The World Turned into Zombies, So I Went Back to the Countryside to Farm 91

Chapter 91: Dawn

The door of the research institute was different from other places. It was a heavy mechanical door, and an electronic screen was embedded in the wall next to the door.

There was still a bloody handprint on the electronic screen.

Wen Zhao looked around, tore off the name tag from the chest of a zombie in a white coat, and pressed it on the screen.

A beep sounded, and the main door slowly opened before her.

Wen Zhao held onto the wall and slowly walked in.

As time went by, the higher she went, the deeper she went, and the more zombies there were. She could also feel how difficult it had been for Jiang Zao and Little Mi to come to the survivor base to find the inhibitor with Kele. If it weren’t for Kele sacrificing itself to cover their retreat, they might not have been able to get into this door at all.

Thinking of this, Wen Zhao’s eyes couldn’t help but turn red again.

The airtight door opened, and a strong smell of blood rushed towards her.

The passage was full of charred bodies.

She had to step over the mountain of corpses. In some places, there was no place to step, so she could only use the Mountain Stream Snow to clear a path. Just like that, the tip of her knife hit a small thing, and it rolled far away. She looked in that direction and was overjoyed.

Wen Zhao rushed over in a few steps and picked up the small fireproof lighter from the ground.

This, this is also Little Zao’s thing.

In addition, with so many bodies on the ground, they must have gone through a arduous battle here.

Then Little Zao… could she still be here?

She turned her head and looked at the laboratory, which was like a slaughterhouse. She couldn’t help but shout.

“Little Zao… are you here? Little Zao…”

But the only answer she got was the zombies that came out of the nooks and crannies. Wen Zhao raised the knife in her hand. They rushed to her, but then they sniffed with their noses and stopped.

But Wen Zhao did not let them go. She gritted her teeth and swung the Mountain Stream Snow with force. “Get out of the way, don’t… block the way!”

She was like a madman, searching all the places in the laboratory where people could hide, and she didn’t even let go of the bottles and jars.

No… still no.

Wen Zhao was panting heavily. She swept all the test tubes on the table to the ground. She stumbled to her feet again and looked at the last door at the end of the passage. It was the core sample library. She walked over step by step and swiped the name tag she had picked up to open the main door.

As the main door opened, Wen Zhao just glanced at the transparent containers on both sides of the passage and then walked forward without looking. She didn’t care about anyone now. She just wanted to find her Little Zao.

Wen Zhao’s fingers touched the samples one by one. Suddenly, she saw a missing corner in the dazzling array of samples. She eagerly bent down and finally made a new discovery.

It was a name for a cytokine inhibitor. It should be… it should be the kind that Yan Zhen had injected her with.

All the samples were there, except for this one.

It’s Little Zao… it must be Little Zao who took it.

Wen Zhao was overjoyed, but when she turned to look at the empty sample library with not even a table, her face was not without disappointment.

She almost burst into tears.

“Little Zao… don’t hide… where are you? Even if… even if you’ve turned into a zombie…”

“You have to let me… find you, okay?”

“There must be… there must be something I’ve missed.” Wen Zhao muttered to herself. Since Little Mi could go back safely, then there must be a passage here that could lead to the outside world.

Wen Zhao turned around and stumbled out again.

She walked the way she had come, went down the special elevator for transporting medical waste, and entered the cave. In the cave, she found two filter masks and picked them up.

The blood in one of the masks had already dried.

Wen Zhao’s lips moved, and her eyes turned red. She rolled and crawled towards the light in front.

The steel frame that had been set up between the cave and the incinerator had already collapsed. She missed her step and rolled down the cliff. Fortunately, there were trees as a buffer. Even so, it took her a long time to get up, covered in wounds. She picked up the Mountain Stream Snow and limped forward.

She walked to the open space below the incinerator and found the crushed mutated monkey under the collapsed steel frame.

Even the corpse looked particularly terrifying, with its peeled skin, a body full of pustules, and sharp nails and the mane on its long tail standing on end.

