Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Since you're the older brother, you need to take care of your younger brother." Ji Yanqing looked at Ji'an. Technically, Ji'an was the older brother, but he was only a few months older than Ji Le. Asking him to look after Ji Le was a tall order, but there was no other choice.

After giving his instructions, Ji Yanqing pried open the two little boys' tightly clasped hands and stood up, turning to face the others.

There were seven adults and two children in their group.

Aside from Ji Yanqing himself, Xia Shenshu, Lan Zi, the bald man, Zhang Guxian, and Qian Guoyun, there were two more people: Kang Haoyi and Wu Yao.

Kang Haoyi was around twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, an office worker who exuded an aura of weariness from a lack of vitality.

Wu Yao wasn't very old, quiet and scholarly-looking with glasses. Before the virus outbreak, he had been a college student.

Neither of them had been the type to get into fights, but the experiences of the past half-year in this post-apocalyptic world had imbued both of their eyes with a ruthless determination.

This was a world where survival often meant killing, and they often had no choice.

Ji Yanqing took a deep breath. "We only have one chance..."

After Ji Yanqing succinctly explained the plan, the five people other than Zhang Guxian quickly sprang into action. Lan Zi and Qian Guoyun hastily found thick coats and distributed them, while Xia Shenshu loaded his magazines.

Prepared, the group swiftly vanished into the darkness, searching for a suitable location to strike.

Ji Yanqing grabbed his backpack and hid the sobbing Ji'an and Ji Le underneath it. He glanced at the still-silent Zhang Guxian before quickly catching up with the others.

"Will he die..." Watching Ji Yanqing's silhouette disappear into the darkness, Ji Le looked anxiously at Ji'an from beneath the backpack. He tried to hold back his tears, but they still welled up in his eyes.

Ji'an gripped Ji Le's hand, remembering Ji Yanqing's words. As the older brother, he needed to protect Ji Le.

He mustered all his courage, but when he heard Ji Le's tearful question, he couldn't help but start crying too.

Seeing Ji'an cry, Ji Le began bawling even harder.

"Guxian... Gu..."

In the darkness, a voice filled with excitement and malice drew closer, faint but growing louder. The woman had already spotted their hiding place and was deliberately approaching slowly. She was brimming with excitement, intent on torturing them.

Amidst the twisted, coiling tree trunks in the darkness, Ji Yanqing exchanged a glance with Xia Shenshu before silently vanishing from sight.

Xia Shenshu took a deep breath, lowering his head as his hands trembled violently.

Earlier, he had fired three consecutive shots at her, and Ji Yanqing's axe blow had shattered all the ribs in her chest. An injury like that would have incapacitated anyone, even a zombie, but she seemed completely unaffected...

When they were in the farmland earlier, it seemed that the ribs in her chest had fully recovered.

In this situation, stepping forward to confront that thing was tantamount to suicide.

Xia Shenshu took a deep breath, suppressing the trembling in his hands. He loaded his pistol, the crisp click echoing like a firecracker in the darkness.

A moment of deathly silence followed, then a stifled laugh rang out from his left front.

The rustling sound of something moving through the grass grew closer, each step tugging at Xia Shenshu's nerves, which were stretched to their limit.

He tightened his grip on the gun.

The world was silent, enveloped in darkness.

"Hah..." A laugh sounded, not from the previous direction, but right behind Xia Shenshu.

Xia Shenshu shuddered instantly, rolling forward quickly and firing blindly behind him.

"Bang, bang, bang." The gunshots were deafening.

On the ground, Xia Shenshu steadied himself and looked up. There was no one where he had just been. Before he could turn his head, something lunged at him from the side.

Xia Shenshu's reflexes were lightning-fast. He raised his gun and fired, but he missed the target with both shots. The woman disappeared into the trees, moving much faster than he did.

Having missed both shots, Xia Shenshu lost sight of the woman.

As he prepared to search for her, something struck him from behind, tearing through his shirt and sending him sprawling forward.

Kneeling on the ground, Xia Shenshu immediately raised his gun amidst the intense pain. Before he could aim, his wrist was wracked with agony. Something struck his wrist, causing the gun to fly into the darkness.

"Heh heh..." Laughter echoed as a gaunt, ugly figure emerged from the darkness and appeared in front of Xia Shenshu.

Her sunken, torn cheeks revealed sharp, jagged teeth behind the fissures. Her spindly limbs and torso ended in a pair of eyes filled with malevolent coldness and murderous intent.

Xia Shenshu's breathing stopped. Instead of running away, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her neck.

The woman was taken aback; none of her previous prey had ever reacted this way.

Before she could recover from her surprise, five figures suddenly leaped down from the trees.

Kang Haoyi and Wu Yao covered the woman's head with the coats and desperately held her back to prevent her from biting anyone. Meanwhile, Lan Zi, Qian Guoyun, and the bald man grabbed her arms and legs, trying to pin her down and stop her from escaping.

Everything happened in a flash. Before the woman could react, Ji Yanqing swung his axe overhead.

The air whistled as the blade came down fiercely!

As the blade fell, Ji Yanqing felt a searing pain consume both his arms, as if he had struck steel with full force.

"Aaah!" A shrill, furious roar erupted, transcending the range of human sound and filled with rage and murderous intent so intense it was terrifying.

Ji Yanqing's axe failed to sever her neck completely, managing to cut through less than a third of it.

