Chapter 28

G177 Avenue is the main artery connecting G City to other cities. It is an endless expanse of wilderness and towering mountains.

This place is remote and sparsely populated. On the way, you will pass through a long uninhabited area. The nearest transportation hub is more than a thousand kilometers away.

If a car doesn't carry two more tanks of gas, it will break down halfway.

Wen Xin remembered that he had ridden along this road before.

At that time, he had just graduated from university and was somewhat ambitious as a young man. One day, he accidentally saw photos uploaded by a donkey friend on the Internet. The scenery was so beautiful that it made him fascinated.

Looking at the place again, G177 Avenue is right near my home city.

He immediately stood up from his chair and left.

One person, one bicycle, and a backpack for water and food, a standard light load for the battle.

But if someone without any training wants to challenge road cycling, the result can be imagined.

It took him almost an hour to ride the short ten kilometers.

An hour later, Wen Xin had to stop and sit paralyzed on the ground, grimacing as he massaged his twitching calves.

The mission is preceded by failure.

This tragic experience left a deep impression on Wen Xin and made him realize that one should act within one's ability.

At the same time, he still can't forget the warmth of the warm sunshine on his cheeks and the faint scent of grass in the breeze when he leaned against the tree and sighed.

This is the peace that the little fox later felt in Wen Xin’s dream.

Now, the feeling of peace is still there, but the place that brings it has changed a lot.

Wen Xin looked out of the car window.

The clean and smooth roads of the past no longer exist, and abandoned vehicles are everywhere.

Some of them flipped over the guardrails, and some of them collided with several other vehicles. The carriages were still emitting black smoke after the explosion.

Large stains of blood mixed with flesh were smeared irregularly on the road surface. Half of a round object, which looked like a human head, was vaguely visible from the broken guardrail.

Even though he had seen many corpses during this period, Wen Xin still couldn't get used to the dead.

Looking at the pair of bulging gray eyes, he frowned and subconsciously looked away.

Scarface sat on the other side of Wen Xin, glancing over from time to time, fearing that this young master who had just emerged from the Peach Blossom Spring could not handle the excitement.

Seeing Wen Xin frowning and turning away, he immediately cleared his throat, having already thought of some comforting words in his mind.

Unexpectedly, before he could finish his words, the young man turned his head back.

"The zombies couldn't catch up with the car. What happened to them?"

Even the sound is very steady.

Scarface couldn't help but feel surprised.

You have to know that the flesh and bones at the scene were all mixed together, which was much more terrible than a simple zombie bite. However, the young man just had a slightly gloomy look in his eyes and did not show any fear at all.

Think about those new recruits in the base who vomit all over the place when they smell a little blood. I really don’t know who is the young master.

Seeing Scarface staring at him, Wen Xin didn't move or answer, so he asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

The scarred man's mouth curled up, showing a look of delight at seeing talented people.

He simply moved his butt over and pointed at the road with his finger and explained in detail.

"To judge what happened to them, you just need to look around."

Scarface pointed to one of the overturned cars.

"For example, if a single car hits the guardrail, the first thing to look at is the tire marks on the ground. If there are many and crooked marks, it is likely that the person inside the car was infected and turned into a zombie."

"In this case, the zombies are usually still inside the car. You either don't get close, or you must hold something in your hand. If the latter, I suggest you take a gun. Guns can kill zombies in an instant, but other weapons like sticks and knives are not insured."

Wen Xin heard that Scarface wanted to tell him everything, otherwise there would be no need for him to explain it in such detail. His expression changed immediately.

Now is the early stage of the apocalypse, and everyone is in the exploratory stage. Such survival experience is undoubtedly a precious treasure that can save lives at critical moments.

So he listened more carefully to the other person's next words.

Scarface continued, "Look at the cars that crashed into each other and analyze whether the area is wide enough to drive."

"For example, the G177 highway is so wide that three cars can run side by side. Even if a car in front has an accident, the car behind can see it in time and avoid it."

