Chapter 145 Gods and Humans
On the way to Qinghe Village.
The worst possible outcome was on everyone's mind; their spirits were nearly at rock bottom, and their faces were terribly pale.
Fu Qing, in the driver's seat, drove the fully loaded SUV so fast that the wheels almost lifted off the ground. Chu Hai, following closely behind, stared at the taillights that had almost transformed into a red line, sweating profusely as he barely managed to catch up with the car in front.
Xue Ran arrived to join them. Fu Qing led an elite team of four, and Bai Xianglei's team of twelve filled three cars, which roared towards the north of the city, to that dilapidated and desolate old district that seemed to have been forgotten by the era of rapid development.
Looking down from above, the area where Qinghe Village is located contrasts sharply with the high-rise buildings not far away. Although both are shrouded in darkness at this time, the latter are still brand new and bright, while Qinghe Village is like a bottomless den of wild beasts. The jagged buildings and deep alleys are shadowy even in the daytime, and under the cover of night, they are even more so, with a thick darkness that seems to be able to devour everything.
The old facade bears the marks of wind and rain, and the power lines and clotheslines hanging under the eaves and overhead are crisscrossed, like thorny brambles wrapping around the nest, adding a touch of danger to the scene.
The garbage, blood, and corpses that hadn't been cleared from the ground were mixed together, clogging the drainage system. The continuous heavy rains last month caused rainwater to back up, and now everything near the ground is soaked in sewage, rotting and fermenting.
As soon as the group approached, before they could even get out of the car, they couldn't help but frown.
"What are they doing? If this continues, a plague will break out here soon!" Liang Yi covered his nose, looking worried.
Even if this is not a refuge for devout believers, this filthy and chaotic environment is enough to become a source of infectious diseases.
Looking up, some windows even let in dim light, clearly indicating that people still live here.
"It's not that simple," Zhou Lingxi said in a deep voice. "The road planning in the urban village is outdated. Most of them are one-way streets, crowded and narrow. Even people who are not familiar with the area may get lost with navigation. In the apocalypse, people are busy escaping, and the roads inside may have been blocked long ago. It is impossible to drive. Are you suggesting that we transport the corpses out one by one by manpower?"
"As far as I know, the higher-ups in S City did consider evacuating the residents of the urban villages, but to evacuate them, they would first have to clear out the zombies inside. Compared to the wide, unobstructed streets, the complex environment inside the urban villages would greatly increase the casualty rate of the soldiers, so the matter was eventually dropped."
"Although some people have managed to escape on their own through luck or skill and have been taken to the shelter, there are still many more trapped here who cannot escape."
She looked at the faint light that occasionally shone through the window, as if she could see through the two panes of glass and meet the prying eyes inside.
Glass is transparent, yet it separates two worlds.
Zhou Lingxi knew perfectly well that what had trapped them here was not just the zombies roaming outside.
No wonder the hooded woman was so devout and fanatical in the face of the zombie king's offer of a handout.
For her, that might be the only way to escape this quagmire, a ray of light piercing through her gloomy life.
Even if behind the light lies a fiery hell, she cannot refuse.
Liang Yi wasn't unable to understand, but worry made him confused, so upon hearing this, he could only sigh heavily, his mind full of worries.
He gradually came to understand that there are many problems in the world that, even if everyone knows they exist, cannot be solved.
The residents of Qinghe Village are already difficult to manage, and many are simply unregistered residents, making a unified evacuation almost impossible. Officer Chen and his team also faced numerous difficulties in their investigation. They could only pinpoint the whereabouts of the devout believers to Qinghe Village, but were unable to further confirm their identities and residence information.
It is already extremely difficult to achieve this, and Fuqing does not need them to do more.
The more important thing now is to find Officer Chen and his team.
On the other hand, there are still a large number of residents in Qinghe Village who are difficult to evacuate, which means that they have encountered the same problem again - they cannot use heavy weapons and must be extremely careful in their actions.
In the past apocalypse, large-scale population gatherings were rare except in shelters. More often than not, even if the surrounding environment was turned upside down, no one would come out to protest. Therefore, Fu Qing was quite unaccustomed to it.
