Chapter 83: Annihilation
Perhaps because of her current appearance, which was enough to make Qingshan let down her guard, or perhaps for the convenience of being intimate with her, ever since Yan Zhen had left, the iron chains that had been binding her four limbs had not been put back on.
Qingshan elegantly finished her dinner. The vegetable porridge had not yet been served. She was a little impatient with the wait. She rang the bell again with no response. As sensitive as she was, she finally sensed that something was wrong.
She glanced at Jiang Zao. Jiang Zao was still closing her eyes, her breathing even. Ever since she was injured, she had been like this, sleeping more and being awake less.
Perhaps something had happened outside.
Qingshan tucked her in and got up to leave without any guard. Just as she turned around.
Jiang Zao moved.
No one knew where she had gotten the strength. A seriously injured person with tubes still attached to her body had actually gotten up from the bed, holding a scalpel in her hand, and stabbed it hard at her carotid artery.
A line of blood spurted out.
Qingshan covered her neck, a hint of disbelief in her eyes. She stumbled back a few steps and looked at Jiang Zao, unable to speak.
Drip, drip—
Drip, drip—
Thick blood slid down from between her fingers.
This was the first time she had seen a murderous intent in Jiang Zao’s eyes.
The smell of blood made the zombie that was tied to the cross even more agitated. The iron chains rattled, and it let out a roar.
Just the simple action of swinging a knife made the current Jiang Zao feel a little weak. She was panting heavily. She pulled out the various instruments that were attached to her body one by one, pulled out the IV needle on the back of her hand, got out of bed, and walked towards her, clutching her chest.
Qingshan looked at her actions. Fresh blood was constantly flowing out from between her fingers. “You… you actually… want to kill me?!”
“From the day you forced me to stay by your side, didn’t you ever think that this day would come?”
Jiang Zao held the scalpel in a reverse grip and walked towards her step by step. Although her body was swaying, her steps were extremely firm.
“At first, I just wanted to leave this place. It was you who forced me to become like this today. I only hate myself for not doing it sooner…”
Jiang Zao approached her step by step. Looking at her head, which was so close, she raised the scalpel in her hand high.
“Kill you!”
Just as the blade was about to fall, Qingshan let out a strange laugh, covering her neck.
“Heh heh… hehehe…”
The sound was like grinding teeth, and also like a shriek. Jiang Zao’s head buzzed, and there was another sharp ringing in her ears.
She stumbled, and Qingshan had already grabbed her by the neck. Her strength was also surprisingly great. She lifted her with just one hand. Jiang Zao’s feet slowly left the ground, and her face gradually turned purple.
Jiang Zao noticed that her neck, which had just been gushing with fresh blood, only had a deep scratch when Qingshan let go.
A hint of horror appeared in her eyes, as if she had seen something that was completely impossible.
How could someone survive for so long after having their carotid artery cut, and even be able to move as usual?
Jiang Zao belatedly thought of something, and her eyes suddenly widened. The hand that was on her neck gradually tightened.
She could no longer say a complete sentence.
“You… you… it turns out… you are…”
Qingshan licked the blood from the corner of her lips.
“Are you very strange? Why does the anesthetic not work on me at all? Why don’t the zombies actively approach me? Why do I like to eat raw meat? Why have I lost so much blood, but I still won’t die? And it’s because I…”
Qingshan suddenly tightened her fingers.
“Am, a, god.”
Jiang Zao’s eyeballs were about to pop out, and the scalpel in her hand also fell to the ground with a clang.
The air in her lungs was being squeezed out bit by bit. Just as she was about to suffocate, a figure rushed out from behind Qingshan.
The moment she sensed a wind coming from behind.
Qingshan turned her head, and the dagger in Yan Zhen’s hand landed on her shoulder, deeply embedded.
“Even you… betrayed me…”
When she turned her face, the sinister and treacherous expression still made Yan Zhen let go of the dagger and stumble back a few steps.
Taking advantage of the moment her grip loosened from the pain, Jiang Zao’s eyes sharpened. Her left hand quickly punched her elbow, and at the same time, her right elbow hit her temple.
Qingshan’s vision went black, and Jiang Zao fell to the ground. She kicked her in the abdomen.
