Chapter 9

Wen Jiuze moved forward with purpose. He was very familiar with Anxi City, and whenever he encountered a heavily congested area or a road that had collapsed and was impassable, he could quickly find an alternative route.

However, there were some places where detours weren’t possible.

A few streets away, he spotted the words “Anxi Wenkang Hospital” on a distant building. As he drove, Wen Jiuze said, “We’re almost there.”

Was he heading to the hospital? Xue Ling wondered.

But it was well known that hospitals were the places with the most zombies.

During the early days of the zombie outbreak, most people who showed symptoms gathered in hospitals, causing congestion inside the hospitals and even on the streets outside.

Even three years into the apocalypse, countless zombies still lingered in major hospitals.

The zombies outside might be attracted away by all the noises, but since they are locked up in the hospital, there are still countless zombies in each ward.

It wasn’t just that a single person couldn’t enter safely. Even a team of a hundred wouldn’t necessarily make it in and out safely.

Xue Ling had seen a team attempt to break into another hospital before, and none of them had come back out.

What did Wen Jiuze want to do at the hospital?

He parked the car a distance away from the hospital, retrieved a large box from the trunk, and skillfully assembled something.

Xue Ling walked over to take a look. It resembled a sniper rifle, albeit bulkier.

Once he had assembled the weapon, Wen Jiuze loaded it with a special bullet the size of a fist.

Then he climbed onto the car roof, found a suitable angle, and half-kneeled to aim at a shopping mall building near Anxi Wenkang Hospital.

With a whoosh, the corner of the targeted mall building collapsed, producing a loud noise.

Xue Ling recognized that sound. She had heard it the day before while encountering Wen Jiuze. So it was this noise.

After firing just one bullet, Wen Jiuze stood on the car roof, observing with binoculars for a while.

He jumped down from the car and quickly disassembled the gun, putting it back into the trunk. Turning to Xue Ling, who was still wandering around, he said, “All done. Let’s go.”

The zombies on the street to the left of the hospital were drawn to the commotion and began to move toward another street. Wen Jiuze seized the opportunity, driving the car through the gap.

Along the way, he encountered a few lingering zombies and simply rammed into them, crushing them under the wheels.

The car jolted violently as it rolled over uneven debris, but Xue Ling was strapped in tightly with two seatbelts, preventing her from being thrown around.

Wen Jiuze steadied himself with one hand on the roof and gripped the steering wheel with the other, swiftly maneuvering through the street.

The car passed by Anxi Wenkang Hospital and continued along a tree-lined avenue filled with liquidambar trees.

So he wasn’t going to the hospital. Where was he going then? Xue Ling felt curious.

After driving for a while, Xue Ling saw a cemetery filled with pines and cypress trees, each surrounded by stone tombstones.

Wen Jiuze parked nearby. He took the gun and slung a bag over his shoulder before getting out of the car.

There were very few zombies in the cemetery. After taking care of those attracted by the noise, he finally let Xue Ling out of the car.

“Come on, follow me, and don’t wander off.”

Wen Jiuze led her through the neatly arranged tombstones. Contrary to Xue Ling’s expectations, he didn’t stop in front of any particular grave but headed to a corner of the cemetery.

There, a pine tree and a cypress tree grew together, their crowns touching, and the ground was blanketed with pine needles and cypress cones.

A squirrel heard their movements and quickly scampered up the trunk of the tree.

“This is it.” Wen Jiuze sat cross-legged under the tree and swept his hand over the ground.

“I buried my mom here. Since we were passing by, I thought I’d bring you to see it.”

Xue Ling: “…………”

Thank goodness she was a zombie now and didn’t have to react.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to handle such a situation.

Wen Jiuze didn’t expect any comfort from Xue Ling, who had turned into a zombie.

Moreover, he looked very calm, as if he didn’t need any comfort.

He turned to look into the distance, where Anxi Wenkang Hospital’s inpatient building was still visible.

From here, he could see several windows of the patient rooms facing the cemetery.

This hospital was built with funding from the Wen family, and his mother had received treatment here for eight long years.

When Wen Jiuze was a child, he lived with his mother next door in Gulan City, and their life was extremely difficult.

