In her frenzy, Gu Xiaotong failed to hear the others’ warnings. Her current state was akin to a ferocious beast without a hint of human nature. She continued to scratch and rub her face fiercely. She seemed to be oblivious to pain, and it was evident that her mental faculties had collapsed.
A trace of pity suddenly flashed through Chu Han’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by indifference.
He had seen countless situations in his previous incarnation: madness, crying, and desperation… Everything in the eschatology had caused human beings to despair. There was no viable solution to help Gu Xiaotong under such a situation even if she wasn't infected. Besides, such a fragile mind wasn't suitable for this world, and she would inevitably die or turn mad.
‘Even if it’s torture, just enjoy your final moments!’ Chu Han sighed inwardly.
Chu Han recovered his usual intelligence, and he turned his gaze towards the survivors again.
"Who else has been bitten or scratched by a zombie?" Chu Han questioned, his eyes glimmering with a cruel, fierce light.
One sentence silenced the entire hall
n.o.body answered him. The survivors’ fearful gazes were transfixed on the center. The body of Zhang Ziyu lay motionless on the ground, and dark blood trickled slowly out of his head. The scene of Zhang Ziyu suddenly transforming into a zombie terrified them. Just before, he was a fellow human cursing along with them, but he had abruptly transformed into a zombie in the next second!
Gu Xiaotong turned even more crazy. She lost all sense of reason and began slamming the ground with her head desperately.
The feeling of encountering zombies while exploring the changed Earth, and the feeling of the surrounding people transforming into zombies were different. n.o.body could accept this change which challenged the baseline.
"Just tell me," Chu Han spoke calmly, although his tranquil visage seemed to signal the calm before the storm, "out of you guys… who is infected?"
As he spoke, Chu Han raised his axe slightly higher, and a murderous light gleamed off the sharp edge.
"No, I'm not infected!" A survivor shook his head panickedly.
"Neither am I! The zombies didn't touch me! Not even a single strand of hair!"
"I'm not infected!"
All the survivors denied any form of physical contact with the zombies since they could predict their unpleasant fate if they admitted to being infected.
However, Chu Han did not believe them.
Lying and hiding were natural reactions for someone who had been bitten or scratched by a zombie. They would not tell others; even their children, friends, and parents were no exception to this!
"You!" Suddenly Jia Chunjie shouted and pointed at a middle-aged man: "Did you get scratched by a zombie? I just saw it."
"Bulls.h.i.+t! You're just a fat guy spouting bulls.h.i.+t!" The middle-aged man’s eyes reddened, and he shouted loudly.
"You're the one who’s trying to trick us!" Jia Chunjie’s eyes also reddened in anger. He stared at the crowd and suppressed his panic before saying, "I saw it. You are infected!"
"f.u.c.k! I will kill you!" The middle-aged man roared crazily and swung at Jia Chunjie with his fist.
These two people carried on brawling without showing any mercy. They just wanted to kill each other. The surrounding survivors didn’t intervene in the dispute; they eyed the people in their vicinity warily and kept their distance from each other.
*Cough cough!* Suddenly, Gu Xiaotong spat out a mouthful of blood and convulsed, collapsing to the ground. Her chafed skin lost its b.l.o.o.d.y hue at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Chu Han pursed his lips. The zombie virus rapidly progressed to the next stage, and Gu Xiaotong had started to zombify.
Jia Chunjie and the middle-aged man stopped fighting at the same time and everyone’s gazes were focused on the p.r.o.ne Gu Xiaotong. They silently watched as she convulsed and red blood surged out from her mouth like a gus.h.i.+ng spring
Utter panic filled the hearts of every spectator.
*Puff!* Another spurt of blood flew out from Gu Xiaotong’s mouth, and a hoa.r.s.e, beastly roar echoed out from Gu Xiaotong’s vocal cords.
The terrifying roar jolted the crowd out of their reverie, much like an alarm clock.
"My sincere apologies." Chu Han raised his axe with a calm expression.
*Splat!*
The full weight of the axe was brought down upon Gu Xiaotong’s skull with monstrous force; her whole body was almost severed in half. The helpless Gu Xiaotong failed to defend herself, and her body twitched a few times before turning motionless.
Shang Jiuti turned her face and attempted to suppress the urge to vomit.
Chen Shaoye sighed deeply, and his eyes hardened. This incident further fueled his resolution to survive!
Eighteen seemed to be deep in thought. Her gaze was fixed on the dark blood leaking out of Gu Xiaotong’s corpse.
"You guys should conduct yourselves if you are bitten or stretched. I won't rob your choice at last minute." Chu Han strode out with his bloodstained axe after he finished speaking.
Chen Shaoye, Eighteen, and Shang Jiuti wordlessly followed him.
"Wait for me!" Jia Chunjie exclaimed. He hurriedly caught up to them and pleaded desperately, "Please... I want to follow you. I'm not infected. You can check me."
Chu Han glanced at Jia Chunjie and asked casually, "You can cook, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Jia Chunjie nodded repeatedly, "I also know financing and distribution!"
Chu Han inclined his head slightly: "Alright, you can follow us."
"Ah! Thank you so much! Thank you." Jia Chunjie was overjoyed. He shed tears of grat.i.tude, and he even felt an urge to call Chu Han ‘father’.
Chu Han did not turn back and walked out with vigorous strides. He cared nothing for the others.
The imposing G55 zoomed rapidly down the highway flanked by two other cars.
It was the seventh day since the eschatology had started, and the world was completely reversed. n.o.body could predict that the eschatology would befall; when it began, it broke the order of entire world. The things that people were familiar with vanished, and there was utter anarchy. The sun could no longer be seen with the naked eye when observed from the ground. The sky was no longer blue, and the clouds had vanished.
Instead, a strange faint red haze smothered the sky, which meant that the sky was almost always a dull grey shade. The haze also hampered visibility, much like smog from pollution.
Broken vehicles littered the highway, and the wide road became even more difficult to traverse. Initially, the occasional car or wreckage were the only obstacles to their journey, but they encountered wild animal herds and zombie groups with increasing frequency, which greatly reduced their pace.
"Stop and take a rest," Chu Han ordered in the speaker.
They parked their cars on the roadside. The G55’s shattered window had been replaced by an iron net. Although the net didn’t block the cold or wind, it kept them safe from any possible zombie attacks while they parked.
The iron net was discovered by Jia Chunjie in an obscure corner. As soon as he found it, he attached it to the G55’s window frame. Lately, he was bursting with enthusiasm; he had cooked hot dishes for everyone over the past few days. He was also courageous and showed no hesitation when it came to killing zombies.
"Brother Chu!" Eighteen ran straight towards Chu Han immediately after descending from the car. Her naïve smile brought a sense of warmness to such a dark world. However, her next words rendered Chu Han speechless.
"Did Fatty Chen date Miss-Five Finger?"