Chapter 53
Not long after, Xu Lei prepared the water. Xiao Sa first had Liang La heat it up before saying to Bai Jing: “Go take a bath, you mustn’t catch a cold.”
Bai Jing smiled and nodded.
Xiao Sa waited for him to leave before looking back at everyone else, his formerly indulgent face had turned into a cold and serious one. He proceeded to ask in a low voice that carried an unspeakable harshness: “Is there anyone who is injured?”
“No.” Everyone shook their heads at the same time. After learning the hard way from their elder brother, they were now very careful about zombies. Even the weakest of them Xu XiaoBo blushed as he shook his head. Then a determined look flashed across his fragile face and his delicate palms turned into a tightly clenched fist. He made sure to look at each one of them as he very clearly said: “I will try to become stronger. I will not drag you back. I’ve already received so much from you guys over the years, so if I am scratched by zombies, all I ask is that you don’t hesitate to kill me…”
“You…” Liu Hua wanted to speak but no words came out, in the end, he just choked up. He only felt that his heart was flustered, and he suddenly felt out of breath. He had no qualms over rushing to the forefront when it came to killing the enemy or killing zombies. But when he thought of killing one of his brothers, his heart hurt, and it felt like a more unbearable pain than a fucking heartbreak.
“I don’t want to turn into an unconscious monster…”Xu XiaoBo said, his eyes slightly red, and even his voice trembled. In fact, he didn’t want to die at all. He wanted to properly keep on living…
“Get out of here, why would you say that?” Li Yi saw that the atmosphere was quite heavy so he quickly smiled after saying that shit. But his arms around his son only seemed to grow tighter, as if he was afraid of something.
“Dad, it hurts–” Little Meng’s soft voice sounded, bringing Li Yi back to his senses. He flashed an awkward smile which quickly turned into a forced and stiff smile. The words before had hit too close to home.
“If I’m also scratched, don’t hesitate. One shot here since I’m afraid of pain…” Liu Wei said casually while pointing at his heart. The rough and fierce man’s facial expression may have seemed like he didn’t care, but he couldn’t hide the sorrow deep in his eyes.
“Shit, I’m no weak woman, but I’m still afraid of pain. Let’s all agree that anyone who is injured or scratched should just dispose of themselves with one shot. I don’t want to kill any of my brothers. Now that we’ve all agreed on that, let’s not wallow over this anymore. My body is still wet and I want to take a bath and sleep. Tomorrow we’ll be back to traveling again, so let’s keep our spirits up.” For once Han Yan had restrained his violent temper. This whole night had been difficult so he was in no mood to scold anyone. Plus he had also suddenly found himself thinking about his death.
Zhou Ji rarely agreed with Han Yan but: “What Han Yan said is correct. Instead of thinking about this nonsense, it would be better to build enough spirit. If everyone works together towards the same goal then nothing can stand in our way. At least we know that we are smarter than zombies and our movements and reach is also much more agile. And even though we can neither confront them head on nor hide from them, we still have weapons in our hands; we still have a way to defeat them.”
Yu Yue heard them talking and found himself also moved by their words. He had never expected that the men from the criminal underworld would be so affectionate and sentimental. Hastily he interjected saying: “Exactly! So now I also would like to thank the magnificent elder brother who saved me, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to preserve my little life.”
At that moment, Xu XiaoBo turned his head and looked at Yu Yue as he earnestly said: “I also want to thank you for saving me.” At that time he was just about to be scratched by a zombie, otherwise, he wouldn’t be so emotional right now.
Han Yan slapped the table then said: “Ok, everyone has given and received their thanks. Anyone whose life is saved should never forget to be thankful to the one who saved them. It’s not such a difficult thing to devote one’s life to. Now there is something on my mind that I must declare and you must all listen very carefully.”
