Chapter 76 Sick
Summer downpours come suddenly, with a thunderous roar and raindrops so dense that you can't see anything more than fifty meters away.
Bai Chenzhu waded through the puddles, rushed into the house, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang, keeping the pursuing zombies out.
With the door separating them, their already meager spiritual energy vanished into the rain. The zombies stood blankly in the rain, their clothes tattered, and the stench became even more pronounced.
Like a homeless person.
A homeless man who died many years ago.
Because their car was destroyed, Bai Chenzhu and his group have been relying on searching for supplies in the ancient city these days.
Today, Bai Chenzhu went out with the others as usual to search for supplies. He was just about to go back when he was caught in a downpour and had to find a place to take shelter.
He quickly wiped his face and patted the water droplets off his backpack. Inside were a few pieces of clothing he had found and some odds and ends of food.
This is a bookstore, dimly lit, filled with the unique, heavy smell of books.
Bai Chenzhu groped his way to the front desk, and with a click, he turned on the switch. The yellow light suddenly shone from above, casting a warm glow. Before him were the words written in a flamboyant style on the wall: Time Bookstore.
The room was quiet, and it didn't look like there were any mutants.
Bai Chenzhu patted the water droplets off his clothes, sat down at the front desk, and rested his chin on his hand, looking at the rain outside the glass and wooden door.
He hadn't found much today. He hoped the rain would stop soon, as it would be dangerous to go home at night if it continued.
The clock ticked above his head, the minute hand chiming with each tick.
Bai Chenzhu was bored and fiddled with the small items at the front desk.
He used to love reading, otherwise he wouldn't have taken this job. But since coming here, he hasn't had many opportunities to read books anymore.
He fiddled with the lucky cat on the table, the half-withered green plant... and finally pulled out an old, faded novel from under the table.
The cover is pink, with a cherry blossom tree background and a few large, flamboyant words: Love Under the Cherry Blossom Tree.
Bai Chenzhu: ...
He put it back.
After a while, he got so bored that he couldn't help but take it out and look at it again.
The story is quite cliché. The gist is that a teenage girl and her handsome childhood neighbor secretly love each other, but due to various misunderstandings, they miss each other and remain in a state of ambiguity that is more than romantic but not quite love. Finally, the male lead goes abroad for a few years, and the female lead realizes her true feelings.
The ending is that the two reunite under the cherry blossom tree in their hometown, a happy ending.
What nonsense, having a crush at such a young age. Bai Chenzhu thought, if it were me, I wouldn't...
He suddenly realized that he wasn't much better off, just as hesitant and playing the fool Jiang Ye in a flirtatious game.
Bai Chenzhu closed the book expressionlessly, tossed it into a corner, and stopped reading.
The room was very close, and besides his breathing and the ticking of the clock, there were some other faint sounds.
The sound was deep and muffled, so faint that it was easily overlooked.
Bai Chenzhu sensed something was wrong. He slung his bag over his shoulder and looked around under the light. There were no tables, chairs, bookshelves, carpets... nothing at all. He was the only living being here.
But he didn't move.
Bai Chenzhu always trusted his intuition. He cautiously looked around, leaned against the wall, and slowly walked to the door.
He stared into the room and reached for the doorknob.
But he touched a slippery, soft nail, which stung his palm.
"Hiss!"
Bai Chenzhu was startled by the strange sensation and quickly backed away, knocking over several bookshelves in the process. By the light of the lamp, he finally saw what it was.
A large snake, as thick as an arm, had its upper half coiled on the window trellis and its lower half coiled on the doorknob.
So what he just touched was... a snake?
Bai Chenzhu's face was grim as he looked down at his palm, which was now bleeding from the cuts.
It was a black and white patterned snake. Bai Chenzhu didn't know much about this type of creature, so he couldn't tell whether it was poisonous or not.
But the only certainty was that it wasn't an ordinary snake, but a mutant. Its eyes were bloodshot, and its scales were all bristling, appearing to be sharp as iron.
It was curled up, sniffing the spot where Bai Chenzhu had just touched it, where there were still warm traces of blood.
Bai Chenzhu quickly ran up the stairs to the second floor, and the black snake, having locked onto its prey, slithered down from the flower stand and chased after him up the wooden stairs.
One after another, many objects were smashed down from upstairs, hitting the black snake. The black snake roared angrily, opened its blood-red mouth, and its forked tongue trembled like a piece of paper in the wind.
Bai Chenzhu desperately blocked the stairwell with something. His heart was pounding. He lifted a chair and smashed it against the second-floor window.
The glass shattered, splashing all over him.
Bai Chenzhu put down the chair he was using to cover his face and was about to climb out the window when the black snake caught up. He slammed the chair down on the snake, which dodged and lunged at him.
Bai Chenzhu casually picked up a thick dictionary and smashed it into the black snake's face. Caught off guard, the black snake was sent flying two meters away. It then stood up and roared fiercely.
"Get out!" Bai Chenzhu shouted.
He dared not turn his back to the black snake that might attack at any moment, so he could only slowly back out of the window with his back to it.
