Chapter 45

Spread

“Check out all the good stuff we brought back today!” The lead man announced as he parked his car in a back lot.

The men in the two other cars jumped out, laughing, and joined him by the last car, waiting for the driver to step out.

Two young men came running out of a nearby building, spotting the new car in the yard. One of them quickly asked, “Where did this come from?”

“We found it while we were out. There were four cars in total; one broke down, so we left it and brought back the other three,” the lead man explained, patting the car beside him. “Bringing in three new cars at once would be too conspicuous, so we just drove one. But we managed to load up all the goods.”

“Jackpot! Who knows where these suckers came from, but they had a ton of good stuff packed in!” the man beside him laughed, knocking on the car window.

“Such a windfall doesn’t come often. I can’t wait to see what’s inside,” said the man who had asked earlier, now eager with anticipation.

Focused on the “goodies,” they didn’t stop to wonder why these items had been left near their base. Bandits had their own logic: perhaps someone had robbed the convoy before them, and the convoy members fled, maybe even fought back against their attackers.

In any case, they’d found a prize, so why question it? Not seizing it would be foolish!

After a few more knocks, the car door finally opened—not by the driver but because one of them forcibly pulled it open.

Ignoring this “small matter,” they opened the other doors. A rush of heat hit them, making them wince. But the sight of the packed “haul” inside quickly brightened their faces, distracting them from their companions’ wasteful handling of the resources.

“Wow! Who are these rich folks? Were they heading on a long journey? There’s so much food here!” the man at the rear door exclaimed at the stacks of food reaching the roof.

“And these barrels are all filled with diesel! Ten full barrels!” called another, opening the opposite rear door.

“There’s another ten barrels in the trunk,” someone else confirmed from the back.

“I found a bunch of clothes here—down jackets! Haha! Don’t even think about taking these from me. I really need them!” someone said, dragging a vacuum-packed bundle of down jackets from the front passenger seat. As he pulled them out, a few other items tumbled out with them.

“What is this?” There were many things scattered on the ground—canned goods, fruit—but what caught his attention was a piece of paper.

It was a sheet of white paper, neatly dotted with small black spots, just a bit larger than millet grains. Finding it among the other supplies, he found it strange.

“It’s silkworm paper. Those black dots are silkworm eggs, which will eventually turn into silkworms,” said a companion, taking the paper from his hand. “There’s a base nearby, though I forget its name. They’re good at raising silkworms and ducks, mostly for making clothes and blankets. This vehicle probably came from there and even had silkworm seeds. These things are only valuable here; they don’t mean much outside.”

After explaining, he tossed the silkworm paper back on the ground, unconcerned about some missing silkworm eggs.

As usual, they began unloading the goods.

However, the leader of the group stood frowning, looking at the companion who was greedily devouring food in the driver’s seat.

This guy was still eating.

It was normal for them to help themselves to stolen goods, but wasn’t this guy eating too much? Empty bags were scattered everywhere, and he’d left the heater on full blast with the car doors wide open, as if wasting fuel didn’t matter at all.

With a frown, he pulled the overeating companion out of the driver’s seat.

As he did, the man’s belly, which had been hidden by his seated posture, sprang out.

Whoa! Although this guy had always had a bit of a belly from his love of food, now it was at least twice, maybe three times bigger than when he’d sat down.

How much had he eaten?

Seeing the belly covered in food crumbs, the other companions stopped what they were doing.

Someone immediately mocked him, displeased.

“Boss Ma, I… I didn’t mean to eat so much. I couldn’t control myself… I don’t know why, but I just kept wanting to eat,” the man stammered, glancing at the boss’s grim face and ignoring the taunts. Despite his fearful eyes and apologetic words, he couldn’t stop stuffing his fingers into his mouth, even though he’d already been pulled from the car and had no food left in hand.

Watching him, the leader, Boss Ma, felt a mix of disgust and anger. Just as he was about to release his grip on the man’s shirt, he saw his belly move.

Before everyone’s eyes, the crumb-covered belly shifted as if something was pushing out from inside. He watched as this “hand” pushed harder, until finally, the black sweater tore in one spot, then two, then three…

Three moths flew out?

No, not butterflies—moths.

