Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Listening to the heart-wrenching cries, the bald man and his group chewed on their dates and dried mushrooms indifferently, remaining vigilant of their surroundings.

No one said anything.

They had once been people with families—parents, siblings, loved ones, or children—but now they were all alone.

But they were no longer children; they no longer had the privilege to weep uncontrollably in someone else's arms.

The adults could hold back, but Ji'an couldn't. Hearing the cries, his eyes turned red, and tears streamed down his face. When Ji Yanqing looked over, he was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Ever since Ji Yanqing found him, Ji'an had been very well-behaved. He ate and drank sparingly and even ran alongside them. He tried to appear capable, but he was only three years old.

The hurt, fear, and unease from being abandoned never truly faded away.

Seeing Ji'an's pitiful appearance, Ji Yanqing reached out to him.

Ji'an saw this and rushed into Ji Yanqing's embrace. Smelling Ji Yanqing's scent and feeling the warmth of his arms, he began to wail.

The crying continued for a long time.

When the sobs finally stopped, Ji Yanqing looked over to find both of them asleep from exhaustion.

Having vented their fears and anxieties, they clung tightly to Ji Yanqing's clothes as if holding onto a lifeline. Their dirty little faces wore an expression of rare peace.

Their appearance, coupled with tear-stained cheeks and damp eyelashes, tugged at everyone's heartstrings.

Ji Yanqing had to use some force to pry their hands apart.

He placed Ji Le inside his backpack.

Lan Zi brought her own backpack over. She took out a thick coat and threw it away, allowing Ji Yanqing to place Ji'an inside her backpack.

Each of them carried a backpack, but they didn't have much inside—only food, water, some basic supplies, and a few changes of clothes.

After securing both children, Ji Yanqing led the way, rising to his feet. They had no more time to spare and needed to find water as soon as possible.

"Are you crying?" Xia Shenshu's teasing voice came from behind after they had walked for a while.

Ji Yanqing looked back.

The bald man glared at Xia Shenshu and rubbed his left eye, which was red as if he had just been crying.

One wouldn't cry with only one eye.

Lan Zi asked, "What happened?"

"I got something in my eye," the bald man rubbed his eye, not particularly concerned.

There were no zombies in the forest, which relieved everyone and lightened the atmosphere.

However, this didn't last long. Soon, everyone lost the mood for idle chatter because talking not only consumed energy but also made their throats increasingly dry and itchy.

The trees were unusually large, with thick trunks and towering canopies. While it was better than being directly exposed to the sun, the forest was still stiflingly hot. As they walked, everyone's breathing became heavier.

As they progressed, the group initially motivated themselves by thinking they would find water soon, but later, simply forcing themselves to move forward exhausted all their energy. The heat, fatigue, thirst, hunger, and drowsiness caused by the high temperature left them in a daze, as if they were dreaming.

"How much further?" After half an hour, Ji Yanqing asked Zhang Guxian.

Caught off guard by the question, Zhang Guxian was momentarily disoriented before realizing that someone was speaking to him. He looked around at the countless unfamiliar, thick, twisted tree trunks and hesitated before saying, "We need to cross two mountains..."

He had lost track of how far they had walked.

Ji Yanqing glanced at the sky through the gaps in the dense canopy. They had just crossed one mountain.

It was already past five o'clock, and it would be dark by six.

The mountains here were quite tall. Even if they were circling around them, crossing one mountain would take at least another two hours. It was too late.

While the forest seemed relatively safe for now, with no zombies in sight, it was uncertain what other dangers might lurk at night.

Ji Yanqing was considering whether to continue or find a place to set up camp when he heard voices from behind.

"Can you guys help me check my eye?" The bald man's voice carried a noticeable tone of pain.

Ji Yanqing looked back. The bald man's previously uncomfortable left eye was now completely red and bloodshot, with tears mixed with blood streaming down. He kept rubbing that eye, having endured the discomfort until reaching his limit.

Upon closer inspection, Ji Yanqing felt a chill run down his spine.

"What's wrong?" The bald man asked, trying to force his eye open for Ji Yanqing to examine, but it involuntarily closed due to the intense pain.

"Something has grown." Ji Yanqing put down his backpack.

Seeing this action, the bald man had a bad feeling. "What kind of thing?"

"How do you feel?" Ji Yanqing asked instead of answering.

Everyone else stopped and approached, taking a closer look at the bald man's left eye. Gasps filled the air.

"What's going on?" The bald man reached out to rub his eye.

Ji Yanqing grabbed his hand. "Don't rub it."

The bald man's left eye was entirely bloodshot, with blood continuously seeping from the corners. However, this wasn't the reason for Ji Yanqing's shock and the collective gasp from the others. The true cause was the grass-like growth protruding from his eyeball.

Thin, long strands resembling grass roots pierced through his eyeball and grew into it.

All the root-like structures ultimately disappeared beneath his upper eyelid.

Ji Yanqing hesitated for a moment before bracing himself to lift the bald man's eyelid and look inside. Beneath the eyelid, countless things like white grass roots crisscrossed, and he could vaguely see green, slender leaves.

"Ugh..." The bald man winced in pain and dodged.

Ji Yanqing had never seen such a situation before. He turned to look at the others, who all had very strange expressions on their faces - fear, disbelief, and horror mixed together, making them want to turn and run away.

"What the hell is going on?" the bald man asked anxiously.

