Chapter 204: Tracking!
Yue Zhong saw that White Bones had finished its evolution and proceeded to pack up his belongings. He made use of White Bones to form a Bone Ladder to climb up the cliff wall, intending to backtrack his way to where he had initially met the Mutant Boar.
The Mutant Boar had been knocking down trees along the way of its rampage, forming a path like a guiding light that led Yue Zhong and White Bones forward.
However, just after entering the forest for about 100 metres, Yue Zhong was faced with two very difficult choices. In front of him, there were 3 routes that were obviously created by the rampages of giant beasts. He had no way of determining which was the actual way back.
If he took the wrong path, he might very well end up in a monster’s lair and become a snack for it. Yue Zhong had no confidence that he could lure another beast to the cliff.
After pondering for a while, Yue Zhong decided to turn back and went back down the cliff, following the creek and swimming along it.There were too many people in China; as long there was a water body, save for mountains or forests, people would gather. Yue Zhong could only pray that he would come across other humans as he swam along.
In these unknown mountains, there would be shrill sounds of beasts lamenting from time to time. The sounds of battle between the Mutant Beasts would also ring out regularly. Yue Zhong came across a Level 46 Mutant Flamingo with fiery red feathers and a wingspan of almost 50m fighting crazily with a flock of Level 36 Mutant Green Eagles with wingspans of only 20m.
When Yue Zhong saw those Mutant Beasts fighting, he immediately ran off quietly without daring to stay in the slightest.
Other than those, there would be numerous birds startled into flying from time to time or beasts rampaging about, obviously from the presence of a dangerous giant beast inside the forest.
Yue Zhong would often feel the impending danger and each time he would activate the Encompassing Body Armor, encasing him completely and blocking off his scent, before hurriedly escaping forward.
Near a small brook, 6 men with tattered clothes holding fish nets and harpoons were lying prone on the ground, keeping a fixed gaze on the small brook.
In that small brook, there was an abundant source of fish. As long as they threw the net, they would be able to pull up enough for a meal, and if their luck was good and the haul was immense, they could even feed themselves for 2 weeks.
“Old Secretary! Can I not go? I’m pleading you! That thing will eat me!” One of the younger men, who was injured, held his harpoon and knelt in front of the middle aged man, kowtowing profusely and crying out.
In this small brook, while there was a large abundance of fish, it also concealed the existence of a terrifying man-eating mutant beast. Many who came with the intention of monopolizing this brook had died in the stomach of it.
These 6 people were survivors from the nearby Tooth Village. Roughly a month ago, they had 32 companions, but now the numbers have dwindled down to just the 6 of them.
These villagers wanted to fish at the brook, so they had no choice but to let one be a bait, luring the mutant beast out or to eat its fill. When the beast was in the middle of its meal, the rest would then be successful in fishing on the other side.
The middle-aged man was tanned and looked like a farmer. His face sank and he said, “Blackie! What did we agree on? Whoever drew the short stick would be the bait, wasn’t it? When others drew their lot, you ate the fish with gusto. Now that you’ve drawn the lot, you want to go back on your word?”
The other 4 villagers eyed Blackie, their harpoons ready at a moment’s notice. If he resisted, they would kill him first and set his corpse as a bait.
Blackie’s face turned pale and he knew that he would be killed if he refused, hence he gritted his teeth and said, “Secretary, I will go. My kid and wife at home, I leave in your hands, please.”
The old secretary said heavily, “Rest assured, as long as I have the energy, I will not let them go hungry.”
“Secretary!! There’s somebody! Somebody is coming from there!” All of a sudden, one of the villagers ran over to the old secretary, pointing towards the front.
The old secretary looked towards the direction which the villager pointed towards, only to see Yue Zhong and White Bones walking along the river towards them. “He really is not afraid of death!” Looking at the calm Yue Zhong sauntering towards them, they all had the same thoughts.
The 6 of these survivors immediately got down onto the ground, quietly observing Yue Zhong. None of them had the intention of warning him of the danger in the brook.
If the Mutant Beast could eat its fill, those lying in wait would not have to sacrifice any of their members.
Yue Zhong had come very close to the brook when suddenly, his sense of danger went off and he retreated as quickly as an arrow towards land. White Bones also mimicked Yue Zhong’s actions.
At that moment, the water flow from the brook exploded towards the skies and a huge Mutant Water Snake over 20m long rushed from within, its appearance as though that of a dragon. It opened its mouth wide to attack Yue Zhong.
Yue Zhong took one look at the Mutant Water Snake and the Dark Magic Sword appeared in his hands. With the explosion of his speed that was 7 times that of a normal person (TN: SERIOUSLY HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS FACT HAHAHA), he dodged towards the right just as the Mutant Water Snake bit down at the position where he was just an instant ago.