"But they still crashed into each other. Guess why?"

Wen Xin thought for a moment: "Something is chasing them?"

Scarface clapped his hands and said, "Yes, and he was very close."

"Then back to your previous question, I can clearly answer you that if it was an infected person within our knowledge, we would definitely not be able to force these car owners to this extent."

Wen Xin heard that his tone was not right, and remembered the mutant plants and animals that Scarface and the others had mentioned, so he asked, "Could it be a mutant?"

Being mentioned suddenly, the black ball in the young man's arms raised his eyelids, and the other balls also twitched their mouths.

Those who should bury their heads should bury their heads, and those who should turn their heads away should turn their heads away.

Although I didn't do those bad things, as a mutant, I still feel guilty.

Scarface touched his chin and thought so too.

The man with the crew cut was concentrating on driving. He heard their conversation and figured out the problem.

He observed it briefly and stopped the car in front of a crushed scrap car: "Xu Qiang, Wen Li, go and see what kind of mutant it is."

Xu Qiang is the man with scarface, and Wen Li is a young literary man who looks thin and weak but has some muscle when he takes off his clothes.

He claimed that he studied art before the apocalypse, but before he could even pick up a paintbrush, he picked up a brick and smashed the head of the zombie that was about to bite his sister.

After hearing this, Wen Xin also wanted to follow them down to see the situation.

Unfortunately, Wen Li saw through his intention and quickly stopped him: "No one knows what kind of accident will happen. You should stay in the car. It's safe in the car."

Xu Qiang, however, had the opposite idea: "This is a normal person, with all his limbs intact and a healthy body. You can't treat him like a fragile porcelain doll. Moreover, the apocalypse has begun, and it's not certain when it will happen. He will have to face these things sooner or later. Wouldn't it be better to accumulate experience sooner?"

Wen Li was still very hesitant. Xu Qiang took advantage of the moment when he relaxed and dragged Wen Xin out of the car.

"Hey, Xu Qiang!"

Xu Qiang put Wen Li's shouting behind him.

Wen Xin was still holding the black ball in his hand. Xu Qiang pulled him away too quickly and he didn't have time to put the ball down.

Seeing that Hei Tuan seemed to have woken up, he reached out and touched the other's soft and warm ears, then simply picked up Tuanzi and went to Xu Qiang's side.

Behind him, Wen Li followed helplessly.

This car is distinctively flat. Xu Qiang estimated that if the zombie inside was still alive, it would probably not be much thicker than a wooden board.

However, he still kicked the car cautiously. Seeing that nothing came out, he waved his hand, indicating that Wen Xin could come closer.

Wen Xin slowed down and walked over.

It can be seen that the car was flattened from top to bottom, with two dents as big as buckets in the middle of the top, and the edges were raised high because they could not withstand the pressure.

Xu Qiang looked at it for a moment and felt that his knowledge of the animal world was very limited. He couldn't tell what the footprints belonged to.

Wen Li looked at the two marks again and again, and said suspiciously: "Why do I feel so familiar?"

Even two experienced people couldn't tell the difference, so Wen Xin didn't expect to be able to figure out what it was.

In fact, it really makes people confused.

Judging from the shape, they don't look like animal footprints, but more like two identical hammers, but with a hook-like protrusion on the head.

We have to judge from the details, but we didn't see any clear fingerprints.

Wen Xin looked for a while and then gave up, leaving Xu Qiang and the other two to look for clues around.

At this moment, the black ball curled up in the young man's arms raised his head and stared at the two clear dents on the roof of the car, his eyes showing a bit of coldness.

I don't know if it has developed resistance to the venom of the scale viper, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to suppress the restlessness of its genes, and it has even affected its perception of the outside world.

I still remember that Wen Xin and Xu Qiang mentioned mutants some time before the trip.

