Translator: transcendentwings
The actual weight of Zhao He-tongxue ultimately remained a mystery.
But the two branches that were lost fully demonstrated the unbearable weight of life.
In the end, he had no choice but to glomp the tree trunk using both his hands and feet, he no longer dared to touch any of the tender branches.
“Let’s hurry onto the next step, I can’t hold out for much longer.” Holding the tree trunk also required skills and physical strength. Zhao He could only pray that the bark would be rough enough to generate sufficient friction.
After careful observation by He Zhiwen who was closer to him, he reminded his comrade: “You seem to be sliding down at the speed of 0.01 m/s.”
Zhao He tried his best to squeeze out a smile: “And so there isn’t much time left for you guys.”
“That’s right ah, we need to act quickly,” Zhou Yilu, who was squatting in the same tree as He Zhiwen, had a grave expression on his face, “Otherwise, we’d pay the price of ‘you’.”
“. . .” This was definitely a threat, a blatant one!
His legs were abruptly touched.
Zhao He jolted, all of his muscles tightened as he scrambled up half a meter.
After regaining some ground, he looked down and was met with six or seven zombies with their arms eagle-spread, eagerly hoping to embrace him.
“Just count it as I’ll be owing you guys one, okay ba,” at the moment of life and death, neither prestige nor substance could compare to one’s life, “Keep a clear tally on the numbers, kill one and I’ll pay you back with two, I’ll return the favor many times more!”
Guangdang.
Before Zhao He could finish, Qi Yan had already took one down. On the side Zhou Yilu was on, his stab had deviated, but the sharp blade still plunged into the neck of a zombie. At the same time, Song Fei and Wu Zhou tried their best to lure the zombies over to them so that they could reduce the danger factor by the base of the tree underneath Zhao He—Before he spoke, his companions had already started to act.
No one would really ignore another that was in mortal peril.
However, they wouldn’t refuse if the other took the initiative to make an exchange.
Qi Yan: “You owe me four already.”
Zhou Yilu: “It’s done, owe me two.”
Zhao He: “Just note down the actual number, I am still capable of calculating multiplication and division within two digits. . .”
Song Fei: “Both of them possess a long-ranged weapon, so of course it’d be the two of them doing the killing ah, then are the few of us who are helping to distract the zombies not receiving any credit?”
The sushi spear was the conventional weapon for Zhou Yilu, so nothing more needed to be said about that. As for Qi Yan, his was a item born from the combination of a boning knife found in the kitchen and the hollow metal rod from a mop also found in the kitchen—the handle of the boning knife just so happened to be able to be stuffed into the somewhat flattened hollowed center of the metal rod. However, the handle of the knife itself was slightly wider than the diameter of the flattened metal rod, making it a laborious effort to stick it in—Sinking the blade deep into the gap of the warehouse door, when it was wedged in completely until only the handle remained, borrowing the force of the handle pushing against the door, the metal rod was shimmied in bit by bit until the handle was completely lodged into it—As a result, it was quite snug after being enclosed within and wasn’t loose at all.
Song Fei and the others also wanted to draw a tiger with a cat as a model, but they only found two mops, one with a metal body and the other with a wooden one. The former was used by Qi Yan and the latter could not be utilized. After making inquiries with the second floor students, it was even more tragic. There was only a wooden mop with barely any cloth strips left on the mop head. Let alone modifying it as a weapon, even its original purpose as a mop was difficult to achieve.
It was a case of the wall topples and everyone pushes it, the drum breaks and tens of thousands beat upon it. Zhao He had already accepted his fate.
However even if they were close comrades akin to family, they still had to settle accounts cleanly: “They can tally the number of zombies they kill, but how would distracting them be calculated, distract one and I’ll also return the favor with two?”
“Then wouldn’t I be blatantly cheating you ma,” Song Fei declared with uprightness and puffed up his chest, “Each song will count as three regardless of how many zombies I attract.”
Zhao He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Each song would have an average duration of at least two to three minutes which was enough to lure all the zombies over. It was pretty much a buy one get one free deal. Yet here he was actually worried that the other would take advantage and loot a burning house, it really was. . .
