Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"Where are you taking us?" Tian Qiao followed along the dark path, rubbing his arms and trying to edge closer to Cheng Zhiyu for warmth.

There was no moonlight tonight—it was truly dark.

Cheng Zhiyu took out a flashlight, instantly brightening the path.

Little Black reached out a paw and nudged Tian Qiao, who was leaning against Cheng Zhiyu’s shoulder. Tian Qiao pulled back slightly and turned to Little Black: "Brother Black, must you be so childish?"

Little Black snuggled up to Cheng Zhiyu: "Am I childish?"

Cheng Zhiyu felt the fluffy fur against his cheek, his heart fluttering, and said firmly, "Childish? Not at all. Not even a little bit."

Tian Qiao: "..."

He added, "Cheng Zhiyu, why didn’t you take out the flashlight earlier?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "I forgot."

Tian Qiao: "...Alright."

Glancing at the shadowy figure ahead, perhaps because the two of them were walking too slowly, he was getting a bit impatient but didn’t dare rush them, so he was stomping his feet on the spot.

It was rather amusing.

The two of them picked up their pace.

After walking for over an hour and still not arriving, Tian Qiao muttered, "Where are you taking us? Why is it so far?"

The shadowy figure seemed a bit displeased: "You're... slow."

Tian Qiao raised an eyebrow: "Hey, now you’re complaining about us? We’re walking fast enough, okay?"

No idea how the shadowy figure could move so quickly—maybe he was a speed-type superhuman? That was probably the only explanation.

Cheng Zhiyu laughed beside them, feeling like the shadowy figure had opened up more. He asked, "Can you tell us where we’re going?"

Shadowy figure: "You’ll know... when we arrive."

They’d know when they got there—so mysterious.

They could only suppress their curiosity and follow him.

Finally, they saw something in the distance. Cheng Zhiyu shined his flashlight: "Looks like... a chicken farm."

Tian Qiao was excited: "A chicken farm? So there are chickens here?"

He couldn’t help but quicken his pace, following the shadowy figure inside.

The owner of the chicken farm must have been gone. The place was a mess, with things scattered and toppled everywhere. Once inside, Tian Qiao realized he’d spoken too soon—there were only a few chickens left.

Most likely, the chickens the shadowy figure had brought them before were caught here.

But since the chicken farm was unattended, the chickens had probably gotten hungry. There was a large hole in the corner, and most of them must have escaped.

The ones left behind... well, they were probably the dumber ones.

There was scattered feed on the ground, likely left by the shadowy figure who had come to feed them.

Five chickens remained. They seemed used to being fed and weren’t afraid of people at all, leisurely eating the feed on the ground. Once full, they went back to their coop to sleep.

"Well, well, you've got it made," Tian Qiao muttered.

"For... for you," the shadowy figure said.

Tian Qiao chuckled: "Don’t give them to us. There are only five—keep them for yourself."

"No, no..." The shadowy figure shook his head hard and pointed to rows of chicken coops not far away.

Cheng Zhiyu shone his flashlight and, upon seeing what was inside, was surprised: "Eggs?"

Tian Qiao exclaimed: "Wow, so many eggs!"

The chicken farm mainly relied on selling eggs. With hundreds of chickens, they laid eggs daily. In the first few days of the apocalypse, they kept laying, but later, probably too hungry, they escaped through the broken hole.

Even so, there were plenty of eggs left inside.

"There must be... over a thousand, right?" Tian Qiao’s jaw dropped.

Cheng Zhiyu was also surprised and nodded: "Easily."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s collect the eggs!" Tian Qiao was as happy as a farmer at harvest time, gleefully starting to gather eggs: "Let's gather them up. In this weather, eggs will spoil."

Cheng Zhiyu looked at the shadowy figure and confirmed again: "For us?"

The shadowy figure nodded: "Can’t... eat them all."

Cheng Zhiyu thanked him sincerely and began collecting the eggs, storing them directly in his storage space.

The ground was covered in chicken droppings, and Little Black was totally disgusted. He surrounded himself with water but still helped gather eggs.

