Zhao He's weight ultimately remained a mystery.
But the two missing branches fully embody the unbearable weight of life.
In the end, he could only use his hands and feet to hug the tree trunk, and dared not touch any tender branches again.
"Let's move on to the next step quickly, I can't hold on much longer." Hugging the tree trunk also requires skill and strength, and Zhao He could only pray that the bark was rough enough and the friction was sufficient.
After observing carefully, He Zhiwen, who was nearby, reminded his comrade: "It seems like you are sliding down at a speed of 0.01 meters per second."
Zhao He forced a smile: "So you don't have much time left."
"Yes, we need to act quickly," Zhou Yilu, who was on the same tree as He Zhiwen, said solemnly, "otherwise we will pay the price of 'you'."
"..." This is absolutely intimidation, pure and simple!
My foot was suddenly touched.
Zhao He jolted awake, his muscles tensed, and he scrambled up another half meter!
After regaining his balance, he looked down and saw six or seven zombies with their arms outstretched, eagerly hoping to embrace him.
"Consider it an obligation I owe you all," when life and death are at stake, nothing is more important than life itself. "Remember this: for every one you kill, you owe two more. If you give me a drop of water today, I'll repay you with a spring of water tomorrow!"
Clang.
Before Zhao He could finish speaking, Qi Yan had already knocked one down. Zhou Yilu's attempt missed, but the blade still pierced the zombie's neck. At the same time, Song Fei and Wu Zhou were doing their best to lure the zombies over to reduce the danger under Zhao He's tree—their team had already started moving before he even spoke.
No one would really stand by and watch someone die in a situation like this.
However, they will not refuse if someone offers them terms.
Qi Yan: "They owe me four."
Zhou Yilu: "Done, you owe us both."
Zhao He: "Just remember the actual number. I can do multiplication and division within two myself..."
Song Fei: "They both have long weapons, so they'll definitely be the ones to kill. Does that mean we who helped distract the zombies won't get any credit?"
The sushi gun is Zhou Yilu's traditional tool, needless to say. As for Qi Yan, he combined a boning knife he found in the kitchen with the hollow metal rod of a mop that he also found in the kitchen. The handle of the boning knife could fit perfectly into the slightly flattened hollow metal rod, and the handle itself was a little wider than the cross-section of the flattened metal rod, making it very difficult to insert. He would insert the blade deep into the gap of the warehouse door until it was completely submerged, leaving only the handle. Then, using the force of the handle against the door, he would push the metal rod forward little by little until the handle was completely submerged. But after it was inserted, it was very tight, without any looseness.
Song Fei and his friends originally wanted to imitate the cat, but after searching around, they only had two mops: one with a metal handle and one with a wooden handle. The former was already used by Qi Yan, and the latter was unusable. They asked the students on the second floor, and the situation was even worse: they only had a wooden mop with barely any cloth strips on it. It was so unusable as a mop, let alone a weapon.
As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down; when a drum breaks, everyone beats it. Zhao He accepted it.
But even close comrades need to be accountable: "They're counting how many zombies they kill. What about you distracting them? If you distract one, I'll pay you back for both of them."
"Then I'd be setting you up," Song Fei said righteously, head held high. "Singing one song counts as three, no matter how many zombies I attract."
Zhao He was a little incredulous. A song would last at least two or three minutes, enough to lure all the zombies over; it was practically a freebie. He'd actually worried they'd take advantage of the chaos—unbelievable…
Feeling ashamed and reflecting on his actions, Zhao He nodded solemnly: "Deal."
At this moment, only the small boat of friendship remained in the heart of this tough man, gently swaying on the blue waves.
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!
Qiao Siqi: "Three."
"Niu Sanjin~~ Niu Sanjin~~ Your wife's name is Lü Guihua~~ Lü Guihua~ Let me ask~ Are you coming back soon~~"
Josh: "Six."
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are~~ And so many little stars in the sky~~ Like many little eyes~~ Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are~~"
Qiao Siqi: "Nine."
Zhao He: "I can also do multiplication and division up to three!"
"Happybirthdaytoyou~~happy..."
Zhao He: "Enough!"
Qiao Siqi: "This is a bit much. At least change it to whom? By the way, Zhao He, do you have an English name?"
Zhao He: "jasper".
Qiao Siqi: "It's quite catchy."
Zhao He: "That's right, I started it myself... Pah, who wants to talk to you about this! I'm breaking the contract, I'm breaking the contract right now!"
