Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ji Yanqing did not pry the child's hand off his chest; instead, he pulled his coat to cover the small hand, shielding it from the cold.

He glanced at the dark sky through the gaps in the netting above him, adjusted into a comfortable position, and closed his eyes, leaning against a pillar.

Exhausted physically, constantly on edge, accustomed to hunger and cold—these factors quickly plunged him into deep sleep.

In his dreams, his brows remained furrowed. His slightly baby-faced visage was tranquil and translucent under the moonlight, as if he belonged to this eerie darkness, a wraith ready to vanish from the world at any moment.

Feeling the warmth that had become vague in memory but appeared only in dreams, the two children in his embrace, who had been frowning, gradually relaxed their brows in the darkness. Their fearful hearts found fleeting safety.

The smaller child, who had been unconscious, opened his eyes dazedly. With eyes unlike humans—uncanny golden slits—he looked at Ji Yanqing before lapsing back into unconsciousness swiftly.

Time flowed quietly in the darkness.

Before Lan Zi could touch Ji Yanqing, his originally closed eyes snapped open abruptly.

A moment of confusion and weariness flickered in his eyes, followed by wariness and coldness that didn't match his face. Like a lone wolf sensing danger, Ji Yanqing was poised to pounce and tear the opponent's throat apart.

Lan Zi's breath caught, and goosebumps rose on her arms instantly.

Ji Yanqing looked at Lan Zi, recognizing her as one of their own. He relaxed his body, which had prepared for battle upon waking. "What happened?"

Lan Zi paused, speaking in a hushed voice audible only to the two of them. "Something's not right. Come take a look."

Ji Yanqing glanced behind Lan Zi, where Xia Shenshu and the others were still asleep. Checking the time, it was past twelve.

He placed the two warm bundles wrapped in his coat on the ground, removed his coat, and draped it over them before getting up.

Lan Zi led the way toward the stairs, heading upstairs.

As the only female in the group, Lan Zi's height of a little over one meter sixty made her seem petite among the men. Though lacking strength, she was agile and nimble.

Ascending to the seventh floor silently, Lan Zi guided Ji Yanqing to a corner of the rooftop.

Lan Zi had cut a circle in the netting surrounding the building, creating a simple watchtower. From there, they could clearly see the empty land below on three sides and the main entrance of the building.

Ordinary zombies lacked thought, aimlessly wandering while emitting incomprehensible noises. They reacted only to sounds, light, moving objects, and blood.

The protective netting around this building was relatively sturdy, covering the entire structure except for the main entrance. Ordinary zombies, unable to think, would not tear open the netting and enter on their own. Thus, they only needed to guard the single entrance at night.

The temperature was very low, nearing freezing. After the netting was cut, icy night winds rushed into the building. Without his coat, Ji Yanqing felt invigorated by the chill. His slightly disheveled hair danced in the breeze.

"Over there," Lan Zi pointed beyond the building, through the gap in the netting.

It was a new residential area with few inhabitants. In the darkness, the unoccupied houses with their hollow windows and doorways resembled gaping maws, sending shivers down their spines.

At first, Ji Yanqing didn't understand what Lan Zi meant until he saw a figure appear on the road below the residential buildings.

His pale lips slightly parted. A human?

"He's been circling there for more than an hour, walking back and forth around the residential area seven or eight times," Lan Zi said with a complicated tone.

Ji Yanqing squinted, trying to get a clearer view of the figure.

The distance was too great, and the city was pitch black. Despite his efforts, he couldn't discern the person's face, only roughly identifying them as a young male based on their silhouette.

"Could it be a lost human?" Ji Yanqing asked.

The person didn't seem like a zombie because they weren't stumbling or aimlessly wandering; their speed was normal.

A lost, normal human?

As soon as Ji Yanqing finished asking, Lan Zi immediately refuted, "Impossible. Even if he's really lost, he wouldn't have circled for over an hour without realizing it."

Initially, she had suspected it, but after watching the person circle for over an hour, she dismissed the idea.

Lan Zi added, "Besides, who in their right mind would wander around here in the middle of the night?"

Ji Yanqing considered it and agreed with Lan Zi's perspective. Wandering around in a place filled with zombies at night suggested either madness or sheer foolishness.

Ji Yanqing fell silent, observing quietly.

While they were talking, the man had reached the end of the passage between two buildings, arriving at the southern entrance of the residential complex.

Ji Yanqing's heart tightened. Just as he thought the man might head towards them, he turned and walked along the road lined with abandoned vehicles to the northern entrance of the complex.

Upon reaching the entrance, he entered the complex without hesitation.

