The wind in the latter half of the night always turns cold and hard without warning, as if there is a hand from outer space that immediately changes the weather pattern at a certain time, stingy with even a transition.
Zhao He shrank his neck and wrapped his coat even tighter.
He was walking along the main road in the department building area. Of course, just like before, he stayed close to the side of the road, walking alongside the large trees. Under the moonlight, the shadows of the trees were dappled, and the dry, intertwined branches gave the illusion of lushness. His dark clothes were perfectly hidden in the shadows, and his deliberately slowed pace and light footsteps made him almost blend into the night.
The Qiushi Building has passed, and the Yixin Building is right in front of us, but the singing from the Gewu Building can no longer be heard at all.
Zhao He doesn't consider himself a coward, but on nights like this, he suddenly wished that his teammates' singing could stay with him a little longer, even if it was just for a few more minutes.
The thick smoke on the roof of the Qiushi Building behind us had mostly dissipated, leaving only a few faint wisps that drifted into the night sky.
Zhao He withdrew his gaze and made up his mind—he wouldn't go back to the cafeteria.
With only half a night left since the group dispersed, he felt that Zhou Yilu and Qiao Siqi from Luban Building, and Wu Zhou and Feng Qibai from Yixin Building, should not and would not return to the cafeteria.
This speculation has no basis whatsoever; it's simply a sixth sense. But sometimes, a person's sixth sense is more reliable than meticulous reasoning. Because it appears so mysteriously, it can also be so accurate that it requires no explanation.
Of course, it's not impossible to analyze this further. Putting yourself in his shoes, if he were the one luring the enemy, he wouldn't immediately return to the cafeteria; instead, he would choose a nearby shelter, waiting for news of his teammates' victory or the need for support. And now, he himself is that "source of information."
He had no choice but to relay the news to his comrades that "Song Fei, Qi Yan, and He Zhiwen have successfully infiltrated the Gewu Building and are preparing to launch an attack on the radio tomorrow night," even if he could only choose one of the two buildings, Luban Building or Yixin Building.
So the question arises: should we stop here and go to art, or continue on and devote ourselves to architecture?
Click.
Zhao He's body trembled, and his thoughts and steps came to an abrupt halt.
That was the sound of something cracking. The crack must have been extremely subtle, because the sound was so faint that it would have been completely ignored if he hadn't slowed his already deliberate pace even further and moved even more quietly in his moment of hesitation.
Looking around, all that could be seen was an empty asphalt road. There wasn't a single zombie in sight, and not even a single flower or blade of grass. The only thing that could be considered an object was the one he was leaning against...
Wait a moment.
Zhao He suddenly froze, then slowly and stiffly raised his head.
He was standing precisely under a tree, and about a meter above his head, a dark, shadowy figure was perched on a branch that wasn't particularly thick. This darkness wasn't a matter of light or shadow, but rather the figure itself; it was completely charred from head to toe, like a charcoal doll. Its face wasn't spared either; the blackened features were almost blurred together, its eyes were closed, and clear liquid was oozing from the torn flesh.
This was such a horrific scene, so close and so impactful, that Zhao He was momentarily speechless, his mind completely blank.
Suddenly, with a snap, the branch broke completely!
The "charcoal man" fell rapidly, catching Zhao He off guard, and he let it slam down at his feet.
The other person's body crashed into the ground, but their hand landed on Zhao He's foot. The next second, the hand seemed to have a life of its own. Before the body could recover from the impact and was still struggling and writhing unconsciously, it took the initiative to tightly grip Zhao He's tightly tied shoelaces!
Zhao He instantly snapped out of his daze, kicked the "charcoal man" away, and scrambled up the tree!
It took the "charcoal man" a long time to finally get up from the ground. Judging from his hesitant movements, he must have fallen quite hard. After getting up, he didn't rush to move. Instead, he looked around and kept sniffing the air around him.
Zhao He was now certain. It didn't cry out in pain, wasn't afraid of disfigurement, and showed no emotion whatsoever about its horrific state. This wasn't a "charcoal man," but a "charcoal corpse." Moreover, it was completely blind, so it could only hunt using its sense of smell and touch.
Fortunately, I managed to hide in time and was high enough.
Zhao He let out a long sigh of relief...
Click.
Well...
Click!
Damn, he knew it!
The tree branch, which even a charred zombie couldn't support, couldn't possibly lift the robust Zhao He. In a flash, it snapped cleanly. Zhao He had no chance to struggle and fell heavily, landing squarely on the charred corpse as if he had deliberately aimed for it.
