Ch71 - Struggle at Yixin (1)

Translator: transcendentwings

The winds in the second half of the night always turn cold and sharp without warning, like a heavenly power was at work and every time a certain point in time is reached, the weather mode would adjust immediately and even any excess would be skimping.

Zhao He shrank his neck and wrapped his coat tighter around himself.

At this moment, he was walking down the avenue in the sector of the various departments. Of course, it was still in the same way as when they had arrived together, sticking to the side of the road and clinging to the towering trees in order to advance. Under the moonlight, the shadows of the trees were mottled and the dry and intertwined branches gave an illusion of having a thick overgrowth. His dark clothes perfectly hid in the shadows, coupled with his deliberately slowed pace and light steps, he seemed to have almost merged with the night.

He passed the Qiushi Building, and now the Yixin Building was before him and the singing from the Gewu Building was nearly inaudible.

Zhao He didn’t think he was a timid person, but immersed in this sort of darkness, he suddenly hoped that the singing of his teammates could accompany him a little longer, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Behind him, the thick smoke from the top of the Qiushi Building had basically dissipated, leaving behind only a few wisps floating up into the night sky.

Zhao He retracted his gaze and made up his mind—He wasn’t going back to the canteen.

Less than half the night had passed since the team was dispersed and he always felt that neither Zhou Yilu and Qiao Siqi at the Luban Building nor Wu Zhou and Feng Qibai at the Yixin Building would have chosen to return either.

There was actually no basis for this sort of speculation. To put it bluntly, it was just a sixth sense. But people’s sixth sense was sometimes more reliable than careful reasoning because it could appear so miraculously, it could also be so eerily precise that a reason wasn’t needed.

Of course, if one insisted on making an analysis, it wasn’t impossible to do so. Thinking of it another way, if he were the one to lure the enemy, he also wouldn’t retrace back to the canteen so promptly. Rather, he would choose the nearest shelter and wait for the news of his teammates’ victory or their call for support at any time. As for right now, he was this “source of intelligence”.

It was his duty to pass on to his comrades that “Song Fei, Qi Yan, and He Zhiwen have successfully infiltrated the Gewu Building and were prepared to lead a charge for the radio the following night”, even if he could only choose one between the Luban and Yixin Buildings.

So the question now arose, should he stop here and head for the arts or move on and aim for the architectural?

Ka.

Zhao He’s hulking body shuddered as his thoughts and stride screeched to a halt suddenly.

It was the sound of something cracking and the fracture should be extremely small because the noise was very soft, so minute that if he hadn’t slowed down and softened his already turtleneck pace in the midst of his mental entanglement, he absolutely would’ve neglected it.

Yet scanning his surroundings, there was only the empty asphalt road, not to mention the shadow of a zombie, there were almost no flowers or plants either. The only thing that could be considered to be some kind of tangible object was the one he was leaning. . .

Wait a second.

Zhao He froze suddenly and then raised his head dully and stiffly.

At this time, he was completely unbiased as he stood directly under the tree and about a meter away from his head, there was a black “person” squatting on a branch that wasn’t too thick. The black didn’t refer to light or shadow, but simply referred to the other party. It was completely burnt from head to toe, like a person made of charcoal, even the face wasn’t spared. The dark facial features were almost blurred together, the eyes weren’t able to open and certain places where the skin was split and the flesh exposed was still oozing some sort of unknown transparent liquid.

This was a scene that was too tragic and the distance was so close causing the impact to be so great that Zhao He actually forgot to react for a moment, his mind went completely blank.

There was an abrupt kacha, and the branch snapped completely!

The “Charcoal Man” plummeted rapidly, catching Zhao He off guard, allowing the opponent to drop straight down before his feet.

The other’s body slammed into the ground, but its hand landed on Zhao He’s leg. The next second, the hand seemed to gain its only vitality and whilst the body still hadn’t recovered from the impact, was still unconsciously struggling and wriggling, arbitrarily grabbing ahold of Zhao He’s shoelaces which were tied tightly!