Wallowing in introspection and shame, Zhao He nodded solemnly: “Deal.”
At this moment, the heart of this firm and unyielding man with a steel heart will only contained a little boat of friendship floating on the cerulean waves, rippling with warmth.
“Happy birthday to you~~Happy birthday to you~~Happy birthday to you~~Happy birthday to you~~”
Qiao Siqi: “Three.”
“Niu Sanjin~~Niu Sanjin~~Your wife is Lu Guihua~~Lu Guihua~Let me ask~Are you coming back any time soon~~”
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.
Qiao Siqi: “Six.”
“Twinkling gleaming bright~~The sky is full of little stars~~Hanging in the sky they shine~~Like numerous little eyes~Twinkling gleaming bright~~The sky is full of little stars~~”
Hljb Vldl: “Rlcf.”
Itjb Lf: “P’w jirb ralii mjqjyif bo mjimeijalcu atf wjat obg atf weialqilmjalbc jcv vlnlrlbc bo atgff-vlula cewyfgr!”
“Happy birthday to you~~Happy. . .”
Itjb Lf: “Scbeut!”
Qiao Siqi: “This truly is a little excessive ah, at the very least change the to for whom you’re singing to ah. That reminds me, Zhao He, do you have an English name?”
Itjb Lf: “Ajrqfg.”
Hljb Vldl: “Ktja oibkr boo atf abcuef delaf kfii.”
Zhao He: “Naturally, I chose it myself. . . Pei, who wants to discuss this with you! I’m breaking off this contract, I’m nulling this contract right now!”
Ktf clutalcujif-ilxf yjrr rabqqfv jygeqais lc atf klcv.
Vbcu Mfl: “Ktf ildelvjafv vjwjufr obg mbcagjma nlbijalbc, afc, lcmievlcu atf qgfnlber bcfr, j abaji bo clcfaffc.”
Zhao He: “. . . Even if I have to pay you back for the rest of my life, I’ll do it.”
The little boat of friendship hadn’t yet enjoyed a few rays of sunshine when it was crushed underneath the iceberg.
The two in Class 1 were fighting fiercely and the other three in Class 2 couldn’t provide any aid or get involved, thus they were fortunate enough to watch the whole process of their fellow classmate getting pitted and were full of various emotions for a moment—
He Zhiwen: “When he announced that he wanted to sing, I had an ominous premonition.”
Wu Zhou: “Thankfully my tree is sturdy. These urban scams are deep na.”
Feng Qibai: “The countryside is also very slick.”
Twenty-six zombies were extinguished under the alliance of Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu, eighteen remained—Four of the zombies ran towards the singing voices.
Stabbing zombies was also an activity that required physical effort, many times, it couldn’t be taken care of in a one-shot kill. There had to be repeated strikes and it also took a lot of force in order to puncture the head. In order to eliminate ten, the two’s shoulders were already incomparably sore. Although they could preserve through pure willpower, the price slashing on the overall effects was still very obvious. Previously it would only take three strikes to take one down, but now it took four or five tries for one successful hit and even then, they mightn’t have struck home too deeply.
Their comrades weren’t blind and could plainly see their efforts from beginning to end. At this time, He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai, who were squatting in the same respective trees, volunteered to take over and under the guidance of their predecessors, they started their advance!
Ten minutes later, eighteen had been reduced to thirteen.
Because Song Fei stopped singing, no more zombies wandered out from the Express Pickup Point. They weren’t sure if that was because they were merely in hiding or if there truly were no more forthcoming.
Twenty minutes later, thirteen decreased to eight.
He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai also weren’t forged from steel, adding on the fact that they weren’t well-practiced, their physical strength had also reached their limits.
Zhao He was also at the end of his rope—He had been embracing the tree for half an hour, supplemented with the devastation Song Fei wrought, he was mentally and physically exhausted.
“Comrades,” Zhao He looked up at the starry sky and sighed, “I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”
All the comrades-in-arms: “You just finished vowing that you would stop acting pretentiously. . .”
Zhao He: “The bad news is that I can’t seem to hold on any longer, the good news is that I can take at least two of them down with me.”
