The World Turned into Zombies, So I Went Back to the Countryside to Farm 90p2

Chapter 90p2: Finding

Wen Zhao thought of the time before the apocalypse, when there were also some hepatitis B virus carriers and HIV carriers. It was probably the same principle.

She remembered that she hadn’t seen Jiang Zao since she woke up. Jiang Zao’s backpack and personal belongings were all here.

Only the ice axe was missing.

“Where’s Little Zao?”

“She…” Yan Zhen opened her mouth.

Li Mi interrupted her.

“Big Sister Jiang… she… she went hunting.”

Yan Zhen followed up.

“Yes… she… she went far. She should be back in the evening. Your injury is not yet healed. You should rest more.”

“Big Sister Wen, then you rest. I’ll go and cook.”

After Li Mi finished speaking, she quickly jumped off the bed, took the rabbit in Yan Zhen’s arms, and rushed out the door.

She was afraid that if she stayed here for another second, facing her concerned gaze, her tears would uncontrollably burst out, and her Big Sister Wen would immediately know that Jiang Zao was already gone.

Wen Zhao looked at her back, lost in thought.

Yan Zhen brought her the medicine and water.

Wen Zhao swallowed it all in one gulp.

“Then I’ll go and help too… you can rest first.”

“Alright.”

Yan Zhen turned and closed the wooden door for her, and also went out.

As soon as she left, the smile on Wen Zhao’s face disappeared. Her eyes slowly turned red. She picked up the Mountain Stream Snow that was on the bed, placed it on her lap, and wiped its blade, which was as sharp as if it could cut through iron, bit by bit.

Li Mi was chopping firewood in the courtyard.

“When are you going to tell her?”

Yan Zhen came closer and watched as she split a log in two with an axe. At such a young age, her strength was already comparable to an adult’s.

Li Mi picked up the split log and stood it up on the ground again.

“Let’s wait a little longer.”

“You can’t hide it from her.”

Wen Zhao’s eyes were as sharp as a torch. She probably already sensed a clue. Their lies were just a matter of delaying time.

“I know!” Li Mi swung the axe down again, panting, but her movements did not stop.

“You know and you still… if you let her know the truth sooner, she can also get over it sooner, right?”

“You don’t understand at all!”

Li Mi’s eyes suddenly turned red, and she unknowingly raised her voice. She remembered that Wen Zhao was still in the house and lowered her voice again.

“She can’t get over it. She can’t get over it for the rest of her life. If you tell her now that Big Sister Jiang is already gone, she will definitely go and find Big Sister Jiang regardless of her own safety…”

Yan Zhen looked at the tears in her eyes and her heart softened. She thought it would be good to change the subject.

“I was just thinking… forget it. I’ll help you.”

Li Mi had already turned away and swung the axe down again. Wood chips flew everywhere. “No need. You’ll just be in the way.”

“Hiss… you brat. I’ve taken care of you for nothing.”

Dinner was rabbit soup with some wild vegetable paste. After Wen Zhao got better, a smile finally appeared on Li Mi’s face. She served a full bowl and handed it to Wen Zhao.

“After so long, Little Mi’s cooking skills have improved again.”

“Right? Big Sister Wen, if it’s delicious, then eat more.”

After Wen Zhao finished eating on the bed, she handed the bowl back to her. Just as Little Mi was turning around with the bowl without any guard.

Wen Zhao moved and hit her on the neck with a chop. The bowl fell to the ground with a clang.

She gently caught Li Mi and carried her to the bed.

“Little Mi, I’m sorry.”

Yan Zhen looked at the knife she had taken from the side of the bed. She knew that if she wanted to go, she couldn’t stop her at all.

“If you’re like this, that child will be sad.”

Wen Zhao looked at Little Mi, who was lying on the bed. There was still a hint of a smile on her lips, as if she were still immersed in the dream that she had already gotten better.

There was a hint of apology in her eyes, but more of a determination.

