EOTWR Chapter 4

Chapter 4

He asked the young woman, “Excuse me, do you have any splints or anything that can be used as a splint at home? Also, rope, strips of cloth, anything like that. I want to immobilize my friend’s leg; he has a fractured tibia.”

“Yes, wait a moment.” The young woman’s name was Han Lu. She responded and went to find the items. After a short while, she returned with a long strip of cloth torn from a bed sheet and a disassembled mop.

She broke the mop into three sections, temporarily using them as splints, and handed them to Ai Wei.

Ai Wei arranged the items, looked at Xia Junchi’s broken leg, took a deep breath, and then said to Xia Junchi, “I’m going to immobilize it for you. Bear with it.”

“Okay,” Xia Junchi replied.

Ai Wei took another deep breath, mentally rehearsing the immobilization process before reaching for Xia Junchi’s leg.

He tried to be as precise and quick as possible, but Xia Junchi inevitably gritted his teeth in pain.

By the time it was done, both of them were drenched in cold sweat. “I’ll go get a car. As soon as I get back, we’ll go see a doctor,” Ai Wei said.

“Wait,” Han Lu, who was standing nearby, suddenly called out to him. “What is it?” Ai Wei asked.

“Um, I want to go with you,” Han Lu said. “I have a car, and I can be your driver.”

Ai Wei and Xia Junchi exchanged a look. They needed a car right now, and it would be best if Han Lu could provide one. Moreover, Han Lu had helped them, and they couldn’t abandon her now that she wanted to go with them.

Han Lu was a young girl who had been staying in the same house with her zombified mother. She probably wasn’t in a good mood, so she wanted to leave with them.

“Okay,” Ai Wei nodded. “But you have to be mentally prepared for the zombies outside.”

Han Lu took a deep breath and said, “There are zombies everywhere now. I’ll have to face them eventually. It’s better to go out sooner rather than later.”

Ai Wei didn’t expect that she would actively want to face the zombies, and couldn’t help but feel that she was brave. He said, “That’s true. Then let’s go together. Now that we have a car, let’s go see a doctor immediately.”

Xia Junchi didn’t object, so it was settled. Han Lu and Ai Wei packed up the food and bottled water in the house, but unfortunately, she didn’t have much food stored, and it only filled two large plastic bags.

“Do you have anything with a particularly strong smell here? Something that can mask body odor?” Ai Wei suddenly thought that zombies might have a sense of smell, and if they sprayed on a strong scent, it might fool the zombies’ noses. He asked Han Lu.

Han Lu thought for a moment and said, “My perfumes all have relatively light scents.”

“Spray some on anyway. I suspect the zombies can smell living people,” Ai Wei said.

Han Lu was taken aback, but felt that it made sense. She took out her two bottles of perfume and sprayed them all over the three of them.

Once they were ready, Ai Wei opened the door and first listened for any movement in the stairwell.

He found that as long as he focused his attention and carefully observed a certain place, the scene would appear in his mind.

At first, he didn’t pay much attention to this, but gradually, he began to realize that something was wrong.

He tried focusing his attention in one direction, and then he really found that even if he didn’t look there, he could vaguely sense the scene there.

This discovery made him feel a burst of joy. This was definitely not something ordinary humans could do. Could it be that he had suddenly developed some kind of ability?

Although he was happy to discover that he might have an ability, he didn’t have time to feel overjoyed. After all, he had to get Xia Junchi to a doctor as soon as possible.

He tried using this ability to explore scenes further away, first penetrating the door with his consciousness to explore the situation in the elevator. The elevator was currently stopped on the second floor, and there was a muffled thumping sound coming from inside. According to his senses, there should be two to three zombies inside. Then, he used his mental power to check the situation in the stairwell.

The building had a total of seven floors. The top three floors were locked, and there were no zombies in the stairwell. The doors of the bottom four floors were also tightly locked. There were five zombies on the two flights of stairs between the second and third floors, and three zombies at the entrance on the first floor.

With only three zombies, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to take Xia Junchi out.

“I’ll carry you out,” he said to Xia Junchi. Xia Junchi looked at his thin frame and couldn’t help but frown slightly, feeling a little worried.

He weighed eighty kilograms, and Xia Junchi suspected that Ai Wei didn’t even weigh sixty-five kilograms.