It felt like my hands and feet were tied.
"Is it there?" Song Ru, with her sharp eyes, caught a glimpse of black while sitting in the moving car.
Qinghe Village has numerous entrances and exits, and Officer Chen deployed a large number of officers to guard the area to prevent devout believers from escaping.
These people were criminal police officers before the apocalypse, and they were used to surveillance and stakeout work. Even now, with the environment changed, the surrounding area is turbulent, and zombies are everywhere, they still dutifully stick to their posts.
The thought that they might already be in danger, or even...
Everyone's hearts were clenched with anxiety.
Before the communication was interrupted, Officer Chen reported his location.
Following the direction Song Rushuang pointed, a car was indeed parked on the side of the road, blending in with the other vehicles abandoned haphazardly.
However, the model was the same as the car Officer Chen had driven before; Song Rushuang had seen it once and remembered it.
Bai Xianglei checked the license plate number and exclaimed, "That's it!"
The three cars stopped one after another, and everyone hurriedly got out and rushed to the front of the car. Before they could open the car door to check the situation, Officer Chen got out first.
Surprisingly, but thankfully, he and the other two team members in the car did not appear to be injured, though they looked anxious.
"I can't get in touch with the other team members."
"The disappearance of the radio signal, is it related to the zombie king's special ability that you mentioned before?"
He looked at Fu Qing.
After receiving confirmation from the system, Fu Qing nodded.
It seems its capabilities have evolved further.
As they approached Qinghe Village, Chu Hai, in the car behind, discovered that the vehicle's radio had malfunctioned—even the military channels were abnormal, let alone the civilian channels and cell phone signals.
Despite being in a densely populated urban area filled with skyscrapers, the group felt as if they had been stranded on a deserted island.
The moment the communication was cut off, Officer Chen knew it was likely the Zombie King who had made his move. Although he was worried about the safety of his teammates, he knew his mission was to guard the entrance and exit, so he remained steadfast in his position.
Given the current high dependence of human society on electronic communication, losing a signal is like losing an eye.
The inability to send messages out and the inability to use high-tech products meant that exploring Qinghe Village would be extremely difficult.
"Why are there only a few of you? Where are the others?" Officer Chen glanced at the number of people and immediately sensed something was wrong.
Although the people who came were all elites, Qinghe Village was too big, with at least tens of thousands of residents. What they needed more were people who could help clear out the low-level zombies!
"There will be no reinforcements for the time being." Bai Xianglei shook his head and briefly informed everyone of the situation.
If they want help, they either have to wait for the battle in Fangzhou to end, or wait for other cities to clear the zombie horde before sending the people to S City.
No one can predict how long the cleanup operation will last; it could take several days or at least several hours.
It's 2 a.m. now, and no one will come to help them until at least dawn.
A rustling sound came from the darkness nearby, like someone dragging a heavy object slowly forward.
Although Officer Chen was in a daze, he still reflexively drew his gun along with Bai Xianglei and the others. In the direction that the gun barrels were pointing, a middle-aged woman walked out of the dark alley.
She was expressionless, her face haggard, her cheeks deeply sunken, and her figure so thin she looked like a walking skeleton, struggling to support a much taller adult man.
The man's shoes rustled as they scraped against the ground.
Officer Chen glanced at it once, and his face instantly drained of color. He exclaimed, "Chen Yue!"
That was a young criminal police officer who had just joined his team. Although he was young, he was very clever and steady. Officer Chen regarded him as a promising talent and took good care of him.
Since the two are from the same clan, and Chen Yue even calls him "brother" in private, he didn't hesitate to come along for this mission.
Recalling their past interactions, and seeing the unconscious man covered in blood, Officer Chen gritted his teeth, his heart aching as if it were bleeding.
Ignoring the people around him who tried to stop him, he put away his gun and ran towards the woman. He took Chen Yue from her, checked her breath, and his heart sank.
As if his soul had been ripped away, he stumbled and collapsed to the ground, carrying the heavy corpse.
But he was still conscious, freeing one hand to cover the gun holster, and together with the others, he stared intently at the woman who came out of Qinghe Village.