Zhao He woke up instantly and kicked the “Charcoal Man” away without any hesitation then swiftly scrambled up the tree!

It took a long time for the “Charcoal Man” to finally get up from the ground. Judging by its hesitant movements, the fall just now wasn’t so light. After crawling to its feet, it didn’t act in a hurry. Instead it surveyed its surroundings and kept sniffing the nearby air with its nose.

Zhao He already confirmed it. Not crying out from pain, not fearing its disfigurement, even unmoved by its own miserable state. This wasn’t a “Charcoal Man”, this was a “Charcoal Corpse”. And it already was completely blinded so it could only rely on its sense of smell and touch to hunt.

Fortunately, he hid in time and concealed himself high enough.

Zhao He breathed a sigh of relief. . .

Ka.

Uh. . .

Kacha!

D*mn it, he f *cking knew it!!!

How could a tree branch that couldn’t even support a scorched zombie be able to bear brawny Zhao-tongxue. In the time of a flash of light, it splintered unceremoniously. There was no opportunity for Zhao He to put up a fight before he fell heavily, and as if he aimed deliberately, he threw himself onto the charcoal corpse.

A fortune descended from the sky, the charcoal corpse took advantage of the situation to trap Zhao He in its arms then bit down!

The zombie unreservedly wanted to gnaw on the neck of its prey, but it genuinely could only reach Zhao-tongxue’s chest.

—Height was also a cause for injury.

Through the clothes as well as his robust pectoral muscles, this chomp didn’t succeed and at most, the teeth only rubbed against his chest through the garments. However this mouthful was enough for Zhao He’s hair to stand on end and for three layers of goosebumps to cover his skin.

It wasn’t that he was afraid, but that this blasted bite actually reminded Zhao He of his ex-girlfriend.

As a member of the long-legged planet, Zhao He preferred lolis and his ex-girlfriend’s height had only reached his chest. Every time she acted petulant, she liked to nibble others and usually it started with a bear hug and then she’d bring her teeth down wherever it was convenient. Nine times out of ten, it was his chest that fell victim.

Now that the beautiful woman had found another happy relationship, only he was left behind to wallow in sorrow alone in the wind, to the extent that he’d even reminisce about the sweet past on the body of a charred zombie. It truly was so tragic that even the sky and the earth lost color, that the sun and moon darkened!

What was more frightening was that the cute face of his ex-girlfriend and the charcoal face of the zombie against his chest flashed back and forth alternately on his retina, the feeling was utterly unexpectedly refreshing and sour!

Kengchi!

Another bite.

The zombie persevered, but because its eyesight was defective, it could only act on intuition, thus the attack range was limited to Zhao’s chest.

Zhao’s chest could withstand it, however with repeated harassment, Zhao-xiong’s mentality couldn’t bear it, so he decisively pulled out his dagger to sever the thread of love!

Following the army knife’s penetration into the zombie’s temple, the spot before Zhao-tongxue’s chest returned to calm.

Carefully placing the corpse down, Zhao He yanked his military blade out and flicked the fluid staining it off as he studied the corpse meticulously.

After being entangled for so long, his feelings towards this zombie was no longer pure fear and was more doubtful as well as other complex emotions that couldn’t be explained clearly.

He didn’t know whether it was burned first and then infected, or infected first then burned. Personally, he hoped it was the latter. At least, it wouldn’t have been so painful.

But then where did this fire come from?

Zhao He thought of the few wisps of smoke left at the upper floors of the Qiushi Building and harbored suspicions, but they could only remain as conjectures.

Kala—

Suddenly, there was a strange sound coming from the Yixin Building obliquely in front of him, very similar to the sound of an opening window.

Zhao He’s mind started and swiftly widened his eyes to search for the exact location of the origin of the noise!

The moon was dark and the wind was tempestuous, trying to seek which one was open among the multitude of dark windows was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. To be precise, even the upper or lower floors, north or south sides couldn’t be distinguished. The only thing Zhao He was sure of was that the sound definitely came from the building facing him. If it was from the other side, the noise couldn’t be transmitted to him at all!

