Book 1 Chapter 8:Swift Hunting!
A moment later, Ye Chen was done with the firstcorpse, flipping through its innards; he didn"t discover any mutagenic flesh.With slightly furrowed brows, he abandoned searching it further and got up towork on dissecting the next corpse.
Ye Zhu stood at the side watching her brotherwithout uttering a word. She felt that the familiar brother she knew from hermemories becoming gradually estranged. Back then, this man had a gentletemperament; he would never get into a fight with anyone and had a soft spotfor small animals. She recalled an incident that happened during theirchildhood where they found an injured cat on their way home from school. Theincident saddened him for weeks to come.
But right now….
Be it killing zombies or dissecting them, YeChen seemed to maintain an unperturbed calm. It was like he had become a coldblooded killer, taking lives like it was nothing….
Had he really change?
A sense of confusion came over Ye Zhu. Althoughher brother"s brutal actions against the zombies gave her a sense ofestrangement, he still presented her with his usual gentle smile, just like healways did!
He hadn"t changed after all!
Ye Zhu shook her head inwardly reprimandingherself, were such needless thoughts justified? Her brother had after all beenhunting zombies all morning; the experience must have toughened his heartplenty, this much should be normal.
What she didn"t know was the fact that YeChen"s unperturbed calm wasn"t a result of a morning"s worth of zombie hunting;it was drilled into him through ten long years!
The experience in his previous life during theapocalypse encompa.s.sed many hardships. There were times he despaired, feltlonesome, lost, sadness, anguish….
The many trials had made his will strong; thereforewhen he realized that he had been sent ten years into the past, he accepted itwithout fretting over the specifics. No matter what calamities he came upon, hewould face them head on!
"Brother!" Ye Zhu called out, causing herbrother to turn around to gaze at her in confusion. Gathering her courage, shestepped before him, with her head held low and her arms trembling, shestuttered: "T-the remaining cor-corpses, l-leave them to me!"
Ye Chen was momentarily startled, staringfixedly at the stubborn girl before him. Though she was visibly trembling, hervoice carried unwavering conviction. Softening his gaze, he nodded saying:"Careful now, cover your hands with a plastic bag, don"t let their blood touchyour skin."
Ye Zhu nodded in response, covering both herhands in some black plastic bags, she walked over and squatted before a zombiecorpse. Gazing at its grizzly fangs and bloodstained lips made her feel like itcould pounce at any moment, taking a bite out of her!
Ye Zhu gulped nervously before carefullypushing the watermelon knife onto the corpse"s torso, attempting to slowly cutinto its skin. However, the skin on the zombie corpse was far tougher that sheimagined, like sc.r.a.ping against thick cowhide, refusing to be punctured.
Ye Chen who was beside her began giving hints,saying: "A zombie"s skin has been strengthened immensely, making it far tougherthan cowhide, you need to put your back into in and utilize a chopping motionto cut it open."
Ye Zhu nodded in understanding, taking in adeep breath, she lifted the watermelon knife. Closing her eyes, she vigorouslychopped the knife down. After hearing a dull thud, she immediately opened hereyes to find that she had landed the knife atop the corpse"s shoulder, cuttingpast the flesh and hitting the bone. It appears that closing her eyes sent theknife chop far off its intended target.
Ye Zhu despaired, in her heart she wasmuttering: "Please don"t blame me, I truly didn"t intend to cut you there…."
Straining her arms, she pulled out the knifeattempting to chop out once more. Due to being squeamish towards the gory sightof its hacked opened innards, she involuntarily closed her eyes again.
Therefore….
The chop once again veered off course. Thistime, the knife landed upon the right side of the chest.
"Mutagenic flesh can only be found right aroundthe heart." Ye Chen pointed out while remaining beside her.
Ye Zhu"s cheeks began to redden; she couldn"thelp but feel a little sorry for this corpse. Gritting her teeth, she thought:"This time, I must strike true!" Raising the knife for another chop, she forcedher eyes to remain open, making sure to perform an accurate strike.
Plorkk!
Finally, the chop landed upon the left side ofthe chest.
Ye Zhu heaved a sigh of relief, wiping theperspiration from her forehead, inwardly cheering at this small triumph.
This pitiful Mr. Zombie, even just lying there,it wasn"t safe. Not only was it dissected, it even took two additional chopsfor no apparent reason.
With its skin finally perforated, Ye Zhu beganto work on slicing open the underlying muscle. Upon uncovering its innards, YeZhu began to feel her scalp go numb as this was her first time touchingsomething so revoltingly gory. As she reached for the heart, her skin began tocrawl. Locating mutagenic flesh meant searching carefully around the blackenedheart. As she took hold of it, she felt its smooth, squishy texture, not toodissimilar to the feel of a soft-boiled egg. The sense of revulsion immediatelyprompted her into a fit of vomiting.
Beside her, Ye Chen speedily dissected thethird corpse. After briefly rummaging through its innards, he didn"t find anymutagenic flesh. Sighing softly, he turned to face his younger sister. Gazingupon her pale yet delicate face, he couldn"t help but feel sympathy towardsher, saying: "Just leave this one to me."
Ye Zhu stubbornly shook her head saying: "I"llbe fine."
