Back to the Apocalypse

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“Will something happen tomorrow?” Yang Lin asked tentatively. His heart was itching with curiosity. Hearing Xiao Sa speak, he really wanted to know what would happen tomorrow.

Quite a few others also had the same thoughts as him, and everyone looked over curiously.

Xiao Sa looked at everyone enigmatically and was quiet for a long time before saying, "Just take care of your little lives."

Bai Jing, however, laughed silently and quietly asked Lin Jue for the meteorite that they had found before. This was called ’treating others how you would like to be treated’. Didn’t the Zhou Family want to go to the third floor of the basement? Then let them go. It would be best if they went and never came back. They really had to thank them for having originally come up with such a dark ploy.

Qin Lie looked at the map with a frown, and Yang Lin quickly noticed his strange expression, “What’s wrong?”

Qin Lie pointed to the map, “Tomorrow our mission is in the Science and Technology Building, take a look...”

The distribution of zombies was very clearly marked on the map, and it also included the level of the zombies. The tasks assigned to the Song and Zhou families were obviously in places where the risk factor was quite low.

Yang Lin spoke in a disapproving tone, “Didn’t you guess it earlier?" The Zhou Family must have hidden cards, but unexpectedly the Song Family had a few as well. As for the Qi Family, it wasn’t clear at the moment, but they might have been kept in the dark or had different plans. However, so what? Their side had a cheat! As he thought that, Yang Lin’s eyes were even brighter as he gazed at Xiao Sa and Bai Jing.

After everyone discussed the plan for a while longer, Bai Jing and Xiao Sa left. Bai Jing brought the box containing the meteorite with him and teleported straight to the third floor of the basement with Xiao Sa.

There had been no changes to the dark space, and everything was the same as it had been before. Bai Jing opened the box, removed the space barrier that isolated them, and zombies in the basement abruptly began to move.

Bai Jing threw the box away and casually set the meteorite down. This time, instead of leaving again in a hurry, they rushed all the way over to the basement door that led to their floor, exuding the pressure of their high level powers on the low level zombies. Xiao Sa quickly opened the metal door using his powers, and the zombies that were outside rushed in, pulled in by the meteorite that seemed to give off an aura that attracted them over.

Bai Jing pulled Xiao Sa with him and prepared to teleport away. Fearing that the temptation of the meteorite wouldn’t be enough, he didn’t forget to throw a live cow out of his space at the zombies before they left.

This time, they no longer hesitated before leaving the basement. On the way out, they quickly collected any remaining military equipment, both large and small, including the machinery required to make weapons.

The two of them fought their way out and no longer relied on teleportation to evade. However, when they couldn’t hold on, they would take a short break in the space and wait for around ten minutes before coming out to fight again after the zombies had scattered.

The military factory was immediately thrown into an uproar, and the zombies became increasingly restless.

It was only when they had finished everywhere else that the two of them finally reached the fourth floor.

By this time, the sky outside had already turned light.

The team stationed outside the military factory was also about to begin their mission.

The two of them didn’t dare delay. This time, their trip to the fourth floor was like a gamble. Xiao Sa could clearly sense that the zombies on the fourth floor were slightly lower levelled than the ones behind the training grounds, which was why he chose to come here first after considering things for a long time. If his guess was correct, then the following matters would be easy to accomplish. Even if he was wrong, he and Little Jing had enough strength, as well as the space for protection, and they didn’t need to be afraid of the danger on the fourth floor.

Unlike the noisiness outside, the fourth floor was quiet, and there were no sound at all. It seemed to be a place isolated from the outside.

Bai Jing gripped Xiao Sa’s hand tightly, but there was no tension in his heart. As long as this man was around, he wasn’t afraid of facing anything.

Xiao Sa moved forward slowly, both eyes sweeping alertly through the area.

As far as the eye could see, the fourth floor was the neatest and cleanest place he had ever seen. The ground was washed so clean that people could clearly see their own reflections, and the walls were clean and free of dust.

Bai Jing’s heart clenched, and he found a can of paint from some unknown corner of his space. Without any warning, he threw it against the white walls.

“Wuuu--" A whirlwind seemed to sound in their ears, and the can of paint instantly fell to the ground.

A dark shadow flew out like a flash of lightning, accompanied by a sharp ice blade.

Xiao Sa quickly pulled Bai Jing with him and retreated. This was a zombie at the peak of level six!

Three ice blades clanged as they hit the ground, and several cracks instantly appeared in the solid flooring.

The zombie was enraged, its scarlet eyes showing irritation and anger as it prepared to attack again.

Xiao Sa retreated to a safe area outside of the zombie’s range of attack and set up a barrier, then spoke calmly, “We mean no harm."

The restlessness in the zombie’s eyes didn’t fade, but it didn’t attack again. It tilted its head as though thinking about something.

The zombie didn’t move, and Xiao Sa and Bai Jing also remained motionless.

Time passed by slowly.

Bai Jing was really left quite speechless. Unexpectedly, they had met a zombie that loved cleanliness. What was going on with this world?

Xiao Sa also looked over the zombie in front of them in detail. It was obviously different from the low-level zombies. He should have been very young when he was still alive - fifteen or sixteen at most - and male. Other than his red eyes and pale face, he looked almost exactly like a normal human being.

They remained in this stiff, motionless atmosphere.

“Hey, can’t you give us some response?" Bai Jing was secretly a little anxious. The sky was already bright now, and while he wasn’t concerned about what would happen with this zombie, he was worried that Wu Guoan and the others might have already begun to make their move. Time was now pressing, and they still needed to face the high level zombies behind the training grounds. They had no time to waste.

