EOTWR Chapter 16

## Chapter 16

He moved the supplies from the car one by one, then covered them thoroughly with枯tree branches before getting back into the car and turning back towards the mountain villa.

After returning to the mountain villa, he put the car back in the garage. Then, he returned to his room as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s go see what’s missing from the storage room,” Ai Wei said, gritting his teeth. As he spoke, he went downstairs towards the storage room.

The three of them first went to the kitchen. The refrigerated room in the kitchen was filled with dozens of bags of flour and rice, as well as various grains, easily stored sauces, pickles, bottled water, and bagged snacks collected from various rooms. They had thought that Wang Zhi taking a carload of supplies would at least leave a space in the refrigerated room. However, when they looked, they saw that there wasn’t much change at all, as if nothing was missing.

But the three of them had personally seen Wang Zhi move bags of food out of there, so they naturally wouldn’t be fooled by appearances. Sure enough, when they opened the first few bags of rice, the rice inside had been replaced with chairs.

“This Wang Zhi is really…” Ai Wei was furious at the sight. He suddenly thought of something and said, “He’s hiding things outside. Could it be because he wants to leave this place and go to the Safe Zone?”

Doctor Li couldn’t help but frown, feeling that it wasn’t impossible.

Although life at Youran Mountain Villa was comfortable, it was close to the forest, and there was no guarantee that wild animals wouldn’t enter. The异能 wolf they had encountered before was an example. Moreover, Lan Ting, who had a blood feud with Wang Zhi for killing his mother, was also there. Everyone’s perception of Wang Zhi wasn’t good, so it was no wonder Wang Zhi felt uncomfortable.

The Safe Zone, on the other hand, had at least the army and advanced weapons for protection, as well as sufficient food and water. No one knew about Wang Zhi’s past misdeeds, so it wouldn’t be strange for Wang Zhi to want to leave.

“I’ll go see how much he’s hidden outside first. You guys stay here and keep an eye on him, don’t let him notice I’ve gone out,” Ai Wei said.

Doctor Li said, “Okay, I’ll watch him.”

Ai Wei took a car from the garage and went to the place where Wang Zhi was hiding things.

This was a small forest, and it didn’t take Ai Wei long to find the pile of枯tree branches that Wang Zhi had accumulated.

He pulled the branches away, and then, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

He had thought that Wang Zhi had only hidden a carload of supplies, but he hadn’t expected that there were enough things here to fill two cars.

Beneath the pile of枯branches, a large pit had been dug. It contained not only food, medicine, tents, and clothing, but also dangerous items such as Guns, longswords, and knives.

They had all thought that Youran Mountain Villa only had one handgun and a few boxes of bullets. But in this pit, there were actually two more handguns and a box of bullets. In addition, there were tranquilizer guns and tranquilizer darts. Counting the handgun in Wang Zhi’s hand, there were a total of four Guns.

How could there be so many handguns? Even if Youran Mountain Villa was located in a remote area and could apply for Guns, it was a bit much for the government to approve four handguns.

Could it be that a wealthy person had pulled some strings? Or…

Ai Wei suddenly thought that since this place was close to the forest, could there be forest rangers?

Forest rangers could also carry Guns, and Youran Mountain Villa was the only building in the area. It wouldn’t be strange for forest rangers to interact with the people in Youran Mountain Villa. If someone had taken the forest ranger’s Guns after the zombie outbreak, it wouldn’t be strange either.

And the person who took the forest ranger’s Guns was likely Wang Zhi.

Ai Wei didn’t trust Wang Zhi from the beginning, and now he was even more wary of him.

It was fine if Wang Zhi wanted to leave Youran Mountain Villa, it would save them from having to guard against each other all day long.

Ai Wei moved the boxes and bags of supplies onto the car. Because there were so many supplies, he had to make two trips to finish moving everything.

When Ai Wei returned to the mountain villa, Doctor Li couldn’t help but widen his eyes when he saw the things he had brought back. He hadn’t expected Wang Zhi to take so many things.