Jiang Zao spat out a mouthful of blood, and her body flew out, hitting Yan Zhen. The two of them fell to the ground together.
The severe pain from her chest made her vision a little blurry. The roars of the zombies and Yan Zhen’s continuous calls came from her ears.
“Hey, wake up! Wake up quickly!”
Seeing that she still had no reaction, Yan Zhen bit off the needle cap with her teeth and stuck a shot of adrenaline into her heart. In the urgency of Qingshan’s approach, large beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and she quickly pushed the liquid in.
The already silent heart, under the injection of the drug, burst into life again. Countless cells gathered together, then quickly divided, and rushed to the limbs and bones.
Thump, thump—
Thump, thump—
The heartbeat gradually returned to its rhythm, steady and powerful.
Jiang Zao did not know that her body was undergoing a earth-shattering change. She just opened her eyes in that instant, held Yan Zhen, and dodged the scepter that was falling from Qingshan’s hand with a backflip.
A white mark was left on the ground in front of her.
Jiang Zao was panting, her hands on the ground, clutching her chest.
Yan Zhen got up from the ground and helped her up.
“How are you?!”
“I… I’m fine…”
Looking at Qingshan, who was walking over step by step, Jiang Zao first noticed her normally moving legs.
It seemed that her limp was all an act to deceive people.
Jiang Zao pushed her hand away.
“You… you go… don’t mind me…”
This time, Yan Zhen did not let go of her. She gritted her teeth, held her by the waist, and dragged her back with all her might.
“If we go, we go together. You can’t beat her!”
Jiang Zao looked at Qingshan. If it were her and A-Zhao at their peak, they might have been able to fight her.
But now…
Although the wound on her chest was no longer bleeding, the severe pain still made her head spin.
Jiang Zao knew that she could not last long.
She had decided to assassinate Qingshan, and she had already embraced the idea of dying if she did not succeed. There was no need to drag others down with her.
To live on in humiliation under Qingshan without any dignity was worse than death.
A fierce light erupted in Jiang Zao’s eyes. She struggled to stand up and pushed Yan Zhen away.
“I… I know… I’ll… hold her off.”
“Jiang Zao…”
Yan Zhen looked at her swaying back as she stood in front of her, trying to stand up straight, and silently bit her lower lip.
Qingshan twirled the scepter in her hand and pressed it against a protrusion on the wall. “None of you will leave today.”
When the tip of the staff poked the mechanism, the heavy stone door did not close. A loud noise came from behind.
With a creak, the mechanism stopped turning.
A figure had inserted an ice axe into the crack in the stone.
Jiang Zao turned her head, and a hint of joy appeared in her eyes.
“Little Mi…”
Before she could finish, a violent tremor suddenly came from the basement. The huge impact made Jiang Zao’s body shake violently.
The chain reaction from the explosion in the armory made stones fall from the ceiling, and the entire basement was on the verge of collapsing.
Yan Zhen supported Jiang Zao. “Let’s go!”
“None of you will leave!”
Qingshan’s body swayed, and a bullet from the darkness hit her body, forcing her to take a step back.
The muzzle of the gun in Li Mi’s hand was smoking.
Qingshan spat out a mouthful of blood.
The next second, a huge rock fell from the ceiling.
“An An!”
Her pupils shrank. She pounced on the zombie that was tied to the cross. Li Mi also grabbed their hands at this moment.
“Big sister! Let’s go!”
Jiang Zao did not forget to pull out the ice axe that was stuck in the crack in the stone.
The heavy stone door fell behind them.
***
When the first zombie rushed into the church, Lorian was still being punished. The wooden door was suddenly kicked open, and a zombie pounced in, killing the church attendant who was whipping him. Then it raised its head and pounced on him with its bloody mouth open.
Lorian was tied to a cross. He raised his leg and smashed its head with a high whip kick. The military boot hit the zombie’s temple hard, and the zombie fell backward.
He used his toes to hook the church attendant’s body over, bent down, and took the key from his waist. He opened the shackles on his wrists and fell to the ground, covered in blood.
The gunshots outside were getting more and more intense.
Lorian didn’t have time to think. He stumbled out the door, and after dealing with a few more zombies that had rushed in, the moment he rushed out of the church door, a towering flame also rose into the sky.
A loud noise, along with a shockwave, sent him flying.
