Chapter 87
Yi Qi snapped, “I’m responsible for every life on this farm! If you were beyond saving, I’d put a bullet in you myself! But you’re not beyond saving yet!”
Sun Dali’s eyes were bloodshot as he slumped weakly over the table.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Yi Qi swiftly pulled off a belt and tied it tightly around Sun Dali’s left wrist. “The zombie virus attacks the body’s clotting system first. Once someone is bitten, they bleed nonstop, the blood turns black, and they go into shock before mutating. Look—Dali’s tiger’s mouth was bitten, and his thumb and index finger have some minor scrapes, but for now his mental state is normal, the amount of bleeding is normal, and the blood is still an ordinary red. Maybe the hunter who bit him hadn’t fully turned into a zombie yet. He still has a chance!”
Then he began issuing orders in an orderly way. “Xiao Zheng, take some people and move the things out of the ambulance.”
The ambulance they had gotten from Ren’ai Hospital in D District, Yu City, finally came in handy.
“Director Wang and Mingrui, get the generator ready. Chengcheng…” He looked deeply at Wei Cheng. “Bring out all the best medicine we have.”
Wei Cheng understood the meaning in Uncle Yi’s eyes. The odds of saving Uncle Dali were very low.
He nodded gravely. “Alright.”
The uninjured boys helped carry Sun Dali onto the bed.
Seeing Su Min standing there pale and out of her mind, Yi Qi said, “Sister Su Min, stay here. Have Mingming take Xiaoyue and the others away.”
Su Min’s face was deathly white. “Okay… okay… Dali, he really…”
“There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“W-what is it?”
Yi Qi’s expression was pained and helpless. “Dali got lucky. The hunter who bit him hadn’t fully turned into a zombie yet. But right now, the only way to stop the virus from spreading is to cut off one of his hands…”
Su Min froze for a long time. Tears streamed down her face. At last, with her eyes shut tight, she forced out, “Cut it!”
The adults and the older boys bustled around the cabin, while Mingming led his younger brothers and sisters to the foot of the watchtower, with the two dogs trailing after them at varying distances.
Every child on the farm dreamed of being a little scout. This was their favorite place to play. On the high cement steps were little stones and sticks they used as “guns and bullets.”
Wang Xiaotiao handed all his “guns and bullets” to Xiaoyue. “Xiaoyue, these are for you! All of them!”
Mingming signed: That’s right, Xiaoyue, they’re all yours. From today on, you’re the bravest little scout!
Wang Xiaotiao hurriedly echoed, “Yeah, you’re the bravest and strongest scout!”
“I don’t want them. I just want my dad. I want my dad to be okay.” Xiaoyue sat on the steps and burst into tears.
The other children panicked and began fussing around her.
Guanguan wiped his dirty little face and sat down beside Xiaoyue. Waving his hand, he said, “Big sister, Uncle will be okay. He promised Baby he’d stay safe.”
Xiaoyue sniffled. “If… if someone gets bitten by a zombie, can they still be okay?”
“Of course!” Guanguan thumped his chest. “Uncle Sun is amazing, and Uncle Yi is amazing too!”
Mingming crouched down, pulled a tissue from his pocket, and wiped Xiaoyue’s tears away. Then he signed: Uncle Sun is brave and kind. He was born to fight monsters. The world needs people like him. He’ll definitely be okay!
Xiaoyue sniffed and nodded. “Yeah. My dad is a good person. Good people get good rewards. He’ll definitely be alright.”
The little gray pup, who normally disliked people, suddenly tottered over to Xiaoyue, patted her knee with one paw, then flopped onto its back, baring its fluffy belly.
Wang Xiaotiao’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god! Xiaoyue, Gray Cub is comforting you!”
Mingming smiled, took Xiaoyue’s hand, and guided it to the pup.
Xiaoyue’s crying stopped. Tentatively, she reached out and gently touched Gray Cub’s belly. When the pup didn’t dodge, she smiled through her tears. “Thank you, Gray Cub.”
Gray Cub barked lightly, and when Wang Xiaotiao wanted to pet him too, he generously let him touch his soft little belly.
Seeing the chance, Mingming and Guanguan joined in too.
Wang Xiaotiao exclaimed, “Wow, Gray Cub’s tummy is just as nice to touch as Guanguan’s tummy!”
Guanguan lifted his little face proudly. “We’re both very fluffy.”
Like an older brother, Mingming smiled and signed: Guanguan is a human baby, and Gray Cub is a puppy baby. Human babies don’t have furry tummies.
