Chapter 212: Village Under Attack
After sweeping through the hospital, the six of them had a general understanding of the local zombie situation. They headed straight for the other hospital. In the town center, there were clearly more B-level zombies than before, and the six of them struggled more than earlier. Lu Weiyi had to frequently put up a mental barrier to protect the group.
Even though they moved quickly, too much time was lost along the way. By the time they exited the second hospital, it was already 2 p.m.
They were all looking a mess, taking a short break in a third-floor room of the maternity and children’s hospital. Even though the main door downstairs had been blocked off, a swarm of zombies had gathered outside, reaching in with clawed hands, snarling, trying to leap in for a bite. Some even began using abilities to attack the earthen wall.
“We’re not heading to the next county, right? It’s at least a two-hour trip—we’ll get back too late,” Ning Yuan said, slumping against the wall, panting.
“Yeah,” Lu Weiyi said as he adjusted his breathing, keeping an eye on the floor below. He asked Li Zhuang, “Can you control the wall from this distance?”
“Yes,” Li Zhuang replied. Since his level-up, his control had become more refined.
“Then let them in batches—give us some practice in coordination,” Lu Weiyi said.
By the time they got back, it was past 8 p.m. After three hours of battle, the hospital courtyard was piled waist-high with zombie corpses. Lu Weiyi and Gu Qingji spent a long time collecting crystal cores, and at one point, Liu Rui even started digging them out with a knife.
*
Xu Sa traded away half the village’s livestock for a very fair price.
Lu Weiyi hadn’t left much in terms of supplies, and since they’d come back late, the old village chief was worried no one would pay for the remaining materials. So only a portion of the animals were killed.
Even so, the small courtyard was packed with bloody chunks of meat, cleaned organs, sausages, and more. Not a single moment of the day had gone idle for them.
At temperatures around minus twenty degrees Celsius, everything was frozen solid.
The air was filled with a faint smell of blood, but even more so with the aroma of cooked meat.
“They’re back! They’re back!” Wu Yue, who was patrolling at the gate, was also waiting for them. A pile of cigarette butts had accumulated at his feet. The moment he saw the car appear, he shouted toward the house.
“They’re back?” Gu Qingyue came rushing out anxiously, with Xu Sa right behind him.
“Why are you so late? Did something happen?” Xu Sa scanned the six people getting out of the car with a flashlight. They were covered in filth and visibly exhausted.
“We’re… fine.” Liu Rui walked up to him and tried to pull him in for a hug but hesitated because of how dirty he was. He looked at him with puppy eyes.
“Go get cleaned up quickly. We slaughtered a pig today and made bone stew.” Xu Sa flicked his forehead and spoke to the group.
“We’re back,” Lu Weiyi said hoarsely. The six of them had gone deep into the county center today—undeniably a dangerous venture. Exhaustion and danger were inevitable.
“As long as you’re back.” Zhuang Mingxu was sitting inside the living room and hadn’t come out, but his eyes were glued to the door. Only when he saw Lu Weiyi did the tension in his body ease slightly. “Go wash up, then come eat.”
“Okay,” Lu Weiyi replied with a tired smile.
He was the first to emerge from the bath, wearing a clean set of clothes. To keep his wet hair from freezing, he had wrapped a towel around his head. The others, still reeking and dirty, hadn’t gone inside and waited at the door. “Clothes are inside—find your size.”
After storing all the meat in the yard into his spatial storage, Lu Weiyi finally entered the house.
“Sit here.” Zhuang Mingxu pointed to the sofa next to him.
Lu Weiyi collapsed onto it like he had no bones left in his body. Zhuang Mingxu took the towel off his head and started drying his hair. “Where are you hurt? Let Qingyue bandage you guys.”
“…” Lu Weiyi was too tired to speak. He had stood guard the night before, stayed hyper-focused all day, and had constantly used and recovered his powers while staying alert to protect the others. Now, he felt like he could fall asleep right then and there. “I’m fine. Go check on the others.”
He grabbed the towel from Zhuang Mingxu’s hands and roughly rubbed his head, massaging his temples in exhaustion. “I’m going to sleep. You all take care of the night watch tonight.”
“Young Master, how about eating first?” Lin Yimu came out of the kitchen holding a bowl of meat noodle soup.
Lu Weiyi shook his head. He really had no appetite. When he got to his room and lay down, he fell into a deep sleep immediately.
All night, he felt like someone was constantly touching and rubbing his body. When he woke up, he groggily thought he’d had some kind of romantic dream. But as he sat up, he saw that the wounds on his arms were already bandaged. Even the smaller wounds under his clothes had been disinfected—he could still faintly smell the alcohol. There was no need to ask who had done it.
Everyone else was already up, gathered in the living room and speaking in hushed voices.
“You alright?” Li Zhuang asked.
“I’m fine,” Lu Weiyi stretched, feeling much more refreshed.
He had woken up last. While eating alone, he asked about the negotiations from the day before.
“We traded six large cattle, four calves—two males and two females. Forty adult sheep, five lambs—three females, two males. Thirteen adult pigs, two piglets—one male, one female. Chickens, ducks, and geese—all adults, fifty in total.”