There are still a large number of low-level zombies in Qinghe Village. The fact that she could emerge unscathed carrying a dead body weighing over a hundred pounds means she is no ordinary person.
Song Rushuang, who was in the group, frowned and looked at the woman, suddenly feeling that she looked familiar.
But I can't remember where I've seen it before.
The woman didn't react much when Chen Yue was taken away; it seemed that her mission was complete once she had brought him here.
Those unfocused eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, darted around before locking onto Fu Qing: "He said he wants to see you."
In her hoarse voice, she conveyed each word clearly: "There are twelve policemen locked up inside. From now on, if they don't see you, they will kill one of them every hour."
Officer Chen's face was grim, his teeth silently sank into his lips, and his mouth was filled with the taste of blood.
He forced himself to listen in silence.
“Of course, perhaps you don’t care about the lives of those twelve people.” The woman’s eyes were empty as she spoke slowly, “But every hour, as one person dies, He will intensify His offensive in the city.”
"You should know that the number of zombies mobilized so far is far from all that He has in his grasp, but it is already enough to keep you busy defending—what if the zombie horde doubles in size?"
Everyone could clearly feel their hearts trembling.
The patients unable to move in the hospital, the medical staff who risked their lives to stay at their posts for the patients, the elderly and children who were hiding in the shelters and were powerless to do anything, the innocent people...
Their lives depended on one person.
After speaking, the woman raised her hand and pointed in the air, but did not target any specific object. "...Also, only you and those related to you are allowed to enter Qinghe Village. Any unrelated outsiders will incur the full force of the zombies' revenge the moment they step in. I guarantee they will die a horrible death."
No one questioned her words.
Zhou Lingxi's gaze kept sweeping over the woman and Fu Qing. She gritted her teeth, wanting to say that she didn't care about making sacrifices.
Even if zombies come after her, at least before she dies, she can clear some obstacles for Fu Qing.
But she was a soldier and had to follow orders.
Bai Xianglei suddenly said quickly, "Qin Wei, Lu Bo, you two go find a nearby area with communication capabilities to call for backup, then return to where you are and wait for reinforcements. The rest of you come with me into Qinghe Village."
Zhou Lingxi relaxed her shoulders with a sigh of relief. She glanced at the captain with almost grateful eyes, and then quickly seized the time to check the equipment with the others.
The woman who was delivering the message had been staring blankly at the ground, like a lifeless corpse, but upon hearing the message, she slightly lifted her eyelids.
The others didn't notice, but Fu Qing kept his eyes on her the whole time, not missing the slight tremor of her lips.
Qin Wei and Lu Bai, whose names were called, were stunned. Qin Wei's voice even changed tone: "No! Why are we being asked to stay?"
Lu Bo was extremely anxious: "No, Captain, I..."
"That's an order," Bai Xianglei said, his expression grim. "Otherwise, who's going to find backup? Do you want your teammates to be trapped and die inside?"
The word "order" was like a tight band around the soldiers' necks, freezing them in place. They looked at their captain, then at their teammates, their eyes red with anxiety.
Watching their comrades go to their deaths while they remain in a safe place is a far more heart-wrenching pain for them than death itself.
The two men's gazes swept over her more than once, but Zhou Lingxi lowered her head to avoid them.
She felt a pang of guilt, as if she had done something wrong.
Feeling guilty, he took the spot that allowed him to enter with Fu Qing.
But Zhou Lingxi knew why the White Team gave such an order.
Qin Wei's son was just born before the Lunar New Year and is not even a year old yet, the most adorable age. Lu Bo's parents were both police officers who were killed more than ten years ago, leaving him and his over eighty-year-old mother to depend on each other.
Losing them was a huge blow to both families.
Unlike her, who was unmarried and all alone, with an older brother who would take care of their parents even after she passed away. As military dependents, they were all living in shelters under state protection, so she had nothing to worry about.
It's a pity that I couldn't say goodbye to them or see them one last time.
Zhou Lingxi was lost in thought for two seconds, then glanced reluctantly in the direction of the shelter.
Just then, she heard Fu Qing speak.
