Zhang Xiao Qiang had selected the closest zombie, which was about 50m away from them. The clothes on the decomposing body had been reduced to tatters under the changes in weather. As pieces of cloth hang on its blackened skin, from afar, it looked like a huge crow crossing over.
The sunken head was like a deformed pear, and its strange shape would cause onlookers to be revolted. Its shirt was still barely hanging on by a button near its neck, and the red material gave it a look of a commander. Except that, it wasn't truly a leader of a troop, but a zombie that would strike fear in the hearts of people.
It was quite naked save for the few pieces of cloth that blew about. On its chest, there were 2 lumps hanging, what must have been a pair of beautiful and perky breasts, that had been reduced to sagging pieces of flesh. It caused Zhang Xiao Qiang to be repulsed, and he almost developed a fear of breasts. Other than the thighs that seemed to be meatier, the rest of the body was skin and bones, just like a skeleton soldier from the games he used to play.
Su Qian looked at the female corpse, and she stood for quite a while, not daring to move. Zhang Xiao Qiang did not urge her and just stood aside as he mulled over his own thoughts. Yang Ke'er began to yawn, as such a scene was boring to her. She went back to the car to immerse herself in some movie. For some reason, she was screaming her lungs out as she watched the movie, causing the atmosphere to be particularly terrifying.
Su Qian was originally hesitating from her own fears, but upon hearing Yang Ke'er's screams from watching some horror movie, she was even more terrified. She turned to look at Zhang Xiao Qiang, who was still deep in his thoughts. She turned to Yuan Yi, hoping for some form of encouragement. It was a pity that Yuan Yi was staring at Zhang Xiao Qiang's back, not interested in Su Qian at all.
"I can only rely on myself!" She told herself and took a deep breath. With a resolute look, she walked towards the zombie slowly, and she could make out the disgusting features the closer she got. At about 40m away, the zombie also discovered Su Qian, and the smell of meat caused it to be excited. The zombie swiveled its head towards Su Qian, and its teeth gnashed non-stop. Its footsteps also began to quicken.
Su Qian stopped at about 10m away and started to circle the zombie. Her observation was astute, and she knew the weak points of the zombie and knew how she could use it to her advantage. As long as the zombie was not too close, she could lure it around like a carrot attracting a donkey.
Su Qian was prudent and tried her best to lure the single zombie and not alert the rest. She lured it to a small ditch, which was dug in the past due to electrical works. The ditch wasn't deep, about knee-deep, and was about 1.5m wide. Any person would be able to jump across. However, it was impossible for the zombie, and the moment it stuck its foot out, it was the beginning of its tragic fate.
The zombie stumbled down into the hole and began to struggle to get up. Su Qian made use of the chance to quickly bring down the hammer and smash the skull apart. Black and yellow brain matter splattered all over her hands and face.
She threw down the hammer and slumped to the ground, staring at the dead zombie. She knew she had done it. She could kill those disgusting monsters as well. She had the right to speak up from now on. Although she was not as strong as Yang Ke'er or Yuan Yi, wasn't this a start? Wasn't it?
Yang Ke'er continued to watch her horror movie, while Yuan Yi wasn't bothered by it. Zhang Xiao Qiang had watched from the beginning till end and had not objected to her methods. As long as she could maintain that sort of calm when dealing with zombies, and not lose her head, it was good enough for him.
Zhang Xiao Qiang called Su Qian over, and everyone boarded their vehicles as they made for a small market. Yuan Yi drove, while Yang Ke'er continued to watch her movie, occasionally screaming out in the car to the horrifying background music and sound. Zhang Xiao Qiang and Su Qian sat behind, and she still could not settle down, her face pale and her fists clenching and unclenching.
"Can you tell me about the market?" Zhang Xiao Qiang was resting against the headrest with his eyes closed, yet assessing the risks in the expedition this time. It might be a small town, but there would be at least a few thousand people?
Although they might not all be gathered in the market, if they weren't careful, they might accidentally stumble into a horde. Su Qian had gone around asking for medicine for her dad and came across this town once. There was a strange old doctor that was famous around these parts, and her relatives had suggested for her to give it a shot, that was why she had come here 'treating the dead horse as a live one'.
