Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ji Yanqing removed his goggles, and the gentle expression in his usually hidden handsome brows became visible. He caressed the back of Ji Le's hand, which was tightly gripping his fingers.

Ji Le's hand was small but strong.

Sometimes, children's words touch the heart more easily because they are sincere and pure.

"Sleep," said Ji Yanqing.

Ji Le looked at Ji Yanqing. His eyes were beautiful; his pupils appeared deep yet transparent under the night sky, like jade—warm and tranquil.

Doesn't Ji Yanqing believe him either?

Ji Le withdrew his hand, feeling wronged. He would protect Ji Yanqing.

"I believe you," Ji Yanqing said softly. "But you're still so young. You need to grow taller before you can wield a knife..."

Ji Le poked his head out from under the covers and took hold of Ji Yanqing's hand again, guiding it to his chest beneath the blankets. Ji Yanqing's hand was cold, and he wanted to warm it up for him.

Ji Yanqing let his hand be enveloped by the warmth.

No one spoke, and only faint breathing could be heard in the darkness.

As time passed and the night grew deeper, the world fell into silence. Along with the darkness and quiet came a chill. Ji Yanqing's body quickly turned cold, except for the hand hidden under the covers, which remained warm.

Seated against the wall, Ji Yanqing closed his eyes to rest, but his attention was highly focused.

"...go...ahead..."

A muffled voice suddenly broke the silence.

Ji Yanqing opened his eyes. The few people in the room, wrapped in coats or blankets, were all sleeping soundly.

Gripping the axe beside him, Ji Yanqing held his breath and listened.

Three minutes passed, and the darkness remained silent.

After five minutes, Ji Yanqing was confused. Had he misheard something?

When he still heard nothing after listening for a while longer, Ji Yanqing slowly relaxed and leaned back against the wall.

Almost instantly, a faint voice emerged from the darkness outside the window, sending a sudden chill down his spine and making his back feel icy against the wall.

"...go...you first..."

The voice was distorted by the darkness, vague and fragmented, eerie beyond measure. Ji Yanqing tried to discern it, but it vanished once again.

He got up, and the axe scraped against the ground as he moved.

Someone nearby lifted their head at the sound. "What's going on?"

Ji Yanqing looked over. It was the bald man, who couldn't sleep deeply due to the pain in his eye.

"Did you hear someone calling out? A woman," Ji Yanqing asked.

The bald man sat up halfway, supporting himself with one hand. He felt a shiver run down his spine. "Are you too tense?"

Where would they find a woman in this place?

Ji Yanqing frowned without saying anything.

The bald man maintained his half-sitting position and held his breath to listen. The darkness was silent, devoid of even insect or bird sounds.

After two or three minutes of hearing nothing, the bald man said, "Why don't I take over for you?"

"No—" Ji Yanqing's refusal barely reached his lips when the familiar call sounded again.

With his previous experience, he could now hear it more clearly. It was indeed a shout—a woman's shout.

She seemed to be calling out a name or saying something, but she was too far away. Her voice was blurred by the night, becoming hazy and eerily ominous.

This time, the bald man heard it too. After cursing, he hurriedly woke everyone else up.

Upon waking, everyone immediately looked around. Seeing no zombies, they all turned to look at the bald man and Ji Yanqing.

"Hush, listen," the bald man made a gesture to quiet them before anyone could ask.

Awakened without explanation, everyone felt some dissatisfaction, but reason soon overcame it. Those still groggy from sleep held their breath and listened intently.

The darkness was silent, without any insect or bird sounds, not even the whisper of wind. The entire village seemed lifeless.

Not hearing anything, Xia Shenshu looked at the bald man, about to ask what was happening. But when he saw that Ji Yanqing was still by the window, listening intently, he swallowed his question.

The bald man might be unreliable, but Ji Yanqing certainly wasn't.

Xia Shenshu focused again and listened carefully.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes passed. Just as the others were growing restless, a faint shout echoed through the darkness once more.

"Hungry...go..."

The voice seemed to come from far away and yet was right next to their ears, causing goosebumps to rise on everyone's skin and sending shivers down their spines.

Lan Zi's Adam's apple bobbed. "Is it a living person?"

Xia Shenshu countered, "Would you shout like that in the middle of the night in a place like this?"

Zombies were extremely sensitive to sound; even the slightest noise could trigger them to swarm. Therefore, avoiding making any noise was the first rule for survival in the post-apocalypse.

As long as one wasn't insane, there was no way anyone would shout in such a place at midnight.

"Lan Zi was frightened by what she thought of.

"She seems to be calling us over, saying she's hungry..." Before the apocalypse, Qian Guoyun did manual labor and had a muscular build that looked quite powerful. However, he was now trembling all over, his voice clearly quavering.

He feared these ghostly things the most.

At least they could fight zombies, but they couldn't just punch these ghostly beings.

"Don't scare yourself," Ji Yanqing said.

"Let's go take a look," Xia Shenshu suggested.

