Chapter 67 Lost

This is an ancient city with a river running through its center, which has been renovated and looks brand new. Stilted bamboo houses stand on both sides of the river, and beyond that are ordinary gray-walled and black-tiled houses. At first glance, it has a bit of the image of the misty Jiangnan region, but upon closer inspection, it is not quite the same. It clearly has its own unique river scenery.

The car drove around the city, and the further in they went, the more zombies they saw. The group decided to head directly to Deer Cry Mountain, upstream of the river.

It was a low hill with a pavilion built on top. Although it wasn't high, it was just enough to overlook the ancient city.

As dawn broke, the morning fog was thick, and the air was damp with moisture. On one side of the mountain path was a cliff, and on the other side was the scenery of the ancient city.

Bai Chenzhu rested his arm on the car window, looking down at the ancient city below the mountain. He could vaguely see densely packed surging activity in some places, and scattered moving dots like black sesame seeds in others.

He seemed to remember something, took out a crumpled promotional picture of the ancient city, and pointed his pale finger, which he usually sat in the office for years, at Luming Mountain. "From upstream to downstream, a total of four bridges have been built: Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon. The downstream area has the most zombies, so we need to be careful."

"With Brother Bai here, what's there to be afraid of!" Bai Tao, sitting in the back seat, was full of confidence and couldn't wait. She clasped her hands together and said, "Brother Bai will go and investigate the location of the fragments later. Then we'll go get the fragments, and we'll leave! After that, we can go to the last place!"

"Oh my god, this gives me goosebumps." Tang Zhao was craning his neck to look outside when he heard this and pulled his head back. "Those mutants are moving like sesame seeds. It's giving me trypophobia."

As they were talking, the car drove up the hill. There was a pavilion on the hilltop, and the car stopped in front of it. Everyone got out of the car and stood on the hilltop looking down.

"Wow!" Bai Tao bent over, raised her hand to shield her eyes from the glaring sunlight, and looked down. The river flowed slowly, and the light and shadow shimmered. She exclaimed, "How beautiful!"

Tang Zhao pointed to the side and said, "Look at the zombies by the river. What's so beautiful about them?"

"Ew~" Bai Tao made a disgusted sound.

Zhou Zhuohua found the sunlight too dazzling, so she shielded her eyes for a while before slowly getting out of the car. She looked around and asked Bai Chenzhu, "Is the view from here good enough? Isn't the area a bit too big? Maybe we can go to all the surrounding mountains."

Bai Chenzhu stepped forward.

Jiang Ye stood behind Bai Chenzhu with his arms crossed and asked, "Why don't you try it first?"

"Hmm." Bai Chenzhu pointed to his forehead. If someone could see the spiritual body, they would see countless spiritual threads emerging from Bai Chenzhu's body and flying towards the ancient city.

The shimmering silver threads passed through the glazed roof of the nearest wind bridge, flew over the emerald green river, and weaved into the streets.

The detached mutants sensed the fluctuations in mental energy, opened their bloody mouths, howled at each other, and lunged at the air, only to find nothing.

The ancient city covers a vast area, and the further one goes, the more mental energy is consumed.

As time passed, apart from Bai Chenzhu who was still exploring, the others gradually relaxed and began to look for shady places to rest.

The surrounding area was open, so they didn't need to worry about attacks from the mutants.

Even so, Jiang Ye stayed with Bai Chenzhu, while the others went to rest in the shade of the trees by the car. Tang Zhao climbed the tree to pick fruit, while Bai Tao and Zhou Zhuohua caught it under the tree.

As the spiritual thread crossed the flower bridge, Bai Chenzhu sensed that something was wrong.

An extremely familiar spiritual force was moving at an incredible speed within his field of vision!

The speed was too fast, so fast that Bai Chenzhu could only vaguely sense the intensity of its spiritual power. It was so fast that he didn't have time to think for more than a few minutes about what the afterimage carrying spiritual power was before the spiritual power had already crossed the wind bridge.

Where did it go?

Wait, this direction... it's heading towards Deer Cry Mountain!

Bai Chenzhu finally realized that it was a different kind of zombie, rushing towards them at a speed that was difficult for him to track!

Just as he was about to warn everyone, he heard Bai Tao scream before he could react: "It's a zombie!"

A strange roar suddenly rang out, accompanied by the muffled thuds of a fight.

"Ah Zhu!"