In the dim light, he almost thought he was hallucinating. But as if to confirm it, he saw even more moths emerge from the man’s black sweater, carrying dark red blood, yellowish fat, and bits of flesh with them.

The man’s belly had been torn apart by countless moths!

At that moment, Boss Ma looked up to see his underling, now crying while gnawing on his own fingers. One eye shed clear tears, while the other wept blood.

“Boss, save me—” In front of Boss Ma, the man’s left eye burst open as two moths flew out. He tried to plead for help, trembling as he approached his boss, then—

He suddenly lunged forward and bit into the boss’s neck.

“What the hell?” The scene was so bizarre that the others didn’t react. But then they saw the man, now sobbing and clutching the boss, suddenly turn his head toward them, and, with unnatural agility, pounce and bite another man’s neck.

Soon, everyone in the courtyard had transformed from humans to zombies.

They mindlessly headed toward the exit, while the moths left the courtyard even faster.

These moths seemed to retain a vestige of their previous attraction to light, scattering to every illuminated place nearby and landing on people, biting down—

At eight o’clock, the Paradise Base had completely turned into a zombie playground!

“It’s over; it’s already begun!” Constantly observing the base behind him, Hu Xuan quickly noticed something wrong! Seeing the rising flames, he immediately grabbed a loudspeaker, rolled down the car window, and shouted, “There are a lot of zombies inside the base! Those in front, hurry past the checkpoint, or we’ll have to ram through!”

This was directed at the convoy ahead of him.

Now he was on the bridge, though only halfway across, with four cars still ahead that hadn’t reached the other side.

As he spoke, his companion, understanding him perfectly, suddenly accelerated, aiming to ram into the car ahead.

With the loudspeaker blaring, the drivers of the vehicles ahead lowered their windows to look back, seeing only the intense fire behind them—zombies?

The drivers in the middle two cars hesitated. Fortunately, the driver of the first car was decisive; hearing the warning, he broke through the barrier and sped forward. The guards immediately opened fire, but as the fourth car saw the two middle vehicles failing to accelerate, it swerved into the next lane, following the leader’s path, while Hu Xuan’s car and the one behind, also part of his convoy, followed suit. This simultaneous charge split the guards’ fire across multiple targets.

As we discussed earlier, we’ll be the ones breaking through the checkpoints. You can follow us through if you can keep up; otherwise, this is where we part ways. We’re not responsible for getting anyone across the bridge!” Hu Xuan called out through a loudspeaker after rolling down his window. “Stay in the car if you can, keep the windows shut so no moths get in!”

“Lastly, I hope we meet again! Stay safe, everyone!”

With that, he rolled up the window and focused on fending off attacks from nearby bandit mutants.

“Moths?” muttered one of the bandits attacking him on a hover bike, puzzled. But soon enough, he saw a moth land on the face of one of his fellow attackers on the other side.

“Is that it?” he said, pointing at his comrade’s face.

The confused bandit touched his own face, only to get bitten on the finger. In the next moment, right before his eyes, his comrade turned into a zombie.

The newly-turned zombie didn’t go after the people in the car, though. Instead, he turned toward the bandit who had pointed him out, lunged off his hover bike, and attacked, biting him.

Hu Xuan’s vehicle seized the opportunity and sped away.

The vehicles behind them followed in quick succession, clearing the area. But by the time the sixth vehicle reached the checkpoint, their luck had run out. Almost all the bandits who had been guarding the bridge and collecting tolls had turned into zombies. The few who hadn’t yet been infected quickly realized what Hu Xuan’s warning had meant. Without hesitation, they opened the door of the sixth vehicle, threw the occupants out, got in, and fled.

Their comrades followed suit, pulling people from nearby vehicles and taking their cars to escape.

Those forced out of their cars were attacked almost immediately by zombies. Even the lucky ones who avoided bites found themselves stranded amidst the horde, fighting for their lives in desperation.

The bandits, however, weren’t particular about which vehicles they hijacked—they simply grabbed the nearest ones, creating a bottleneck on the bridge. Cars became trapped, unable to move, and the immobilized vehicles were soon breached by zombies. Entire carloads of people were infected. Some daring car owners with powers abandoned their cars altogether, climbing to safety. Inspired by them, others also decided to abandon their vehicles.

Different people took different routes, leading to a complete standstill for the cars further back—including the one where Juan and his friends were.