Chapter 66 (Combined Chapter 2) Why is someone still touching it...?
For almost a minute, neither Shen Qingqing nor the wild boar moved.
When the villagers who were watching realized that the wild boar was no longer attacking people, they actually stopped running away and peeked out from a distance to watch the commotion.
Some people even secretly opened a crack in their own iron gates and came out with flashlights to see what was going on.
If Shen Qingqing could speak right now, she would probably have already started cursing.
Having never faced a wild boar head-on, the villagers truly had no idea how serious the problem was. "One boar, two bears, three tigers"—was that a joke?
If we don't run away quickly, are we really going to wait for her to kill the wild boar?
Zhao Hailin came running back, panting, with his phone in his hand: "I called the police, and they said they'd contact the forestry bureau and they'd be here soon!"
The village is too remote, so it's unclear how long "immediately" actually means.
He didn't know how he knew someone had held the wild boar back, and feeling a little more at ease because of the large number of people, he also joined the group and asked, "What's the situation now?"
His dad rolled his eyes at him and said sourly, "Shen Qingqing held off the wild boar."
How can a grown man be inferior to a young girl? Isn't it embarrassing to say that out loud?
"I called the police, didn't I?" Zhao Hailin said shamelessly. "Besides, it's no good for her to stand up and play the hero at a time like this. The wild boar isn't attacking anyone now, but what if it goes berserk and starts running around? How can she stop it?"
He shook his head, as if Shen Qingqing had made a very unwise decision because of her pride.
He completely forgot that the last person to stand up and play the hero failed was himself.
Zang Lijun's eyes reddened with anger: "Qingqing did all that for you... Someone go and help her!"
When the gaze fell on Zhao Hailin, Zhao Hailin felt numb.
I wish I hadn't joined in this fun.
He took a few steps closer and, trying to appear calm, said, "Qingqing, I think that wild boar seems to have calmed down. Come back quickly!"
The wild boar had become increasingly agitated due to the constant gathering of people around it, and when it saw another person approaching, it finally sprang into action.
Shen Qingqing nimbly dodged to the side, avoiding the wild boar's attack. Zhao Hailin wasn't so lucky; he was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud. He got up and ran, but was still grazed by the wild boar, which was right next to him. Although he managed to twist his waist at the crucial moment to avoid a head-on collision, the boar's tusks still pierced through his thick cotton pants.
The cotton pants were ripped open with a ripping sound, revealing bright red underwear underneath.
This year is Zhao Hailin's zodiac year.
Zhao Hailin, with half of his cotton-padded trousers still hanging on the fangs, was dragged down and fell heavily to the ground. His bare thighs were exposed to the cold wind, and his heart felt icy cold.
He felt that he was really finished this time.
In a moment of desperation, he recalled survival methods for encountering a bear in the wild that circulated online, and immediately closed his eyes tightly and began to play dead.
The surroundings were chaotic. For some reason, the wild boar let out a painful cry, and then gradually quieted down.
After an unknown amount of time, and realizing that the wild boar had not yet attacked him, Zhao Hailin's heart pounded with joy—playing dead had worked!
He waited a few more moments before daring to cautiously open one eye a tiny crack.
Then he was stunned.
The wild boar had disappeared sometime earlier, leaving only several people squatting around him, staring at him with strange expressions, and they had been watching him for who knows how long.
Aunt Li from next door couldn't bear to look and said, "Hailin, what are you doing?"
"Wake up! Get up! Qingqing has taken all the wild boars away!"
Anyone with eyes could see that the wild boar's tusks didn't pierce Zhao Hailin at all; he just tripped and fell down on the spot with his thighs exposed.
—It's really strange that someone would try to scam a wild boar these days.
On the other hand, when Shen Qingqing saw her brother Hailin being knocked down by a wild boar, she rushed over without saying a word, grabbing an axe from the side. Despite the wild boar's thick hide, she managed to draw blood with one swing of her axe.
