The locations of North City Base, Dayu Base, and Linxiang formed a long, narrow triangle. Chen Xiang and Old Mo had set out from North City Base for Linxiang—the shortest route—and arrived several days ago to begin their investigation.
As Academician Jiang had said, Haiyin Charity Hospital had been sealed off decades ago. It stood empty and dilapidated. They went inside once but found nothing. On their way out, they nearly ran into the people from Country A.
“There were quite a lot of them, and they were all heavily armed. They were lying in wait around Haiyin Hospital for you,” Chen Xiang said. “If Old Mo and I hadn’t arrived early and still had the zombie repellent issued by the base, we probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.”
This was Fu Qi’s mistake. He hadn’t expected the other side to deploy helicopters. Fortunately, they had spotted them in time.
“Did you check the public security archives?” he asked.
“We did. We went through the two old police stations and the courthouse. There were too many files, so Old Mo and I skimmed through them by date, but we didn’t find a single relevant clue.”
Chen Xiang was lively by nature and clearly not the type who enjoyed reading. His voice sounded agonized.
Fu Qi said, “There are two options. First, you stay put for now while Qin Qin and I hurry over—”
“No!” Chen Xiang interrupted. “I choose the second option!”
They had been teammates for many years and understood each other perfectly. Before Fu Qi could finish, Chen Xiang had already made his choice.
“You and Little Qin should take your time getting here. As long as you don’t show up, those people from Country A will remain in hiding, and it’ll be easier for Old Mo and me to move around.”
“All right. We’ll slow down and buy you more time.”
“Perfect!”
Decades ago, electronic devices were not very advanced. Important documents concerning a major incident would certainly have been reported to the central authorities, but the local government should also have kept backup copies.
There were several places in Linxiang County where such documents might have been stored, yet none of them had yielded any clues. That didn’t make sense. Fu Qi guessed that, because Linxiang had been a small county decades ago, its administration might have been lax. Aside from official archives, there might have been other places where documents were kept.
Under normal circumstances, this would not have been difficult. But after the zombie virus outbreak, the entire world had descended into chaos. To this day, fewer than twenty percent of humanity remained alive. The normal judicial process could no longer function, and those sealed-away records were like needles dropped into the ocean—nearly impossible to find.
At present, the best option was to seek out local officials or question elderly residents who had lived through those times.
Unfortunately, the elderly were less physically capable than the young, and very few had survived.
Chen Xiang decided to contact the nearest Ankang Base and ask them to help search, while he and Old Mo visited nearby villages to see if they could get lucky.
Until Chen Xiang and Old Mo found a lead, Fu Qi and Qin Zhen had to do everything they could to buy them time. For that reason, Fu Qi took on a mission at short notice.
“Go to Li County?” Lin Ye asked.
Fu Qi said, “A search-and-rescue team from Ankang Base encountered several children there. They want us to help look for them.”
Just as Fu Qi and Qin Zhen had said before, children, women, and the elderly were the most vulnerable groups in the post-apocalyptic world. During the first few chaotic years, they were the easiest to prey upon. After witnessing too many inhuman atrocities, many of them trusted no one. They would rather wander outside than go to a base.
Most of the time, the government respected their wishes and did not force them. Children, however, were different.
No matter the era, children were humanity’s hope. The government wanted these children who were wandering outside to return to the bases, where they could receive a basic education.
They were already very close to Linxiang, and Lin Ye naturally did not want to waste time. But the persona he had created for himself was that of a young man who had lost all hope in the world and planned to return to his hometown to wait for death—while still being kindhearted and eager to help others. He had no way to refuse.
He looked at Qin Zhen and asked, “Sister Qin, are your injuries all right?”
“I can bear it.”
Qin Zhen put on a solemn, righteous expression and declared loudly, “Children are humanity’s future and the hope of the world. Protecting them is every citizen’s duty—duty. Even if I had to trade my life for theirs, I’d be willing!”
Ever since she had gone berserk last time, Lin Ye had felt a little intimidated whenever he faced her. Seeing her so excited, he became even more afraid to speak and silently turned back toward Fu Qi.
Fu Qi asked, “Are you coming with us, or are you returning to your hometown first?”
What choice did Lin Ye have?
