The rain outside the window was falling endlessly, and Zhang Xiaoying and my team were hiding in a small shop that had been ransacked, waiting helplessly for the annoying rain to stop. Heavy rain clouds blocked the sunlight, giving the mutants a chance to come out and hang out, and we had to take refuge here just to be safe.

Zhang Xiaoying and I have been joining Wanxiang City for more than two weeks, and although the news about the treatment of HTS89R comes occasionally, there has been no breakthrough. I am also more and more suspicious of what Zhang Xing said at the beginning, but after all, this is the most likely chance to succeed in curing Yuheng, and Zhang Xiaoying and I are not willing to give up, so we still stay in Wanxiang City.

Lu Huaxiong told me that the pathogenicity of HTS89R is not as strong as its prototype HTS89, and the lethality is not as fierce as the latter, if the disease is not serious, it usually takes more than three months to be fatal, before that, we still have a chance to cure Yuheng, which more or less gives us spiritual motivation.

Of course, moral support still can't actually meet our material needs. In order to stay afloat while waiting for the development of the HTS89R vaccine, Zhang Xiaoying and I both found a "job" in Wanxiang City. Zhang Xing arranged a place for us to live, but we still had to find the job ourselves. And for people like us who are helpless and "self-made" in the post-apocalyptic era, the preferred job is naturally "hunter", that is, what outsiders often call scavengers. That's right, in fact, the residents of Wanxiang City are not all what we used to call waste pickers. There are also ordinary survivors living here, who usually stay in the former Wanxiang City shopping mall, running small businesses or other jobs that I don't know about. And the scavengers we've heard of in the past are the residents of Wanxiang City, such as the guards of Wanxiang City, Zhang Xing's troops, and the hunters chosen by Zhang Xiaoying and me, a profession similar to mercenaries. Since in most cases, the residents of Wanxiang City encountered by other forces are people of this type of occupation, so "scavengers" have become their collective name.

I have to say that at the beginning, Zhang Xiaoying and I still rejected the people of Wanxiang City, but in the later days, we still found that the people here were not as evil as we thought at the beginning; Many of them are just trying to survive. So it didn't take long for the two of us to join a squad of hunters.

In Wanxiang City, anyone can choose their own career, there is no need to report and apply, and there are no complicated regulations like Qingshan, the only thing to keep in mind is not to cause trouble to Wanxiang. Entering and exiting the universal is much more free than in Castle Mountain, but it also has to be traveled in a group. Each team that goes out has a record in the so-called control room, and every time they go out, the team members will get a string of security passwords, and when they return to the universal direction, they must check the password with the control room before entering; Naturally, it's not mutants who are guarding against this, but humans.

In fact, the spread of HTS89R is greater than we thought, it is more like the flu than the prototype, and in just over two weeks, the number of reports of residents of Wanxiang City has increased several times; Lu Huaxiong has begun to suspect that this subspecies of virus may be transmitted through saliva, and Wanxiang City has also raised its hygiene control requirements. With the panic of the residents, some of Wanxiang's supplies have been in short supply, which is undoubtedly a good opportunity for hunters who are out and about to search for supplies. But each of us knows in our hearts that the apocalyptic crisis may be repeated, and that humanity may be completely wiped out this time.

Because there is no electricity supply, electrical appliances such as electric lights cannot be used. Someone in the team found a few bags of candles, so the lighting wasn't a problem for us, and a few guys in the team had the luxury of lighting candles and playing poker. The captain of our squad is a gambler, people call him an old wolf, as long as he has time, he will organize the people around him to play cards and gamble, the size of the gambling game varies, but the minimum is three or four standard rifle bullets, which is a lot of money for me, and I can't lose casually. There are a total of six of us who came out this time, except for me, who can't afford to gamble, and Zhang Xiaoying, who has no interest in gambling, the remaining four people are just enough for the old wolf to start.