Then he threw down his axe and ran away with the enraged wild boar.
A young woman who has just come of age showed such responsibility and courage at a crucial moment.
Aunt Li looked down at Zhao Hailin's red underwear again, her feelings becoming incredibly complicated.
They were really wrong before.
Shen Qingqing is clearly much more promising than these boys in the village!
*
While Zhao Hailin had already achieved the goal of causing widespread social death in the village, Shen Qingqing was still rampaging through the village with her wild boar.
Zang Lijun and Shen Mingjiang initially followed behind their daughter and the wild boar, but after running less than a hundred meters, they couldn't keep up.
As her daughter disappeared from sight, Zang Lijun collapsed to the ground with a thud, trembling so much that she could barely stand up.
Without even looking at who it was, she grabbed the trouser leg of the person next to her and cried, "Qingqing! Qingqing!... What should we do? Can anyone help us..."
The man who had been arrested quickly bent down to comfort her, while the others sighed in dismay.
Wild boars are fast, strong, and have long tusks. When they charge with all their might, they can even break a large iron gate, let alone a skinny little girl!
Shen Qingqing's actions were truly selfless.
Shen Mingjiang gritted his teeth: "I'll go look for her again, and I'll definitely bring my daughter back safely."
"Let's wait for the professionals."
"How are you going to catch her? Qingqing runs so fast, like a rabbit. I never realized she had a talent for sprinting before..."
Everyone started chattering. One of them, however, looked in the direction Shen Qingqing had left and said uncertainly, "Wait, Mingjiang, isn't that the direction she went towards your house?"
Was Shen Qingqing running towards home instinctively out of fear?
Shen Mingjiang's eyes lit up, and he quickly helped Zang Lijun up.
The couple and the villagers rushed towards the Shen family's house.
Shen Qingqing didn't run in a straight line. She would occasionally take a detour or climb over an obstacle to buy time. The whole way was chaotic, so when everyone arrived near the Shen family's house, they happened to see Shen Qingqing and the wild boar in the distance.
To their surprise, Shen Qingqing hadn't been caught by the wild boar after all this time.
Not only that, the distance between the person and the pig did not change, and Shen Qingqing was obviously in complete control, showing no sign of panic or running away.
Could she have deliberately run home?
Someone squinted, trying to discern Shen Qingqing's escape route, and sensed something was amiss: "That direction...it seems to be..."
"A septic tank?!"
...
When the commotion outside started, Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen were standing in their small courtyard, waiting for the three people who had gone out to return home.
"It's been so long, why haven't they come back yet?"
Grandpa Shen was still furious about the humiliation he had just suffered. Hearing the noise outside, he immediately got up, as if he had finally found an opportunity to vent his anger: "What's all the noise about in the middle of the night? Can't a person get any sleep? It's just a pig!"
"No, I'm going to call Shen Qingqing back. Going to school will definitely make her more capable!"
He left the house cursing and swearing before Grandma Shen could stop him.
Unexpectedly, before they had gone far, they saw his capable granddaughter returning with a pig.
Grandpa Shen: "..." Was his mouth blessed today?
He stared in disbelief as Shen Qingqing shouted "Get out of the way!" and brushed past him a few meters away.
Wait, there seems to be something behind him...
Shen Qingqing was startled to see her grandfather there. Fortunately, the wild boar seemed to have a deep grudge against her after being injured, and it showed no interest in the old man who randomly appeared by the roadside, passing by her grandfather without even glancing at him.
Grandpa Shen's destination was right behind him. Shen Qingqing seized the opportunity and suddenly twisted her body. The wild boar didn't have time to change direction and charged straight ahead.
In front of it is the village's septic tank.
The wooden planks covering the septic tank were no longer sturdy enough to support the weight of a wild boar; they shattered almost instantly upon stepping on it.
Like a natural trap, the wild boar couldn't brake in time and fell into the septic tank, which was two or three meters deep, with a splash.
The excrement splashed everywhere, and the first to suffer was Grandpa Shen, who was standing next to him.