He clenched his fist and said, “Sister Qin is right. Protecting children is every citizen’s duty. I’ll go with you!”
The Zombie hated this mole, but still offered him a hypocritical compliment. “Little Lin, you have such a high level of civic awareness.”
Lin Ye modestly replied, “It’s all thanks to Sister Qin’s guidance.”
Qin Zhen said, “Not at all, not at all.”
One of them was not human, and the other might not even be Chinese. Yet, right there in front of the only true human from their own country, they took turns praising one another over their civic responsibility. It was so ridiculous that anyone might have laughed.
Fu Qi did laugh—and The Zombie noticed immediately. She looked at him strangely several times, then frowned and reprimanded him with her eyes for behaving so unseriously in front of the mole.
Fu Qi covered his eyes and stopped looking at her. Only then did he regain his composure, straighten his expression, and turn his attention back to driving.
Qin Zhen had been shot badly and could already walk on her own. He could no longer keep ordering Lin Ye around on the strength of the minor scrape on his shoulder.
Li County was, as its name suggested, a county that had made pear cultivation its main industry before the apocalypse.
They had arrived at just the right time. Willow branches were budding, the spring breeze carried warmth, and pear blossoms bloomed along the road like snow. The sight was breathtaking. The poorly traveled Zombie exclaimed in wonder, “Wow, wow!”
Seeing how much she liked it, Fu Qi deliberately slowed the car so she could pluck a few blossoms and tuck them into her hair.
But as soon as the car slowed, the zombies caught up.
What followed was an exhilarating scene of pear blossoms splattered with blood and corpses turned into fertilizer, instantly dragging The Zombie out of her dreamy appreciation of the scenery.
She told Fu Qi to drive faster, but instead he insisted on giving her a lecture.
“People at the research institute say these plants are growing so well because decomposing corpses provide them with nutrients…”
As humanity declined, plants and animals reclaimed the territory that had once belonged to them.
Animals that ate zombies or human corpses became infected with diseases and died off in large numbers. Plants, however, were unaffected. They drew nutrients from the soil and grew unchecked, their flower-laden branches swaying in the breeze—so brilliant that they became frightening…
Frightening to The Zombie, at least.
Disgusted, The Zombie yanked the pear blossoms from her hair, tore off the petals, and scattered them all over Fu Qi.
“I’m telling you something important,” Fu Qi said.
The pear trees were thriving, which meant they bore more fruit. And an abundance of fruit meant food.
Any pears they could not eat could be made into pear syrup, dried pear slices, canned pears, and other preserved foods.
With so few people left and so many pears, they would not have to worry about food as long as they harvested enough in autumn.
The first time the search-and-rescue team from Ankang Base had seen the surviving children was last late autumn, when they had come to harvest pears.
Fu Qi guessed that the children were probably living around one of the pear orchards on the outskirts of the county. He drove around the area and found a place nearby where they could temporarily settle down.
This time, they were not rescuing anyone or dealing with some vicious criminal. There was no need to rush. After settling in, they spent their days either going out to search for clues about the surviving children or sitting on the roof and enjoying the view.
Compared with the frantic, day-and-night journey of the previous stretch, life was positively leisurely.
Only Lin Ye was anxious. He had urged Qin Zhen, both openly and subtly, several times, but each time she shut him down by saying that they couldn’t give up until they found the person.
The days were leisurely, but boring. Whenever she had nothing to do, the Zombie would start thinking about touching things. However, ever since her “injuries had improved” enough for her to walk on her own, Fu Qi no longer allowed her to touch things whenever she pleased. Most of the time, he carried her himself.
The Zombie would get angry whenever things didn’t go her way. To pacify her, Fu Qi found her some crayons, colored pencils, and other little toys. He even found time to make her a kite.
When Lin Ye saw the kite rise from the roof, wobbling as it climbed into the sky, he almost cursed aloud.
He climbed onto the roof as well and said through gritted teeth, “Sister Qin is really optimistic. She doesn’t seem like someone who clawed her way through the apocalypse.”
“You can’t say that in front of her,” Fu Qi said solemnly. “Remember the split personality? The happier this personality is, the more deranged the other one becomes. Don’t trigger her again.”
Lin Ye: “…”
Schizophrenia really was a convenient brick—useful wherever it was needed.
