Strolling in the midst of the autumn wind, everything around appeared desolate. A gust of northern wind swept through, kicking up clouds of dusty yellow soil. Unfortunately, at times of bad luck, people found themselves walking amidst this dust, and from a distance, it might have seemed like a scene from a Western film.
Wei Xuan walked through this desolate street, accompanied by his zombie boyfriend. Looking at the familiar buildings that were once so well-known, there was a sense of being in a different world. One couldn’t help but complain, ‘Ah, this world… it’s no longer the world humans were familiar with.’
Beside him, Du Hang remained silent and low-key throughout, unlike the zombie couple at home who seemed to mimic Wei Xuan’s words for no apparent reason. He only pulled Wei Xuan closer for a kiss when necessary.
As they turned a corner, Wei Xuan and his companion found themselves on the once-bustling pedestrian street of T City. Their goal was to revisit the bookstore that Wei Xuan had previously looted and search for more advanced cookbooks.
On this stretch of road, many idle zombies roamed. The wandering zombies had become more lively compared to their previous state, no longer emitting an aura of confusion or endlessly murmuring ‘hungry, hungry, hungry.’
Apart from the familiar ‘hungry,’ Wei Xuan noticed some zombies during the daytime with a message of ‘sleep, sleep, sleep,’ lying on the floor inside random shops as if taking a nap. There were even two zombies dressed in tattered sanitation worker uniforms, swinging a broken piece of wood and continuously muttering, ‘sweep, sweep, sweep.’
The most bizarre was an uncle zombie. His eyes roamed aimlessly, and whenever he saw a female zombie, he would run over and try to pull them closer, continuously muttering, ‘want a wife, want a wife, want a wife.’ In response, the female zombies he approached would brandish their sharp nails and scratch his face.
Wei Xuan, after discovering this strange situation, observed with great interest for a while. He finally found satisfaction when he heard a female zombie curse at the uncle zombie as a ‘pervert’ after scratching him, then left with her zombie husband.
Actually, it wasn’t a bad idea to stroll through the streets from time to time and see how the zombies lived outside. There were impromptu performances happening everywhere, much more entertaining than watching old movies, old TV shows, or reading old novels at home.
“A book on condiments… a book on condiments…” Wei Xuan stood by the bookshelves where he had found numerous cookbooks before, searching for the reference book he needed. Even though he knew this type of less commonly used book wouldn’t be easy to find, he found nothing relevant in the largest bookstore he knew in the city.
But that wouldn’t deter him. He knew of another place with a vast collection of books on various topics: “Let’s go to the library.”
After confirming his plan, Wei Xuan looked towards the entrance. This time, he decided to venture a bit farther. He didn’t need to carry food supplies with him on this trip since he could dig for food if necessary.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Besides, he and Du Hang were in a situation where they wouldn’t starve even if they went without food for a while.
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Human flesh was a given, considering the manic behavior of zombies toward living humans. As for the strange snowflakes, Wei Xuan observed that zombies had specific reactions when it fell during the four annual snowfalls.
Wei Xuan estimated that making zombies consume a meal of strange snow on one of the four strange snowfalls should be sufficient to sustain their energy for a long time.
However, for zombies that couldn’t access snow and couldn’t eat human flesh, there was a possibility they would naturally decay and perish over time. This conclusion was evident from Bai Guangnan’s situation since his “girlfriend” had consumed more human flesh than strange snow, and he had recently turned into a zombie, causing his girlfriend to be deprived of her food source.
Therefore, her body temperature was the lowest among the three zombies. Cheng Ma fed her son regularly, which led to slightly higher body temperatures for both of them.
Of course, Wei Xuan wasn’t sure why some people turned into half zombies and appeared completely normal, while others became mindless zombies. There was also a distinction between those who retained some memories, like Du Hang, and those who remembered nothing.
These could be attributed to luck, metaphysical explanations, or probability. Regardless, Wei Xuan doubted he could answer these questions.
“Let’s go, we’re heading to…” Wei Xuan stuffed a few neglected cookbooks and novels into his backpack and held Du Hang’s hand, preparing to leave for the library. However, Du Hang gripped his hand back and looked in a certain direction, saying, ‘They’re here.’
“Huh? They’re here again?” Wei Xuan was momentarily confused before furrowing his brow and asking, “What’s coming this time?” He had an ominous feeling whenever he heard ‘they’re here’ these days.