Just when Zhao He was at a loss, he abruptly saw a figure falling from the center window on the third level—

Guangdang!

From catching sight of the silhouette to the muffled thump of a heavy object striking the ground, only the time for a flash of light was needed.

Zhao He was startled and instinctively wanted to step forward to check, but just as he was about to move his feet, he suddenly saw seven or eight zombies shuffling out from the Yixin Building! And following that there were still new zombies popping out one after another, all attracted by the sound of the crash!

Zhao He clenched his fists and almost gnashed his teeth to pieces. He was worried that it was his teammate that plummeted and hated that he couldn’t lunge forward immediately, but seeing more zombies gathering, he knew that rushing over now was equivalent to hitting a stone with an egg.

In a moment of anxiety, a flash of inspiration swiftly manifested!

Regardless of whether the lofty tree was happy or not, Zhao He targeted the thickest branch and began to climb up using both his hands and feet.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao He reached the highest spot and rapidly faced the group of zombies, revving up to start belting out songs loudly. Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, before he could make a sound, a small group of zombies that had already gathered already began to lazily scatter. The zombies that trailed behind also seemed to sense something strange and didn’t come closer. Most of them closed in only to a distance of one or two meters from the fallen before they paused and swiveled around without exception, gradually trudging back.

Zhao He braked in time and watched as the zombies, which poured out of its nest, returned disappointed. The entire process didn’t even take a few minutes.

Soon the space at the base of the Yixin Building was clean again as if nothing had happened. If Zhao He was unable to still see the black mass on the ground at the height he occupied, he would really have thought that everything that just occurred was just an illusion.

No more blind guessing, Zhao He decided to get to the bottom of it.

He tiptoed down the tree and hurriedly walked to the base of the wall of the Yixin Building’s ground floor. He inched forward bit by bit, sticking close to the body of the building, and finally came to the side of the “jumper”.

Borrowing the moonlight, Zhao He finally saw clearly that half of the head of the jumper was lost from the fall. The plummet was probably taken headfirst, so although it was only a height of three floors, the brains were still splashed all over from it. However, based on the remaining half of the face that could be identified, one could still notice the typical scars from being gnawed on by zombies and that the blood at the wounds had long dried up, like old injuries. Furthermore, the dark red blood sprinkled with spots of white all over the ground should be fresh blood that splattered out from the impact.

What fell from the building wasn’t a person, but a zombie.

The zombies who chased after the ruckus naturally had no interest in the body of its fallen comrade.

But Zhao He was very interested because the one who fell from the building was a zombie, which meant that the person who made it fall was a living person. The only problem to be solved now was whether that living person was his comrade-in-arms.

Looking up, the window on the third floor was already tightly shut.

The fastest way was naturally to call out loudly, but it was very likely that before the comrade was even able to open the window, the wave of zombies that just turned back would sweep back over for a second time.

Yi?

Zhao He sniffed vigorously, feeling that the scent wafting through the air was very familiar.

His eyes lit up as he quickly crouched down, getting close to the corpse of the zombie and sniffing it twice. Although the bloody odor carried within the stench of rotten flesh rushed towards his face, the slight fragrance still overcame the thorns and jumped out from the encirclement!

It was his comrades!

There would never be another squad in this world that would exude such a refreshing aroma!

As soon as this fragrance wafted out, who would dare compete with it, wherever it goes, mosquitoes wouldn’t live another day!

Zhao He glanced up once more and after firmly etching the location of the window into his mind, he straightened decisively, and snuck quietly to the door of the Yixin Building. He hid behind the wall where the floor-to-ceiling glass doors merged and spied on the movements in the lobby on the first floor.

Due to the power outage, the entire hall was shrouded in darkness. From Zhao He’s perspective, the only thing that could be seen clearly was the white stone sculptures in the center of the hall. That was a statue with a unique shape. It was unclear at first glance, but when one took a closer look, one would discover that it was a person whose arms were raised up high. The only difference was that it had been slightly deformed to make the lines more artistic. It didn’t seek realism, but impressionism.

