Book 1 Chapter 19: TheLast Three Days!
Before long, Bai Long and the others managed topackage up the mutant rat"s corpse. They must have scrounged up a suitablylarge plastic bag from somewhere, helping them seal the corpse up andpreventing the smell of blood from leaking out.
"Hand the corpse over to Bai Long and have himcarry it!" Noticing Yue Heng"s attempt at hefting the packaged corpse, Ye Chen couldn"thelp but interrupt him.
"What?!" Bai Long who was still busy tending tohis wound, overheard their conversation and fretfully exclaimed: "Why me?"
Ye Chen walked over and inspected Bai Long"sinjured shoulder. It seems the blood coming out of his wound has dried for themost part. Considering Bai Long"s const.i.tution, Ye Chen estimates that it wouldn"tbe long before a scab forms.
Ye Chen gave the wound a pat, rupturing thedried blood with his hand. Bai Long wailed in agony as blood began to seep outonce more. Agitated, he yelled: "What are you doing!"
Ye Chen calmly responded: "Although the clawsof mutant rats carry no toxins, they still harbor plenty of harmful bacteria, aninevitable consequence from dwelling in the sewers. If you allow the blood onyour wound to dry, germs will start to seep into your skin. Within three days,your entire arm will begin to fester!" After saying so, he s.n.a.t.c.hed thepackaged corpse from Yue Heng"s hands and tossed it towards Bai Long.
Bai Long inquired in a doubtful tone, asking: "Forreal?"
"You can decide for yourself."
"Although your explanation sounded logical, Istill can"t help but feel like you"re taking the opportunity to pick on me."
"You"re free to interpret it as such."
"Fine!" Bai Long reluctantly accepted Ye Chen"swords. Yet he couldn"t help but stare at the packaged corpse in his hands. Witha bitter smile, he asked: "But why am I the one to carry this mutant rat"scorpse?"
"I"m picking on you, remember?" Ye Chen saidindifferently before turning away, leaving Bai Long behind to stew inexasperation.
"This cold-blooded deviant!" Bai Long cursedinwardly as he grudgingly hefted the packaged corpse. Although Ye Chen declaredthat he was picking on him, an observant individual could tell that he wasactually too fed up to explain further.
Standing at the side, Yue Heng and his twocompanions offered Bai Long a glance filled with pity. Although they felt sorryfor the guy, they didn"t dare to utter a word. They decided to solemnly carveinto their heart, the result of questioning the "devil". Nothing good could possiblecome of it. Bai Long was bleeding proof of the terrible consequences!
"Move out!"
Ye Chen followed the indication on the map andled the group through a remote path, keeping his senses sharp as theyprogressed. Every few hundred feet, he would stop to listen to the vibration onthe ground, bolstering his awareness of their surroundings.
Any straggling zombies that occasionally poppedup, were effortlessly dispatched by him.
The group"s formation had Ye Chen at theforefront, followed by his sister, Ye Zhu. Behind her was Bai Long who wascarrying the packaged mutant rat"s corpse. In the rear were Yue Heng and histwo companions. Arranging the group in such a formation was part of Ye Chen"splan to train them.
With him acting as the vanguard, any horde thegroup encountered would be swiftly taken down by him. Occasionally, one or twozombies would pop up from the side, slipping out to attack from nearbybuildings. The constant danger tested Yue Heng and his two companions in theirability to react accordingly to such attacks.
Fortunately, the streets they were currentlytraversing were located in a well-developed part of town where stray animalswere spa.r.s.e. Therefore, mutant beasts were few and far between each other. Theones they spotted were mostly mutant rats.
Mutant rats had many variations, such as: plaguewindrats, bloodhunger rats, triclops rats, etc.
The mutant rat slayed by Ye Chen was abloodhunger rat variant. They were dubbed "bloodhunger" for their immenselysharp claws, three times sharper than regular mutant rats!
If mutant rats already had such a vastevolution tree, one can hardly begin to fathom the variants other mutant beastspossessed.
The group continued to progress, stoppingbriefly at regular intervals. Although they never came across any powerfulmutant beasts, the zombies that cl.u.s.tered the streets weren"t spa.r.s.e either. Theconsequences of being discovered were far from trifling.
