After shouting angrily, Li Dong’s figure grew farther and farther away, gradually becoming a tiny dot that disappeared into the desolate sea of wild grass.
Li Qiu stared from afar in the direction Li Dong had gone.
She really did not want to bother with Li Dong.
To her, the first priority was staying alive, and the second was going home. At a time like this, she should be heading toward home with the accelerator pressed all the way down. Why bother with Li Dong?
But in this world of natural disasters, the loneliness of wandering alone and having no one to rely on felt just as unbearable as hunger, coming in waves and impossible to ignore. Then there was the name she had personally given him, as well as the habit they had developed after spending so many days together. After hesitating again and again, Li Qiu still took her foot off the accelerator.
“I never should have given him a name!” Li Qiu slapped the steering wheel and let out a heavy sigh.
Whether it was a person or an object, once you personally gave it a name, it meant you had formed a connection with it, and it became difficult to simply abandon it.
Li Qiu did not hesitate any longer. She opened the car door and slung the backpack that had been tossed onto the back seat over her shoulders.
After getting ready, Li Qiu bared her teeth and ran in the same direction as Li Dong.
She thought viciously that once she caught up to Li Dong, she would definitely pull out the hammer from her backpack and hit him a few times. Zombies needed a beating before they learned their lesson.
This chase seemed endless.
“Li Dong!” Li Qiu stood atop a high hill and shouted downward.
She was almost hoarse, her voice nearly cracking. Yet she still could not win back Li Dong’s heart after he had been summoned away by another zombie.
Li Qiu was utterly devastated and could only grit her teeth and stumble down the slope.
The backpack on her back was too heavy, weighing her down so much that she nearly rolled down the hill.
As a rapidly evolving Intelligent Type, Li Dong possessed the extraordinary physical abilities of a zombie. The entire way, he practically moved by leaping forward, running incredibly fast. By the time Li Qiu chased after him through one patch of wild grass after another, Li Dong had long since vanished.
As she ran, Li Qiu cursed. They were both Intelligent Types, yet she could not travel on all fours like Li Dong and could only huff and puff along on her two legs.
If there were a Zombie Association or a Zombie Administration Center, she would definitely go and ask why zombie evolution involved such blatant discrimination.
Li Qiu was both anxious and annoyed, and she forgot about one of her fatal flaws.
She got hungry quickly.
Continuously climbing hills, pushing through grass, running downhill, and engaging in all kinds of strenuous activity not only rapidly consumed Li Qiu’s stamina but also greatly diminished her sense of fullness.
The familiar hunger soon struck.
Li Qiu felt as though both of her legs had been wrapped in heavy iron chains. Every step required her to drag all the joints and muscles in her body along. Her head began spinning, her vision blurred, and her breathing became increasingly rough, like a donkey turning a millstone.
Li Qiu plopped down onto the ground. She was hungry and exhausted. This life was impossible to live.
Suppressing her dizziness, she took out a piece of meat wrapped in a plastic bag from her backpack and stuffed it into her mouth.
She had already eaten all of the human corpses earlier, mainly because they had simply been too delicious. The zombie instincts within Li Qiu had erupted fiercely, leaving not a single piece of human flesh behind.
As a result, she could only pack some zombie meat to carry with her as travel rations.
No wonder it was called dry rations. It really was dry. It was tasteless when chewed and not filling at all.
After eating something delicious before, Li Qiu had developed the habit of being picky.
She could not help sighing. It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury back to frugality.
After eating two pieces of meat in a row, Li Qiu felt that much of her strength had returned. But she no longer wanted to continue chasing.
Whoever wanted to chase could do it. She would just sit here and wait. No, lying down would be even better. Lying down was more comfortable.
Li Qiu took out a waterproof sheet from her backpack and spread it over the spot where she planned to lie down, avoiding being scratched by the rough stones and sharp blades of grass.
She had found this waterproof sheet in the trunk of the car. It was made of lightweight nylon, thin, light, and durable. If she had enough rope, then in a situation like yesterday’s all-day acid rain, she could use these sheets to build a simple shelter.
Li Qiu guessed that the previous owner of the car had also been an outdoor enthusiast.
After lying down, her field of vision became wide and open. The sky was a vast blue, and white clouds drifted leisurely by.
Everything around her was quiet as well, with only the occasional chirping of insects.
The entire scene was one of peaceful tranquility, giving her the strange feeling of not knowing what year it was.
Li Qiu remembered that she had seen a small stream not far away earlier.
She let her imagination wander for a moment and thought that it would be wonderful if her parents and best friend were here too.
They could spread out a tablecloth right here, have a picnic and a barbecue. Only that would do justice to such beautiful sunshine.
One should not dwell on beautiful fantasies for too long. It was too easy to create a sharp contrast with reality and stir up unpleasant emotions.
Li Qiu promptly cut off her daydream. After lying there for a while, she grew bored, turned over, and pulled out her phone to take a look.
It was now three in the afternoon. She would wait for one more hour at most. If Li Dong did not come back on his own, she would turn around, return to the car, and leave.
She had already chased him this far and still could not catch him, yet she was willing to wait even longer. As a zombie person, she had already done more than enough.
