Chapter 33
Since we are going to City Z, we must make full preparations.
Today, City Z has almost fallen, and only the official rescue team is still working hard to search for survivors.
After analyzing the city route, everyone felt that the possibility of a collision between the two parties was low, so they did not place their hopes on being rescued.
After lunch, the man with the crew cut took Wen Li and another member to search the town.
Only a small part of the luggage in the SUV was recovered, and most of it was damaged during the bumpy ride.
Dirty clothes can be washed and worn again, but food that has been exposed and stained with zombies’ blood is obviously not edible.
Fortunately, the two barrels of drinking water were placed in the trunk and were not wasted.
In addition to searching for usable supplies, they also had to find some tools to facilitate the removal of these precious water resources.
Maybe if you’re lucky, you can still find the car.
Wen Xin was also assigned a task, and went with Xu Qiang to survey the scene that had been surrounded by zombies.
When he took the notebook and pen handed to him, he didn’t think there was anything wrong.
When Wen Xin saw Xu Qiang taking out standard transparent bottles from his bag, he felt a strange feeling in his heart.
Under what circumstances would you bring sterile bottles for experiments?
Xu Qiang noticed his confusion and said with a smile: “Do you think it’s strange that we carry these things with us?”
As he spoke, he had already taken out his knife and started cutting off small pieces of flesh from various parts of the giant zombie. He then packed them into sterile bottles and labeled them.
Xu Qiang explained: “There is a biological research department in the base, which is used to study the zombie virus to see if it is possible to develop a zombie vaccine.”
“Research and development hit a bottleneck not long ago, so the people from the Biological Research Department asked us to pay more attention to our surroundings when we go out. If there are any special zombies, we can collect some samples and bring them back. Maybe it will be helpful for research.”
Is there hope for a vaccine against the zombie virus?
Upon hearing this, Wen Xin couldn’t help but feel pleasantly surprised, and the depression in his heart also dissipated a little.
Xu Qiang took out a tape measure and roughly measured the height of the giant zombie, as well as the degree of mutation of various parts.
After the test, he rubbed his face vigorously, frowning: “But who knew I would really encounter such a monster.”
“Look at the strength and hardness of this muscle. I don’t know if a Gatling gun can handle it.”
Wen Xin recorded the data and couldn’t help asking, “Haven’t you ever encountered zombies like this before?”
Xu Qiang sighed and said, “Of course not. No matter how powerful the zombies were before, they were transformed from humans. Humans are no taller than 3 meters, so it is impossible for them to exceed this limit.”
Wen Xin said nothing.
He looked at the giant zombie on the ground and estimated that this guy was at least 4 meters tall.
“…So I was talking about before, before!”
Xu Qiang took a deep breath and his voice became hoarse: “If zombies can mutate genetically, or upgrade and evolve, that would be really fucked up.”
The source of the zombie virus has not been figured out yet, and now the virus is being upgraded. What’s the difference between this and pushing people into a desperate situation?
Whenever this happens, Xu Qiang wishes he could format all the viruses with just one click, just like a computer.
But reality is not a computer after all. What is formatted are not only zombies, but also human lives.
Wen Xin’s mood became heavy.
He suddenly remembered something important.
“Have you found out why our whereabouts were exposed?”
In Wen Xin’s opinion, the giant zombies have been lying in ambush here for a long time and someone is needed to control them at close range.
Unfortunately, the situation last night was too chaotic and he didn’t have time to pay attention to whether there were any suspicious people around.
If we trace the direction in which they exposed their whereabouts, we might be able to find some clues.
Xu Qiang frowned.
This issue has always been a thorn in their side. After all, no one wants to believe that they will be betrayed by their own people.
Finally, he replied hesitantly, “We only reported our whereabouts three times when we came here. The last time was an emergency contact to change the route. We borrowed a radio transmitter from a radio station at that time.”
“We cannot rule out the possibility of being monitored, but the possibility is very small. The situation was so urgent that every second counted to get through. We didn’t even have hope that the message could be successfully delivered.”
After Wen Xin finished recording the data, he gently patted Xu Qiang, who had a gloomy expression.
When he turned around, he saw that Canary was a little absent-minded, so he handed the notebook and pen to Xu Qiang and walked towards the boy.
