CH 27

As the sun rose, the surrounding temperature also rises.

Peng Mao was sweating profusely while pushing a car, sweat dripping down uncontrollably. He had exhausted all of his strength but the car still didn’t move.

He couldn’t help but curse, “No matter how Chinese people like to buy cars, isn’t it good to travel ecofriendly? Now it’s causing traffic congestion, so you don’t want to lose heart.”

“Tsk, it’s sour!” Hao Jian went to help him push it together. Although her arm was in so much pain that it was about to cramp, she gritted her teeth and held it back.

In fact, aside from her, Lian Ru Ning and Xin Ting both had sore arms but because they had not killed many zombies in the previous two days, it wasn’t obvious. However, the number of zombies they killed yesterday had doubles, making the pain in their arms more obvious today.

It wasn’t until noon that they cleared a trail of about 1.5 meters – just enough for a car to drive out. During this period, scattered zombies appeared to attach them, but they were able to clean them all up.

“Take a rest.” Hao Jian was already sweating and her clothes and hair hadn’t been dried before. The bath they took last night was for nothing.

Xin Ting took out the instant noodles she cooked last night from her backpack. Hao Jian said that if it was cooked in the morning, it would definitely arouse the vigilance of the villagers, so she cooked it last night.

After letting it cool, she poured out the soup into a bowl before sealing it with a condom. Although it was overnight and the sealing tools were a bit unappetizing, they had no leeway of being fussy in this environment. It was already good that they have food.

While they were eating, they suddenly heard a sound of an engine coming from somewhere. When they looked around, they spot two motorcycles that jumped out of the Civic Avenue, more than fifty meters away. The zombies that followed them were ten meters behind like a pack of dogs chasing a cat. Their total numbers were unclear and can’t be counted by the naked eye.

“Fuck!” The four of them were shocked. They didn’t know what was wrong with the drivers. Why did they provoke so many zombies?

Although Hao Jian and the others has the ability to kill zombies, they can’t kill so many at the same time!

“Get in the car!” Hao Jian shouted as she quickly got into the driver’s seat.

Lian Ru Ning hurriedly sat in the passenger seat, while Peng Mao and Xin Ting didn’t care that the bowl of noodles hadn’t been eaten yet. They even threw the bowl of noodles in the spur of the moment. They grabbed their weapons and climbed back into the car.

In such a short time, the zombies at the intersection of Civic Avenue found them across the road.

Although there is a guardrail isolation belt in the middle, after so many car accidents, some guardrails have fallen down a long time ago and these zombies flooded from this opening.

“Quick, quick!” Peng Mao suddenly patted the driver’s seat, urging Hao Jian.

Hao Jian was not afraid of danger and calmly drove the car. She then immediately accelerated that knocked the zombies stuck in front of them.

Before the zombies caught up, they passed the intersection of Civic Avenue. Although there are still zombies chasing them, their speed wasn’t as fast as cars. Soon, the chasing figures were getting smaller and smaller.

They finally escaped the crisis temporarily!

Lian Ru Ning was so nervous that her hands were sweating. She turned her head, fastened her seat belt, and raised her eyes to see that the windshield in front of them was stained with a broken body of a zombie. She could barely see something one hundred meters ahead, “Be careful ahead!”

Hao Jian slowed down in time to get around the obstacle and then turned the wiper on to clean the part of the windshield that blocked her sight. Fortunately, she just remembered that there was an obstacle in front of them, otherwise they would’ve crashed.

The four of them who had escaped several times let out a sigh of relief and laid back on their chairs, wiping a lot of sweat.

Peng Mao felt that his urine was threatening to leak just now, but fortunately, the sky was endless. When he recovered, he felt that the road they were on felt a little familiar, “This seems to be the road to the city?”

“I know, but you see that the car just came out from the Civic Avenue. So, if something happened there, we can’t go back anymore. I remember there is still a way to go west. Although it has to pass through the city, it is only a few kilometers away, as long as it passes this area.”

“Why do I feel like you’re raising a death flag?” Peng Mao suddenly asked.

“. . .”

Looking at the road conditions ahead and the ‘significant number’ of zombies, Lian Ru Ning couldn’t help but interrupt the weird silence, “Don’t be a crow’s mouth.”

Peng Mao was a little wronged. He wasn’t obviously trying to raise jinx anything, but everyone present was consistently criticizing him. He had no choice but to swallow the bitter fruit.

