Chapter 29

Lizhi was sleeping soundly, and in a daze, he felt someone kicking him.

"You really underestimated the power of your snoring. I'm afraid you might bring the house down." Richard glanced at the zombies outside and then looked at Lizhi, saying with a wry smile.

Feeling extremely sleepy, Lizhi ignored him, mumbled a couple of times, and fell back asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, Lizhi felt someone patting him and turned over to sit up.

It was Arthur.

"Arthur? Is Richard sleeping?"

"Richard? Oh, you mean that guy. He woke me up to keep watch and is now asleep." Arthur sat in the spot where Richard had been and replied.

"Um... Did I snore?" Lizhi scratched his head and asked somewhat embarrassedly.

"Yeah, I was afraid it would attract the zombies, so..." Arthur also nodded somewhat embarrassedly.

Although the two had been close classmates in the past, they hadn't seen each other for several years and were indeed a bit awkward.

"Um... Speaking of which, I remember you said you opened a Turkish restaurant after graduating from the language school. How did you end up with Aivard's group?" Lizhi recalled some past events and asked.

After eliminating Aivard's group, the two hadn't had a chance to have a proper chat.

Arthur sighed, took out a pack of Marlboro, and offered one to Lizhi.

"I'll pass, I don't want to snore more."

Lizhi remembered what Richard had said about smoking before bed causing snoring and politely declined Arthur's offer.

"Ah, it's just that I met the wrong people. Originally, I was going to open a store with two friends, but they ended up running off with the money and disappearing." Arthur lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and then said.

"Doing business with friends, you should be more cautious... Those two are real scoundrels."

Lizhi didn't know how to comfort Arthur; he really wasn't good at it.

"I was too naive back then. After reporting it to the police, there was no trace of those two. After being swindled out of all my money, I had to work for others or starve to death."

Arthur flicked the ash and continued.

"I didn't dare tell my family. Most of the money for the store came from them. I still lie to them, saying I'm doing well here. To make it believable, I even found a Turkish restaurant to work at so I could take photos to send to my parents."

Arthur finished, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"Life has its twists and turns. Don't worry, even if those scoundrels don't die in the mouths of the zombies, we'll eventually run into them! When that happens, we'll settle our scores." Lizhi patted Arthur's shoulder, knowing how tough it was.

"Later, a guy named Mike introduced me to Aivard. Although I didn't want to get into security work at first, this job didn't conflict with my restaurant work, and I needed the money, so..."

Arthur paused and continued.

"Actually, there was another reason. Aivard is well-connected, and I hoped he could help me find those scoundrels."

"Um..."

"I didn't expect Aivard to be such a scoundrel. But, the world has already changed so much. Money is no longer important. To hell with it all."

Seeing that Lizhi was dozing off, Arthur patted his shoulder.

"I'm just venting. I have no one else to talk to about this. Go to sleep, everyone needs your leadership tomorrow morning."

Lizhi was indeed feeling sleepy, apologized to Arthur, and fell back asleep.

There were only Mike and the others at Wonderland. Could they handle those eighteen people?

The long night, hoping nothing goes wrong.

Arthur extinguished the cigarette, glanced at the zombies outside, and wrapped his coat tighter around himself.

The night in Norwich was really cold.

************

"Brother Li, Brother Li, wake up..."

Someone was pushing him, and Lizhi reluctantly opened his eyes.

Oh, it's morning.

"Here, Brother Li, sign this."

Lizhi, still half-asleep, took the notebook Siyao handed him and signed his name on a blank spot on the first page.

"What are you doing? **?"

Lizhi looked at the notebook in his hand; others had also signed their names. Realizing what he had written, he quickly spat and cursed. What **, this is like cursing myself!

"Nothing, just wanted to leave something behind. After all we've been through these past two days, I want to write something to commemorate it." Siyao took the notebook from Lizhi, sat on the bed, and started writing.

Well, the literary youth is at it again.

"Are they all awake?" Lizhi stood up and asked Siyao.

"Yeah, they're all downstairs eating. They didn't want to wake you up because you were sleeping so soundly, but they're more worried about the people at Wonderland, so they sent me to wake you up."

"Um, right, I didn't see Richard's name on your notebook?"

"I asked him, and he said he's the guest, and since he's just a guest, he didn't sign."

Lizhi smiled and shook his head. Richard really just wanted to team up with them. But Lizhi understood; someone like Richard wouldn't look up to their group.

Besides, he still had comrades at UEA, and even if he couldn't go there now, it was just a matter of time.

"What's the situation outside?"

"Not good, very bad." Siyao answered without looking up, still writing.

"There are still a lot of zombies. Tony tried your method of throwing meat outside, but it didn't work. The road to the train station is completely blocked. It's probably impossible to force our way through."

"Um, keep writing, I'll go downstairs and check." Lizhi said and went downstairs.

Everyone was sitting together, eating things they had found in the supermarket. Richard was sitting near the door, motionless, possibly sleeping.

Seeing Lizhi come down, everyone nodded in greeting. With a large wave of zombies outside, everyone was deliberately speaking less.

Tony moved over to make room for Lizhi.

"There are too many zombies outside. I tried your method, but it didn't work." Tony pointed outside and said helplessly to Lizhi.

"Um, as expected. Even if we could start the car, how to get through the zombies on the way is a problem. Does anyone have a better idea?"

"Maybe we should go in the opposite direction, out of the city center, then take the ring road and circle around to Wonderland." Alex thought for a moment and suggested.

Although Norwich is not a big city, it does have a Premier League team: Norwich City.

Wonderland is about a 10-minute drive from Norwich City's home ground.

"I don't think this is very feasible. First, the risk of leaving the city center is not much lower than the train station, and there's a possibility of getting trapped there. We also don't know if there are people like Aivard there."

Arthur put down his sandwich and analyzed carefully.

"Second, the ring road is likely to be a parking lot, and it's unlikely to be passable."

...

Arthur was right, and everyone fell silent again.

Do we have to stay here and not go to Wonderland today?