Overjoyed, Tan Shi grabbed Zhao He and took a bite out of him!
The zombie was 100% trying to bite its prey's neck, but it only managed to bite Zhao's chest.
Height is a source of pain.
Through his clothes, and with his firm pectoral muscles, the bite failed; at most, his teeth grazed his chest through the fabric. But that one bite was enough to make Zhao He's hair stand on end and give him goosebumps.
It wasn't fear, but unfortunately, this taste reminded Zhao He of his ex-girlfriend.
As a tall, muscular man, Zhao He has a preference for petite women; his ex-girlfriend only reached his chest. Whenever he acts cute, he likes to bite, usually by giving her a bear hug and biting whichever is most convenient, and nine times out of ten, it's her chest that suffers.
Now that the beauty has found another love, he is left alone to grieve in the wind, and has even gone so far as to reminisce about sweet memories on a charred zombie. It is so tragic that the world changes color and the sun and moon lose their light!
What's even more terrifying is that the ex-girlfriend's cute face and the zombie's charcoal-black face on her chest flash back and forth on the retina, which is a truly unpleasant experience!
Huff!
Another bite.
The zombies were persistent, but due to their impaired vision, they could only act on instinct, so their attack range was always Zhao Xiong.
Zhao was strong-willed, but after being harassed like this for so long, he couldn't take it anymore and decisively cut off his ties with Zhao!
As the military dagger sank into the zombie's temple, Zhao's chest returned to calm.
Carefully laying the body down and pulling out the military dagger, Zhao He shook off the remaining liquid while carefully examining the corpse.
After being entangled with this zombie for so long, his feelings towards it were no longer just simple fear, but more of a sense of doubt and other complex emotions that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He didn't know whether he was burned first and then infected, or infected first and then burned; secretly, he hoped it was the latter. At least, it wouldn't be so painful.
But where did this fire come from?
Zhao He thought of the few remaining wisps of smoke in the Qiushi Building. He had doubts, but they could only remain doubts.
Kara--
Suddenly, a strange noise came from Yixin Building diagonally in front of us, much like the sound of a window opening.
Zhao He's spirits lifted, and he immediately widened his eyes to search for the exact location of the sound source!
On a dark and windy night, searching through a row of dark windows to find which one was open was like looking for a needle in a haystack. To be precise, he couldn't even distinguish between high-rise and low-rise buildings, or north and south. The only thing Zhao He was certain of was that the sound was coming from the side of the building facing him. If it were from another side, the sound wouldn't have traveled at all!
Just as Zhao He was at his wit's end, he suddenly saw a figure fall from the middle window on the third floor—
Clang!
From the moment the figure was seen to the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground, everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Zhao He was startled and instinctively wanted to go forward to check, but just as he was about to move, he suddenly saw seven or eight zombies wriggling out of Yixin Building! And new zombies were still coming out one after another, all attracted by the sound of them landing!
Zhao He clenched his fists, almost grinding his teeth to powder. He was worried that his teammates would fall, and he desperately wanted to rush forward, but seeing the ever-growing number of zombies, he knew that charging in would be like throwing an egg against a rock.
In my frantic state, a sudden inspiration struck me!
Regardless of whether the tree was willing or not, Zhao He spotted the thickest branch and began to climb it using both his hands and feet.
In the blink of an eye, Zhao He had reached the high ground and immediately faced the zombie horde, preparing to burst into song. Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, before he could utter a sound, the small group of zombies that had gathered lazily dispersed. The zombies that followed behind seemed to sense something was amiss, and they no longer approached. Most of them stopped a meter or two away from the fallen man, and then without exception, they all turned around and slowly walked back.
Zhao He stopped in time, watching helplessly as the zombies swarmed out only to retreat in defeat, all within a few minutes.
Soon the area below Yixin Building was clean again, as if nothing had happened. If Zhao He hadn't been able to see the dark shadow on the ground from his height, he would have really thought that everything before was an illusion.
Instead of guessing, Zhao He decided to find out for himself.
He tiptoed down the tree and walked quickly to the base of the Yixin Building. He moved forward little by little along the building and finally came to the side of the "fallen person".
By the moonlight, Zhao He finally saw clearly that half of the fallen person's head was gone. It must have fallen headfirst, which is why, despite being only three stories high, the brains had splattered everywhere. However, the remaining half of the face still showed typical wounds from being eaten by zombies, and the blood from the wounds had long since dried, suggesting they were old wounds. The dark red blood mixed with white on the ground was probably fresh blood from the impact of the fall.
The one that fell wasn't a person, but a zombie.
