Chapter 70
On the open ground in the core zone stood a row of chairs, with several colorful balloons tied above their backs. The ground was scattered with silver mini crossbow bolts.
Mingming shook out his sore hand. He still wasn’t used to holding even such a small crossbow.
He pressed his lips together and signed to Uncle Yi, looking dejected: I’m sorry, Uncle. I’m too stupid.
Yi Qi patted Mingming on the shoulder. “Don’t say that about yourself. You’re still little. Today’s only your first day learning the mini crossbow. Give it some time and you’ll get it.”
He turned to look at Wang Xiaotiao, who didn’t seem particularly gifted but was bursting with energy. The kid had actually hit several balloons by sheer accident.
It really was true that everyone had their own talents.
Director Wang came over. “Xiaotiao, Mingming, take a break. Look at you two, you’re sweating all over.”
Wang Xiaotiao’s little face was red. “I’m not tired!”
Mingming kept signing, eyes shining: Brother Chengcheng is only one year older than me, but he can use both a mini crossbow and a gun. He’s amazing!
Yi Qi smiled. “Even I, a grown-up, can’t compare to your Brother Chengcheng.”
Just then, a dark black wolfdog shot out of the big wooden cabin behind them.
“Uncle! Uncle!” A small, anxious voice followed right after it.
The moment Yi Qi saw Guanguan run out, he hurried over. “Guanguan! Why did you come out!”
Then he thought of something, his pupils widening, and quickly shut the wooden door behind him.
Now that only the two of them were there, Yi Qi hurriedly asked, “Guanguan, did your brother tell you something? Are they in danger?”
Guanguan frowned, waving the little boxing gloves he had put on in a rush and accidentally put on backward. “Brother said lots of bad guys, lots of monsters are coming to our house!”
Yi Qi froze for a moment. He gripped Guanguan’s little shoulders with both hands. “Where are your brother and Uncle Shen now? When are they coming back?”
Guanguan bumped his little fists together excitedly. “Uncle Shen is driving the vroom-vroom car. Brother said they’re almost home!”
Hearing that the two of them were safe, Yi Qi finally felt half the weight leave his chest. He stood up at once. “Guanguan, Uncle is going to lock the wooden door outside. No matter what noise you hear, you must hide in the safe house and not come out. Your brother has already told you that many, many times, right?”
Thinking of Chengcheng’s instructions before leaving, he added, “Can little soldier baby promise to stay obediently in the safe house?”
The moment Guanguan heard that, his chubby little foot shot out in a practiced kick, and he lifted his peach-like little face solemnly. “Little soldier baby promises to be good!”
Yi Qi touched the soft little cheek and smiled. “Good. What a good little cub.”
He strode out of the cabin, locking it behind him, then turned back to Director Wang and the others and said gravely, “The zombies are back. Shen Zheng and Chengcheng are on the way.”
Director Wang was shocked. He hurriedly pushed Mingming and Wang Xiaotiao into the cabin. “You two don’t come out. Hide under the bed!”
Then he looked toward the other cabin. “Mr. Yi, bring Guanguan out—”
“You can’t put all the eggs in one basket. Chickies too. If the children hide separately, it’s safer,” Yi Qi said.
Director Wang considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Right. Mr. Yi is right.”
The old man grabbed the gun bag from the ground. “I’ll go with you! I can’t climb high, but I can still help you watch the situation.”
Yi Qi did not refuse. “All right. Let’s go.”
Leaving the black wolfdog behind, Yi Qi and Director Wang ran out of the core zone.
The moment they got near the foot of the wall, the stench of rot hit them so hard they nearly vomited.
The outer wall of the farm was piled with last night’s zombie corpses. Now that the temperature had risen, the smell went straight through their skulls.
No matter how capable the black dog was, it couldn’t tell whether new zombies were approaching.
Yi Qi climbed up the ladder briskly and raised the binoculars. Sure enough, he saw shambling zombie figures in the forest not far away.
