Chapter 40 Part 2

—They left.

They went to the South Sea.

The moment he realized this fact, the blood in Si Nan's entire body went cold, and his lungs felt as if they had instantly frosted over.

"You..." He immediately grew frantic, craning his head out the window, trying to search for a trace of the helicopter in the dim dawn sky. "You..."

You didn't wait for me.

—Why didn't you wait for me?

Si Nan staggered back and slumped to the floor, clutching his head. Intense regret was like a venomous snake biting his heart, its poison seeping into his organs, causing indescribable pain.

'I screwed things up,' he thought, neurotically grabbing his hair. 'I screwed everything up again.'

'I injured Yan Hao, and maybe Zhou Rong too. I led my teammates to the city center, which was packed with the living dead, injured them, and then abandoned them and ran off on the motorcycle!'

'How could I have just run off?!'

'Are they safe? Where are they? Did Zhou Rong try to find me? Will they come back?'

Countless questions dragged his heart down into hell. Si Nan held his breath.

'I was wrong, I'm still here, come back and find me...' he thought, trembling, his fingers unconsciously scratching the floor, leaving countless faint white crisscrossing marks.

'I was wrong, come back and find me...'

The dawn light passed over the high windowsill and spilled into the small rental unit. Si Nan squeezed his eyes shut in pain against the brightness.

He would give anything to go back twelve hours, to grab the him who had madly driven away and slap him hard. Or he would rather go back to before he attacked the unsuspecting Yan Hao and Zhou Rong at the construction site, snap his own hand with a crack, and stop all the irreversible consequences before they could happen.

But now, there was nothing he could do.

He had no weapon, no food, no transportation. He stood alone in the center of a city teeming with Zombies.

Helpless and alone.

He had never realized so clearly that after finally re-establishing a small connection with this world, he had severed it with his own hands, plunging himself back into an abyss of lonely darkness.

·

6:30 AM.

Intense hunger awakened Si Nan. He opened his eyes blankly, the corners of his eyes moist and red.

The city was already bright. The heavy footsteps and whimpers of Zombies rose and fell on the streets.

—I have to get out of here.

Si Nan stood up, stars bursting before his eyes. The result of sleeping a night on the cold floor in the winter was a fever. He could feel his own forehead burning, and his steps were unsteady and weak, each one like stepping into a cotton field. But he knew he absolutely could not collapse now.

Zhou Rong had parked the armored vehicle at the suburban heliport. If he hurried there now, he should still have time to get to the South Sea.

"I'm sorry..." Si Nan said softly. After a pause, he muttered to himself, "Wait for me."

He pushed open the door, shivered, and stumbled out of the rental unit.

·

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Zhou Rong couldn't remember how many times he had pulled the trigger, using the heavy firepower of his assault rifle to barely impede the advance of the Zombie horde, then using the opportunity to leap onto a wall or tree trunk, relying on an aerial route to fight for a chance of survival.

Fortunately, fate had always smiled upon him. Not once had it truly pushed him into a dead-end situation. It even gave him an unexpected gift at the crack of dawn: a few small buns discovered in the corner of a shattered shop window, already dry, hard, and yellowed, but still edible.

"Thank God for mankind's greatest invention—preservatives," Zhou Rong said self-deprecatingly. Squatting on the wall, he finished two buns in a few bites, then carefully wrapped the remaining two and tucked them inside his jacket. "Comrade Si Xiaonan, ge is warning you, if you're still a picky eater after this, I'm really going to spank your ass..."

He supported himself with a tree trunk to stand up, no longer looking at the swarming Zombie claws dancing just centimeters below his feet. He jumped from the wall to a rooftop and strode quickly toward the main street.

If Si Nan had regained his senses, there was a high probability he would take advantage of the daylight to leave the city center and head for the airport expressway where they had separated—even if he was disappointed with Squad 118 for leaving him behind, he should still try to search the armored vehicle for remaining supplies, or hotwire a helicopter to fly to the South Sea.

But for now, he was probably still in the city.

Zhou Rong scanned the surroundings. His gaze settled on the roof of a nearby office building as he calculated the feasibility of collecting fuel to light a signal fire. After a moment, he gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and made up his mind.

"Not too much, just one spank," Zhou Rong mused, thinking about Si Nan's ass, his teeth itching. "Two at most."

This thought gave him endless motivation. Zhou Rong leaped, climbing from the roof to a tree branch by the sidewalk, then jumped to the ground, breaking into a mad dash before the Zombie horde on the road could react.

·

Crash!

Si Nan lifted an overturned shelf from the floor, only to find with disappointment that there was nothing to eat besides trash and clutter.

When the apocalypse came, the city was looted by refugees. Then, the survivors stranded in the city center had searched it several times over. Forget vacuum-sealed food and cans; even chewing gum, small snacks, and seasonings had been completely scavenged. Now, not even a breadcrumb was left.

Si Nan grabbed a chair and knocked over a Zombie that was sneaking up behind him. He stood up, his head swimming.

Hunger and thirst consumed all his senses. Besides the intense, body-hollowing hunger, he could feel almost nothing else.

'If only there was something to eat...' he thought drowsily.

'Just a little something to eat...'

Suddenly, his ears twitched. He heard the sound of wheels rolling over the ground on a nearby road—someone was here!

How could there be someone? Survivors? A search and rescue team? Or... had Squad 118 come back for him?!

As if an adrenaline shot had been injected straight into his veins, Si Nan was wide awake. He flew out of the alley and shot onto the main street like an arrow, just in time to catch a glimpse of a large blue-and-white vehicle disappearing into the distance.

"Hey! Hey—!" Si Nan shouted desperately, "Zhou Rong!!"

However, the vehicle didn't stop. It turned at the end of the road and drove into the next block.

Without a second thought, Si Nan broke into a chase. He had probably never run so fast in his life, not even when he was being chased by the Zombie Gorilla at the B Military Region Base. The hordes of Zombies were left far behind, swept past by his hurricane-like speed before they could even touch the hem of his clothes.

"Zhou Rong!!" he screamed himself hoarse.

"Zhou Rong—!"

After an unknown number of blocks, Si Nan stopped at an intersection, panting as he scanned his surroundings.

A hospital, a school, a traffic post, a street-side garden... Zombies milled about in twos and threes, dragging their feet and limping around, letting out dull, muffled roars.

Where were the people?

Where was Zhou Rong?...

Si Nan's gaze sank inch by inch into despair, then suddenly, as if spotting a life-saving straw, it snapped into place—

Not far ahead, behind a machine at a gas station, the back half of a large SUV, painted blue and white, was visible.

Si Nan uncontrollably took two steps forward, then stopped again. Through the gap in the gas pump, he saw the car door open. A tall, well-built driver wearing a hood got out, went to the trunk, pulled out a few packs of compressed biscuits and some water, and then got back into the driver's seat.

It was as if a handful of ice and snow had been poured over Si Nan's fever-addled brain—that wasn't Zhou Rong.

Who was it? Were they dangerous? Did they have a weapon? Were they an Alpha?

Once the heat of the moment faded, Si Nan's well-trained nerves tensed up out of habit. Reason told him to hide immediately, keep track of them, and observe their movements before deciding what to do next. But the extreme hunger made him very hesitant. He really wanted to go over and ask for... or steal... a little something to eat.

He had never been this hungry before.

Si Nan swallowed quietly.