Both Xu XiaoBo and Yu Yue both blushed, cursing Han Yan for his blabbermouth. But unexpectedly, the depressing mood from before had lifted. When they heard Han Yan’s words, everyone looked up as they tried to figure out what important thing he wanted to say. But in the end…
They only saw Han Yan impatiently looking sideways at Zhou Ji before saying: “You shit, give me your answer. Why do you always ignore my affections? I like you.”
“Pu!” The whole room was filled with silence. Han Yan, this was a confession, right!
Zhou Ji was speechless since he’d been caught off guard. This fool. After all these years if Zhou Ji didn’t feel anything then why would he have stuck around up until now? Zhou Ji could only sigh quietly. He was currently conflicted since even though he was very pleased with the confession, he minded being made fun of by the others.
Then he heard Han Yan say: “There is only the present moment; after today there is no tomorrow. If I die I don’t want to have any regrets. I don’t care anymore, give me your answer. What the hell is going on? Let’s talk about it.” Han Yan had already thrown caution to the wind, as the saying goes, dead pigs are not afraid of getting burnt by boiling water. Plus his expression showed that he was not going to give up until he got what he wanted.
Zhou Ji rubbed his forehead. They were still surrounded by people but he figured it was better to not give Han Yan the opportunity to keep speaking. Anyway, he was already being made fun of so he might as well be mocked a little bit more. He reached out and grabbed Han Yan’s waist, then immediately covered his lips with his own, lips that were now frozen cold from having been in the rain. He finally blocked that mouth that couldn’t shut up.
“Yeah!” No one knew who had shouted that, but the other men in the room also started whistling.
Of course, a brazen person like Han Yan also had those rare moments when he would be shy. And so he shocked everyone as he looked at Zhou Ji in a half coy half pouting manner and said with a blushing face: “You’re a dead man!”
“You’re shy… ” This was too damn much, this was still Han Yan right…
Cao Lei took the chance when everyone else was preoccupied to take Wang Xuebing with him after asking Xu Lei to prepare some bath water. By the time everyone realized, the two of them had already freshened up, so it was pointless to make a fuss over this unfairness.
Xiao Sa saw that they were all being rowdy so he decided to go wash up instead. After thinking about it, he decided that he would continue this talk tomorrow. Han Yan hadn’t had it easy these past years, so seeing him finally getting what he wanted after working so hard made Xiao Sa very happy.
But this happiness only lasted until tomorrow morning, at which point his heart was extremely restless. To this date, he had only kissed Bai Jing little mouth once, yet how come those two could easily express their love at any time and place. He believed that last night if it hadn’t been for the lack of rooms, those two people would’ve probably already been XXOO.
His heart was full of resentment as he watched Wang Xuebing with a bitter look in his eyes. He had originally thought that last night he would finally get the chance to sleep with little Jing, and even if they couldn’t do it, at least he would be surrounded by his soft jade fragrance. Who would have thought he would encounter a wolf protection team: Wang Xuebing, Cao Lei, plus Qin Hao were all crowded in Bai Jing’s room. There were two beds in the room and both been occupied; there was no space left for him. There was nothing Xiao Sa could do, so he simply sent his brothers off to rest and spent the night awake in the living room.
Although when he thought about the fact that Qin Hao was still young, Xiao Sa decided to at least forgive him for the time being.
When Wang Xuebing got up the next morning, at once, he felt a shiver run through his entire body. Cao Lei on his part guarded his lover, looking at Xiao Sa as sparks of tension flew between the two of them.
The moment Bai Jing walked out of the door, he saw the two people looking at each other intensely, and instantly knew what had led to this situation. Bai Jing repressed a laugh that was threatening to come out, and then did his best to pout at Cao Lei as he pointed his finger and said: “Your lover is over there.” Why on earth are you looking at my man?
Xiao Sa’s heart blossomed, and the depression from last night was quickly cured. Cao Lei was frustrated that his plan had been foiled. He found that the young master was the type to use you and then immediately throw you to the dogs. In fact last night he remembers seeing the young master grinning as he hid under the blanket. Cao Lei covered his mouth and laughed, realizing that he had been played. So with a smile on his face, he pulled his lover to him and shouted for Qin Hao to go brush his teeth and wash his face. Cao Lei decided that what his eyes had not seen his heart would not grieve over, and so from now on, he would no longer bother with these two who have been muddled in the brain by love.