Ai Wei knew that he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to carry him, so he said, “I exercise regularly. I’m quite strong.” Moreover, since gaining the ability, he felt that his strength seemed to be much greater than usual.

Seeing him so confident, Xia Junchi decided to try it first. If Ai Wei was struggling too much, he would get down and walk himself.

Ai Wei squatted down in front of Xia Junchi, putting his arms over his shoulders, and Xia Junchi’s arms wrapped around his neck.

Ai Wei felt Xia Junchi’s body against his back, and immediately felt his heart jump. He took a deep breath to steady himself, put his hands under Xia Junchi’s knees, and carried him up.

To Xia Junchi’s surprise, Ai Wei really did carry him up relatively easily.

“How is it? I can carry you up easily, right?” Ai Wei said.

Seeing Ai Wei looking so relaxed and at ease, Xia Junchi couldn’t help but smile slightly on his pale face, which was caused by the pain.

Ai Wei’s relaxed appearance made him feel that even facing such an apocalypse, it didn’t seem like a big deal. Han Lu took a cleaver and a butcher knife, handing the cleaver to Xia Junchi, saying, “Take this knife for self-defense.”

Xia Junchi thanked her, and Ai Wei asked, “Are there any other knives? Give me one too.”

“Yes, but there’s only a folding pocket knife. It’s not very big or very sharp,” Han Lu said, going to the kitchen to get the remaining pocket knife. She asked, “Do you think this will do?”

The pocket knife was made of stainless steel, but it was about the size of an adult’s palm, and didn’t seem to be very lethal. However, the advantage was that it was small and easy to carry, and it would fit perfectly in a pocket.

“Okay, put it in my belt,” Ai Wei said. Now that it was so chaotic outside, he felt uneasy without something to defend himself.

Han Lu put the knife in his belt and hung a small camera that was in a drawer around her neck. Seeing Ai Wei looking at the camera, she smiled wryly and said, “I’m a journalist. I bought this camera with two months’ salary, and only used it for less than a week. Although it’s the end of the world now, I still want to record some things, maybe they can be passed on in the future.”

Ai Wei nodded and said, “Be careful. We’ll rush out in one breath and head straight for Han Lu’s car.” Ai Wei said.

After speaking, he took the lead, carrying Xia Junchi and running downstairs.

Han Lu followed closely behind him. As they passed the two zombies in the stairwell, Ai Wei kicked them to the ground and ran past them, with Han Lu following closely behind.

The three of them ran out of the apartment building and directly to Han Lu’s car on the first floor.

Han Lu opened the front door, sat in the driver’s seat, and started the car.

Ai Wei opened the back door, gently put Xia Junchi in the back seat, and quickly got into the car himself, slamming the door shut.

Han Lu started the car, backed out of the garage, and drove away.

They acted quickly, and before the surrounding zombies could react, the car had already driven out of the residential complex.

Han Lu drove steadily and slowly. Besides them, there were other vehicles on the road heading out of the city, and many vehicles that were originally behind them passed them.

Ai Wei didn’t mind Han Lu driving slowly. Now, many people were rushing to run outside, and there were many vehicles on the road. The more anxious you were at this time, the more likely you were to have a car accident. They had only driven a short distance, and they had already encountered several car accidents. Many cars that had been smashed out of shape or even broken apart were parked on the side of the road, which was shocking.

Fortunately, this place was not far from the suburbs, and the roads were very wide. If it were in the densely populated city center, they probably wouldn’t be able to go far before getting stuck in traffic.

Ai Wei looked at the cars that had been in accidents on the road, and the zombies wandering around, and couldn’t help but feel a little heavy.

At this moment, suddenly there was a loud “bang” in front of them. Then, a black object flew towards their car.

In order to avoid the flying object, Han Lu quickly turned the steering wheel, and the car swerved sharply, almost hitting a telephone pole on the side of the road.

Because they were wearing seat belts, the three of them were fine, but they were indeed frightened.

“What happened?” Ai Wei stabilized himself and looked forward. He saw that two cars in front of them had collided, and the shape was very tragic. The thing that flew towards them should have been a rearview mirror from one of the cars.

