Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH44

Chapter 44

The two children moved through the thousands-strong zombie horde and the panicked, fleeing survivors.

Guanguan saw the auntie who ladled food in the cafeteria being hoisted high overhead by several howling zombies.

He also saw the older boy who had always sliced potatoes the fastest staring in despair as a group of zombies gnawed into his abdomen.

And there was the little chubby boy who had played with him during the day—his round little head had a huge hole in it, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his young face pale and withered. Like a rag doll with its stuffing leaking out, he was snatched up and flung around as zombies fought over him…

The chubby little boy would never get the cotton candy his dad promised to bring back.

Splattered blood dotted Guanguan’s helmet visor. His little nose filled with that awful sour smell, and his curved lashes could not stop this bitter little rain.

Very quickly, Guanguan’s narrow field of vision turned blurry. Every few steps, his heavy little feet would step on slick, broken “obstacles.” Thankfully, big brother’s hand held tightly to his arm the whole time.

Big brother said he must not make any sound.

He did not want big brother to be bitten by monsters. He did not want to be a bad child.

Tears slid into Guanguan’s collar. He pressed his lips together tightly and did not dare let out even the smallest sound.

Just as Wei Cheng had expected, the closer they got to the mountain road, the fewer zombies there were. The two children walked slowly and with great difficulty, and ahead of them was the shelter gate.

The wire fence along the road had already collapsed. On both sides stretched the broad forest.

As long as they entered the forest, they would be completely safe.

This seemed to be the longest stretch of road the brothers had ever walked since the apocalypse began.

Ten steps, eight steps, closer and closer, closer and closer…

Only three steps left!

A few zombies in the grass were busy feeding on the scattered corpses of the guards. Wei Cheng scooped Guanguan up in one motion and quickened his pace toward the gate.

Suddenly, a large hand gripped his calf in a death hold.

Wei Cheng stumbled and nearly dropped Guanguan from his arms.

It was a guard who had already turned into a zombie, with only half his body left.

Its strength was enormous. Wei Cheng struggled several times but could not break free. In his arms, Guanguan saw what was happening and started trembling soundlessly like a terrified little kitten.

Just as the zombie spread its blood-filled jaws to bite Wei Cheng’s ankle, the pistol hidden in his sleeve slipped into his palm. He pulled the trigger immediately—one shot, head blown apart.

Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.

The huge gunshot made all the zombies that had been feeding rise at once. Their mouths were full of blood and shredded flesh as they staggered toward Wei Cheng and Guanguan.

Wei Cheng lowered his voice. “Guanguan, close your eyes and hold onto big brother.”

Guanguan’s tiny arms wrapped tightly around his brother’s neck.

Backing away, Wei Cheng fired as he moved. Several zombies dropped almost immediately.

The last zombie seemed to have developed some intelligence. Instead of lunging for him, it threw itself toward Guanguan in his arms. Luckily, one of Wei Cheng’s feet had already stepped through the gate. Gritting his teeth, he slammed half the stone gate shut with all his might. The zombie was hurled far away, and at the turn in the road, another swarm of zombies was already charging toward them.

The mountain road was full of blood and severed limbs, but no zombies were in sight.

Holding Guanguan tightly, Wei Cheng stepped over the twisted, mangled wire fence and sprinted desperately toward the forest beyond the grass.

The instant they entered the dark woods, the Highland Shelter map completely failed.

Guanguan’s little face was taut. With trembling hands, he switched on the flashlight hanging from his neck and shone it for his brother.

Run! Run! They had to reach a place with no people before they could activate the little car!

No one knew how much time passed before the taste of iron spread through Wei Cheng’s mouth, while the weak flashlight beam swept over a dense, shadowy forest.

“Come on, Guanguan, get down.”

Wei Cheng quickly stripped off the outer raincoats that were smeared with rotting flesh, wrapped up the bloodied flashlight, their shoes, gloves, and helmet together, and burned them all. Luckily, both of them had been wearing two layers of protective rain gear, so neither their down jackets nor their skin had been touched by any zombie blood.

He immediately summoned the little car, activated invisibility and every protective function, and took Guanguan inside with him.

Even though they had already entered the safest space in the world, both were still shaken. In their ears, it felt as though the survivors’ screams and sobs, and the excited cries of the zombie horde, were still ringing.

“Big brother, big brother.” Guanguan quickly crawled into his brother’s arms, wiping at his swollen red eyes with the backs of his hands. Choking on sobs, he asked, “Can Guanguan… cry for a little while? If I cry… am I still… still a good child?”