He reached out to touch his eye, feeling the intense pain coming from it. He took his knife and found a place with good lighting, using the reflection of the blade to examine his eye.

After two minutes, he could vaguely see the roots beneath his eyelid. His face turned ashen. "What the f*ck is this?"

Xia Shenshu said, "It should be those rice plants we saw earlier. Those flowers were probably producing seeds, and they grow wildly when they come into contact with water. You must have gotten some of them in your eye. They might contain something that can numb an animal's nerves to some extent..."

Hearing this, everyone recalled the rice plants. The things in the bald man's eye did indeed resemble the roots of those rice plants, just much smaller.

The bald man opened his mouth to curse, but the words died on his lips.

Lan Zi tried to comfort him, but the words stuck in her throat. It was one thing for something like this to happen to someone else, but quite another when it happened to oneself.

"So what do we do now?" Lan Zi instinctively reached up to touch her own eyes, stopping her fingers just short of them. They all had that powder on them.

"We'll have to dig them out," Xia Shenshu said.

The muscles around the bald man's eyes twitched violently. Dig them out?

"Before they grow into your brain," Xia Shenshu reminded him. Even before the virus outbreak, there was no guarantee they could save his eye, let alone now.

The forest fell silent, an eerie atmosphere spreading.

The bald man's Adam's apple bobbed, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

After a moment, he handed over his knife. "Who will do it?"

Everyone looked at each other, none daring to move.

Killing zombies and gouging out a living person's eye were two completely different things.

"I don't want to die here. Who knows how long it will take for these things to kill me if they grow in my brain?" the bald man said fiercely.

Xia Shenshu took the knife. "I've never dug out someone's eye while they're awake."

Xia Shenshu sized up the bald man; they didn't have any anesthesia.

The muscles on the bald man's face twitched again. Just as he was about to say something, he collapsed to the side. Ji Yanqing had knocked him unconscious with the butt of his axe.

Xia Shenshu was surprised, then squatted down, somewhat disappointed.

Ji Yanqing put down his axe. "The rest of you go find a place nearby to set up camp."

The others exchanged glances, knowing they didn't need to stay and watch. They hurried off in various directions.

Ji Yanqing squatted down, stuffing some clothes into the bald man's mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue, and held him down in case he woke up.

Xia Shenshu used this time to disinfect the fruit knife the bald man had given him with a lighter. They had no medicine or other equipment; it was better to act quickly rather than delay.

The moment the knife pierced the eyeball, the bald man convulsed in pain. Despite being much smaller than the bald man, Ji Yanqing somehow managed to hold him still on the ground.

Xia Shenshu glanced at Ji Yanqing, who remained calm despite seeing this for the first time. With a flick of his wrist, he removed the entire eyeball.

After ensuring all the roots were cleared, Xia Shenshu threw away the fruit knife.

By then, the bald man had already woken up from the pain.

"Ugh..." Veins bulged on his forehead as he kicked his feet against the ground, his body convulsing from the intense pain.

Xia Shenshu tore a clean piece of clothing into strips and wrapped it around his eye socket. "From here on out, it's up to you. If you can endure it, you live. If not, you die."

The bald man looked at the two of them and soon passed out again from the pain.

Xia Shenshu stood up, looking at the blood on his hands, as if savoring something.

Ji Yanqing picked up the knife and examined the eyeball on the ground. The roots had already taken up a third of the eyeball. If they had waited any longer, the roots would have grown into the bald man's brain.

A few minutes later, Lan Zi and the others returned from scouting for a campsite.

"There's a cave over there," Lan Zi said.

Seeing Ji Yanqing handling the eyeball, they all moved closer. Upon seeing the roots within the eyeball, they quickly stepped back.

"Check each other. If you find anything, deal with it together," Ji Yanqing said, his beautiful and cute face belying the cold and terrifying words. This, combined with the eerie and twisted forest around them, created a stark contrast that sent chills down their spines.

Even Xia Shenshu, covered in blood and wearing a smile of anticipation, seemed almost endearing compared to Ji Yanqing.

The others' expressions were a mix of shock and discomfort.

What made them even more uneasy was that only Ji Yanqing had been wearing goggles the whole time. The others had covered their mouths and noses, but their eyes had been exposed.

Ji Yanqing unzipped his backpack, preparing to check Ji'an. Suddenly, a roar erupted from the direction of the city.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look.

"Roar!"

The familiar beastly roar, though no longer deafening due to the distance, still sent shivers down their spines with its anger and madness.

In the city, Feng Yimo looked at his blood-stained longsword. "Where are they?"

"Gurk..." The zombie king, as tall as a three-story building and resembling a beast, clumsily got up from the rubble, covered in blood and looking pitiful. It had lost its previous air of invincibility, with disbelief and fear lurking deep in its eyes.

After regaining its consciousness, it had detected the auras of other Zombie Kings, and it knew that there were others of its kind in this world besides itself. However, it always assumed that there wasn't much difference between them, and it might even be one of the superior ones among them, something it took great pride in.

It never imagined that there would come a day when it would be utterly unable to fight back.

"Roar!"

"Why are you restraining me?" Feng Yimo demanded.

"Gurrl... " It had no idea what Feng Yimo was talking about.

Feng Yimo swiveled his wrist, flinging the long blade, his gaze turning increasingly frigid. Despite its actions, it still refused to acknowledge them.