His mother suffered from heart disease, which prevented her from doing any strenuous work, so she couldn’t hold a job for long. She often needed medication, and during severe episodes, she would lie in bed and be unable to get up.

From a very young age, Wen Jiuze learned to fetch medicine for his mother and boil water to cook. Even though he was still a child, he took on the role of protector.

When he was twelve, he was brought back to the Wen family, had his name changed, and his mother was admitted to the Wen family hospital for long-term treatment.

The hospital’s director was his cousin Wen Xuan’s uncle.

So no matter how much Wen Xuan provoked him or bullied him, he couldn’t fight back.

Wen Xuan would smugly tell him that if he didn’t behave, his mother would suffer.

The Wen family controlled his mother, which indirectly controlled him as well.

His mother often cried, saying her illness burdened him. However, whenever he suggested taking her away, she would shake her head violently, refusing to agree.

She believed that since he had been recognized by the Wen family, he should stay there to have a better future. Otherwise, if he took her out, they would suffer even more hardships.

She always urged him to be patient, to wait until he grew up and gained their grandfather’s approval.

She wasn’t oblivious to the injuries that often appeared on him, but when they lived outside, Wen Jiuze frequently fought with the street kids and would come home hurt too.

Regardless, the Wen family was powerful and wealthy. Being a child of the Wen family was better than living in a rundown building and being scolded as a wild child.

Wen Jiuze sometimes thought that his mother’s stubbornness was a bit foolish. She had been deceived by that irresponsible and unfaithful man from the Wen family, becoming pregnant while believing he truly loved her.

She insisted on giving birth to him, even sacrificing her education, which was also a poor decision.

If it weren’t for the complications from giving birth, she might have lived a healthier and better life.

But when this topic came up, his mother would say, “You are my child. How could I regret giving birth to you? I just regret not being able to provide you with a better life. I don’t know how much longer I have left with this illness, but as long as I can see you succeed and live well in the future, I can die in peace.”

Life in the Wen family was a struggle for Wen Jiuze, much like his mother’s illness.

He shifted from anger and resentment to a numbing existence, like a seed buried in frozen ground, waiting for rebirth or perhaps for his mother’s death.

Beneath his indifference and calmness lay a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

“Wen Jiuze, if, I mean if, if we are still together in a few years, would you want to marry me?”

One day, Xue Ling pretended to be indifferent while asking him this question.

She didn’t realize that her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she spoke.

Wen Jiuze felt he wasn’t good to her, yet she still wanted to include him in her future.

He felt both happy and unhappy about this.

“What does marriage bring you?” he asked with a casual smile. “It brings you a terrible man.”

Xue Ling’s temper flared, and she glared at him, asking if he was being difficult again. She kicked him and stormed off in anger.

Wen Jiuze watched her retreating figure and suddenly felt unwilling to wait any longer. He didn’t want to continue following the path laid out by the Wen family.

After returning to the Wen family in Anxi City from Yu City, he learned that his grandfather had suddenly died, throwing the family into chaos.

Everything had seemed fine, but the outbreak of zombies disrupted his plans.

With the apocalypse suddenly upon them, he decisively abandoned the Wen family’s arrangements and decided to move his mother away in the chaos.

However, the zombie outbreak happened so quickly that the first place to fall was the hospital.

It became a hellish place, quickly sealed off with no one daring to enter.

When he finally managed to enter Anxi Wenkang Hospital, what he found in his mother’s ward was her lifeless body.

It was unclear whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that she had not been infected by the zombie virus but had instead died of a heart condition.

She had been frightened by the chaos in the hospital, leading to a sudden health crisis, and no doctor was available to save her. Thus, she quietly passed away in her ward.

He took her body away, ensuring she was cremated and her ashes buried in that cemetery.

He remembered her smiling and pointing to the cemetery during his visits, saying that if she died, she wished to be buried there, close to the hospital for convenience.

At that moment, everything was too chaotic for him to grieve. After burying his mother, he hurried back to Yu City to find Xue Ling.

With flights and trains suspended, he drove back, facing many dangers along the way, which caused him delays.

When he finally returned to Yu City, he could not find anyone.

He spent time searching the surrounding areas, and just when he had nearly lost hope, he spotted the person he was looking for in Anxi City.

