Chapter 21
At four in the morning, under a pale, ghostly moonlight that shrouded the desolate and empty village, a short black vehicle shaped like a tank sped through the woods.
Through the rearview mirror, Wei Cheng glanced at the chubby little boy in the back seat, fast asleep while hugging the puppy.
Today, they were heading to a highway a hundred kilometers away to collect gasoline and, while they were at it, complete some zombie-hunting tasks. To avoid having their movements discovered, they had once again chosen to set out in the pitch-black pre-dawn hours.
An hour and a half later, the car stopped in a field beneath the highway.
“Brother.”
Guanguan rubbed his eyes awake, one cheek creased from sleep. “Are we there?”
The little black dog, sprawled out crookedly in sleep, also stood up and shook itself.
“Yes, we’re here.”
Before setting out, Wei Cheng had marked several sections of highway as destinations. One of them had a danger rating of “extremely high,” while two others were rated “low” and “very low.”
After careful consideration, he still chose the destination with the “low” danger rating.
Once the Twisty Car was returned to the system panel, they also placed the little black dog into the safehouse.
They still did not know how many zombies were actually on the highway. The little black dog was usually very well-behaved, but it was too small and would occasionally let out little whimpers. To be safe, they had sent it into the safehouse.
“Come on, Brother will help you put on your safety helmet.”
Wei Cheng helped Guanguan put on the helmet, then carefully checked his neck guard, wrist guards, knee pads, and protective vest. These were the most vulnerable parts of the human body, and also the places zombies liked attacking the most.
Once he saw that everything was in order, he deliberately put on a stern face and instructed, “Soldier Wei Guanguan, what do you do if you run into a group of zombies?”
“Run into the safehouse!”
“And do you still remember the task I assigned you?”
The flesh on Guanguan’s cheeks tightened. Wearing his Ultraman shoes, he kicked one chubby foot forward with a sharp smack. “Commander Brother! Wei Guanguan remembers!”
Wei Cheng fought back a smile. “Very good! Your intelligence definitely exceeds your height. You’re the smartest three-year-old baby I’ve ever seen!”
Guanguan’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Commander Brother! Wei Guanguan will work suuuper hard!”
Lately, Guanguan had become obsessed with the storybook adventures of Soldier Fink.
Since he was currently completely hooked on “strict discipline,” Wei Cheng had slipped in quite a bit of his own agenda, because what he most wanted to teach Guanguan was that in the apocalypse, whenever danger came, he must always protect himself first.
And Wei Cheng’s first rule, too, was to protect him.
That way, with double layers of protection, Guanguan would be safer in this dangerous apocalypse.
Daylight had only just begun to appear, and the horizon was lit with red clouds like fire. The highway, once packed with passing traffic, was now a complete wreck.
A large cargo truck had overturned by the roadside. Up ahead, several cars had piled together like stacked toys. A few incomplete, severely rotted walking corpses wandered aimlessly across the road.
Wei Cheng and Guanguan were currently hiding in a cornfield, its stalks battered into a tangled, withered mess by the storm.
Wei Cheng took out another weapon from the mall, a compound crossbow suited for long-range shooting. This large crossbow could be cocked in advance with a windlass, and both its accuracy and killing power were dozens of times stronger than the small crossbow from before. Even prey weighing four hundred jin could be taken down easily.
Zombies had an astonishing sense of smell. Perhaps they had caught the scent of fresh blood, because the dozen or so zombies suddenly grew restless and agitated, sniffing around everywhere like disgusting hyenas.
After taking aim, Wei Cheng immediately pulled the trigger. The steel bolt shot out at high speed and pierced straight through a zombie trying to crawl down the highway guardrail.
Not long after, the dozen or so nearby zombies all dropped softly to the ground.
Guanguan, wearing his helmet, looked at his brother with worship in his eyes. “Brother is so amazing! Soldier Guanguan wants to be this amazing too!”
Wei Cheng flexed his slightly numb, reddened palm. This body was still too weak. Fortunately, they were lying in ambush in the weeds and could brace the large crossbow against the ground, otherwise he really would not have been able to handle it.
Still, maybe it was time to teach Guanguan how to use weapons for self-defense? He was too young for crossbows or knives, but perhaps they could start with a children’s slingshot.
Wei Cheng rubbed Guanguan’s head and whispered, “Throw it.”
Remembering the task Brother had assigned him, Guanguan huffed and puffed as he pulled a sponge-wrapped object from his pocket and flung it onto the highway with one swing of his little arm.
The very next second, the opening of The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style started playing.
The sound was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough to stimulate zombies at close range.
1, 2, 3, 4…
After four seconds, two or three half-bodied zombies actually struggled out from underneath the cars.
There was also one awakened zombie sitting in the passenger seat. It suddenly opened its bluish-black white eyes, and its rotten hand, with the bones showing, slammed over and over against the jammed car door. Half its head was fleshless and broken as it thrust it out of the shattered window, as though it felt no pain. Blood dripped from its throat, yet it still kept roaring at the timer alarm clock.
Wei Cheng’s gaze sharpened. Bracing the large crossbow, he kept firing, quickly changing the bolt magazine once in the middle.
Thirty seconds later, the alarm stopped.
All the zombies awakened by the music had been taken out!
[Congratulations! Little House Owner successfully participated in killing 16 zombies and earned 160 Twist Coins!]