The black snake waited for its chance, and suddenly pounced. Bai Chenzhu grabbed a broom from the corner and swung it at the snake. He thought the snake would be sent flying again, but instead, it swam up with the broom handle.
Bai Chenzhu was startled and immediately threw the broom away.
He quickly retreated from the window, getting soaked in the heavy rain. Bai Chenzhu stood awkwardly on the air conditioner unit.
There are snakes inside, zombies below, and it's raining heavily. Where should he go?
Just then, he caught a glimpse of an iron gate that looked like a garage.
The black snake swam out. Bai Chenzhu didn't have time to think and immediately made a decision. He jumped off the outdoor unit. He almost twisted his ankle when he came down from the three-meter-high platform.
The zombies on the street sensed his presence and moved toward him. These normally dazed monsters became incredibly agile, even their sluggish movements, once they detected the scent of food.
Bai Chenzhu dodged the zombie's withered fingers and quickly retreated. A black snake shot out from mid-air and landed right on the zombie's forehead—the same spot where Bai Chenzhu had just been standing.
Its scales were constantly flared up, continuously tightening their force, piercing and tearing apart the zombie's already rotting flesh, causing pus and blood to flow out.
Bai Chenzhu glanced at it only once, then turned and ran away.
The black snake seemed to really like his blood. Even in the heavy rain, on the slippery bluestone slabs, it swam incredibly fast, like a swinging rope, relentlessly pursuing him.
Even if Bai Chenzhu doesn't turn around, he can still sense that it is chasing after him.
Damn it! Bai Chenzhu skillfully dodged a zombie, thinking as he ran.
The snake relentlessly pursued him, leaving him no time to retaliate. Besides, he could try using his mental power elsewhere, but in the middle of a street teeming with zombies, he would be torn to shreds by the rampaging horde before he could even kill the snake.
Without any tools, are you going to kill this snake with your fists and feet? You'd probably get bitten anyway.
In the distance, a person walks on the road with their back to him.
Bai Chenzhu shouted, "Tang Zhao! Help!"
Tang Zhao, humming a song while carrying his bag, turned around in confusion and immediately saw Bai Chenzhu. His smile had just begun to spread when he noticed the 'rope' behind Bai Chenzhu.
His expression immediately changed. "Oh my god!"
One more person has escaped.
This wasn't what he expected. Bai Chenzhu wiped his wet face, exasperated, "Why are you running? You're a superhuman!"
At this moment, Tang Zhao didn't care about the dirt anymore. He pushed aside the zombie blocking his way and ran away faster than Tang Zhao, yelling, "I'm fucking afraid of snakes!"
Bai Chenzhu: ...
At that moment, he saw a beautiful figure.
Before he could speak, Tang Zhao, seeing a glimmer of hope, immediately shouted, "Bai Tao! Help!!"
The white peach under the eaves looked back in confusion, then screamed in fright.
Her scream instantly gave Bai Chenzhu a splitting headache. The zombies around him were whimpering and struggling, their already distorted faces becoming even more twisted.
The sound only briefly struck the black snake, which paused for a moment before 'coming back to life' amidst the tense expressions of the three.
Bai Chenzhu covered his head and said, "Run!"
He had just run out when Bai Tao grabbed him, "You're going the wrong way! Follow me!"
The two followed Bai Tao through the alley. From afar, Bai Tao shouted, "Brother Jiang! Help!!!"
Bai Chenzhu looked closely and saw it was Jiang Ye, who was studying the steering wheel of the sightseeing bus. No wonder Bai Tao had asked the two of them to follow; it turned out she knew where Jiang Ye was.
Undeniably, Bai Chenzhu breathed a sigh of relief. He always had an inexplicable trust in Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye looked up and saw three people running towards him in the rain. Confused, he asked, "What are you doing?"
"Snakes!" Bai Chenzhu was now afraid that Jiang Ye would also blurt out, "I'm afraid of snakes."
If none of the four of them can catch a snake, that would be a huge disgrace.
Jiang Ye then noticed what was chasing them. His expression changed slightly. He looked around and saw only an umbrella. By then, the three people were almost upon them.
Jiang Ye twisted the umbrella's handle until it came off, turning the umbrella into a murder weapon. He opened the car door and sat in the hood without saying a word.
As the three men ran past him, and the black snake swam close behind, he seized the opportunity, leaped out of the car door, and thrust his umbrella handle downwards with tremendous force, piercing the snake's body and pinning it to the spot.
The black snake hissed, its body twisting into waves, but it couldn't break free from the umbrella-shaped staff that was piercing its body.
It twisted its body and climbed up the umbrella ribs. Jiang Ye let go, and the black snake with its scales bristling attacked Kong, staring fiercely at Jiang Ye as if it wanted to remember its prey.
This is a very vengeful mutant, but Jiang Ye will not give it a chance to retaliate.
He drew his dagger and pierced the black snake's head, pinning it to the spot.
