Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Cutting Meat with a Dull Knife [1]

Shatter!!

“AAAAAHHHH!!!”

“Gurgle-gurgle…“

The sound of shattering glass, agonizing screams of someone being bitten, and the low growls of a zombie echoed through the small bedroom all at the same time!

No one had noticed when Chen Liang had undone the ropes binding his body!

By the time they realized it, he had already crashed through the glass window and leaped straight down!

This was the fourth floor!

Qin Song quickly pushed aside the low cabinet, crossed the bedroom bed in two long strides, ran to the window, and leaned out to look down.

Two seconds later, he spun back around; a sharp metallic blade extended from his fingertips and plunged straight into the skull of the zombie lunging at his back! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The mutated mother of Chen Liang collapsed onto the floor.

Qin Xi vaulted over the low cabinet, bypassed the foul blood on the ground, and ran to the window to look outside as well.

However, the area below was in absolute chaos, and she couldn’t spot the figure she was looking for!

Behind her, Qin Song spoke in a grave tone:

“No need to look. He got lucky—despite injuring his leg, he hijacked a car and fled!”

Qin Xi was stunned. Turning back to look at Qin Song, she felt somewhat bewildered:

“How did he untie those ropes?”

They were bound extremely tightly, and yet the ropes on both his hands and feet had been freed together! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Qin Song pondered for a few seconds, looking at Qin Xi with a firm tone:

“It’s possible his supernatural ability awakened. But under normal circumstances, abilities should only awaken after the torrential rain—except for the few of us who were reborn. So, it’s also possible that he was reborn as well!”

Qin Xi stared at Qin Song in astonishment.

Soon, however, she calmed herself down:

“So… Chen Liang was reborn right at this current point in time.”

That was it. A sudden flashback crossed Qin Xi’s mind—the backward glance Chen Liang had cast over his shoulder right as he flipped out the window just now.

In that gaze was resentment and malicious joy.

Yet there was also a trace of dark ruthlessness and cunning that should only have belonged to someone years deep into the apocalypse! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Reborn, yet escaped—Chen Liang’s existence had now become a severe liability.

Just as Qin Song and Qin Xi were feeling regret over Chen Liang’s escape, a sudden burst of maniacal laughter echoed from across the bed:

“HAHAHAHAHAHA…”

The two raised their eyes and saw Zhao Yuhao, drenched in blood, looking as though he had given up all hope.

Lying on the floor, he turned his head to stare at them with a look of schadenfreude on his face:

“Qin Song, HAHAHAHA! What should I even say about you! You see, even with a second chance, you still let one slip away!”

“That kid Chen Liang is way more vicious than me. Just you wait! Something big is waiting for you! The mere thought of you two having to go through that kind of death all over again makes my death completely worth it, HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Irony-laden laughter reverberated through the bedroom. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The expressions on both Qin Song’s and Qin Xi’s faces turned unsightly.

Zhao Yuhao continued talking to himself:

“Anyway, I’ve already been bitten. In a little while, I’ll turn into a zombie. Whether I live or die then doesn’t matter to me anymore, but you two—you’ll be living in constant fear…”

Before he could finish his words, Qin Song suddenly stepped over, hoisted him up with one hand, and dragged him toward the door.

Before Zhao Yuhao could even wrap up his sentence, his entire body was lifted into the air.

Looking in the direction Qin Song was walking, he guessed what Qin Song intended to do and immediately began struggling wildly:

“Qin Song! What are you doing?! Kill me! Just give me a knife! Kill me! Let go of me!”

However, before he could finish shouting, Qin Song had already yanked the door open. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

In the hallway outside, the lights inside the opposite apartment were blazing bright.

Two zombies—one adult and one child—were wandering around the living room. Hearing the commotion over here, they immediately shuffled toward the doorway with excitement.

Qin Song hurled Zhao Yuhao right in front of the opposite door.

Zhao Yuhao’s body slammed heavily onto the floor.

Staring at the two zombies just inches away, he instantly regretted provoking Qin Song moments ago.