After quietly waiting another ten or so minutes, Wei Cheng finally led Guanguan over the guardrail and onto the highway.
“We killed quite a few zombies today. Do you want to go rest in the safehouse for a bit? Brother can siphon the gasoline by himself.”
Guanguan shook his head. After being tempered several times now, he no longer turned pale and shaky at the sight of zombies like before. “Guanguan isn’t tired. Guanguan will help you!”
Both this section of the highway and Sun Village had a danger rating of low. Presumably, these sixteen zombies were it, and there would not be any more danger.
Smiling, Wei Cheng said, “All right, then Guanguan can stay and help Brother.”
Guanguan enthusiastically pumped his fist. “Steal gasoline! Steal gasoline!”
Wei Cheng: “…”
This child really was like a tiny fuel thief.
There was no time to waste. They had to steal the fuel quickly!
Wei Cheng rapidly surveyed the dozens of cars on the road, then took twelve white 50L fuel drums and a siphon pump out of the safehouse.
He picked a car at random, used tools to pry open the fuel tank, inserted one end of the siphon into the tank and the other into the white drum, then gently squeezed the pump’s rubber bulb. Pale yellow gasoline immediately began rushing into the drum.
Wei Cheng said, “Guanguan, keep an eye on this drum. If it gets full, call Brother. You’re not strong enough, so Brother will tighten it, okay?”
Guanguan squatted obediently on the ground, not even as tall as the drum. Looking up at him with his little face raised, he said, “Understood!”
Seeing this, Wei Cheng pried open ten or so fuel caps in one go, inserting siphons and drums one after another. These people, while alive, had probably all topped off their tanks in preparation for escape. Before long, all twelve drums were full.
“Brother! It’s full!”
“Coming!”
Wei Cheng sealed the lids on the drums one by one and stored them all in the safehouse, then took out another twelve empty white drums. This time, however, when he pried open the fuel caps, he found that some vehicles had anti-theft valves and filters installed, so on their second round, they only managed to fill four drums.
Guanguan pointed into the distance. “Brother, are we not stealing from that biggest truck?”
“That truck overturned. We need to check first whether the fuel leaked.”
With a hand on the small crossbow, Wei Cheng led Guanguan over. It took them another ten or so minutes to reach the overturned cargo truck.
There was no driver inside, and the fuel tank had not leaked, but why was the ground so black?
When Wei Cheng saw what was inside the truck, he was genuinely startled.
It was packed full of broken chunks of black coal!
Wei Cheng knew that the first winter of the apocalypse had been especially cold, so they had often run around villagers’ homes collecting firewood and loose coal. But if they wanted to safely survive an extremely cold winter, the wood they could gather in the village really would not be enough. He had never expected to run into an actual coal truck!
“Brother! Guanguan knows this can make the house warm!”
A generator could supply electricity to the old house, and coal could provide heating. They should be able to make it through this winter now!
Overjoyed, Wei Cheng said, “First we’ll siphon the diesel out of the truck, then we’ll bag up the coal. Tonight we’ll sleep in the safehouse first.”
Guanguan wrinkled his nose. “Brother, the house has smelly oil and black coal. Won’t our home get too dirty?”
“It’s okay. Both of these things will solve a lot of problems for us, now and later. Besides, when winter comes, Brother still wants to spend the season with you in the safehouse more often.” Wei Cheng voiced the plan he had already worked out over the past few days. “We’ll upgrade the safehouse as soon as possible so the cozy home can move in. The remaining space can be divided into an area for stockpiling gasoline, diesel, and coal.”
Guanguan was thrilled. “That’s so great! Guanguan is going to live in the cozy home!!”
The cargo truck’s fuel tank was easy to find and had no complicated protection. After a while, seven 50L drums had been filled to the brim.
As for the coal, Wei Cheng bought one hundred sturdy woven sacks and a large and a small shovel from Cloud Mall.
He knew Guanguan would definitely be curious, so he had specifically bought him a children’s shovel.
Sure enough, after digging for a little while, Guanguan leaned on the shovel and sighed. “Brother, Guanguan’s strength is a little small. Does Little Cloud Mall have medicine that can turn Guanguan into a strongman?”
By then, Wei Cheng had already filled two sacks of coal. He handed him a wet wipe and laughed. “Where in the world is there such a miracle medicine? Here, wipe your face. Go bring Little Apricot out of the safehouse. You two can just play right in front of Brother. If you get hungry, go take something to eat.”
Wei Cheng himself was covered in black dust and anxious to keep working, so he did not even go back to the safehouse for lunch. He and Guanguan only ate little bread with bottled water.
In the afternoon, one of them filled the coal sacks while the other helped tie them shut.
Holding colorful strings in his little hands, Guanguan tied crooked little bows onto every sack of coal. After finishing one, he would puff out his dirty black little face and proudly say, “Brother, look, are Little Black Coal’s hair ties cute?”
At that moment, Wei Cheng felt not tired at all. He smiled and nodded. “Cute. If you’re tired, take a break. We’ll sleep in the safehouse tonight and continue bagging coal tomorrow!”
Before nightfall, they had filled twenty sacks, each weighing a hundred jin.
Wei Cheng looked at the remaining coal and figured that if they got up early tomorrow and continued, another two or three days should be enough to finish bagging the rest.