At that time, it felt that something was wrong, but it was not sure whether there was a real problem or its perception was wrong again.

Until now, it is finally certain.

There is no smell of mutants here.

This means that the monsters chasing these car owners are not mutants.

Wen Xin saw that the black ball had a serious expression and wanted to ask it if it knew something.

Before he could even ask, he lowered his head and suddenly saw his hands clenched subconsciously because he was holding the dumpling.

Wen Xin was startled, then his pupils shrank, and an incredible guess instantly formed in his mind.

He quickly stretched out his hand for comparison.

"Xu Qiang, Wen Li!"

Hearing Wen Xin's loud shout, Xu Qiang and the others thought something had happened and ran over quickly.

"What's wrong?"

Before he finished speaking, Wen Xin stretched out his clenched fist horizontally in front of them, allowing them to see the shape of the side of his fist.

“Does it look like it?”

The young man's hands didn't have much flesh on them, and at first glance, they didn't look much like the dent on the roof of the car, but upon closer inspection, they did seem to be somewhat similar.

Xu Qiang's expression changed.

He stretched out his fist and gestured slightly, but the effect was not very intuitive.

So he punched the hood vertically, and then he took a look. Wow, even the dents around it were exactly the same.

Wen Li slapped his forehead and said, "I was wondering why he looked so familiar!"

In the painting class, we were learning about the human body structure. There was a class specifically for drawing the various details of the palm, but he actually forgot about it!

With this great discovery, the three of them rushed back to the SUV and told the others the news.

However, their companions found it absurd: "You said those marks were made by someone punching with their fists?"

Xu Qiang nodded: "Yes, and the hands must be very fleshy."

Otherwise, it would not be possible to create such a smooth arc, which almost confused them all.

Thanks to Wen Xin for discovering some details.

Although the crew-haired man was sitting in the car, he was not completely clueless. He immediately frowned: "That mark is at least ten times the size of a normal person's fist. How could someone be so huge?"

"This……"

When others heard this, they also felt that it was unreliable.

Some people speculated: "Could it be a mutated monkey?"

"The mutated monkey..."

But the man with the crew cut remembered that they didn't see any mutated monkeys on the way here.

Moreover, most monkeys are found in forests or deep mountains, so how could they appear on plain roads?

The buzz cut man tapped the steering wheel with his fingers, turned to Xu Qiang and asked, "Did you find any animal hair nearby?"

Speaking of this, Xu Qiang and his companions also felt strange because they did not find any hair.

Except for human hair, which is all over the road.

While they were discussing, the mutants were not idle either.

Wen Xin opened a slit in the cat bag, so the scaled tree viper and the purple squirrel could finally stick their heads out to get some fresh air.

Scales Viper said: "Why can't I sense the presence of mutants? Are these humans mistaken?"

The purple squirrel squeaked, "You're right. I don't smell any residue either."

So, it must be humans who made a mistake. It's not the mutants who did bad things, but their own kind who caused the trouble.

After coming to this conclusion, the scaled tree viper and the purple squirrel retreated with peace of mind.

The blue group didn't say anything, looked lazy, and didn't care about anything.

The canary focused all his attention on the little fox because he found that the little fox was shaking uncontrollably.

He was at a loss and subconsciously asked for help from the person he trusted most: "Wen Xin, what should I do? Xiao Qi is shaking——"

Wen Xin noticed the little fox's abnormal condition and quickly moved from the front seat to the back seat.

When I touched the little fox's body, I found that its abdomen was very cold, but its heart and back of the neck were particularly hot, which showed that it was not a normal cold.

Wen Xin had taken care of Hei Tuan before, so he had some experience, so he took off his coat, took the little fox out of Canary's arms, and wrapped it tightly in his coat.

There was no heating equipment in the car, so he took out some heat patches from his backpack and stuck them all on his shirt.

He then skillfully wrapped his gown together to make a simple "hot water bag", stuffed it into the little fox's cool belly, and put his fingers in to massage it gently.

