Before everything goes out

"What is this?"

"I don't know, but it's definitely not human."

"Keep your voice down, don't disturb him."

"It's alright, he can't be woken up by a gun, so talking should be even less of a problem."

A group of people stood in a circle in front of the counter, their eyes filled with curiosity.

This is a man with cloudy, dark eyes, his hands clasped in front of his waist, making strange movements.

They couldn't understand what they were doing.

However, judging from her attire...

He wore a drab, gray employee hat and a tattered employee uniform with faded characters embroidered on the collar.

"Brother Chen's Freshly Grilled Beef Skewers".

no doubt.

The man was an employee of this barbecue restaurant before he died, and it is very likely that he was Brother Chen himself.

but.

What is the current situation?

The neck muscles were weak, causing the head to tilt and rest crookedly on the shoulder.

Add to that the stiff hands, the distorted knuckles, and the dark, swollen skin...

"Zombies?"

These two words naturally came out of Li Fei's mouth.

Soon, apart from Ertong and the little mute, Niu San and She Qingqing, who had seen zombie movies, all nodded in agreement with his statement.

That's right, zombies.

Judging by its appearance, it's no exaggeration to say that it's as zombie-like as can be, like it was pulled out of a zombie movie.

"I know about zombies, but what's he doing? Is he training his body?"

Niu San scratched his head.

After watching for another half minute, Li Fei suddenly slapped his forehead and realized what was happening as the stiff movements were repeated over and over.

"I think I understand now. Look at the height he's raising his hand, the way his fingers are twisting something..."

Imagine if there was a metal rack on this counter, and a lot of skewers were placed on that rack. Doesn't his action look like he's grilling skewers?

Grilled skewers?

Is this really that bizarre?

His description sparked the imaginations of the group.

After a brief moment of imagining, they quickly filled in the blanks in their minds and agreed with Li Fei's conjecture.

"It really is true. I felt like he was holding something in his hand. It turned out to be an iron skewer."

Niu San suddenly realized.

"But is this a kind of zombie transformation? We've never seen zombies like this before."

She Qingqing frowned.

In Shuanghe Village, a place like a paradise, there was no chance of seeing a walking corpse. Even she, who often worked with Sheqi, had never seen one...

She had seen animals turn into zombies after they died, but she had never seen a human.

"I've never seen it either. After Gua Tou and the others turn into zombies, they can still talk and chase people. Anyway, it's not like that."

Niu San scratched his head.

After thinking of something, Li Fei took out a torch from his backpack and lit it on the spot.

"The walking dead are afraid of fire."

Compared to various living, decaying creatures, zombies are extremely afraid of fire.

This can be seen from the alien rooster that was melted by the fire, and from Gua Tou and A Ji who never dared to step into the campfire.

And the one right now...

Li Fei stepped forward, holding the torch and waving it back and forth in front of the man, from left to right and from top to bottom.

Unexpectedly, he didn't react at all and remained engrossed in his kebabs.

"If it doesn't react to fire at all, then it's not a zombie. So what is it?"

Li Fei frowned slightly.

He had previously asked Zhang Cheng what "dangerous matters" he needed to be aware of in Changjiang City.

The other party did mention a few, but made no mention of this zombie-like thing. Of course, it's also possible that this thing was so weak that it didn't need to be noticed at all.

"Not a zombie, not a normal person, so is he considered some form of corruption?"

Li Fei changed his perspective.

If the village's theory is correct—that once a person becomes corrupted, they become what they fear—then it means that what this man fears is zombies.

No.

It probably just looks like a zombie.

After all, zombies in zombie movies don't have this kind of "repeating actions from their previous lives".

"Wait, look, there seems to be something on his chest."

She Qingqing's reminder drew several wandering gazes to the man's chest.

On the collar of that employee uniform, near the chest, a small cluster of mushrooms peeked out.

The color was the same as the man's skin, a dark bluish-green, and coupled with the messy, tattered state of his body, he was almost unnoticeable unless you looked closely.

This trait immediately reminded them of Zhang Cheng.

"Mushrooms grow on my body."

"Man-eating monster".

After those words instinctively popped into his mind, Niu San's face darkened.

"Damn, it really is a monster! I'll kill it right now!"

Just as Niu San raised his axe, Li Fei stopped him.

"It's best not to. It's completely irrational and quite different from Zhang Cheng. But since it's not a threat to us for now, let's just leave it here to avoid any unforeseen complications after we kill it..."

