Sixteen Years

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Lin City experienced heavy rain.

Dark clouds loomed in the sky, unleashing torrential rain, casting a heavy shadow over the entire city.

The infected blood and severed limbs littered the ground, carried into every corner by the rain. Trash cans on the streets were overturned, and a thin milk tea sticker floated out and drifted away with the rain.

In a large cold storage warehouse in the central area of Lin City, Fu Yan leaned against a corner, distantly observing a dozen or so survivors in the room, positioned diagonally across from him.

This massive supermarket was four stories tall, and the cold storage warehouse covered hundreds of square meters. The survivors huddled together, with Fu Yan taking a corner, and the straight-line distance between them and the others was at least ten meters.

They shivered against the wall, occasionally glancing at Fu Yan, but not daring to meet his gaze.

Fu Yan didn’t pay them much attention either. He loosely held his gun in his right hand and casually tossed his backpack on the ground. A long wound on his left shoulder’s clothing revealed a lengthy cut. Fu Yan leaned against the wall, and every movement left a trail of blood.

Fang Sining ripped open a clean piece of clothing and looked across at the group of people in the warehouse.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” Fang Sining said dryly. “He got this cut from a metal shelf, it has nothing to do with the zombies. You won’t get infected.”

The group remained silent. They cowered, appearing both fearful and wary, but for the moment, they showed no hostility.

Fang Sining guessed that these were likely ordinary people who had been scared by the sudden changes, so he didn’t dare to further agitate their fragile nerves. Instead, he silently turned away and tore the fabric into strips to make bandages.

Hospitals were high-risk areas, and neither he nor Fu Yan had stocked up on medical supplies during their journey. They had to make do with this makeshift method for now.

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Fu Yan unscrewed a bottle of mineral water, casually poured it over his wound, then took the cloth strips from Fang Sining and, avoiding his assistance, haphazardly wrapped his own wound.

Fang Sining, observing Fu Yan’s actions, realized that Fu Yan had no intention of seeking his help. He could only sit down idly and watch Fu Yan’s movements.

In fact, stumbling upon this supermarket was a complete accident. Fu Yan’s goal had always been clear: to obtain information and deliver it to the Yan City Military District. He didn’t need to search for a way out in the post-apocalyptic world, nor did he intend to play survival games in the wilderness.

 Therefore, he had avoided supply points that might consume a lot of time along the way, including hospitals, large shopping malls, and supermarkets. Even when it came to finding food and drinking water, his first choice was always small supermarkets hidden in corners. Throughout their journey from Peng city to Lin City, they had spent most of their time at open gas stations.

This time was no different. Fu Yan had originally planned to pass through the city center, head toward Lin City’s outer highway, but just as they had arrived near this supermarket, a little girl suddenly dashed out of an alley.

The child looked small, about six or seven years old, and appeared as if she had been rolling in the mud when seen from a distance. Her clothes were soaked with mud, and her face was barely visible. She clung tightly to a black plastic bag, pressing it to her chest like it held something precious. Her entire body was drenched by the rain.

She rushed out of the alley and, while running, stepped into a puddle, stumbling and falling in the middle of the road.

Despite her young age, she displayed remarkable resilience. She didn’t cry or complain, but instead gritted her teeth, stood up immediately, and clutched her black plastic bag, determined to keep moving forward.

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Fu Yan was still a considerable distance away from her when he witnessed this. Without hesitation, he slammed on the brakes.

Fang Sining immediately grabbed his hand and exclaimed, “You’re so far away; can you be sure that’s a human?”

Evidently, he had been deceived by some individuals on the road who hadn’t manifested their infection yet, and now he was suspicious of everything, not finding anything safe.

However, Fu Yan had developed sharp eyes from three years of navigating the apocalypse in his past life. He could tell at a glance whether someone was a human or a zombie, whether they had been infected but not yet mutated.

“It’s a human,” Fu Yan hastily explained. “She’s agile and doesn’t exhibit the stiffness of infection.”

In the few seconds it took to exchange these words, the zombies that had been chasing her were already getting close. The zombie in the front pounced forward with a contorted posture, grabbed the girl’s ankle, and tried to bite her.