Wei Cheng’s heart ached so badly he pulled him into a tight embrace. “You can cry, you can cry. Crying still makes you a good child. Guanguan is a good child. Guanguan was very brave already.”

“Pangpang… Pangpang got bitten to death by the monsters.”

Guanguan burst into loud sobs, flailing his little hands as he tried to explain. “Pangpang’s head was bleeding. He wanted… wanted to eat cotton candy. Did Pangpang’s daddy come back? Teacher Lanlan, she… teacher, she was dragged away by monsters. The food auntie, the uncle…”

Guanguan was only three years old. His world was so small that seeing anyone he had met even once die was enough to make him devastated and shattered.

People in the apocalypse survived one day at a time, uncertain if they would live to tomorrow.

Being able to see the next sunrise already seemed like a kindness from fate.

“Guanguan, cry. Cry out loud.”

Patting the child’s small back, Wei Cheng said softly, “Guanguan, you’re still little. When you grow up, you’ll understand that in the apocalypse, life and death partings are as common as ordinary daily meals used to be before the apocalypse. But you still have big brother, and big brother will never leave you again.”

The little head on his shoulder nodded.

Then Wei Cheng said, “When you finish crying and wipe away your tears, we still have to keep living. We still have to find Uncle Shen and Uncle Yi and tell them not to return to the shelter.”

The shelter was now a living hell.

Those two uncles were upright and kindhearted men. If they returned and saw such a miserable scene, they would definitely risk their lives to go back inside the shelter looking for him and Guanguan.

Wei Cheng might have a cold heart and cold blood, but he still did not want to see good people die because of them. Especially since he kept almost no guard up around those two.

After a while, little Guanguan wiped away his tears and climbed back into his own seat, hiccuping from crying. “Bi-big brother, Guanguan is done crying. I kind of want some water.”

Wei Cheng quickly pulled out his small backpack from the safe house and opened the dog-shaped water bottle. “Here, drink some. Don’t choke.”

Guanguan gulped down several big mouthfuls. His lashes were wet, and a few tears still clung to his chubby cheeks.

“Do you want me to let Little Apricot out to stay with you?”

Guanguan shook his head. “If Guanguan is sad, then big brother is sad. I don’t want Little Apricot to be sad too.”

“Big brother and Little Apricot both love Guanguan, so of course we’ll be sad when you’re sad. If big brother and Little Apricot were unhappy, wouldn’t Guanguan feel the same way? Big brother just looked at the safe house monitor—Little Apricot wasn’t sleeping either. He seemed really worried about us. Should we let him out?”

Guanguan thought for a moment. “Let baby Little Apricot out!”

The next second, a little black, upright-eared puppy appeared on Guanguan’s lap.

The little black dog whimpered and fussed, its round puppy eyes moving up and down over big brother and Guanguan, sniffing all over them as if checking whether they were hurt.

“Xing’er, little Xing’er, Guanguan and big brother aren’t hurt.”

Guanguan opened his little backpack, wanting to get out the dog’s toy, but instead he saw the box of white chocolate candies. In a tiny voice, he murmured, “Sister Qingqing, Brother Xiaohai, Pangpang… still hadn’t eaten them.”

He tilted up his head, his eyes full of tears. “Big brother, why didn’t Leader Uncle open the gate?”

As he started the little car, Wei Cheng said, “There were too many survivors. They were afraid there might be infected people among them, so they definitely wouldn’t open it.”

As for why no rescue ever came, that was also very suspicious.

If one lip died, the teeth would feel the cold—surely the big leader of Highland Shelter understood that.

Hadn’t they taken in so many people precisely to keep supplies flowing and maintain the lifestyle of the rich?

Could something have gone wrong inside Highland Shelter itself?

No matter what, after living there safely for a month, Wei Cheng had made up his mind. From now on, he would not bring Guanguan into any base again.

First, he had to find Shen Zheng and Yi Qi.

Destination — Ren’ai Hospital, District D, Yu City
Distance: 109.2 kilometers
Current population: ? (function not yet unlocked)
Number of zombies: ? (function not yet unlocked)
Danger level: Extremely High S+

The moment they confirmed the destination, the system popped out several new tasks.

[Mission Section]

[Daily Tasks]
(Chinese characters) (Math) (Physical exercise)

[Basic Tasks]
(1) Please find two contract companions. When a companion’s loyalty reaches 80%, a contract may be signed.

