Chapter 76

The gray scabs on the thin man’s body began to appear the night after. At first, they were small clumps, like moss growing on his skin, so small that they could barely be noticed unless one looked closely. Over time, the gray scabs spread, the surface hardened and dried, and they cracked when touched, causing him to writhe in pain.

Since the night before yesterday, he had shown signs of being dazed and unable to speak. No matter what anyone said or asked, he had no response, and his eyes had become bloodshot. His mental state began to deteriorate as well. The only consolation was that his dazed and mute state seemed to lessen his pain, as he no longer cried out from the pain of the scabs on his body.

The bald man, who was closest to the thin man, saw him lying in bed in such a miserable state. He decided to draw a basin of clean water to help wipe away some of the scabs, mostly to moisten the dry patches, hoping to provide him some comfort.

However, to their surprise, by morning, the scabs had spread even more rapidly, and half of his skin was now covered in them. It was a horrifying sight.

At that moment, Xu Tingfeng had to admit that the strange illness that Chen Fa had warned him about was likely real. The thin man wasn’t suffering from a common cold or fever—he had contracted that bizarre, unknown disease. Besides the fever, muteness, dazed state, and bloodshot eyes, Chen Fa couldn’t provide any more information about the symptoms.

Xu Tingfeng and Lu Zheng discussed the situation, and they all decided to speed up the modification and reinforcement of the vehicles and take the thin man to Youcheng, hoping for a bit of luck.

After all, part of the city was still intact, with military forces, and there might be proper medical teams and facilities there.

What they didn’t know was that other townspeople had opened the thin man’s door and were now threatening to “deal with him.” Xu Tingfeng was furious, but compared to his anger, the others were even more terrified of the thin man, who they believed was in the process of transforming. It seemed they were more afraid of him than he was angry. They all began questioning why Xu Tingfeng had kept the situation a secret.

“Who said he’s a zombie? Are you out of your mind? You don’t even know what’s going on, and you’re already talking about ‘dealing with him.’ Tell me what you plan to do!” Xu Tingfeng’s gaze swept over the crowd, and everyone’s eyes quickly shifted away.

Since the outskirts of Pincheng, he had been helping his small team and everyone else escape from danger, facing numerous accidents along the way. He had saved more than one person. At that moment, when he glared at them, several people in the crowd still felt uneasy. None of them had entered the house; they had just followed what others had said. Now that they thought about it, the idea that the thin man might have turned into a zombie seemed a bit extreme. Perhaps it was just the fever that had made him delirious…

Thanks to Xu Tingfeng’s timely arrival, the situation had been brought under control.

But just then, the thin man inside the house suddenly started emitting a long, drawn-out wail, a pitiful cry that started weak but gradually grew louder. Even though it was raining outside, everyone heard it.

The people who had previously thought the thin man might be turning into a zombie were now visibly terrified.

“Is he… turning?”

“Has the transformation finished?”

“Oh my god, that sound is terrifying!”

“Why are we still standing here? Hurry up and deal with him! I don’t want to be bitten by a zombie!”

…

“Brother Xu, the thin man’s voice doesn’t sound right!” On the other side, Big Guy, Braided Hair, and the Bald Man were also anxious. They wanted to go inside to check on the thin man, but the awful, chilling wails from inside caused several townspeople to block the door.

They stood by the door, not allowing Big Guy and the others to enter, fearing that opening the door would release the thin man.

Meanwhile, Lu Zheng noticed Shu Fu and Chen Fa standing on the edge of the crowd. Shu Fu gave him a gesture indicating the time of day. Lu Zheng looked up and saw that, after all the commotion, the dark sky had grown even gloomier, and night was falling.

He remembered what Shu Fu had described about how these patients’ conditions changed at night and walked up to Xu Tingfeng, saying, “It’s getting dark.”

Xu Tingfeng immediately understood. He turned back to glance at Chen Fa in the crowd. He remembered her saying that they didn’t understand why these patients always let out such terrible wails at night, but if they could figure it out, they might find a way to save the thin man.

Xu Tingfeng, still holding the metal wrench in his hand, walked straight to the door and told the people blocking it to move aside.

There was a standoff: one side was unwilling to let them in, worried that Xu Tingfeng might shield his teammates, while the other side, genuinely concerned for their teammates’ lives, was too afraid of the potential threat. The atmosphere became tense.