Despite her emaciated body, the woman possessed immense strength. She struggled violently, flinging Qian Guoyun and the bald man off her. Then, she lunged toward Kang Haoyi and Qian Guoyun.

"Ahh..." Sounds of pain and panic rang out as Kang Haoyi's hand was injured and Qian Guoyun's neck was wounded.

As they watched the woman completely break free from their control, despair appeared in the eyes of those who had been pushed aside.

The force behind Ji Yanqing's axe swing was immense, enough to chop through a tree thicker than her neck, but it couldn't cut through her neck.

If even Ji Yanqing couldn't sever her neck, then no one could.

They had long known that awakened zombies were far beyond what ordinary people could handle. Even guns might not be able to kill them. They had held onto a sliver of hope before, but now it seemed like a joke.

"Hisss..." The woman, with her hair even more disheveled, viciously glared at everyone after freeing her head from the clothing. She was thoroughly enraged.

Without waiting for the woman to react, Ji Yanqing swung his axe towards her neck once again.

Despair was nowhere to be seen in his eyes; instead, there was a chilling intent to kill, deep and cold like an abyss. If one strike wasn't enough, he would try again.

"Clang!" The woman's arm blocked the axe.

With a face full of fury, she turned her head 180 degrees into an eerie position to look at Ji Yanqing.

She wanted to kill Ji Yanqing, to make him the first to die!

"Nuo Yun!" Zhang Guxian's voice suddenly echoed in the darkness.

At the sound of her name, the woman paused for a moment before slowly turning her head towards the source of the voice. Zhang Guxian slowly emerged from behind a tree.

"Let's go back, let's go home..." Zhang Guxian extended his hand.

The woman took a step toward him, but in the next moment, she lunged at Ji Yanqing with a face twisted in rage, ignoring Zhang Guxian. Everyone was utterly shocked.

Ji Yanqing held his axe in front of him to block her attack, being forced to retreat.

After taking two steps back and regaining his footing, Ji Yanqing, while others were still stunned and lost in despair, swung his bloodied axe at the creature again.

He moved incredibly fast and with great strength, causing the axe to whistle through the air. He broke one of her hands and forced the monster to retreat.

If the woman was a monster, then Ji Yanqing was a different kind of monster. He was holding his own against this creature!

"Bam bam bam!" Xia Shenshu somehow retrieved his gun.

Hearing the deafening gunshots and watching Ji Yanqing single-handedly force the monster back, Lan Zi, the bald man, and Wu Yao, who had been deeply mired in despair, were jolted awake.

The group took a few steps forward, wanting to help, but Ji Yanqing and the creature left no room for them to intervene.

Lan Zi was knocked aside by Xia Shenshu.

"Get out of the way."

Lan Zi looked back to see Qian Guoyun staggering towards her, while Kang Haoyi was attempting to stand up in an odd position.

In the darkness, Lan Zi couldn't see their faces clearly, but just the familiar yet strange figures were enough for her to understand. She hurriedly shouted at Ji Yanqing, "That thing's claws are poisonous! You'll turn into a zombie if you're wounded!"

"Don't let them come over!" Someone yelled.

The zombification of Kang Haoyi and Qian Guoyun was like adding insult to injury.

In the distance, behind a tree, two pairs of tearful golden eyes watched the scene anxiously.

Ji'an tightly gripped the tree beside him, completely unaware that his slender fingers had embedded themselves into it. The tough roots of the old tree, which were as hard as iron and couldn't be cut, felt like tofu under his tiny fingers.

Beside him, Ji Le saw the monster's claws narrowly miss Ji Yanqing's neck several times, making his heart race.

He bit his lower lip. Anyone, please help Ji Yanqing, save Ji Yanqing!

"Ugh... Ah..." Strange, incomprehensible moans escaped from Qian Guoyun and Kang Haoyi's throats as they slowly lifted their heads. Their gaze passed through the crowd and landed precisely on Ji Yanqing, who was under attack.

Seeing Ji Yanqing being bullied.

"Ahh!" Kang Haoyi seemed to be crying.

"Guh!" Qian Guoyun was filled with rage.

Before Xia Shenshu could fire, Qian Guoyun and Kang Haoyi charged towards Ji Yanqing.

Xia Shenshu's heart pounded as he immediately opened fire.

Just as everyone drew a sharp breath and their hearts raced, Qian Guoyun and Kang Haoyi pounced fiercely onto the creature in front of Ji Yanqing. Their combined force was so strong that it knocked the monster to the ground.

"Aaah!" After knocking her down, Qian Guoyun let out a furious roar from his throat. He attacked her wildly, scratching and biting. She wasn't allowed to bully Ji Yanqing, wasn't allowed to kill Ji Yanqing—she needed to leave!

Kang Haoyi did the same, attacking her relentlessly. Die, die, die!

Caught off guard, the monster fell to the ground. When she regained her senses, she tried to bite Qian Guoyun, but Qian Guoyun and Kang Haoyi were no longer human.

Ji Yanqing was momentarily stunned. This scene was both strange and familiar, as if something extraordinary was protecting him. Earlier, the monster had suddenly stopped moving in front of him.

His body acted before his mind caught up. Before Ji Yanqing could fully recover from his shock, he swung his axe down with all his might.

"Clang!" The axe struck the previous gash forcefully.

This time, the axe cut through the tough material and embedded itself in the ground.

A round object rolled away and collided with a nearby tree.

By the time everyone came to their senses, it was all over.