Then again, these people who are numb to the wild post-apocalyptic life are used to the ruined city and the mutants wandering around and the terrible weather. In order to survive, these people don't care about their own lives even more, so much so that they dare to enter the Dead City Forest to find supplies. It's definitely a crazy idea, and even in Wanxiang City, I'm afraid only someone like Old Wolf and his gang of deadly players can come up with it. After the crisis spiraled out of control, all supplies became extremely precious, and all kinds of supplies in the safe area were quickly looted; But this is not the case in urban areas covered by eerie forests, where most people are safe enough to look for supplies. However, according to the old wolf who has been in and out of the Dead City Forest many times, this place is actually safer than we thought, and there are still many survivors living in the city, as long as you are familiar with the environment, living in it is not a big problem. At first, I didn't believe it, but after today's hapless search in this forest, I still have to admit that the old wolf was right; It's just that the survivors we've met aren't friendly, and it's not an exaggeration to say they're even scarier than the mutants.

Our doomsday treasure hunt was almost a morning, and a few packets of dry food and some miscellaneous outdoor items were said to sell for a good price, as well as boxes of antibiotics, which was a good thing. This time it came out, and it was about to return to its roots, but the old wolf was still a little unwilling. He told us that he had found a lot of medicines and ammunition in the ruins of a resettlement area set up by the government at the time, and that this was our great treasure. Everyone was also greedy, so they all decided to follow the old wolf to wander around this dangerous forest again.

The four players in the small gambling game in the room seemed to have lost a lot, and everyone else was sighing, and I had been sitting at the counter by the window to carefully count my package, and looked out the window, Zhang Xiaoying was like a beautiful Florentine statue squatting on the flower stand at the door of the store. There was a large awning in front of the shop, just enough to shelter her from the rain, and a straight rain line was drawn in front of her, like a plain white veil gently covering her charming face. Zhang Xiaoying held the recurve bow in her hand and stared quietly ahead, although I couldn't see her expression, but the quiet back made me feel her calm breath like a lake and gentle cheeks like the moon. The wind stirred up by the rain caressed her hair, and the gray light made her so mysterious.

I gently pushed open the glass door, and as soon as I took a step out of the store, Zhang Xiaoying suddenly turned around as if I had touched the mechanism, the left hand holding the bow had been raised to her chest, and her right hand was about to draw an arrow. Unlike her, who had a murderous aura that had faded in and out, I was so frightened that I instinctively froze in place, my hands flat on my chest.

"Oooh! Own! ”

"Yes." Zhang Xiaoying smiled, turned around and turned her attention to other places again.

I first stood there and relaxed, and then walked forward stupidly like an infatuated and unwitted idiot, squatting beside Zhang Xiaoying, and learning her to observe the surroundings extremely unnaturally. I'm not like the flamboyant Du Yuheng, who can open his mouth to say anything. After a few minutes of silence, I began to feel a little redundant, so I had to turn around in awkwardness and prepare to leave.

Unexpectedly, as soon as this thought flashed, Zhang Xiaoying unexpectedly teased me: "My own person, how did you come up with this word?" ”

"Huh? Hehe, I don't know. The atmosphere warmed up, so I walked back behind Zhang Xiaoying.

Zhang Xiaoying knew that I intended to continue chatting with her, but she still didn't look at me, still stared ahead and said, "We've been in Wanxiang City for almost a month, what are your plans?" ”

I didn't expect Zhang Xiaoying to open up such a heavy topic, but I still wanted to talk to her. "Uh, I don't know ...... either"

"You seem to like Wanxiang quite a lot, just like I told you back then."

"Hmm...... After all, there seems to be more hope of finding a way out of the crisis. "I do have to admit that I have adapted surprisingly well to life in Wanxiang City. Although the living conditions here are worse than those in Castle Mountain, there is no such thing as idleness, and we are helpless to wait for the crisis to resolve itself.

"But you and I must remember that our friends are in Qingshan, and one day we will have to go back."

"I know this, after Dr. Lu develops a medicine that can cure Yu Heng, we will go back."

"What if he can't develop it? What if Du Yuheng died before you went back? ”

Zhang Xiaoying's words pierced my heart like an arrow she shot. I bit my lower lip, couldn't give an answer, and finally whispered to myself, "It should be...... Probably not......"

"Huang Weizheng, don't lie to yourself, I think Wanxiang's people have other arrangements, and if we continue like this, it is very likely that we will fall into their trap. Don't forget, the people on the other side of Qingshan may already think that we are dead, and we will only be more troublesome if we drag it out in Wanxiang City. Whether or not Lu Huaxiong has developed a vaccine, we must go back. When we return to Wanxiang in this operation, you will immediately go and talk to Zhang Xing. Zhang Xiaoying shook her head and looked into my eyes and said.