When Lorian opened his eyes again, the camp had already become a hell on earth, with zombies raging everywhere.
People were struggling in the sea of fire, crying, and begging for the Lord’s forgiveness, but they had completely forgotten their innate instinct—
To resist.
Lorian picked up the gun that a dead soldier had dropped and stumbled towards the stone house.
***
When the mushroom cloud rose into the sky, Wen Zhao also lay on her stomach, avoiding the shockwave from the explosion.
After the explosion was over, she spat out the gravel in her mouth, got up from the ground, and continued to walk towards the church.
Zombies had also rushed into the camp. Some people were fleeing in all directions, while some were still kneeling on the ground and praying, letting the zombies bite off their necks.
There were also surviving soldiers who were still fighting, pulling the trigger at the zombies and the oncoming Wen Zhao.
But his movements were not as fast as Wen Zhao’s. The moment he raised his gun, a bloody hole had already appeared on his chest.
When she passed by the square, the crowd was the most concentrated. They were mostly the Prophet’s most loyal followers.
These people rushed towards her one after another. The soldiers and the people in long robes fell one by one.
The shotgun in Wen Zhao’s hand was already out of bullets. She looked at the bodies on the ground. The blood had almost formed a river, slowly flowing down the stone steps of the high platform.
She threw away the shotgun and was about to turn and leave.
But someone from the crowd stood up, picked up a dead soldier’s gun, and aimed it at her with a trembling hand.
“You… you murderer! Go to hell!”
Wen Zhao drew her handgun from her waist. Without even looking, she stretched her arm out to the side and back and pulled the trigger.
The woman fell backward.
“Teacher Meng!”
A scream came from the crowd again.
A half-grown boy with tears streaming down his face took the gun from Teacher Meng’s hand and pulled the trigger at Wen Zhao.
The first bullet hit the ground by her feet, splashing a cloud of dust. Wen Zhao was stunned for a moment, then turned around and pulled the trigger without any hesitation.
A line of blood spurted out.
The boy was shot in the forehead and fell backward.
“Teacher Meng, Little Fang! She’s killed so many of us! Let’s get her! Let’s get her!”
The crowd on the high platform all rushed down.
Wen Zhao curled her lips slightly and pulled the trigger without any mercy. A rain of blood fell.
After she ran out of bullets, she drew the Mountain Stream Snow from her back and swung it again and again, with a blank expression.
Whether it was a zombie or something else.
As long as they dared to block her way, she would kill them one by one. It was as if only this could fill the emptiness in her heart.
Her arm was already so heavy that she could barely lift it.
The ground under her feet was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Wen Zhao’s hair was even stained with blood, and it dripped down her cheeks, drop by drop.
The breeze swayed the ends of her hair, and the white panda head on her hair tie had long been soaked in blood.
She knelt on the ground, panting heavily with her hands on the hilt of her knife. Another person rushed over. Wen Zhao swung the Mountain Stream Snow again and cut him in half at the waist. The man fell backward into the pile of corpses.
Only one person was left on the square.
Old En looked at the dead-silent camp, the bodies lying on the ground, the zombies that were raging and feeding everywhere, the trampled vegetable patch, the collapsed houses, and the farm that was smoking in the distance.
He tremblingly picked up the gun that had fallen on the ground.
Wen Zhao forcefully pulled the Mountain Stream Snow out of the body, turned around, and stumbled down the pile of corpses.
“You saved me… I won’t kill you. You can go by yourself.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a gunshot came from behind.
Old En’s hand, which was holding the gun, slowly slid down from his temple. He faced the direction of the farm and slowly closed his eyes.
A fish-belly white appeared on the horizon.
Cool raindrops fell.
Wen Zhao closed her eyes.
“A-Zhao…”
She thought it was a hallucination from blood loss, but the next second she opened her eyes, she saw the person she had been thinking about day and night.
Wen Zhao couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Little, Little Zao…”
The Mountain Stream Snow in her hand also fell to the ground with a clang.
Jiang Zao had already stumbled towards her, pounced into her arms, and held her waist tightly.
“I thought… I thought… I’d never see you again… A-Zhao… A-Zhao…”
Wen Zhao carefully raised her hand, as if she were afraid of disturbing this dream. She looked at her blood-stained hand and couldn’t bear to let it fall on her face. She wiped it on her side again and again and raised it with a trembling hand.