The people who rushed over stopped in their tracks because of the stench that hit them, and even Shen Mingjiang silently raised his hand to cover his nose.
His face turned completely pale, and he was so angry that his beard trembled. After a long while, he finally remembered that the culprit behind all this was his own granddaughter.
Looking up, I realized that Shen Qingqing had turned around and was actually heading towards the tree next to the septic tank.
In just two or three seconds, she had climbed up a great height without being affected by the sewage at all, and was now peeking down through the dense branches!
Only a pair of white teeth were visible in the darkness: "Grandpa, are you alright?"
Grandpa Shen: "..."
It makes people even angrier!
*
Half an hour later, the forestry bureau personnel finally arrived and pulled the nearly dead wild boar out of the septic tank.
Looking at the size of the wild boar, even the professionals couldn't help but be alarmed: "This is an adult male boar, extremely aggressive. It probably stumbled down here by mistake because it couldn't find food in the winter. It's a miracle no one was injured."
The villagers looked at each other, unsure what to say.
Physically, no one was injured, but two people suffered severe psychological trauma.
Especially Old Man Shen, who was practically soaked in sewage, it would probably take a week or two for the smell to dissipate.
At this crucial moment, even his own son had no time to care about him. Zang Lijun and Shen Mingjiang had been looking at Shen Qingqing for half an hour, carefully examining her for any injuries. Even Grandma Shen, upon hearing what had happened, looked at her granddaughter, who had suddenly done something quite serious, with surprise and uncertainty.
From childhood to adulthood, Shen Qingqing had almost never received this much attention from her family.
"You, why were you so impulsive..." Zang Lijun's eyes were still red as she brushed the dust off her daughter. "A girl like you shouldn't be so quick to intervene in things like this in the future. What would I do if something happened to you..."
Shen Qingqing lowered her eyes and said the same thing again: "Mom, I told you, believe me."
Zang Lijun was taken aback.
Believe me, Shen Qingqing has said this twice tonight.
But even earlier, when Shen Qingqing was at her busiest during her senior year of high school, she told Zang Lijun to believe in herself, that she would get into a good university, and that she would take Zang Lijun to live in a big city.
...Even earlier, when Shen Qingqing was still a child, Zang Lijun, who had suffered a miscarriage, secretly cried under the covers and said the same thing.
Her daughter told her to trust her, saying that she would be even more capable than boys in the future, so that Zang Lijun wouldn't have to have a younger brother.
Every time Shen Qingqing said she would accomplish something, she eventually did it.
But each time, she didn't believe her.
Zang Lijun suddenly stopped moving.
The forestry bureau staff happened to come over and saw Shen Qingqing. They rushed forward and praised her highly: "You're the one who lured the wild boar away, right? I've heard about it. Although we don't encourage this kind of behavior, there was really no other way in that situation... If you hadn't stepped forward, there might have been casualties."
Zang Lijun listened intently to the outsiders' unreserved praise of her daughter.
Calm in the face of danger, courageous and resourceful, and exceptionally bold... these are words she never thought she could use to describe her daughter.
She remembered Zhao Hailin's parents, who looked proud and elated when Zhao Hailin said he could handle wild boars.
Even someone as incompetent as Zhao Hailin has people who believe in him without reservation.
Why did she never think of believing her daughter?
...Just because she's a girl? But she clearly accomplished things that even boys couldn't do.
Zang Lijun felt a little confused. She began to wonder if she had neglected something over the years, but she couldn't quite grasp the thoughts that flashed through her mind.
Shen Qingqing was quite surprised to see the change in her mother's expression.
For Zang Lijun, who is usually mild-mannered, dealing with wild boars was far too outrageous, but that's exactly what Shen Qingqing wanted.
She needed something significant to shatter Zang Lijun's past perception of her and quickly establish a trustworthy and reliable image. Otherwise, once the virus broke out, Zang Lijun would certainly not be so easily convinced by Shen Qingqing and go to Fangzhou for refuge with her.
