Everyone couldn’t help but stand up, crowding toward the door, straining to distinguish the sound that belonged to a vehicle.
They were currently staying in the back courtyard of the Li family’s grand residence. In front was the four-entry gate, with wing rooms on the left and right, and the rear hall behind. Once the heavy wooden gate was shut, high walls surrounded them on all sides.
Previously, they had been staying in the second courtyard, but after being there for some time, too many zombies had piled up outside the walls, and some had even climbed into the courtyard.
They didn’t have enough weapons or manpower to go out and clear them, so they could only retreat backward, all the way to the courtyard with the highest walls.
The square courtyard was paved entirely with stone bricks. Ash-gray walls and ancient, heavy wooden gates enclosed a temporarily safe cage.
The people inside heard most often, day after day, the roars of zombies lingering outside the walls. Listening to it day and night had numbed them.
After being reminded, their numbed nerves were stirred. Gradually, everyone heard the sound of a vehicle—the sound of a car coming from far to near. It wasn’t their imagination!
“Someone’s here!” a soldier said excitedly.
“We’re saved, someone’s come to save us.” The young researcher wept with joy.
At a time like this, anyone who would enter an ancient city full of zombies and without supplies was, nine times out of ten, coming for them.
No matter who the newcomers were, they were, in any case, a hope.
It was as if everyone had been injected with a shot of adrenaline. Two soldiers brought over a ladder and climbed to the highest point of the wall.
The one who climbed up first and then stepped onto the roof quickly showed a look of delight and turned to say to those below, “There really is a car! I see the headlights!”
At this moment, there was no time to worry about keeping quiet and not provoking the surrounding zombies. Standing on the rooftop, the soldier saw the headlights flicker in and out in the alley, then disappear again. Anxious, he took off his clothes and waved them to signal, shouting, “Here! We’re here!”
Xue Ling really had gotten a bit lost—the roads in the ancient city were far too winding.
This ancient city was made up of real ancient architecture, not the kind of faux-antique buildings in internet-famous old towns. Here, the streets and houses all looked similar. There weren’t any shops on the streets, not even a single landmark to navigate by.
She saw the figure on the roof waving clothes, but the medical vehicle was too large to drive to the spot closest to that person, so she could only temporarily park it on the street outside the main gate.
Xue Ling got out of the vehicle. A group of zombies eagerly crowded over, then lost interest and dispersed.
She ignored these mindless kin, slung her pack over her back, and went to knock on the main gate. The gate was bolted from the inside, and from behind it came only the roars of zombies.
It seemed this courtyard had been occupied by zombies and couldn’t be entered from the main gate.
Xue Ling shouldered her backpack again and turned into a small alley.
The soldier standing on the roof was named Li Shixi. When he saw the vehicle stop by the main gate, he was so anxious he wished he could jump down to tell the newcomers that the front courtyard couldn’t be entered—there were zombies everywhere there, it was far too dangerous!
But then, immediately after, he saw that a person had gotten out of the vehicle and was heading toward the alley.
In the darkness of night, he couldn’t tell what the person looked like or whether it was a man or a woman. Li Shixi only saw the person holding a flashlight for illumination, walking in an alley where zombies were gathered.
Just as the thought “why is there only one person” popped into Li Shixi’s head, he realized that this person was actually walking straight through a pile of zombies!
Not a single zombie around attacked him. Occasionally, when a zombie blocked the way ahead, the person even reached out directly and pushed the zombie aside. The zombie that was pushed didn’t react at all.
He just… came over like that?!
Li Shixi stared dumbfounded at the scene, feeling as if he might be dreaming—perhaps he was hallucinating from hunger.
Xue Ling came to the base of the wall and looked up, waving at the stunned person above.
Li Shixi snapped back to his senses and asked repeatedly, “You! How did you! How come the zombies didn’t bite you?! No, I mean, you just came over like that, you…!”
He was so shocked that he became incoherent.