The food and daily necessities were one thing, but the key was the two Guns and the bullets. With these weapons, their safety would be better guaranteed.

The next morning, right after breakfast, Wang Zhi proposed the idea of leaving Youran Mountain Villa to go to the Safe Zone.

“That变异wolf will come back for revenge sooner or later. It’s dangerous for us to stay here,” Wang Zhi said. “I think we should take the supplies and go to the Safe Zone together. With those supplies, we can exchange them for many things we need in the Safe Zone. It’s better than staying here and possibly being attacked by变异wolves at any time.”

The previous night, Ai Wei had already told Han Lu and Xia Junchi about Wang Zhi’s matter. Everyone didn’t find it strange when they heard him say this. However, they still had to act as if they had just learned that Wang Zhi was leaving.

“Xia Junchi and I think it’s good to stay at the mountain villa and don’t plan to leave,” Ai Wei said first.

Xia Junchi’s leg injury hadn’t healed yet, so he shouldn’t travel around. Moreover, the environment here was very good, and he quite liked it.

“Me too,” Doctor Li said. There was no vaccine for the zombie virus yet, and he didn’t want to go to crowded places.

“I don’t have any other relatives either. Going to the Safe Zone would just mean being alone, so I might as well stay here and be with everyone,” Han Lu said with a smile.

Wang Zhi wanted someone to go with him, preferably everyone to go to the Safe Zone together, so that the road would be safer. Now that everyone wanted to stay at Youran Mountain Villa, he tried to persuade them, “That变异wolf might come back for revenge at any time. Staying here is like sending yourselves to your deaths! You should come with me to the Safe Zone. There are soldiers protecting it there, so you don’t have to be afraid of being attacked by变异animals.”

“Don’t we have Guns?” Ai Wei said. “If变异wolves come, we can just shoot them to death.”

“Heh, do you think变异wolves are that easy to kill?” Wang Zhi sneered when he heard him say this. That变异wolf was so fast that it could almost catch up to a car. He didn’t believe that these ordinary people who hadn’t trained properly in shooting could hit the变异wolf.

“What’s more, wolves are pack animals. What if that变异wolf brings a pack of wolves?” Wang Zhi continued.

“We’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Ai Wei said. They had also considered this problem. However, that异能wolf was already lame and had been severely injured by them, so it might not even be alive. They weren’t too worried.

If it was just a pack of ordinary wolves, they wouldn’t be afraid. The mountain villa’s walls were six meters high, and ordinary wolves couldn’t jump in at all. And the mountain villa’s gate was very sturdy, so it would be difficult for the wolf pack to enter through the gate.

Even if wolves really did get in, there were many weapons in the mountain villa. Not to mention the handguns, there were also bows and arrows, fire extinguishers, and they had even tried to make Molotov cocktails. With these things, they wouldn’t be afraid even if there was real danger.

Seeing that they didn’t want to leave, Wang Zhi didn’t try to persuade them further. “Since you all want to stay, then I can only leave by myself! But I can’t leave empty-handed. I want to take a car, a drum of gasoline, and some dry food and water.”

Ai Wei nodded. “Okay.” The others had no objections either.

Seeing that everyone agreed to him taking supplies, Wang Zhi didn’t plan to take too many supplies, after all, he had already hollowed out the supplies in the storage room. If he took too much, people might discover the trick in the pile of supplies, and that would be a great loss.

It was still early, and he could drive to the nearest Safe Zone in a few hours.

He didn’t want to waste time. He immediately chose the best car from the garage, filled it with gasoline, and then went in and out to move some supplies into the car before driving out of the mountain villa’s gate.

Han Lu couldn’t help but say, “Look at how smug he is. If he finds out that the things he hid are gone, I wonder how angry he’ll be!” when she saw his triumphant look as he drove away.

Thinking of something, she suddenly said excitedly, “I’m going to use the telescope to see his reaction!” After speaking, she ran towards the top floor.

She watched as Wang Zhi drove the car all the way into the small forest where he had hidden the supplies, stopping the car next to the pile of枯branches. Then, Wang Zhi, who had discovered something was wrong, quickly got out of the car and plunged into the pile of枯branches, frantically searching.