Because people in the city want to flee, there are fewer vehicles on the roads towards the city. However, because of the accidents that occurred during the chaos, the road conditions varied.

There were street lights that were smashed across the road, there were cars that were parked on the side of the road, there were rubbish spilled on the ground after a trash truck rolled over, and there were zombies wandering around. . .

It was impossible for them to get out of the car to clear the roadblock, so Hao Jian simply drove the car to the opposite road and drove in the opposite direction.

In the afternoon sun, the temperature in the car was rapidly rising due to the broken air-conditioning system. They felt like inside a bid steamer. In order to prevent the zombies from using the car windows to invade, they can only roll about one centimeter of the window for some air.

Hao Jian’s wild driving style made everyone a little worried because she no longer knew how many zombies had been hit on the road. Even Xin Ting was worried that this fragile car would be damaged by her.

“The scenery here is beautiful, isn’t it?” Lian Ru Ning looked out the window and sighed lightly.

There are lush woods on both sides of this section of the road. Flowerbeds were built on the sidewalks and planted with rhododendrons. The scent of birds and flowers in spring and the singing of cicadas in summer appeared in her mind.

“There is a forest park nearby. There are many animals in it. Although it is called a forest part, it is the only zoo here.” Peng Mao said again.

As soon as the words fell silent, a leopard jumped out in front of them. Hao Jian didn’t have time to brake, so she ran over it.

“. . . Is the leopard an animal under national protection?” Hao Jian asked.

“Yes, and it’s level one.” Lian Ru Ning solemnly nodded.

Hao Jian pursed her lips and Peng Mao patted the seat again, “Hurry up and drive, it’s chasing us!”

Hao Jian glanced at the rearview mirror and found that the leopard who had just been hit by her was chasing them unscathed, as if it wouldn’t give up until they’ll get caught. Not to mention its speed was much faster compared to the zombies!

“It’s not a level one protected animal now?” Hao Jian breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fuck, are you still in the mood to think about that?!” Seeing that the leopard had touched the rear of the car, Peng Mao couldn’t help but explode.

“Do you have impatient blood running through your body?” Hao Jian asked but the accelerator under her feet had been stepped to the brim.

“. . .” Do you still have time to talk while driving?

Lian Ru Ning clutched the door handle tightly. She was pretty sure that Hao Jian was playing a racing game now. Knowing that, she prepared herself that her heart was about to jump out.

Fortunately, there were not many obstacles in this road. After they threw off the possible zombie leopard in the shortest time, their speed dropped again.

Xin Ting couldn’t help it, and he held up the front seat and threw up into the sky. She hadn’t had time to finish the noodles at noon but her stomach was empty when she vomited.

Peng Mao quickly brought her a bottle of water, “You drink some water and then take a break. If you get sick, you should close your eyes and go to sleep. I will wake you up as soon as possible.”

“Thank you!” Xin Ting took the water but did not close her eyes to rest.

Once they left the forest part, they could see the tall buildings ahead of them, full of modern atmosphere. The area of green plants there also dropped sharply. Only some plants that were planted on both sides of the road could be seen.

A spacious, straight road separated the side from where they were like a moat – separating two worlds.

There were only broken cars parked on the side of the road where cars pass through on weekdays. Even though the traffic lights are still flashing conscientiously, they seem to be playing a one-man show. There was no anger on the road, only a lot of zombies walked through.

They had no time to feel that the formerly prosperous area had reached the desolate state it is today because of the leopard that caught up again.

“Turn left, go straight to the left, and you will reach the Nanjiang Highway in the suburbs through a viaduct.” Peng Mao instructed.

Nanjiang Highway is a national highway from Nanshi, a county-level city in Jiangshi. There are several intersections over there that connect provincial and county roads leading to Nanfangcheng. Although they have to take a long detour, it is better than being trapped in the downtown area of Jiangshi.

Their movement attracted not only the leopard behind them, but also the zombies ahead. Now they finally understand how bold the people on those two motorcycles are. Under such circumstances, how can they not be the target?!

There was an obvious crack in the car window but they were all sweating. Their adrenaline was soaring. Seeing that they are getting closer and closer to the viaduct, they are likely able to escape. Unfortunately, they see a sign standing crookedly in front of them;

‘Construction ahead, please go around.’

They saw a gap of almost one meter wide on the bridge body at the turn of the viaduct. A car was stuck in the middle with its head facing down. No matter how they looked at it, driving through the viaduct was a dead end.

