TSIAGBICATMWI Chapter 119

Chapter 119: The Eerie City

“Is it because we haven’t been out for too long? There’s a kind of desolate feeling, as if from another world. Or is it that winter has come?” Gu Tangxi leaned lazily against the car door, her eyes filled with withering and desolation.

The original green hills and leaves had become nothing but withered branches and fallen leaves. Occasionally, farmland flashed before her eyes, a patch of withered yellow. Sometimes, one or two hunched black figures would flash by in the fields, and she didn’t know if they were farmers whose backs had been bent by hard labor or…

Empty, silent, and desolate, a deathly aura permeated everywhere. What was dying was not just humanity; the world was also slowly losing its vitality.

Gu Tangyue, sitting next to her, could see the desolation outside the window even more directly, “Winter has come. Next spring, everything will be better.”

She didn’t know when spring would come, but she longed for it, and hoped that she could wait to witness the mountain flowers blooming with her own eyes.

Or perhaps, she would live a desolate life for a hundred years and still not see the scenery she desired.

On the other side, Xie YunChuan was sitting by the window with Luo Shuyou in his lap. Luo Shuyou was writing and drawing on the foggy car window, enjoying himself immensely.

He didn’t have the sentimental worries of others, only the peace and happiness of being in Xie YunChuan’s arms.

When he felt he had drawn well, he would proudly point it out to Xie YunChuan, raising his little head arrogantly, waiting for praise. Every time, Xie YunChuan would carefully look at his graffiti and then sincerely praise him: “Youyou is so great!”

If he wasn’t satisfied with his drawing, he would look at Xie YunChuan with pleading, starry eyes, pouting his lips. His own breath didn’t have much warmth, so he needed Xie YunChuan to help him restore the fog to the wrongly drawn areas so he could continue drawing.

Through Luo Shuyou’s expression, Xie YunChuan accurately grasped when to help him breathe a puff of air to cover the flawed parts and when to praise him for drawing so well, without ever failing.

Luo Shuyou gained a huge sense of satisfaction, thinking that ChuanChuan really had good taste. What Youyou thought was good, ChuanChuan also thought was good, and what Youyou thought was ugly, ChuanChuan would help Youyou breathe away. How wonderful!

It wasn’t that Xie YunChuan and Luo Shuyou’s aesthetics were so surprisingly consistent, but that Luo Shuyou wore his happy and unhappy emotions on his face. You didn’t need to be telepathic; as long as you weren’t blind, you could tell at a glance.

The car drove all morning, and near noon, they finally saw the tall buildings and urban architecture looming in the distance.

Xu Yuzhe was driving in the front. Even though he had anticipated the desolation after the end of the world, when he gradually drove into the city and not a single noise entered his ears, he knew that this was another dead city.

The closer they got to the urban area, the more abandoned vehicles there were on the side of the road. These were the people who had once desperately tried to escape the man-eating monsters in the city. Looking at the cars, all stained with blood, they knew that those who had mustered the courage to escape had ultimately not escaped.

It seemed that someone had passed this way before. A narrow path, barely wide enough for one car, had been cleared through the middle of the road where vehicles were piled up, which saved the latecomers a lot of trouble.

Seeing that they were almost there, Xu Yuzhe asked, “Drive straight into the city?” Although he didn’t recommend doing so—the sound of the car would easily alarm the hordes of zombies—searching through a small city entirely on foot would be a huge undertaking. He chose to give Xie YunChuan the power to decide.

Xie YunChuan: “Get ready, drive straight in.” He moved Luo Shuyou a little further away from the car window. Although his sitting posture hadn’t changed, the lazy aura around him vanished, and he was clearly in a state of alert.

Xu Yuzhe drove in the front, with Xie YunChuan and Gu Tangxi sitting on either side of the windows, and Luo Shuyou and Gu Tangyue were surrounded in the middle as a protective circle.

The closer they got, the more wrong it felt. They had already passed through some scattered houses, but not a single zombie was to be seen.

No living people, no living dead people. Things were not good.

Xu Yuzhe slowed down and asked, “Continue?” With his current Level 2 ability, it was impossible for him to feel nothing at such a close distance. Something was definitely wrong.

Xie YunChuan said, “Continue!”

Whether they should or shouldn’t, whether they could or couldn’t, they had to go in. Staying holed up in the deep mountains and old forests could guarantee temporary peace, but if they didn’t come out to face the cruel battles, take the initiative to attack, and improve themselves, when the zombies came to find you, you wouldn’t have the power to fight back.

The rate of virus evolution far exceeded human abilities. The zombies didn’t even have to do anything; the virus within them would gradually bring them benefits. If humans didn’t actively attack and continuously improve themselves, relying solely on hiding would only widen the gap, and in the end, they would crawl at the feet of the zombies and become a pile of flesh and blood.

Xu Yuzhe looked at Gu Tangxi and the others with inquiring eyes. Seeing them nod without hesitation, he no longer hesitated and stepped on the accelerator.

Everyone was focused on guarding against the surrounding situation, afraid that a zombie would suddenly rush out and give them a fierce blow. No one noticed that the further they went, the more dazed andhuǎnghū – absent-minded Luo Shuyou’s expression became, as if he were being drawn and confused by something.

…

Quiet, eerily quiet. The car stopped in a wide central square. In front of them was a huge department store, surrounded by countless cinemas, ktvs, milk tea shops, and various other shops.

People, dead people, animals, vehicles—not a single moving thing. Except for the national flag, which was flying high and rustling in the wind on the square’s flag platform, there was a deathly silence.

The car had been parked in the center of the square for a long time. Gu Tangxi looked around, seeing the various buildings with their walls still standing firm, the desolate and empty shops, as if the prosperity and liveliness of yesterday were still vivid in her mind.

Looking at the black, stinking rotten flesh and bloodstains everywhere, the overturned items, the scratching and pulling bloody handprints, her mind would unconsciously reenact the tragic situation at the time, like the unforgettable movie scenes playing in reverse, frame by frame.

Gu Tangyue felt scared, a little sad, and a little resigned to accepting reality. This was not the city she was familiar with, but it was still the slaughterhouse of the disaster she was familiar with.

Luo Shuyou’s dazed eyes seemed to be looking for something. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but there was always something pulling him, making him feel and search.

Fortunately, he knew that he couldn’t leave Xie YunChuan’s side. His reliance on and love for Xie YunChuan far exceeded the temptation that thing had for him. He would not leave on his own to find that thing.

Xu Yuzhe asked, “Get out of the car?” Staying in the car all the time wasn’t a solution. He hadn’t noticed anything so far.

But he knew that this couldn’t really be an empty city, so it could only prove that the danger factor here had far exceeded the range he could withstand.

He hoped that Xie YunChuan would have some resistance. Every head-on confrontation with zombies was a one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival. This time, he estimated that he was bound to die, but he hoped that Xie YunChuan would be that glimmer of hope.

Xie YunChuan squeezed Luo Shuyou’s hand and opened the car door first: “Let’s get out of the car.”

Luo Shuyou obediently followed Xie YunChuan’s side, resisting the lure of that voice in his heart. He didn’t tell Xie YunChuan that it was a bad thing. Luo Shuyou didn’t want Xie YunChuan to run into it.