After a while, seeing that he couldn’t find anything, Wang Zhi walked away with a resentful expression.

After Wang Zhi left, the mountain villa returned to peace.

Ai Wei continued to cultivate his ability, Xia Junchi did physical therapy for his leg, and the others lived their lives, while also paying attention to the situation outside.

After the internet was restored, the government quickly intervened in its control. Those bad comments, videos, and photos were deleted one by one. Some large and small accounts that spread inappropriate remarks were quickly sealed off. Especially after the government issued a reward for several people who had become famous online for uploading criminal videos, some people even captured the criminals and received the rewards.

Of course, the RMB had become worthless paper, and the government’s rewards had become food and points that could be exchanged for supplies in the Safe Zone.

Even Master Hong’s cult lair had been destroyed. Ai Wei followed the official account of the police station that had taken over Master Hong and was relieved to learn that the cult lair had been destroyed. They had already made enemies with Master Hong. If they didn’t expose Master Hong’s secrets, he was really worried that Master Hong would come back to take revenge.

The government also executed a group of heinous criminals. After the news of the executions spread, those who had been嚣張 and spreading crime online suddenly became as quiet as chickens.

Of course, there were some extremists who still stubbornly refused to change their ways in the face of the government’s ruthless suppression and continued to clamor online. But because of internet censorship, they could no longer cause any trouble online.

After a series of operations by the government, the online environment became more and more harmonious and beautiful. Everywhere was news of government-organized rescues, calling on everyone to cheer up, unite, and overcome the apocalypse together, as well as the leaders’ inspiring speeches encouraging the people.

Of course, there were also measures teaching people how to deal with zombies and dangers.

Ai Wei watched in the video as military vehicles passed through streets filled with wandering zombies, rescuing the living people trapped in the horde and sending them to Safe Zones. Outside the Safe Zones, there were not only soldiers with submachine Guns guarding, but also various high-tech weapons with strong destructive power. With such defenses, many people would feel more at ease living in the Safe Zones.

In fact, this was the case. Since the news of the establishment of Safe Zones spread, countless people spontaneously flocked to the Safe Zones.

Originally, Ai Wei was worried that if so many people poured into the Safe Zones, it would be dangerous if zombies suddenly broke out in the Safe Zone. But he quickly discovered that the Safe Zone’s preventive measures were quite good.

First of all, the Safe Zone had good isolation measures. Large and small areas were blocked off, which avoided the situation where a zombie outbreak in one small area would affect other areas.

Then, water and food were supplied centrally.

The zombie virus would be killed in an environment above the boiling point for more than a minute, so the water supplied in the Safe Zone was all disinfected at high temperatures. The food was distributed to each area by designated personnel, and then distributed centrally by the area. This avoided the spread of the zombie virus through food and water.

Furthermore, there was disinfection. The Safe Zone was disinfected at high temperatures almost every day, making it impossible for the zombie virus to hide. Even Ai Wei felt that it should be difficult for zombie riots to break out in the Safe Zone after seeing these measures.

This kind of life was certainly a bit depressing and stifling, but fortunately, people knew that this was a very special period. In order to survive the apocalypse, the vast majority of people followed the arrangements.

In addition to these, the scientists in the Safe Zone also researched a shocking message: Besides变异 plants and animals, zombies were also constantly evolving.

Although the zombie outbreak had only been a very short time, some zombies had already gained abilities. These zombies with abilities could become stronger by eating living people, especially the crystal nuclei of ability users, which were a great tonic for them. The more living people and ability users they ate, the stronger they would become. They might even gradually improve their intelligence. Perhaps one day, when they became strong enough, they would regain the same IQ as humans. Even ordinary zombies would be more energetic than other ordinary zombies after eating living people.

This discovery made many people feel a sense of crisis. After all, the reason why humans could dominate the Earth was because of their intelligence. And the only food for zombies was living people. If one day, zombies also possessed the same powerful intelligence, they might raise humans like chickens, ducks, and pigs for food.

