Tang Ke caught the car key Qi Yue had thrown over. He gave Qi Yue who had been squeezed to the back of the crowd a deep, long look, then dashed straight toward the car as he rushed out the door.
Outside was extremely chaotic. Some people in the courtyard were fighting zombies, some were bitten and running around in panic, some were so terrified by the scene that their legs gave out and they collapsed on the ground. Zombies could be seen everywhere gnawing on people, and more and more were getting bitten. The base gate had been opened. A few people who reacted quickly were already driving their cars, ramming through the half-open gate and speeding off to escape.
Parked beside the minibus was exactly the same small cargo truck they had used during the day to collect supplies, and the ones sitting inside were Brother Li, Yanzi, and a few people he didn’t recognize. They lived on the first floor, so they got out faster than the others.
Tang Ke used the key to unlock the chain locks on the wheels one by one, got in the car, started the engine, and backed out. Brother Li’s car still hadn’t driven off, no idea why. When he opened the window to ask, he learned their car was broken; for some unknown reason it wouldn’t start. He called them to get into his car instead. He drove back to the building entrance. It was even more chaotic than before. People inside were shouting nonstop, and zombies were gnawing on people right at the doorway. Looking in from outside, he could see people running in panic, some in groups. While they were running, someone beside them would suddenly turn and bite. Villagers who had been bitten and had fallen to the ground were getting up one after another, turning into zombies and biting people. There were more people in the building than outside, and more of them had turned into zombies.
Tang Ke jumped out of the car and was about to rush in.
But reality was cruel. There was simply no way in. There were still several hundred people inside trying to get out. Most of them lived on the third and fourth floors, mostly elderly people, children, and women. It had all happened too suddenly; they hadn’t managed to escape at the beginning.
In this kind of situation, how could he possibly get inside?
Tang Ke was frantic, practically losing his mind. Regardless of whether anyone could hear him, he shouted Qi Yue’s name over and over.
Brother Li also got out of the car. Seeing that Tang Ke was losing control, he grabbed him from behind to stop him. People were packed together. Even if he forced his way in, the space was small and the population dense, it would likely end badly. It was far too dangerous! Seeing he could no longer hold Tang Ke back, Brother Li struck the back of Tang Ke’s head with a chop of his hand and knocked him out. He called the others from the car to help carry Tang Ke back inside the vehicle.
When they drove out the main gate and left, they could see in the distance that zombies from the surrounding villages were all heading this way, densely packed, at least a thousand of them. Through the firelight, the scattered mass of zombies stretched on without end. The Yuejin Village mini-base after tonight, it would likely cease to exist!
Meanwhile, Qi Yue’s group drove in the dark for about an hour before stopping in front of a two-story house in the countryside. It looked like a villa built by some wealthy city person for vacations. They were so familiar with the route, they must have planned to come here long ago. It was deep in the night; dawn was still a while away. Everything around them was pitch-black and silent.
There were three cars in total. Qi Yue, Zhao Yi, and Zhao Yi’s older brother were in the front car and arrived first. The cars in the back also parked one after another. They got out and followed the others inside.
Just as they stepped through the door, something cold pressed against Qi Yue’s head. His heart jolted, it was a gun!
From the corners of the house, inside the rooms, and from upstairs, a group of people came out each holding a gun, pointing right at them. It seemed someone had arrived earlier and taken this place as their turf. Coming in like this, they had basically walked right into the trap!
After subduing all of them, the group lit several candles. In the faint light, they could be seen clearly, each one tall and burly, holding guns of various lengths. From their wrists to the upper arms, faint, vicious-looking tattoos could be seen. Most of them wore ordinary clothes, but a few were wearing prison uniforms, and shockingly, one of them was even wearing a police uniform. These were men who had escaped from prison, vicious criminals!