Guanguan hugged his protruding little belly and sighed. “Then is Baby’s a meaty tummy?”
Xiaoyue burst into laughter.
“She laughed, she laughed! She finally laughed!” Wang Xiaotiao bounced with excitement.
Seeing that Xiaoyue had smiled, Guanguan tugged over Little Apricot, who had been lying beside him the whole time. “Big sister, do you want to pet Little Apricot’s tummy too?”
The half-human-height black dog let out a soft bark and gently licked Guanguan’s hand.
As if to say he was very gentle.
Aside from the Wei brothers and Uncle Shen and Uncle Yi, no one on the farm dared go near the big black dog. Xiaoyue swallowed nervously and scratched Gray Cub’s ear instead. “I’ll just pet the little puppy.”
Then, timidly, she added to the big black dog, “Thank you.”
Guanguan didn’t understand how frightening a half-human-tall black wolfdog looked to outsiders. Grabbing Little Apricot by the tip of his ear, he cheerfully promoted him. “Look! Don’t Little Apricot’s ears look just like crispy corn cones!”
Wang Xiaotiao, being an incurable glutton, immediately said, “Now I want crispy corn cones! Xiaoyue, Brother Mingming, do you want some too?”
Mingming smiled and shook his head, but as soon as Xiaoyue heard it, she started crying again. “My dad… my dad always used crispy corn cones to cheer me up. Dad…”
“Don’t cry, don’t cry! Guanguan has something fun!” Guanguan sprang up from the grass. “Wait right here!”
As soon as Guanguan ran off, Gray Cub and Little Apricot trotted after him.
Wei Cheng had already taken out every medicine he could that could stop bleeding, ease pain, or had any real value. The rest depended on Uncle Dali’s luck.
He had just been thinking of going to check on Guanguan when he saw the child running toward him with the two dogs.
Both dogs had their tongues hanging out, and Guanguan was sticking his tongue out too.
Wei Cheng laughed. “Are you a puppy baby? Why are you copying the dogs and sticking your tongue out?”
“I’m a little Guanguan baby!” Guanguan panted and giggled. “Baby wants to share little toys with the little friends!”
Patting his head, Wei Cheng said, “Alright, but wash your face first.”
He took Guanguan back to the cabin, washed his face, and used a towel to wipe the dirt out from the creases of his little chubby fingers.
“Brother.”
“Mm.” Wei Cheng touched his fingernails, thinking he should trim them later. Then he looked up. “What is it?”
When he saw that Guanguan was pursing his lips with red eyes, he panicked a little. “Were you scared? Why are you about to cry again?”
Guanguan’s tears dropped at once. He squeezed into his brother’s arms and buried his face in his chest, sobbing, “Brother, don’t… don’t let the monsters bite you…”
Only after seeing Xiaoyue cry did the little child finally understand the cost of being bitten by a monster.
He didn’t want Xiaoyue to lose her father, and he didn’t want to lose his brother either.
Wei Cheng set down the towel and patted his back. “What happened last night and today scared Guanguan too, right?”
Guanguan sniffled softly. “Scared… monsters mustn’t bite brother.”
Wei Cheng said solemnly, “Even if it’s only for your sake, I’ll protect myself. Brother still wants to see what Guanguan looks like when he grows to one meter eighty-eight.”
The child hadn’t heard clearly. He raised his flushed little face. “How many corns is Baby now?”
Holding back a laugh, Wei Cheng said, “One corn.” In truth, he wasn’t even a meter yet. Guanguan had grown a little recently and was now ninety-two centimeters.
Guanguan blinked his wet eyes. “How long until I grow that many corns?”
Wei Cheng wiped his little red nose with the towel and smiled. “More than ten years. You’re only four right now. By the time you’re eighteen, you’ll probably be around one meter eighty. Anyway, Brother will stay with Guanguan for a very, very long time.”
Two tiny tear bubbles formed as Guanguan smiled. “Brother, when Guanguan grows taller, Guanguan will count corns with you too!”
Wei Cheng hooked a finger against his chubby cheek. “Silly little Guanguan. If you grow taller, Brother will grow taller too.”
Guanguan tucked his neck in and giggled. “Then whose corn will grow more?”
Carrying him outside, Wei Cheng said with a smile, “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait ten years to find out.”
Every time Guanguan cried, he became especially clingy afterward. Wei Cheng was already used to it, so he simply carried him over to the area outside the core zone.
Shen Zheng and Ying Hui were there with Ge Fei and Xiao Zhu, the boys who hadn’t been hurt, dealing with and transporting the corpses inside and outside the farm.
