Chapter 44: I’ll kill him!
“Aiyaya! You’re a grown man, and you still don’t know how to love yourself. Look, the wound is open again!”
Yang Ke’er was grumbling that Zhang Xiao Qiang had smashed her ‘dumpling of love’, and began to help him bandage his wound again.
Behind her, the grass was littered with many fallen zombies, each of them not possessing a complete corpse. They were either missing a head or a limb.
The sun had set, and the remaining rays of sun washed over this apocalyptic battlefield, giving it an even more desolate feel.
The sun rays shone on Yang Ke’er, giving her a golden radiance, which made her look like a little goddess.
After undergoing through that strenuous activity of wiping out those zombies, her cute nose was dripping with beads of perspiration, and under the glow of the sunlight, her forehead looked even more alluring.
Her big round eyes were focused on Zhang Xiao Qiang’s right hand, applying medication on him.
Her warm breathing would blow gently on his hand from time to time, which had long since stopped hurting. Instead, the constant breaths gave his hand a sort of tingling sensation.
Looking at her carefully bandaging his wound, Zhang Xiao Qiang’s thoughts drifted to the earlier scene of her fighting.
She had the talent, if he was honest, and was incredibly perceptive of her surroundings. She didn’t just charge headlong without thinking, instead, she had skirted around the edge, and borrowed their slow speed to take them down one by one. The horde had been whittled down slowly by her.
“That Beast Horn Spear of hers should be called the Beast Horn Bat!”
When Yang Ke’er had been killing the zombies, it wasn’t through thrusts, rather, she had swung down repeatedly. Some had been relieved of their limbs, while others found their heads smashed. There were even a few who had their bodies sliced in two.
That Beast Horn Spear of hers had then been stuck in the ground, reaching a height of 1.7m, allowing her easy access.
The rebar used as the body of the spear was still holding up. The Beast Horn atop the spear was gleaming in the sunlight, and it wasn’t an unbearable glare, instead, it felt like a subtle and restrained halo.
The Beast Horn had a unique property, in that dust and dirt could not rest on its surface. Even the blood that had gotten on it during the slaughter of the zombies flowed down, moving along the grooves, leaving it as clean and shiny as it was before.
“It’s a pity, this spear!” He looked at the spear and shook his head.
“Uncle, were you listening?”
Yang Ke’er’s eyes were opened wide, with a little glint in them. Her cheeks that were soft and puffy, as her rosy red lips were pouting. The look of a young girl showing her displeasure was truly refreshing.
“Cough, cough!” He had not been listening and pretended to cough while racking his brains to divert the topic away.
“En, that, oh! I was thinking, did we forget something?” He put on a serious face as he asked.
“?????” She didn’t understand and started to think if she had really forgotten something.
“Didn’t we come for that fellow?” He used his eyes to motion towards the factory.
She rose her head to look as well, noting that the man was still hopping about on the roof, except that his energy level had seemed to drop. That lonely figure against the setting sun, desperately waving the flag, it truly looked desolate and pitiful.
“Cheh! We had to spend half the day to take care of those zombies! Yet he still dares not come down. He must be those weakling-types, I can’t be bothered with him!”
Yang Ke’er was obviously displeased with that guy on the roof!
Zhang Xiao Qiang saw that the sky was getting dark and said: “Let’s just spend the night there then!”
As the tractor drove closer, the factory grew in their sight. “XX TOWN XX Food Factory” A large signboard hung on the wall, and the paint seemed old.
As they entered the factory, they could see all sorts of rubbish, moldy bags of flour, torn and tattered pieces of cloth, a variety of packaging bags, as well as some human bones.
The warehouse was about 8m-tall, and the huge iron door had been dented in a number of places. There was white paint that spelled “Important warehouse, fireworks are prohibited”. The walls of the warehouse were sturdy, made of materials from the 60s or 70s, and the 5m-tall walls were fitted with old wooden window frames. A row of simple U-shaped steel pipes embedded in the wall led to the rooftop in the form of a staircase. The man was currently looking downwards as though to check for more zombies.
“Come on down! It’s safe la!” Zhang Xiao Qiang beckoned him, while Yang Ke’er ignored the man.
After ascertaining that there was no trouble below, he slowly followed the steps down.
“Aiya! Big brother, I’m truly grateful! You may not know this, I was trapped in here for a whole 4 months! If you hadn’t come by, I don’t know what I would have done!”
The man was extremely emotional, looking as though he was about to kneel in gratitude!
Zhang Xiao Qiang observed the man carefully, who looked to be about 23, 24. His clothes were dirty, while his face was generally clean but pale. His unkempt hair covered his ears, and it looked like a hairstyle out from the 80s. He had a bewildered expression, and the first impression anyone would have was that he was pretty decent.
“What’s your name? How did you survive till now?” Zhang Xiao Qiang sat down in the living quarters of the factory meant for customers, as he asked while looking around.
“Haha! My surname’s Xie, you can call me Xie Yuan Shan. I was the manager here. At that time, when I was taking stock of the goods……” He began to narrate the events.
The factory was a processing plant for dried biscuits. There were 50 employees, all of whom were villagers nearby. The plant owner was Xie Yuan Shan’s uncle. After Xie Yuan Shan had graduated from his university, he had come over here to work. Nearing the end of the year, business would boom, and there were plenty of goods lying about. He had thus been keeping track of the finished products in the warehouse in a bid to calculate the potential profits when the apocalypse broke out, and the workers went crazy and bit each other.
His brain had fortunately continued to work, and he pulled the doors close to protect himself, not daring to step out. After half an hour, the warehouse operator had also begun to exhibit weird behavior, causing Xie Yuan Shan to back up until the operator fully turned. Xie Yuan Shan had then killed her, before locking himself in the storage, using the windows daily to climb to the roof to see if there were people passing by.
“Xie Yuan Shan ah! How did you settle the issue of water?” Zhang Xiao Qiang asked curiously.
“Big brother, you’re too courteous, call me Xiao Shan! It’s like this….”
The finished goods warehouse had to be kept clean at all times, and there was a water tank behind the huge door. Usually, the employees would use the water tank to clean themselves. The tank drew water from underground, and the villagers would use the water as daily usable water.
“Big brother, my life has been saved by you guys, in the future, feel free to make use of me, I will do my best.”
As Xie Yuan Shan swore solemnly, his eyes kept roving over to Yang Ke’er.
“Cough” Zhang Xiao Qiang coughed out to indicate that he should stop looking.
“I saw that this little sister here was so strong!” He looked a little embarrassed.
Zhang Xiao Qiang nodded silently.
“She’s your sister?” Xie Yuan Shan asked carefully.
“No la! I’m his wife oh!” Yang Ke’er felt bored, and when she heard his question, she immediately took the initiative to announce it proudly.
“Oh! This big brother sure is capable, haha!” He laughed and looked sincere, but Zhang Xiao Qiang felt something amiss.
The factory’s huge door was sealed shut, and Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest were sitting within, surrounding a fire. It wasn’t that they did not want to fall asleep, but the feel of the dormitory was off, and there was a scent in the air.
Hence, they decided to sleep outside, fortunately, the temperature wasn’t too low.
Zhang Xiao Qiang and Yang Ke’er discussed and decided to each take half a night’s watch since they had to be on guard against an additional stranger, whose motives were unknown.
“Drop that, otherwise, I’ll kill him.”
Zhang Xiao Qiang was still groggy when he was suddenly shaken away. Before he opened his eyes fully, he was kicked viciously in the stomach.
He instantly doubled up in pain, gasping for air.