(Contract Companion: means someone who signs a secret-sharing contract with the little house owner regarding the wiggle car safe house. They may ride in the wiggle car, but may not reside in the safe house, may not use the system panel, and may not enter the Cloud Mall to shop. Once a contract is signed, the little house owner may not abandon the companion, otherwise 20,000 Twisty Coins will be deducted. Likewise, the companion may never reveal the secret of the wiggle car for life. If they do, the memories of both the informed party and the companion will be erased, and the companion will receive an extreme increase in bad luck.)

(2) Find the best possible shelter. Please establish your very first base![Successful completion earns 10,000 Twisty Coins!]

As the wiggle car sped through the forest, Wei Cheng fell silent at the first two tasks.

First—did Guanguan still need to keep losing weight?

Second—how were they supposed to know someone’s loyalty level?

“Big brother!” Guanguan’s rabbit-red eyes widened. His little hand pointed at the top of his brother’s head. “Why is there a big thumb on your head, two duck eggs, and some little water drops!”

Wei Cheng paused slightly. So the moment this task appeared, Guanguan could see everyone’s loyalty score too?

What a strange system.

His own loyalty was 100%, but contract companions only needed 80%?

Then again, the system had never harmed Guanguan. In the chaos of the apocalypse, perhaps 80% loyalty was already a very good standard.

These two basic tasks were highly directional.

There was nothing wrong with Shen Zheng’s and Yi Qi’s character. But would they really have 80% loyalty toward Guanguan?

Better wait until they met them, then take things slowly and build the relationship. Their loyalty should rise soon enough.

Wei Cheng did not keep the invisibility function running continuously. To be safe, he needed to save the remaining duration for when they entered the city proper.

The little car flew forward at terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, it shot onto the desolate mountain road, and after another thirty-odd minutes, the car jolted slightly as it entered the highway.

Ahead, a group of zombies was wandering aimlessly.

Wei Cheng decisively turned on invisibility and rushed straight through them.

Several gaunt zombies were instantly shredded to pieces by the Defense function.

Once they entered the city, tall buildings towered everywhere. There was no longer any trace of its former dazzling prosperity. The roads were packed with abandoned cars and shambling zombies.

The wiggle car brushed right past the zombies’ bodies. They could sense the fierce gust of impact, and they reached out wildly with clawing hands—but caught nothing. That only made them even more enraged.

In less than an hour, the car slowed to a stop near the hospital.

Wei Cheng had been studying the map of the surrounding buildings the entire way.

They needed to find a suitable place to park.

His gaze settled on a row of pharmacies and restaurants across the long street from the hospital.

Among them, a pharmacy at the corner had its glass doors standing fully open, and the inside could be seen clearly.

No humans, no zombies.

Wei Cheng decisively turned the steering wheel and drove the little car into the dark, empty pharmacy.

The instant the car’s invisibility expired, Wei Cheng took the sleeping Guanguan and the little black dog into the safe house, without making the slightest sound.

Wei Cheng had been raised by his grandmother, in the old-fashioned way. He always remembered her saying that after crying, a child should not fall asleep immediately—especially not after a bout of grief-stricken sobbing.

So the entire way here, he kept talking to Guanguan as much as possible. It was only after they entered the city center, when he saw the child nodding off helplessly from exhaustion, that he estimated enough time had passed and finally stopped disturbing him.

Wei Cheng took off Guanguan’s little clothes and used a warm wet towel to wipe the dirt from the creases of his plump little arms.

Today had been full of fleeing for their lives and bitter crying. The child had sweated far too much.

Guanguan slept like a little angel, one arm raised in surrender, not waking in the slightest.

After simply wiping him down a bit, Wei Cheng tucked the chubby child into the warm blanket.

Tonight, this would have to do. Tomorrow he could change the sheets and bedding properly.

In the dead of night, even the slightest noise could stir up a zombie horde. Even if Uncle Shen and the others had gathered a great amount of medicine, they would never choose to return at such an hour.

Wei Cheng pulled open the curtain and used a flashlight to observe the situation outside.

The entire pharmacy had been looted clean. Behind the counter sat a shriveled zombie in a white coat, with a dark bullet hole in its forehead.

On the streets outside, tens of thousands of zombies wandered aimlessly.

In such circumstances, finding Uncle Shen and Yi Qi would not be easy.

Tonight, they could only rest and recover. Tomorrow morning, he would figure it out.

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