Every time Li Qiu walked up to a car, she started pulling on its door. But finding a car that still worked was not an easy task.
After all, some cars could not be started without their keys.
Fortunately, she knew that some people had the habit of hiding spare keys on their cars. For example, Li Qiu’s father would hide the car key behind the cover in the middle of the wheel hub.
Li Qiu smashed the hubcaps of six cars in a row and finally found a car key in the seventh one.
She did not recognize the brand of the car, but as long as it could be driven, that was enough. Li Qiu slowly sat down in the dusty driver’s seat, pressed the one-button start switch, and then saw the red fuel warning light flashing frantically.
No fuel. The engine died. She got out of the car angrily.
To vent her frustration, she slammed the door shut with all her strength!
Then she continued searching for the next one.
There were more than thirty cars parked along this road. Li Qiu refused to believe that she could not find a usable one.
But her luck had already started going downhill.
Among these thirty-odd vehicles, from large trucks to vans, to ordinary SUVs and sedans, they either had dead batteries or empty fuel tanks and could barely even be started.
Some cars even contained several corpses that had died horribly, giving Li Qiu a fright for no reason and making her shiver.
There was even one car with a zombie locked inside. Its eyeballs were practically bulging out of their sockets. It looked to be in its thirties and was dressed in a suit and leather shoes. Its white shirt was covered in dried bloodstains, and someone had torn off its dark blue necktie and tied it around its mouth.
It looked like he had been discovered right after turning into a zombie, had his mouth bound shut, and was locked inside the car. If someone recklessly opened the door, they might end up being pounced on by the zombie.
This young adult zombie looked dull and stupid, probably an F-rank walking corpse. It was attracted by the noise Li Qiu had made and started banging on the car door forcefully after seeing her approach. When it realized it could not open the door, it pressed its wrinkled gray face against the window and fixed its eyes firmly on Li Qiu.
“Big brother, take a good look, I’m a zombie too.” Li Qiu lifted her head from her wide, warm scarf and bared her two sharp teeth.
At the same time, what was revealed was her darkened tongue coating, something that no normal person possessed.
The stupid zombie stared at Li Qiu carefully for a while. Then its gaze shifted back into the car, its hands drooped down, and it gradually quieted down.
Seeing that there were still two cars left to inspect, Li Qiu was about to continue when a bold idea suddenly popped into her mind.
She was very afraid of a group of zombies, but a single zombie seemed manageable.
Besides, this zombie only had slightly bulging eyes and a larger build. It did not look intelligent at all and probably would not pose any threat to her. Most importantly, its mouth was currently tied shut, making it seem far less dangerous.
After thinking it over again and again, Li Qiu opened the car door.
The sound of the door opening caught the zombie’s attention. It first lowered its head and stared at the door for a long while before reaching out and lunging toward the outside.
“Give me your hands.” Li Qiu stood to the side and said seriously.
Of course, she knew that an F-rank zombie could not possibly understand her words.
Li Qiu simply liked blurting out a few words and saying a sentence or two from time to time.
A homebody was still a homebody, and a social anxiety sufferer was still a social anxiety sufferer. When she was alone, she always had to talk to herself a little, otherwise she would easily fall into a depressed mood.
She remembered that when she used to be with her best friend, the two socially anxious homebodies would huddle together, each doing their own thing, occasionally talking to themselves and calling each other crazy.
She did not just miss her parents, she missed her best friend too.
Her best friend was different from her. Although she was also a homebody, her physical fitness was not bad. During their eight hundred meter physical exams, she always finished among the top few. She probably was not as unlucky as Li Qiu. She was definitely still alive and well now, and perhaps she had even awakened an ability like the group of people Li Qiu had encountered last time.
My best friend is amazing.
Li Qiu pursed her lips and lowered her eyes. Before she even had the chance to cry, she saw the zombie tilting its head and leaning close to her.
It stared at her with its gray-white eyes, its nose twitching as it sniffed the scent on Li Qiu’s body, seemingly trying to confirm once again whether the person before it was food or one of its own kind. It looked utterly unintelligent.
Li Qiu snapped back to her senses, took out the section of red plastic rope she had stuffed into her backpack earlier, and with lightning speed tied up the zombie’s hands, even finishing it with a dead knot.