The zombies that came upon hearing the news naturally had no interest in the corpses of their companions.
But Zhao He was very interested, because the fact that it was a zombie that fell meant that it was a living person who caused it to fall. Now the only problem to be solved was whether this living person was a comrade-in-arms.
Looking up, I saw that the window on the third floor was already tightly closed.
The quickest way is naturally to shout loudly, but it's very likely that before your comrades even open the window, the previous wave of zombies will have already returned for the second time.
Huh?
Zhao He took a deep sniff and felt that there was a familiar scent in the air.
His eyes lit up, and he quickly crouched down, pressing his nose close to the zombie corpse and taking two more deep sniffs. Although the pungent, bloody stench assaulted his nostrils, a faint, alluring fragrance still managed to break through the encirclement!
They are comrades-in-arms!
There will never be another team in the world that exudes such a refreshing and delightful aura!
Once this fragrance is released, none can rival it; wherever it goes, mosquitoes and other insects will not breed!
Zhao He looked up again, and after memorizing the location of the window, he decisively got up and silently crept to the entrance of Yixin Building. He hid behind the wall where the floor-to-ceiling glass door met and spied on the activity in the lobby on the first floor.
Due to the power outage, the entire hall was shrouded in darkness. From Zhao He's perspective, the only thing he could clearly see was the white stone sculpture in the very center of the hall. It was a uniquely shaped sculpture. At first glance, it was incomprehensible, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a person with arms raised, but it had been distorted to make the lines more artistic. It did not aim for realism, but rather for the imagery.
Zhao He doesn't understand art, but he has a sense of it. Just by looking at it from a distance, he can feel the oppression and despair in the composition, as if the person is using the last bit of strength to denounce this absurd world.
The sculpture is a good one; even a layman like myself can appreciate its beauty. But why place something so solemn right at the entrance of the department building? Theoretically, shouldn't there be something more vibrant and cheerful, like a spring maiden holding a book or carrying a dove?
Amidst my confusion, a dark shadow swept past in front of the sculpture.
Zhao He narrowed his eyes and confirmed the zombie's identity at the last moment before the other party disappeared into the darkness.
After fighting for so long, Zhao He has developed a comprehensive set of criteria for judging whether something is human or zombie, ranging from objective to emotional.
There are zombies in the hall, and there may be more than one.
Zhao He had anticipated this, but now he was even more certain. He pursed his lips, pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned around and returned to the side of the fallen zombie's body, hugging the wall.
Taking a deep breath, Zhao He calmed himself down and, feeling that it was about time, decisively squatted down and scraped the blood, brain fluid, and other substances from the ground onto his body with a short knife.
Only when the faint scent of body odor mixed with floral water was overwhelmed by the strong smell of zombies did Zhao He return to the entrance of Yixin Building, and in a flash, he entered the hall.
In the darkness, Zhao He stood still for more than a minute before his eyes gradually adjusted to the faint moonlight, and he finally got a pretty good idea of what was going on in the hall.
Although not very clear, it was still possible to discern that there were seven or eight zombies gathered on one side, except that one was closer to the door while the others were closer to the corridor. The stairwell was on the other side, and there were only two zombies nearby. Perhaps because the light was too dim and their movements were difficult, both zombies stood there blankly, occasionally taking a few steps, aimless, stiff, and bewildered.
My comrades in Class 1 explained that zombies' eyesight is slightly worse than when they were alive. It doesn't have much of an effect when there is plenty of light, but it becomes obvious when they are in the dark. This is why they always choose to act at night.
Zhao He had always been skeptical about this, because when he went to the courier point to work on the system the day before yesterday, it was also at night, and he was still chased by zombies.
But at this moment, he finally realized how naive he had been to question the mighty and indomitable Class 1 of Survival.
No further explanation is needed; the fact that the zombies on the other side of the corridor glanced in his direction several times without reacting is irrefutable proof.
For the first time in his life, Zhao He felt grateful for his bright and clear eyes. As a boy who didn't like reading, his happiest moment was when he had his vision checked during a physical exam, pointing confidently up, down, left, and right, hitting the bullseye every time, and beaming with joy.
Finally, after waiting for seven or eight zombies to face the corridor and the zombies near the stairwell to move further away, Zhao He darted towards the diagonally opposite stairwell as fast as lightning. When he passed the sculpture, he even glanced at the base, wanting to see what the sculpture, overflowing with negative energy, was called.
In that brief moment when a gust of wind swept by, he actually saw it clearly—
[hope]
Upon reaching the stairwell, Zhao He decided that he should focus on sports from now on.