Yet before he could plead for mercy, he heard the man’s icy voice:

“When you harmed Qin Xi in our past life, you probably never imagined a day like this would come either, did you? The agony of cutting meat with a dull knife [1]—you should experience it for yourself. Enjoy it slowly!”

The rest of Zhao Yuhao’s unspoken words froze completely in his throat! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Because right at that moment, one of the zombies suddenly bit off half of his face!

The excruciating agony nearly caused him to faint, only to be snapped back into agonizing consciousness the very next second as a chunk of flesh was ripped from his neck!

“AAAAAHHH! Qin Song, you motherf…!”

“Gurgle-gurgle…“

Qin Xi and Qin Song stood right at the doorway of Chen Liang’s home, watching Zhao Yuhao slowly draw his final breath.

In the end, he didn’t even leave behind an intact corpse.

Then, right as the two zombies turned their sights toward them, Qin Xi pulled out the Standard Machete awarded by the system, slicing through each of them one by one to eliminate both zombies.

The system prompt rang out immediately: Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

[Ding—Successfully killed Zombie ×2. Remaining task requirement: 28.]

This system upgrade required completing a set quota of zombie kills.

Therefore, Qin Song didn’t move to attack, simply standing behind Qin Xi to protect her.

After taking out the two zombies, Qin Xi looked at the machete in her hand with a hint of surprise.

As expected of something produced by the system.

Even though it was classified as a standard weapon, it was exceptionally sharp and required remarkably little effort to wield!

Unfortunately, she didn’t know whether this blade could be upgraded; if it could, she would be making a huge profit!

Qin Xi weighed the machete in her hand, turning back to look at Qin Song: Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“Big Brother, let’s go!”

Qin Song nodded.

Walking up to Zhao Yuhao’s corpse, he swept an expressionless glance over it, sprouted a metallic blade from his fingertip, and stabbed the head twice to prevent any incomplete death leading to reanimation.

Reaching down, he rummaged through the pocket of Zhao Yuhao’s jacket and pulled out a key fob for a Jeep Wrangler.

Qin Xi raised an eyebrow behind him:

“We even got a car for free!”

Hearing this, a trace of a smile appeared in Qin Song’s eyes as he looked at Qin Xi, stepping over to stand beside her:

“It’s nothing. It’s just what he owed us. Let’s go!” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The two moved quickly downstairs.

Along the way, they encountered four zombies—three wandering in the stairwell, and one that suddenly burst out from an open doorway.

Qin Xi eliminated every single one of them, with system prompts chiming repeatedly:

[Ding—Successfully killed Zombie ×1…] [Ding—Successfully killed Zombie ×2…] [Ding—Successfully killed Zombie ×4…]

However, right after the final notification prompt rang out, a new system prompt unexpectedly popped up immediately after:

[Ding—Random Task triggered: Kill the Zombie Hound unassisted. Reward: Energy Potion ×1.]

Qin Xi’s steps heading downstairs came to a sudden halt!

Qin Song, walking ahead of her, noticed instantly and stopped as well, turning back to look at her in confusion. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Only to find that Qin Xi’s gaze had already shifted toward the doorway they had just passed.

Following her line of sight, he saw a zombie hound whose eyes had already turned blood-red!

From the zombie hound’s muzzle, crimson blood dripped down its black fur continuously!

The moment Qin Song saw the creature inside the doorway, his muscles tensed up in less than a second!

One had to know that in their past life at the very beginning of the apocalypse, what caused mass human casualties and mutations were actually these mutated animals!

Compared to the slow movement speed of human zombies, these mutated animals were far faster!

He subconsciously moved to step forward, but was stopped by Qin Xi’s sudden words.

The girl’s voice sounded somewhat raspy due to tension: Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“Big Brother… the system task wants me to kill it myself!”

Footnotes

1. Cutting meat with a dull knife (鈍刀子割肉 – dùn dāo zi gē ròu): A traditional Chinese idiom that translates to using a blunt blade to slice flesh. It metaphorically describes inflicting prolonged, agonizing torment or slow, agonizing suffering on someone rather than giving them a swift end.