The little fox felt the warmth and struggled to open his eyes a little, tears of pain overflowed: "Wu ying..."

I feel so bad...

Wen Xin heard the sound and hugged it tighter: "Be good, bear with it. When we get off the bus, we can find a place to stay and make a fire to keep warm."

Under the young man's constant comfort, the little fox's wrinkled brows relaxed a little.

Perhaps because it was too tired or in too much pain, it quickly fell into a deep sleep again.

The conversation ahead had unknowingly become much quieter.

The crew-haired man and others turned around and looked at the young man who was gently soothing the little fox again and again, and they felt a strange feeling in their hearts.

Maybe it's because it's too rare. In the end times, people can't even take care of themselves, so who would care about their pets?

As we went further, we saw even more dead bodies and abandoned vehicles.

Several times they had to stop and move obstacles out of the way before moving forward.

Wiping the sweat off his head, even the buzz cut guy couldn't help but say, "If it weren't illegal to damage public facilities, I would have wanted to tear down the guardrail and drive directly onto the plain."

This was a joke intended to liven up the atmosphere, but it obviously had little effect and no one could laugh now.

Because as they moved forward, the fist marks found on the roof of the car appeared more and more on this section of the road.

The section of road with the most fist marks had eleven cars destroyed. They only roughly counted and found that more than twenty-five people had died.

The crew-haired man exhaled forcefully.

Originally, they had not expected to see such a mutated monkey.

The strength displayed by the other party was somewhat beyond their expectations.

But it's too late to return now.

Faced with a zombie tide of more than 100,000 zombies and a mutant that looked very powerful, they had no choice at all.

One can only hope that the mutant has gotten far and didn't stop along this road.

Xu Qiang sighed indignantly, "You said there are even zombies and mutant plants and animals, but why haven't humans evolved superpowers? Are you going to treat them differently in the end times?"

The companion laughed and said, "Aren't zombies transformed from humans? Look, they are not afraid of pain, they don't need to eat, they are still able to move even if they are missing arms and legs, and they won't die unless someone tries to kill them. How powerful and awesome they are."

"Get lost!"

Xu Qiang cursed in annoyance.

As dusk approached, they finally arrived at their first resting point, a rural town with about 400 households.

However, before the car drove in, the man with a crew cut looked serious and quickly stepped on the brakes.

Sizzle——!

Under the huge impact, everyone in the car almost fell over. Fortunately, everyone was quick to grab the back of the car seat and avoided getting their noses broken.

"What's going on?" "What happened!"

They leaned forward and saw the distorted face of the man with a crew cut in the rearview mirror.

Seeing his grim expression, Wen Xin subconsciously followed his line of sight and looked forward, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

Two beams of headlights shone on the muddy road, leaving a huge footprint.

The shape seems a bit subtle...

Wen Xin couldn't help but curl her fingers and heard Wen Li's gasp.

"Even though I have left my professional knowledge behind for many years, at least I am still not blind."

"No matter how you look at it... they all seem to be human footprints, right?" Wen Li said, feeling unsure. "Could it be that monkeys' footprints are the same as humans'?"

Before they finished speaking, they all heard footsteps.

It was not the footsteps of one person, but the footsteps of a large group of people, appearing all around them!

Wen Xin and others turned around quickly.

Through the car window, they saw the small brick bungalow.

It was pitch black all around, with dark clouds covering the moon.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew, the clouds dispersed, and the bleak moonlight spread over the earth.

Countless zombies were huddled in the corners behind the bungalows, with only half of their heads showing. Their dark pupils stared straight over, and no one knew how long they had been waiting here.

【Author’s words】

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution during 2023-04-07 01:39:07~2023-04-07 22:29:59~

Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: Gu Huai'en 1;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Fengnan lovers! (72 bottles; Jiang Qian, Feng Xinzi 5 bottles; Wenshui 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!