Xu Sa handed him a notebook. “Here’s the price list and the materials still needed. The village chief was worried you wouldn’t come back, so he only gave us thirteen pigs yesterday and slaughtered them all. Should we slaughter the rest today?”
“Yes.” Lu Weiyi skimmed the list and took out the major supplies. He handed the crystal cores to Xu Sa to count and told Gu Qingyue to sort through the medical supplies.
“You five still good to go? Think you can head out today?” Slaughtering the remaining livestock would take at least a full day, but Lu Weiyi decided to go out again.
“Which man isn’t up to it?” Antonio said without even lifting his head, arm slung around Dean.
Li Zhuang gave a thumbs-up, and the others had no objections either. Unexpectedly, Wu Yue, who had stayed behind, volunteered, “Let’s take turns. We’ll go out today.”
Lu Weiyi didn’t want to say it aloud, but without his protection, the chances of the five of them making it back unscathed were only about fifty percent. Not to mention that their abilities weren’t as strong. So he diplomatically replied, “Next time.”
Around 3 a.m., a sudden gunshot rang out in the village, waking everyone instantly.
Lu Weiyi’s first reaction was that someone in the village was turning on them. He quickly got out of bed and put on his shoes. Lin Yimu was already shielding Zhuang Mingxu, who sat up in bed with a gun in his hand. Zhuang Ai Yi, still fast asleep, was being held in Lu Xi’s arms.
“What’s going on?” came Ning Yuan’s voice from the living room, along with the sound of him quietly waking the others.
“The village is under attack,” Wu Yue, who had been on night watch, entered with a gust of cold wind. “Antonio went to check it out.”
Lu Weiyi packed everything into his spatial storage, ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. Just then, Antonio’s voice came through the walkie-talkie: “An ability-user is attacking the village. Da Jun says it’s the same group that was robbing people on the road to Anjiang City.”
“What do they want?” Ning Yuan asked. Everyone looked at him like he was an idiot.
“Alright, should we go help?”
“Or we could wait for them to finish fighting, then sweep in and collect the loot again,” Antonio’s voice came through along with gunfire and screaming.
A classic “mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind” tactic. They had used it before.
But not… not against ordinary villagers.
“We’re helping!” Lu Weiyi ordered. “Lu Xi, Xiong Jie, Ning Yuan, and Xu Sa stay behind. Everyone else, come with me.”
“I’m at the village’s exit,” Antonio’s voice came through, tinged with regret.
As the group exited the main gate, a figure came running toward them—it was Zhuzi’s younger sister, Juan’er. She gasped breathlessly, “Our… our village… is under attack. You…”
“We were just about to help. Go back,” Gu Qingyue said to Juan’er. The group brushed past her and headed toward the area where supernatural powers were flashing.
“Also keep an eye on the area around the village—be careful of enemy flanking,” Wu Yue shouted to her from a distance.
“Okay, thank you all,” Juan’er bowed deeply in the darkness and then ran off.
The Li family village was originally surrounded by a wall made of earth, constructed by earth-type ability users. It was tall enough to defend against zombies, but not at all effective against supernatural ability users.
By the time the group arrived, most of the earthen wall had already collapsed. Long-range supernatural attacks, close-combat weapons, and a chaotic melee involving over a hundred people—it looked like a gang war. Gunshots rang out sporadically, mixed with cries of pain and furious curses from those fighting for their lives.
To avoid friendly fire, two lightbulbs were switched on high up, and in a strange mutual agreement, neither side attempted to destroy them.
“How are we supposed to tell who’s a villager and who’s the enemy?” They had mostly kept to themselves and hadn’t interacted with other families, so they had no idea who was who. Now that everyone was bunched together, it was impossible to tell who to attack.
“Zhuzi!” Wu Yue shouted. As he did, an earthen shield blocked an incoming attack aimed at Zhuzi in the crowd, then instantly transformed into three earthen spikes, shooting out toward three different directions. After a chorus of screams, three figures fell to the ground. The surrounding people froze momentarily, looking around warily for their next target.
“It’s you guys!” Zhuzi turned his head at the sound, his usually stern face now showing visible delight. He held a black club that could extend and retract as he fought. His next swing broke the short-lived pause in the fighting and resumed the full-on clash between the two sides.
“Is that… the Monkey King’s golden cudgel?” Xu Sa asked in surprise.
“A mutated plant?” Gu Qingji speculated, thinking of mutant ivy.
“It’s an earth-type power construct,” Wu Yue, who shared the same ability type, explained. “I didn’t think it could be used like that. I’ll have to try it sometime.”
“Are you… here to help?” Zhuzi asked cautiously, hope evident in his eyes.
“Yes,” Wu Yue replied. “But we can’t tell who the attackers are.”
“I’ll show you!” Zhuzi said quickly, setting aside his embarrassment.
“Smash the bulbs. Have the villagers fall back completely.” Since the lights were being used, it meant the enemy likely had few or no ability users who could see in the dark. Splitting the two sides was the fastest way to tell them apart.