But Jiang Zao grabbed her hand and caressed her own cheek. The moment they touched, tears welled up in both of their eyes without any warning.
At this moment, Wen Zhao finally felt that she had returned to the human world from hell. She pulled Jiang Zao into her arms.
“Little Zao, Little Zao… you’re finally awake… I thought you… I thought you… were with Qingshan…”
“It was Doctor Yan who saved me.”
Wen Zhao looked behind her.
In the ruins, Yan Zhen and Little Mi stood together. The former nodded gently at her, her white coat also covered in blood.
A yellow and black little dog crawled out of the ruins of the explosion, barking and running over. Li Mi squatted down.
“Kele!”
The person and the dog also held each other tightly.
There were still surviving zombies that had gathered around.
Wen Zhao let go of her and helped her up from the ground.
“Let’s go. Let’s… let’s leave this place first.”
The moment she stood up, her knees went weak without any warning, and she fell straight into Jiang Zao’s arms.
The person who had been holding on with gritted teeth for so long finally collapsed from exhaustion the moment she saw Jiang Zao.
“A-Zhao! A-Zhao! Doctor Yan…”
Jiang Zao’s eyes welled up with tears. She shook her body and then looked at Yan Zhen with a pleading gaze.
“Let me see.”
Yan Zhen ran over and was about to undo her clothes to check her injuries when Wen Zhao weakly shook her head, her face as pale as paper.
“I… I’m fine… let’s leave first…”
A figure walked out of the deepest darkness before dawn. Before the others could notice, Kele had already pounced on him, biting Lorian’s right hand, which was holding a gun.
And a shot was also fired, and the bullet landed in front of them. Jiang Zao instantly pounced on Wen Zhao.
Yan Zhen also jumped away and hid behind a cover.
“He has a gun. You guys come over here!”
Lorian cried out in pain. The gun in his hand fell to the ground. He punched Kele in the face. Kele let out a mournful cry and let go, rolling on the ground.
“Kele!”
Li Mi instantly flew up and hit him in the abdomen with a straight punch. Lorian took a few steps back, wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, and looked at the collapsed stone house beside him, his eyes filled with shock and heartache.
He straightened his back and opened his clothes.
“You killed the Prophet… and let the zombies in. You think you can leave? It’s not that easy!”
Wen Zhao raised her head weakly and saw a circle of self-made steel ball bombs tied to his body. Her pupils instantly shrank.
But the person beside her was like she had seen a very terrifying scene. A human-shaped monster was slowly crawling out of the pile of rocks behind him. Her long hair was almost touching the ground, and her nails were sharp. She was struggling to crawl out of the ground bit by bit.
Qingshan placed the dying An An beside her.
Lorian heard the noise behind him and turned his head, a hint of joy in his eyes.
“Prophet…”
Before he could finish, he suddenly widened his eyes.
Qingshan bit his neck and greedily sucked his blood, tearing off a large piece of flesh from his neck.
A large amount of blood spurted out.
This bloody and horrifying scene made everyone stunned on the spot, unable to come to their senses for a long time.
Yan Zhen sat on the ground with a thud. Even the fur on Kele’s back stood on end, and it tucked its tail between its legs.
Lorian clutched his neck and fell down with a look of disbelief. The blood that was constantly flowing from the corner of his lips soon blocked his airway, making it impossible for him to say a complete sentence.
He could only open his eyes, choke, and struggle to raise his finger. Before he could touch Qingshan’s clothes, he slowly slid down.
Li Mi picked up the gun on the ground. Before she could raise the muzzle, Qingshan had already turned her head sharply. Her long hair was flying in the wind. Before they could see her movements, Li Mi was grabbed by the neck, thrown out, and rolled on the ground.
The gun in her hand also fell far away.
Wen Zhao stood up shakily with the help of the Mountain Stream Snow.
“You… you guys go… I… I’ll cover the rear.”
“No.”
Jiang Zao turned her head and smiled sweetly.
“A-Zhao, I think it’s time for me to settle things with her.”
“Little Zao…”
Wen Zhao’s outstretched hand was still in mid-air. Jiang Zao had already picked up her ice axe and was pouncing on Qingshan.