Bai Chenzhu suddenly opened his eyes, the sound of sharp claws piercing his body was close to his ears, and warm blood splattered on his face.

A giant with a livid face stood before him, casting a shadow over them, its claws piercing Jiang Ye's right shoulder.

It was incredibly tall, like a small mountain, with bulging muscles and a ferocious appearance. Its pair of gray eyes locked onto Bai Chenzhu. Bai Chenzhu's pupils contracted sharply, and all his mental threads were drawn back, striking the giant's head with all their might.

The giant seemed to sense his mental power, withdrew its claws, quickly performed several backflips, left afterimages in mid-air, and then leaped onto the top of the car in the next second.

Its strength was so great that it easily crushed the car by pushing off with its hind legs onto the roof. Not satisfied, it quickly jumped up and slammed onto the car, which groaned as it collapsed to the ground.

Zhou Zhuohua drew his gun, quickly aimed at the giant, his gaze cold and sharp.

The bullet pierced the giant's body, and it howled, stood up on its vehicle, and glared fiercely at the group.

"My car!" Bai Tao and Tang Zhao rushed forward anxiously, ready to kill the mutant.

Bai Chenzhu supported Jiang Ye, who was facing away from him. Jiang Ye leaned against him, and he could hear Jiang Ye's painful breathing and his rising body temperature.

Everything happened too fast and too quickly; no one was prepared to face a formidable enemy.

He smelled gasoline the moment the zombie jumped off the car.

"Danger! Get out of the car!" Bai Chenzhu shouted, his face losing its composure.

"Run!" Jiang Ye's words rang out almost at the same time as his.

The smell of gasoline grew stronger, and after the giant's next bounce, a piercing explosion and a sky full of sparks and smoke appeared on the hilltop.

The flames from the explosion made his face burn, and Bai Chenzhu instinctively closed his eyes. At the moment of the explosion, Jiang Ye decisively grabbed him and jumped off the mountain.

He reached out and saw only blue sky. His eyes were stung by the light and heat, and everything blurred into a blur of light and shadow. His ears were ringing from the explosion. He moved his lips, but before he could speak, he had already plummeted from the sky into the river, creating a splash.

——

Bai Chenzhu was awakened by the sun. The dazzling light made him dizzy, and he could still hear the static from the old TV. He covered his head and shook it.

Hilltop, car, explosion... He remembered everything, quickly looked up, and found Jiang Ye holding him with great strength. The two of them were caught on the stage in the middle of the river, which prevented them from being swept away by the current. Because of this, the zombies were able to not swallow him alive.

Bai Chenzhu felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the mutated creatures on the shore. He looked down at his own body, which was otherwise unharmed except for minor injuries from the mutated fish. Frustrated, he grabbed the mutated fish that had been biting his clothes and threw it far away in an arc.

Fortunately, there aren't many fish in the river, otherwise one fish could bite someone and they would be gone.

Bai Chenzhu looked around and nudged the unconscious person beside him, "Jiang Ye? Jiang Ye!"

There was no response.

Bai Chenzhu wiped the water off his face, struggled to pry Jiang Ye's hands open, pushed Jiang Ye onto the stage, and then, with a burst of strength, climbed onto the stage as well, using both hands to pry open the wood.

He couldn't swim, and sitting on the stage looking around at the flowing water, he didn't know how to get back to shore and could only pin his hopes on Jiang Ye.

Bai Chenzhu examined Jiang Ye's body and found a dark, bloody hole on his right shoulder, along with other minor injuries that were probably caused by bites from the mutated fish.

Why is his face so pale? Bai Chenzhu's heart skipped a beat. She checked his breathing; it was hot and heavy, a sign that he was about to catch a fever.

"Jiang Ye, wake up." Bai Chenzhu patted his face. "This is not a place to rest."

Jiang Ye did not react.

Bai Chenzhu paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Sorry." Then he slapped down with a big, forceful fan.

It made a loud snapping sound.

Jiang Ye opened his eyes groggily, looking somewhat bewildered, not knowing what had happened.

it works!

Bai Chenzhu's eyes flickered slightly as he raised his right hand.

Snap—

"Wait!" Jiang Ye was fully awake.

He gasped for breath, covering his face. "Can't you be a little gentler?"

So Bai Chenzhu, with her refined and handsome face, gently asked him, "Would you like another one? You can have an unlimited number."

