The vehicles of the convoy formed a circle, stopping on an open stretch of ground to rest briefly.

This was a spot Mi Ge, Wen Jiuzhe, and Dai Ying had scouted earlier. There were few zombies, it was not far from the suburban factory buildings they were heading to, and in the distance lay a stretch of abandoned farmland.

As usual, Wen Jiuzhe’s car was parked on the very outer edge. The people in the convoy, intentionally or not, all cast their eyes toward his vehicle.

Earlier, on that street, everyone had seen clearly that Wen Jiuzhe had brought a zombie onto the car.

Zombies had no reason, constantly wanting to attack people. Staying within the convoy, they were a threat to everyone.

As soon as Dai Ying got out of the car, the convoy leader, Mi Ge, waved him over and asked about the situation.

Dai Ying glanced back at the car and said in a low voice, “That zombie… is my cousin’s former girlfriend.”

Mi Ge was a man in his thirties, not very tall but solidly built, with a forthright personality. He was startled for a moment, then sighed and said:

“I can understand Xiao Wen’s feelings, but if he brings a zombie into the convoy, the others in the convoy will definitely have opinions.”

“A zombie is still a zombie, not a living person. Even if you keep a zombie by your side, it won’t remember its former family and friends, it will only want to eat people… Hey, Xiao Ying, try to persuade your cousin. It’s better to kill that zombie and bury it.”

Dai Ying recalled how his cousin had hugged the zombie without the slightest concern in the car, and a layer of goosebumps rose on his arms. “I think my cousin definitely won’t be willing.”

“If he can’t bring himself to do it, leaving it far away would also work. In the end, he can’t keep carrying a zombie around forever,” Mi Ge said.

Dai Ying thought the same.

When the apocalypse had just begun, everyone had relatives, friends, or lovers who turned into zombies. Some people simply couldn’t bring themselves to strike, even though they knew in their hearts that the other person was already dead, they were unwilling to accept it.

So there were many people who brought along loved ones who had already become zombies, hoping that one day they might recover.

But one or two days was fine. Over time, those who kept zombies either got bitten by them by accident and turned into zombies themselves, or were ostracized by others because they kept zombies, ended up living alone outside the camps, and eventually died out there.

Some people even raised zombies, harming others to feed them. Those people all ended up being surrounded and killed together with the zombies.

Dai Ying had seen far too many such tragedies over the past few years. Now everyone was already used to it—when a relative or friend turned into a zombie, killing and burying them directly was best for everyone.

He did not want his cousin to be ostracized because of a zombie, even less did he want him to one day accidentally lose his life to that zombie.

Having made up his mind to persuade his cousin, when he got back into the car and turned his head, he saw his cousin still holding the zombie. His firm resolve wavered again.

“Cousin, you… this zombie…”

“Shut up.” Wen Jiuzhe leaned against Xue Ling’s shoulder with his eyes closed and spat out two words.

Dai Ying awkwardly turned back to drive. He thought, let his cousin calm down a bit more—he would talk about it again at night.

Because of a single zombie, the atmosphere during the convoy’s rest was subtly tense, and even after reaching their destination, there was none of the usual joking and laughter.

This trip, their convoy had come to Anxi City with a mission.

Three years into the apocalypse, the affected network signals still had not recovered. Long-distance communication had become a major problem, and bases of all sizes were scattered everywhere, each managing itself.

Dai Ying’s base was neither large nor small. There were fields around it and nearby forests, so food was basically self-sufficient, but many essential daily necessities were scarce.

There was a local from Anxi City at the base who knew that there was a textile factory in an industrial zone here, as well as a toilet paper factory, a soap factory, and some other small factories.

So the base decided to send people to check the situation. If possible, they would first transport a batch of machinery back.

Now that they had successfully found the factory area and discovered that it really had not been badly damaged, everyone was very happy.

Next, they would push forward into the factory area, clear out the zombies to ensure safety, and move some of the machines that were still intact and usable onto the vehicles.