After saying so in one breath, Zhao He released an arm before his companions could react. Surprisingly, he didn’t fall down yet, he just gritted his teeth, anchoring his position with just his two legs and one arm. The arm that was freed was just used to pull out the army knife at his waist. When the army knife was in his hands, he loosened his legs and dropped to the ground with a peng sound!
The moment he landed, the zombies that were gathered at the outermost edge of the tree under Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu took the lead to whip around. After catching sight of him on the ground, they immediately made an about-face and pounced towards him!
Zhao He clenched the army blade tightly and didn’t retreat even half a step. His beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, chilling and awe-inspiring.
“You idiot!”
Wu Zhou cursed loudly and leapt directly off the tree, knocking the zombie that had just happened to pass by underneath his tree down! The zombie wanted to struggle, but Wu Zhou skewered it through the forehead with one strike!
The zombie that was close behind in pursuit, immediately lunged at his back, opened its mouth and attempted to bite his shoulder directly!
Wu Zhou couldn’t react for a moment and was about to fall victim!
In the blink of an eye, a chopstick was driven through the back of the zombie’s skull— Song Fei had arrived.
On the other side, Zhao He was surrounded by three zombies. He kicked one flying with one leg, shoved one away with an elbow, and greeted the third with a stab from the army knife directly!
Both the one kicked away and the other driven aside slammed straight into the trunk of the tree Qiao Siqi was on. The trunk was fine, but the tree branch under John’s feet shook violently. He couldn’t keep his balance and fell straight down!
Seeing that he was about to fall into the arms of two awaiting zombies, Qiao Siqi had lost all hope. At these moments in movies, the protagonist would close their eyes and wait for death, but he refused. He wanted to see clearly how he would meet his death!
Paji.
He didn’t die, only fell flat on his face.
The two zombies had been either wrestled to the ground or wrenched away by Wu Zhou and Song Fei who had rushed over just in the nick of time, and were now entangled together!
Qiao Siqi yanked out the Swiss Army Knife. First, the closest one was Wu Zhou so he ran to the other at the speed of light, lunging at the back of the skull of the zombie pinning him down with the blade!
Jerking the knife out forcefully, Qiao Siqi didn’t delay at all and teleported over to Song Fei in a few steps and also thrust out with a single slash!
Song Fei caught the glimmer of light in his periphery and just like that, in the same posture of holding onto the zombie’s shoulders, he turned the zombie in the direction of the flash of cold steel!
Pu—
The gleam disappeared, the knife plunged in.
Song Fei, who broke out into a cold sweat, breathed a long sigh of relief: “Can you aim properly before you strike next time!!!”
Eight zombies remained on the battlefront.
Four students were in the attack zone.
Five of the eight zombies still insisted on fighting it out against Zhou Yilu and Qi Yan.
The remaining three turned around in hindsight and stalked towards the living on the battlefield. They were unlike the zombies from before that blindly assaulted whatever living creature they encountered. Instead they trudged forward very slowly, similar to the zombies depicted in movies, step by step, clumsy and dull.
But it was exactly this type of slow approach that bred a sense of terrifying oppression.
The four of them seemed hesitant and weren’t sure whether they should rush forward to engage or just temporarily flee.
Song Fei: “Fight?”
Wu Zhou: “Four against three, we can win.”
Qiao Siqi: “There are still five over there ne. What should we do if they were all lured over?”
Zhao He: “Just in time to be stewed in one pot.”
Song, Qiao: “Seriously, who gave you guys such confidence ah!”
Wu, Zhao: “The Olympics.”
Facts proved that Wu and Zhou, these two classmates, could afford the responsibility for the higher, faster, and stronger spirit of the Olympics, especially Zhao He. Previously his hands were so sore that he had to take the risk of abandoning the tree, but now he had activated slaughter mode in all directions and his every movements struck home in one hit, there wasn’t even a hint of sloppiness.
However, two fists were no match for four opposing hands and a tiger in good shape still couldn’t stand against a pack of wolves.
Four-on-three wasn’t a very big problem, but four-on-eight was fatal.
