VAPBDB Chapter 31

“Bastard! Bastard!” Yu Xiaolin angrily kicked the air.

She was clearly trying to save him, but Qi Ding didn’t understand her actions. Did she really have to lay everything out in front of him before he would be willing to leave with her?

No, that won’t work…

A sense of helplessness and sorrow welled up in Yu Xiaolin’s eyes.

Unlike her, Qi Ding is an ordinary person and won’t be targeted by zombies. She had no idea how many zombies were hiding in the human base, and she couldn’t believe it at all. Even though she was supposed to be a fellow superhuman fighting zombies, after her relentless training, she had only reached the early stage of the eighth rank, a wood-type ability user. She was already considered a very hardworking and talented ability user, but she still couldn’t defeat those terrifying zombies.

Qi Ding, along with ordinary people, could only hide and make out a living, praying that they wouldn’t be discovered by the zombies. Qi Ding felt exhausted by this kind of life, but wasn’t she more exhausted by enduring all these damned secrets all by herself?

Yu Xiaolin’s eyes reddened; she wiped away her tears and cursed Qi Ding viciously. But if she was a heartless person, she would have already gotten rid of Qi Ding and left.

After waiting for a while without seeing Qi Ding and realizing that he hadn’t come looking for her, Yu Xiaolin stubbornly continued to wander outside, unwilling to go back so soon.

She arrived at a remote place and looked at the dark houses in the corner. There was no one around, which made her feel inexplicably scared. As Yu Xiaolin turned to leave, the necklace around her neck suddenly broke, and the bezel on the pendant rolled all the way to the dense grass beside her.

The bezel contained photos of her and Qi Ding as a couple. In the post-apocalyptic world, opportunities to take photos are rare. Yu Xiaolin accidentally found an unwanted Polaroid camera while searching for supplies, so she dragged Qi Ding to take a couple’s photo as a memento.

There weren’t many in total, but the one in the bezel was her favorite. Yu Xiaolin anxiously searched for the missing part in the bushes. She looked up at the houses around her and found them unusually quiet, as if no one lived there. She dared not investigate, only thinking about finding the photo quickly and leaving this place as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Yu Xiaolin felt something round and hard in the grass. Her eyes lit up, and she picked it up with delight: “Found…it.”

Yu Xiaolin’s expression suddenly froze, and she looked down with a slight tremor in her pupils. Instead of a bezel, hidden beneath the lush grass, was a dense mass of white bone fragments. It looked as if it had been chewed up by some large wild beast; the broken bones were unrecognizable.

What kind of bone is this?

Yu Xiaolin’s mind suddenly went blank, and an invisible alarm echoed in her head. She instinctively flung away the broken bones, her face deathly pale. But then she thought of the photo, and her legs felt a little numb. She decided to continue the search, unwilling to leave without finding it.

Those are probably just leftover animal bones from some family’s meal. Maybe they were too lazy to throw them in the trash and just left them there. Besides, it’s broad daylight, and the Luzhou base is usually overseen by people with supernatural abilities, so nothing will happen…

Yu Xiaolin breathed softly as she crouched down and searched in the grass. Eventually, she lost patience and used her wood-type ability to search.

The plant sensed the metal bezel, and she pushed aside the damp weeds to reach it, but what she saw made her freeze completely.

The bezel was inside the half-shattered skull; the shape of the skull and the neatly shaped human teeth made Yu Xiaolin immediately recognize that it was human remains. The surrounding soil was moist and loose. There had been a lot of rain recently, and the things buried inside the ground had been washed out by the rain.

Who would hide in the base and eat people?

Yu Xiaolin’s face turned deathly pale.

With the veins bulging on her hands, she steeled herself and reached into the skull to retrieve the metal bezel. The back of her hand subtly touched the skull’s teeth, and a wave of nausea and a tingling sensation instantly made her want to run away.

But then she saw someone walking towards her.

****

Yu Xiaolin looked at the woman walking towards her in the distance with horror. The woman was holding a jar, her charming eyebrows revealing her disgust, and a black mole on the corner of her mouth was twisting as she spoke to the person next to her. But in Yu Xiaolin’s eyes, she would never forget this beautiful woman with a black mole on the corner of her mouth. She was the evil spirit that caused her to wake up from nightmares every time.

‘Hide! Don’t let them find you!’

Yu Xiaolin trembled violently as she hid in the most secluded corner, even resorting to using her wood-type superpower out of fear. She was completely enveloped by the surrounding weeds, and ants crawled on her ankles. She dared not move, and even her breathing was shallow. If she could, she would rather not breathe at all.