Every second in the apocalypse is precious, and she cannot leave persuading her mother until then.
But Shen Qingqing didn't expect that her mother would show signs of reflection so quickly.
Is it because Zhao Hailin, that good-for-nothing, just happened to serve as a control group?
This was truly an unexpected delight, Shen Qingqing thought happily. After answering a few more questions from the forestry bureau staff, she said goodbye to them and turned to Shen Mingjiang.
"Dad, don't you want to repair the wall now?" she asked. "People just confirmed for me that there have indeed been more wild boars coming down the mountain in recent years. You just saw the force of its charge; our wall can't stop it at all."
The shocking image of his daughter running wildly with the wild boar was still lingering in Shen Mingjiang's mind, and he didn't speak for a moment.
Aunt Li and a few villagers who were watching the drama gathered around: "Qingqing is right. I was really scared today. When I get back, I'll ask my son to renovate the wall around my house too."
"My fence is the same; it's been flimsy for a long time, but I've been too lazy to fix it. Now it seems I can't put it off any longer."
"Yeah, how come there are wild boars around here all of a sudden?"
As they chatted, they couldn't help but praise Shen Qingqing: "Qingqing, you were amazing today!"
"University is still useful, they even teach you the habits of wild boars."
Surrounded by people, Shen Qingqing smiled and looked at her father.
Shen Mingjiang finally nodded, his gaze dazed as he looked at his daughter: "Fix it, fix it tomorrow."
*
Like Shen Qingqing, all the students in Fangzhou went home with a mission during this winter break.
Fu Qing said at the beginning of the semester that each student would have at least one shelter spot. Once the school is renovated, they will also consider whether there is any extra storage space (such as cold storage or storage rooms) to provide to the students.
In other words, students are allowed to hoard goods on campus.
Considering that purchasing survival supplies together by more than two thousand people from the same neighborhood might attract attention, Fuqing released the news of shelter slots at this time to give students the opportunity to buy some supplies in their hometowns during the holiday and then bring them back to school on their own.
So during this winter break, students used the excuse of celebrating the Chinese New Year to shop and renovate their old houses, keeping themselves very busy.
The forum, usually filled with gossip and complaints about schoolwork, has somehow changed its homepage to features like "Comparison of down jacket filling volume from major brands on Taobao," "Sharing coupons from various platforms," "Year-end merchant discount summary," "Looking for partners to get a discount on PXX," and "Where can I find short-term part-time jobs in X city? My allowance is really not enough to stock up on supplies"...
Occasionally, people will post complaints about awful relatives or how their parents' attitude suddenly changed after just two days at home.
These everyday topics, mixed in with discussions of the apocalypse, create a sense of disjointedness.
With the start of winter break, teachers were able to take a break from their busy teaching activities and enjoy a rare moment of peace.
Aside from the daily tasks, such as Grandma Liu tending the fields and Hao Zhenye providing daily training guidance to the small number of students staying on campus, there was nothing else to do. Bai Tang locked herself in her dormitory as soon as the holiday started, never leaving except for meals, and playing games day and night.
Of the group, only Lu Yan was extremely busy every day, spending all his time with Zhao Yunxiao in the laboratory prepared by Fu Qing, completing research tasks based on the things left behind by the hooded woman.
After a few days, Zhao Yunxiao couldn't take it anymore and came to Fu Qing to complain: "Principal, could you please talk to Teacher Lu?"
"Working sixteen hours a day, and only getting six hours of sleep after washing up and going to the toilet is bad enough, but I can't possibly eat all my meals in the lab, can I?" He sat on the leather sofa in the principal's office, complaining bitterly. "Eating in the lab is one thing—could you ask the cafeteria to make less intestines and offal these next few days? I've noticed that Professor Lu really likes to eat those things when he's busy!"