Monkeys are the primates that are most similar to humans. They are agile and cunning by nature. It was hard to imagine how terrifying its combat power would be if it were zombified, and how much Jiang Zao had suffered to kill it here.

Wen Zhao walked forward, but her foot suddenly stepped on a small bump on the flat ground. She lifted her foot and dug it out of the sand. When she saw clearly what it was, tears streamed down her face.

“Happy birthday. Oh, no, happy rebirth day.”

“What a beautiful red bean earring. Did you make it yourself?”

“Yes. Go and try it on.”

“Is it pretty?”

The woman stood on her tiptoes, a smile on her face, and the way she asked her “is it pretty” was still vivid in her mind.

At that time, she had wanted to kiss her, but at that time, Jiang Zao had not yet clarified her own feelings. She could only suppress this throbbing and just look at her gently, without stinginess in her praise.

“It’s beautiful. Even more beautiful than I imagined you would look in them. The conditions are limited now. When the apocalypse is over, I’ll get you something better.”

“This is very good now. I like it very much. This is the… most special birthday present I’ve ever received.”

Wen Zhao held the sea red bean, which was almost crushed into pieces, and large teardrops fell.

The sand under her feet had been soaked dark red with blood, and the splash of blood extended far into the distance.

She ran along the blood trail in disbelief until she rushed into the building. She looked at the splash of blood on the ground, which had turned into a long trail of blood, as if someone had dragged her, who was seriously injured, here. A few zombies were still wandering at the entrance of the canteen.

Wen Zhao rushed in.

Finally, she found her in the ventilation duct.

Jiang Zao had been lying here alone for three days. She was unwilling to be disemboweled by the zombies after she died, without even a complete corpse, and she was also unwilling to harm others after she turned into a zombie.

So, the moment the horde of zombies broke through the door, she had used the last of her strength to stand up, jumped onto a chair with one foot, grabbed the exposed cable from the ceiling, and pulled herself up bit by bit, crawling into the ventilation duct.

She had nothing with her. All her personal belongings had been lost in the fierce battle. She didn’t even have a single thing to comfort her. She could only hold herself tightly, curl up, and cry helplessly, fighting against the environment she was most afraid of, and quietly waiting for death to come in the darkness.

She couldn’t feel the wind, couldn’t see the light, and couldn’t even hear any sound. In the end, even the severe pain in her body became numb.

All five senses were lost.

Is… is this what death feels like?

So… so hell is also pitch black.

Until a drizzle of water fell from the darkness.

Is… is it raining?

She struggled to move her fingers. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to open her eyes, but now only her fingers could move.

From the moment she had found her red bean earring, Wen Zhao had been sobbing. It wasn’t until now, when she saw her lying in the dark and narrow ventilation duct, which could only accommodate one adult, that she finally couldn’t help but wail.

Her Little Zao is so afraid of the dark…

A person who had to carry a flashlight and a fire source wherever she went, how did she stay in a place like this for three days by herself?

“Little Zao… Little Zao… don’t be afraid… I’ll take you home… we’re going home… we’re going home…”

She gently lifted her head, held her hand, and felt that there was almost no warmth. Tears fell again.

The warm tears dripped on Jiang Zao’s face, drop by drop.

Her fingers twitched slightly.

Although it was imperceptible, Wen Zhao, who was holding her hand tightly, immediately noticed it. She gently held her head, and even her voice was trembling slightly.

“Little Zao, Little Zao, can you hear me? You’re still alive… you’re still alive, right…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m late. I let you stay here alone for so long. But don’t punish me like this, okay? I beg you… I beg you to look at me again…”

She lowered her head deeply, like a devout believer, and prayed to heaven in front of her.

“A-Zhao…”

A faint call suddenly came from her ear. The voice was so small and light that she almost thought it was a hallucination.

“Is… is it you?”

“It’s… it’s me… Little Zao, it’s me. I’m here… don’t be afraid… don’t be afraid… I’ll take you out right away…”

“We’ll go back and find Doctor Yan… she will definitely have a way… she will definitely have a way to make you better.”

