Chapter 28
“H-how are there so many zombies on this street?!”
The lackeys Brother Wang had sent over were so shocked by the sight in front of them that they could barely speak properly.
The narrow street was piled with hundreds of corpses, sprawled every which way, layered on top of each other. There was not even a place for them to step. No wonder the remaining zombies had been forced back toward the bus station.
Were the people who killed all these zombies ordinary survivors, or government cleanup forces?
Yesterday, the radio had started transmitting on and off. The general message was that a group of cleanup forces would be setting up major safe bases all across the country. They would protect survivors and punish major violent offenders. But the local gang that had made itself king of Changde Town had killed countless zombies and quite a few living people too, all for the sake of supplies and weapons. Guilty as they were, how could they not panic?
A few men clenched weakly glowing flashlights between their teeth and used sharp knives to gouge at the fatal wounds in the zombies’ foreheads. After a great deal of effort, they finally fished out a cold little pellet from the foul, pus-filled, bloody sludge all over the ground.
“Brother Li, look…”
Brother Li glanced at the thing in the lackey’s hand and cursed through a pinched nose, “Damn, steel pellets?”
The moment he saw that it was not a bullet, Brother Li instantly understood. What kind of weapon using lousy steel pellets could possibly compare to the terrifying power of a sniper rifle? So these people were definitely not fully armed cleanup forces, but some ragtag group that had come from who-knew-where!
Still hiding in the car, he barked orders: “You guys go to the grain and oil shop ahead. You guys go ambush the alley.”
About ten minutes later, one of the lackeys ran back excitedly. “Brother Li, the bodies stop around the grain and oil shop. Those people must be hiding in the buildings around it!”
The moment he heard that, Brother Li immediately cocked his pistol and got out of the car. “Move!”
Once the world fell apart, bandits called themselves “heroes.” Every one of them wanted to gain face and earn merit in front of Brother Wang. One by one, they endured the overpowering stink of corpses and hurried along the wall toward the grain and oil shop.
The moment they pushed open the building entrance next to the grain and oil shop, every one of them looked delighted.
“Go, upstairs!”
But after climbing from the first floor to the third, they did not find the slightest trace of any living person.
“Brother Li! How can there be no one here?”
A little while later, the group searching the building across from it also returned. “There’s no one over there either! But we found ten sacks of rice and five sacks of flour!”
“They got away!”
Desperate to earn credit, Brother Li hissed bitterly, “They can’t have gone far. Chase them!”
The group rushed back downstairs. But not long after they stepped out of the building entrance, music suddenly started blasting from somewhere.
It was clearly a cheerful children’s song, but in the pitch-black night full of walking corpses, it sounded especially eerie.
“Who! Who left music playing on their phone? Turn it off!”
“I didn’t bring a phone! Phones are just scrap metal now, who’d carry that junk!”
Brother Li instantly sensed disaster. Grabbing one of his men by the shoulder, he shouted, “Go! Move! Get away from here!”
But it was already too late. The zombies awakened by the music began appearing from not far away like ghosts.
One of the lackeys panicked and fired several shots at the zombies.
The gunshots were even louder than the music. In an instant, dense zombie cries sounded from every direction.
Front, back, left, right—zombies were everywhere. And beneath their feet lay only zombie corpses.
As Brother Li fled in panic, a sudden sharp pain shot through the sole of his foot. He broke out in a cold sweat. Looking down, he saw that a dead zombie’s mouth was still hanging open, and one of its sharp fangs had actually pierced straight through the sole of his shoe.
“Br-Brother Li, what’s wrong?”
Brother Li violently shook his foot, enduring the pain. “Nothing. Cover me with gunfire. I’m going to start the car!”
He had seen with his own eyes what Brother Wang did to one of their men after he was bitten by a zombie. They had not even waited for the man to turn before cutting off his head alive, then smashing the skull to pieces with a hammer!
No! He refused to have his head chopped off! He was going to make something of himself in the apocalypse. He was going to grind everyone who used to look down on him under his feet. He could not die!
Absolutely no one could know he had been bitten by a zombie!
While those men were narrowly escaping death and rushing back to the bathhouse, Guanguan and big brother were already almost back to Sun Village.
Sun Village’s danger level was still listed as “None.”
The moment Wei Cheng saw the flashlight beams, he immediately took Guanguan into the safe house.
Through the window of the cozy little home, he saw several people skulking around near the grain and oil shop, scouting the area. After a while, those people ran off again—presumably going back to report to their boss.
That group definitely would not let things go!
Wei Cheng stayed calm. He did a rough calculation in his head, then picked up one of Guanguan’s Peppa Pig alarm clocks, turned the volume all the way up, set it to go off in fifteen minutes, and finally hid it inside a zombie’s clothing.
During that gap, they activated every function on the little car, including the most important one—invisibility. Even on roads packed with zombies, the wiggle car still moved as smoothly as if it were driving on flat ground.
The moment footsteps closed in, the low, dark wiggle car sped away without making a single sound.
Ten minutes later, the invisibility function expired. They still had twenty minutes left before reaching Sun Village.
Wei Cheng glanced at Guanguan sleeping restlessly in the passenger seat.
The chubby child’s face was pale and round, his little brows tightly knitted, a bluish tinge under his eyes, as though he were having a bad dream.
Grandma had once said that when a little child had a bluish cast under the eyes, it meant they had been frightened.
And if a child’s soul got startled loose somewhere, then that was where it had to be called back.
Wei Cheng’s eyes grew hot. His heart ached terribly. He gently touched Guanguan’s little face and, clumsily imitating Grandma, whispered as though calling back his soul: “Guanguan, Guanguan, come home with big brother…”
After this mission, they would not accept any new ones. Let him and Guanguan simply pass this coming winter cold front in peace.