Lin Ye watched Qin Zhen tugging on the kite string, then glanced down at the zombies approaching from around the yard. He cursed inwardly before saying, “Wasn’t Brother Fu in a hurry to complete the mission? Why are you just playing with Sister Qin?”
“I’m working on it,” Fu Qi said.
This was obviously just coaxing her!
Lin Ye was about to say something else when Qin Zhen’s excited voice suddenly rang out. “Sweetie! Sweetie! Left—the left side!”
Fu Qi and Lin Ye turned around together. The nearby zombies were all converging on them. Only two zombies in the front left, partially obscured by branches, had wandered halfway toward them before suddenly turning and heading east.
“Let’s go,” Fu Qi said.
“Okay!” Qin Zhen replied energetically. She tugged the kite string a few times, realized she couldn’t pull it back for the moment, and simply stuffed the whole thing into Lin Ye’s hands. “Help me reel it in!”
She didn’t give him any chance to object. After handing it over, she left.
Lin Ye felt that his role as an informant had somehow turned him into a nanny!
Qin Zhen and Fu Qi had no concern for his feelings. They opened the gate, hacked down the zombies, and hurried straight east after the two that had gone in that direction.
The pear blossoms in the orchard were lush, and weeds grew everywhere, creating obstacles both to their vision and their footsteps. If someone tripped or ran straight into a zombie’s arms, the consequences would be disastrous, so hardly anyone would recklessly run through the orchard.
They drove east along the road. At first, everything went smoothly; all they had to do was follow the zombies ahead. But once they drew closer, the zombies were attracted by the scent on Fu Qi and turned back, leaving them with no choice but to stop pursuing them directly.
Qin Zhen blamed Fu Qi for holding them back. In an effort to prove that he was useful, Fu Qi found a clue: a zombie with a rope wrapped around its neck.
“We’re close,” he said.
The houses near the orchard had been built along both sides of the road. The area was relatively remote, and most of the homes were small, single-story structures. At first glance, they all looked the same. But on closer inspection, one could see that there were noticeably more zombies gathered outside one particular house, while the dust on its door was much thinner. Clearly, someone had been using it.
The door had been moved recently but wasn’t fully closed. From inside came the continuous thudding of something slamming against a wall.
Anything that could make such loud, sustained noise was definitely not human. It was probably a zombie.
But only a human could have caused the zombie to behave that way.
“I’ll take a look,” Qin Zhen said. “I’ll go alone. Don’t follow me.”
There might well be people hiding inside. Having witnessed the cruelty of their fellow humans, they might no longer be willing to trust anyone. If they saw a human, they would surely hide everywhere. It would be better to send the Zombie in disguised as one of them to scout the situation.
Besides, their car was already surrounded by zombies. If Fu Qi got out, he would first have to kill them all, which would be troublesome.
“All right,” Fu Qi said.
He took out a makeup-removing wipe and rubbed the foundation from Qin Zhen’s face as he warned her, “Be careful. Don’t get yourself hurt again.”
The Zombie glared at him. “Do you really think I can’t even beat a child?”
“If you can beat them, does that mean you won’t get hurt?”
Qin Zhen did have a history of this.
The days when that old woman had driven her nearly insane flashed through her mind. Qin Zhen clenched her fist angrily and said, “Just wait. I’ll go scare that child into tears!”
After removing her makeup and taking off her gloves, she smeared a little paint over her face to conceal her features. Then the Zombie got out of the car with great bravado.
Once outside, she shoved aside the four zombies blocking the way. She turned around and tapped on the car door, making sure Fu Qi saw how heroic she was, then boldly pushed open the courtyard gate.
She had spoken confidently enough, but after witnessing so many bizarre human tricks, Qin Zhen was, in truth, a little uncertain. She put on a vacant expression and peered inside from the entrance. Only after confirming that she couldn’t see anyone did she walk farther in.
After a few steps, she saw the culprit making all that noise.
It was a zombie—a zombie with a blue plastic bucket stuck over its head.
The zombie had no brain and didn’t know how to remove the bucket. Perhaps it had heard the car outside and wanted to get out, so it kept ramming its bucket-covered head against the wall with loud clangs.
What an idiot!