(Idiom: the attitude of trying everything in a desperate situation.)
The small town was at the foot of a hill, and the residents would usually come here to purchase items. There was a highway about 5km away, bringing connection to this town. Some factory workers would also like to drive here for their meals, hence there were plenty of small eateries set up. It was a bustling place before the apocalypse, although the market had lost some of its traffic to the town.
The previous time that Su Qian had come here, she had sought high and low for the doctor and was clear on some parts of the town. She even knew what some of the distinct structures were for.
"There's a supermarket within the town, medium-sized I guess, about 3 to 4 workers from what I remembered. There're a few handphone shops, and there's also a dealer for farm equipment. The rest are mostly dealing with clothes, seeds, and…"
"Wait a minute." Zhang Xiao Qiang interrupted Su Qian.
"You're saying that there's a seed shop in town?" Zhang Xiao Qiang was nervous now. Seeds could be the lifeline of the future. As long as there were seeds, the moment the weather became normal, they could get yearly harvests. How could they be just seeds? It would practically be a goldmine! Seeds could be kept a few years if stored properly. Even a lotus seed could germinate after a thousand years, what's a few years to seeds?"
"Yes, those families in the hills rely on growing crops to live. The entire hill is an agricultural spot! The seed shop should have had good business." Su Qian reminisced.
Zhang Xiao Qiang kept quiet. The shop was his for sure. It could be treated as the family heirloom in the future. With seeds, humankind would have hope As long as there's food, humans could survive. Once they regained the upper hand, the zombies would be ended for sure.
When they reached the town, they discovered that the hill was quite tall, even higher than the highway that was about a dozen meters high. The hill was covered in dense vegetation, of which pine trees seemed to be the common variety. There were many small paths leading to the centre of the town, and there was a desolate and barren-looking patch of crops at one side.
The town wasn't big, and a number of houses were scattered around the foot of the hill. Amongst them, there were even some dilapidated old houses that were turning yellow, and many of the newer buildings seemed to be built towards the highway. Many of them hung restaurant signs, as well as other services, like spas and even some massage services.
On one side of the town, there was a small river running by, and on the opposite bank was a small bus-stop or tourist stop. 5 huge coaches and a number of other small buses were parked at the open field, surrounded by a number of eateries, as well as a small convenience store. A number of zombies were stumbling about, and all sorts of rubbish and bones littered the entire area.
Chapter 95: Look! What’s that?!To reach the town, one had to stop at the tourist stop, as the bridge linking the town to the opposite bank was behind the stop. The small river was about 2 to 3m wide, and there were all sorts of rubbish gathered at the banks. A pool of water had collected under the bridge, but the water was murky and dark, and there were even zombies within. Their skin was bloated, and the entire river looked like poison.
There was a construction site on the left of the tourist stop, where the works had come to a complete halt. A half-dug ditch was in the middle of the site, and there was even some water that had pooled inside. It seemed that the foundation works had not yet begun when the virus outbreak happened, and the workers had become the roaming zombies.
Zhang Xiao Qiang hesitated a while, before deciding to quicken the pace. He handed Yuan Yi a tire spanner, and Su Qian a long steel bar. He wielded his Jing Wei Sword and together with Yang Ke'er, they charged towards the parking lot.
There was only one S-type, and Zhang Xiao Qiang had immediately noticed its nimble figure. He prepared to head towards it to chop at it, having disposed of a few ordinary ones earlier. He soon got within a 40m radius of the S-type.
Yuan Yi charged towards the S-type without a second word, but before the S-type made any move, the ordinary zombie beside it snapped towards Yuan Yi. She stepped back to allow the ordinary zombie to stumble past her, and rammed into it with her shoulder, sending the zombie crashing to the ground.
The S-type quickly slashed towards Yuan Yi, who did not evade the blow. Instead, she brought up her spanner to meet the claws of the S-type. It lost its center of gravity and was led downwards by Yuan Yi's maneuver, before a huge hammer came crashing down on its brittle bones. With a 'crack', the S-type stumbled forwards a few steps and crashed into the ground as well.