After subduing everyone that the village chief had brought, they beat all the men first with punches and kicks. Then they tied up both men and women, gagged them, and locked them into different rooms. Qi Yue also received a hard kick to the stomach. The woman holding a child was surrounded by several men; she dodged left and right, clutching her baby tightly, trying to escape their hands. In the pulling and grabbing, the baby woke up and began wailing. One of the men touching her suddenly snatched the child from her arms, opened the door, and tossed the baby directly into the courtyard. Bang! The crying stopped abruptly. The woman’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. The men surrounding her burst into laughter, dragged her up, threw her over a shoulder, and carried her into a room nearby. The others followed.
Not long after, the sound of the woman crying could be heard from the room.
The door of the room where Qi Yue and the others were being held was not closed; it was wide open. From where he sat, he could see a man in the living room keeping watch over them, glancing at them from time to time, but mostly staring at the other room, the one that had just had two women dragged inside.
With his hands tied behind him where no one could see, Qi Yue took out a small blade used for scraping fish scales from his space, and carefully cut through the rope. After only a few moves, the rope snapped. He looked up, the guard wasn’t looking, so he quickly cut through the rope on his feet and spat out the rag stuffed in his mouth.
This movement was seen by Zhao Yi, who was tied directly across from him. Zhao Yi jerked his head urgently, signaling for Qi Yue to untie him too. Qi Yue responded with a shushing gesture, then pointed toward the door and made a striking motion. Zhao Yi thought Qi Yue meant that he should stay quiet, continue fooling the criminals, and wait for Qi Yue to take out the guard before coming back to rescue him. So he immediately stopped moving and stayed obedient.
Crouching low, Qi Yue slipped past the open side door. Inside that room were five or six men, not one of them paying attention to the entrance. They were all crowded around the bed where—
the woman who had been holding the baby lay completely naked, legs spread, a man thrusting on top of her. Around them stood leering naked men, touching her while she cried and let out broken sounds of agony, mixed with the men’s excited rough breathing.
Qi Yue tiptoed into the living room. The guard there sensed nothing, craning his neck to watch what was happening in the other room where a group of men were assaulting two other women. Qi Yue reached into his space and pulled out a rolling pin from the kitchen. With all his strength, he smashed it down on the guard’s head.
Seeing the man go limp instantly, he quickly stored the rolling pin back into his space, supported the guard’s body, lowered him gently onto the floor, then tossed him aside. Their bags had been thrown in a heap on the floor; the criminals hadn’t even had time to open them, having rushed off to “play” with the women. Convenient for Qi Yue, he quietly pulled out his own bag, slung it on his back, crawled to the door leading outside, gingerly opened it, slipped out, and shut it softly behind him.
Qi Yue had never planned on saving anyone. Because of their selfishness and carelessness, so many people in the base had died. They couldn’t be considered good people. Be kind to good people, and they become better; be kind to bad people, and they only become worse. Over the years, Qi Yue had long since learned this truth.
He didn’t dare steal a car, afraid of making noise and drawing the criminals out, so he could only go on foot. The sky gradually began to brighten. He didn’t dare follow the road, and instead slipped into the nearby fields, navigating by his own sense of direction toward the highway.
He walked almost the whole morning with his backpack on. Muttering curses under his breath, he complained, he had finally found himself a big thigh to cling to, only to lose him. Who knew if they would ever meet again? Who knew if Tang Ke had managed to escape safely? As he thought this, he felt a wave of heavy sorrow.
After a few more hours, he finally saw the highway. His spirits lifted. Highways were good, fewer zombies than other places. If he was lucky and ran into someone passing by, maybe he could hitch a ride.
But after several more hours, Qi Yue drooped his head dejectedly. It was already afternoon, and he had seen only a single car pass by and it had sped past him in a flash, disappearing without a trace. These beasts! He made up his mind that if he saw another car, he would find a way to make them take him along.
In the distance came the sound of an engine. Oh yes, another car! Far ahead, a convoy of vehicles was approaching.
One.
Two.
Three…
There were six cars in total.
Delighted, Qi Yue walked to the middle of the road and stood there, waving. Then, after thinking for a moment, he simply lay across the road horizontally.
Anyway, he was not going to keep walking on these legs.
Either they take him with them or they run him over and kill him.
After all, he had lived through revival so many years already, he’d gotten his fill.
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