The nightingale-like bass voice trailed off in the wind.
Song Fei: "The penalty for breach of contract is ten, plus the previous ones, making a total of nineteen."
Zhao He: "...I'll repay you for the rest of my life."
The little boat of friendship hadn't even enjoyed a few rays of sunshine before it shattered beneath the iceberg.
Two students from Class 1 were locked in a fierce battle, while three students from Class 2 couldn't offer any help or get involved. Thus, they were fortunate enough to witness their classmate being tricked the entire time, leaving them with a myriad of emotions—
He Zhiwen: "When he said he was going to sing, I had a bad feeling."
Wu Zhou: "Luckily, I'm a sturdy tree. The city is full of tricks."
Feng Qibai: "The ground in the countryside is slippery too."
Of the twenty-six zombies, twelve were killed by Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu working together, leaving eighteen—four of them ran out of the zombie camp following the sound of the song.
Stabbing zombies is physically demanding. Often, a single strike isn't enough; repeated stabs are necessary, and considerable force is required to pierce the skull. Taking down ten zombies had already left both of their shoulders aching terribly. While willpower can help, the reduced effectiveness is obvious. Previously, three stabs were enough to kill them; now it takes four or five, and even then, the stabs aren't guaranteed to penetrate deeply.
The comrades weren't blind either; they saw everything clearly from beginning to end. At this moment, He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai, who were on the same tree, volunteered to take over the guns and, under the guidance of their seniors, began to stab!
Ten minutes later, the number decreased from eighteen to thirteen.
Since Song Fei stopped singing, no more zombies came out of the courier point. It's unclear whether they were all hiding or if there were no more zombies inside.
Twenty minutes later, the number of thirteen decreased to eight.
He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai were not made of iron, and coupled with their lack of experience, their physical strength had reached its limit.
Zhao He was also at his limit—he had been hugging the tree for half an hour, and with Song Fei's torment, he was physically and mentally exhausted.
"Comrades," Zhao He looked up at the starry sky and sighed, "I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"
All comrades: "You just said you'd never brag again..."
Zhao He: "The bad news is that I think I can't hold on much longer, but the good news is that I can still take two of them with me."
Before his friends could even react, Zhao He had already released one arm. Surprisingly, he didn't fall; instead, he gritted his teeth and used only his legs and one hand to maintain his hold on the tree trunk. He had released the arm to pull out the military dagger that had been tucked into his waistband. Once he had the dagger in hand, he released his grip, and with a thud, landed steadily on the ground!
The moment he landed, the zombies gathered on the outermost edge of the tree under Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu turned around first. After seeing him on the ground, they immediately turned around and pounced on him!
Zhao He gripped his military dagger tightly, refusing to retreat an inch. His beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, exuding a chilling and menacing aura.
"You bastard!"
Wu Zhou cursed and jumped down from the tree, tackling a zombie that had just passed by! The zombie struggled, but Wu Zhou plunged a knife into its forehead!
The zombies that arrived then pounced on his back and opened their mouths to bite his shoulder!
Wu Zhou was caught off guard and was about to fall into the trap!
In a flash, a chopstick pierced the back of the zombie's head—Song Fei had arrived.
Zhao He was surrounded by three zombies. He kicked one away, swung his arm to knock another away, and then used a military dagger to attack the third one!
Both the one kicked away and the one swung away crashed into the tree trunk where Johns was. The tree trunk was fine, but the branch under Johns' feet swayed violently. He lost his balance and fell sideways!
As he was about to fall into the arms of two zombies, Josh was filled with despair. In movies, the protagonist in this moment would always close his eyes and wait to die, but not him. He was determined to watch how he would die!
*Splat*
He didn't die; he just fell face-first into the mud.
The two zombies were already entangled together by Wu Zhou and Song Fei, who had arrived just in time!
Qiao Siqi pulled out a Swiss Army knife from his pocket and, almost at the speed of light, ran to Wu Zhou, who was closest to him, and slashed the back of the head of the zombie that was pressing down on him!
With a forceful pull, Qiao Siqi didn't hesitate for a moment, instantly teleporting to Song Fei's side and delivering the same strike!
Seeing the flash of cold light, Song Fei, still holding the zombie by the shoulder, turned it around to face the direction from which the light was coming!
flutter--
When the light is gone, the knife enters.
Startled and breaking out in a cold sweat, Song Fei let out a long sigh of relief: "Next time, could you at least aim carefully before you stab me?!"
There are eight zombies left on the ground.