The Zombie shook her head sympathetically and then proceeded inward with elegant steps. She lifted one foot, but before she could set it down, another zombie rushed in from behind and bumped into her, making her stagger forward and nearly fall.
She had just regained her balance and was about to turn around and teach the rude zombie a lesson when a rustling sound came from overhead. Qin Zhen followed the noise upward with her eyes and saw a red plastic bucket falling straight toward her—
Clang!
The Zombie: “...!”
The car couldn’t block the smell, and Fu Qi, waiting outside, had already been surrounded by zombies.
He didn’t care. These zombies would be easy enough to clear away.
Nor was he worried about Qin Zhen. Most of the wandering survivors were fairly weak, and their main way of dealing with zombies was to avoid them. Even if they had firearms or other weapons, they probably wouldn’t know how to use them. Besides, there was no smell of blood coming from the courtyard entrance.
Fu Qi was completely at ease.
However, ever since meeting Qin Zhen, surprises were the one thing he had never lacked.
When he saw Qin Zhen wobbling out through the large iron gate with a red plastic bucket stuck over her head, Fu Qi froze in astonishment for a moment, then began to laugh so hard he trembled.
The Zombie left the courtyard and continued shambling along for a few steps, still pretending to be a zombie. Only then did she remove the red plastic bucket. Furious, she swung it at the other zombies, knocking them all down, then carried the bucket back to the car.
When she climbed in and saw Fu Qi laughing, she lunged at him and beat him up. Afterward, she sat angrily in the passenger seat and stomped both feet viciously, crushing the already damaged little red plastic bucket into pieces.
The Zombie ground her teeth. “If I don’t avenge this humiliation, then I’m not a Jiang!”
“Sweetheart, your surname isn’t Jiang to begin with,” Fu Qi said.
He was beaten up by the Zombie again.
Qin Zhen was livid.
After getting the plastic bucket stuck over her head, she had realized that traps had been set up in the courtyard. She guessed that someone might be watching from hiding, but she couldn’t figure out how the traps had been arranged. As a result, she hadn’t dared to remove the humiliating red bucket rashly. She had stubbornly wandered around the courtyard with it over her head, looking like an idiot.
After making a circuit of the courtyard, she had even wandered into the house, yet she still hadn’t seen a single person.
“There’s definitely someone hiding in there!” she said with absolute certainty. “There’s a rope ladder leading to the roof in the courtyard! There are safety ropes, and a whole bunch of broken buckets and bowls hanging from them!”
Luckily, what hit her had been a broken bucket. If it had been a bowl, she would have been bleeding!
The Zombie angrily recounted her miserable experience. When she turned around and saw Fu Qi trying not to laugh again, she shook a fist at him and ordered, “We’re going back. We’ll come again tomorrow! I refuse to believe we can’t dig them out!”
She had left in high spirits, but returned in a sorry state. The Zombie was so furious that she couldn’t even be bothered to put on foundation. She simply painted her face with watercolor paints, giving herself a garish, multicolored look that scared her “babysitter,” Lin Ye, half to death.
That night, the Zombie learned her lesson. She pestered Fu Qi into carefully analyzing the house with her. She absolutely could not afford to suffer another loss.
Early the next morning, she put on her makeup, changed into a new outfit, and set out again, ready to make a fresh start.
This time, she came as a human. She still hadn’t brought Lin Ye.
Qin Zhen had Fu Qi go in first.
She had originally planned to wait until he fell into a trap, then laugh at him mercilessly. But for some reason, none of the little red buckets that had made her look so ridiculous the day before fell this time!
“Yesterday…” Qin Zhen had just begun to speak when Fu Qi took her hand and stopped her.
“They’re watching us from hiding,” Fu Qi said quietly.
They had been there the previous day, but not today. That meant the people hiding in the shadows knew that a human had come this time. They didn’t want to deal with humans, so they were pretending not to exist and making no sound at all.
The two of them searched the rooms and confirmed that no one was there before returning to the courtyard.
They made a slow circuit of the yard. Fu Qi noticed something strange, kicked aside the straw on the ground, and felt around. His fingers caught on a hemp rope buried in the earth. He gave it a hard tug.
With a metallic clang, a section of ground that was slightly darker than the rest began to shake.