Zhao He didn’t understand art, but he still picked up on some inklings. Just looking at it from a distance, he could feel the depression and despair in the composition, as if the depicted was exhausting their last strengths to accuse this absurd world.

The sculpture was a good one, even a layman like himself could appreciate its beauty. Although, why position such a serious object at the entrance of the building for this department? In theory, shouldn’t there be some sort of thriving and flourishing images such as young maidens holding books or cupping a dove?

In the midst of his doubt, a black shadow flashed past the sculpture.

Zhao He narrowed his eyes and at the last moment when the other party was about to disappear into the darkness, he confirmed its identity as a zombie.

After fighting for so long, whether it was human or zombie, Zhao He already developed some general criteria for judging from an objective to subjective point of view.

There were zombies in the hall, and there may even be more than one.

Zhao He had expected it long ago, but now he was more certain. He pursed his lips, pondered it for a moment, then turned around abruptly and dashed back to the corpse of the fallen zombie that was by the wall.

Taking a deep breath, Zhao He adjusted his mood and once he felt that he was pretty much ready, he hunkered down resolutely and scraped up some of the blood and brain matter off the ground with a short dagger and smeared it on himself.

It wasn’t until the faint scent of his body mixed with the Hualu shui was covered by the strong musk of zombies that Zhao He returned to the entrance of the Yixing Building and swiftly slipped into the lobby.

In the darkness, Zhao He stood still for more than a minute before gradually allowing his eyes to adapt to the faint moonlight and finally get a good look at the situation in the hall.

Although it wasn’t very clear, it was still possible to tell that there were seven or eight zombies crowded at one side, only that he was near the door and they were close to the corridor. The stairway was on the other side where only two zombies roamed in proximity. Perhaps it was because the light was too dark so that it was inconvenient to move, but the two zombies just stood there blankly, taking two steps from time to time, aimless, stiff, and dazed.

The comrades of Class 1 have concluded previously that the eyesight of zombies would be slightly less acute than before death. When the light was sufficient, there wasn’t much of an impact, but once it was shrouded in the darkness, the effect was more obvious. This was also why they always chose to operate in the dark.

Zhao He had always been somewhat skeptical about this, because the day before yesterday when he went to raid the Express Pickup Point, it was also afterdark, and when he should’ve been pursued by zombies, he was.

However at this moment in time, he finally understood how naive it was for him to question those of the Mighty and Unyielding Fighting for Survival Class 1.

No need for further explanation, the zombies on the other side of the hallway glanced at his direction several times, but had no reaction, this was the ironclad proof.

—For the first time in his life, Zhao He rejoiced for the window to his soul which was as clear as lake water. As a young man who didn’t like to read, the happiest moments he experienced was when he had his physical check-ups and eye exams. One could point up, down, left, right, in any direction freely, and he would be able to hit the mark using every shot with uncanny accuracy.

Finally, the seven or eight zombies were basically all facing the corridor, and the zombies near the stairs also stumbled a little further away. With the wind boosting the soles of Zhao He’s feet, he practically zipped towards the staircase that was diagonally across from him like a bolt of lightning and even split some of his attention to glance at the base of the sculpture, trying to figure out what the title of this piece full of negative energy was.

In the brief moment where a gust of wind swept across, he really was able to capture it—

[Hope]

When he finally reached the stairs, Zhao He resolved that he should just concentrate on his sports major in the future.

Author’s Chapter Summary:

It’s hard to just run away if one is concerned about one’s comrades, it’s impossible to return to the base without victory had!

The translator has something to say: like how pragmatic ZH was, the lone warrior, that brain matter part sent shudders down my spine, but at the same time I thought that this wasn’t the craziest thing human beings would do just to survive

Stay tuned for a second chapter! (again as a match to the length of the other novel I’m currently translating)