Just as Zhao He and Wu Zhou each took one down and Song Fei was also engaged with a third, the other five swarmed over at lightning speed!
What was even worse was that the third one, who was skewered through the mouth by Song Fei, suddenly raised its hands and grabbed Song Fei’s arm that was gripping the blade!
Song Fei was alarmed, and all of his limbs were assaulted by an extremely frigid temperature that emanated from the place where he was caught.
In this dazed moment, the new zombies were already right before the eyes!
Song Fei couldn’t be bothered to withdraw his weapon. He rolled aside on the spot and dodged the new zombies that had directly launched themselves over.
The newcomer pounced right on the body of the heavily wounded zombie and was taken out in one strike from Qi Yan who was hot on its heels!
Truthfully, the moment the five zombies shifted their targets, Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu had already descended from the tree. Seeing the two of them take action, Feng Qibai and He Zhiwen followed suit without delay and also alighted from their respective trees.
Four-on-eight turned into eight-on-five-point-give and the moment Qi Yan ended one, it became eight-on-four-point-five.
There was no justification for losing.
Just grit your teeth and pull through!
Dadada—
The companions engaged in a fierce melee, exploding with a dazzling display of might.
There was the sound of footsteps, the sound of many steps cluttered together, currently coming closer from afar!
“Into the trees!” Qi Yan gave a decisive order.
Zhao He kicked a second zombie away and was practically drowning in despair: “Still climbing?!”
Qi Yan ignored him, got rid of the zombie he was tangled up with and returned to the commanding heights in advance!
Those footsteps may be human or zombie, but even if there was only a one percent possibility of the latter, they couldn’t take any risks!
It was still Song Fei hauling Qiao Siqi, Zhou Yilu and Qi Yan were in charge of Feng Qibai and He Zhiwen. Finally including Wu Zhou who ascended a tree alone, no one needed to lay everything out in detail and they had already reached some sort of tacit understanding.
Except for Zhao He.
He didn’t choose the same tree he had chosen initially. After sending He Zhiwen on top of a tree for the second time, he stopped a zombie that was following him with an elbow to the chest and shoved it away from him vigorously then leapt up and grabbed hold of a branch more than a meter above the ground directly. After that he didn’t dare stop and continued to scramble up until he was shoulder to shoulder with Zhou Yilu before he finally settled down.
Zhou Yilu was in a dilemma, but couldn’t voice it out loud. He always felt that his tree would suddenly topple over at its roots in the near future and collapse completely!
In the end, the five zombies failed to stop the companions from reaching new heights. Even Feng Qibai, who was the slowest, was only bitten on the tip of his toe, but his sneakers were thick enough to prevent any actual injury to his naked flesh.
The messy footsteps had taken a joyride on the night wind to the frontlines.
The eight companions on the trees looked at each other from a distance and saw a figure running wildly under the moonlight, behind him were seven or eight zombies. That person sprinted at a rapid pace and had already pulled quite a distance away from the pursuing zombies. Observing the position of the last zombie, they seemed to have come from the supermarket and the direction they were headed was undeniably here.
The figure approached.
Closer still.
So close that Song Fei and the others could identify this face quite easily.
So close the other could also catch sight of the bunch of them perched in the tree blatantly.
Finally, the runner came to the base of a tree and without hesitation, clambered straight up. He had chosen a tree that was bereft of another. It was unknown if he did so to guard against them or was self-aware that he wasn’t welcome.
The man’s agility wasn’t inferior to Zhao He’s.
“We really have a predestined affinity.”
Yu Zisheng’s smile under the cold and clear moonlight, strangely overlapped with the smile on his face when he was first rescued and brought into the supermarket.
Author’s Chapter Summary
Former affairs and past bygones are all shrouded in cloud, it’s best to not meet ever again!
The translator has something to say: That c*nt (excuse my language) is still alive!!! It’s not in our squad’s nature to abandon one in trouble, at most they will part ways immediately, but they sure as hell won’t trust him anymore. It’s going to be an unpleasant reunion
thanks for the chapter!!
Can’t belive that he still alive wish he was dead in the supermarket riot
Thanks for the chapter
thanks for the chapter! <3