The shadowy figure also bent down to help.

A thousand eggs—a lot. It took them a while to collect them all. Then, the shadowy figure led them to what looked like a warehouse. Apparently, the original owner of the chicken farm had already collected them—rows and rows of eggs.

Tian Qiao counted: each egg tray held 30 eggs, and there were 300 trays—nine thousand eggs total.

Combined with the thousand they’d just collected, even if they ate one egg a day, it would take them more than a year to finish them all.

Talk about a sweet burden.

But if the eggs were left here, they’d spoil eventually, so they should take them all.

Turning around, the shadowy figure brought the five chickens over: "For... you."

Tian Qiao was stunned: "You're not keeping any for yourself? What will you eat?"

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at Tian Qiao, who looked confused.

Tian Qiao: "What? Shouldn't we give him some? What about the eggs—should we leave some for you? Are these chickens laying eggs?"

The shadowy figure lowered his head, his voice muffled: "...They lay."

Tian Qiao: "Well then—"

Before he could finish, Cheng Zhiyu looked at the shadowy figure: "Do you want to come with us?"

Tian Qiao blinked, a bit confused. Hadn’t Cheng Zhiyu said before that the shadowy figure didn’t like interacting with people? Would he agree?

The Shadow suddenly looked up, and the two finally noticed that his eyes were exceptionally pure and clear. However, he quickly lowered his head again and stammered, "I... want to."

Tian Qiao suddenly understood—no wonder the Shadow wanted to give them everything; it turned out he wanted to go with them. "Oh, why didn’t you say so earlier? If you’re willing to join us, that’s fantastic! Look how fast you run—even Orange and I can’t keep up!"

The Shadow seemed somewhat happy.

Since he was willing to come along, that was ideal. Still, Cheng Zhiyu made a point to clarify beforehand that they were heading somewhere far away, and the journey wouldn’t always be safe.

The Shadow said, "I’m... not afraid."

Cheng Zhiyu smiled and reached out a hand. "Welcome aboard."

The Shadow glanced down at his own dirty hand and flinched back.

Thinking the other simply disliked physical contact, Cheng Zhiyu didn’t push it. "In that case, come back with us."

They took the five chickens along, though unfortunately, they didn’t currently have the means to raise them...

By the time they returned to their place, dawn was breaking. The Shadow mumbled something, and Tian Qiao quickly said, "Brother Black, hose him down. He says he wants to shower."

Little Black yawned, his eyes forming half-moons. What did they take him for? A showerhead?

Cheng Zhiyu patted his head. "We’re relying on you, Little Black."

Little Black: Fine, he didn’t want a grimy person on the team either.

With daylight and rising temperatures, there was no risk of him catching a cold from a rinse. Little Black sprayed him down.

He looked a bit cleaner but was still pretty dirty.

The Shadow: Hunched over in insecurity.jpg

Cheng Zhiyu cleared his throat lightly. "He might need a serious scrubbing."

A short while later, a large wooden tub was filled with steaming water. Cheng Zhiyu and Tian Qiao, each wearing scrub gloves, vigorously scrubbed the Shadow inside the tub.

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts—" The Shadow let out the clearest words since they’d met him.

Cheng Zhiyu looked at Tian Qiao, who cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry, I mistook this birthmark for dirt."

There, on the Shadow’s back, was a black birthmark.

Cheng Zhiyu shook his head, squeezed a large dollop of body wash onto the Shadow, and continued scrubbing.

By the time the water was changed for the third time, it was finally clear, and the two got a good look at the Shadow’s face for the first time.

He appeared quite young, probably around twenty years old. Perhaps from years without sun, his skin had an unhealthy paleness.

Tian Qiao whistled. "Didn’t expect that—you’re pretty handsome, man."

The Shadow was indeed quite good-looking.

Self-conscious, he lowered his head, trying to hide his face with long hair, only to realize there was no hair to cover himself—because while washing his hair earlier, it had been so tangled that Cheng Zhiyu and the others had cut it short.

Now he had a neat, short hairstyle.

He changed into the clean clothes Tian Qiao provided, still unused to it, and instinctively tried to shrink into himself.