(Note from divinecelestialbeinglol: that TN was just Kun raging, I think I have to send him off on an anger management course…)
In the next moment, Yue Zhong grabbed his Dark Magic Sword and like an arrow, he made his way to the head of the Mutant Water Snake, viciously striking at the area about 7 inches from its head, beheading it and causing an endless amount of blood to flow.
The Mutant Water Snake struggled for quite a while after receiving the blow with snake blood splattering everywhere, before it fell lifelessly on the ground. White Bones stepped up and grabbed the dead body, pulling it out from the water.
Yue Zhong immediately went to work and started cutting up its head, retrieving the blood essence hidden deep in its skull.
“How powerful!!” The 6 villagers saw how easy it was for Yue Zhong to dispose of the Mutant Water Snake and all drew a cold breath. They had experienced the terror of the Mutant Water Snake themselves- even harpoons could not pierce its skin, which was why they had no choice but to make use of the baiting method to fish.
One of the villagers eyed the Dark Magic Sword in Yue Zhong’s hands and a hint of unease flashed in his eyes. Yue Zhong turned his attention towards the location of the 6 villagers and called out coldly, “Have you seen enough? Get out of here this instant!”
Upon hearing Yue Zhong’s words, all 5 of them looked towards the old secretary for instructions. The old secretary hesitated a while before saying heavily, “Let’s go!”
After the events of Z-Day, humans became scarier. However, the old secretary saw that while Yue Zhong exuded a terrifying aura, he would not hold a grudge against others for the sake of food. That was why he dared to bring them over.
Just when they reached in front of Yue Zhong, he immediately shot off questions, “Who are you people? What is this place?”
“This younger brother…” The old secretary looked at Yue Zhong, before continuing and narrated their history and the events.
The old secretary’s name was Ma Zhengming and he was the secretary of the Tooth Village. There was also Blackie, whose real name was Liu Er Hei (TN: Hei is Black in chinese, so they called him Hei Zi, or Blackie) and the other four who were called Cai Wen, Liu Qing, Zhang Er and He Guang.
Tooth Village was once one of SY County’s many villages and was mainly in charge of fishing, hunting and farming for its survival. After the events of Z-Day, due to the villagers being exposed to constant physical labor, their fighting strength was not weak and so they disposed of many of those zombies. Nearly half the village actually survived. However, in the following month, their rations were wiped clean. They had no choice but to re-embark on their hunting and fishing practices.
Within the mountains themselves, many huge Mutant Beasts had appeared, complicating their hunting and causing many casualties. They could only rely on fishing. However, the Mutant Water Snake was not to be provoked easily and unlike the mountains, the river held an abundant source of fish. That was why they chose to fish.
Yue Zhong continued,“Do you know if there are any major human camps around this area?”
Yue Zhong’s current priority was to find a place with radio communications, so he could re-establish communications with his people in Qing Yuan County.
Ma Zhengming shook his head, “No, in front of our village is actually Chen Village, but it is filled with zombies. We can’t go over and we do not know if there are other gathering places beyond that.”
Ma Zhengming had also seen the film ‘Resident Evil’ and so he naturally knew what zombies were. Ma Zhengming looked at Yue Zhong and asked carefully, “Brother Yue Zhong, can you let us do our fishing?”
Yue Zhong had been the one to dispose of the Mutant Water Snake. The brook was a treasure trove of fish before the Mutant Water Snake had claimed it as its territory. It had a steady output of fresh fish and aquatic life. Ma Zhengming was mindful of Yue Zhong’s strength and subconsciously asked for permission.
Yue Zhong waved his hands: “Just do it!”
Ma Zhengming was delighted and brought his villagers to begin throwing the fishing nets. With just a few nets, the villagers managed to haul in a few pounds of fish.
After the world changed, there was no overfishing done by humans and due to the virus’ influence, the aquatic life replenished itself fairly quickly. That was why this river had an abundance of fish.
Ma Zhengming looked towards Yue Zhong and extended an invitation warmly, “Brother Yue Zhong, thanks to you disposing of the Mutant Water Snake, we could have such a haul. Please do consider coming to our village to rest for a while and let us throw a feast for you.”
“That’s great!” Yue Zhong also needed directions to proceed to the next village- after all, he had been walking for a day and was getting tired, therefore he accepted Ma Zhengming’s invitation.
Tooth Village was a small village surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, with over a hundred acres of farmland. There were over 2 dozen brick houses and on top of that, there were some remnants of some red-brick houses from the fifties or sixties.
Just outside of the village, there was a group of women and children going around digging for wild vegetables, whilst the kids focusing on other insects that could be eaten such as grasshoppers, earthworms, cicadas etc.