“Awuuu!!!” The corpse opened its mouth and stretched out its neck.

“I don’t understand.” Bai Jing was really frustrated.

“Awuuu! Wuuu! Wuuuu!” The zombie whined again.

Bai Jing’s lips twitched, and he felt weak all over. Xiao Sa’s guess had indeed been correct - the zombies had wisdom and were capable of thinking, but they needed to be able to communicate for their plan to work!

Bai Jing helplessly rolled his eyes at the zombie. Looking at it again, it no longer seemed so disgusting. At least, it was cuter than those humans with human faces and cruel, vicious hearts.

“We’re leaving.” Sensing that the zombie wasn’t hostile, Bai Jing pulled Xiao Sa with him and made to leave, casually saying to the zombie as they departed, "Hey, isn’t your nose really good? In a while, some people will be launching an attack. Remember not to harm our people! If you want to eat someone, then eat those guys on the third floor of the basement. Right, remember to tell your fellow zombies too. There’s a reward!"

Bai Jing had only spoken casually and didn’t have any hopes that the zombie would actually understand. Who could’ve known that as soon as he finished his words, the zombie would suddenly whiz away and disappear from sight?

The floor was now empty, leaving only Bai Jing and Xiao Sa staring blankly at each other.

“What... what just happened?" Bai Jing swallowed, his expression dumbfounded.

Xiao Sa was also secretly shocked. Had that zombie really understood? However, regardless of the result, now was not the time to think about it. They would naturally find out what happened when everything was over.

Xiao Sa quickly pulled his thoughts together and turned to Bai Jing. "Hurry up and clear out the area. They’ve already begun to make their way upstairs. We need to hurry up."

As soon as Bai Jing heard his words, he began to hurriedly make a sweep through the fourth floor, going through it as quickly as they could. They had no way to know if the zombie would regret having left so hastily; even though it had no way to use any of the things they were taking away, they would still all be gone.

The two of them left the fourth floor and headed straight to the warehouse behind the training grounds.

They had gathered a bountiful harvest during this trip to the fourth floor. The biggest gain was learning that the zombies seemed to understand human language and could communicate. Although they didn’t know what the final outcome would be, the two of them were much more confident about this warehouse trip. If they could avoid fighting, they would naturally choose to save time where they could.

Bai Jing was becoming more and more confused. He couldn’t tell if he had rebirthed in a strange way, or if it was due to the red meteorite in his space, or if he had simply been too ignorant in his previous life. It seemed as though everything in this current life was going differently than before.

At this time, fighting had already begun outside, and the sound of gunfire could be heard from afar, mixed with angry roars and sad whines...

The tranquillity of the military factory had been broken, and Bai Jing was in a bit of a trance, not knowing if it had been humans who had destroyed the peace the zombies had here, or if it was the zombies who had gnawed on their flesh and bones. In fact, if there hadn’t been human greed, if they hadn’t come here at all, perhaps it would still be as peaceful as it had been before.

Bai Jing laughed quietly. Most of the zombies here had never tasted flesh before. With the advent of natural disasters and the outbreak of the apocalypse, it was unlikely that these people had willingly turned into zombies.

It wasn’t clear who was right or wrong. Perhaps this was just a matter of natural selection.

“Don’t think too much.” Xiao Sa patted Bai Jing’s head and pinched his cheek. “Don’t forget your reward."

Bai Jing froze. What reward?

Xiao Sa looked at him with amusement, a trace of teasing flashing across his eyes.

Bai Jing suddenly remembered that he had said that he would reward the zombie just now.

Bai Jing opened his mouth and was a little shocked. He had just spoken casually! What kind of reward was he supposed to give to a zombie? Should he gift him some humans?

Bai Jing shivered and felt a terrible chill just thinking about it.

Zhou Yuanji had a lot of doubts in his heart. The closer they got to the military factory, the stronger an unknown sense of premonition became. This strong premonition came from Wu Guoan’s and the others’ enthusiasm; they had clearly refused to do the mission yesterday even upon threat of death, but today, they were so quick and willing to proceed with the mission that he couldn’t help but read more into it.

The Zhou Family had brought along the most people this time. They had over 700 high level ability users in total, and he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. The Zhou Family couldn’t afford this loss, which meant that the mission could only succeed. Failure was not an option.

“Uncle.” Zhou Wei was high-spirited, his body covered in weapons. He sneered as he looked over at Wu Guoan and the others. Later on, they’d see who was better off!

Zhou Yuanji looked at his confident nephew and suddenly felt relieved. Perhaps he was worrying for nothing. They had prepared so thoroughly for this mission, and everything was in place. They knew exactly what route they needed to take, and there was so much cannon fodder around to attract the zombies’ attention. How could they fail? He must be overthinking it.

When the command to move in was given, the troops rushed into the military factory and immediately separated into groups according to their tasks. Wu Guoan brought people upstairs, while Zhou Yuanji took his subordinates and rushed steadily towards the basement. According to the information he had received, there weren’t very many senior level zombies in the basement, and the most vital military equipment was on the third floor of the basement.

At this time, Zhou Yuanji did not know that the Zhou Family had already lost two of their successors. Otherwise, he would have been more cautious when he acted and much less diligent about accomplishing the mission than he was now. At the very least, he would have preserved more of his strength, because the Zhou Family could truly no longer afford to lose.