"Time to eat," Cheng Zhiyu called from nearby.

The Shadow immediately forgot about shrinking away and hurried over, mumbling, "Co... coming."

Tian Qiao had already saved him a seat. He cautiously sat down, awkwardly gripping the chopsticks.

Since they had plenty of eggs, several dishes on the table were egg-based: clay pot steamed egg custard—great with rice—cold tossed eggs, and tiger-skin eggs.

Of course, it wasn’t all eggs. There was also stewed chicken and steamed fish.

The Shadow took a bite, and his eyes kept lighting up. He forgot all about his nerves and focused entirely on eating.

The clay pot steamed egg custard was unexpectedly popular—more flavorful than plain steamed custard and great over rice. Even Little Black loved it.

After the meal, they sat together chatting, mainly discussing their next plans.

"Hey, by the way, you never told us your name," Tian Qiao suddenly remembered, turning to the Shadow.

Still uneasy under others’ gaze, the Shadow lowered his head. "*Za... zhong*."

Hey... why's he insulting himself? Tian Qiao initially thought, then quickly realized something and glanced at Cheng Zhiyu, who was indeed frowning.

It was hard to imagine what kind of person would call a child "*mixed-breed*."

Cheng Zhiyu could tell that the Shadow was different from ordinary people, and this difference clearly hadn’t emerged after the apocalypse—how long had it even been? His living conditions before the apocalypse must have been pretty rough.

When Cheng Zhiyu suggested that the Shadow go get any important belongings from where he lived, his suspicions were confirmed.

The Shadow led them to a farmhouse on the edge of the village. At first, the two thought he lived there, but instead of going into the house, he headed to a cellar behind the yard.

Tian Qiao was incredulous, as if hoping his guess was wrong. "You lived here?"

The Shadow nodded slowly.

Both fell silent. As the Shadow descended into the cellar, Tian Qiao muttered under his breath, "Those damn bastards!"

Cheng Zhiyu sighed and walked to the cellar entrance. "Mind if I take a look down there?"

The Shadow was silent for a long time. Just as Cheng Zhiyu thought he wouldn’t respond, a voice came from below: "O... okay."

Cheng Zhiyu lifted Little Black from his shoulder, cradled him, and stepped into the cellar. After cursing under his breath for a moment, Tian Qiao followed.

Once inside, the two grown men almost cried. Was this even fit for human habitation?

The cellar had likely been used for food storage. In Cheng Zhiyu’s village, some also had cellars like this, usually for storing sweet potatoes or apples to keep them from spoiling.

Not meant for living, the space was extremely cramped—so much so that one couldn’t even lie down flat. They couldn't imagine how the Shadow had survived here for so many years.

Clearly, he had been living here for a long time.

The Shadow rummaged through a small box, pulling out a blanket too ragged to recognize and a few equally ragged pieces of clothing.

Tian Qiao wiped his face. "Listen to me—let’s leave these behind. I’ll get you new ones."

The Shadow hesitated for a moment. Just as Tian Qiao thought he might be sentimentally attached, the Shadow tossed them without hesitation.

He, too, thought they were dirty, ragged, and worthless.

However, he looked around blankly: "Nothing... left."

He had nothing left to take away.

Cheng Zhiyu let out a silent sigh beside him and offered a gentle smile: "Let's go. If you need anything, we'll find it for you."

"Right." Tian Qiao said, lightly patting his shoulder, not lingering too long for fear of making him uncomfortable. "Let's go, let's go."

His eyes lit up as he nodded. They left the cellar, finally able to breathe more freely. They had only been down there for a short while but already felt uncomfortable, unable to imagine how he had endured it for so long.

Cheng Zhiyu felt complicated as he looked at him: "Since it's a new beginning, how about giving you a new name?"

He nodded happily. He never liked the name "bastard." Every time those people called him that, their faces were full of mockery. He knew it was definitely not a good word.

He agreed, but Cheng Zhiyu, who sucked at naming things, was stumped. Considering how he'd named those plants...