Both cars were smashed out of shape. The person in one of the cars was covered in blood and had no movement, so he was probably dead. The driver in the other car was still moving, but he was lunging at the person in the passenger seat and biting him. Obviously, he had turned into a zombie.

The zombies wandering around were attracted by the loud crash of the car accident and surrounded them. Han Lu turned the steering wheel again, turned the car around, and drove forward. Ai Wei looked back through the rear window and saw that in a short while, the car was about to be submerged by the zombie horde.

The three of them felt a little flustered when they saw this scene. Ai Wei saw that they were about to drive out of the city, and said to Han Lu, “There’s a gas station ahead. Stop there, and I’ll get some gasoline. By the way, did any of you bring a gas card?”

They would probably need to use the car a lot in the future, and it would be good to hoard some gasoline.

“I brought one,” Xia Junchi said, taking out his wallet from his pocket and handing the gas card to Ai Wei. “The password is six sixes. Get as much gas as possible.”

“Okay,” Ai Wei took the gas card and responded.

The car quickly drove to the first gas station outside the city.

Because it was in the suburbs, there weren’t many zombies at this gas station. Han Lu carefully bypassed the zombies, parked the car in front of the gas pump, and Ai Wei got out of the car and inserted the gas card into the machine.

Fortunately, the gas station still had gas. He entered the password and couldn’t help but be shocked when he saw the balance on Xia Junchi’s gas card. There was actually more than 30,000 yuan on this card. Xia Junchi was really generous.

He picked up the gas nozzle and started filling the gas tank, but the car’s gas tank wasn’t very low, and he only filled it for a while before the tank was full.

While refueling, Ai Wei focused his newly developed mental power outwards. This mental power was very useful, allowing him to sense a lot of movement around him. Even behind him and around corners where his eyes couldn’t see, he could sense what was there.

There was a supermarket next to the gas station. He moved his mind and swept his mental power into the supermarket.

The supermarket wasn’t small, and the shelves closest to the door were half empty, probably because someone had passed by here before and taken some supplies from the supermarket.

Ai Wei suddenly remembered that Han Lu hadn’t brought much food from home, and he needed to store some food and water.

He didn’t hesitate for long, then pointed to the supermarket and said to the two people in the car, “I’m going to get some supplies from the supermarket.”

Before the two could reply, he had already run towards the supermarket. The two people in the car hadn’t even reacted before they saw him running away. They had to watch out for the zombies around them while waiting for him to come out.

While running, he also used his mental power to observe the surroundings. It had to be said that this mental power was very useful. After entering the supermarket, he could use his mental power to check behind shelves or around corners of the supermarket where his vision couldn’t reach. If there were zombies in those places, he could avoid them in time.

Ai Wei used his mental power to avoid several zombies in the supermarket. The supermarket had an area of ​​more than 100 square meters, and there were many goods, but it was possible that it had been looted several times after the zombie outbreak, so many of the shelves in the supermarket were empty. There were not many packaged foods such as instant noodles, ham, bread, and chocolate left. However, the remaining food was enough to fill two bags.

Ai Wei took a few large plastic bags from the cash register and quickly packed the remaining packaged snacks into the plastic bags. Suddenly, he thought of something and took two boxes of brand-name chocolate balls from the snack area. The packaging was large and exquisite, but they only contained thirty chocolate balls.

Then, he went to the grain and oil area and took two bags of ten kilograms of rice, and two empty fuel drums in the living area. Then, he carried two large bags and left the supermarket.

After going out, he lowered the roller shutter door of the supermarket, trapping the zombies in the supermarket inside.

After putting the two large bags into the trunk of the car, he filled the two twenty-liter fuel drums with gasoline, got into the car, and Han Lu immediately started the car.

“This stuff is enough for us to eat for a while,” Ai Wei said, letting out a sigh of relief after getting into the car.

Han Lu looked at the two large bags of food and sincerely praised, “Ai Wei, you are so amazing, you got so many things.”

“Actually, the zombies move slowly. As long as you move fast enough, you can get rid of them,” Ai Wei said.

He didn’t plan to talk about his awakened mental powers. Although Han Lu had saved him and Xia Junchi once, it was important to be wary of others. He didn’t want to reveal his abilities so easily.