Black blood smeared the ground, but was quickly washed away by the rain. Jiang Ye pulled out his dagger again and repeatedly pierced its skull, confirming that the black snake, which was biting its target tightly, had no chance of reviving.
He stood up and looked at the three people sheltering from the rain under the eaves, who looked quite disheveled.
"You've got some ambition!" Jiang Ye wiped the dagger clean and put it away, then walked up to them and teased them.
He pointed at Tang Zhao from a distance, "You're supposed to be an esper, why are you running around with them?"
Tang Zhao protested, "Brother! That's a snake! It's as thick as my arm!"
Jiang Yexun said, "In terms of weight and volume, it should be the one afraid of you."
Tang Zhao remained silent, feeling wronged.
Bai Chenzhu wiped the rain off his face and was about to speak to Tang Zhao when Jiang Ye pulled him aside and looked him up and down. Bai Chenzhu held out his hand to show him the tiny cuts on his palm.
That was where I was pricked by the black snake scales.
Jiang Ye frowned and examined his palm several times. "I'll put some disinfectant on it when we get back."
Seeing the dead snake, Bai Chenzhu's tense nerves relaxed a little. "Jiang Ye, the snake I encountered in the bookstore."
His words were rather nonsensical, and neither Bai Tao nor Tang Zhao understood them.
But Jiang Ye understood.
Bookstore and snake—just thinking about the combination is terrifying, especially when people are completely unprepared.
He reached out and wiped the water droplets from Bai Chenzhu's face. "Were you scared? It's not surprising that there are snakes in the river. Maybe they crawled into the bookstore sometime ago. There's no such thing as an absolutely safe place these days. Be more careful in the future."
Bai Chenzhu rested her forehead on his shoulder.
Jiang Ye patted the back of his head, then stroked his little braid, and soothed him. "It's alright, it's alright. The chances of encountering a snake are very low. It won't happen again."
Bai Chenzhu showed him her backpack, which was flat. "That thing delayed me from finding supplies."
Is this... a complaint? Jiang Ye chuckled, then thought for a moment, "I just found the keys to the sightseeing bus at the service center. Do you want to take a ride? We can drive it back."
Bai Chenzhu became somewhat interested.
So the group boarded the sightseeing bus, with Bai Chenzhu taking the front passenger seat.
Even if the sightseeing bus is floored, it can't keep up with a car, but it's better than nothing.
The car wobbled and bumped through the zombies in the road, heading back along the wet ground. Bai Chenzhu suddenly had the urge to learn to drive. "Actually, I used to have a driver's license, but I've forgotten it all these years. Do you want to teach me?"
"Now?" Jiang Ye asked casually.
"Is it possible?" Bai Chenzhu rubbed his hands together eagerly.
"No, no!" Tang Zhao and Bai Tao in the back seat shook their heads in unison, startled.
Tang Zhao cried out, "If we stepped on the gas and drove into the river, it would be four lives lost!"
"Tsk." Bai Chenzhu pointed and said, "You guys have too little faith in me."
Bai Tao immediately yelled, "Oh no! Murder! Murder!"
Jiang Ye laughed out loud at their jokes. "Alright, alright. Ah Zhu, I'll teach you separately next time."
Bai Chenzhu deliberately startled the two people in the back seat, "Fine, then I'll use the entire road out of the ancient city as practice."
Bai Tao and Tang Zhao huddled together, shivering.
The temperature in the ancient city is always a few degrees lower than outside. With the weather turning cooler, Bai Chenzhu got soaked in the rain, and when the wind blew, he started sneezing.
——
The group drove the sightseeing vehicle back to the house, where a group of people had gathered at the door, looking for Jiang Ye.
Recently, those people with superpowers have been leaving the ancient city one after another. Before leaving, many of them would come to Jiang Ye to ask about the situation in more detail so that they could make plans.
Bai Chenzhu was used to it. He greeted the others and went back to his room to change into clean clothes.
He washed the wet clothes, hung them on the windowsill, and then, in a daze, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
When I woke up, I felt warm all over, as comfortable as if I were sunbathing, but my head hurt and my body felt heavy as if it were filled with lead.
Bai Chenzhu opened his eyes, and what came into view was a flesh-colored area.
What is this...? He opened his eyes and instinctively struggled to get up. But Jiang Ye held him even tighter, "Don't move."
Bai Chenzhu calmed down and looked up to find Jiang Ye holding him tightly, his chin resting on the top of his head. They were both covered with a thick blanket, which explained why he felt so hot. Bai Chenzhu asked, "What's wrong?"
Jiang Ye reached out and turned on the light, illuminating the dim room. He said, "You should ask yourself what's wrong?"
Bai Chenzhu's mind worked slowly. He pondered the meaning of those words for a moment, then asked, "What's wrong with me?"
Jiang Ye was amused by the dazed guy's behavior. This time, Jiang Ye touched his forehead and sighed helplessly, "You have a fever. You keep saying you're cold."
Bai Chenzhu looked down at her thin clothes, then at Jiang Ye's bare chest, and stared blankly for a long time before suddenly realizing an important question, "Wait, you're wearing pants down there, aren't you?"
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