"In that case, let's not stay at this service area, let's go out and eat by the roadside."

Li Fei put down his gun.

He took one last look at the zombie, then led the group back the way they came and quickly left the service area.

After yesterday's battle, he had to be even more careful.

Darkness, monsters, corruptors, or something else entirely...

The world is more dangerous than he imagined.

Or.

Zhang Cheng's words left an extremely deep impression on him.

"These days, people who aren't ruthless and cruel would have died long ago in some stinking ditch."

That's right.

Catastrophe is a selection process; those who survive for more than ten years are either highly skilled, ruthless, or incredibly resilient...

They're definitely not some kind of nice guy.

It is truly a miracle that a village like Shuanghe Village could live together in harmony for ten years.

later.

He needs to be more careful to go further down this path.

"Have a simple lunch so it'll be easier to travel in the afternoon."

Li Fei said this.

After leaving the service area, the group did not light a fire in the roadside woods, but simply ate their marching rations.

This is done to allow more time and energy to prepare for potential threats.

After all, the appearance of that zombie man earlier was a warning.

If they encounter more zombies or are slowed down by something else, they might not be able to reach the city before dark and would have to spend the night in the wilderness.

...

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

The sun was still blazing.

The clothes that had been closed up were once again opened to allow the people to cool down.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Fei took out a black tablet and tied it to the bag on his back with a rope.

"Solar panels".

It is one of the equipment used by the rings during their marches.

It has a matte black finish and a texture similar to a fitness tracker. It comes with various types of charging cables at the bottom, which can charge various lamps.

When fully unfolded, it is a 2m*2m square board, but Li Fei has only unfolded 1/4 of it for now, which fits perfectly on his back.

Once the battery was almost fully charged, the group could see the end of the highway directly in front of them.

A toll station that is just as dilapidated as the service area.

The difference is that there are more scrapped cars here, which are parked crookedly on both sides of the road after clearing the main road.

There were sedans, pickup trucks, even police cars, and large trucks that had overturned on the ground.

The closer you get to the tollbooth, the more cars there are.

Looking around, there are probably hundreds of cars parked along this nearly 100-meter stretch of road, like a graveyard for old-fashioned cars.

This time, however, the group was no longer in the mood to open blind boxes; they simply walked through them, hoping to get through quickly.

Firstly.

They knew that these cars had probably been emptied and had little remaining value.

Secondly.

There were a lot of abandoned cars parked there. Although it was broad daylight, there were still many blind spots. They dared not act rashly, for fear that something might jump out from some blind spot.

"There are zombies ahead, be careful."

Li Fei pulled out his gun and screwed on the silencer.

In front.

Inside the toll booth covered in cobwebs, though reluctantly, they finally encountered their second zombie.

A woman who has lost all her hair.

Judging by his attire, he's undoubtedly a toll collector here. And judging by his movements—sitting on the stool, constantly taking air out of the drawer and then handing it out through the window...

"She's issuing hair clips."

Li Fei glanced at the woman and continued forward.

Aside from this woman, there were several more zombies ahead.

There weren't many of them; they were scattered sparsely behind the tollbooth, among the messy pile of cars.

"I see now, that person is backing up."

Niu San pointed to a car.

The car had no steering wheel. The man in the driver's seat rested his hands on the air where the steering wheel should have been, turning his head back and forth to observe the conditions for reversing.

"That person is cheering."

She Qingqing looked to the other side.

On the highway, a man stands still, holding up a non-existent fuel nozzle with one hand and supporting a non-existent car with the other, trying to aim at the fuel tank opening.

It's not just these three.

Some were taking a walk, some were talking to thin air, and some were doing things that even Li Fei couldn't recognize...

At first glance, this road looks like a zombie exhibition, and it's quite lively.

"Let's go, just don't mess with them..."

Li Fei hadn't finished speaking.

As he was passing through the toll booth, he caught a glimpse of a dark figure rapidly approaching from the side.

I vaguely saw that it was the female toll collector who was originally handing out cards.

The arm that reached out to grab him was not swift, but rather slow; he easily dodged it by simply turning slightly to the side.

There was no rash counterattack.

Li Fei simply took a few steps back to create some distance, only to find that the other party did not give up. Instead, the other party climbed out of the pavilion window, fell to the ground, and slowly crawled towards him.