.
“Guanguan? Are you awake yet?”
The first thing Wei Cheng saw when he came in was a little blanket bundle on the soft, warm bed.
“Guanguan?”
A corner of the blanket lifted, and colorful lights flashed from inside.
It was the educational hand-pat music drum Guanguan had been especially fond of lately. It had a piano mode, a learning mode, a whack-a-mole mode, and a MIDI mode that could teach toddlers early-learning knowledge and cute little songs.
A little baby in a lotus-pink one-piece rabbit pajama crawled out from under the blanket. There was even a fluffy little pom-pom tail on the back.
“Big brother, welcome to Guanguan’s home!”
Wei Cheng noticed that the bluish shadows under Guanguan’s eyes were gone. Quietly, he let out a breath of relief and smiled. “Is Guanguan inviting big brother over as a guest?”
“Yes!”
Guanguan launched himself forward. His little round tummy stuck out like a ball, and his big eyes were round and pretty. “Big brother, did you come empty-handed?”
Wei Cheng picked him up from the bed and carried him toward the bathroom. “Not empty-handed. I prepared rolled omelet and shrimp potstickers for you.”
Guanguan’s eyes curved into crescents, and he covered his mouth with one chubby little hand. “Oh my, big brother, just coming is enough. Why bring things too!”
Wei Cheng laughed hard. “Interesting. Who did you learn that from?”
He set Guanguan down on the little step stool. “Open your mouth. Big brother will brush your teeth.”
Guanguan opened wide, but because of that his words came out a bit slurred. “I leawned it fwom Gwandpa Director!”
Three-year-olds were exactly at the age where they copied whatever they saw.
After brushing Guanguan’s teeth and washing his face, Wei Cheng took out the children’s face cream and rubbed it onto his cheeks. “Close your eyes.”
Guanguan obediently closed them. “Big brother, tomorrow Guanguan wants the sea-turtle-mama kind!”
The so-called “sea-turtle-mama kind” was the face cream with a big sea turtle and little baby turtles printed on the container.
“All right. We’ll use that one tomorrow.”
With his eyes still closed, Guanguan said obediently, “Guanguan dreamed about Grandpa Director and Mingming and Xiaotiao yesterday.”
Wei Cheng softly answered, “Mm. Did you dream about the welfare home?”
“I dreamed about a fire. The fire was really, really big. Then after that I don’t remember.” As he spoke, Guanguan started trying to open his eyes. “Guanguan kind of misses them.”
“They were your good friends. Big brother also hopes we can see them again someday.” Wei Cheng sighed.
He had no idea how those two children with physical and developmental difficulties were doing now.
After finishing the cream, Wei Cheng cleaned up the sink. Guanguan patted his own smooth little cheeks in the mirror and said narcissistically, “Wow, Guanguan got prettier again!”
Then he scratched his little kiwi-like head. “Big brother, when is Guanguan’s hair going to grow long?”
“It should grow back after this winter.”
Wei Cheng hung the clean little towel over the rail and carried the child downstairs. “What’s the matter? Do you want little hair tufts again?”
“Yes!”
Guanguan lifted his little face proudly. “Guanguan also wants to dye this thing yellow!”
How deep was this obsession with becoming a little yellow-haired thug?
Wei Cheng laughed. “All right. Then when we go to the mall, we’ll see if there’s a plant-based hair dye suitable for children.”
He placed Guanguan in the child’s dining chair, then went back into the kitchen to bring out breakfast.
The little black dog came scampering over too and obediently curled into a little black fluff-ball by Guanguan’s feet.
Holding his little spoon and little fork, Guanguan was beside himself with excitement. “Food is coming! Food is coming!”
Breakfast was two plates of shrimp potstickers, four pieces of rolled omelet, and two bowls of steaming hot black-rice porridge.
The potstickers and porridge had been bought from the mall, while the rolled omelet was made by Wei Cheng following a cookbook, with vegetables specially mixed in.
Guanguan devoured one plate of little shrimp dumplings like a whirlwind, eating so happily that he kept swaying his head. “So fragrant, so fragrant!”
Seeing how happily Guanguan was eating made Wei Cheng happy too. “If you like shrimp, then at lunch big brother will make garlic curry shrimp for you.”
After wiping his little mouth, Guanguan declared fiercely, “Okay! Guanguan is going to eat everything!”
After breakfast, Wei Cheng did not hurry to light the stove in the old house. Instead, he and Guanguan pulled up the system panel together.
[Twisty Coin Balance: 12900]
[Safe House Stockpile Amount: 125]
[Wiggle Car Upgrade Level: Intermediate Form 125…]
Guanguan hugged big brother’s arm. “Big brother, do we have lots and lots more money now? We can buy lots and lots of yummy food now!”
Guanguan was still not very good at counting, but he could compare lengths!
Before, there had been four digits. Now there were five digits! And five lollipops definitely meant more flavors than four lollipops!
“Yes, more. A lot more.”
Wei Cheng was extremely excited looking at the balance that had broken past ten thousand.
This time, he absolutely had to extend the amount of time they could live in the cozy little home! That way, he and Guanguan would have the confidence to withstand whatever changes came next!
But there was something even more important right now…
“Guanguan, come on, time to draw a prize!”
The color of the surprise lucky wheel seemed to correspond to the mission difficulty. The harder the mission, the more luxurious and mysterious the wheel became.
A glittering silver lucky wheel appeared in front of them.
Guanguan raised his chubby little finger high. “Big brother, what do you want?”
Looking at the way Guanguan was gearing up, it was like as long as big brother said it, he would definitely draw it!
That was just how confident this lucky little Guanguan was!
Wei Cheng cleared his throat and asked tentatively, “It would be great if the wiggle car’s invisibility duration could increase.”
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