“By the way, do you want to eat this?” Ai Wei put the two beautifully packaged xxx brand chocolate gift boxes in front of Xia Junchi and asked Xia Junchi in a flattering tone.

This chocolate was expensive, but it was also very delicious. Xia Junchi liked to eat it, but he rarely ate this kind of snack that little girls liked outside. He usually bought it and ate it alone at home.

Ai Wei knew that he liked to eat this brand of chocolate because once on Valentine’s Day, a female colleague in the office received this brand of chocolate. At that time, Xia Junchi just happened to pass by the female colleague, and his eyes lingered on the box of chocolate for a full five seconds.

Ai Wei happened to see this scene, so he guessed that Xia Junchi must like to eat this kind of chocolate. He just saw this chocolate on the shelves in the supermarket, so he took it.

Fortunately, this chocolate was packaged too impractically. There were only 30 chocolates in such a large package, so it was not taken away by the people who swept through the supermarket earlier.

Sure enough, Xia Junchi’s eyes lit up when he saw the chocolate. He didn’t like smoking or drinking (although he could drink a lot), and he didn’t have any other special hobbies. He just liked to eat chocolate, especially this brand of chocolate.

He had never told anyone that he liked this chocolate. Now that he saw Ai Wei giving it to him, he couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling in his heart.

“How did you know I like this?” He couldn’t help but ask.

Ai Wei smiled a little embarrassedly and told him about how Xia Junchi had stared at the chocolate in the female colleague’s hand for 5 seconds.

Xia Junchi couldn’t help but twitch his lips, feeling a little embarrassed, but also feeling that Ai Wei was paying attention to these details of him because he cared about him very much. He couldn’t help but feel a very warm feeling.

However, even at this time, Ai Wei still remembered to bring him chocolate. Xia Junchi didn’t know whether to say that Ai Wei was thick-skinned or optimistic and strong.

“Thank you.” He took the chocolate and put it in his mouth. Immediately, the rich chocolate flavor filled his entire taste buds, making him feel a lot better.

Han Lu saw Ai Wei looking at Xia Junchi eating chocolate with a sweet smile from the rearview mirror, and couldn’t help but be stunned. Then, an incredible thought popped into her head.

Could it be… what she thought it was!

She originally thought that the two of them were just good friends, but now looking at the way Ai Wei looked at Xia Junchi, it was as if he was looking at someone he liked.

Since the zombie outbreak and her mother turned into a zombie, Han Lu, who had been in a low mood, suddenly cheered up.

The car drove for another 20 minutes and arrived at the residential area where Doctor Li lived.

This was the suburbs, and not many people lived here. There were no tall buildings, only beautiful villas, so there were very few zombies in the residential area. There were only a few elderly zombies wandering on the street. Doctor Li’s house was at Block B, Number 2. Not long after their car drove into the residential area, they saw a person standing on the second-floor window waving to them from a distance.

The car drove to the door of the villa. After about two minutes, the door of the villa was opened a crack, revealing a man’s tense and wary face.

The man was about thirty years old, wearing a white shirt and suit pants. He looked clean and tidy, and had a calm air about him. He must be Doctor Li.

He waved to the three people in the car, signaling them to come in quickly.

Han Lu carried two large bags of snacks, while Ai Wei got out of the car, went around to the other side of the car, opened the door, and carried Xia Junchi out of the car.

Originally, he wanted to carry Xia Junchi on his back, but seeing the nearby elderly zombies gathering around, he became anxious. He picked up Xia Junchi’s legs with one hand, and put his other hand through Xia Junchi’s shoulders and back, carrying the other person out of the car.

Xia Junchi was very tall and sturdy. Ai Wei was afraid that he would not be able to hold him steady with his not-so-strong arms and would fall him, so he couldn’t help but reach out and hug his neck.

This standard princess carry made him twitch his lips. Seeing Han Lu looking at them with interest from the side, and Doctor Li looking surprised, he couldn’t help but stiffen all over, and his face was almost expressionless.

Ai Wei didn’t think so much. He was afraid of being surrounded by zombies, so he rushed into the apartment building as quickly as possible. When Doctor Li saw them coming in, he closed and locked the door, trapping the zombies that were blocking the way outside.