The little girl screamed in shock, her fingers scratching the ground as she attempted to crawl forward. However, the expected pain did not come. She only heard a loud noise by her ear, followed by a sudden, ice-cold and slippery substance spraying onto her leg. The hand that had been gripping her ankle released.

The little girl, startled and perplexed, stopped screaming as if her voice had been choked off. 

 She tried to turn around instinctively, but before her head could fully rotate, she was lifted by the nape of her neck and spun half a circle in the air. Before she knew it, her vision had gone blank.

The zombie’s brain had been blown apart, with brain matter and blood splattered all over the place. This was hardly suitable for child-friendly viewing. Fu Yan lifted the zombie’s body by the foot and kicked it to a higher place before reaching down to pick up the little girl, who had blood spatters on her leg.

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—No injuries, thank goodness.

The little girl apparently realized what had just happened. She looked at Fu Yan and instinctively clutched the black plastic bag even tighter, drenched from head to toe.

“I won’t take your things,” Fu Yan said. “Why are you here alone?”

Unfortunately, Fu Yan was clueless about child matters. He inadvertently hit the emotional nerve and her tears flowed instantly.

Fu Yan: “…”

He did want to comfort her, but the situation around them wasn’t conducive. For some unknown reason, there seemed to be more and more of those things around, despite the road appearing completely deserted. In just a few moments, nearly a dozen zombies had emerged from various corners.

Fang Sining was a bit farther away, giving him a clearer view. He could see seven or eight zombies swaying and staggering in the back alley on the other side of the road. He couldn’t help but get out of the car and call out to Fu Yan from a distance.

“There are too many of those things!” Fang Sining said. “We have to go!”

Fu Yan also understood this situation. He had limited bullets and only intended to use them in critical moments. In this open environment, he could probably fight his way out on his own, but he couldn’t abandon Fang Sining.

Moreover, there was this little girl who had suddenly appeared from who knows where, and he couldn’t ignore her.

Fu Yan held the little girl as if he were carrying a sack of potatoes. He put away his gun, drew a knife from his boot, and surveyed the area. He retreated a few steps toward Fang Sining and shouted in his direction, “Run!”

Fang Sining didn’t need any urging. He had already begun to sprint at top speed towards him. Fu Yan kept a watchful eye on him from the corner of his eye and was somewhat surprised by his reaction. He quietly upgraded his assessment of Fang Sining’s “self-preservation ability.”

Fu Yan pressed the little girl against his shoulder and called out to her to hold on tightly. He disregarded the supermarket’s front entrance, instead running a few steps to get closer to the wall, where he used the wall to boost himself up to the second floor, pulling Fang Sining up after him.

The little girl was still in shock. She muttered to herself, “Uncle, brother,” but her words were incomprehensible, and she seemed to have forgotten what she wanted to say.

Once Fang Sining had successfully reached the second-floor platform, Fu Yan turned to see that the area inside the supermarket was larger than he had imagined, and the place seemed to be packed.

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The little girl finally seemed to recall what she wanted to say. She frantically slapped Fu Yan’s shoulder and stammered, “Don’t go, don’t go, there’s something inside…”

Zombies, Fu Yan thought. I know.

After the disaster, large shopping malls were bound to be crowded with ordinary people seeking supplies. However, these large gathering places were easy sites for secondary infections. Soon, the situation would become more chaotic, with one bite leading to ten, and ten leading to a hundred. Inside would be a breeding ground for those creatures.

Fu Yan believed he was mentally prepared, However, as soon as he stepped inside, his heart sank heavily. The air was thick with the stench of rot, so sharp that it stung his eyes. Fu Yan hadn’t even raised his head, but he already knew that there was no way there could be few zombies inside.

The second floor near the street was the sports section, which now appeared to have been invaded. Mannequins and various equipment were scattered everywhere, and the ground was dark with blood. Dozens of zombies loitered in just this sales area, but when Fu Yan looked around, he saw a vast horde in the distance that was beyond counting.

Fu Yan suddenly remembered the scene from his previous life just before his death. His stomach churned, but he forced himself to suppress the feeling.

His instinct was to retreat, but when he looked backward, he realized that within a short time, the zombies from the street had gathered below, along with the group chasing them. They formed a dark mass and were stretching their necks, reaching out to claw at the signboard, as if they were eager to pull them down.