Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Heading Down the Mountain Tomorrow [1]

A zombie had actually fallen right off the roof structure above the main gate.

It landed directly in front of Bai Hanyue. Taken completely off guard, Bai Hanyue was startled out of her wits!

She reacted quickly, however, lifting her pitchfork and stabbing it squarely into the head of the zombie before it could get up.

By this time, the group was pinned before the main gate. Bai Hanyue shouted loudly to the others behind her:

“I’m opening the gate!”

As her words fell, Qin Xi and Lin Xin turned around instantly, assuming defensive postures facing the gate, while Qin Song and Li Zekai remained focused on the zombies in the courtyard.

The twin iron gates were pulled open to the left and right by Bai Hanyue and Lin Xin. The moment the gate opened, four zombies lunged inside right away!

Qin Xi dodged one sideways at lightning speed, then raised her hand, bringing her Standard Machete down on the head of the second zombie.

Meanwhile, the first zombie beside her had its skull pierced through by Bai Hanyue’s pitchfork. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Qin Xi stopped paying attention to what lay behind her. Holding her blade, she dispatched them one slash per target, charging out onto the village road outside.

She then pulled out the off-road SUV, shouting loudly to the group:

“Get in!”

With those words, she quickly hopped into the front passenger seat—opening the door, stepping in, and slamming it shut all in one smooth motion.

Qin Song rounded the front of the car, getting in through the driver’s seat, while Bai Hanyue, Lin Xin, and Li Zekai piled into the back as well.

Qin Song started the vehicle.

Only now could Qin Xi clearly see that the number of zombies on the village road outside had suddenly increased significantly.

Before the zombies could surround the vehicle, he slammed down on the gas pedal, driving the car out and heading directly toward the downward mountain road near the village entrance. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Once outside, the moment the headlights illuminated the road, Qin Xi discovered that those running outside weren’t just zombies, but also living humans who had been fortunate enough to hide in their homes after the outbreak.

Now spotted by the evolved zombies, they were running out from their hiding spots one by one.

Qin Xi looked at those panicked faces—every single one of them displayed a look of shared expectation upon spotting the off-road SUV.

Yet as the car drove past without a moment’s hesitation, the hope on their faces turned into helpless panic.

“W-Wait a minute!”

“Help! Save me!”

Qin Xi watched for a while, then stopped looking.

She was always afraid her heart would soften. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The vehicle quickly reached the village entrance, driving down the mountain along the mountain path.

Farther away from the village now, the number of zombies on the road thinned out considerably.

Before long, the car arrived back at the factory at the foot of the mountain.

The factory grounds were dead quiet, with several zombie corpses scattered across the open space in twos and threes, but no living zombies in sight.

Qin Song drove the car inside, bypassing the administrative building entirely and pulling up in front of the warehouse he had rented prior to the apocalypse.

The warehouse key was still in his hands. He opened the main gate and drove the vehicle inside.

Inside the empty warehouse, a section of open space lit up beneath the glare of the car headlights.

The group stepped out of the vehicle, and Qin Song pulled the warehouse gate shut, sealing it firmly with his metallic supernatural ability. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Exchanging glances, everyone let out a long breath.

Qin Xi looked at Bai Hanyue and the other two with a serious gaze, asking:

“Is anyone injured?”

Hearing this, the three hurriedly checked themselves all over, shaking their heads one after another after a long moment:

“No!”

Qin Xi let out a sigh of relief.

She pulled the double bed and the large sofa out of her spatial dimension, setting them down on the floor.

Lin Xin flopped onto the sofa practically on his rear. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

As the others sat down sequentially, Lin Xin’s pathetic voice echoed out:

“Holy crap! My food—I only ate two bites, and I don’t even know where I put it down!”

His outburst was sudden, but as soon as he finished speaking, the rest of the group couldn’t help laughing out loud!

His unfortunate look was truly quite hilarious!

With the tense atmosphere swept away entirely, Qin Xi thought it over and handed him a packed meal box from her space:

“Eat this instead!”

At a time like this, she didn’t mind being a bit generous.

The moment Lin Xin spotted the meal box, his eyes lit up instantly. Without overthinking why Qin Xi had meal boxes stashed away, he buried his head and began eating. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Having not eaten all afternoon—compounded by sweating from his fever and awakening a supernatural ability—his body had consumed a massive amount of energy, leaving him so famished his stomach was stuck to his spine!

Had he not rushed to shove two mouthfuls of rice and meat into his mouth back at Bai Hanyue’s house earlier, he probably would have passed out from hypoglycemia long ago!

For a time, only the sound of Lin Xin chewing his food remained inside the warehouse.

Qin Song glanced at his wristwatch; it was already 3:00 AM in the second half of the night. Walking up to Qin Xi’s side, he looked down at her and said:

“It’s still early until daybreak—go sleep for a bit. I’ll keep watch here, and we’ll head down the mountain directly tomorrow morning.”

Qin Xi was indeed sleepy right now. Without declining, she agreed and pulled Bai Hanyue along to sleep.

This time, no partition curtain was drawn in front of the bed; the space inside the warehouse was far too large, and hanging a curtain carried the risk of being unable to detect something entering in time.

Qin Xi drifted off into sleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow, sleeping straight through until daybreak. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

When she woke up the next morning, the others were already up—even Bai Hanyue was awake.

Qin Xi sat up with a yawn as Qin Song walked over, his eyes resting on her with a gentle gaze:

“It’s still early—you can sleep a bit more.”

Hearing this, Qin Xi checked the time, discovering it was 7:30 AM.

It wasn’t particularly early anymore.

She shook her head:

“Not sleeping anymore. Let’s pack up and head out. The rain has lightened, so more people will be coming out to look for supplies—we need to get ahead of them.”

Hearing that, Qin Song had no choice but to rub the top of her head gently. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The group didn’t cook breakfast this morning. Each ate a bit of bread and biscuits, drank a carton of milk, and climbed into the car one after another, preparing to set off.

As the vehicle drove out of the warehouse, one could clearly feel that the sky today was noticeably brighter than over the past few days.

Although rain was still falling, the intensity had diminished significantly, turning into a soft, pattering drizzle.

What differed, however, was that compared to when they arrived last night, four or five zombies were now wandering around the open grounds of the factory at some unknown point.

Qin Xi thought it might also have been too dark last night to see them.

She had Qin Song stop the car, stepped out, and dispatched the several zombies one by one.

Her current system task still required killing 200 zombies.

Last night, she hadn’t dared to be overly greedy due to the pitch darkness, but now that it was broad daylight, she needed to hurry up and start working on the task! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

As the several zombies collapsed to the ground, system prompts chimed continuously by Qin Xi’s ear:

[Ding… Successfully killed zombie ×1]

[Ding… Successfully killed zombie ×1]

[Ding… Successfully killed zombie ×1]

…

A total of six zombies yielded three crystal cores.

Qin Xi pulled a cardboard box out of her spatial dimension, placed the crystal cores inside, and stored it away.

She then pulled out a wet wipe to clean her hands. Just as she turned around to walk back, Lin Xin walked over at some unknown point. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Qin Xi raised an eyebrow at him, her gaze inquiring.

The expression on Lin Xin’s face was very grim. He looked over the six zombies one by one, followed her back onto the car, and only spoke in a cold voice after the car door was shut:

“The ones outside… were all neighbors who came down the mountain with us that day.”

Dead silence fell over the vehicle cabin!

Bai Hanyue looked out the car window, her line of sight falling onto the female zombie as her brows creased tightly:

“They were all murdered by those men Wu Dongyan brought up the mountain!”