Book 1 Chapter 11:Mutant Dog!
Ye Chen did not stop, he simply proceededfurther. Unsure of what to do, Ye Zhu glanced at her brother. It would seemthat he was focused on their surroundings, carefully watching for zombies thatmight come pouncing out at any moment. Realizing that her brother wasn"t goingheed the youth, Ye Zhu awkwardly glanced behind, only to find the youth runningrapidly towards them.
Ye Zhu hesitantly looked away from the youthand followed after her brother in silence.
"Hey now, don"t be leaving in such a hurry!" Theyouth caught up from behind and stood before them with his hands aloft,impeding the two from heading further. His eyes quickly swept across Ye Zhu"s adorableand delicate face before darting back to look upon Ye Chen. With a smileblossoming upon his face, the youth chuckled before saying: "Bro, no I meanBrother, that"s not right either, its Boss! Your martial prowess is profound,your features handsome and suave, you"re definitely the ideal man in the eyesof thousands of young women and the idol of millions of newly wedded wives, anexistence most prided under heaven…."
Ye Chen began to frown as he waved his hand tocut short the youth"s extravagant attempt at flattery, saying: "You want me totake you in?"
The youth was taken aback, however he immediatelybegan to laugh, saying: "As expected of someone who"s a confident, stylish,distinguished, elegant, incomparably dashing, an unsurpa.s.sed symbol ofattraction towards millions of young women……kind of man, to possess suchprofound vision and foresight, seeing through others with a mere glance, youare indeed THE savior of this apocalyptic world, a paragon which all men shouldstrive towards……"
Ye Chen gave a dry cough before saying: "Sorry,I"m aware that your current lack of strength will likely lead to your death ifthere"s no one around to look after you. It" be just like before, if not for usyou"d be dead now, torn apart most likely. But, I have no use for trash,apologies!"
The youth immediately began bursting intotears, inwardly grieving: "Even if you refuse taking me in, you didn"t need tophrase it in such a cruel manner…."
Ye Zhu who was more compa.s.sionate, took pity onthe miserable state of this youth. Pulling on her brother"s sleeve, Ye Zhusaid: "Brother, why not take him in? It"s rare enough to see a living person."
"Yes, that"s right!" the youth noddedexaggeratedly, inwardly he felt this kind and adorable girl exuded thebenevolence of a G.o.ddess. He immediately faced Ye Chen saying: "I"m not sometrash; I"m capable of a ton of things."
"Oh?" Ye Chen glanced over the youth withindifference before saying: "Let"s hear it then."
The youth gave it a thought before pointing afinger at himself saying: "I graduated university with a Liberal Arts Degree;therefore I"m especially fluent in the art of communication. I"m even somewhatknowledgeable when it comes to computers. At one point, I was the state"senterprise head of division, another job I had was……"
Ye Chen turned around and suggested to hissister saying: "Let"s have fried potatoes for dinner tonight."
"Sure!" Ye Zhu obediently nodded her head.
"We can have it with some chili sauce on theside, it be even more appetizing." Ye Chen reminded.
"Indeed!"
The youth was so shocked that he felt his tearswelling up again, he felt his morale plummet under the relentless indifferenceexuded by this callous stranger, his was simply being completely disregarded….
Ye Chen took his sister by the hand and circledaround the youth, continuing onwards as though he had never encountered theperson. The youth stood there in silence with his head held low and fingers dugdeep into his palms. After resolving himself, he raised his head to face YeChen shouting: "If you take me in, I"ll do anything!"
He was completely out of options….
After witnessing Ye Chen"s unbelievableprowess, he knew that going alone into this zombie infested world meant certaindeath! Most likely he"d be torn apart by the zombies or die a slow excruciatingdeath from starvation hiding in a room.
Therefore, his best chance of surviving thisdisaster was being taken under the wing of someone formidable. Ye Chen clearlyfits the bill in this situation and is currently his best and only option.
Hearing the youth"s pleading cry, Ye Chenceased advancing. Ye Zhu who was standing beside him, glanced at her brother"sface only to find an expression coloured with indifference.
After a few moments, Ye Chen entered into aroom and grabbed a kitchen knife. Tossing the knife in the youth"s direction,he turned and immediately left.
The youth picked up the knife and stared at it,clearly at a loss. Right at this moment, he heard Ye Zhu giggling beforesaying: "Hurry up already, or else the zombies might get you from behind."
The "zombies" she was referring to were clearlythe nightmarish monsters that plagued this world. Upon hearing the girl"swords, the youth immediately awoke from his stupor. With renewed vigor, theyouth rushed over to catch up with uplifted spirits. Following behind Ye Chen,he couldn"t help but feel the ice between them as he glanced at this formidablestranger"s back. As a person who never had any trouble communicating withothers, the youth couldn"t help but feel at a loss at his hesitance to utter agreeting.
Noticing the awkward demeanor of the youth, YeZhu giggled saying: "Don"t mind my brother; he"s always been like that."