In the tense moment, someone in the crowd spoke up, suggesting that even if the thin man wasn’t a zombie, he must have caught that strange disease, possibly from the bizarre fish bite, which could have infected him with some unknown illness.

Now, no one knew whether the disease was contagious, how it spread, or if there was any medicine to cure it. The patient had to be isolated and, especially, should not come into contact with others. If the disease spread like the flu through droplets or contact, then by forcing their way inside, they would be putting everyone else’s safety at risk.

Outside the crowd, Chen Fa exchanged glances with Shu Fu. Shu Fuwas also looking at her.

Having lived with the infected patients’ families for two months, they knew that this strange disease wouldn’t spread through casual contact.

But if they hadn’t been through it themselves, they might have thought what the person said made sense.

After the whole planet was hit by a flood, with the waters ravaging everything, there was a large amount of garbage and bodies left behind. These garbage and bodies weren’t dealt with in time, decaying and emitting foul smells, which could easily give rise to plagues or new diseases.

Now that the thin man had been bitten by one of the strange fish that appeared in the floodwaters, it was reasonable to suspect he had contracted an unknown disease, and it was also reasonable to consider the possibility that this disease could be contagious.

However, the thin man had been working hard with Xu Tingfeng’s team, helping to reinforce and repair vehicles, going out on risky missions to get supplies so the townspeople wouldn’t starve. Now that something had happened to him, others immediately wanted to distance themselves.

Thus, while they could understand the rationality behind it, they emotionally did not agree.

“I was also bitten by the strange fish! But I’m standing here perfectly fine, which means his disease has nothing to do with the fish!”

“Just because you’re fine now doesn’t mean you’ll be fine later. Maybe… it just hasn’t shown up yet…”

Xu Tingfeng laughed angrily, “So now, you want to isolate me too? You’d better think this through before speaking.”

“If possible, you… and everyone else who went to Lucheng this time… Oh, and those three, it’s best to isolate them too. If the disease has a latent period, and it’s contagious, then we’re all in danger…”

Xu Tingfeng sneered again, “Why not isolate yourselves as well? After all, we’ve been back for several days and ate together on the first night. If it were contagious, we would have already caught it.”

When these words were said, the townspeople’s faces changed dramatically. Everyone eyed them warily, and some in the crowd started looking around, trying to recall who had gone to the warehouse and eaten with them on the first night.

Someone, staring at them, suddenly felt an itch in their throat and couldn’t help but cough a few times. Immediately, the others nearby stared at them. The one who coughed quickly covered their mouth and muttered, “No… it’s just… my throat’s a bit itchy… cough cough… hey, didn’t you have a cold too? I saw you wiping your nose yesterday.”

This person tried to deflect, but what they said wasn’t untrue. The one who was called out immediately panicked and quickly spoke up, “Stop talking nonsense! I have sinusitis. It’s been raining a lot, and my sinusitis flares up often. What does that have to do with a cold!”

Meanwhile, Xiao Yi, who had somehow rejoined the crowd, also covered her mouth. Her throat had been uncomfortable for a few days, and she’d been coughing at night, showing some cold symptoms, but it wasn’t serious or obvious. Could it be… No! It can’t be! She must be fine!

…

At the front of the crowd, the hot-tempered braids-head tapped the person who had spoken with a steel pipe on their shoulder, “Stop talking nonsense! Move aside! Or we won’t be polite!”

The verbal altercation was about to escalate into a physical confrontation when, suddenly, Shu Fu felt the vibration of her wristband.

She glanced down briefly, and the icon for “Notebook,” representing the mission, was flashing.

Even without looking, Shu Fu knew what this meant—looks like it was time to change locations.

With a calm expression, Shu Fu glanced at Lu Zheng on the edge of the crowd and exchanged a silent look with him. She then turned to Chen Fa and quietly said, “Let’s go. We need to head back.”

[In the next ten days, completing the task at Lixiang Dock in Youcheng will give a 10% progress toward Level 4 raft. (Current progress: 75%)]

Shu Fu felt that after this task, she would likely reach 100% progress on the Level 4 raft. So, even though leaving Salt Lake meant she couldn’t secretly deploy the raft anymore, she was still full of energy as she began packing her things.

The thin man’s howling stopped half an hour later.