"Continue my nonsense!" Jiang Ye shoved Bai Chenzhu aside and got up to sit up. He covered his face and stared blankly for a while before he could sort out his memories. He looked around and made the same judgment as Bai Chenzhu.

We need to find a way to get back to shore first.

Bai Chenzhu pointed to the bridge not far away, which had a gaudy sign that read 'Snow Bridge'.

"Romantic scenes, if we follow this order, we're in the middle to lower reaches. What a close call! A little further down and we would have been pushed by the river to the downstream area with the most zombies." Bai Chenzhu said with lingering fear.

Even so, there were still many zombies around. At first glance, it felt like the bustling ancient city, with tourists coming and going, some even wearing distinctive ancient costumes—if you ignored their ugly limbs and twisted movements.

Jiang Ye was somewhat dazed again. He shook his head, trying to stay awake, but he didn't have the energy to think anymore. Trusting Bai Chenzhu, he asked, "You decide, which way do we go?"

Bai Chenzhu had already thought it through. He pointed to a row of stone steps that crossed the river between the snow bridge and the stage. The steps were spaced one step apart, presumably for tourists to cross the river to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

“We’ll go there, climb the stone steps to the shore, and then go upstream.” Bai Chenzhu tried to ignore the unease in his heart. He still remembered the figures of Zhou Zhuohua and the others dodging in the fire. At that time, there was also that extremely fast zombie. He didn’t know if Zhou Zhuohua and the others had escaped later.

just in case……

Bai Chenzhu didn't dare to think any further and focused her attention on the matter at hand. "Your injury is so serious, and I can't even swim. Is that alright?"

Jiang Ye was a little dazed, and after a long while, he finally responded.

Bai Chenzhu couldn't help but worry, "Are you really okay? You don't seem very clear-headed."

"I'm so sleepy, I can't take it anymore." Jiang Ye rubbed his face vigorously. "I need to hurry, I want to find a place to rest."

After he finished speaking, he jumped into the water without waiting for Bai Chenzhu's reply, and waved to Bai Chenzhu, "Come here, enter the water with your back to me."

Without hesitation, Bai Chenzhu quickly did as he was told. Jiang Ye supported him with both hands and swam towards the stone steps.

His posture made it easy to look at the sky; the sunlight was intense, and it looked like it was already noon.

The water rippled and slid over his chin, and Bai Chenzhu suppressed his fear of the water, his body stiffening like a wooden block. He didn't know how to cooperate, so he tried his best to control himself and not move. When his body was still, his mind simply started thinking about other things.

Why did that mutant target them?

He was scouting the situation when he spotted the incredibly fast, direction-locking mutant...

Bai Chenzhu suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with a chilling light—it was his spiritual power!

Jiang Ye, panting, dragged him up the stone steps and made him rest on the stairs.

Bai Chenzhu sat on the stone steps, watching his head nod little by little, his hands slowly loosening their grip, and he was about to fall into the water. His expression immediately changed.

He grabbed Jiang Ye's arm, and Jiang Ye, regaining some composure, asked weakly, "What's wrong?"

"Come up first." Bai Chenzhu grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go.

Jiang Ye slowly climbed the stone steps, turned his head to the side, and coughed while covering his mouth. Bai Chenzhu touched his forehead, which was burning hot to the touch. "Why are you running a fever again? Is it because of this injury?"

Ordinary things can't hurt Jiang Ye. The last time Jiang Ye was seriously injured was when he fought with Bai Guangzheng. He was bedridden for two days and even had hallucinations.

Although Jiang Ye later explained that it was an upgrade, Bai Chenzhu still felt that being sick was not a good thing.

Jiang Ye covered his forehead and said, "Before the explosion, I fought with that zombie. It was very fast and very strong."

He rolled up his left sleeve to show Bai Chenzhu, who then noticed five scratches on his left shoulder.

"How could that be?" Bai Chenzhu realized what was happening. "You mean, you have more than just the injury on your shoulder?"

How long had it been from the moment he discovered the zombie to when he opened his eyes and saw it? Bai Chenzhu was certain it hadn't been more than five minutes. In such a short time, Jiang Ye had actually engaged in combat with it?

"Fortunately, the bones are fine, just some minor cuts and bruises." Jiang Ye nodded, confirming Bai Chenzhu's guess. "By the way, its target was very clear: you."

"So, Ah Zhu, just to be safe, don't use your mental power anymore."