The wind carried waves of the bloody scent from the distance, and Li Qiu was practically about to faint from how delicious it smelled.
To her, that scent was a fatal temptation, directly stirring the instinct engraved into her body.
By the time Li Qiu came back to her senses, she was already slowly making her way through the wild grass that stood two or three meters high, heading toward the direction of the fighting. Li Qiu grabbed a clump of grass beside her, and the sharp blades instantly cut her hand. She thought to herself, Fortunately, I’m too hungry to run right now. If she had been in her best condition, she would probably have already charged straight into the battlefield by now.
Li Qiu quietly crouched in the grass and parted the vegetation in front of her, observing the commotion there.
Smoke billowed everywhere, and the sounds of explosions rang out continuously.
Li Qiu could not tell how many people there were, but she could vaguely smell at least a dozen, perhaps more than twenty, ability users.
No wonder Li Dong had run so quickly earlier, as though he were rushing off to be reincarnated. He had definitely been attracted by these ability users.
Among the scents of those ability users, there was one that she knew very well. It belonged to the person who had slaughtered his way through the Yanhu Grand Hotel, the one who had nearly discovered her on the first day she regained her consciousness.
As a zombie, Li Qiu hoped that the human camp would win and escape with their lives. At the same time, she also thought about her good subordinate and good little brother, Li Dong, and hoped he would not be so unlucky as to be killed by those ability users.
As she thought about it, her stomach began to rumble.
The feeling of hunger instantly rose to her throat.
She was hungry.
But she had not brought much zombie jerky with her when she came out, and she had already finished it before going to sleep. There was nothing left to eat now.
If only she had a piece of her fellow human’s flesh to eat right now.
Preferably the kind that was freshly dead, still bloody and attached to tendons, since it would be chewier and make her feel fuller.
The sensation she imagined was far too real, and saliva began to form in Li Qiu’s mouth. She parted her lips slightly, and drool flowed from her mouth and dripped onto the wild grass in front of her.
Li Qiu silently slapped herself and shook her head to clear it. There was no way she was going out there to fight. At a time like this, she was so weak that even a random wild dog could probably knock her over, let alone a person.
So she could only wait.
Wait until this battle was over, then go look for Li Dong, or wait for Li Dong to come find her.
By then, she might even be able to pick up some meat from the battlefield.
Thus, Li Qiu stretched out her neck and looked on eagerly, wanting to see more clearly.
Who could have known that there was a steep slope in front of her, only hidden earlier by the overgrown weeds? Now that her center of gravity became unstable and her foot slipped, she immediately fell and rolled down.
“Ahhh!”
The moment she stepped into empty air, Li Qiu instinctively let out a scream.
Fortunately, the sounds of fighting in the distance were too loud and chaotic, and almost no one noticed her scream.
However, among that group of human survivors, there was someone with a hearing ability.
Speaking of it, this person was somewhat connected to Li Qiu, because he was someone she had saved.
…
Hao Ming was sitting in the front passenger seat, escaping with everyone else from the encirclement of zombies. The people in this vehicle, men and women, old and young, even children, were all those who had escaped from the Yanhu Scenic Area back then. The life-and-death experiences they had gone through together there had made them trust only one another, so they squeezed themselves into a single van.
The little girl was sensitive and was the first to notice something was wrong with Hao Ming.
“Brother Hao, what’s wrong with you?”
The others all looked at Hao Ming upon hearing this. Hao Ming had been constantly looking back, and they had assumed he was keeping an eye on Zhou Jinshi and the others’ movements, but now it was obvious that there was another reason.
“I just heard a girl’s voice.” Hao Ming had not been very certain at first, so he had not said anything. But now that everyone had noticed, he spoke honestly. After hesitating for a moment, he continued, “It sounded like our benefactor’s voice.”
At the mention of their benefactor, all ten of them instantly became alert.
Who else could their benefactor be? Was it not the person in the hotel who had asked them through the door to dig out two pieces of meat and had helped lure the zombies away for them?
“Did you hear wrong?” San Ge, who was rather plump, frowned.
“Our benefactor is already…” Uncle Yu and Aunt Yu said in unison, but neither of them could bring themselves to say the word “dead.”
Back then, Hao Ming, the little girl Zhao Linyun, and Hao Ming’s roommate Wang Kai had gone together to the seventh floor of the hotel to save their benefactor. They had not seen the person, only the bloodstained clothes left behind. There was a ninety-nine percent chance that their benefactor had already been devoured by zombies. How could she possibly appear here?