"Hmm......" I didn't dare to make eye contact with her charming eyes, for fear of being seen through by a seductive and piercing gaze like a rose.

My sullenness rightly silenced us again, the drizzle still falling outside, the dripping raindrops from the eaves tinkling against the puddles below the steps. Although I was still standing in place, Zhang Xiaoying had already turned around and continued to guard the surroundings like a watchman. It seems that there is nothing more to continue, so it is better for me to go back to the house and continue to stay.

"That, Huang Weizheng," hearing the footsteps of me turning around, Zhang Xiaoying said to me without looking back just now, "Actually, the life with the two of you in Wanxiang City is quite good, if the world returns to its original state, it will ......."

I froze in place like a statue, looking at Zhang Xiaoying under the rain curtain, and she was about to turn around at this time, but when I saw her face, the smile on her face stopped abruptly as what she wanted to say, followed by the resolute face of the goddess of war, and she drew arrows and drew her bow, aiming at me. I stared at her dumbfounded, could it be that what she said next was a second before she killed me? As soon as her slender fingers loosened, I could feel the sharp arrows pass by the slightest inch of my cheek, and there was a muffled grunt behind me and the thud of him falling to the ground.

That's when I realized that Zhang Xiaoying had saved my life, but at the same time, she had mercilessly killed a stranger who was about to sneak up on me. I was shocked, and hurriedly looked around with Zhang Xiaoying to see if there were still accomplices of this unlucky ghost hidden around. In the dim shadow, I saw a figure running quickly into the distance from the ruins of a collapsed house across the street from us, presumably scaring away his partner after he had been killed.

Zhang Xiaoying wanted to draw her bow and shoot a long shot, and an arrow flew away, but it only hit the wall of the house next to the man and bounced off. Zhang Xiaoying and I both know that letting this person go will definitely leave a disaster, and maybe a group of people will come to us for revenge after a while. The old wolf, who was playing cards in the house, and the other team members were nervously kicked open the door with their weapons and rushed out. Seeing the corpse lying on the ground, the old wolf seemed to glare at me and Zhang Xiaoying with some dissatisfaction.

"What's going on?" The old wolf hurriedly asked, "Are you two alright?" ”

"It's fine." I touched a scratch on my face that was scratched by an arrow feather, "This person wanted to sneak up on me, Zhang Xiaoying killed him." ”

"It's a survivor of the Dead City Forest." A teammate who was looting bodies said, "These people are crazy. ”

"Not exactly. Some people can get out of the forest but don't want to, and some people really can't, after all, most of the city is like this now. The old wolf observed a few street corners around and asked Zhang Xiaoying and me, "Just ran away?" ”

Zhang Xiaoying and I nodded in unison.

"Hell." The old wolf scratched his messy hair in annoyance, "We must get out of here right now." ”

"Boss, it's still raining outside, and there are zombies everywhere." Someone in the team protested, "Maybe it's just a chop." ”

"Chop? Later, it was this 'crumb' that killed us. The old wolf dismissed the man's protests, turned and went into the house, "Let's go, quickly pack up our things." It's easier to kill zombies than to kill them. ”

That's right, when killing zombies, what we see is a pair of empty eyes and disgusting faces, what needs to be overcome is fear, but when killing, no matter how strong the heart is, in addition to fear, what we must face is our conscience.

There are still some people in the team who are reluctant, after all, the temperature is less than ten degrees now, and it will be even colder after getting wet, and it is not a romantic thing to walk in the rain in this ghost town that has not seen the light of day. The experienced old wolf may also know the concerns of the players, he half-pushed the door and comforted us: "Don't worry, guys, I also know a safe place, it is much more comfortable than this." ”

We don't know if the old wolf is lying to us or if he is a safe haven as he says, but he is the only one of us who has ever walked through the Dead City Forest and returned alive, so we still have to follow him in order to get out of this hellish place alive.