It was obviously a cellar. He had pulled the rope at the cellar entrance, but the door hadn’t opened because someone had locked it from inside.
“Oh, so this is where you’re hiding!”
At long last, they had found the people responsible for humiliating the Zombie. Qin Zhen was suddenly full of energy. She rolled up her sleeves and grabbed the rope herself.
It wouldn’t budge.
She grew angry, stamped on the cellar door twice, and shouted fiercely into it, “Come out right now! Surrender and I’ll spare your lives! If you don’t cooperate, I’ll blow up your cellar!”
Of course, she was only venting. Even if she wanted to blow it up, she didn’t have any explosives.
But the people inside didn’t know that. After Qin Zhen gave the rope several more violent yanks, a thin whimper came from within. It sounded like a very young child, and the Zombie was startled.
She released the rope and backed away several steps until she was beside Fu Qi. Then she asked guiltily, “W-Was I really that scary?”
She had actually frightened a child into crying.
Fu Qi said, “You were all right. You did have a bit of that Country A vibe, though.”
Qin Zhen: “…”
She reached over and pinched Fu Qi around the waist, then shoved him forward to do the talking.
Fu Qi cleared his throat and adopted a gentle, harmless tone. “Little one, Uncle and Auntie are just trying to hide from the zombies. We’re not bad people. Could you open the cellar door and let us hide in there for a while?”
It sounded fake—and it was fake—but it looked convincing enough.
The courtyard’s large iron gate had a broken lock and couldn’t be secured. It was held shut with nothing more than a wooden stick.
The stick wasn’t very sturdy, and the zombies outside were gathering in greater and greater numbers, hurling themselves against the gate one after another.
“That’s right. Uncle and Auntie are good people. Open the cellar and let us hide for a while. Uncle will give you some candy, all right?”
Whether or not the candy had done the trick, it wasn’t long before several muffled clicks rang out. The large metal cellar door, flush with the ground, was pushed open, and two dirty little heads emerged.
Both of them were girls. One looked about seven or eight, while the other was a little older, though she couldn’t have been more than ten.
They were so young. By the time the zombie virus had broken out, neither of them could have been more than five.
The thought made Qin Zhen feel awful.
Fu Qi clearly hadn’t expected them to be such young children either. His expression grew more solemn. He took half a step back and softened his voice as he asked, “Where are your parents?”
The older girl answered timidly, “Th-They’re gone.”
Fu Qi was about to ask another question when the younger girl climbed a little farther out, blinked her dark eyes, and stretched out her arms.
“Candy.”
Fu Qi turned to Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen blinked, then lowered her head and rummaged through her crossbody bag. She quickly pulled out a few pieces of candy and bent down to hand them over.
As soon as she moved closer, both girls shrank back into the cellar in fear. Clearly, they were still traumatized by the Zombie’s terrifying display earlier.
It was obvious that compared with Fu Qi—a tall, imposing man who looked far more threatening but spoke in a soft, gentle voice—the two little girls were more frightened of Qin Zhen, who looked slender and weak but was, in reality, ferociously intimidating.
The Zombie felt so ashamed of bullying children that her face grew hot. She stepped back and handed the candy to Fu Qi.
Fu Qi teasingly rubbed a finger beneath his eye at her, accepted the candy, and turned back with a warm, friendly expression.
He bent down and held out the candy. The two little girls’ eyes lit up, and they both reached for it.
The instant their three hands touched, a sound like the one made when the cellar door had opened suddenly came from behind Fu Qi and Qin Zhen.
They were just about to turn around when the two little girls, who had half their bodies outside the cellar, grabbed Fu Qi’s hand and simultaneously threw themselves at him.
Fu Qi could have easily shaken off the two skinny girls, of course. But he didn’t. He let them knock him to the ground, one clinging to his arm and the other wrapping herself around his leg.
Qin Zhen, standing beside him, was speechless.
What was going on?
She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should help Fu Qi, when a figure suddenly darted out from behind her. A flash of cold steel passed by, and a knife appeared at Fu Qi’s throat as he lay pinned to the ground.
Qin Zhen didn’t fare any better. A sharp weapon was pressed against her lower back, and someone behind her barked, “Don’t move! Put your hands up!”
Qin Zhen: “…”
Got it. They’d walked straight into a trap!
