Chapter 62
Xiao Qi nodded eagerly.
Ah Lü hadn’t concealed its aura completely. Although it was faint due to the distance, Xiao Qi could still roughly pinpoint its location—it was somewhere to the east.
But “east” was a broad term.
Looking east from City B, there were at least dozens of large and small cities. Searching for a single snake among them would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, something significant had happened to the East recently, something everyone was familiar with.
A few months ago, an S-class black snake mutant led a horde of other mutants to occupy the largest swamp forest in the area, transforming it into a paradise for mutants!
After pondering this briefly, Wen Xin immediately understood.
Of course! How had he not thought of this before?
An S-class mutant would naturally release its aura to summon its kin, and this dominance and attraction were instinctual and irresistible.
If Ah Lü had been nearby, it likely would have followed the snake horde.
Wen Xin missed Ah Lü.
And it wasn’t just Ah Lü he missed; he also wanted to find his other babies.
However, in the current situation, he had unexpectedly become the center of everyone’s attention. No matter where he went, the risk of his identity being exposed was too high, which could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Wen Xin gently stroked Xiao Qi’s hopeful gaze and smiled. “Alright, we’ll go find them in the future.”
No matter what happened, he wouldn’t give up on finding his companions.
*
As the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon, the dark veil of night slowly gave way to daylight.
Fearing that delays might lead to complications, Wen Jingfeng decided to take Wen Xin away an hour earlier than planned.
Li Yongming, who had always been fond of Wen Xin, was accompanying them. After all, during the time when Wen Jingfeng hadn’t yet returned, Li Yongming had taken on the role of Wen Xin’s temporary family member.
Back when Wen Xin was still in the training camp, Li Yongming would always be the first to hear praises about Wen Xin whenever he excelled.
Sitting beside him, Li Yongming looked at the young man’s calm face, feeling a pang of sympathy.
Who would willingly live a life constantly on the run?
But in this post-apocalyptic world, there was no other choice.
Natural disasters and human conflicts had crushed the wheels of history, leaving everyone as insignificant dust, powerless to control their fate.
“We cleared the surrounding areas of zombies on our way here, keeping some alive and blocking them on the roads with barriers,” Li Yongming explained.
“These zombies will serve as the source of an ‘unexpected incident.’ When things get chaotic enough, you’ll follow me closely. Stay behind me and don’t get lost.”
Wen Xin asked a practical question, “What if someone gets injured?”
Li Yongming smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. No one will recklessly get out of their vehicles. Once the zombies are cleared, we’ll dress them up in military uniforms and stage the scene. It will be realistic enough to fool anyone.”
Creating an “accident” was more than just announcing it to the world. Afterward, there would be the need to cover it up and spread the right rumors to ensure people believed it. All of this required careful planning.
Wen Jingfeng had thought through every detail.
The convoy had covered half the distance, steadily moving farther away from City B, where the Idealism Sect resided.
Wen Xin, feeling uneasy and sleep-deprived from the previous night, leaned back in his seat, trying to rest. His mind wandered to the recently separated Xiao Qi, the possible whereabouts of Ah Lü in the eastern marshlands, and the other cubs who still had no news. Eventually, he began to drift off.
Suddenly, his ears twitched. It sounded like some commotion up ahead.
The noise was faint but distinct, resembling the growls of zombies.
Sitting in the back row, Wen Xin’s view was blocked, so he stood up and looked out through the side window.
Sure enough, a zombie had lunged out from one of the buildings, baring its teeth at the convoy ahead.
Just as Wen Xin craned his neck to get a better look, a well-trained soldier shot the zombie down with pinpoint accuracy.
“Are we at the designated location already?” Wen Xin asked, somewhat unsure.
However, Wen Jingfeng, who was seated diagonally in front of him, suddenly stood up.
His sharp eyes were fixed straight ahead, and his profile looked as ominous as storm clouds gathering.