The woman specifically requested her, asking her to bear the lives and deaths of countless people, yet she seemed unaffected—after all, she had already been forcibly burdened with the responsibility of saving the world by the system, so even if the burden on her shoulders was heavier, it didn't matter.
Fu Qing asked in a calm voice, "Why are you here?"
The woman did not respond, seemingly not understanding.
"You do not exhibit any characteristics of zombification."
Only those connected to Fuqing are allowed to enter—this clearly refers to the students of Fangzhou.
However, when Fu Qing recalled the gesture of calling roll, he stretched out his finger but could not find a clear target.
It was obvious that the woman had not been infected, so she could not sense which of these people were Fang Zhou's students.
Why did they remain uninfected despite hiding in the stronghold of the devout?
Was it the Zombie King who forbade it? If He didn't allow it, why would He trust her enough to send her out to deliver the message?
Or is it that she herself is unwilling? But if she is unwilling, why doesn't she leave?
The woman was taken aback by the question. Her lips moved repeatedly, and finally a trembling sound escaped her lips: "He...he was once my child."
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone except Fu Qing doubted that they had heard correctly.
Qin Yufei hesitated: "You mean the Zombie King is your child? Isn't that a higher-dimensional being?"
He looked at her with a horrified expression: Could it be that she wasn't human either?
What is that? World consciousness?
"No!!" The woman suddenly broke down upon hearing the words "Zombie King." "My son's name is Jingyun, he's not—he's not that thing!!"
Jingyun.
Some familiar names popped into her head, and combined with the woman's appearance, Song Rushuang finally managed to rummage through the corners of her memory to find a fragment.
At the beginning of the second semester, she returned to school early and met Sun Wei at the school gate. At that time, Sun Wei was saying goodbye to a mother and son.
Sun Wei said that the reason she broke her leg before the start of the school year was because she saved that child.
Song Rushuang quietly sidled up to Fu Qing and told her what she remembered, "...Weiwei and Sun Wei said that when she received her admission notice, she excitedly ran home and bumped into Jing Yun, who was running in this direction. That's how they both tumbled down the stairs."
Admission notice.
Fu Qing understood.
It was probably no coincidence that the two of them bumped into each other at that time.
Receiving the admission notice meant that Sun Wei had officially obtained the status of "Fangzhou Student" and had also established contact with the system and Fu Qing.
In other words, the zombie king can already sense her.
Song Rushuang said that when the second semester started, it was the Jing family who brought Sun Wei to Fangzhou.
A few months later, the simulation pod was hacked—was He already thinking about how to infiltrate Fangzhou when He sent Sun Wei over?
Fu Qing looked down at the woman in front of him who was bent over in pain. With the movement, a pendant fell from her neck. Although he didn't understand its meaning, it was probably related to Jing Yun in the past.
The pendant was well-maintained, its surface bearing the shiny marks left by repeated rubbing.
The name of her son seemed to flip a switch, and the woman snapped out of her numb state. Her mind was hazy, tears streaming down her face, and she kept muttering something. Song Rushuang looked at her and couldn't believe that this was the same person she had bumped into at the school gate half a year ago.
At that time, she was the kind "Aunt Jing" in Sun Wei's words. Although she looked a bit tired, she was impeccably dressed and poised, with a gentle temperament that made people unconsciously admire her.
But then she thought about it again, and realized that what she had experienced in the past six months was far more than just losing her son.
What would Aunt Jing's feelings be if she watched her son become a monster?
Song Rushuang was unsure whether she had been involved in all of this, so she couldn't say whether she felt pity or something more complicated.
As for Fu Qing, she was not surprised by the woman's identity.
It's a simple analogy: as a higher-dimensional being living in this world, the system needs to depend on a host. So, doesn't the Zombie King also need to?
The first incarnation of "Fuqing" had heard its voice when it first spoke to humans.
According to the system, the method chosen by the world's consciousness to destroy this small world is the "zombie virus".
Viruses, in turn, need to find a carrier in order to spread.
...
The woman cried to herself, muttering something intermittently. The crowd struggled to piece together everything from her incoherent ramblings.