Why was Xue Ling in Anxi City?

Now, she could not answer him, and he didn’t want to think about it.

Perhaps she was searching for the answer regarding him.

Their last meeting had not been pleasant. What was her mood when she came looking for him?

Did she come during the most chaotic period? Was she afraid after failing to find him? What had she gone through to become a zombie?

The two people he wanted to protect and care for the most were gone. One was buried beneath him, and the other was beside him, already dead.

Wen Jiuze suddenly wanted to laugh and silently cursed his miserable life. It really played tricks on him.

Originally sitting under the tree, he eventually lay down, stretching out his legs and casually resting his head on the pine needles, closing his eyes.

Xue Ling pretended to wander nearby. After observing him being quiet for a while, she quietly approached and discovered that he had fallen asleep.

Could he be pretending to sleep? She leaned closer, opening her mouth wide toward his neck. After waiting a moment, Wen Jiuze remained completely still.

His breathing was steady, and his sleeping face showed no expression.

He really had fallen asleep.

Xue Ling was speechless. He was too carefree, sleeping right there without a care.

He wasn’t afraid of her chewing him up, was he?

Moreover, being out in the open meant there were other zombies nearby!

Just as she thought this, she turned her head and saw a zombie approaching, drawn by the scent.

Xue Ling glared at the sleeping Wen Jiuze and walked toward the zombie.

She changed her stiff and sluggish appearance in front of Wen Jiuze and even walked faster. Her movements were slightly smoother than the zombies in front of her. She punched the zombie who was staggering towards her, knocking his head off the side, and then kicked him hard in the knee.

Moments later, as she cursed under her breath, Xue Ling dragged the fallen zombie behind a tombstone to avoid being discovered by Wen Jiuze.

When Wen Jiuze finally woke up, the sunlight filtering through the pine tree’s gaps made him squint. He raised his hand to shield his forehead and thought that he had not been bitten.

There was no sound around him, and he sat up to see Xue Ling still wandering nearby.

Why didn’t she come to bite him? Did she perhaps have no appetite for immobile food?

After sleeping, he felt hungry.

Wen Jiuze walked over and sat down on the steps next to Xue Ling.

He opened his backpack and pulled out canned meat, canned oranges, self-heating noodles, and a poorly packaged loaf of bread.

He had visited many places, and those various bases always prioritized food. Different bases produced different convenient foods for bartering supplies.

The best-preserved compressed biscuits were the most widely circulated and slightly cheaper, while tastier canned goods and bread were relatively expensive.

Wen Jiuze opened a can and leaned it toward Xue Ling. “Do you want to eat?”

Xue Ling subtly inhaled the long-forgotten aroma of food.

It had been a long time since she had eaten human food, and her mind was watering at the thought, but her body showed no reaction to it.

Noticing her lack of response, Wen Jiuze took a bite himself.

He opened a pack of self-heating noodles, poured in water, and after a moment of mixing, he offered it to Xue Ling to smell.

“Doesn’t it smell good? Do you want to eat?”

Xue Ling thought it smelled good, but I didn’t want to eat.

Wen Jiuze pulled back his hand and finished the noodles himself.

He noticed Xue Ling’s lifeless red eyes fixated on the bread.

“Do you want the bread?”

He shoved the bread into Xue Ling’s hands, watching for her reaction.

Holding the bread, Xue Ling thought, I don’t want to eat bread, but if I remember correctly, isn’t this guy allergic to bread and gets a rash from it?

In this apocalypse, food is precious, so it’s best not to waste it.

After a moment of hesitation, she relaxed her grip and let the bread fall back into Wen Jiuze’s arms.

“Alright, if you don’t want the bread, I’ll eat it myself.” Wen Jiuze finished the bread in a few bites, ruffled her hair, and sighed.

“Why aren’t you eating anything? Don’t you get hungry?”

Of course, she was hungry. It felt like she hadn’t eaten for two meals; her stomach burned uncomfortably. However, this feeling wasn’t enough to make her lose her mind and resort to eating humans.

After so long, she had gotten used to the hunger.

Otherwise, why did she enjoy lying still in one place? That way, she felt less hungry.

**

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