood from somewhere, broke the arms of a female zombie reaching for him, and kicked her away.
If Cheng Jun had always been bold and fearless, it wouldn’t have been surprising. But he had assumed Wu and Dou would panic and flee wildly. Their recent performance far exceeded his expectations, leaving him utterly astonished.
Fortunately, these zombies weren’t as agile as them. The three fought their way forward, knocking down several zombies at the front.
However, only the zombie whose head had been kicked off lay motionless on the ground, while the others, even after suffering heavy blows to the chest, quickly rose again after falling.
The three soon realized that, aside from the head being their weakness, these living dead were nearly immortal in other parts of their bodies!
Seeing this, Cheng Jun’s expression turned grave. He looked up to see several zombies, after being kicked away, rising even more ferociously, while more corpses surged from behind.
Their stamina was draining fast, and all three were panting heavily and injured. In the air, the zombies caught the scent of living blood and grew even more frenzied. They rushed forward, colliding with each other, trampling over smaller, weaker zombies.
Several strong and violent zombies stomped on their kind with sickening crunches, brains splattering. If they encountered obstacles ahead, they even tore into each other, some carrying chunks of their kin’s flesh in their mouths as they advanced. The air filled with the putrid stench of decay and a chilling, sinister wind, enveloping the terrifying late-night scene on Yidu Street.
Under normal circumstances, the three would have already collapsed. At this moment, it was sheer survival instinct and desire that kept them going.
“Ah… ah…” Wu Xiaotian gasped for breath. “Cheng Jun, I can’t hold on much longer…”
Dou Man also looked at Cheng Jun helplessly, “Are we going to die here? Will we all end up like them?”
“No! No! Even if I die, I don’t want to look that ugly…” Thinking of this, Dou Man was on the verge of breaking down.
Cheng Jun himself was somewhat powerless, gasping for breath, but he would not give up until the very last moment. Staring at the two of them, he said, “Trust me, there’s always a way! Everyone, stay close!”
“With so many zombies, even if we aren’t bitten to death, we’ll be exhausted to death!” Wu Xiaotian and Dou Man moved closer to Cheng Jun, clearly lacking confidence in his words.
“This can’t go on!” Cheng Jun quickly glanced around and realized they were near the beef rice noodle shop in Firewood Alley.
“Maybe he can help us!” A desperate thought crossed his mind, but the noodle shop was pitch black, with no oil lamp lit. “Could the old man already be asleep?”
After kicking and knocking down several attacking zombies, he led the two of them back a few steps and shouted with all his strength, “Master Su San, Master Su San…”
No one responded. Dou Man asked, “Who is Master Su San?”
“Paigulao Su Laosan!”
“Ah! It’s him? I remember now, he was the volunteer who collected bodies at Yidu Clinic 15 years ago! He’s still alive?”
“Yes! I saw him last night!”
“Impossible!” Wu Xiaotian exclaimed in shock.
“At a time like this, I have no reason to lie to you!” Cheng Jun replied.
“Paigulao also died in that plague 15 years ago!”
“Who told you that?”
“Lin Feng told me himself on WeChat.”
Seeing Cheng Jun fall silent for a moment, Wu Xiaotian continued, “You may not believe me, but do you not trust Lin Feng either?”
Cheng Jun had no response. He simply called out several more times toward the noodle shop, “Master Su San, Master Su San…”
Still, no one answered. “Stop calling. Maybe what you saw last night wasn’t even a person!” Wu Xiaotian exclaimed nervously.
“Could it be a ghost?” Cheng Jun glared fiercely at the fatso.
“Hard to say!” Even Dou Man chimed in.
“Let’s go! We’ll take shelter in the noodle shop first!” Cheng Jun decisively retreated.
They were only ten meters away from the noodle shop, but when he turned around and looked up again, he was almost plunged into despair.
On the other end of Yidu Street, another group of zombies had blocked their retreat, forming a pincer attack with the earlier zombies.
They were trapped in a hopeless situation, surrounded by hordes of zombies.