Just as Fu Qing was about to speak, Zhao Yunxiao sighed again, saying with great restraint, "Sigh, well, it's not good to deprive someone of their hobby... but at least don't let him eat freshly dug-out offal soaked in formaldehyde, right? I have a feeling he's eating that stuff with his rice!"
“You wouldn’t believe it, that morning we had just finished dealing with the hooded woman’s remaining right hand, dissolving the flesh and blood until it was just bone. I went out for lunch, and when I came back I found Professor Lu sitting in the gloomy dissection room gnawing on a chicken foot. I thought he had bitten off that hand.” Zhao Yunxiao shuddered again as he recalled that scene. “Principal, do you think Professor Lu has some strange fetishes?”
"..."
Fu Qing thought for a moment and said tactfully, "Is it possible... that he just likes to gnaw on chicken feet?"
Then, coincidentally, it happened to be the day I was treating my right hand, that's all.
Using offal as a side dish is a bit much.
Based on her understanding of Lu Yan, this guy was at most someone who could sit next to a half-rotten corpse and eat hot pot without changing his expression.
Rather than questioning whether his eating habits are unusual, it would be more appropriate to question whether he has a problem with his senses.
Zhao Yunxiao was skeptical: "Really? But that makes sense, we shouldn't criticize other people's eating habits..."
"This kid is teachable," Fu Qing nodded, and to show his encouragement, he handed him something he had on hand.
Zhao Yunxiao looked down and saw a peeled dried longan.
The wrinkled skin and the barely visible black pit inside inexplicably reminded him of a freshly treated eyeball, and he felt a sudden surge of nausea.
Zhao Yunxiao quickly stood up: "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Thank you for your guidance, Principal. I've come to terms with it. I'll definitely continue to support Teacher Lu's work in the future!"
Fu Qing: "..."
She paused in her act of peeling longan, looking bewildered.
What did she say to comfort her?
Recalling Zhao Yunxiao's three consecutive "Never mind"s after he entered the room, Fu Qing always felt that he had actually comforted himself.
She couldn't help but sigh—it had to be someone like Zhao Yunxiao, a student who had never really entered the workplace. In his previous life, he was recruited into a research institute to fight zombies before he even graduated from university. No wonder he had a unique enthusiasm and cooperation for his work. His masochistic spirit and the skinny Lu Yan were a perfect match.
If it were Xu Mingyue, a seasoned veteran in the workplace, she wouldn't have been able to endure the 16-hour workday alone; she would have either flipped the table or found a way to slack off long ago.
However, Zhao Yunxiao also reminded her that she hadn't checked on their work situation since the start of winter break.
The senior leader, Fu Qing, took a tissue to wipe his hands and was in a good mood as he prepared to go on an inspection tour.
*
Zhao Yunxiao finally mustered up the courage to complain, but he didn't expect to complain to his boss directly in the office, which made him quite uneasy.
Fortunately, Fu Qing didn't seem to be there to cause trouble for Lu Yan.
She looked around for a moment, then got straight to the point: "Did you find anything?"
Lu Yan's "laboratory" was not just a name; it was a room that Fu Qing had specially set aside. It even contained professional equipment that Fu Qing had purchased from the system store at great expense, including some high-tech research tools specifically for dealing with zombies.
Because he recruited Zhao Yunxiao, who once possessed a cheat code and therefore had an extreme understanding of zombies, Fu Qing developed some ambition.
Perhaps in this life, they can use Zhao Yunxiao's research results from his previous life to try to develop the serum earlier.
Of course, Zhao Yunxiao's knowledge about zombies was mostly directly imprinted in his mind by the system, his "golden finger." His undergraduate major was unrelated to this, so he couldn't understand this knowledge more deeply, let alone conduct research based on it.
He used to be surrounded by a whole professional team sent by the government; Zhao Yunxiao only needed to fight zombies and provide intelligence.
As for Lu Yan, his main expertise lies in treating and saving lives in clinical practice, which is different from other fields.
It would be impossible for the two of them to complete the antibody research on their own. What they are doing now is more about gathering intelligence in advance for the future.