That kind of scenario was enough to make people’s backs tingle just thinking about it.

Therefore, the leaders of China decided to eliminate the zombies before their intelligence became high enough.

To this end, the leaders of China also contacted many countries abroad, calling on all mankind to work together to eliminate zombies.

China was the first country to acknowledge the zombie outbreak and also the country that responded to the zombie outbreak most quickly. However, the response to the zombie outbreak in foreign countries was far less rapid and effective than in China.

Especially the US President, after the zombie outbreak, the US President not only did not put the country on lockdown to eliminate zombies, but also refused to acknowledge the existence of zombies. He insisted that the zombies on the streets were a late Halloween prank game and told the public not to believe such nonsense as a zombie outbreak.

Many Americans actually believed the US President’s words, thinking that the zombies on the streets and in their homes were living people in zombie makeup. These people did not take the zombie outbreak seriously, still held parties, and even went on the streets in zombie makeup for live broadcasts. Then, many people were bitten by zombies.

After people around them were successively bitten to death by zombies, Americans finally woke up and realized that the zombie outbreak was real. But at this point, several days had passed since the beginning of the zombie outbreak. In these few days, countless Americans had died in the mouths of zombies. They could have avoided death, but they died because of the US President’s absurd actions.

Americans who realized the truth angrily attacked the US President. Coincidentally, the US was in the middle of a presidential election at this time, so the number of people supporting the other presidential candidate increased. And the current US President did not want to yield the position and was still struggling to not step down from the position of President.

In short, the US government was in a state of chaos. But no matter what, the US finally sent troops to suppress the zombies.

Countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa also began their respective zombie suppression activities. Some countries acted quickly, and some countries acted slowly. The governments and armies of some countries were directly occupied by zombies, and some countries took advantage of the chaos in neighboring countries to launch wars against neighboring countries.

Each country was a little preoccupied with its own affairs. Europe and the United States, because China was the first country to acknowledge the zombie outbreak, also slandered China as the source of the zombies. They demanded that China compensate them for their losses.

China naturally would not recognize these countries’ accusations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly refuted their accusations and called for this to be a time for the survival of all mankind, that humans should unite and jointly fight against zombies.

The Chinese people were very angry when they saw these accusations from foreign countries. While criticizing these countries’ shamelessness online, they expressed their patriotic feelings. For a time, everywhere online was a scene of China being united from top to bottom, with everyone working together. Of course, besides these countries that accused China, there were also many countries that stood on China’s side. China was not isolated and helpless.

The army began to clear the zombies in the city. They would usually first dig a large pit, pour gasoline into the pit, and then use helicopters to hang raw meat to attract zombie hordes to fall into the pit, and then set them on fire. Often, they could kill hundreds or thousands of zombies at once.

After eliminating the zombie horde in one place, soldiers wearing protective suits and gas masks would enter the area, kill the remaining lone zombies, then concentrate and burn the zombie corpses. Finally, they would disinfect the land they had passed through at high temperatures, completely eliminating the zombie virus.

The army’s efficiency in killing zombies was very high. Although the surviving population was less than one-tenth of what it was before the zombie outbreak, and the number of troops was not very large, judging from this rate of killing zombies, it probably wouldn’t take a few months for all the zombies in the country to be wiped out.

Ai Wei couldn’t help but get goosebumps when he saw this online. In the face of the state machinery, it seemed that the zombie outbreak was not something that couldn’t be solved.

He couldn’t help but feel hopeful in his heart, looking forward to the day when zombies could completely disappear in China.

However, there were also some online “holy mothers” and “holy fathers” who said that the country’s way of killing zombies was too cruel, since zombies were once human beings after all. Perhaps zombies had only become this way because they had contracted the virus, and maybe one day, humans could develop a medicine to cure zombies, and zombies could be restored to humans.

Not many people supported this view. It was often sprayed into a complete mess by the vast majority of netizens as soon as it surfaced. After all, zombies fed on humans, were full of eating people, and even zombies with abilities could strengthen their abilities by eating people. This was unacceptable to most people.