As soon as Shen Zheng saw Wei Cheng and Guanguan coming, he said to Ying Hui, “In a bit we’ll clear the supplies out of the truck and use it to haul the bodies.”
The others all nodded. “Okay, Brother Shen.”
“Been crying?” Shen Zheng took one look at the redness around Guanguan’s eyes. The child was so pale that any crying showed immediately.
Guanguan held tightly to his brother’s hand and admitted, “Baby cried.”
Shen Zheng chuckled. “That’s fine. It’s normal for little kids to cry.”
Guanguan shook his fist. “When Guanguan grows into a big corn, I won’t cry anymore!”
Shen Zheng burst out laughing. “Alright. I’ll remember that.”
A crybaby was still a crybaby. He’d just grow into a bigger crybaby later.
Shen Zheng pulled out a key and unlocked the truck’s cargo compartment. The boys stretched their necks to look inside. Besides rice, flour, and some canned food, there were also several children’s toy cars.
“Whoa, a 911!”
Guanguan pointed and said, “The red car is Guanguan’s!”
Ying Hui focused and stared. “Holy crap! A Ferrari!”
With a few quick movements, Shen Zheng climbed into the back and laughed. “We found these children’s electric toy cars in a mall. Nobody wanted them, so we brought them back for the kids.”
There were four of them, all in bright colors.
Guanguan had originally been looking for stuffed toys, but the moment he saw the little cars, he forgot all about that. He was extremely familiar with his little red car. He often drove it around in the Cloud Mall, usually stuffing it full of snacks and toys as he played.
“Brother, where’s Guanguan’s backpack?”
Wei Cheng opened the driver’s side door and handed over the round little yellow duck backpack. “Here.”
Standing on tiptoe, Guanguan took it and very naturally put it on the passenger seat. Once he climbed in, he expertly started up the toy car. With a powerful little “vroom,” it shot off into the distance.
Laughing, Shen Zheng shouted after him, “Where are you going, Guanguan? Are you coming back for dinner?”
“Going to pick up Brother Mingming and them!” Gray Cub and Little Apricot also ran after the little car.
Wei Cheng wasn’t worried in the least. He knew Guanguan handled the toy car very smoothly.
“Look at that. No wonder he’s the most noble little Ferrari kid.” Shen Zheng laughed, then opened another black bag and handed several cans of Red Bull and some potato chips to Ying Hui and the others. “Take a break. You’ve been working all morning.”
The boys took them with grins. “Thanks, Brother Shen.”
Glancing at Ying Hui, Wei Cheng asked the question he had been turning over in his mind. “Tell me again what happened yesterday. And what’s this ‘Son of God’ supposed to mean?”
“I’ve got the recorder right here!” Ge Fei pulled out a small square recorder from his pocket.
Wei Cheng listened to it twice. The more he listened, the darker his expression became.
The Son of God.
That phrase was far too specific.
He had once been raised by a professor couple who believed in Christianity. Even when they were almost starving to death, they had always held a Bible in their hands.
The number twelve appeared over and over in the Bible. The Old Testament also said that Jacob, ancestor of the Jewish people, had twelve sons…
Were these people trying to gather twelve children for some sort of sacrifice, or were they truly searching for some “Son of God”?
Whatever their purpose was, if anyone dared set their sights on Guanguan, Wei Cheng would never just sit and wait for it.
He tossed the recorder into the pile of corpses. “Brother Ying Hui, describe the church’s location to me carefully. I’m going to that church myself tonight.”
“By yourself?” Ying Hui was alarmed and immediately waved his hands. “Chengcheng, I’m not scared, I just mean there’s no way you can handle those foreign devils alone. There are three hundred followers in that church, plus a bunch of fanatics. The people who attacked the farm this time weren’t even from the church. I think they were hired hunters.”
Wei Cheng only said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to smash an egg against a rock.”
Shen Zheng frowned. “Chengcheng, I’m going with you!”
Wei Cheng shook his head. “Uncle Shen, stay here and take care of Guanguan.”
Shen Zheng froze. If the farm was attacked again, there had to be an adult left behind to get Guanguan into the safe house.
At that moment, Mingming and Xiaotiao came running over, holding Xiaoyue’s hand.
Guanguan had somehow dug out a tiny pair of sunglasses and was wearing them on his face. A black puppy and a gray puppy with matching shades were sitting in the back seat.
He slapped the buttons twice with his little hand and made honking noises with his mouth. “Beep beep beep! The Full-Belly Farm convoy is heading out!” For safety reasons, Wei Cheng had already removed the actual horn from the little car.