San Ge patted Hao Ming on the shoulder. “You probably heard wrong. The most important thing right now is to get out of here as quickly as possible. We can’t waste the chance of escape Captain Zhou and the others created for us.”
The others nodded repeatedly.
They had finally escaped with their lives from the Yanhu Scenic Area and joined Zhou Jinshi’s team. They had thought they could live like humans again for a few days, but unexpectedly, they had been surrounded by a horde of zombies once more so soon. Everyone’s nerves were stretched to the limit, and not one of them dared relax even a little.
Even if the voice Hao Ming had heard really belonged to their benefactor, there was nothing they could do about it right now.
Seeing everyone’s attitude, Hao Ming understood what they meant and could only turn back around and continue watching the road, pointing out the correct direction for the driver.
…
Lu Xiaowu’s incendiary bombs were extremely effective, blasting a large swath of low-level zombies off their feet. Even those that were not killed lost their ability to move.
The convoy drove farther and farther away through the opening that had been blasted open, attracting the attention of some of the zombies.
But even more zombies, along with those few intelligent species carrying guns, remained where they were. It was obvious that they were determined to keep pursuing Zhou Jinshi.
“Go!” Zhou Jinshi shouted at Lu Xiaowu.
Lu Xiaowu threw out his last incendiary bomb, let out a deep sigh, and did not linger. He rolled toward the side of the vehicle and climbed into the car that Hu Zeyu was driving.
One of the vehicle’s tires had already been hit by a bullet and could not hold out much longer. Hu Zeyu gritted his teeth and followed Zhou Jinshi’s orders, driving the car away first.
As the vehicle drove farther and farther away, the opening that had been blasted open was once again sealed shut.
Li Dong stood among those few intelligent species. At first, he was not very skilled at using the gun in his hand and seemed almost clumsy, but he quickly grasped the trick to using it, and his shots became increasingly accurate.
Within the smoke that obstructed everyone’s vision, Zhou Jinshi had to constantly evade the dense barrage of attacks. Yet even under such circumstances, the number of zombies that died under his abilities and his blade was impossible to count.
Bullets would eventually run out, and very soon, several intelligent species lowered the guns in their hands.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, the zombies suddenly discovered that their target had disappeared.
A level four human ability user who had clearly been surrounded by them just a few seconds ago had vanished without a trace in the next second.
At this moment, Zhou Jinshi had not escaped. He was hiding beneath two zombie corpses, his clothes and hair stained with zombie blood and even bits of flesh. Furthermore, before lying down, he had created a ring of mist around himself. All of these things combined were enough to conceal his aura. Unless they came extremely close, these zombies would indeed believe that he had mysteriously disappeared.
Li Dong scanned his surroundings in confusion. Clearly, as the most intelligent being among this group of zombies, even he could not understand how Zhou Jinshi had managed to escape right under their noses.
The few intelligent species became somewhat angry because of Zhou Jinshi’s disappearance. They let out harsh, panting noises and no longer intended to obey Li Dong’s commands.
Li Dong made no sound. His gray-white eyes shifted, and no one knew what he was thinking.
The intelligent species quickly split into two groups. One group staggered after the vehicles that had escaped.
The other group stayed behind and spread out in every direction, intending to use this method to search for Zhou Jinshi.
Zhou Jinshi had plenty of patience. He lay completely motionless. Twice, zombies even stepped directly over his body, yet he did not reveal the slightest abnormality.
When the low-level zombies gradually moved farther away and an intelligent species passed by his side, he suddenly leaped up and thrust Divine Art through the intelligent species’ brain. The crystal core rolled out from a pile of brain matter, but Zhou Jinshi had no time to look at it. He immediately pulled out his blade and stabbed it into another intelligent species’ head.
Fast, precise, and ruthless, there was not a single unnecessary move. He struck directly at the zombies’ most vital and fatal point.
This was Zhou Jinshi.
Zhou Jinshi gripped Divine Art and looked at the last intelligent species standing before him.
The low-level zombies posed no threat to him at all, but the intelligent species before him gave him a feeling as though his blood were burning wildly.
It made him feel that danger was approaching, yet he still wanted to fight without delay.
Li Dong’s eyes moved, and he looked straight at Zhou Jinshi.
He had come specifically for Zhou Jinshi. His zombie companion would like this food. At the thought of Li Qiu, a trace of something similar to a human smile appeared on Li Dong’s face.
And that discovery sent a chill down Zhou Jinshi’s spine, making him feel an extreme sense of unease.