That was right, Li Qiu had created a new term. She called herself a “zombie person,” meaning both zombie and human. As for why it was not “human zombie,” it was mainly because that did not sound very smooth.
After lying on the ground for a long time, with the warm sunlight shining on her body, Li Qiu began to grow sleepy.
Starting from the first yawn, she drifted into an increasingly deep sleep.
Only when she heard gunshots in her dream did Li Qiu suddenly wake up.
The sun had already begun to sink in the west. She glanced at the time and discovered that two whole hours had passed.
Li Qiu brushed off the ants that had crawled onto her face, her brows tightly furrowed as she hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound.
A glow of fire could be seen in the distance, followed by several more gunshots in succession.
Bullets were being fired from different directions, and there also seemed to be the sounds of vehicles moving.
Just listening to it was enough for Li Qiu to imagine an entire cops-and-robbers movie.
But it was already the apocalypse. Where would a cops-and-robbers movie come from?
Li Qiu rolled her eyes at her own ridiculous imagination.
She parted the grass but still could not see the exact situation, so she could only continue listening carefully.
The sounds alternated between near and far. The people fighting seemed to be moving closer to where Li Qiu was.
She wondered whether Li Dong was among them.
While Li Qiu was still guessing, the north-to-south wind carried the thick scent of blood and transformed it into a delicious aroma in her nose.
The smell of human blood, the smell of ability users, fragrant and mouthwatering.
Li Qiu could not help taking a deep breath and licking her lips.
Just from this rich aroma alone, she could tell how fresh this meal was. It had to taste much better than the dry zombie meat she had eaten earlier.
Li Qiu grinned, revealing her sharp teeth. She ground them together, and her stomach began rumbling as if urging her to hurry over and eat.
At this moment, Zhou Jinshi was leading everyone in a desperate battle.
Originally, they had been driving along the highway, but not long after, they discovered that a mountain collapse ahead had completely blocked the road.
To clear a path wide enough for passage, their group would need at least another two or three days.
Because of this, Zhou Jinshi made a decision and led everyone onto a smaller road beside the highway.
The area beside this highway was not desolate wilderness. There were still some houses within sight, and farther away there appeared to be a small town.
Since there were settlements where people lived, there were naturally some narrow dirt roads that were barely passable by vehicles.
At first, although the road was rough and bumpy enough to make many people want to vomit, everything was still relatively safe.
Who would have thought that as they continued driving, groups of zombies would suddenly emerge from all directions?
These zombies were like a well-trained regular army. Not only did they understand encirclement and ambushes, but they also knew how to make use of the terrain.
By the time Zhou Jinshi realized something was wrong, the surrounding hills were already covered with densely packed zombies.
A dense and enormous group of Crawling Types.
There were also seven Intelligent Types dressed in jackets and with nearly intact bodies, standing in several different directions among them.
Although, in terms of overall numbers, these zombies were far fewer than those in the Yanhu Lake Scenic Area, judging by the zombies’ ranks and the current situation, this encounter might be even more dangerous than the previous one.
Because the most outrageous thing was that not only were there three more Intelligent Types than last time, but nearly every one of these Intelligent Types was carrying a hunting rifle.
Were these really zombies and not humans?
Almost everyone felt this question and a deep chill pass through their hearts.
For a time, neither side made a move.
Hu Zeyu gripped the steering wheel tightly, sweat already beginning to form on his back. “Captain Zhou, the grass here was cleared in advance. It rained yesterday, and it’s all mud. The wheels are stuck and keep slipping.”
The people in the back seats were also anxious, asking one after another, “Captain Zhou, what do we do?”
At this moment, they were trapped beasts that had stumbled into a snare.
Zhou Jinshi tightened his grip on his divine art. He picked up the walkie-talkie in the car and contacted the other vehicles. “How are your cars doing?”
The forty-six people had been traveling in two vans and four off-road vehicles.
The other vehicles were in better condition and were not slipping like Zhou Jinshi’s vehicle.
Zhou Jinshi made a decision immediately. “Zeyu, Jiang Cong, and Xiaowu, after twenty seconds I’ll get out first and draw their attention. Old Niao, drive your vehicle toward us and provide cover. Then the three of you each find a vehicle to get into. I’ll break open a gap, and everyone rush out while you can.”
Heavy acknowledgments came simultaneously through the walkie-talkie.
Lu Xiaowu gritted his teeth while holding an incendiary grenade. “I’ll help you.”
Zhou Jinshi did not try to act tough and simply nodded with a solemn expression.
The instant Zhou Jinshi got out of the vehicle, bullets were already fired toward the door.
With a roll, Zhou Jinshi dodged them, and a sheet of water swirled up before him, blocking the zombies’ vision.
The bullets ultimately failed to hit him.
But because Zhou Jinshi was the first to get out of the vehicle, the surrounding zombies all surged toward him in a dark mass. Crawling zombies came from all directions, leaping ferociously and opening their bloody mouths.
Before long, a black mist of blood spread through the air.
Zhou Jinshi stood within that bloody mist, avoiding bullets while using divine arts and water abilities to slaughter zombies.
As Lu Xiaowu used the incendiary grenade, the zombies’ defensive line quickly showed signs of weakening.
They forcibly tore open a small gap in the zombies’ encirclement.
“Go!” Zhou Jinshi shouted.