There were fewer than last night, but with so few people on their side, if those zombies really got tangled up with them, it would still be enough to wreck him.
The distance was too far. With his marksmanship, there was no way he could make a successful shot, and firing would only make the zombies move faster.
Guanguan had also said there were bad guys…
Where would the bad guys be hiding this time?
A thought suddenly struck Yi Qi. Gripping the binoculars tightly, he kept his eyes locked on the zombie horde drawing closer.
One zombie, covered in blood and matted hair, seemed to be lowering its head and speaking to someone.
Since when did zombies talk!
Yi Qi tightened his grip on the binoculars. A human being had smeared himself all over with rotten zombie flesh and blood and was hiding inside the advancing horde!
After a brief pause, he made up his mind.
Just as the zombie horde neared the wall, he fired.
The bullet was slightly off, but it still hit the “speaking zombie” in the shoulder.
A shrill scream tore through the forest.
The surrounding zombies caught the scent of fresh blood. At once, they forgot about the flesh ahead and lunged straight at the fallen man.
In that instant, all the disguised humans exposed themselves in panic.
Yi Qi’s face stayed expressionless. Whether it was a zombie or one of the bad guys’ accomplices, he simply raised his gun and fired.
Some of the zombies pounced on the wounded thug. The ones that didn’t manage to grab any “food” charged toward the source of the gunfire.
Then Yi Qi suddenly heard gunshots beside him. He turned around and saw that Director Wang had somehow climbed halfway up the ladder.
Seeing Yi Qi look over, the old man fired at the zombies below the wall and called out, “Don’t underestimate me! I served a few years when I was young!”
Yi Qi wiped his sweat and laughed. “No wonder you picked up guns and crossbows so fast!”
Even though these zombies had rotted into piles of flesh, the moment they heard sound and smelled blood, they became incredibly strong, moving like ghosts.
One of them—whether it had evolved intelligence or not—actually knew how to step on the corpses of dead zombies and climb upward. While the two men weren’t paying attention, half its body had almost made it over!
Luckily Yi Qi kept an eye on everything. One shot, straight through the zombie’s head.
The zombie happened to tumble into the deep pit inside the wall.
The sound of blades piercing flesh made their teeth ache.
Once one zombie did it, several others began copying it.
Yi Qi noticed that the zombie which had nearly climbed over seemed to be one that had only turned recently, and the other zombies copying it were the same—newly turned members of that villain group.
Zombie mutation was getting faster and faster. And when they first turned, they still retained some of their human intelligence!
Sweat poured off Yi Qi and Director Wang as they kept firing toward the wall.
But they were ordinary people. How could they possibly hit every shot?
Fortunately, they had worked so hard to dig the traps ahead of time and line them with steel spikes.
Quite a few zombies fell into the pit, and some of the ones that managed to get over the wall were split in half by the steel spikes as soon as they came in. Half their bodies writhed on the ground, hissing and howling.
Yi Qi fired twice in quick succession and finished them off.
Just then, gunfire also broke out from the mountaintop.
Yi Qi jolted. Stretching his neck to look outside, he saw the familiar car and shouted joyfully, “A-Zheng! Chengcheng! Director, they made it back safely!”
Director Wang was overjoyed. “Good, good, good! That’s wonderful!”
Even fiercer gunfire answered them.
With more people, there was strength in numbers. Two hours later, a car stopped in front of the ranch’s main gate.
In the back seat, a little girl shrank in her mother’s arms and slowly read the words on the wooden sign hanging outside. “Full-Belly Farm.”
She smiled faintly and looked up at her mother. “Mom, it would be so nice if we could eat till full every day.”
The short-haired woman gently touched her daughter’s hand but said nothing.
In the apocalypse, for someone to eat their fill every day—how much good fortune would they have had to accumulate in a past life?
She didn’t dare hope for it. She didn’t even dare lie to comfort her daughter.
The heavy steel gate slowly opened, and the woman finally saw the endless stretch of grassland inside.
Yi Qi hurried over. “Xiao Zheng! Chengcheng!”