The people in the courtyard who were still waiting for news hadn’t seen what just happened and kept asking what was going on.
Xue Ling took out a folding ladder and leaned it against the wall, lifting her foot to climb up.
Li Shixi also hurried over to help pull her up. Xue Ling didn’t touch him, only extended a tablet toward him, gesturing for him to look.
Li Shixi didn’t quite understand. He took the tablet and, at a glance, saw a video on it. The cover showed the face of one of his teammates.
It was one of the teammates who had gone out long ago to seek help!
He first went back into the courtyard and watched the video together with the others.
In the video, his teammate said they had found the Beizheng Base. He was the only one left, but he had brought back rescuers.
The main rescue force was temporarily unable to enter the city, so they had first sent over a special soldier to make contact with them, deliver some emergency supplies, and exchange information.
He especially emphasized that this special soldier was a zombie who possessed rationality.
Everyone saw this and went: “?”
Possessed rationality, a zombie?
Li Shixi suddenly understood. “No wonder. I just saw her walk through the zombie crowd, and no zombies attacked her! I was wondering why—so it turns out she’s a zombie!”
In the video, the teammate said, “Xue Ling is friendly and is a very important soldier. You absolutely must not harm her.”
After watching the video, everyone looked back toward the top of the wall. Xue Ling was lying on the wall, waiting.
“You’re really a zombie?” someone asked.
Xue Ling pulled down the mask she had been wearing so as not to frighten people, revealing a bluish-white face.
So it wasn’t “he,” but “she.”
Then she pulled the mask back up, placed her backpack on the top of the wall, and gestured for them to take it.
The two soldiers didn’t hesitate and stepped forward at the same time to take it.
Xue Ling tapped on her tablet and read aloud the questions she had prepared earlier.
“How is Old Mr. Ji Shiping’s condition?”
A thin, middle-aged woman with short hair quickly walked to the wall and said, “Teacher’s condition isn’t very good. He needs treatment, and we’ve already used up our medicine…”
Seeing how anxious she was, Xue Ling hurried to comfort her. “There’s a lot of equipment in the medical vehicle. It can’t be driven in for now, but I brought some emergency medicine in my bag. Let’s see if it can be used. If anything else is needed, I’ll go to the medical vehicle and see if it’s there.”
Lin Shuyang hurried to rummage through the backpack, took out the first-aid kit, opened it, and checked it over.
She went through the items one by one, ignoring everything around her, and hurriedly took the supplies back into the room to give the teacher medication.
Soon she came out again and quickly told Xue Ling what else was needed.
“Okay, I’ll go get it right away.” Xue Ling climbed back down the wall and also picked up the ladder along the way, so that other zombies wouldn’t climb in.
She made three trips back and forth, bringing not only the needed medicine, but also a lot of food.
Because she noticed that everyone in this courtyard was starving badly—each person had sunken cheeks and chapped lips.
Once again receiving a pack filled with food and water, Li Shixi looked at Xue Ling. “Do you want to come in too?”
Xue Ling shook her head. Li Shixi heard the comrades in the courtyard cheer, “So much good food!”
He glanced down, his eyes lighting up. Forgetting everything else, he squeezed into the crowd and couldn’t wait to start eating together with them.
Canned meat, canned fruit, jerky, biscuits, self-heating rice, bread, and instant noodles they hadn’t eaten in a very, very long time—all of it smelled so good it made their stomachs ache.
Glucose, functional drinks, dairy products, candy, even vitamin supplements were there.
For a time, all that could be seen in the courtyard were people burying their heads and eating desperately. Even Aunt Lin, who had just given Old Mr. Ji an IV, came out with red eyes and joined the eating crowd, focusing intently on her food.
The feeling of fullness as food filled their stomachs was so blissful it made people want to cry.
Only after their bellies were finally filled did someone remember, “The… person who just brought us the supplies—where is she?”
Xue Ling was clearing out the front courtyard of the Li family’s grand residence.