“I know. I’ve wronged many people in my life. My mother, my best friend, and Little Mi…”

“But I can’t let Little Zao down.”

“Do you know that although you are a virus carrier now, you are not completely immune to the Pandora virus… if another zombie bites you, all of Jiang Zao’s hard work will be in vain!”

“And there are no more inhibitors to give you!”

Faced with their one-after-another stubbornness and insistence on going to their deaths, even a clay figure would have a temper at this moment.

“I know.”

“You know and you’re still going?”

“When Little Zao went to the survivor base to find an inhibitor for me, she was not as hesitant as I am now.”

In that instant, a similar sentence, wrapped in the sound of the wind, rushed into Yan Zhen’s mind.

“When she came back to the camp to find me, she blocked Qingshan’s attack for me and saved me from danger several times. She definitely didn’t think so much. I’m the same.”

Yan Zhen was stunned on the spot, and her eyes slowly turned red.

“You… you… I should have just… just…”

Wen Zhao took out a piece of paper from her pocket and slowly handed it to her.

“You’ve helped us so much. We have nothing to thank you for. This is Little Zao’s home address. Her home is in Yuanxi Village at the foot of Chongming Snow Mountain. It’s a place like a paradise.”

“The house… the house is still stocked with a lot of supplies… rice, flour, grain, and oil should be enough for you to eat for a while. There are also reclaimed fertile fields at home. After you finish eating, you can be self-sufficient.”

“You and Little Mi can go back there. I’ve written down how to get there. Little Mi also knows the way.”

“I made this decision on Jiang Zao’s behalf, but if she knew, she would… she would probably be happy.”

Wen Zhao looked at Little Mi, who was lying on the bed, for the last time.

“That child is still young… I’ll leave her to you.”

A tear slid down the corner of Yan Zhen’s eye. She could no longer suppress the emotions in her heart and roared.

“Are you two treating me as a free nanny?! I’m a doctor, a doctor…”

She had made it her mission to save the dying and heal the wounded, but she could not save any of them.

Wen Zhao didn’t say anything. She just stuffed the paper into her hand, gently patted her shoulder, and then turned to leave.

She untied the rope that was tied to the wooden post at the door and mounted her horse.

“Giddy-up—”

She was wearing the old military uniform that Jiang Zao had cut and Grandma had sewn when they first met. The panda hair tie she had given her was tied to her hair. She was carrying the Mountain Stream Snow, which held their shared memories, and the peace knot on the scabbard was moving with the wind.

And so, she headed for a predetermined ending in the night.

Little Zao, don’t be afraid. I… am coming to find you.

***

The road to the survivor base was not far.

She dismounted and looked at the dense horde of zombies, like ants. She brandished her long knife with force. The moment fresh blood splattered on her eyebrows, the scenes from the past also flashed before her eyes, frame by frame.

“What’s your name?”

“PRRF, First-Level Commander, Wen Zhao.”

“The gun… where’s my gun?”

“It’s not yours anymore. It’s mine now. This is the reward for saving you.”

“I… I still don’t know your name.”

“Jiang Zao, Zao as in morning.”

…

Wen Zhao let out a loud shout and swung her knife, cutting off the head of the zombie in front of her. She found that perhaps because she had been infected with the Pandora virus and had turned from a normal person into a virus carrier, these guys, who had always been bloodthirsty, were ignoring her.

But she still couldn’t control the anger in her heart. The thought that it was these things that had taken the life of the person she cherished made the Mountain Stream Snow in her hand not stop for a moment.

She ran and killed at the same time, cutting down all the zombies that passed by her, and at the same time, she shouted in the empty hall.

“Little Zao, where are you… where are you…”

When she fell to her knees again, exhausted, Wen Zhao’s eyes suddenly turned red. She supported herself with her knife and stood up.

In that instant when she looked up, she saw the two familiar pieces of an ice axe that had fallen at the fire door. Tears streamed down her face.

“About the Pandora virus outbreak, did you know about it in advance?”

“How is that possible? I can’t predict the future.”