Even if their family members turned into zombies, most people would rather choose to let them rest in peace.

In short, the domestic situation was developing in an increasingly better direction, and the people in the mountain villa were all very happy about this. However, even so, Ai Wei did not relax his training in ability.

The range that his ability could cover was getting wider and wider. In order to train his ability, he would extend his ability as far as possible in all directions. He would carefully feel every plant and tree that his ability touched. However, it was this habit that made him discover something shocking.

He found the 异能wolf that they had broken its leg and fled into the forest in embarrassment. And that 异能wolf not only had not died, but was also gradually recovering.

The wound on its head was gradually disappearing, and its broken leg was regaining its mobility. Not only that, but its speed and strength seemed to be increasing as well.

Ai Wei remembered that some 变异 plants and animals strengthened faster than humans, and he couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. He was a little worried that after this batch of 异能wolves recovered their health, they would really come to Youran Mountain Villa to seek revenge on them.

If it was just an ordinary wolf pack, Ai Wei wouldn’t be too worried. After all, ordinary wolves would have difficulty even entering the mountain villa’s walls. But if it was this 异能wolf, its jumping power was definitely enough to jump into the mountain villa.

If the 异能wolf knocked open a hole in the gate or the walls, it could even let the wolf pack come in with it. At that time, the people in the mountain villa would undoubtedly be in great danger.

With such an 异能wolf on their side, Ai Wei suddenly felt that Youran Mountain Villa was not safe anymore.

He first told Xia Junchi about the discovery of the 异能wolf, and Xia Junchi was also shocked.

He had personally witnessed how powerful that 异能wolf was when it was healthy. If its body really recovered and it came back for revenge, they would indeed be in great danger.

“I think we should still go to the Safe Zone. Continuing to stay here, maybe one day that 异能wolf will come in,” Ai Wei said.

Xia Junchi frowned and said, “It’s already late today, so let’s leave tomorrow. Let’s pack things up tonight.” Ai Wei nodded and said, “Where do you want to go? I want to go to the B City Safe Zone. It’s a large Safe Zone and not far from here. Moreover, my sister is also there.”

Xia Junchi frowned when he heard him say he wanted to go to the B City Safe Zone. Seeing his expression, Ai Wei asked, “Don’t you want to go to the B City Safe Zone? Then we can go somewhere else.”

Although he missed Ai Yi, Ai Yi was living very well, and he didn’t necessarily have to see Ai Yi.

Xia Junchi smiled and said, “It’s okay, it’s just that there are some people I don’t want to see over there. But the B City Safe Zone is so big, we probably won’t run into them.”

Ai Wei wanted to know who it was that annoyed him, but seeing that he didn’t want to talk about it, he held back from asking.

He went to find Han Lu and Doctor Li again and told them about the 异能wolf situation.

After learning about it, both of them were a little worried. After all, they had both personally come into close contact with the 异能wolf and knew how powerful it was. When they heard Ai Wei say he wanted to go to the B City Safe Zone, they agreed without hesitation.

The group then began to pack things up, moving easily carried food, daily necessities, and weapons onto the car. Just as everyone was packing things, a car drove over from a distance.

The car stopped at the entrance of the mountain villa, and then a woman got out of the car. The woman was about twenty years old, her hair permed into big waves and tied behind her head with a hair tie. She was wearing a short-sleeved V-neck knee-length lace dress, but she wasn’t wearing high heels. Instead, she was wearing a pair of broken sneakers. She had a good figure and was very beautiful, with a妩媚 taste that was unique to adult women. Coupled with that somewhat weak and timid feeling, it was easy to make people lower their guard.

After getting out of the car, she looked left and right, seemingly checking for danger, and then pressed the doorbell on the gate.

The doorbell rang for a long time before the video on the gate wall lit up, and then Xia Junchi’s face appeared in the video.