One after the other, the other people woke up. It was still early in the morning by the time everyone finished getting ready, so Bai Jing decided to search through the house one more time, or rather it could be called doing a clean sweep**. In a flash, he had swept the house so clean of all useful items that even devils don’t leave the villages they plunder this bare.
While everyone was still shocked speechless by Bai Jing’s actions, Xiao Sa announced their departure. Then he informed them that those of them who had awakened their mutant powers had developed antibodies that would make them immune to zombie scratches. As long as they were not bitten they would not be infected. On the other hand, the ordinary people without powers needed to pay more attention. And so, he ordered everyone to watch each other’s backs.
Everyone was relieved when they heard this. The brothers who had awakened their abilities patted their chests pledging to defend everyone’s safety. As for those who hadn’t yet awakened their abilities, they were now even more motivated to develop them as soon as possible. They were determined not to be a burden on everyone else.
Once they were all in their vehicles, they didn’t immediately continue with their journey. Instead, Xiao Sa instructed that they should first collect supplies from the county. It didn’t take long after they started moving to reach their destination. Usually, there were very few zombies during the day, but the county town seemed to be particularly different. They heard a loud bang and then saw several zombies chasing a man and a woman on the road west to where they were.
Xiao Sa directly ordered: “We’re getting out of the vehicles. Some people with abilities should remain and guard the cars. I’ll head in one direction with Little Jing and another group of people should head in another direction with Li Meng.”
Hearing this Li Yi was worried, afraid, and was reluctant to part with his son. But in the end, he still let him go. Li Yi rubbed his son’s head and then carefully warned him: “You know that you have to obey everything your uncles tell you right?”
Li Meng nodded his head firmly: “Rest assured dad, I will be obedient and will also properly lend a hand to help everyone.”
The vehicle had parked at the door of a mall not far away from where they had slept. The zombies quickly gathered around them, but fortunately, they were not many so they were quickly disposed of.
“Good boy.” Liu Wei hugged Li Meng. Then everyone quickly got off the vehicles. The mall door was open and the inside was in a complete mess and many things having already been ransacked.
Knowing that the zombie cannot infect people with abilities, Yu Yue had become a lot more courageous. He took the lead, walking ahead so he could guide the way. Using his intuition and spiritual powers to dispose of any approaching dangers, the bullets he fired at their brains never missing their target. He carved out a clear path for everyone.
Bai Jing was eyeing the precious stones displayed on the sale’s counter on the first floor.
Xiao Sa intuitively knew what Bai Jing wanted, so he said: “All of you go upstairs to the supermarket, little Jing and I will go to the warehouse.” Xie Minhang nodded. There were no objections to this, so while the others took little Meng and rushed upstairs, Bai Jing rushed to the counter where jade artifacts were on display. Although the quality of the jade was ordinary, as the saying goes, if there is no fish then shrimp will do. Xiao Sa broke the glass barrier on the display and Bai Jing proceeded to collect the jade; this married couple had become quite in sync. After collecting the jade they went to the warehouse.
The instant he opened the warehouse door, Bai Jing frowned: “There’s something not right here.”
Xiao Sa looked around: “First come first served. Quickly pack up the supplies you can find, there’s a hardware store ahead, we can also go there.”
Bai Jing thought about this for a moment but then decided not to worry about it. He just thought that the virus in this county town had broken out too fast. Looking at all the signs around the town, he could tell that it had only been a few days, yet the whole town was already in such a state of chaos. How comes there had been no news reported on this? Moreover, in the past two days there had passed through so many towns, but it was only this one county that was like a ghost town with almost no sign of any living people. It was a few days after the virus had broken out and sure the situation in the other places may not be good but it was not as severe as this place.