There are four students on the ground.
Five out of the eight zombies still persist in fighting against Zhou Lu or Qi Yan.
The remaining three, belatedly realizing what was happening, turned around and walked towards the living people on the ground. Unlike the previous zombies, which excitedly pounced on the living, they walked slowly, more like zombies in some movies, taking one clumsy and sluggish step by step.
But it is precisely this slow approach that creates an even more terrifying sense of oppression.
The four men hesitated, unsure whether to rush forward and fight or run away.
Song Fei: "Shall we fight?"
Wu Zhou: "Four against three, we can win."
Qiao Siqi: "There are still five over there. What if they've all been lured over?"
Zhao He: "Perfect, we can take them all in one go."
Song and Qiao: "Who gave you this confidence?!"
Wu and Zhao: "Olympics".
As it turns out, Wu and Zhao are worthy of the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster, stronger," especially Zhao He, whose arms were so sore that he had to risk abandoning the tree before, but now he is dominating the field, his movements are smooth and efficient.
However, even the strongest fists cannot defeat four hands, and even the fiercest tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves.
Four against three is not a big problem, but four against eight is a disaster.
Just as Zhao He and Wu Zhou had each taken down one of them, and Song Fei had severely injured the third, the other five arrived with lightning speed!
Even more deadly, the third person who had been stabbed in the mouth by Song Fei suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Song Fei's arm that was holding the knife!
Song Fei was startled; an extreme chill ran through her body from where she was being held.
In that moment of distraction, the newly arrived zombie was already standing in front of them!
Without waiting for the attack, Song Fei drew his weapon and rolled away to avoid the new zombie's lunge.
The newcomer pounced on the heavily wounded zombie, only to be shot dead by Qi Yan who was chasing after him!
In fact, the moment the five zombies moved their target, Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu jumped down from the tree. Seeing them move, Feng Qibai and He Zhiwen followed suit.
Four against eight became eight against five and a half, and when Qi Yan fired that shot, it became eight against four and a half.
There's no reason to lose.
Just grit your teeth and persevere!
Da da da—
The comrade in the midst of the fight suddenly shuddered.
It was the sound of footsteps, many chaotic footsteps, approaching from afar!
"Climb the tree!" Qi Yan decided immediately.
Zhao He kicked the second zombie away, utterly desperate: "Still crawling?!"
Qi Yan ignored him and had already shaken off the entangled zombies, returning to the high ground first!
These footsteps could be from a human or a zombie, but even if there's only a one percent chance it's the latter, they can't take the risk!
Song Fei was still pulling Qiao Siqi along, while Zhou Yilu and Qi Yan were responsible for Feng Qibai and He Zhiwen. Wu Zhou, who climbed the tree alone, was also in charge. They had already reached a certain tacit understanding without any prior agreement.
Except for Zhao He.
Instead of choosing the same tree he had originally chosen, after sending He Zhiwen up the tree for the second time, he used his elbow to push the approaching zombie away from its chest. Then, he leaped up and climbed onto the tree trunk, which was more than a meter off the ground. He didn't dare to stop and continued climbing until he was shoulder to shoulder with Zhou Yilu before he stopped.
Zhou Lu has unspeakable suffering, always feeling that his tree will break at the roots and fall down in the near future!
The five zombies ultimately failed to stop the group from climbing the tree. Even Feng Qibai, who was the slowest, only got bitten on the toe. Fortunately, his sneakers were thick enough that his skin wasn't injured.
The sound of hurried footsteps had already reached us on the night breeze.
The eight friends in the tree all looked into the distance at the same time, and saw a figure running frantically under the moonlight, followed by seven or eight zombies. The person was running very fast, and the zombies had already left him some distance behind. Judging from the position of the last zombie, they must have come from the supermarket, and the direction they were heading was this way.
The figure drew closer.
We're closer now.
They were so close that Song Fei and the others could clearly recognize the face.
They were so close that the person could clearly see them in the tree.
Finally, the runner reached the tree and, without hesitation, began to climb. He chose a tree where no one was around, whether out of wariness of them or a sense of unease about being unwelcome, it was unclear.
That man was just as agile as Zhao He.
He must be lighter than Zhao He, because Zhao He is firmly perched on the tree branch, and judging by appearances, he is not in immediate danger of falling.
"We are truly destined to meet."
Yu Zisheng's smile, under the cool moonlight, strangely overlapped with the smile he had when he was first rescued and brought into the supermarket.