“Bad mood?”
The boy came back to his senses and met the young man’s slightly curved smiling eyes.
Canary was a little surprised.
When it comes to the pain of parting with the little fox and the scaly tree viper, Wen Xin was no less sad than them.
But the other person’s mood seemed to recover so quickly.
Seeing that the boy didn’t answer, Wen Xin took the initiative to ask: “Are you thinking about Xiao Qi and the others?”
Canary nodded subconsciously and couldn’t help asking, “Do you miss them?”
Unexpectedly, the young man admitted generously: “I do. How could I not want to?”
So I’m really forcing a smile…
The boy’s face tensed instantly, and a hint of bitterness flashed across his eyes.
He didn’t know how to tell the other party that he was leaving soon.
After being together for so long, the other members, including him, have long known that Wen Xin likes to be lively.
Otherwise, they would not have picked them up and brought them home without hesitation even though they knew they were dangerous.
And now, this lively home is becoming deserted and lonely little by little. How cruel is this for Wen Xin?
Looking at the boy’s face full of confusion and hesitation, Wen Xin just chuckled.
“What are you worried about?”
Wen Xin said pointedly, “Are you worried that after you leave, I won’t have enough to eat or wear warm clothes, that I’ll fall when I walk, that I’ll hit my feet when I move things, and that I’ll cry secretly under the covers at night?”
Canary was really worried about not having enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear.
For mutants, as long as they can eat enough, they have the energy to sustain life and can continue to survive.
But after hearing the latter part, he felt something was wrong.
He had been here for so long, but he had never seen Wen Xin cry.
Even during the devilish training period, when Wen Xin was forced by the coach to stretch his legs, with his hands on the ground, his muscles tense, and he groaned in pain with his head tilted back, his eyes never once turned red.
This is clearly a self-deprecating statement.
There was indeed a hint of sarcasm in Wen Xin’s tone, but more of it was a bright and cheerful smile.
Seeing that the young man really hesitated for a moment, he found it funny and pointed his finger at the other’s forehead: “What do you think I am?”
“A priceless artifact in a museum, or a fragile glass vase?”
Canary groaned and covered her forehead.
He didn’t dare to say it, he felt it was not an exaggeration to regard the other party as both of these.
Wen Xin must be angry.
“Ajiu.” Suddenly, the young man changed the subject, “Do you hate Xiaoqi?”
This question really touched Canary’s heart.
His expression froze immediately, and after a long time, he slowly pursed his lips.
Then he shook his head firmly.
“I don’t hate Xiao Qi.” The boy raised his clear eyes and said frankly, “If it weren’t for it, I would have died a long time ago.”
When they were in the base, the little fox was the only mutant who protected him, allowing him to survive until now despite his lack of special abilities.
He couldn’t wait to pamper such a good little fox, so how could he blame it?
Xu Qiang left without knowing when, probably because he saw the two of them talking and was too embarrassed to eavesdrop.
Wen Xin sat on the stone block next to them with the young man.
Even if Canary was going to leave soon, he didn’t want her to leave with a knot in her heart.
“So what were you thinking about this morning?” Wen Xin asked him, “I saw you staring at the things Xiao Qi left behind.”
What Xiaoqi left behind was the large tuft of hair that the canary had plucked from the little fox’s chest.
Later, the purple squirrel saw this and helped him and Wen Xin tie up the hair with a thin rope for fear that it would fall apart.
But he felt it was not beautiful, so he filled it with some cotton that he had pulled out of the quilt and added some materials he had temporarily collected to make it look like a little fox.
It’s a soft ball that holds in your hand, and it’s quite cute.
Faced with Wen Xin’s question, Canary’s first reaction was to keep silent.
Because throughout the entire morning, he had only one thought in his mind, and this thought touched upon a long-standing knot in his heart, which he considered to be the most unbearable part of himself.
The iron shell that closes the heart is not so easy to soften.
It’s not easy to say what’s stuck in your heart.
But this wasn’t the first day Wen Xin softened him.
This wasn’t the first time Wen Xin had taken the trouble to have a long conversation with him.
Under the young man’s encouraging gaze, Canary’s tense face relaxed little by little.
He opened his mouth tremblingly, and just this one action took him five full minutes.