Wen Zhao held her hand and put it in her own palm, trying to warm it up. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t transfer a single bit of warmth from her body into Jiang Zao’s hand.

She could even feel that the temperature of her body was getting lower and lower, and her whole person was as cold as a block of ice.

“A-Zhao… don’t… don’t waste your energy…”

Jiang Zao could feel her holding her hand tightly, and tears were falling. Some of them also fell into her neck, and a glimmer of life was reignited in her dying life.

“I… I want… to see… the snow mountain… one last time.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll take you. I’ll take you wherever you want to see a snow mountain!”

Wen Zhao carried her out of the ventilation duct, carried her on her back, and was afraid that she would slip off her back. She held her arms, which were hanging on both sides of her neck, with one hand.

And so, the two wounded people struggled to climb to the top floor of the incinerator workers’ dormitory.

This five-story building was already the tallest building in the vicinity. She pushed open the door to the rooftop, and a breeze blew past, facing the wilderness.

The sky was showing a fish-belly white.

In the direction where the dawn was breaking and the morning glow was rising, it was not only the direction of Chongming Snow Mountain, but also the direction of home.

“Little Zao, look… the sky is about to brighten.”

Jiang Zao struggled to open her eyes. Now, just the action of opening her eyes required her to mobilize all her strength, and her little remaining energy was exhausted.

Because she had been in the darkness for a long time, the moment she opened her eyes, the strong light and the sound of the wind rushed into her world. Her pupils were a little painful, and she began to cry without any warning.

Wen Zhao reached out and covered her eyes from the somewhat dazzling morning glow. The colorful halo condensed in her palm and also shone on the two of them, who were holding each other tightly.

“So beautiful…”

Jiang Zao sighed.

“Do you… do you still remember… the time we… went to climb… Chongming Snow Mountain?”

“Of course I do.”

That was a memory that Wen Zhao would never be able to erase in her life.

Her words at that time, and her now-sobbing voice, echoed in Jiang Zao’s mind.

“I am a person without a past. It is your appearance that has made me full of expectations for the future. At this moment, the mountains are my witness. My love for you is as eternal as the mountains, and will never change until death.”

“Will you… be willing to spend the rest of your life with me in this chaotic and complex world?”

Wen Zhao took off the hemp rope from her neck and was about to put the ring she had lost back on her ring finger, but it was a little difficult to put on because of Jiang Zao’s swollen and congested fingers from her many injuries.

She gritted her teeth, and tears streamed down her face. She had to open the coil a little more before she could successfully put the ring on her.

This time, Jiang Zao did not answer her with a smile.

“I’m willing. This will be the most important and bravest decision of my life.”

She just had a hint of a smile on her lips, and she looked at her with tears in her eyes. “A-Zhao… to be able to… see you again… and to hear you… say these things to me… I’m really…”

“Very happy.”

“It’s just that this time… the one who broke the promise… is me.”

“Promise me… after I’m gone… you will also live on well… okay?”

“No… no, no, no…”

Wen Zhao squeezed her hand and pressed it against her own cheek. Tears fell like broken strings of pearls.

“I finally… finally found you… you know, I can’t live without you…”

She was already sobbing.

“I beg you… I beg you not to leave me alone… I, I have nothing left. If I had known that you would become like this for me, then I would rather the one who died was me…”

“Little Zao, Little Zao, don’t be so cruel to me, okay… you know, a world without you has no meaning to me…”

Jiang Zao didn’t say anything. She just used the strength of her hand to gently touch her cheek. The moment her fingertips were stained with the hot tears, tears also quietly slid down.

Just now, the environment in the ventilation duct was too dark. It wasn’t until this moment that Wen Zhao finally saw clearly how seriously she was injured. There was almost no good skin on her entire body. The palm of her hand, which was on the back of her head, was also sticky.