Xu Manyi tossed her long, black hair aside, her alluring eyes wandering, tossing the urn in her hand up and down like a toy. Those around her advised, “That’s enough. What if the people at the base see this? How will you explain it to them? Why are you, a widow, playing with your partner’s ashes?”

Xu Manyi covered her red lips and laughed teasingly, “Hehehe… if I weren’t the only female in the base, and if you weren’t all so big and burly that you look like bears, I would like to let you try on women’s clothing.”

The person next to her turned pale with embarrassment, not daring to argue with Xu Manyi. He didn’t want to become a zombie and then have to wear women’s clothes; Xu Manyi, that crazy woman, might actually do that.

Xu Manyi pouted, finding it uninteresting. She sniffed the surrounding air and inexplicably smelled an enticingly sweet aroma of human flesh and blood. Thinking back to the entrails she had just eaten… oh, the ones from the urn containing the ashes she was holding; it was a pity she didn’t eat more. The hunger surged back into her heart.

Xu Manyi licked her lips and casually asked, “Can you smell the scent of humans?”

Hiding, You Xiaolin closed her eyes, held her breath, and dared not move an inch.

Reminded by Xu Manyi, a red light flashed in the eyes of the person next to her, filled with the zombie’s instinctive craving for human flesh.

Unlike Xu Manyi, none of them could sneak a bite.

Since the hidden exit of the river was discovered, they haven’t been able to go out to eat for a long time. Looking at the unsuspecting lambs in the base, they were afraid that they would become so hungry that they would pounce on them and eat them at any time.

Eating crystal cores can slightly alleviate the feeling of hunger. But the zombies’ craving for human flesh and blood can never be extinguished. The primal, blissful satisfaction of swallowing hot flesh and blood fascinates and drives all zombies mad.

Swallowing hard, Xu Manyi said, “It’ll be soon, it’ll be soon. Once the elders’ plan succeeds and they kill all the superhumans, the remaining ordinary humans will be completely defenseless. Then we can raise them like lambs and pick one to eat whenever we want.”

The person next to her gave Xu Manyi a warning look and said in a hoarse voice, “You mustn’t ruin the elders’ plans. Humans are walking around everywhere in the Lucheng base, so it’s normal for some of them to smell, but you absolutely cannot expose yourself at this crucial moment.”

Xu Manyi muttered, “I know, I’m not stupid. But how much longer do we have to wait? I’m getting impatient.”

The person next to her said, “It’ll be soon, it’ll be soon. We’re just waiting for the right time.”

Xu Manyi’s eyes sharpened, “I really don’t understand why the elders are so afraid of him.”

They’ve been hiding in this small base for almost two years, and they haven’t seen anything special about that person.

The person next to her lowered his voice and said, “You just need to obey the master’s orders. Don’t forget that it was the master who turned you from a dazed zombie into what you are now. The master has his reasons for doing things, and we don’t need to question him.”

Xu Manyi pursed her lips: “I understand. I’ll wait then. It won’t make a difference if it takes a little more time.”

The people next to them nodded. They didn’t care about the time. They are zombies, which means they already died. As long as their crystal cores aren’t destroyed, they can survive.

Someone nearby jokingly asked, “Are you really going to put the ashes in the house for worship? It seems you still have feelings for this temporary partner, Xu Manyi.”

Xu Manyi spat, “Who has feelings for that middle-aged ugly man? I just forgot to throw him away for a moment.”

Xu Manyi threw the urn onto the grass beside her. With a crash, the porcelain shattered into pieces, and the ashes scattered like useless dust, mixing into the air and falling onto the ground, returning to the earth, except for a crystal core in the ashes that remained as solid as ever.

Xu Manyi spotted it at first glance, picked it up without minding the dirt, and put it in her mouth. The high-level zombie’s exceptionally hard teeth can chew the crystal core like a fruit candy. While eating, she commented, “Even if a person is ugly, the crystal core tastes pretty good. It’s a pity that a human brain can’t grow two crystal cores.”

The person next to her sneered, “Then why don’t you say it’s a pity that one person’s head can’t grow two brains, so you can eat two portions at once?”

Xu Manyi’s eyes lit up, and she nodded quickly. “That makes sense. I’ll raise humans like that from now on.”

The person next to her paused, a hint of longing in their eyes. “If you can really make it, I don’t mind exchanging some special resources with you.”