If there were many usable machines here, they would have to return to the base to call for more people to help.

Mi Ge began pointing out people in the convoy to assign the clearing tasks, and someone in the team looked toward Wen Jiuzhe’s car.

“Mi Ge, is Brother Wen not going with us to clear zombies this time?”

Wen Jiuzhe was skilled, clearly trained in the past. With him around, everyone had felt much more at ease along the way.

Usually, for this kind of zombie-clearing task, when Mi Ge asked, Wen Jiuzhe would always give face and participate.

Someone mentioned Wen Jiuzhe, and another person followed up: “If he goes along to clear zombies, what about that zombie? Just leave it in the camp?”

“I’m not at ease leaving a zombie in the camp. My wife still has to cook here. What if that zombie attacks someone?”

Dai Ying walked over and heard this, and hurriedly said, “My cousin tied the zombie up. It’s locked in the car—so long as you don’t get close, it’ll be fine.”

Someone was about to retort when the car door sounded and Wen Jiuzhe also got out. Seeing him come over, the people who had raised objections earlier stopped speaking.

Mi Ge smiled cheerfully and waved Wen Jiuzhe over, discussing it with him: “We’re going to check out the nearest soap factory. Will you come with us to clear the zombies?”

“As agreed before, after the clearing is done, we’ll give you two cans of gasoline and one hundred rounds of ammunition. How about it?”

Gasoline and ammunition were hard currency now, extremely difficult to obtain.

One reason Wen Jiuzhe followed this convoy to help out—aside from Dai Ying being here—was also that Mi Ge was generous.

Wen Jiuzhe thought for a moment, then agreed readily: “Alright.”

Mi Ge and the others in the convoy all visibly relaxed. Dai Ying raised his hand. “I’m going too!”

Wen Jiuzhe patted his cousin on the shoulder. “You’re not going. Stay here and watch my car. Don’t let anyone get close.”

“…Alright.” Dai Ying watched his cousin and Mi Ge’s group leave. Only a few people were left in the temporary camp.

He went back to Wen Jiuzhe’s car and looked inside through the window. Seeing that the zombie was tied up and fairly quiet, he felt relieved and sat by the car, helping Puff groom its fur, rubbing its head and playing with it.

With his cousin gone, he did not dare stay alone in the car with the zombie. It was too frightening.

A middle-aged man came over, holding a pale-faced little boy in his arms.

“Xiao Ying.”

“Uncle Feng, what’s the matter?”

“Well, Uncle wants to ask you—does Xiao Wen plan to keep bringing that zombie in the car?”

“Ah… this…”

“I’m not saying this without reason, but this really won’t do. Look at people who bring zombies with them—who ever ends well?”

Feng Wei and his son were not regular members of their convoy. This time, following the convoy to Anxi City, they wanted to look for medicine.

The little boy, Feng Zicheng, was only nine years old and had a heart condition. The medicine he needed couldn’t be found at the base. Feng Wei couldn’t bear to watch his son die of illness. Gritting his teeth, he brought his son along with the convoy, thinking that perhaps there were still hospitals or pharmacies in Anxi City that might have the medicine his son needed.

Because of the boy’s heart condition, Feng Wei took him everywhere, guarding him like the apple of his eye. Everyone in the convoy looked after them, and Feng Wei didn’t have to go clear zombies, instead helping out in the camp.

Now that gasoline was scarce and usable vehicles were few, everyone had to squeeze together to ride. The little boy couldn’t endure the crowding, so the father and son often rode in Wen Jiuzhe’s car, because his car was the most spacious.

Out of consideration for the little boy’s heart condition, Wen Jiuzhe tacitly allowed the father and son to ride along. When they were traveling and didn’t need to kill zombies, the two of them would sit in his car.

But if there were a zombie in the car, how would they dare sit there in the future?

“If you ask Uncle, why don’t you take advantage of Xiao Wen not being here and hurry up and help him deal with that zombie,” Feng Wei said earnestly.