“Put your hands up!” the person behind her repeated viciously when she didn’t move.
When she felt the knife press harder against her back, Qin Zhen hurriedly raised both hands. She didn’t want her secret exposed.
Fu Qi was in an even worse situation. After being tackled to the ground, he got back on his feet only to find three knives pointed at him.
One belonged to the short-haired girl who had rushed out from behind Qin Zhen. She looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, but her eyes were sharp and fierce. The knife in her hand was pressed to Fu Qi’s throat, as if she might plunge it in at any moment.
The other two knives were pressed against Fu Qi’s stomach and lower back, respectively, and were held by the two pitiful little girls who had first poked their heads out.
The girls sniffled, gripping their little knives so tightly that their hands had gone white.
…No wonder they had seemed more “friendly” toward Fu Qi earlier.
The Zombie felt psychologically balanced now. She even felt a little sorry for Fu Qi.
“What are you after?” the short-haired girl demanded. Then she lowered her head and said to the youngest girl, “Go get the rope.”
The little girl withdrew her knife and ran off to fetch the rope.
Fu Qi lowered his eyes to the blade at his throat and answered honestly, “We were commissioned by the Central Base to persuade you to return—”
“Liar!” the short-haired girl shouted. “All that posturing and hypocrisy! I could tell from your voice alone that you’re no good!”
Fu Qi: “…”
Seeing Fu Qi’s attempt at a sweet, high-pitched voice crash and burn, Qin Zhen couldn’t hold back. She snickered.
“What are you laughing at?!” the short-haired girl snapped. “You’re no good either!”
The ten-year-old girl beside her angrily chimed in, “That’s right! She’s the most vicious of them all! She was going to blow us up!”
Qin Zhen: “…”
This time, Fu Qi burst out laughing.
But the consequences of his laughter were different from Qin Zhen’s. Qin Zhen had been scolded for laughing, while Fu Qi was met with a wary glare from the short-haired girl.
The short-haired girl immediately ordered, “Tie him up!”
Fu Qi raised both hands and said, “You can tie me up, but I don’t want to die yet. So please hide me in the cellar after you’ve tied me up.”
He had a reason for saying this. Everyone had just come out of the cellar, and the strong human scent was attracting more and more zombies outside. The wooden boards bracing the door were about to give way.
The short-haired girl hesitated before saying, “No.”
Fu Qi asked, “So you’re going to kill me?”
Hesitation flickered across the short-haired girl’s face.
As she wavered, the commotion outside grew louder.
The girl holding Qin Zhen hostage had long hair. She was less patient than the short-haired girl and seemed rather agitated, repeatedly glancing toward the metal gate. Qin Zhen felt that she could easily have taken the opportunity to turn the tables.
She glanced at Fu Qi and saw that he was playing the hostage obediently. After thinking it over, she decided to remain subdued for the time being.
“You don’t want to take me to the cellar, but you don’t want to kill me either, right?” Fu Qi said. “Dragging this out won’t solve anything. How about this? Take her…”
He nodded toward Qin Zhen. “Take her back and let me go. As long as she’s in your hands, I won’t dare make any rash moves. That way, you can take your time asking me whatever you want.”
Fu Qi had seemed suspicious of trying to deceive the little girl earlier, so the short-haired girl was especially wary of him. Frowning, she carefully considered whether his suggestion was workable.
“Ya!” the long-haired girl urged. The other two little girls also looked tense, repeatedly glancing toward the courtyard gate.
The girl called Ya gritted her teeth and said, “Do as he says.”
No sooner had she spoken than there was a loud bang. The wooden board blocking the entrance snapped, the metal gate flew open, and more than a dozen zombies poured inside.
The girls were startled. Ya instinctively shouted, “Back to the cellar!”
She grabbed her knife and was about to rush forward to hold the zombies back when a blur flashed beside her. Fu Qi was already standing in front of her. He casually snatched up a bamboo pole from the courtyard and knocked down several of the zombies at the front.
“Back to the cellar,” Fu Qi said without looking back.
The girls exchanged hurried glances before quickly scrambling into the cellar.
Qin Zhen was the last one left. She called to Fu Qi, “Be careful,” then followed the others into the cellar, shouting as she crawled, “Wait for me! Don’t forget about me!”