Everyone else was busy moving supplies. Xia Junchi’s leg was inconvenient, so he went to the monitoring room to see if there was any danger nearby. Who knew he would see someone ringing the doorbell.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

The woman didn’t expect the person answering the door to be such a handsome man, and she couldn’t help but be stunned. However, she quickly reacted and showed a smile, saying, “Hello, my name is Wang Min. I’m from A City and I’m going to the Nanshan Safe Zone. But it’s getting dark now, and I’m a woman, so I’m afraid to walk at night. Can you let me in to stay for one night? Just one night, I won’t be too much trouble.”

“Wait a moment,” Xia Junchi said. After a while, the mountain villa’s gate opened.

Wang Min drove the car into the mountain villa, and the gate slowly closed behind her.

It was the first time an outsider had come to the mountain villa, so everyone came out to greet Wang Min.

Ai Wei also used his ability to scan Wang Min’s body to see if she was carrying any weapons. As a result, he didn’t find anything unusual.

“Thank you for letting me stay here for one night. I’m a woman, and I don’t have any companions. If I had to sleep in the wilderness outside, I don’t know how scared I would be,” Wang Min said gratefully, looking at everyone.

Ai Wei noticed that her gaze lingered on him and Doctor Li for a moment. For some reason, he felt that her gaze was a little勾人, and he couldn’t help but frown.

Moreover, after Wang Min saw them, her eyes also scanned behind them, as if she was looking for someone. This made Ai Wei a little wary of her.

“Um…” Han Lu said, “I have to check you for wounds first.”

Wang Min looked at her with some confusion, and then reacted, nodding and saying, “You should, you should.”

The two of them went into the room. Han Lu checked her over and didn’t find any wounds or bloodstains, so she agreed to let her stay for one night.

“There are many rooms here, we can fit a few more people,” Han Lu said, and then asked caringly, “How come you’re alone? Don’t you have any companions with you?”

Wang Min sighed, and tears welled up in her eyes, saying, “I didn’t want to be alone either. That day, my husband and I were taking care of our daughter in the hospital when she suddenly turned into a zombie and bit my husband. After that, my husband also turned into a zombie… I hid alone in the ward and secretly ran out when no one was around. After that, I stayed at home, living off the food I had stored. A few days ago, I heard that the government had established Safe Zones, so I wanted to go to a Safe Zone to live, but I didn’t expect to get lost on the way. If I had known, I would have stayed obediently at home and waited for the government’s rescue… But the government’s rescue is very slow. I’ve been waiting for several days and they still haven’t come, so I couldn’t help but go to the Safe Zone myself…”

Wang Min spoke of the dangers along the way, and she still had lingering fears. Her eyes were filled with tears, making people feel pity for her. “Did you pass through Sanhe Town on your way from A City?” Ai Wei asked.

Wang Min’s body stiffened slightly, saying, “I originally wanted to go from Sanhe Town, but after I entered Sanhe Town, I felt that something was wrong, so I took a detour… It was too quiet there, and there were many dried bloodstains on the ground. It felt very strange.”

She seemed to have recalled the scene at that time, and she couldn’t help but shiver.

Sanhe Town was now occupied by a group of local bullies. When Ai Wei and the others passed through there, they were almost held there by force with Guns.

There were no zombies or living people on the roads of Sanhe Town, so there was only one possibility: the zombies there had been almost completely cleared by someone.

Although Sanhe Town was a small town with a small area, eliminating the zombies in the town was not a small project. Moreover, that group of people in Sanhe Town not only killed zombies but also robbed living people, which showed that they not only had power but were also black-hearted and ruthless and did not want to be good people.

“You are all good people…” Wang Min said gratefully, and her small deer-like pitiful eyes looked at Ai Wei again.

This time, Ai Wei was sure that she was indeed looking at him. Ai Wei knew that his appearance was not bad, and with his ability and the training he had been through these days, he had become much more energetic. Sometimes, when he looked in the mirror, he even thought he had become more handsome than before.

Maybe Wang Min thought his appearance was good, so she took a few more glances at him. But he still felt that Wang Min’s pitiful eyes were not suitable for looking at a strange man. What’s more, her husband and daughter had only turned into zombies a few days ago. This made Ai Wei’s impression of Wang Min a little bad.