Chapter 48：Death

"Ah !" screams echoed out.

Dudian looked back to see that Mason was outflanked by two rats and threw himself onto ground. Zach and Sham approached in haste to kick the rats. They didn't attack with daggers, worried that they would injure Mason.

Dudian's face changed. He quickly pulled out the dagger and reflexively rushed past.

"Go away!" Dudian roared loudly. His metal boots kicked one of the rat's head. With a bang sound the rat fall back. Zach used the opportunity to rush up and to kick its head severly.

Sham grabbed the tail of the other mouse so that it didn't climb onto Mason's face.

Dudian's body had adapted to fighting against the rats because of the experience. He pulled from rat's hind leg and fiercely hit it on the ground. After a few violent hits, its sharp little head was knocked on ground and it's struggle became weak.

Dudian continously whirlwindingly hit the rat onto ground. The rat couldn't find a leverage to break out of his hand.

After ten consecutive times of hit, the rat gradually stopped moving. Its body twitched a few times as blood penetrated out from its hair coloring the ground red.

Mason and Zach had killed the other rat.

Dudian looked at the rat. He used the dagger to stab it few more times. He was relieved and sat on the ground. His whole body was exhausted. He felt like his arm was nonexistent because of the pain. He was taking big breathes using his mouth. However the mask's air filter was very slow so felt dizzy and hypoxic.

Mason also sat next to him, his back against Dudian's.

Zach and Sham's state were much better, as they still retained a lot of physical power and stamina. They looked at the ground. The dead bodies of rats were still laying on the ground. They were frightened by the sight.

After a while of rest, Mason threw his hair backwards. He was panting as he talked: "Damn. It almost got my throat. These damn things!"

Dudian 's breathing gradually got smoother. He looked back at Mason: "Thanks to you, I'm.."

Mason snapped: "What the heck man!"

Dudian smiled and no longer said anything.

Zach had a lingering fear: "There are so many damned rats around that hunters haven't even touched. How the heck do they call this place 'clean'?"

Sham added: "Fortunately, the uniform's are tough enough to bites of these rats. If they were torn, the consequences would be unthinkable."

Dudian looked at the corpses of rats that were in front of him and thought back to their previous battle. His fingers clenched into a fist. Too bad. His performance was too bad. If not because of Mason's timely intervention, he would have been bitten by the rat that attacked in from rear.

"You have done very well. After all it was the first time you encountered such a fight. Even adults will be scared and panicked if a dog attacked them out of nowhere." A voice inside of him relieved himself while he was self-blaming himself. Dudian's strangled the voice withim him, biting his lips and making the pain hit his mind. He let his weakness remember - you live only once!

In the face of death almost everything is meaningless. To save yourself you gotta have the power. Only by being powerful he could survive!

He suddenly understood why the scavengers are selected only from the residential areas and slums rather than the people who attend the college selection from the commercial district. Because the mortality rate of the job is too high. Although they encountered danger, it was 'trivial' because area no 8 has been 'cleaned' by the hunters in advance. If the scavengers would be collecting in areas no 9 or no 10, the probability of encountering these monsters will be very low.

However, low risk also meant that there will be low harvest!

This is a dangerous job. But it was worth in terms of returns.

It was fair.

Because of the previous combat experience, there was fear of death in Dudian's mind. This time they encountered mutated rats. Would they encounter more terrible monsters the next time? Should they join into a larger force so that their chances to survive increases?

He looked at the broken glass door of the supermarket. There was a feeling subconsciously forcing him to retreat. Soon, he thought of his right arm. He thought of the marks engraved on it. A sudden firmness was reflected on his eyes. Propping the ground he said to the three "Let's go in! Most of them are dead now so there should be a few inside. Perhaps hiding in the dark. We should be careful of them."

Mason, Zach and Sham were surprised as they did not expect Dudian to dare to enter the ruins of this building. They saw the determination in his eyes. They slightly hesitated, then stood up, clenched their dagger and were ready to enter.

At the same time~~

"Ah ah!" Scream echoed out from the nearby street. It was quiet in the these rotten ruins so the sound was especially loud for the environment.

Dudian and the other three were surprised for a moment. He thought of the battle that they had just experienced with the rat monsters. As he heard the shrill cry, he thought that the others also encountered something for the first time. He hesitated as he did not know if he should go for help.

Dudian hesitated for awhile as few ideas popped up in his mind. He said in a cold tone: "Let's check it out. If the odds are against us we should withdraw!"

Mason and the other two were hesitant as they heard him talk. They nodded.

They ran along the direction of scream. There were scavengers who came out from other buildings who had ran to the place where screams were echoing out.

Soon, the screams got more noisy and intense as they came up the street corner. Dudian immediately slowed down and made a slight hand gesture. Mason, Sham and Zach understood and slowed down their pace. They walked slowly behind Dudian.

Around the corner, Dudian moved his head out to probe out the situation, suddenly his pupils shrank and face turned ugly in horror.

The center of the street was full of green vegetation. In front of a broken shop two people were twisting on the ground. A man and a woman. However, the figure on top had torn coat, revealing white skin. Instead of fingers there were sharp claws. It was an undead!

A live, undead! . .

This woman undead was on top of the struggling youth. Dudian could clearly see the woman biting and tearing the flesh out of youth's chest. Blood vessels and tissues were hanging like the wires from woman's mouth. Blood was constantly spewing out of the youth's chest.

By the youth's feet there was another body of woman who layed there motionless. Seems to have already been killed.

Around 10 meters away from the youth there was another young man standing. He was going backwards step by step as he covered his mouth with his hands. It seemed that he was afraid to call out because of the fear.