Seeing this, Shen Zheng and Ying Hui helped unload the remaining three toy cars. Mingming and Xiaotiao were beside themselves with excitement, while Xiaoyue studied the little cars curiously with red eyes.
“Ladies first,” Shen Zheng said. “Let little Miss Xiaoyue choose first. Any objections from the two handsome gentlemen?”
“No objections!”
Xiaoyue pressed her lips together and lightly tapped a gray-pink little car.
The remaining silver and sapphire blue cars happened to be the favorite colors of Mingming and Xiaotiao.
They were all such sensible children.
Mingming and Xiaotiao quickly climbed into their cars. Wei Cheng helped Xiaoyue up into hers and said softly, “When my parents died, I was very young too—so young that I didn’t even cry when they were gone. Xiaoyue, you’re just a child. There’s nothing you can change. The only thing you can do is relax. No matter what happens with your dad, the happier you are, the more at ease he’ll be. Alright?”
Xiaoyue nodded with red eyes. “I understand, Brother Chengcheng.”
“Good. Now go play.” With a gentle push from Wei Cheng, the gray-pink toy car shot off.
They said they were cheering Xiaoyue up, but the one having the most fun was clearly the smug little Guanguan in his sunglasses.
Across the lush green farm spread the carefree laughter of children.
After that, since they were short on manpower, the heavy generator stayed in the truck for the time being. The rest of the supplies were divided between Wei Cheng’s and Shen Zheng’s cabins.
They had both stayed up far too late the night before, and after playing only a little, Guanguan came back sleepy and asking to nap. Since Wei Cheng was also going out that evening, he washed Guanguan up and took him to bed for a nap together.
Bare-bottomed Guanguan rolled across the bed. “Brother, Baby is going to sleep!”
Wei Cheng tossed the dirty clothes into the hamper and nodded. “Go ahead.”
Guanguan fell asleep in one second flat.
As if on cue, the system notification arrived.
[Congratulations! This month, you successfully took the Little Master and contracted companions out once to search for supplies! You made an excellent haul—one 500-kilowatt generator! The higher the value of the supplies you find, the bigger the reward! Reward: 1200 Twist Coins!]
[Twist Coin Balance: 22,830]
[Safe House Stockpile: 668]
[Twisty Car Transformation Level: Intermediate Form 668 (Ten-person escape unlocks at Intermediate Form 2000)]
A single generator had been worth a full thousand coins?
That was actually pretty good.
The safe house stockpile level matched the number of days the Cozy Cabin could be occupied continuously. That meant they could stay inside for about twenty-seven straight days.
Before leaving the farm, he would tell Uncle Shen to keep Guanguan inside the safe house until he returned.
He flipped through the firearms section again and thought about how nice it would be if it upgraded enough to include grenades and smoke bombs.
But no matter how long he waited, the system issued no new task. Clearly, this last supply run still hadn’t impressed it enough.
Only when the system was satisfied did it hand out new missions.
Once he dealt with these foreign devils, he would find a way to take Guanguan farther afield.
By the time evening had darkened, Wei Cheng woke up and packed the guns and ammunition he would need.
He had just learned that Uncle Sun Dali’s condition had stabilized. The wound where his left hand had been removed had neither blackened nor continued bleeding. Right now he was only unconscious and feverish, which eased the hearts of everyone on the farm.
For the safety of the others, however, they had no choice but to place him temporarily outside the core zone.
Guanguan stood up on the bed with his hair sticking out everywhere and rubbed his eyes. “Brother, where are you going?”
Wei Cheng said, “Brother has to go out tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Stay obediently in the safe house, alright?”
Guanguan stomped his little feet in alarm. “You’re not taking your Guanguan?”
Wei Cheng hesitated. “There are too many wounded on the farm. Uncle Yi and Uncle Shen have to stay behind. And there are a lot of people at the church. I’m afraid…”
At that very moment, a chime sounded in both their ears.
[Congratulations! Special Mission Unlocked!]
[Lead the Little Master to explore Heping Great Church in Linshui City and rescue the eleven children trapped inside. Successful completion will reward 12,000 Twist Coins!]
[Reminder: The enemy outnumbers you. Proceed carefully. If necessary, you may form an alliance with another force!]
[Successfully completing the mission will unlock 60% of the Firearms Zone!]
“Yay! The little kids want Guanguan to go!” Guanguan, stark naked, pumped his tiny fist in the air. “Guanguan is going to beat that bad Yang Guizhi until she cries!”
Yang Guizhi?
Foreign devils! When had this child started eavesdropping on adult conversations again?
