Chapter 2: Chapter 16 (part 2)

Lin Ling's team had ventured out very far this time, nearly two and a half days each way. But before they were to the halfway point of the return journey, they ran into a great wave of refugees surging in their direction.

Nanling had been breached. Though the city walls were able to resist ordinary zombies, they couldn't stand up against mutants, and once those mutants had broken through the line of defense, the zombie tide had poured into the ancient city of Nanling.  

The settlement of tens of thousands fell apart. Factional disputes and group conflicts became irrelevant, and resources became unimportant. Before the tidal wave of zombies, the top priority was survival.

The team members under Lin Ling were hesitant to return. Now that Nanling city had collapsed, was there even anything to return to? Even Lin Ling was overwhelmed.

But Han Yanyan asserted, "Ding Yao will not die."

That woke them up. Indeed, if anyone could survive, it would be Ding Yao. They looked at each other before following Lin Ling  back against the current of the crowds. Halfway, to their great relief, they ran into the retreating Thunder team.

A lot of men had been lost, which was to be expected. And Ding Yao was injured, to everyone's surprise.

Those with super powers had retreated behind the ordinary people. Anyone left behind in Nanling likely had not survived.

Upon joining up with their companions, Lin Ling's team heard about the horrors that had occurred when the zombie tide hit the city. These people were the strong ones, to whom killing zombies was a part of their daily life, and even to them the stories were concerning.

"... the boss was injured, but it was also hurt. It ran away."

"It's intelligent, and other zombies must be obeying its commands. There's no other explanation for it. "

"It's a nightmare..."

They called the zombie which had wounded Ding Yao a 'corpse emperor'.

 

Ding Yao had been separated from Sun Lijun when he was injured, but they had later met up again on the road, and Sun Lijun had healed him then. But he had lost a lot of blood. He was the weakest Han Yanyan had ever seen him.

Thunder had not been hit as hard as it could have been. Though they had lost manpower, the members with space powers who acted as "mobile warehouses" were mostly safe and sound, meaning that most of their resources were intact.

In fact, Ding Yao himself carried the majority of the resources in his own spatial dimension. The spatial powers had a general estimate of each other's capacity, but not his. Who knew how much Ding Yao had in his reserves?

But that made following him even more reassuring.

As they were setting up camp, Han Yanyan walked around before inquiring, "Where is Zhang Youquan?"

Ding Yao turned to face her. "Dead."

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For a moment, she was silent.

Qi Tongtong was nowhere in sight. A few women had escaped alongside them, but most of them had disappeared. Han Yanyan had hoped that Zhang Youquan had protected Qi Tongtong, but if he himself was dead, then there was no hope for her.

There was no time to grieve. Forced by the tide of zombies, the survivors moved northward on a massive scale, most of them carrying only the clothes on their backs.

The food situation had never been more tense. Even though the team had supplies, the road ahead was unknown and they couldn't just sit still. Up ahead, the struggle for supplies had become extremely fierce, and from time to time bloody conflicts would occurred. The people had escaped from Nanling and survived the zombie tide, yet died in the hands of the living.

Meanwhile the dark of night overflowed with the sounds of men and women. No one knew if tomorrow might be their last. Every night was the final chance to make merry, the last madness before death.

Unlike the others, however, Ding Yao had refrained from sleeping with Han Yanyan these past few days. For him at this time, her value as a superhuman was far greater than her value as a woman.

After many internal discussions and disputes, the decision was made to move the team to the northwest. There lay a city named Xijing, also an ancient city with a long history and a far greater city wall than Nanling. It was a good choice for a new settlement.

As most of the ordinary people had no goal in mind, a good many decided to follow the Thunder team to Xijing upon hearing the news.

The final remnants of the military faction bowed their heads to Ding Yao. Their leader had died in the zombie tide. During the retreat, they had not had the time to retrieve much ammunition, and neither had they been able to move the military workshops. An army without the advantage of firearms might fair decently against an army of ordinary zombies, but not in the face of mutants. These strong men weighed their odds and finally took refuge with Ding Yao.

One night, 50 to 60-odd mutants made a surprise attack upon the camp. Han Yanyan had never before seen so many mutants in one place.

The power of Thunder shone that night, and when a bloody battle was over, there were less than ten mutants left. Then a scream resounded in the distance like a signal, and the few remaining mutants all retreated.

Under the starlight for everyone to see was the zombie that had let out the scream. It stood on a distant roof. Unlike the others covered in carrion, its body was all in one piece and shone with a blue luster.

The mutant zombies that made men with superpowers tremble were driven before it like cattle. It stood on the far roof, staring at Ding Yao.

Han Yanyan had heard that when the zombie tide breached Nanling City, every monster in the tide had acted as one. It was only Ding Yao seriously injuring the corpse emperor and depriving them of their commander-in-chief that had returned them to a headless mob and allowed the human side to retreat in safety.

This was her first time seeing the corpse emperor. No matter how many times she had read about it in post-apocalyptic novels or seen it in horror movies, nothing compared to seeing it with her own eyes. A chill ran up her spine.

But at the same time, an idea bloomed in the depths of her mind.

She had come here not to survive, but for the sake of capturing Ding Yao.

And now in her heart, Han Yanyan formed a plan to move his.