Before the apocalypse, Fu Qing couldn't reveal any information about the virus to the outside world, but after the outbreak, she would immediately try to find ways to cooperate with the authorities. In his previous life, Zhao Yunxiao lost because his research was too slow and he couldn't keep up with the mutation rate of the zombies. This time, with the accumulation of knowledge from his previous life, they wouldn't and couldn't repeat the same mistake.
but……
Thinking about the mutated infected individuals that have already emerged, Fu Qing's mood remained heavy.
She wasn't sure if what she was doing could really keep up with the speed of zombie evolution.
They had to race against time.
Fu Qing was distracted for two seconds, but Lu Yan's words brought her back to reality.
"We didn't find much, just two things." He put his left hand in the pocket of his white coat and held up two fingers with his right hand with a reserved air. "First, about why the hooded woman's limbs could keep regenerating."
"In our previous life, none of the zombies we encountered had the ability to regenerate flesh and blood. We had long ago discovered that zombies do not need to eat, and their aggression towards humans stems more from the desire to slaughter than from satisfying physiological needs. Therefore, in our previous life, we were constantly discussing the issue of energy replenishment."
"Zombies decompose much slower than ordinary corpses, and they don't eat. When they attack humans, they bite rather than swallow. Their digestive system has long since stopped functioning. So where does the energy they need to maintain their activity come from? I had been guessing that the virus caused changes in the zombie's body's operating mechanism. For example, it could secrete certain antibacterial substances to inhibit saprophytic bacteria, or, like the ancient nematodes that can be revived after thawing, it could lower its own metabolic level to maintain its body's function for as long as possible."
Zhao Yunxiao nodded in agreement, but Lu Yan then changed the subject: "But whether it's the ancient nematodes frozen in ice or the suppression of saprophytic bacteria, these are examples from nature that we can refer to, and at least we can find some convincing explanations. But the hooded woman is clearly different. The limbs that she lost and regrew during the short time she fought you even exceeded her own weight. If every zombie in this world is like this, then we can just give up resisting."
"Fortunately, apart from the hooded woman, the corpses of the other believers were similar to the zombies we killed in our previous lives, with only differences in the degree of infection. In comparison, they were more like humans. During the West Mountain operation, they were clearly led by the hooded woman, and her remarks indicated that she considered herself to be vastly different from those ordinary infected people—except for her, the other zombies were all disposable sacrifices."
"Therefore, the hooded woman is probably just an isolated case, so there's no need to worry too much."
Lu Yan's words made Zhao Yunxiao feel uneasy, but Fu Qing's expression remained unchanged.
Finding her unmoved, Lu Yan subtly curled his lip and gave his conclusion directly: "I think her ability is very likely directly derived from the zombie king you mentioned."
Fu Qing finally spoke: "The current infected individuals are not infectious themselves, so they should all have been directly infected by the Zombie King."
This information was obtained through experiments on skeletons.
Lu Yan shook his head: "No, what I mean is, the Zombie King gave her a part of his body—parasitizing her, which gave her abilities far beyond those of other zombies. Have you ever heard of something called a 'shrunk-headed louse'? It invades the mouths of fish, eats the fish's tongue, and takes its place as a fake tongue, something like that."
"However, unlike the shriveled louse, this part of the hooded woman's body should not have the consciousness of the zombie king. At least I did not find any living reaction on her severed limbs. Based on this, I made a further speculation: the current way the zombie king infects its followers is by sacrificing a part of its own body. However, this part varies in size. Some people just spit out a mouthful, while others have to cut off a piece of flesh. The skeleton is the former, and the hooded woman is the latter."
"This also means that the number of infected people at this stage cannot be large, because the act of infection itself requires the zombie king to pay a price."
"At the same time, this also explains why the Zombie King was able to find the skeleton's whereabouts immediately and send the hooded woman to retrieve the body—because a part of it was on the skeleton."
Lu Yan finished speaking in one breath.
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