Wen Jingfeng rarely showed such expressions. Even when facing off against the Idealism Sect’s Pope, Xiao Qi, he always remained composed and calm.
The change in his demeanor was like the forewarning of an impending storm.
Wen Xin immediately became fully alert.
In less than three seconds, or perhaps even less, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The gravel on the surface bounced up and down!
Wen Xin was all too familiar with this sensation. It reminded him of the horrific zombie tide he had encountered on Highway G177 just a few months ago.
But this time, he didn’t need Li Yongming to toss him a gun like Zhang Quanyong had before.
In one swift motion, Wen Xin dragged out a weapon box from under his seat and efficiently assembled a gun. He even managed to toss a spare weapon to a soldier behind him, just in case.
Li Yongming, who had been about to tell him to take cover, was left speechless.
A sudden thought popped into Li Yongming’s mind.
Wen Jingfeng planned to send Wen Xin to a deserted island for safety, hoping he could stay hidden for three to five years. But could someone with such sharp instincts and a restrained, yet intense, presence really be confined to a small island?
Li Yongming didn’t have time to ponder this further.
Zombies began pouring in like a tidal wave, their roars filling the air.
They weren’t just on the streets; they emerged from the surrounding bushes, the distant buildings—everywhere. The scene was swarming with zombies baring their bloody fangs.
Even Li Yongming, who was accustomed to fighting zombies as casually as eating and drinking, was taken aback by the sheer scale of the horde.
“We cleared out this area ahead of time! How can there still be so many zombies!?”
Wen Jingfeng’s expression was grim as he pressed down on the radio. His commands echoed across the communication channel.
“All units, report your observations.”
“Be cautious. The situation is unclear. Don’t engage recklessly. Team One, focus fire on the zombies in the southeast streets. Team Two, provide cover. Team Three, find an elevated spot for surveillance. Team Four…”
Li Yongming had already received orders and was leading Team One, leaving an empty space beside Wen Xin.
Despite wanting to join the fight, Wen Xin’s sprained ankle made it difficult to move. Getting out would only be a hindrance.
Instead, he clutched his gun tightly, listening intently to the barrage of gunfire and explosions outside the armored vehicle.
A blast suddenly erupted from the buildings ahead, sending flames and thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Terrifying roars echoed from within the flames.
A massive shadow loomed through the haze.
The figure stood over three meters tall, with a weight that could rival a fully grown mammoth.
With a single leap, it smashed through a rooftop, sending roof tiles raining down like mud splattering onto the ground.
Seeing the creature’s true form, Wen Xin’s pupils contracted sharply.
Wen Jingfeng’s deep, steady voice came through the radio: “We confirmed months ago that zombies can evolve, but we haven’t encountered another like Giant Zombie No. 1 until now.”
“Listen up, we must capture this creature alive for research!”
This time, the military had come prepared, equipped with significant manpower and firepower.
While Wen Xin took some comfort in their efficiency, his instincts told him that something was still wrong. His sense of unease only grew stronger.
Wen Jingfeng continued issuing commands to his troops, while Li Yongming kept providing updates through the radio channel, coordinating with the soldiers as they fought their way through the horde.
However, the small section where Wen Xin was located remained strangely quiet.
Wen Xin hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned to look toward the rear seat.
There was still another row of seats behind him, occupied by a soldier with an ordinary, unremarkable face.
This soldier was clutching the gun Wen Xin had handed him earlier. His eyes were glued to the chaos ahead, his face twitching nervously.
This soldier had been sitting in the back seat ever since Wen Xin got in the vehicle. There had been another soldier with him earlier, but that one had joined Li Yongming in the fight as soon as the situation escalated.
Yet, this soldier had remained in the vehicle.
Wen Xin cautiously disengaged the safety on his gun.
The faint click immediately drew Wen Jingfeng’s attention. He frowned and turned to look back.
But this tiny movement seemed to act as the fuse for an explosion.