Peng Mao then remembered, “I read the news a few days ago that said that a large truck in motion suddenly lost control and hit the bridge pier. Cracks appeared on the bridge because of it.”

Hao Jian pursed her lips. She steered the car and drove to the right.

“Can it crack so badly with just one hit?” Lian Ru Ning was surprised.

“Perhaps everyone was trying to escape and didn’t pay attention on the road conditions, including some overweight cars that caused the bridge to break!” Peng Mao shrugged his shoulders. He did not expect the situation of the viaduct.

The intersection to turn back has passed long ago, and the zombies behind were pressing harder. They could only drive where there was a way. However, this road can only lead to the urban area, and they are going to the most dangerous place.

“Point out the way.” Hao Jian didn’t give up.

Lian Ru Ning turned on her mobile phone silently. Although this area is also an urban area, it is only on the fringe of the urban area. There are only some newly developed real estate, parks, and schools. If someone wants to avoid the city center and choose another way out of the city, one has to drive another seven kilometers.

“The first exit road is at least five or six kilometers in a more prosperous area. There are many shopping malls, real estate and residential buildings over there. After five to six kilometers is the express line. The second exit road has to follow this road that runs for more than ten kilometers and enters another section of Nanjian highway.”

They passed row upon row of tall buildings until a river appeared in front of them. The river was wider than the river they had encountered before, and the water looked very clear. The surface of the river reflected the blue sky like a mirror.

There is a Jiangxin island in the middle of the river. The only bridge is blocked by a green truck and behind it are rows of fences welded with iron thorns. The surroundings of the island are surrounded by barbed wire, and only the tents and the figures of people patrolling inside can be vaguely seen.

“There is a guard! That should be a place for temporary refuge!” Peng Mao was a little excited.

Hao Jian looked at Lian Ru Ning, who also turned to look at her. After a while, Lian Ru Ning said, “Let’s go over and ask about the news. The guards must be more updated than us.”

“Ok”

Peng Mao and Xin Ting also had no objections. It would be better to say that when they saw the guards, they felt more stable in their hearts.

Since two layers of dams were built along the river, it was easy for the car to drive up from the side of the road. But they had a little trouble in driving the car to the next dam, so Hao Jian parked the car at the nearest place. She took advantage of the moment where no leopards or zombies could be seen and quickly withdrew to the bridge.

There are many corpses of zombies lying on the dam, and there are many empty bullet casings scattered around. There were even holes on the surrounding signboards.

“It stands to reason that if there are more people here, the more zombies will be attracted. But why are there no zombies around here?” Hao Jian muttered suspiciously.

Lian Ru Ning hears Hao Jian’s words and said, “Maybe it’s all cleaned up!”

Hao Jian put this question away for the time being. When they walked to the bridge, they carefully got under the truck. As soon as they got up to stand, the temporary doors of Jiangxin island opened and a few people quickly came out. The armed guardsmen aimed their guns at them.

Hao Jian and the others raised their hands together and Peng Mao shouted, “Don’t shoot, we are alive!”

“Why don’t you add a prefix?” Hao Jian asked.

“What prefix?”

“Grandmaster, don’t shoot.”

“. . .”

They whispered here, and a serious black-faced man came over and asked with a strong voice, “Who are you?”

Peng Mao stepped forward and introduced himself through the fence, “I am from Jiangshi, my name is Peng Mao. We have fled to this side. Don’t worry, we weren’t bitten by zombies nor are we infected.”

The man didn’t change his face, “It’s not up to you to be infected or not!”

He waved his hand and four guardsmen moved to the fence, surrounded them, aimed their guns at them, and urged them to move forward.

Peng Mao and the others walked in front of the man. The man stretched out his gloved hand, pinching Peng Mao’s chin in the middle and carefully observed his appearance. “The complexion are normal, there is no trauma, no bleeding. Measure his body temperature.”

Hao Jian and Lian Ru Ning were also looked at by him in the same way. Although they were uncomfortable with this move, they also understood that the other party was observing their external appearance.

Only Xin Ting was isolated. They were nervous because of the bandaging. No matter how Peng Mao and the others explains, the man remained unmoved. “Is it the injury caused by the zombies? Someone will check it. You need to separate and be observed for forty-eight hours.”

After the guards took away their backpacks, they were escorted into this Jiangxin Island while Xin Ting was escorted to the other side alone.