72 It’s Heading South

While Lin Qiao was driving forward, a military off-road vehicle drove onto the highway which was still guarded by the level-five zombie, then stopped before the bodies of the few robbers. Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue got off the car, looking at the three bodies; two of the three bodies were headless. 

Wu Chengyue frowned slightly, then walked to the bodies expressionlessly and began examining them one after another. 

"These people were all robbers. Judging by the stage of decomposition, they've been dead for three days. The heads of these two were cut off quite neatly, which doesn't look like something zombies would do. The other one seems to have been killed by a zombie though, as his heart was dug out by claws," he said. 

He stood before the fat man's body with one hand before his chest and the other supporting his chin. While speaking, he pointed at the three bodies, also turning the fat man's body over with his foot. 

At the sight of these bodies, Wu Chengyue learned what had happened to these robbers. Like the other two, the fat man had his brain eaten and stomach emptied; but the large hole on his back proved that he died when a zombie dug his heart out. 

Wu Chengyue then turned to the two headless bodies. He also saw the two heads which were thrown to the side, with no brain matter left in them.

"They may have encountered a higher level zombie. It was probably that level-five zombie leader. But… why were they stripped?" Meng Yue looked at the three bodies which were wearing nothing but underwear and wondered. 

Did that zombie leader have a weird hobby of stripping corpses? What did that a zombie need those clothes for? None of these clothes were left on the scene. 

Wu Chengyue carefully observed the surrounded environment, then shook his head and responded, "I don't know."

Then, he turned to Meng Yue and asked, "Didn't you feel anything? Have you felt Ling Ling?" 

Meng Yue closed her eyes, then slightly raised her right hand, palm up. A tiny grass grew out of her palm and swayed slightly as if it was blown by a wind. After that, it pointed at one side of the road. 

"Didn't it go straight? Did it take a detour?" Wu Chengyue asked, sounding a little surprised. 

Meng Yue nodded and said, "This highway is probably blocked somewhere in the front, so it took a detour. I think there's a bridge up ahead."

Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Bridge? Is that female zombie afraid of water? Why did it take a detour?"

Meng Yue glanced at the three bodies, then turned to walk back to the vehicle and said, "I don't know. We should just hurry up and try to catch up Ling Ling. If I'm right, that female zombie should have gone through that small town over there."

Wu Chengyue nodded, then turned around immediately and followed her back into the car. After sitting inside, he ordered one of his soldiers to turn the car around and head to the branch road beside the highway. 

"That female zombie seems to be moving South the whole time, as if it has a purpose," said Meng Yue while feeling strange about it. 

After chasing that female zombie for quite some days, the two of them had discovered that it had been moving in the same direction the whole time. They found that it was heading straight south without making any turns, and had been taking the shortest ways. 

Wu Chengyue dropped his eyelids, pondering over Meng Rue's words. "For whatever reason, it's heading South… But, why did it take my Ling Ling with her?" He said. 

"Doesn't matter why it took Ling Ling. We can only try our best to find it as soon as possible. After all, we don't know what it might do to Ling Ling during this time. And, I'm afraid that she might be in a bad condition. She's an introverted kid, and has autism… Her mental state may affect her physical condition. I'm really worried about that," said Meng Yue. 

Hearing her, Wu Chengyue's face darkened immediately. He had the same worry as Meng Yue the whole time. He knew his daughter well enough; he knew that she wouldn't even let the familiar people near her. But now, she was kidnapped by an ugly female zombie. He could imagine how scared she must be right now, and was also worried that her mental state might fail to bear what was happening and cause some severe problems.

Food was his another concern. Meng Yue could sense that the seed inside Wu Yueling's body was still alive, meaning that Wu Yueling was still alive. But, what he worried about the most was that she might have fallen into a coma already. 

He just couldn't imagine that that female zombie would try finding human food for his daughter. He even doubted if the zombie's space had oxygen in it, and thought that maybe living people would stay in a coma once they entered its space. 

Wu Chengyue had been keeping these thoughts to himself and telling himself that his daughter was fine. But now, he felt depressed on hearing Meng Yue say it out, even though he had always been a calm and confident person.

But fortunately, he had a strong mind as one of the leaders of a base. So, he soon restrained the negative thoughts in his mind. 

At least, his daughter was still alive at the moment, and that was enough!

Seeing the depressed look in his face, Meng Yue realized that she had said the wrong words. So, she corrected herself, "It's alright though. My grass has sensed that Ling Ling is very close to us now, so we should be able to catch up with her very soon." 

At that moment, the soldier who was driving stopped the car suddenly, then turned back to report to Wu Chengyue, "Chief, I found something in the front."

"What is it?" Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue look ahead together and asked. 

The soldier pointed at the ground and said, "There're some new wheel ruts on the road."

Hearing that, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue opened the car door and got off the car immediately.

The car had driven off the highway and was moving toward the small town through the branch road. They felt strange when they heard the soldier mention new wheel ruts, so they got off the car to check the road. 

The road was covered in sands and dust, and two wheel ruts were on the middle of it. Judging by these wheel ruts, that car had only left not long ago.

"Some people drove a car into this town. Were they zombie hunters? Or robbers?" Meng Yue stared at the wheel ruts on the road while saying. 

"We'll find out what happened when we get there. Let's go," Wu Chengyue glanced at the road calmly, then turned and got back in the car, Meng Yue following him inside. 

The wheel ruts they found were left by Lin Qiao's car. No one had been in this small town since the old world ended, so the road was covered by accumulated dust and sand already.

Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue couldn't have figured out at all that the one who had driven a car into the town was a zombie named Lin Qiao, because they believed that only human beings could drive. Therefore, they guessed that the ones who drove into the town were either zombie hunters or robbers. 

It couldn't be an army from a base, because they only found the traces left by one car. With that new puzzle, they continued driving toward the town.