CH 86

Chapter 86: Walking to one's death

The fact that Shen Yueran injured someone, stole supplies and ran away left the other villagers feeling rather unsettled. Regret written all over his face, the village chief apologised profusely to the four of them.

"Village chief Uncle, there's no need for apologies. This is not your fault. The night is deepening, please return to assign night watch to a few of your people." Huo Zaiyuan says flatly as he glances back at the still unconscious Li Qing currently carried in Qin Jun's arms.

"Yes, yes." Seeing Huo Zaiyuan's expressionless face reflected on the faces of the other two flanking him, the village chief hurriedly takes his leave.

"That damn woman. We absolutely cannot let her get away with this." Cradling Li Qing close, Qin Jun's sneers. When he lifts his head, a cold killing intent rises in the depths of his eyes.

"Qin Jun, calm down. We don't even need to lift a finger. She will definitely learn a proper lesson through her own deeds." Long Zhanye speaks up, slender hand roaming slowly over the off-road vehicle's backseat padding. A few moments later, a fully loaded pistol magazine appears in his grasp. "Say, how will things play out when the pistol on her person doesn't have a single bullet in it?"

"Hmph, walking to one's death." Once he takes in the magazine in Long Zhanye's hand, the killing intent in Qin Jun's eyes subside. Using one hand to clean Li Qing's face tenderly with a wet towel, the other lightly massage the bump at the back of his lover's head. This way, when Li Qing regains consciousness, his head wouldn't ache too badly.

"This one strike on the head wouldn't cause little Qing to have amnesia, right?" Huo Zaiyuan questions as he passes the first aid kit to Qin Jun.

"It will be painful, but no vital parts were struck so he will be fine." Qin Jun answers, then kiss Li Qing’s cheek. "I should have kept him by my side. That way, he wouldn't have been injured."

"But you understand that little Qing doesn't wish to be a delicate flower forever under your protection." Huo Zaiyuan sighs. "We both know his personality very well."

"Un…"

"Let me keep watch for the entire night. You all go take a rest." Accepting the bread Huo Zaiyuan passes over, Long Zhanye says as he bites into it.

"Un." Qin Jun agrees easily.

Due to the taxing nature of setting up barriers on his spiritual energy, Huo Zaiyuan spends every night meditating. Thus, the matter of night vigil typically falls to Li Qing and Long Zhanye. Now with Li Qing injured, Long Zhanye will have to keep watch for the entire night, something the other two don't bother protesting over.

Just when everyone is finishing their meals and preparing to rest, the person who was struck by Shen Yueran finally stirs. After being fed a few mouthfuls of water and bread, he falls back asleep.

Deeper into the night, the surroundings fall into dead silence. No one dares make noise, too afraid that it will attract man-eating monsters.

~~~

Meanwhile, the woman who is responsible for knocking Li Qing unconscious, the one who stole food and a pistol from the off-road vehicle, the one and only Shen Yueran whose only thought is returning to the village stumbles across an extremely gruesome scene.

Zombie corpses litter the ground, most broken and torn to pieces. A head here, a couple of limbs there. The strong stench of rotting meat pervades the air, sharp enough to make one puke. And right in the centre of this sea of bodies, a humanoid figure squats, devouring something like a starving beast.

Witnessing this grotesque sight, Shen Yueran's entire body begins to tremble in pure terror. Shaking legs slowly retreating backwards in an attempt to escape, she accidentally steps on a dry twig. In the dead of the night when nothing stirs, this one snap resonates very clearly.

That squatting figure freezes instantly before its head twists in a humanly-impossible way to stare at her. Slowly, the blood-stained lips part to reveal sharp crimson teeth.

"Ahh - !!" A screech tears out of Shen Yueran's throat, quivering hands lifting the pistol to aim at the monster. However, no matter how hard she pulls the trigger, not a single bullet flies out of the barrel.

In that split-second, the monster crosses the distance between them in a single leap. Appearing before her eyes with that fearsome mouth stretch wide open, two rows of sharp teeth sink right into the top of her head. Before she can even register the pain, half her skull is already torn off, her brain exposed…