The woman's name is Jingyu. As a single mother, she raised her son Jingyun alone. Jingyun has a congenital heart disease. In order to treat her son's illness, and because she felt that it would be difficult for him to study and work in the future with his illness, Jingyu was determined to save as much money as possible for him. She worked very hard, sometimes working overtime for several weeks in a row. As a result, she could only ask her parents to help take care of the child. She would leave early and return late, and the mother and son would not even be able to see each other.
Fortunately, even in such circumstances, Jingyun still lived up to expectations, inheriting his mother's genes and becoming intelligent and sensible. Even when trapped in this heavy illness, even when he felt unwell that day, he would still show a sweet smile when facing his exhausted mother who came home.
Those were the most beautiful memories of Jingyu's life.
Her work went smoothly, but she was still busy. In addition, her grandparents were in poor health, so after Jingyun turned twelve, she took the initiative to suggest that she could stay at home alone without needing to be taken care of.
Jingyu was touched by her son's understanding nature. After trying it a few times, she gradually reduced the frequency of her parents' visits.
Jingyun spent more and more time alone at home. He even learned to cook, just so that his mother could have a hot home-cooked meal when she came home. The mother and son got along warmly and harmoniously until one day, Jingyu came home and did not see Jingyun.
He returned home very late that day, smelling of hospital disinfectant.
Jingyu clearly remembers the date of that day. On that day, a massive fire broke out in S City, but it had nothing to do with the peaceful life of the mother and son. It was only from that day that she began to notice the changes in her son.
The computer he turned on late at night, his sudden disappearances from time to time, and the cold expression he occasionally showed when he was silent.
On another occasion, Jingyu happened to bump into a stranger in a deserted corner of the community. The stranger stopped her son and knelt down in a deep, prostration-like manner, bowing and worshipping him.
It was like a religious ceremony, and her son stood there, oblivious to everyone else, looking down at his fanatical followers with even a slight hint of mockery on his face.
Then, he turned his face and looked straight at Jingyu, who was hiding behind the tree, dumbfounded.
It took Jingyu a long time to accept that the person in front of her was not her son.
But it took her even longer to accept the fact that her son was gone.
From what moment did that clever, lively, well-behaved, and sensible child turn into the monster before our eyes?
Like any parent whose child is abducted by traffickers the moment they look away in public, she hysterically questioned herself: Why didn't I spend more time with him? Why didn't I keep a closer eye on him?
Why did she lose him?
Unlike the system, the Zombie King does not need a capable host to act on its behalf; its binding will completely strip the host of their own will.
All it needs is a shell to spread the virus, allowing the weak creature to recuperate.
—Anyway, zombies are just walking corpses.
Of course, this purpose cannot be told to its "host". Therefore, for the zombie king, the only difficulty in binding is how to persuade the host to accept its parasitism.
"He told me that He promised to grant Xiaoyun a wish."
Jingyu clutched the pendant, looking utterly dejected: "So Xiaoyun said he wanted a healthy body that could run in the sunlight."
That way, Mom won't have to be so tired anymore.
Wishes are fulfilled, transactions are completed, and contracts are established.
Jing Yun obtained a healthy body from the disguised Aladdin's lamp, but at the cost of this body no longer belonging to him.
The last time Jingyu witnessed someone kneeling, she lost her son's soul.
Now, she bent her knees towards Fu Qing, about to bow deeply, and trembling syllables burst out from between her teeth.
“...Kill him.”
"I am powerless, so please, kill him."
That was her own flesh and blood, yet she had to ask someone else to take it back. Jingyu's voice was numb and pained.
Just as her knees were about to touch the ground, she was lifted up by a strong force, and the person beside her whispered, "I promise you."
She couldn't help but look up at the person she wanted to bow down and beg for help from—having spent her days among the believers, she already knew that this person was considered the greatest threat to the Zombie King, the one most likely to kill them as their "god."
But at this moment, Jingyu saw that the other party did not have the same cold expression as "Jingyun" that day.
On the contrary, she looked at herself, a faint trace of pity flashing in her eyes.
Those are human expressions.
Fu Qing agreed to fulfill her wish.
Jingyu's body suddenly went limp, and she collapsed, tears streaming down her face.
She burst into tears.
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Author's Note: Two parts combined~
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