“No, no!” Dai Ying refused instinctively. “My cousin will get angry!”

“If you can’t bring yourself to do it, I will!” A stout middle-aged woman came over holding a kitchen knife. “When the time comes, you can say I killed the zombie. I want to see if your cousin would dare hit me!”

The woman was responsible for cooking and guarding the camp. She and her husband, Brother Wang, were both veterans of the convoy. Everyone called her Sister Lu.

When the convoy was short-handed, she would occasionally go out with the men to fight zombies. When it came to killing zombies, she was even more efficient than some of the skinnier men.

Because the couple had witnessed their only daughter being eaten by zombies, she hated zombies the most.

“What are zombies? Man-eating beasts. They stopped being people long ago. It’s because of these things that our lives are never peaceful. And now we’re supposed to keep a zombie in the camp? I’m the first one who won’t agree!”

Sister Lu shouted.

If it were only Feng Wei persuading him, Dai Ying would still hesitate, but Sister Lu had been around him longer, and it was hard not to be shaken by her words.

After all, he himself also felt that his cousin shouldn’t be bringing a zombie along.

“Kill her… no, that won’t do. How about this, I’ll drive her far away and dump her,” Dai Ying said after hesitating for a moment.

“If you dump her somewhere else, isn’t that still harming people? She should be killed to put an end to it once and for all!” Sister Lu said.

“No, my cousin will really get angry!” Dai Ying emphasized. “I’ll take her away and dump her.”

༚༅༚˳ .  . ˳༚༅༚

Xue Ling sat in the car. After repeatedly trying to escape and failing, she was forced to space out in a Buddhist manner.

Zombies couldn’t open car doors. That damned dog of a man was so vigilant—he had actually locked both the doors and the windows.

Someone suddenly sat down in the driver’s seat. It was Wen Jiuzhe’s cousin. He glanced at her and said quickly:

“Sorry, I’m going to dump you far away. Don’t blame me. Who told you to be a zombie.”

He knew zombies couldn’t understand human speech. Saying this was just to make himself feel a bit better.

Before starting the car, he confirmed that the zombie in the back seat had her hands bound and was also strapped in with the seat belt, so she wouldn’t suddenly pounce over to bite him. Only then did he quickly start the car and drive away.

Xue Ling hadn’t expected this kind of pleasant surprise. She wanted to escape, and the cousin came in with an assist.

Thanks, little brother!

Xue Ling was very cooperative along the way. She didn’t deliberately howl or struggle to scare him, letting Dai Ying safely deliver her to the edge of a remote forest.

The car stopped by the roadside for a moment, dumped Xue Ling out, and then quickly drove off.

Xue Ling climbed up from where she fell, sighing inwardly.

Why not be a good person all the way and help her undo the hands bound behind her back.

That dog Wen Jiuzhe had tied her up so tightly. As a zombie, it was really hard for her to untie it herself!

Looks like she’d have to find a house, go to a kitchen and get a knife to cut off this leather binding.

Very good, she was free again! Hurry and go!

She staggered along the desolate road, thinking that she never wanted to see Wen Jiuzhe again.

She had been dying just fine, yet after being held by Wen Jiuzhe all the way in the car, it felt like she had died once again.

༚༅༚˳ .  . ˳༚༅༚

At dusk, the men who had finished clearing retreated from the factory area. Everyone was very happy, because many of the machines inside the factory buildings were still usable.

Wen Jiuzhe left the group. His pants were stained with blood and grime, and he was wiping a short knife in his hand, a gun slanted at his waist.

He walked to his car. “Did you properly watch my car? No one got close, right?”

“Ah…” Dai Ying’s expression flickered as he answered vaguely.

The moment Wen Jiuzhe saw his expression, he knew something was wrong. His face darkened abruptly as he yanked the car door open.

Inside the car sat Feng Wei and his son. The honest-looking middle-aged man was holding his sleeping child in his arms. With a placating smile, he greeted him, “Xiao Wen, you’re back.”