He shared a look with Little Black, who seemed to recall the name Cheng Zhiyu had given him, his eyes turning into angry half-moons.

Cheng Zhiyu covered Little Black's eyes: "Alright, I know I suck at naming."

He tried asking him: "Do you have any ideas yourself?"

Unsurprisingly, he shook his head.

Tian Qiao thought for a moment and said confidently: "Wait, I'll go look through the dictionary when we get back."

Cheng Zhiyu: "...Then I'll leave it to you."

What could he do? The pain of being bad at naming.

After returning, Tian Qiao indeed dug into the dictionary.

They stayed in the treehouse as usual, with Cheng Zhiyu and Little Black in the downstairs bedroom, and Tian Qiao and him upstairs.

They planned to leave after dark. It was noon now, so they decided to get some sleep.

Little Black still remembered the naming issue and placed his paw on Cheng Zhiyu's face: "Don't you think you should give me a new name?"

Little Black really sounded like a dog's name. He, Winged Tribe royalty...

Cheng Zhiyu yawned, taking Little Black seriously and thinking hard: "How about Little White?"

Little Black's raised tail drooped a bit.

Cheng Zhiyu also felt it wasn't right and thought harder: "Health? Peace? Lucky? Happiness? Joy?"

With each name, Little Black's tail drooped further until finally, he turned his back and lay down: "Alright, stop thinking."

Maybe the name Little Black wasn't so terrible after all. He'd gotten used to it after all this time.

Cheng Zhiyu cooed to him: "Little Black, my good boy~, I really can't think of anything. Why don't you come up with one yourself?"

Little Black's tail wagged slightly, the tip trembling lightly. He still wasn't quite used to Cheng Zhiyu's occasional mushiness. He rested his head on Cheng Zhiyu's palm: "Let's keep it. I... I'm used to it."

Cheng Zhiyu smiled, planted a loud kiss on Little Black, and before he could react, yawned: "I'm sleepy. Didn't sleep well last night. Really need to rest now. Sleep well, Little Black."

By the end, his voice grew so soft it faded out. Little Black wanted to say something but saw that Cheng Zhiyu had already closed his eyes, breathing steadily, clearly asleep.

Little Black, however, couldn't sleep. He stretched out a paw and placed it on Cheng Zhiyu's face. The sleeping man, sensing the familiar touch, didn't react.

Cheng Zhiyu was actually quite handsome, Little Black thought as his own eyelids grew heavy. He drifted off too.

When it was almost dark, they got up and ate a meal. Tian Qiao announced: "I've thought of a name for him."

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at him, curious: "What is it?"

"Tian Manman!" Tian Qiao said firmly, proudly announcing the name he'd spent the afternoon thinking of.

Cheng Zhiyu: "..." He felt Tian Qiao was just as bad at naming.

He looked at him: "What do you think?"

He nodded happily. Tian Qiao had explained the meaning of the name to him, and he liked it.

Tian Qiao then said to Cheng Zhiyu: "Look, the name Tian Manman sounds really good. The character 'Man' is great. Tian Manman, Tian Manman—what does it represent? Full fields, no worries about food or clothing. What a great life! And he shares my surname now. He's my little brother from now on, hehe."

Tian Qiao was an only child and had always envied others who had siblings to back them up in fights. He never thought he'd gain a brother in his twenties.

After hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu thought the name was indeed quite good. He had been too simplistic in his thinking. He poured a glass of water and raised it: "Then let's use water in place of wine to congratulate Manman on his new life."

Tian Qiao immediately raised his glass, and Tian Manman beside him copied their gesture, raising his glass as well.

Little Black also held up a water glass and touched glasses with them.

After dinner, they headed out.

Cheng Zhiyu rode the motorcycle with Little Black, while Tian Qiao took Tian Manman, moving forward under the moonlight.

They encountered scattered zombies along the way, but they didn't need to lift a finger—Xiao Er had already handled them.

Looking at Xiao Er's condition, Cheng Zhiyu estimated it wouldn't be long before he could level up.

They decided to go to the furniture district first. With the motorcycles, they moved much faster and soon arrived at a furniture store.