“You came back to the village on the eve of the virus outbreak…”

“Are you questioning me?! Wen Zhao, don’t forget who saved you!”

“No, I was just thinking, if someone had known in advance that the Pandora virus would break out, then would we have had more time…”

“I’m telling you, even if everyone in the world dies, it has nothing to do with me! Wen Zhao, I admit that you are kinder than me. You have great love. But I am just an ordinary person. I only want to protect my family. From this point of view, you can think that I am selfish.”

Wen Zhao crawled over with her hands and feet and tremblingly picked up the two pieces of the ice axe. She couldn’t imagine how much pressure it had to have withstood to have completely broken, given its hard material.

Jiang Zao probably had not expected that the words she had blurted out many years ago would, like a boomerang, have the bullet hit her right between the eyebrows.

The person who had repeatedly said that she was “selfish” had in the end given everything for her lover, including her life.

Wen Zhao touched the two pieces of the ice axe, feeling the warmth that its owner had once left behind. From the almost suffocating bitterness, she actually tasted a hint of sweetness:

Family… yes, family.

Little Zao… had long… considered her family.

She was the same.

So, no matter what Little Zao became, she would not give up on her. She would not let Little Zao wander alone in this world. She had to find her.

Wen Zhao wiped her tears, got up again, and carefully put the two pieces of the ice axe into her bag. She picked up the Mountain Stream Snow and walked up the fire door.

Wherever there were many zombies, she would go. If she saw someone with a similar figure to Jiang Zao, she would turn their shoulder and take a close look.

If she encountered a zombie that was blocking her way, she would kill it with a single stroke.

She was not afraid that Jiang Zao had turned into a zombie. She was only afraid that her hope would be in vain and that she would never be able to find her shadow in the vast sea of people.

Wen Zhao was exhausted. Don’t forget that she also had injuries on her body. In the process of searching, she had also found several mutated zombies in the horde of zombies. They seemed to be different from ordinary zombies and showed a strong curiosity and aggression towards her.

Wen Zhao had no intention of proving any science. All she knew was that everything that blocked her way had to die. And so, she fought her way out of the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood, from the first floor to the eighth floor, almost searching every corner where the zombies gathered, but the result was still nothing.25

She fell heavily in front of the elevator on the eighth floor and looked at the sign in front that pointed to the research institute.

That… that was her last hope.

She stumbled towards it step by step. The fight with several mutated zombies just now had quickly drained her physical strength, and the stitched wounds on her body were starting to bleed again.

Wen Zhao’s vision began to blur, but she still did not stop. She held onto the wall and walked forward step by step. In the darkness, her foot tripped over a soft object. She stumbled and fell heavily to the ground. When she saw the furry thing beside her, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Ke… Kele…”

She got up from the ground and looked at the dried blood on Kele’s lips in a daze.

She looked at its wounded body, at the flies that were circling it, at the white things that were wriggling in its fur. It was already like this, but when it fell, Kele’s eyes were still staring in the direction behind the door.

Wen Zhao trembled and gently closed its eyes. She held its head and pressed it against her own neck, and a mournful cry came from deep within her throat.

After a long time.

She took off the name tag and the collar that Jiang Zao had put on it from Kele’s neck. It was now stained with blood.

The scenes from that time were still in her mind, as if it were yesterday.

“Where did you get it? It fits quite well.”

“The owner of this house gave it to me.”

At that time, Jiang Zao probably had not expected that October in the diary and Kele outside the diary would eventually have the same ending.

This was also Kele’s short but glorious life, and it also needed them to cherish its memory for the rest of their lives.

She gently placed Kele on the ground, took off her jacket, and draped it over it, as if she were covering it with a glorious medal and a small quilt.

“Kele… I, I’m going to find Little Zao first. Next time… I’ll come and get you next time… wait for me.”

After packing Kele’s belongings, Wen Zhao stood up again with the help of the Mountain Stream Snow and turned to look at the last door in front of her.