The youth could only smile bitterly in reply.
Blinking her large, fascinating eyes, Ye Zhucuriously inquired: "What"s your name?"
Hearing her question, the youth seemed toawaken from his previous shock. With a smile blossoming upon his face, heintroduced himself saying: "My surname is Bai, named Long. People call me XiaoBai Long! Qing University"s modern age man of unparalleled charm Xiao Bai Longin the flesh. Hm, this place seems unsuitable; I"ll sign you an autograph at mylatest convenience. Eh? Don"t walk so fast, wait for me…."
Ye Chen glanced at the young man, eyes filledwith a discerning glint.
Someone who can maintain such a cheerful smileeven in the face of such a desolating apocalypse must be made of sterner stuff.It was this very reason which made Ye Chen decide to take him in.
After pa.s.sing by the corner, Ye Chen gave ahand gesture indicating his intention for the group to stay silent.
Ye Zhu obediently kept her mouth shut; she knewthat her brother only gave orders when he sensed danger. On any other occasion,he"d do little to restrict his little sister.
Bai Long didn"t understand what was going on,so he asked: "What"s up?"
This caused Ye Chen to frown visibly.
This terrified Bai Long causing him to clam upimmediately. For some reason, he was traumatized when it came to facing theintimidating man before him, it might be witnessing the sight of himslaughtering the zombies, or the cold and emotionless way he was refusedbefore….
With a single stare from Ye Chen, Bai Longcould feel his heart go into rapid convulsion. Perhaps he had upset the maninto considering abandonment. Realizing his current predicament, Bai Long"sface became sullen with despair as he placed his pleading gaze on Ye Chen.
Ye Chen impatiently rolled his eyes, in a lowvoice, he whispered: "I"ll go scout ahead, you guys stay put. If a zombiecomes, Bai Long, you"d better defend my lil" sis!"
Bai Long felt the heavy pressure lift from hisheart, with a relieved sigh he declared: "But of course! With me around, yoursister will absolutely not be exposed to any danger whatsoever!"
Ye Chen nodded before turning to his sisterwith a glance that suggested "Take care." he firmly gripped his fireman"s axeand advanced forward. As he proceeded down the blood stained corridor, he cameupon a room with its door slightly ajar. The silence that surrounded him was soprofound that he could even hear the sound of a falling needle.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Chen kicked the doorwide open. Sweeping the interior of the room with a glance, he immediatelyspotted a lion-sized creature resting on the floor. It had coa.r.s.e, pitch blackfur and four razor sharp claws.
"It was indeed a mutant dog." Ye Chen"s gazewas overcome with seriousness. From the sour stench that wafted in the air, hecould tell that there was a mutant dog roaming in the vicinity. It was adistinct odour emitted by mutated creatures.
"ROOAR!" the mutant dog had awoken afterdetecting Ye Chen"s presence. Turning its ma.s.sive head, it glared menacingly athim whilst baring its gore encrusted canines. Not only were there bits ofminced flesh, but entrails dangling upon the corners of the mutant dog"s gapingmaw.
Ye Chen"s brows began to crease as he inwardly cursedthe owner who had brought their pet dog into this hotel. This mutant dog musthave previously been a cute and lovable dog that was transformed into thishulking monstrosity due to the effects of the virus. Its strength level shouldbe around that of twenty men!
A dog"s specialty was its sense of smell!
Under the virus"s influence, its sense of smellmust have been sharpened considerably. However, its innate strength could notpossibly measure up to that of a mutant ant. In fact, in the later stages ofthe apocalypse, you"d be hard pressed to find a monster more fearsome than amutant ant, there were few that could measure up indeed….
If an equal sized lion and ant were to battle,the one to die would undoubtedly be the lion!
Although this mutant dog was no match for thepreviously encountered mutant ant, for the current Ye Chen, it was a formidablefoe indeed. Even if the difference in strength was negligible, there was stilla huge gap between them!
The reason was, a dog"s movements and reactionspeed were innately superior to creatures of similar strength level, includinga human"s!
What"s more, dogs naturally possessed lethalweapons in the form of its fangs and claws. Under similar constraints, a mantrying to best a dog was quite unfavourable!
Ye Chen had little other choice.
Suddenly, the mutant dog began to rapidlyenclose upon Ye Chen. It descended before him faster than the blink of an eye.Its speed was no doubt around 100m/2s, far surpa.s.sing Ye Chen"s speed by 2seconds.
What kind of phenomena was running at the speedof a hundred meters over two seconds?
Closing such a distance would be effortless;it"d be over with a "whoosh".
With cold sweat beading down his forehead, YeChen clenched his fingers around the fireman"s axe. As the mutant dog neared,he sent the axe forth in a devastating cleave, kicking up a gust of howlingwind.
Whoosh!
With a flash of its body, the mutant dog evadedthe blow. Circling behind Ye Chen, it unleashed a swipe of it deadly claws.
Translator"s Notes:
Bai Long"s name means white dragon. Hisflattery sure is something else….