She forcefully suppressed her revulsion towardsthe internal organs and quickly began to search them thoroughly. Suddenly, in atight corner behind the heart, she found it, a fingertip sized piece ofmutagenic flesh. Her eyes immediately lit up with glee, cheerfully declaring:"I found some!"
"You did?"
Ye Chen couldn"t help but feel flabbergasted.
It should be noted that mutagenic flesh wasquite uncommon; experience had taught him that only an average of one out often zombies possessed mutagenic flesh. Both the zombies he dissected came upempty. He already had it in his mind that this hunt was a fruitless endeavor;he sure didn"t expect his little sister to find a piece!
"Brother, what about your end, did you find any?"Ye Zhu excitedly sprung up and turned to face her brother. Upon seeing himempty handed, she felt puzzled.
Ye Chen gave a dry cough, saying: "These twozombies were of too low a grade, they didn"t have any mutagenic flesh."
"Truly?" Ye Zhu eyed him suspiciously.
Ye Chen boastfully declared: "But of course!"
Afterwards, it was decided that Ye Zhu shouldbe in charge of holding onto the mutagenic flesh, they would hold off onconsuming it until they returned. Ye Chen inspected the room"s door, estimatingit to be st.u.r.dy enough for another round; he called over his sister to conveyhis plans, saying: "Later, I"ll go out and attract some zombies over, you stayhere and brace yourself."
Ye Zhu nodded her head before pleading: "Becareful, don"t go attracting too many!"
Ye Chen chuckled in response before leaving theroom to approach the fourth room down the corridor. After confirming that thedoor was locked, he gave it a knock.
A while later, there was still no response.
Ye Chen speculated that it was probably anempty room and moved on, approaching the fifth room. This room"s door seems tobe ajar. Without taking his time, Ye Chen brutally kicked the door open andswept his gaze across the room"s interior. What caught his eye were the twozombies wandering in the living room, one male and the other female, the thingwas----
They were both stark naked….
Ye Chen"s expression was the same as usual,upon witnessing the zombie couple staring back at him; he shot them a dirtylook before he spun around to flee.
In an instant, he dove back into the secondroom. Ye Zhu was still busy dragging the corpses into a corner of the room.
Ye Chen immediately went to work on jamming thedoor with the sofas, leaving only a narrow gap. A few short seconds later, thezombie couple had caught up and began pounding on the door.
Following his usual method, he speedily tookcare of the zombie couple. However, it would seem that this room was no longerusable as the door"s hinges came loose.
As for dissecting the new corpses, Ye Zhu wasalready on the case. Yet what made Ye Chen ashamed to the point of wanting tohide his face was the fact that his little sister seemed to be far luckier thanhim, finding a fingertip sized piece of mutagenic flesh among the two corpses.It made him feel like puking blood when she started grumbling while holding thepiece of mutagenic flesh. With an unimpressed demeanor, she lamented: "What apity that the other corpse didn"t have any, sigh!"
Ye Chen felt like crying a river, the twozombies he dissected both came up empty, how could this be!!
Later….
Ye Chen and his sister both moved into thefifth room to designate it as their new kill zone. Ye Chen would attractzombies from other rooms and obstruct them using the door; he would repeat thismethod until the door was worn out before switching to another room, repeatingthe process….
Three hours pa.s.sed.
It was now 4:30 in the afternoon, the settingsun shone its rays through the windows into the corridor, the sky was beginningto darken.
The 17th floor, room number thirty.
Rrrargh! Grrargh!
Four zombies were madly slamming themselvesinto the door. Ye Chen was standing right behind it, with the watermelon knifeat the ready, he"d cut off the limbs of any zombie that got near.
Suddenly----
Crack!
The door suddenly started to collapse!
The four zombies with their bloodthirsty mawswide open began to lunge right at Ye Chen!
"Brother----" behind him, Ye Zhu cried inalarm.
Ye Chen maintained his calm, among the fourzombies, three of them already had their claws hacked off leaving their jaws astheir only weapon. They weren"t much of a threat anymore.
Ye Chen positioned his feet, with a twist ofhis body, he unleashed a spin kick. The force of a spin kick was fifty percentstronger than a straight kick, adding to the fact that his current strength wasmore or less similar to that of a zombie; it resulted in an explosive burst offorce. This one kick sent the first clawless zombie flying, slamming into thetwo zombies right behind it.
Rrrargh!
The zombie with intact claws rushed forwarddashing past Ye Chen and headed straight for his sister. With a savage lunge,it pounced straight at the girl.
Ye Zhu"s face instantly paled, her hand holdingthe watermelon knife was trembling nonstop. Her eyes were clouded withhelplessness as she retreated desperately.
"SCRAM!"
A voice carrying unbridled fury resounded frombehind the zombie. All of a sudden, Ye Chen had already caught up with thezombie. Gripping his empty hand into a fist; he slammed it into the side of thezombie"s face. The ma.s.sive impact rocked the zombie, forcing it tumbling to theground. Ye Chen was furious, beneath his handsome features boiled seethingkilling intent, with his frigid glare focused upon the zombie, he stepped forthtowards it, arms rippling with bulging veins.