Everyone looked at Xia Shenshu—had he gone mad?

Xia Shenshu said, "Even if we don't go over, she might still come."

Silence fell upon the room. In the darkness, everyone felt a chilling sensation that froze not only their limbs but even the blood within their veins.

Was that thing coming over?

Xia Shenshu continued, "We can also leave now, but we have no food left."

Ji Yanqing glanced out the window and quickly made up his mind. He shouldered his backpack and headed downstairs.

Ji'an and Ji Le followed him, both terrified by the eerie situation.

Xia Shenshu and the others followed suit.

When the group reached the ground floor hall, the voice called out again from the darkness. This time, it was much clearer, and it came from the village.

Ji Yanqing didn't open the living room door, which might make noise. Instead, he led the way out the window, making sure to pull Ji'an and Ji Le along.

There was an iron gate around the house. Previously, they had found it reassuring, but now, as they opened it, beads of sweat formed on their foreheads.

After opening the gate just enough for them to pass through, the group squeezed through as carefully as possible.

The sound rang out again as Xia Shenshu passed through the gate.

This time, outside the house, the voice was clearer than ever before. It was indeed a woman who was calling someone, saying she was hungry.

She seemed to have been hungry for a long time, her voice weak and pained.

In the unfamiliar, deserted village, the darkness so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and the clearly painful, weak cries—all of this caused even Ji Yanqing to break out in a cold sweat.

Indeed, there were no zombies in the village. As the group walked down a path through half the village without seeing a single person, they felt relieved but also more vigilant. Were the disappearance of those zombies related to the woman?

"It seems to be coming from that building ahead..." The bald man spoke in a low voice.

Everyone at the corner looked toward a detached villa in the distance.

The villa was relatively new, with large red couplets hanging on the door congratulating the newlyweds on a long life together. The owners had gotten married shortly before the virus outbreak.

The bright red couplets looked particularly eerie in the darkness, especially with the living room door locked from the outside with a chain. It was as if they were afraid of something escaping...

"You stay here," Ji Yanqing said as he quickly approached the villa.

He didn't open the iron gate but ran down the path and leaped over the wall after a few steps. Landing softly, he surveyed the area and approached the chained door silently like a sprite in the night.

The door was locked but not tightly closed.

Ji Yanqing slightly turned his head to look through the gap. Behind the narrow slit, the messy living room reeked of blood and decay.

The floor was covered in a thick layer of blood, and bones that had been gnawed on littered the ground everywhere. A chain led from a stone foundation weighing several hundred pounds to a window at the back of the hall.

The window, reinforced with iron bars, had been forcibly torn open in the middle.

Ji Yanqing's gaze lingered on the chain on the ground. Whatever this house was meant to contain, it had already escaped.

Ji Yanqing took a step back. He needed to tell the others about this as soon as possible; they couldn't stay in this village.

Before he could turn around, a foul stench of blood rushed towards him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and his body reacted before his brain did. He swung his axe backward.

Ji Yanqing moved incredibly fast and with great force, striking something with his axe. That thing let out a whimper and was sent flying into the side of the iron gate.

The ear-piercing creak of the iron gate echoed through the darkness.

"Zombie!" someone shouted.

"Be careful!"

Ji Yanqing only managed to glimpse a thin, twisted figure before the four-legged monster lunged at him again.

Instinctively, Ji Yanqing kicked the creature back into the courtyard.

"Take Ji'an and run!" Almost simultaneously, Ji Yanqing charged at the creature, swinging his axe at its neck.

He knew what it was.

He couldn't kill it, but he could try to hold it back.

"Hehe..." The figure in the darkness laughed, its voice changing from weak to excited and sharp.

Hearing the triumph in the laughter, Xia Shenshu and the others' pupils shrank suddenly, feeling as if they were in an icy cellar.

"A awakened zombie..." Lan Zi whispered despairingly, her mind blank.

Facing ordinary zombies, they might have a chance to fight, but against an awakened zombie—even one that had just awakened—they were doomed.

For they had awakened not just their consciousness, but also immense physical prowess, strength, speed, and regenerative capabilities—they were virtually impervious to blades and bullets, impossible to kill.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Gunshots rang out, deafening.

Xia Shenshu fired three consecutive shots at the creature, but it was meaningless—she still lunged at Ji Yanqing in the next moment.

Ji Yanqing's repeated attacks had already cracked the skin on his axe-wielding hand, and the sight of his blood only seemed to excite the creature more, driving her into a savage frenzy, like a ravenous madwoman...

Just as she was about to sink her teeth into Ji Yanqing's shoulder, a young voice pierced through the darkness, "No!"

Ji Le cried and struggled, trying to break free from Xia Shenshu's grasp. In his eyes, normally dark, golden slits now appeared, as he stared intently at the creature—she wasn't allowed to bite Ji Yanqing!

He wouldn't abandon Ji Yanqing, he wouldn't let him die, he wouldn't!

The world seemed to pause as the creature suddenly froze.