We proceeded cautiously along the pavement; Although the shops along the street have canopies, we try to walk as close to the side of the road as possible to prevent the hidden mutants in the shops from raiding. Raindrops fell like Xiaoice crystals on my head, shoulders, and down my soaked hair. I wrapped my jacket tightly so that the rain didn't slip into my body, and I also kept my clothes as wet as possible; It didn't take long for me to feel the shirt I was wearing, not to mention the cuffs and socks. The cold quickly took control of my limbs, and the sudden drop in body temperature also greatly reduced my physical strength, making it difficult to walk. I didn't leave my shotgun for a moment, always ready to react as quickly as I could when the old wolf sounded the alarm. It stands to reason that this is not the first time I have gone out to "hunt" with an old wolf, and I should not be so nervous, but under the premise that the heavy rain blurs my vision and disturbs my hearing, I have to be more vigilant than others. This, combined with what had just happened, made my nerves instinctively on high alert.

In contrast, the rest of the team was a bit more lazy, and they were walking in the rain rather than in a tactical formation, and this guy walking next to me was one of them. He wore a baseball cap, a stubble on his face and a half-smoked cigarette, he was not tall but he was quite strong, and he carried a sharpened machete, and he smelled of sweat and cigarette stains.

Seeing that I was looking at myself, he raised his eyebrows, took off the cigarette from his mouth, handed it to me and asked, "Would you like to take a puff?" ”

I shook my head, smiled awkwardly, and tried to speed up my pace to ask my not-so-kind teammate, but he was interested, stepped forward, took back his cigarette, and continued to himself: "It's a good thing, you're going to like it sooner or later." ”

I ignored the familiar guy, but he was still by my side, and instead seemed to come back and say, "You should still be in high school, right?" ”

"Hmm."

"I got such a fierce gun at this age, and I have the ability." He gave me a funny thumbs up, "Did you shoot?" ”

"He's also killed people." Zhang Xiaoying, who was walking behind me, stepped forward and said disdainfully, "You'd better not mess with him." ”

When that person heard Zhang Xiaoying say this, he immediately looked at me with admiration. In fact, it confuses me. Is it a glorious thing to kill?

"That's pretty remarkable." The man patted me on the shoulder and continued, "You know, most imps of your size dare to stay in Wanxiang and dare not come out. ”

"That's because they didn't plant it." Zhang Xiaoying dropped a sentence in a provocative tone and walked in front of us.

After the domineering Zhang Xiaoying walked away, the man teased me: "Your girlfriend? ”

"No, it's not ......"

Although I can be regarded as flatly denying it, the pause tone still makes the man see some clues. "Okay, this chick is delicious. But you're like this, too cowardly. Chasing her? Difficult. ”

This guy's analysis really makes me laugh and cry. "So what do you think I should do?"

"It's a little more like a gentleman! First of all, you have to be able to smoke. Speaking of which, the smoker still sells me cigarettes that he smokes about the same, "I own a cigarette shop in Wanxiang and have a lot of good goods. I can give you a discount when I have time to check it out. ”

I didn't expect to be able to advertise to my teammates, and this kind of doomsday marketing is really meticulous. Actually, I didn't come out with the old wolf's team once or twice, and the teammates I met were often different. Every time we come out, everyone has their own purpose, before setting off, everyone will have a small meeting to discuss the hunting task, usually as the captain of the old wolf will decide our final task, and after returning from the mission, the old wolf will pay us a certain amount of reward. Most of the team is not very talkative, usually just a simple greeting and small talk when the old wolf starts the game during the break. Basically, apart from the old wolf, Zhang Xiaoying and I couldn't call out the names of other teammates; But of course, there are a few "permanent teammates" like us who are the old wolf squad, and the old wolf pays us relatively well.

I was about to decline the cigarette hotel uncle's pitch when I heard a scream from the back of the line, and when I looked back, it turned out that someone had been attacked by a mutant. I don't know where the ghost thing came from, and it bit the throat of the last person in the team in one bite, and then the other team members hurriedly took out their weapons to attack, but they didn't expect the speed of the mutant who was not affected by the sunlight to become faster, and the knife and axe that was swung did not hurt it at all. The beast rushed at us, and our formation spread out on both sides like a sliced bamboo, until it was in front of me!

At this moment, it was as if I could see through the mutant's hollow pupils through its soulless, filthy shell. My hands seemed to instinctively raise the shotgun before my brain could give me a command, expertly pressing the safety and pulling the bolt, with a flick of my fingertips. A thud of gunfire tore through the air like thunder in a rainstorm, and then small steel balls began with the head of the mutant who was rushing at me, followed by the shoulders, chest, and hands, and most of its body exploded in front of me, and the rotting flesh flew in all directions with a strong smell of burning.