Wen Xin still looked at him encouragingly, as always, without changing.
Thus, Canary was finally able to speak out his embarrassment once again, just like he had let down his guard in front of the young man many times before.
Canary said, “How can I be so weak?”
It was not a question, nor was it a rhetorical question. Instead, it was stating a fact that made him feel unwilling.
Canary’s hands on her knees clenched into fists little by little.
Without Wen Xin asking any more questions, he took the initiative to continue talking.
“If I’m strong enough, I won’t have to rely on others when the zombies come. I can handle it myself.”
“If I were strong enough, I wouldn’t be unable to react when Xiao Qi went berserk and be caught so easily.”
He turned his head and met the young man’s gaze: “Wen Xin, I once saw this sentence in a book.”
“‘If you fall every time a storm comes, it must be because you are not strong enough.'”
Wen Xin has always known how deep Canary’s obsession with becoming stronger is.
Only this time, in addition to paranoia and confusion, there was also something called hope in those eyes.
It was as if the young man who had been lost in the wind and sand for a long time finally found the direction to move forward.
Now, all the boy needs is a push from someone, and he will be able to muster up the courage to move forward firmly in the face of the overwhelming sandstorm.
How could Wen Xin not be moved when seeing such a canary?
He wanted to reach out and touch the boy’s hair, and in fact he did so.
Wen Xin: “Have you found a way to become stronger?”
Afraid of disturbing the boy’s courage, he lowered his voice.
But Canary was still shocked and turned her head away, avoiding the young man’s gaze.
Has he found a way to become stronger?
certainly.
It can even be said that he found it a long time ago.
That is the path that all mutants must take, evolution.
But he had only heard about it before and had never truly experienced the improvement that evolution might bring.
Until this morning, Canary had a premonition.
The premonition was very faint, not strong.
But it was like a meteorite with a fierce burning surface crashing into a small pond. The moment it burst out with a temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius, it set off a thousand huge waves in his heart!
He can really become stronger, not just the current B level, he can be promoted to A level, or even the lofty S level!
He really can!
Even though Canary had seen the little fox go crazy with her own eyes, and knew that the process of evolving into a complete form was a life-and-death struggle, and that she might lose herself in the mutant’s violent nature.
He couldn’t stop his heart from beating wildly.
…
Canary moved her lips.
Then, he gritted his teeth and said, “Yes, but I have to leave.”
Canary simply gathered all her strength and asked in a hoarse voice: “Wen Xin, if…if I said that I would leave in three days at most, would you be afraid?”
Before asking this question, Canary thought Wen Xin would remain silent and simply say that he was afraid.
Or maybe he would be like the scaly tree viper when it left, with his mouth corners straightened and a sad expression revealed.
That would make him hesitate and waver.
But what Canary didn’t expect was that when the young man in front of him heard that he was leaving, his brows suddenly relaxed, his eyes full of relief and joy.
“If that’s the case, I’ll be more looking forward to seeing you than being afraid of parting.”
Under Canary’s stunned gaze, Wen Xin stretched out his hand.
Just like what he had done to the boy by the flower bed, holding the other’s cheek with his palm, allowing the boy to look up at the sky with confidence.
“Do you remember what I said before?”
It was as if a warm current flowed through Canary’s chest, forcing him to calm down his rapid breathing before he could regain his composure and speak: “Remember.”
The young man stretched out his hand and pointed to the endless sky: “You said I would stand in such a high place, looking down at countless people.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he laughed.
The moment he smiled, his immature face showed a shocking sharpness.
Canary turned around and spoke to Wen Xin word by word.
“Wen Xin, wait for me to come back, I will definitely take you to see the scenery from above.”
“By then, countless people will look up to me, and they will also look up to you.”
.
After a while, the man with the crew cut and his friends came back.
After their unremitting efforts to search, they actually found a pedal tricycle in the backyard of a house.
Everyone worked together to load the remaining usable supplies onto the car and headed towards City Z together.
They didn’t encounter any danger along the way, and even the person behind the scenes hiding in the dark did not show up.
Xu Qiang said that the person behind the scene must have been scared away. After all, anyone who saw the zombies all over the mountains being cleared out by an unknown force in one night would be scared away.