His eyes landed on the driver—who was not Shen Zheng—then shifted to the person in the passenger seat, and he said with certainty, “Xiao Zheng, you’re hurt?”
Wei Cheng replied, “Uncle Shen took a heavy blow to the back.”
Shen Zheng waved a hand. “It’s not that serious. What heavy blow? Someone just hit me once.”
Yi Qi clenched his fists, said nothing, and went forward to help Shen Zheng down. “Chengcheng, I’m taking your Uncle Shen in to check his wound.”
His gaze shifted to Sun Dali’s face, and he recognized him immediately as the former captain from High Ground Shelter.
They had gone on missions together and spent quite a bit of time together. The man was a real tough guy.
“I’ll leave this to you.”
Wei Cheng nodded. “Uncle Yi, take Uncle Shen inside quickly.”
The car drove into the ranch, and the massive gate locked shut again, sealing away all danger and noise.
The family of three got out of the car, tense and wary.
Wei Cheng had just opened his mouth to speak when a loud, crisp “Brother!” interrupted him.
On the lush green grass, a chubby child came running in a way that looked like a little penguin trying to fly.
Guanguan ran with all his might, both little feet moving so fast they almost left afterimages.
A big black dog and a cute little gray pup ran at his sides.
Wei Cheng smiled and quickly strode forward, scooping the child up in one motion. “Don’t run, don’t run. Brother’s back.”
Guanguan pressed his little face against his brother’s. “Brother! Your Guanguan missed you!”
Wei Cheng’s heart softened. Smiling, he said, “Mm. Good boy. Look—do you still recognize this person?”
Sun Dali looked at the plump little child in one piece and, for a moment, was too startled to speak. But he obviously couldn’t say, in front of everyone, It’s great your kid is still alive.
After a long pause, he finally managed just one sentence: “Good. Really good. The chubby little guy’s gotten a whole lot chubbier.”
Guanguan rubbed his cheeks and blinked his watery eyes. “Good-person Uncle Sun, did baby get a whole lot chubbier?”
Sun Dali stared. “You still remember me?”
Guanguan nodded, then ran back and hugged his brother’s neck, whispering, “Brother, did baby get a whole lot chubbier?”
Wei Cheng chuckled. “No. Guanguan used to be a little peach pit. Now he’s a little peach. He only got a tiny bit chubbier.”
Guanguan was satisfied. He patted his chest with a small hand. “Just a little chubby is good.”
Then he gave a grand wave toward the black dog at his feet. “Uncle Sun, this is doggy!”
Sun Dali nodded with a smile. “I remember. The dog’s grown so big already.”
Guanguan waved his little hand boldly again. “This is Guanguan’s home! Uncle can play with the doggy!”
Sun Dali froze and exchanged a glance with his wife.
As for whether they should stay or go—could these two children really make that decision?
Wei Cheng said, “Uncle Sun, meeting again is fate. Even though we saved you, you also helped us kill zombies and save the farm today. How about staying for dinner? I’ll talk to the uncles and ask about the gasoline.”
Desperation never made good business. He did want to keep Sun Dali and his capable wife, but whether they stayed had to come from their own mouths.
“Mom.” The little girl beside the short-haired woman spoke softly. “I’m… kind of hungry.”
Only then did the woman nod. “Then we’ll trouble you.”
She proactively handed back the two pistols to Wei Cheng. “These are yours.”
Wei Cheng gave her an extra glance as he took them. “Aunt Su, Uncle Sun, please come with me.”
Because Guanguan had stopped to chase after the little gray puppy, he fell a few steps behind, which left him walking side by side with the thin little girl.
The girl saw the cute little boy staring at her with big eyes, and fondness welled up in her heart.
She thought his hair looked just like the little lambs at Grandpa’s house.
Remembering what her father liked to call little children, she asked very softly, “Baby, are you called Wei Chubby Cub?”
Author’s Note:
Guanguan scratches his cheek: All right, I guess.