The invisible barrier formed by the muzzle air flow kept me from getting too much rotten meat, but the smokers around me were not so lucky. His whole body was covered in rancid minced meat, and the mutant's headshot exploded and splashed brains all over him, but the cigarette on his mouth was not extinguished. I gave him an embarrassed look, but he didn't think so, shaking off the flesh and reminding me to be vigilant as he ran to his teammates at the back of the group who had been bitten by mutants in the throat.

"It's a shame to come out today, how is he?" We gathered around our fallen teammates, and the old wolf snatched the smoker's cigarette and took a puff and cursed.

"Dead." A woman in a vest who checked the situation shook her head.

"Well, let's blow up this guy's head." The old wolf sighed and motioned for the woman to do it.

The female team member with a face full of vicissitudes didn't say much, pulled out the dagger inserted in her waist and stabbed the corpse's head neatly, only to hear a crisp sound like a broken egg, the corpse's head was stabbed out of the head by a sharp blade, and the trickling brain flowed out, and the others were also relieved in lamentation. According to the scavengers in Wanxiang City, some of the people who are bitten to death by the mutants will become mutants, and of course, I have witnessed this scene with my own eyes when I was in Tianyang, so their precautionary measures are not too much in my opinion.

"Okay, let's move on." The old wolf glanced at the still gray sky and said, "The rain has stopped, we quicken our pace, and the resting place will soon be there." ”

"Oh-oh, wait!" Sure enough, someone in the team wavered, "We should go back." ”

"No way, I don't want to make this trip in vain." The old wolf crooked his mouth and laughed in a hoarse voice.

"Fuck, they're all dead, do you want us to go down and die?" Apparently this guy who spoke was coming out for the first time, and he was already frightened by what had just happened; The man next to him tapped him on the shoulder and tried to calm him down, but to no avail.

The experienced old wolf was also a hard bone, he twisted his head and said coldly: "If you want to go back, you will go back by yourself, I won't stop you." ”

"Damn, didn't you promise that you would be absolutely safe and wouldn't die when you came out?"

To be honest, no one will take this kind of thing too seriously, after all, it is difficult for anyone to protect themselves during this period, let alone ensure the safety of others? The man was forced to look left and right, and we could only stand where we were, without saying anything. Who knew that he was in a hurry, took out a pistol from his pocket, pointed at the old wolf and warned: "Take us back immediately!" Or I'll shoot! ”

The old wolf in the face of the muzzle was surprisingly calm, and not only that, but also a little disdainful. He changed his position, but still lazily drooped his shoulders, and sneered, "I bet ten standard bullets, you won't shoot." ”

"Don't push me." The man's right hand trembled uncontrollably, and it was conceivable why the old wolf was so sure.

But in any case, a stalemate in such a dangerous place is not a good thing after all, and it is still a matter of infighting. I stood up, held my gun up, signaled that I was not hostile, and at the same time raised my hand and said to the man at as normal a pace as I could, "Hey, man, you put the gun down first, we have something to say." ”

"Shut up!" The man suddenly turned his gun around and yelled at me.

"Brother, calm down first." I looked the man in the eye and said slowly, "Think about it, if you kill us, you won't be able to go back." Why don't we discuss it together? ”

"Hey......" Our confrontation continued, Zhang Xiaoying, who was standing on the roof of a car parked on the side of the street and kept an eye on her surroundings, stared at the rear that was ignored by the whole team, but none of us paid attention to her reminder, so she raised her voice and shouted, "Hey! Now we all looked up and turned our attention to her, "Guys, I think...... It's better for us to leave this first. ”

Zhang Xiaoying's eyes stared directly at the street behind us, I noticed that there was something wrong with her expression, and when I followed her gaze, I realized that there were groups of mutants on the street corner not far from us! Their steps faltered, but they could clearly feel the speed increasing, and it seemed that the closer they got to us, the more obvious their urge to tear us apart one by one. The sudden rise of fear and the shock of death suddenly pressed upon us, like a black cloud pressing down on the precarious village. The darkness of human figures and the howls of one after another made my hair stand on end, and the rancid stench in the air was disgusting.

"Run...... the old wolf was the first to come back to his senses from the trembling, "Run!" ”