The soldier who had been sitting in a daze suddenly screamed, clutching his throat as if he were choking himself. His eyes bulged, and he let out a series of strangled cries: “Ah… Ahhh…!”
Pulsating, dark blue veins started crawling across his skin like wriggling worms.
Both Wen Xin and Wen Jingfeng reacted almost simultaneously. Wen Xin, ignoring the pain in his sprained ankle, lunged forward to pull Wen Jingfeng down, while Wen Jingfeng drew his gun and fired a shot straight at the soldier’s forehead.
Bang!
The bullet hit its mark, but instead of blood and flesh splattering, there was an explosion of something strange.
A thick, eerie scent filled the air—a smell that was all too familiar to Wen Xin.
His vision darkened as the scent took effect. It was the same hallucinogenic incense he had once encountered with the scarred man!
Wen Xin quickly shouted a warning, “It’s a hallucinogenic agent! Don’t breathe it in!”
The scent spread rapidly.
By the time the warning reached the driver, he had already inhaled some of it. His eyes glazed over, and his grip on the steering wheel wavered.
Screeeeech—
The armored vehicle swerved wildly, skidding in a zigzag pattern. Sparks flew as the tires screeched against the road, narrowly avoiding a collision with the vehicle ahead.
The engine roared as the entire world seemed to spin out of control.
“Damn it! Get out of the vehicle!” Wen Jingfeng barked.
But to get out, the driver first needed to stop the car.
Before anyone could react, Wen Xin swiftly raised his gun and fired at the dashboard, blowing it apart.
The dashboard exploded, causing the driver to instinctively release the accelerator. The armored vehicle veered off course, crashing sideways into a wall with a thunderous impact that brought it to an abrupt halt!
The two brothers stumbled out of the vehicle, dragging the dazed driver with them.
After completing this series of actions, Wen Xin’s body swayed. It was as if he were walking on air, his limbs weak and unsteady.
Even though he had held his breath when the hallucinogenic gas spread, he had inhaled a considerable amount from his position in the back seat.
Under its influence, the world around him began to blur.
The cacophony of gunfire, zombie roars, and explosions melded together into a deafening storm that drowned out his thoughts.
Wen Xin’s head throbbed painfully, and his mind buzzed with a sharp, piercing noise. Just before he lost consciousness, he seemed to hear Wen Jingfeng’s desperate, heart-wrenching cry.
“Wen Xin—!”
*
Wen Xin drifted in and out of consciousness, swaying as if he were on a boat. When he finally forced his eyes open, his vision was blurry and unfocused. His pupils dilated and contracted erratically.
The world around him was hazy, as though shrouded in a dense mist.
Yet, he could make out the shadows of trees rushing past outside the window, and the relentless sounds of gunfire closing in behind them. It was clear that he was being taken somewhere—by force.
Inside the vehicle, there were three men.
One was driving, another was loading bullets into a gun, and the third kept glancing nervously out the back window.
Suddenly, the third man’s expression changed dramatically. His eyes widened in terror as if he had seen something horrifying. “Shoot! Quick, shoot!” he screamed.
In their haste, they hadn’t bound Wen Xin properly, so he could still move.
Grinding his teeth, Wen Xin pressed his forehead against the seat in front of him, veins bulging on his temple.
He vaguely heard the terrifying roars behind him but couldn’t focus on them. Ignoring the searing pain in his ankle, he pushed himself up and lunged forward.
The man with the gun tried to raise it, but Wen Xin’s arm locked around his throat.
With his other hand, Wen Xin grabbed the barrel of the gun, yanking it away. The man’s eyes rolled back, and he let out a choked gasp: “Hhsss…!”
“Damn it! How did he wake up so quickly?”
“Pull him off, quick!”
Amidst the chaos, a new commotion erupted behind them.
The military continued to chase the giant zombie, which in turn barreled forward. With a few powerful strides, it caught up to the van.