That meant Lu Zheng and Xu Tingfeng had managed to control the situation with the town mayor and other townspeople, successfully getting inside the house.

It was unclear how they stopped the thin man’s cries, but perhaps they did something similar to what the Yang Can team had done—directly blocking his mouth.

Around 8 PM, Lu Zheng arrived and knocked on Shu Fu’s door. Upon hearing the knock, Shu Fu poked her head out from the adjacent container where Chen Fa was, “Here.”

The three of them had finished packing. They had just eaten a simple dinner together at Chen Fa’s place, and their backpacks, weapons, and rain gear were ready to go at any time.

Seeing the three of them sitting quietly and in order, Lu Zheng froze for a moment, then gave a wry smile, “Sorry for bringing you here. I originally thought I could offer a temporary safe shelter, but now, just a few days later, we’re on the move again…”

“When are we leaving?” Chen Fa asked directly, “Tonight or tomorrow morning?”

“Tonight. The rain isn’t too heavy, we’ll leave first. There’s an abandoned gas station 10 kilometers away where we can rest, then head out again in the morning when it’s light.” Lu Zheng’s expression grew serious, “Two hours later, at the warehouse.”

“Has the vehicle been modified?” Shu Fu asked.

“After some afternoon work, it’s nearly done. We’ll head out in two hours because there’s still a little finishing up to do. You don’t need to extract fuel from the bus—we’ll fill up the off-road vehicle instead.”

Shu Fu was a little surprised. She had added 60L of fuel to the bus, and based on usage, they’d probably used half of it, leaving only 30L. Since the off-road vehicle’s tank needed at least 60L, they’d need to add an additional 30L for her team.

Lu Zheng saw Shu Fu staring at him wide-eyed and couldn’t help but laugh. “Since we’re all heading to Youcheng together, we can’t let you run out of fuel halfway.”

Shu Fu nodded and then asked, “Did Xu Tingfeng decide to leave on his own?”

“Yes,” Lu Zheng replied. This situation had been a big blow to everyone in their supply team. Before today, everyone had been focused on reinforcing and modifying the bus, intending to fit everyone in and take them to a safer refuge.

From the beginning until now, no one had forced them to take on this responsibility. They all came from the same town, and in these turbulent times, it’s not easy to survive together. They stepped forward because they felt capable and were willing to do so.

But they hadn’t expected that the townspeople they had traveled with would demand isolation due to an unknown disease.

Of course, from the other people’s perspective, they weren’t wrong. They couldn’t risk the lives of the entire town, young and old. Asking for a temporary isolation wasn’t meant to harm them; if they remained healthy in a few days, the isolation would naturally end.

The Salt Lake Scenic Area wasn’t the private shelter of the supply team; it was a place that all the townspeople had found together, and they had the right to request isolation.

However, the supply team also had the right to refuse and leave.

The Salt Lake Scenic Area wasn’t theirs alone, and neither was the supply team something the entire town owned. If they didn’t like the situation, didn’t want to stay, and no longer wanted to bear this responsibility, they could leave early.

After all, aside from Xu Tingfeng and Lu Zheng, who each had a brother, the rest of the team were all loners.

Chen Fa, after hearing Lu Zheng’s explanation, asked a key question, “Do the townspeople know you’re leaving tonight?”

Lu Zheng shook his head. “Xu Tingfeng told them the bus still had some reinforcement work to finish, and we’d be working through the night. He promised to consider the isolation issue after sunrise tomorrow.”

“They probably won’t believe that,” Shu Fu propped her chin up.

“Let them watch. They can’t stop us anyway.” In fact, the town mayor and the people who had argued the most were currently being forced to stay with them in the warehouse. Xu Tingfeng planned to keep them tied up until they left.

Shu Fu then asked about the thin man, and as she had guessed, they couldn’t make him stop screaming. From his physical condition, it was clear he was in immense pain, so in the end, they knocked him unconscious.

Afterward, the bald man gave him an injection of a sedative to ensure he wouldn’t cause any trouble when they left tonight.

“What exactly happened to him?” Honestly, both Shu Fu and Chen Fa, as well as Chen Yuezhen, were really curious because they could always hear faint screams from other buildings at night. The sound was chilling, and they couldn’t imagine what was happening to these sick individuals.

“He…cracked.”

Shu Fu: “…What?”