The zombie did not resist or struggle in the slightest the entire time. Even though its arms looked a whole circle thicker than Li Qiu’s and it was a head taller than her, the entire zombie looked like the kind that could punch a child to death with one blow.
Even so, it did not resist at all, making Li Qiu’s vigilance and trembling hands from fear that it might suddenly attack seem completely unnecessary.
“As expected, I, a dignified D-rank, can deal with an F-rank with ease!” Li Qiu rejoiced inwardly and gained a new understanding of her own combat ability.
For convenience, Li Qiu also gave him a name, Suit Brother.
Suit Brother’s mouth was bound by the necktie, and green saliva kept dripping out. His hands were tied by Li Qiu with a dead knot, almost to the point of squeezing out black blood. After tying up his hands, there were still more than two meters of the red plastic rope left. The other end of the rope was tied to the strap of Li Qiu’s backpack.
Li Qiu had thought this through very well. By bringing Suit Brother along, if she happened to encounter human ability users, she could throw Suit Brother down and escape while creating a diversion.
A dead fellow Daoist is better than a dead poor Daoist. Li Qiu looked at Suit Brother sympathetically.
Suit Brother could not be bothered to look at her at all. His dull gaze rested on a flock of birds flying across the sky.
Li Qiu followed his gaze and looked toward the sky as well.
It was a flock of wild geese flying south in a V formation, an especially magnificent sight.
Geese flew north in spring and south in autumn, never failing to keep their promise.
If only they could take me with them. Li Qiu gently pressed her lips together before withdrawing her gaze and walking a few steps forward to continue checking the final two cars.
When someone was unlucky, misfortune always came wave after wave. These last two cars could not be driven either.
But the good news was that Li Qiu found a half-empty bottle of cola in one of the cars, two packs of braised beef instant noodles that had been crushed into crumbs, and even a fully packaged sausage!
This kind of red-skinned sausage had a bright red casing, a savory taste, and plump meat. It was already delicious simply by peeling it and eating it directly. If it was scored with cuts, brushed with a layer of oil and grilled, then coated with another layer of chili oil, it would be unbelievably tasty.
Li Qiu’s eyes went wide as she held the sausage in her hand like a precious treasure. She carefully bit off the metal ring at the top, peeled away half of the casing, and took a small bite.
The delicious taste she had imagined did not appear.
Four words surfaced in Li Qiu’s mind: like chewing wax.
Expressionless, she stuffed the rest of the sausage into her mouth, chewing and chewing again.
There was still no taste at all. It was even worse than that dead fish.
It did not even smell as good as Suit Brother beside her. Just look at Suit Brother’s muscles and fat, those thighs, that belly, her saliva was about to drip out…
Hiss… How could I have such a terrifying thought? Li Qiu quickly slapped herself across the face, though she did not use much force. A little punishment, just a little punishment.
Although her bottom line had already fallen to the point that if she was starving and had no other choice, she would eat zombies, she still could not bring herself to eat a living zombie that had the same human form as she did.
Out of sight, out of mind. Li Qiu walked to the front of Suit Brother and looked around to see if there were any other means of transportation nearby.
When she had been human, she had been nearsighted with a prescription of two hundred degrees. She had glasses but rarely wore them.
Unexpectedly, after turning into a zombie, her eyesight had improved dramatically, practically comparable to a pilot’s! With one glance, she spotted a bicycle parked at the corner.
A bicycle was great, it could not be any better. It needed neither fuel nor electricity. Just pedal with both legs and you could ride forever.
Why didn’t I think of looking for a bicycle earlier! Li Qiu lamented.
“Come on, Suit Brother, I’ll take you for a bike ride.” Li Qiu waved at Suit Brother and tugged on the plastic rope.
The dull-witted Suit Brother had originally been wandering around in place. The moment he heard Li Qiu’s voice, he immediately came trotting over with an expression that looked as if he were about to eat a meal. But after arriving in front of Li Qiu, he lost the purpose of eating.
“Hahahaha.” Li Qiu could not help bursting into laughter.
Just as she and Suit Brother were only a few steps away from the bicycle, she suddenly heard people talking, and there was more than one person. At the same time, the Suit Brother beside her once again revealed a fierce and ferocious expression. Completely disregarding the fact that his hands were still tied, he charged toward the source of the voices with all his might.