Xu Manyi, with her smug and arrogant smile, glanced contemptuously at the person next to her, but remained silent.

Once the door was closed, Yu Xiaolin trembled like a frightened squirrel, her round black eyes filled with tears.

Her legs and body went limp with fear, and it took her a long time to regain her strength.

Seeing that the group of zombies hadn’t noticed her yet, she scrambled away from the bushes.

Upon seeing the suddenly open road, she turned pale and walked quickly with her head down, pretending to be an ordinary person who knew nothing, until she saw a large crowd gathered at the Lucheng base.

It was like a dying fish suddenly encountering water.

The sense of security from surviving such a close call surged up instantly, which made Yu Xiaolin’s mind go blank. She charged recklessly through the crowd.

The person who was hit was still cursing, but Qi Ding, who had been searching for Yu Xiaolin, spotted her and quickly shouted, “Xiaolin, stop right now, let’s go home!”

But Yu Xiaolin seemed to have gone deaf, and fear kept building up in her mind.

The terrifying images kept repeating.

When she was a child, her mother was bitten off by a zombie while trying to save her. She never knew blood could be so red and so glaring.

After finally finding a place to settle down with Qi Ding, everything was destroyed by a group of zombies wearing human skin, forcing her and Qi Ding to run around everywhere!

Even now! Even now! She’s been on the run for years.

Those damned zombies didn’t even spare them.

All she wanted was a safe place where she and Qi Ding could live happily together.

If all the superhumans are dead, the zombies still won’t spare ordinary people, but will instead keep them like livestock.

So even if she, a superhuman, dies, will Qi Ding still be eaten by zombies?!

Yu Xiaolin cried, her helpless eyes staring blankly at the sky, the gray sky offering no glimmer of hope.

A thought suddenly popped into her head.

Even after enduring this torment, in the end you still can’t escape the pain of being eaten by zombies. It would have been better to be dead from the start.

Yu Xiaolin lowered her head, unleashing her rampaging superpowers. The wildly growing thorny vines attacked those around her indiscriminately.

The surroundings got engulfed in screams of panic, sounds of running away, the whooshing sound of vines cutting through the air…

It was a complete mess.

“Help! A superhuman is going crazy!!!”

“Run! Don’t block my way!”

“Aaaaaah… don’t push me, my child! Over there, with that superhuman, someone please save my child…”

A young boy, only a few years old, had just gotten separated from his mother in the chaotic crowd. By the time he realized what had happened, everyone around him had left, leaving only the insane and dangerous superhuman in front of him.

Hearing his mother’s panicked, shrill cries, the little boy was paralyzed with fear; his legs went weak, and he could neither get up nor run away. He could only watch as the surging, frenzied vines drew closer.

Just as the sharp vines were about to pierce the little boy,

‘Bang bang!!!’

Two of the wildly writhing vines were snapped off by a stray bullet and landed in front of the little boy’s legs.

Pei Zhaozhou seized the opportunity to rush forward and take the little boy away.

The severed vine immediately attracted the attention of the crazed superhuman. The sound of something cutting through the air came, and more than a dozen vines rushed towards Pei Zhaozhou, who was holding a little boy in one arm.

Pei Zhaozhou’s amber-gold eyes flashed with sharpness. He gripped the energy gun and moved quickly while nimbly firing bullets in succession.

The bullet seemed to have eyes; the dozen or so rapidly approaching vines were instantly burned and severed by the immense energy contained within it.

They gained a safe breathing space in the middle.

Pei Zhaozhou successfully returned the little boy to his mother. The little boy’s mother thanked Pei Zhaozhou with tears in her eyes and hugged her little boy tightly, unable to stop crying with joy.

The little boy was terrified after what had just happened, his face pale. Only when he was in his mother’s arms did he start crying with her.

Pei Zhaozhou frowned as he looked at the female superhuman who was still going crazy not far away. He reminded the little boy’s mother, “This isn’t over yet. You better leave this place quickly.”

The little boy’s mother quickly thanked him, saying, “Thank you, sir. We’ll be leaving right away.”

Pei Zhaozhou was about to explain that he wasn’t a superhuman, but ordinary people wouldn’t know that much. To them, who else but superhumans would dare to deal with situations like these?

Before Pei Zhaozhou could explain, the little boy’s mother had already hurriedly walked away with her son in her arms.

Pei Zhaozhou, who remained where he was, had no time to pay attention.

With a cold expression, he held up his energy gun, aiming it at the female superhuman who had lost her target and was now charging at him in a frenzy.