“Put me down, I’ll walk myself.” As soon as he entered the gate, Xia Junchi immediately came down from Ai Wei’s arms. He was a big man, but he was being princess-carried, and it felt a little embarrassing.

Ai Wei carefully put him down and stammered an apology, “I’m, I’m sorry, I was just in a hurry just now…”

“It’s okay.” Xia Junchi felt a little embarrassed and funny listening to him apologizing so carefully.

Ai Wei’s cautious appearance, as if he was afraid of making him angry, was a bit like a little wife, but it also made him feel that he was being cherished.

“I’ll carry you on my back,” Ai Wei quickly said.

Before Xia Junchi could speak, Doctor Li said, “You’re the one with the broken leg, right? It’s best if you don’t move around now. Let him carry you upstairs. I think he’s very strong, and it shouldn’t be a problem for him to carry you up.”

The doctor had already spoken, so the others naturally followed suit. So, Ai Wei carried Xia Junchi on his back and went upstairs with Doctor Li.

Ai Wei put Xia Junchi on the sofa and asked Doctor Li anxiously, “Doctor, can you take a look at his leg?”

Doctor Li took out a pair of scissors from the drawer, squatted down in front of Xia Junchi, cut open Xia Junchi’s pants, looked at it, and touched it. Then, he said, “A fracture. It needs surgery. You are very lucky. My daughter likes to play all kinds of games for treating diseases, so I have plaster at home. There are also surgical tools. I can perform surgery on him in my house, but…” He looked at Ai Wei and said, “Before setting the bone, you have to go to the school with me to rescue my daughter.”

Ai Wei was stunned and said, “Doctor, I have already promised you that I would go with you to rescue your daughter. Please set my friend’s leg bone first. After you set the bone, we will go to rescue your daughter immediately.” Doctor Li said calmly, “No, rescue my daughter first. What if I set his bone and you don’t go with me to rescue my daughter? Don’t worry, my daughter’s school is only ten minutes away from here. She called me and said that she is hiding in the physics laboratory of the laboratory building. If all goes well, we can rescue her in just thirty minutes and come back to set your friend’s bone.” He said it simply, as if they could immediately pick up his daughter as long as they went to the school. But the fact was, how could that be so easy?! Today was not a holiday, nor was it a weekend. Places like schools, where people gather, would be full of zombies.

Moreover, many parents would be willing to go through hell and high water for their children. Even if there was a zombie outbreak now, there would definitely be many parents going to school to rescue their children, so there might already be a traffic jam at the school gate. Ai Wei had seen the scene of students leaving school and parents picking up their children. That would block at least one road! It would take at least ten minutes just to get through the blocked road.

Xia Junchi was stunned when he heard this.

He didn’t know that Doctor Li had made such a request. Thinking of the number of zombies in the school, he couldn’t help but purse his lips, and then said to Ai Wei, “Don’t go, it doesn’t matter if my leg isn’t treated.”

The school was too dangerous. Ai Wei had already saved his life, and he couldn’t let Ai Wei take such a big risk for his leg.

But Ai Wei had already made up his mind to cure his leg. It was so chaotic outside now, and if Xia Junchi broke a leg, he would probably have a very difficult time living in the future. He might even lose his life if he encountered danger.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful, nothing will happen,” Ai Wei said.

“No need…” Xia Junchi wanted to say more, but Ai Wei said, “I have to go on this trip. As long as there is hope, I will cure your leg.”

Xia Junchi looked at his firm eyes, opened his mouth, and suddenly a warm current surged into his heart, making his eyes a little sore.

He was not a very emotional person, but he was very moved to see someone willing to risk his life to cure his leg.

Knowing that Ai Wei had made a decision, Xia Junchi didn’t try to persuade him anymore. Moreover, he also wanted to cure his leg.

“Then be careful, pay attention to safety, I’ll wait for you to come back,” he said.

He looked at Ai Wei, his starry eyes full of worry, and Ai Wei’s heart couldn’t help but beat faster.

“I will definitely come back safe and sound,” Ai Wei said. Xia Junchi was not optimistic, and frowned in thought. “Before going, we need to make a plan. Today is not a weekend or a holiday. The students are all in school, so the school should already be a disaster area for zombies. Although the zombies’ combat power is not high, it’s difficult to escape if you’re surrounded by a large group of zombies.”