Not to mention the through-and-through wound on her chest, and the bloody mark on her shoulder that had been scratched by the mutated monkey. The monkey’s nails were a dozen centimeters long, and it had almost opened a bloody hole in her shoulder.

And the through-and-through wound on her leg, where the skin and flesh were broken. The steel bar had almost pierced her muscle, and even the white bone could be seen.

She… she must be in so much pain!

So much pain!

Wen Zhao almost cried out loud.

Jiang Zao gently wiped the tears from her face.

The sun was about to rise, but her voice was getting smaller and smaller.

“A-Zhao… I… my own body… I know… it’s… already… incurable.”

“This life… to be able to… meet you…”

“I’m very happy.”

Jiang Zao smiled and sniffled.

“Promise me… live on well… live on well…”

“Let… let me go without any worries… okay?”

“Little Zao… Little Zao… I…”

Wen Zhao lowered her head, and large teardrops fell. She opened her mouth in vain, as if she wanted to say something, but Jiang Zao did not wait for her answer. The hand that was on her cheek gently slid down.

“Little Zao… no!!!”

Wen Zhao gently shook her body, then took her hand in disbelief and pressed it against her own cheek, trying to tell herself that this was not a dream that she had woven from her last moments.

The hand that was on her cheek would gently slide down if she didn’t use force, and her eyes would never open again, and she would never call her “A-Zhao” in an intimate and playful way.

This was the first time she had experienced the true meaning of the word “heartbroken.” She bent down deeply, and a hysterical cry came from her throat, almost suffocating her with pain.

The entire rooftop echoed with her heartbroken cries.

The sky was bright, but it was snowing again.

As if to send off the girl who liked snow.

Was this God’s memorial for them?

The falling snowflakes covered them like a thin veil.

Wen Zhao tremblingly took out the broken red bean earring from her pocket. The red bean was broken, but the small blue-green stone on the string was still there.

This was Jiang Zao’s favorite earring. Ever since she had given it to her, she had never taken it off.

She gently passed the earring through her ear and put it on for her. She also wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve, bit by bit, just as Jiang Zao had once done for her, carefully tidying up all her appearance.

Her seaweed-like silver hair was scattered on her lap. She was still so beautiful, as if she were asleep.

Wen Zhao reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair by her cheek behind her ear, bent down, and printed a kiss on her lover’s cold forehead.

The wind was howling. The blade of the Mountain Stream Snow, which was stuck in the ground beside her, was blown by the strong wind and made a clanging sound.

Since the mountain stream was gone, then the Mountain Stream Snow… had no meaning to exist.

Wen Zhao just took it out and looked at it, and took off the peace knot pendant that Jiang Zao had personally made from the scabbard.

“Old friend, goodbye.”

Her fingers caressed the snow-white blade of the Mountain Stream Snow inch by inch, as if she were reminiscing about the days they had fought side by side.

Then she gently leaned it against the rooftop.

After doing all this, she took out a rope from her backpack, tied one end to Jiang Zao’s wrist, and the other end firmly to her own arm, one circle after another.

“Little Zao, I know… you don’t want to become a zombie.”

She picked her up in her arms, walked to the edge of the rooftop step by step, and stood there. The strong wind blew their hair and the hems of their clothes, and the black and white were intertwined.

“This way… even death cannot separate us.”

“Then it’s a deal. We’ll always, always be together. No one is allowed to leave first.”

“Alright. If you lie, you’re a puppy.”

Wen Zhao stared at her pale, snow-like face, a hint of a smile on her lips. She gently closed her eyes.

Her name is Jiang Zao, my lover. She died on April 29, 2079, the day of her rebirth, at dawn.

My world has no dawn from now on, only a long and endless night.

The moment Wen Zhao was about to take a step down, a sonic boom came from the direction where the morning glow was rising, from far to near.

The huge sound of a helicopter circling sounded overhead. The strong wind lifted the strands of hair on her forehead. She looked up in a hurry.

Facing the morning sun.

The black wings had a familiar red paint.