Old Mr. Ji Shiping’s condition was very bad and he needed to be sent into the medical vehicle for treatment as soon as possible, but it was impossible to carry him out and just leave him at the gate.
Outside, the roads led in all directions. The moment someone came out, all the zombies would smell it and swarm over.
So the vehicle still had to be driven into the spacious courtyard. Once the gate was shut, they could at least hold out longer.
That meant the zombies in the courtyard had to be cleared out first.
Xue Ling had been on several missions before, and now handling these things came naturally to her.
She first climbed into the front courtyard and dealt with the zombies there.
When Xue Ling shot zombies, she never missed—because she walked right up next to them and fired with the gun pressed against their heads. There was no such thing as missing.
With her racial advantage, even a novice could achieve one hundred percent accuracy, and she was praised by her teammates as a sharpshooter.
If not for still having rationality, Xue Ling might have almost gotten carried away.
Hearing the gunfire from the front, several soldiers who had eaten their fill stood up.
“Is she clearing the zombies up front? Let’s go help too.”
“Leave two people here to guard, everyone else go.”
“She just brought guns and ammunition. Everyone come and divide them up.”
With full stomachs and weapons in hand, the battle-hardened soldiers had regained their strength and momentum.
Seeing them come to help, Xue Ling raised a hand in greeting, but thoughtfully kept some distance from them, not getting too close.
These people had been in dangerous, high-pressure conditions for a long time, and their mental states weren’t very good. It was better not to stimulate them for now.
Working together, they cleared out the zombies in the Li family’s grand residence before dawn. Then they went around dismantling door panels and wooden boards, padding them over the steps so Xue Ling could drive the medical vehicle in through the main gate.
To get the vehicle into the courtyard, they even dismantled the screen wall.
After a flurry of work, they finally succeeded.
Old Mr. Ji’s condition was too poor, and no one dared to move him casually. Even over such a short distance, several soldiers carefully carried him over on a bed board.
Lin Shuyang knew some medical first-aid knowledge and stayed in the medical vehicle to watch over the unconscious Old Mr. Ji.
Xue Ling took back the tablet from them, preparing to first go outside the city to report the situation to the main force and see what the next plan would be.
Seeing that she had been busy for so long without resting even once, and was about to walk back on foot, a soldier hurriedly said, “We have a car. It’s parked on the main road to the left up front. You can take it, it’s just that there isn’t much fuel left.”
Xue Ling made an OK gesture. When she went to drive the car, a row of heads popped up on the wall, seeing her off.
They watched her push aside the zombies blocking the way, all showing the same look of amazement, and then watched her drive past, feeling amazed once again.
“So convenient… I want to, too…”
Xue Ling heard it. She had heard words like this many times.
Every time people saw her easily do things and complete missions that others couldn’t, there would always be someone who couldn’t help but feel envy and longing.
Some felt that doing missions this way was convenient, others thought that this way they would never have to fear zombies and would be very safe.
Xue Ling could understand it well, because people are like this—when looking at others, they can only see how “good” others have it, and can’t see the hardship behind it.
In fact, everything has its pros and cons. It’s impossible for there to be nothing but benefits.
After bringing the news from inside the city to the team outside the city, Xue Ling’s mission was perfectly completed. What followed was other people’s business.
Whether to arrange manpower to clear the zombies in the ancient city and rescue the people, or to station here for a while—none of it required Xue Ling for the time being, and she was arranged to rest.
Finding an open rear of a vehicle to sit in, Xue Ling faced the slowly rising sun.
She stretched out her hand and compared her slender wrist.
Recently, it seemed to have been worn down a bit too much.
In the distance, the ancient city walls bathed in golden sunlight looked like a dream from hundreds of years ago.
The morning sunlight was very comfortable. Xue Ling placed both hands on her abdomen, slowly closed her eyes, and felt the satisfaction and tranquility in her heart at this moment.
