Apocalyptic Disaster: Stockpile Supplies for Free and Make a Comeback

Chapter 79 Encounter
Cheng Yan took a sip of hot water and softened his voice, "The tunnel is blocked. They will definitely try to find a way to get around by taking the mountain road. To leave Wucheng, we have to follow this route. Let's find a place to settle down first and see if we can run into them then."

“Indeed, everyone’s current condition is not suitable for going too far.” Zhao Yanzhou changed the subject. “This area is rugged, with one mountain after another. If we go astray, it’s not easy to run into the same place again.”

"What if we don't encounter them after we've rested? Are you planning to wait here, or leave this mountainous area first?"

Zhao Yanzhou's tone and expression already revealed his thoughts: the mountainous area was too dangerous in the rainstorm, and there were not enough supplies to build a new shelter.

If that doesn't work, continue north towards Los Angeles. Whether you want to go to a shelter or find another place to survive, that's fine.

They say that people who live near mountains live off the mountains, but in such extreme weather, how do they survive in the wilderness? Hunting isn't something they can just do whenever they want.

“There’s nowhere here to stay for long, so we definitely have to move forward. But we can’t go through the tunnel, there’s a serious landslide, the road might not be passable, and with this kind of weather, we have to make a plan first.”

Cheng Yan paused for a moment and then said, "Uncle Li mentioned before that there used to be several restaurants on the mountain. We can go and see if they're still there."

-

Five o'clock in the morning.

Song Jinhe woke up twenty minutes ago and stared at her watch until five o'clock.

It was still dark outside.

The rain lessened, but it didn't stop.

The pattering raindrops blew into the window sill, wetting the cement floor. Song Jinhe watched as the night outside gradually receded, and the dark mountain forest slowly became clearer.

In the dim light of the sky, the morning mist floating in the mountain drizzle drifted slowly like a thin veil.

It's a beautiful view, but being there only feels damp, cold, and sticky.

She can't go anywhere and has to stay here for a few more days until her injuries heal before she can cross the mountains to find her companions.

The darkness persisted until after 7 a.m. before it brightened up a bit. Song Jinhe used the ashes of the burnt charcoal to cover the embers, kept the fire going, and stood up to walk outside to stretch her numb hands and feet.

Suddenly hearing the sound of zombies, she immediately grabbed her long knife and went around to the low shack behind the house. There she saw a zombie with a blood-covered face, swollen skin with visible veins, and a bloated belly crawling inside.

Goodness, it's even resorting to underhanded tactics now?
When Song Jinhe saw her rushing towards him, she swung her knife at it, then dodged backward and slashed again.

But what happened next really terrified her: the zombie's stomach burst open, spewing out not only fragments of internal organs but also a clump of red threadworms.

Holy crap, holy crap! What is this? A parasitic zombie?
Song Jinhe forgot the pain in her back and immediately ran away.

After waiting for a while and confirming that the zombie was dead, it grinned and walked back.

Looking at the nematode, as thin as a wire, whose SAN value dropped to zero when it moved, she picked up some unused liquor, poured it on the nematode, lit it with a match, and burned the corpse and the nematode together.

Unfortunately, the ground cover vegetable that grows there is a wild vegetable that only grows after spring rains, and it tastes pretty good.

At this moment, Song Jinhe vaguely saw a figure emerge from the woods at the end of the muddy road.

It's too far away to see clearly if it's a person.

She quickly hid behind a tree on the side of the house, watching the situation warily.

A few minutes later, the man approached.

When Song Jinhe looked up, she met a pair of dark eyes.

Raindrops fell on his thick eyelashes, creating tiny droplets. The hair hanging down his forehead was soaked, and the knife in his hand was stained with blood, which dripped from the end after mixing with the rain.

His cold yet slightly broken eyes left Song Jinhe stunned. Then, joy welled up in her heart, and her body moved faster than her mind. She half-walked and half-ran to him, threw herself into his arms, and hugged his waist.

Jiang Shi'an raised his hand, his deep voice brushing against her ear like the gentle rain, "I have blood on me."

Listening to the heartbeat coming from his chest and feeling the warmth through his clothes, the fear and anxiety of the night finally turned into peace of mind.

"It's okay. Everyone here ran out of a zombie horde. You just didn't see what I looked like before."

Song Jinhe raised her head, and just as she let go of his hand, he unexpectedly pulled her into his arms again.

He didn't use much force, just held her gently. As his chest rose and fell, his low voice asked, "Where are you hurt?"

"Impact and lacerations from the left shoulder to the back."

Jiang Shi'an put his hand down, and the two returned to the dilapidated red brick house together.

Seeing the moisture on his body, Song Jinhe was about to brush away the charcoal ash to start a fire again when Jiang Shi'an simply took the wooden stick from her hand.

“Which way did you come from? If you’re on the road, you should be up in the mountains,” Song Jinhe added a few pieces of charcoal to the fire and continued, “And you didn’t even take shelter when it rained.”

“I saw the impact marks and the trampled plants on the outside of the road.” Jiang Shi’an took off his coat. “I followed the marks on the road to find this place.”

"Because of the torrential rain, the car overturned several meters downhill from where it was parked. Seeing the gun barrels on the zombie corpses inside, I guessed it was you—the gun I gave you."

There was still-wet blood in an area where the impact was less severe, so I guess you probably haven't walked far.

“By retracing the route the car took when it overturned, I saw this house.”

He spoke casually, but Song Jinhe could tell from the details he hadn't mentioned that she was momentarily lost in thought, staring blankly at him.

"You went in and searched for the body late at night in the pouring rain, when the car was falling down the mountain."

She ran out despite her injuries because she knew the car was unstable there and might fall.

She knew very well how dangerous that place was; a slight misstep could send her tumbling down into the river at the bottom along with the wreckage of the car.

"I went down there because I was confident I would succeed. I won't let anything happen to myself before I find you," Jiang Shi'an said calmly.

“You clearly aren’t,” Song Jinhe said softly.

Jiang Shi'an looked at her, lowered his eyes, and after a moment said, "Yes, I was afraid you would be in the car."

He was worried about missing the rescue window, so he would go down no matter what to do and check each body one by one.

When he saw the wrecked car and the body on it, he couldn't quite figure out what he was feeling.

This was the first time he had ever been so flustered and out of control; it was an emotion he had never shown before.

He dared not think about what would happen if he saw her body in the car.

They will probably find a place to raise her, now a zombie, and restart the experimental project that was sealed off, using every possible means to awaken her consciousness.

This kind of weather will cover up many traces; he must act quickly.

I still can't write romance plots o(╥﹏╥)o I always get writer's block

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(End of this chapter)