There weren't many zombies here. After dealing with the stragglers, they began searching for suitable furniture.

The most important thing was to find beds first. The treehouse interior was fairly spacious. Cheng Zhiyu found a double bed. Aside from size, he had no particular requirements for the bed's style. He chose one with a log style that fit the treehouse's color and placed it inside.

As for Tian Qiao, he spent a long time being picky before settling on a bed.

Cheng Zhiyu, curious after seeing him take so long, asked: "What's so special about this bed?"

Tian Qiao's answer was pretty straightforward: "It's expensive! You have no idea, I saw this model before the apocalypse—it cost 200,000!"

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at the rather ordinary-looking bed and couldn't see what made it worth 200,000, but it didn't matter since it was free anyway.

Besides beds, the most important thing was lights. They found some lamps nearby and installed them in the treehouse. They could be used once they found a generator.

They also found a floor AC unit.

Next were the dining table and sofa for the living room. It didn't take long to find these, and they were quickly arranged.

Just then, Cheng Zhiyu suddenly frowned, feeling a sense of dread. A ball of fire suddenly shot toward him. He immediately dodged and summoned Little Iron.

Little Black narrowed his eyes at the zombie emerging not far away and sent a bolt of lightning as thick as a finger striking toward it. The zombie tried to dodge but failed, instantly collapsing to the ground.

Cheng Zhiyu walked over and dug out the energy core from its head.

Tian Qiao walked over, patting his chest, still recovering: "Where did that zombie come from? So cunning!"

Now he had no problem dealing with Level One Zombies, but the sudden appearance of this one truly caught him off guard.

As he spoke, he looked at Little Black with admiration: "Brother Black, we owe you one, man—that was badass!"

Tian Manman watched from the sidelines, and Tian Qiao said to him, "If you encounter one of these things next time, just book it, you hear me?"

If Tian Manman started running, an ordinary zombie would stand no chance catching him.

After saying this, he noticed Cheng Zhiyu and Little Black both looked serious and asked in confusion, "What’s with the faces?"

Cheng Zhiyu frowned: "This was just a Level One fire-attribute zombie."

Tian Qiao: "I know, what’s the problem?"

Cheng Zhiyu looked at him: "When have you ever seen a Level One zombie operate solo?"

Level One Zombies already have intelligence—they’re always surrounded by swarms of regular zombies. This is the first time one has recklessly rushed in to get itself killed.

Tian Qiao scratched his head: "Uh… maybe this zombie didn’t have any minions?"

Even Little Black couldn’t help but give him that 'are you stupid?' look. Zombies aren’t human—they can directly control ordinary zombies. Unless there wasn’t a single zombie nearby, it’s impossible.

Cheng Zhiyu thought: "This zombie seems more like… a vanguard."

Tian Qiao’s expression turned serious: "You mean…"

Cheng Zhiyu: "A more powerful zombie has appeared."

As if to prove him right, a group of zombies suddenly emerged not far away—a good dozen or so. The number wasn’t large, but what was frightening was that these were clearly not ordinary zombies. Their speed and combat ability were in a whole different league from regular zombies.

They were all Level One Special Ability Zombies, and a Level One Zombie can directly control hundreds of ordinary zombies.

Just thinking about that number is terrifying.

Cheng Zhiyu frowned. An arrow instantly took a zombie’s head clean off. Beside that zombie, another was struck dead by lightning. Tian Qiao’s Ice Arrow also took down a zombie.

To their surprise, Tian Manman blurred over and crushed a zombie’s head—the zombie didn’t even have time to react.

Not just the zombies, even they hadn’t expected Tian Manman to be such a beast. That was a Special Ability Zombie’s head—how could it be so easily crushed?

But after that, things weren’t so simple. The zombie group likely realized they were out of their league and began controlling a horde of ordinary zombies to block their way while melding into the crowd, making it hard to distinguish them for a while.

If it were just that, it would be manageable—they’d just need to take out the Level One Zombies among the ordinary ones.

The problem was, behind these Level One Zombies, there was another zombie controlling them—probably a Tier Two.