Du Hang raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction, then added, “The ones who came last time, the ones you’ve seen before.”
…So, are these newcomers humans or zombies? And it’s not just one of them, it’s more than two?
Wei Xuan decided that after dealing with the current trouble, he would make time to expand Du Hang’s vocabulary and help him better understand human logic and thinking. He didn’t want Du Hang to be confused or talk in riddles when something happened in the future.
Without waiting for Wei Xuan to ponder further or for Du Hang to explain, the target of their attention appeared in their view.
Seeing the newcomer jump down from a tall building, Wei Xuan was certain that this was definitely not a human.
Then, he felt a mix of joy and excitement.
There were about six or seven zombies in total, with one of them rushing towards the bookstore where Wei Xuan and Du Hang were located. They were ecstatic and pointing in a certain direction while enthusiastically uttering the familiar phrase, “mine, mine, mine…”
Wei Xuan had given up hope of communicating fluently with these zombies, so he simply nodded in understanding and said, “Is that over there yours?”
They nodded vigorously, adding more excited “mine” statements.
“Well, then, you guard it well.” Wei Xuan didn’t know what else to say. Didn’t this group of zombies come by last time? Why were they here again?
However, it seemed like this particular zombie wasn’t part of the previous group that had surrounded him. Had it been slower or missed the collective action of the other zombies last time? Did it only come here after noticing Wei Xuan and Du Hang’s presence this time?
Thinking about this, Wei Xuan quickly reiterated that he had no intention of taking their territory and asked them not to cause trouble if he passed through.
They nodded in agreement and happily dashed away.
Once this zombie was gone, Wei Xuan couldn’t help but ponder, “Did it get injured? There are some large white patches on its back and arms. Probably scars from healed wounds, right?” Maybe it didn’t join the group action of the zombies last time because it was injured?
Du Hang observed the zombies that had just left and commented, “They fought.”
“I knew it! That’s definitely a wound,” Wei Xuan said, “I guess it’s because of the injury that it couldn’t keep up with the other zombies last time.”
Wei Xuan bid farewell to the inexplicable zombie that had come to seek attention and, together with Du Hang, continued to enjoy the snowflakes and chat while heading toward the direction of the library to the southeast of the city center.
The library was not located in the exact center of the city, and it was about four or five stops away by car from where Wei Xuan had been before the apocalypse.
Fortunately, the buildings in the city center were small and compact, with not much distance between each stop. With Wei Xuan’s increased stamina, it only took them half an hour to reach their destination.
As they approached the towering library building from a distance, even before getting close, they noticed a few zombies jumping out from a nearby office building.
Having just bid farewell to a group of zombies, Wei Xuan couldn’t help but watch in amazement as these new zombies leaped and danced, almost as if they were celebrating and shouting “mine” with a unique rhythm. He silently mourned for any unexpected events he might encounter on future trips.
He thought to himself, every time he ventured out to hunt or passed through a territory claimed by intelligent zombies, he would encounter their leader, who would shout “mine” all along the way.
He understood that those places belonged to them, but did they really have to announce it like that? He wasn’t trying to steal their territory, so couldn’t they just let him take what he needed without any fuss?
Suppressing his facial twitching, Wei Xuan smiled at the leading zombie, trying to convey that he just wanted to pick up a few books from the library. Normally, books in a library were not one-of-a-kind, so even if this zombie liked them and didn’t want others to take them, Wei Xuan could just jot down the necessary information with pen and paper, right?
However, reality quickly dashed Wei Xuan’s hopes. Upon hearing that Wei Xuan wanted to take something, the same zombie responded with an enthusiastic “take, take, take…”
Feeling that the zombie didn’t seem displeased, Wei Xuan let out a sigh of relief. He decided to bring this territorial zombie with him to the library and attempt to pick out the books he needed. If things felt wrong, he could always change his plan on the spot to avoid any accidents.
So, Wei Xuan, with the territorial zombie in tow, made his way to the library.
LOL, Wei Xuan is like a king in a stroll where his people try to butter him up or brandishing their accomplishments seeking praises.
Thanks for the chapter! These zombies are really adorable, lol
Is WX the city lord? 😂 Why does it seem like they are asking for permission to own a plot of land lmao