Time pa.s.sed. Soon, it was already lateafternoon.
With evening closely approaching, Ye Chendecided to approach an abandoned building. This building had quite a few floors,housing numerous zombies. Intending to settle down before night fell; Ye Chenspeedily cleared the building of its pests. The zombies never got the chance toalert any of their "compatriots" nearby.
Afterwards, the group located a suitableresting place on the second floor.
"Zombies and mutant beasts are far more activeduring the night. Furthermore, their strength receives a boost. A zombie mayexert the strength of three men during the day, but during the night, it mayget as strong as four or even five men combined!"
Ye Chen was deeply aware of the dangers whichtravelling by night posed.
During the night, Yue Heng and his companionstook out their food. What they swiped mainly consisted of ready to eat snackssuch as potato chips that could be eaten without using a cooking stove.
The group spent the night resting in silence.
The next day, Ye Chen awoke early in themorning and headed for the top floor alone. Through the windows, he observedthe lay of the land within several kilometers and noted his findings on themap. After some thought, he marked out a trail that would allow them progress withthe least likelihood of encountering mutant freaks.
By the time he rejoined the others, they wereready to depart.
Time flowed on and in the blink of an eye, twodays pa.s.sed.
Although they were constantly hurrying for thepast two days, the zombies that cl.u.s.tered the streets made it difficult toprogress. They numbered in the hundreds on each road. A careless mistake wasall it took to send the entire legion into a frenzied pursuit.
With an ability to run a hundred meters in tenseconds, the zombies would be able to surround them in no time. By then, evenYe Chen would be forced into a tight spot. This was even more so when he had tolook out for the safety of his sister and the others.
"We"re only 2 kilometers away from the researchfacility, yet there"s only three days left till the end of the month!" Ye Chensilently calculated to himself.
It was crucial to reach the facility withinthree days and have the mutant ant"s gene cells extracted. If he allowed thevirus to progress further, it"ll only lead to further mutations in the ant. Bythen, it"d be even more difficult to integrate himself with the strengthenedgene cells!
Furthermore, if he didn"t make it within threedays and strayed upon these zombie infested streets, the survival rate of theirgroup would greatly decline. That was because; zombies became much moreterrifying during the second month of the apocalypse!
"Move!"
Ye Chen carefully led the group around a hordeof zombies. Everyone had to hold their breath as they sneaked towards thecorner of a wall.
"Rrrargh!"
Suddenly, a zombie snarled after catching thescent of warm blood. Its eyes filled with bloodl.u.s.t as it charged towards YeChen"s group.
"Run!" Ye Chen did not hesitate and immediatelycircled around the group to defend them after commanding Bai Long and theothers to escape in a low voice.
The rest of the group did not panic as they hadexperienced similar situations over the past two days. With their heads calm,they hurried into the distance.
*Sphhhlt!
The zombie that rushed over was instantly splitapart by Ye Chen"s axe. Afterwards, he icily glared at the rest of the alertedzombies. Their nature made them persistent in chasing down any prey theyspotted. Retreating would only lead to a s...o...b..ll effect, attracting even morepests. With that, Ye Chen hurled himself into the incoming horde.
"Die!""
"Bloodwind arts: Twin-edge slaughter!"
Ye Chen weaved himself between the horde. Witha fireman"s axe in each hand, he cleaved into each zombie like a rampagingstorm, showering the streets with a sickening rain of gore and severed limbs.
Within a few blinks of the eye, Ye Chen hadreduced the entire horde into a mangled heap. There were around twenty of them,equally cut down and splattered across the street under his cleaving axe. Blackblood seeped into every crevice of the road.
Ye Chen was slightly out of breath. As hischest rose and fell in rhythm of his breathing, he couldn"t help but notice hissweat stained hide vest feeling a little greasy.
"I"ve got to catch up!"
Ye Chen did not bother to scavenge any of thecorpses. His heart was filled with worry for his little sister Ye Zhu. Withoutanother word, he turned to leave. Immediately after running a few steps, aviolent roar carrying intense bloodl.u.s.t and killing intent, exploded out fromsomewhere behind him.
Turning around, Ye Chen"s pupils contracted.