Inside, the man, as if visiting for the first time, began turning left and right, continuously moving around within the complex.

Ji Yanqing was speechless.

With entrances on opposite sides and rows of uniform houses inside, the layout of the complex was straightforward. Yet, the man turned it into a maze, unable to find his way out.

Ji Yanqing's lips twitched. After some thought, he tried to maintain his aloof persona, speaking in a cold voice. "Wake them up. We're leaving."

Apart from ordinary zombies, there were two other known types, both evolved from ordinary zombies.

One type possessed a certain level of self-awareness, capable of simple thinking, with enhanced speed and strength. Dealing with ordinary zombies was already challenging; encountering zombies that could think and had enhanced abilities was unimaginably terrifying.

Encountering such zombies meant certain death.

The other type was the Zombie King.

If facing ordinary zombies gave them a fighting chance and encountering partially evolved zombies meant certain death, then the Zombie King represented an even more despairing existence.

Every battle with a Zombie King resulted in countless human deaths. They could easily destroy cities and were synonymous with terror, despair, and death. No one survived an encounter with them.

The man was clearly not human, at least not like a normal one. He shouldn't be an ordinary zombie either; it was unlikely he was a Zombie King. So the worst-case scenario was that he was a zombie who had already begun to awaken...

Lan Zi also realized the severity of the situation, which is why she specifically went downstairs to wake him up.

Upon hearing this and understanding Ji Yanqing's plan, Lan Zi quickly went downstairs to wake the others.

Regardless of what the entity was, they couldn't afford to take any risks. Leaving was the safest course of action.

Ji Yanqing didn't immediately go downstairs. Instead, he looked back towards the residential area. Only when he saw the man walking straight but somehow getting further away from the gate did he turn around and leave.

As he descended the stairs, Ji Yanqing's long, slightly curled eyelashes drooped, and his brows lightly furrowed. He was somewhat puzzled about what was happening.

Could there be zombies with particularly poor brains?

When Ji Yanqing came downstairs, Xia Shenshu and the rest, who had been sleeping soundly, were all up and ready. They had packed their luggage, dressed, and armed themselves.

In the darkness, no one complained. They were used to such situations.

They even felt lucky to have discovered the danger before being attacked.

Ji Yanqing looked in the direction where the two children were. The younger one was still asleep, while the older one had woken up.

The awakened child looked anxiously at everyone while trying to wake another person beside him. He knew what was happening and that they needed to leave as soon as possible.

The younger one showed no reaction.

Unable to wake him, the older child tried to lift him up and carry him on his back. However, he was just a small child himself, with short arms and legs and little strength. He couldn't carry the other child.

Unable to wake or carry the other child, the boy became increasingly anxious.

He looked fearfully at Ji Yanqing and the group. In the past, he would inevitably get beaten at times like these. He disliked being hit because it hurt so much, as if he were dying.

He was scared, but he didn't dare cry or hide, for he knew that if he cried or hid, something even more cruel awaited him.

Adults didn't like children who cried and hid. They would abandon him.

Compared to the pain that felt like dying, he was even more afraid of being left behind. He had been abandoned once and didn't want to be thrown away again.

He didn't want to be alone in the darkness filled with zombies.

Ji Yanqing took the empty backpack that had been used to carry food the previous night and approached quickly.

The moment the child sensed him approaching, he instinctively raised his hands to protect his head.

He braced himself for a beating, but the pain never came.

Ji Yanqing squatted down in front of him and put the still unconscious, smaller child into the backpack. Despite being three years old, the child was so thin that the not-so-big backpack still had room left.

After securing the child and ensuring proper ventilation, Lan Zi reached out to lift the backpack and carry it on her chest.

Ji Yanqing's expression softened slightly. Then, he quickly put on his coat, stowed another coat in the backpack, shouldered it, and scooped up the stunned child who had been spared a beating.

With an axe in hand, Ji Yanqing led the way in the opposite direction, followed swiftly by the others.

In the darkness, far away in the residential area,

Feng Yimo, nearly 1.9 meters tall with slender limbs and a tall figure, had his waist-length hair casually tied up. His thin lips were tightly pursed as he expressionlessly pulled out his long knife, stained with rotting fluids, and flicked off the liquid with a twist of his wrist.

His gaze shifted from the zombie's corpse at his feet to the building beside him. A faint ripple appeared in his dark, cold eyes, and he slightly furrowed his brows, revealing a hint of confusion deep within them.

He pondered a serious question with a serious expression: After walking for over an hour, why hadn't he reached the place where the two children were?

And why did the surrounding buildings seem somewhat familiar?