Up close, its hulking figure loomed even larger, like a small mountain. It smashed its massive fist onto the van’s hood, crushing it instantly. The two men in the front seats turned into unrecognizable mush.
Wen Xin instinctively grabbed onto the back of the seat.
Suddenly, a terrifying sensation of weightlessness engulfed him.
The entire van was lifted off the ground!
The giant zombie seemed to possess some form of intelligence. It wasn’t merely throwing the vehicle away—it was checking to see if anyone was inside.
Inside the van, Wen Xin felt like the world was spinning. His head slammed against the window, narrowly avoiding another blackout.
And then, his breath caught in his throat.
Through the shattered glass, Wen Xin saw a bloodshot eye the size of a fist staring directly at him.
The zombie’s hand, as thick as a water barrel, reached in and plucked out the half-conscious third man like a toy.
“Trai… traitor…”
The zombie’s mouth opened and closed, uttering words in a guttural, broken voice.
Wen Xin’s breathing became erratic. This zombie… it could speak!
The man, now fully awake, screamed in terror. “Please! I was wrong! I shouldn’t have gotten greedy! Please, spare me!”
Wen Xin pressed himself against the van window, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of his chest.
He was starting to piece together what was happening. The group that had kidnapped him had turned on each other. It seemed they had decided to cash in on his high bounty, defying the orders of whoever had sent them, and attempted to smuggle him out in a van.
Before the zombie could react further, a sniper bullet pierced through its hand like a streak of lightning.
Blood splattered as the zombie let out an enraged howl.
Turning around, Wen Xin saw Wen Jingfeng standing atop an armored vehicle, aiming a Barrett sniper rifle through the shattered front window, his eyes red with fury.
At least four or five explosions erupted beneath the zombie’s feet, tearing apart its legs below the knees.
The zombie howled in pain, tossing aside the barely alive man it had been holding. Then, with a roar, it fled, clutching the van with Wen Xin still inside.
Wen Xin wanted to stop the giant zombie, but his body had taken too much of a beating during the struggle. His trembling arms could no longer support him, and he finally collapsed.
This time, Wen Xin’s unconsciousness lasted for several hours.
During that time, he drifted in and out of a half-dream, half-awake state. Each time he briefly regained consciousness, the violent shaking of the vehicle would jolt him back into darkness.
The giant zombie carried the van, traversing city after city, while the relentless military forces chased it down. Eventually, after more than 20 hours of pursuit, the armored vehicles that were chasing them finally ran out of fuel.
For the first time, Wen Jingfeng lost his usual composure. In a fit of rage, he smashed his gun in frustration as the giant zombie, despite its severe injuries, managed to outdistance them and disappear beyond the horizon.
*
Wen Xin slowly regained consciousness. His vision was dark and blurry, and his entire body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together poorly. The searing pain in his chest made it hard to breathe.
Instinctively, he coughed violently, expelling several droplets of blood onto the seat beside him.
Seeing the crimson stains, his mind slowly cleared.
He looked up and out of the shattered van window, only to be greeted by a brilliant night sky filled with stars. The vehicle’s doors were missing, and the cold wind rushed in.
Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, Wen Xin endured the sharp pain from his injured ankle. Using his good leg and propping himself up with his arms, he slowly crawled out of the vehicle.
When he finally managed to pull himself free, he turned around to take in the scene. The front end of the van was nearly flattened like a crumpled piece of paper.
An arm hung limply out of the passenger side window, its skin covered in dried blood.
Not far from the wrecked van lay the now-dead giant zombie.
Its entire body was riddled with blast wounds and bullet holes, its legs and arms mangled beyond recognition. But the most severe injury was at the back of its neck, where its flesh was torn open and exposed.
Despite its injuries, its chest still faintly rose and fell, struggling to cling to life. With great effort, Wen Xin slowly limped toward the zombie, picking up a sharp stone along the way. He struck down hard on the exposed back of its neck.