Seeing Yuan Yi stealing his prey, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt annoyed,"Damn, so fierce after a taste?" He vented his frustrations on the surrounding zombies, totally annihilating another 4 or 5 more as the battle drew to a close.
Zhang Xiao Qiang had managed to kill about 7 or 8 of them. As for Yang Ke'er, it was practically obscene. Yuan Yi had killed an S-type as well as 2 ordinary ones, while Su Qian killed one face to face. That particular zombie was really unfortunate though. Midway through its pounce, it was knocked to the ground by a fellow zombie that was headless, and Su Qian immediately took the chance to kill it.
Seeing the corpses strewn all over the ground, the empty broken-down buses, the darkening skies, as well as the seemingly uninjured members of his party, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt that with some background music, the scene looked like straight out from a game.
They leaped over the bodies and made their way into a small restaurant.
The furniture in the restaurant was a mess, as all the tables and chairs were in various states of disarray. Chopsticks and cutlery were all over the floor, the pictures of beautiful ladies hanging on the wall were moldy. An old television set hanging in one corner even had a beer bottle stuck in it, and the entire place emitted a horrible stench.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked around the restaurant for a moment, before walking towards the kitchen. The place was filthy, not just the usual, but the entire place, from the walls to the ceiling, was covered in grime. It didn't matter where one looked, there was not a white spot to be seen. Even the salt and pepper bottles were blackish and yellow. Seeing the state of this kitchen, he had no intentions of grabbing anything, even a person as lazy as he felt that this was unacceptable.
As he was about to step out, he stopped and looked into the rice bin again. The once-red bin had already turned a darkish-red, but it was empty inside. There wasn't even a husk. Following that, he discovered that even the storage cabinets were all swept clean. Any area that would be a sort of place to keep the dried goods or spices were also cleared of everything.
Something wasn't right, did someone come before to take away everything? He walked out again to survey the restaurant and its exterior. There were 5 such eateries around here, as well as a convenience store with a window opened. Each restaurant was in similar states, there was not a single clean place, yet everything had been taken away.
"Is there someone alive?" He came to a conclusion, but was somewhat bewildered, how did this mysterious person get past so many zombies and transport the goods then?
"Pa" Zhang Xiao Qiang slapped his forehead, he had been so used to walking through the front door that he never considered the windows. What a fool.
He turned and entered the kitchen again, noting that the windows were a dummy cover. The originally clear windows had been turned black with the oil and grime. If it wasn't for the wooden panes, he would have thought those were some wooden boards on the wall.
He pried open the windows carefully and looked out. What he saw instantly caused his scalp to go numb. His stomach heaved and he never thought he would come across something more disgusting and revolting than the zombies that he had gotten used to killing.
Today, he had finally seen it. The layout of the restaurants was similar, with the windows facing one side. Not far from the windows, there was a sunken pit, which must have been a pool in the past. It had now turned into a sewage shared among the restaurants, as all sorts of muck and shit were thrown in. Disposable items, used napkins, bones, and even plastic bags and dead rats were all thrown into the pit. The stench was unbearable, to the point that it was overpowering, violent and severe.
Zhang Xiao Qiang had never faced such a test before, and he didn't know if it was for 5 minutes or 50 seconds, all he knew was that he quickly rushed out and hugged a broken down signboard as he began throwing up all over the ground. He retched till there were tears in his eyes until his body was rid of that diabolical smell. Even the decomposing smell of the zombies was more comforting than that hell hole.
After what seemed like a long while, Zhang Xiao Qiang regained his breath. He decided not to care about the fate of that unknown survivor. The stench was not meant to be inhaled. No wonder no zombies dared to go in. It was a biological weapon, whoever went in would fall. It was even more potent than the strongest of laxatives. However, things don't always go according to wishes in life. He had actually given up on the survivor but was unfortunately seen by the survivor.
"Look, what's that?! Ah! There's a survivor!" Yang Ke'er held Zhang Xiao Qiang's binoculars and swept about, and she somehow possessed the ability to zero in on things, as she quickly found something strange.