Wen Li laughed at him and asked why he didn’t run away. Xu Qiang simply spread his hands and said, “It’s the same as not remembering it, which is equivalent to not seeing it.”
The scene was spectacular just to think about. If he really saw it, he would write down everything he said and take it back to brag about it to his companions in the base.
Wen Xin also regretted that he fainted too early, otherwise he would have wanted to remember the heroic image of the green ball in battle.
That’s a snake, an extremely huge snake, the green gradient of the tropical rainforest, which is almost never seen in the city!
Wen Xin thought about it and started laughing.
They traveled day and night, and in less than two days, they arrived at the edge of City Z.
Their purpose was to find a car instead of entering City Z to confront piles of zombies. After arriving at the place, they did not hesitate and ran directly to the gas station on the side of the road.
The gas station was a mess.
None of the lightweight objects, such as poles and signboards, were standing still. They were leaning all over the place, and I don’t know what kind of damage they had gone through.
The dark brown liquid splashed all around, appearing in patches on the white walls, the ground and the pillars.
There was an indescribable smell in the air, a strong smell of gasoline and a strong smell of blood.
Not to mention the zombies that had squeezed into the car, their ferocious claws constantly slapping the window glass, leaving black and purple bloody handprints, and they were baring their fangs and claws at them, roaring one after another.
But even such a bloody and horrifying scene made Xu Qiang and his friends almost cry for joy.
Just because they found a car that could drive.
Although one of the rearview mirrors was missing, two of the front and rear headlights were broken, the hood was dented, and the oil was drained… but there was no problem with the engine and chassis!
Everyone present was very content.
As for the car, as long as it can run, it’s fine. The conditions are difficult, so we can’t expect too much.
Now that the problem of having no car has been solved, the only problem left is that the car has no gas.
But in the eyes of Xu Qiang and others, this is not a big deal at all.
There are so many cars in the gas station. If you go by them one by one, you can always save enough gas to keep going.
As for the problem that mixing car oils will damage the fuel system.
——People are about to die, why bother about the life of the car?
Just do it.
The group rolled up their sleeves, and while being wary of zombie attacks, they took out spoons they found in the town.
With the spirit of plucking feathers from a passing goose, he cleared out all the gasoline in the other cars.
By the time they finally saved up enough gasoline, it was gradually getting dark.
The crimson sunset gradually fades from deep to shallow, connecting with the mountains in the distance.
The man with a crew cut looked at the time and thought it was a bit late to leave, so he decided to let everyone rest for a night in the staff office in the gas station.
It was also at this time that Canary proposed to leave.
Wen Xin had anticipated this and said goodbye to him calmly.
Watching the boy’s back disappear into the twilight, he closed his eyes and was about to turn around when he suddenly heard a clear bird call.
“Chirp.”
Wen Xin looked towards the source of the sound.
A little golden bird poked its head out from the corner.
Seeing that Wen Xin did not reject it, it immediately flapped its wings, flew over lightly and gracefully, and landed steadily on his shoulder.
The moment the bird’s eyes met Wen Xin’s, it seemed a little embarrassed.
But it still stretched its neck and rubbed the young man’s cheek.
Without much thought, Wen Xin guessed that this was the true form that Ajiu had never shown him.
His eyes softened instantly, and he stretched out his fingers and gently stroked the bird’s head.
The little bird also raised its little head and enjoyed it.
Finally, it raised one wing.
There is a row of yellowish-brown feathers under the wings, which is obviously different from other parts.
The bird carefully combed the hair with its beak, pulled out a strand and placed it on Wen Xin’s palm.
Wen Xin seemed to have sensed something, and he took the feather in his palm and said solemnly: “I will treasure it well.”
“Chiu!”
The little bird rubbed against him happily, then flapped its wings and flew away into the sky.
At the same time.
Hei Tuan was sitting on the roof of the car, seemingly resting with his eyes closed. When he heard the noise coming from behind him, he opened his eyelids and took a look.
Lan Tuan raised his head slightly, his voice still as slow as before: “Truth?”
The black group didn’t answer.
So the blue team spoke again, with a tone that even carried a bit of aggressive questioning: “Evolved to a perfect form, sticking to oneself, is that true?”