Squelch.
The giant zombie shuddered violently before finally going still.
After finishing off the creature, Wen Xin realized his face was damp.
When he wiped it with his hand, he found it smeared with a mix of mud and dried blood from his earlier struggle.
No matter how much he wiped, he couldn’t seem to get clean. Frustrated, he gave up after a few attempts.
He looked around, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.
“Where… is this place?”
As he muttered the question to himself, Wen Xin tilted his head, his clear eyes reflecting a hint of confusion under the starlight.
“Who… am I?”
He furrowed his brows, racking his brain. He knew it was something important, something he couldn’t afford to forget.
Then, slowly, it came back to him.
“Right… I’m Wen Xin.”
As he stood there, he could sense something lurking in the shadows, like a predator biding its time, ready to strike. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Instinctively, he began to pat down his clothes, searching for something to give him a sense of security.
After rummaging through his inner coat pocket, he found a small cloth bag sewn with delicate floral patterns. Inside, it contained an old pocket watch, a black and green scale, a brownish-yellow feather, a small, soft fox-shaped plush toy about the size of a thumb, and two tufts of fur—one purple, one blue.
Upon seeing these familiar items, fragments of memories came rushing back to him, like pieces of a shattered mirror reassembling themselves in his mind.
“Ugh…!”
The sudden flood of memories made Wen Xin’s head spin. He nearly lost consciousness again as he clutched his throbbing forehead. Gritting his teeth, he opened the old pocket watch.
Inside the watch was a photograph of a couple—a man and a woman—smiling warmly as they rested their hands on the shoulders of a young boy.
Wen Xin stared at the photo, lost in thought. A sharp pain shot through his head as flashes of memory slowly came into focus.
“These are… my parents. And the boy in the middle…”
A scene played out in Wen Xin’s mind—a memory of a teenager, about seventeen or eighteen years old, walking past him with a cold expression. The boy never once looked back as he walked toward the door, disappearing into the harsh sunlight outside.
Wen Xin blinked a faint sorrow in his eyes. He gently closed the watch and tucked it back into the cloth bag.
Next, he pulled out the black scale.
As soon as the scale appeared, the lurking shadows around him seemed to retreat in fear, as if they had encountered a powerful deterrent.
Wen Xin blinked in surprise. Holding up the black scale, he let out a small gasp of wonder. “You’re pretty useful, aren’t you?”
Feeling a surge of reassurance, he carefully placed all the items back into the inner pocket of his coat.
Looking around once more, Wen Xin managed to find a gnarled, thick branch. He stripped off the dried, blackened leaves, turning it into a makeshift cane.
Using one hand to hold the black scale and the other to prop himself up with the branch, Wen Xin slowly began limping toward the distant, illuminated city base.
However, before he could reach it, a small creature, drawn by the scent of the powerful mutant, found him first.
As Wen Xin approached, the little creature watched his shadow under the moonlight. Trembling with both awe and caution, it bowed down submissively and let out soft, bird-like chirps.
Wen Xin looked down at the small figure.
It had a fluffy, long tail, oval ears, and thick purple fur that made it look rather plump and adorable.
The cloth bag he carried contained a tuft of fur that matched the creature’s color. A distant but fond memory stirred within Wen Xin’s mind.
Yes, he had once taken care of a cute little purple squirrel…
Without thinking, Wen Xin reached out and gently scooped up the small creature, his voice soft and affectionate. “Are you… my Ah Zi?”
The moment it heard his voice, the furry creature’s eyes widened in shock, letting out a surprised squeak.
“Ah?”
This wasn’t Xiao Hei? How could it be?
But before it could react, the young man’s eyes curved into a warm smile. His pupils seemed to shimmer slightly as he hugged the little creature close to his chest.
“Ah Zi, I’ve missed you so much.”
At least he isn’t brain dead. I would be after that