Chapter 6: First Encounter with Zombies

  Zhang Xiaohong pulled my hand and we walked onto the small road home, we bypassed the chaotic burial mound from afar. The events of that night are still vivid in my memory, the female ghost didn't kill me but instead got hurt, I knew she would definitely take revenge, so we walked very quickly.

  Li Dong lay on the ground, clutching his neck, with both eyes bulging out. It took him half a day to catch his breath, and by that time we had already walked far away. When we arrived at the burial mound, I suddenly felt a chill in my back, as if something was following me, but when I turned around several times, there was nothing. I knew I might have provoked some evil spirit, maybe it was the little girl from the hospital that day, or maybe it was some female ghost. I didn't dare to guess, because right now the last thing I wanted to face were these supernatural things. I felt like I had no ability to resist, and if I encountered any of them, all I could do was run away.

  Zhang Xiaohong's face was bright red as she pulled me to a dilapidated staff dormitory, which was very close to our school. I heard that Zhang Xiaohong's home was just here. Zhang Xiaohong and I entered a single apartment on the first floor, but there was no one at home. I thought Zhang Xiaohong must have something she didn't want others to know about to discuss with me, so I secretly followed her in. As soon as Zhang Xiaohong walked into the bedroom, before I could turn around, Zhang Xiaohong hugged me from behind.

  "Meng Fei, I'm scared! Something is following me!" Zhang Xiaohong said with a trembling voice, her body involuntarily shaking, the two big white rabbits rubbing against my back, sending a warm and comfortable feeling through me. Suddenly, I felt that this trip was worth it, this feeling was just too great. Although I had touched girls before, besides Wang Meili, there was also one of my cousins, but for a girl to take the initiative to hug me like this, it was still a first.

  I calmed down and turned around, using my right hand to wrap around Zhang Xiaohong's small waist. Zhang Xiaohong was a head taller than me, but although I was short, my body was very strong, with powerful arms and legs, so I had never been at a disadvantage in fights before. My mouth directly covered a soft little white rabbit, and I started eating.

  Zhang Xiaohong's whole body was trembling, but she kept responding to me, her waist arched high, making me more comfortable. Just then, I saw a black shadow dart into the room, jumping and leaping until it reached Zhang Xiaohong's back. My movements suddenly froze because I saw those ghostly things that only appear in TV shows and movies - zombies.

  "Why don't you close the door?" I asked subconsciously, my mind already frozen. This ghostly thing would be in front of us in a few seconds, although its reaction seemed very slow and it jumped up slowly, but it jumped very far, probably over a meter at a time.

  This thing is pitch black all over its face, with rotting skin and a foul odor. Its clothes are tattered and worn out, not a single inch of its skin is intact. Most terrifyingly, it doesn't have pupils, only two white eyeballs, and on the edges, there are two sharp fangs, with fresh blood covering its teeth. The way it walks is very strange, with its hands raised high and clasped together, hopping around, each hop making its nearly 5-6 cm long fingernails emit an eerie black glow. Moreover, this thing has its mouth open, desperately gasping for air in the room. Every time it breathes, it changes direction slightly, I see clearly that it's heading towards Zhang Xiaohong and my position. I'm not sure if this thing was brought out by Zhang Xiaohong yesterday when we parted ways at the orchard, that place is really too eerie, something always happens as soon as you enter, maybe Zhang Xiaohong has bad luck and was targeted by this monster.

  At this time, Zhang Xiaohong's clothes in front of her chest had already been torn open by me. We maintained a ambiguous posture and stood still, motionless. "Hold your breath." I whispered softly into Zhang Xiaohong's ear. Zhang Xiaohong saw that I wasn't moving and already knew something was wrong. Upon hearing me say hold my breath, she knew that some strange thing had probably come in.

  "Thud, thud, thud——" The stiff limbs hit the floor, making a terrifying sound. I held Zhang Xiaohong still, although we were holding our breaths, but this thing seemed to have a sixth sense and pounced towards us. In an instant, I couldn't care about the preciousness of every moment anymore, stretched out my hand to grab the wooden chair that had been staring at for a long time, turned around and smashed it towards this disgusting thing. Zhang Xiaohong was pushed by me and fell several meters away, letting out a piercing scream.

  "Crash!" The chair shattered into pieces, and this thing was knocked back several steps, its eyes fixed on me as I panted heavily, yet it didn't seem to feel any pain. "Meng Fei, be careful!" Zhang Xiaohong warned me as she rushed towards me. I turned my head, and suddenly this thing raised its hands and pounced on me again. Ten five-centimeter-long fingernails gleaming with black light pierced through my shoulder like daggers, sending a sharp pain through my body, as if eighteen knives had stabbed into me. I gritted my teeth against the pain and swung the chair leg at its hands, shattering the fingernails with a loud "Crack!" This thing reacted incredibly fast, grabbing my neck in an instant and squeezing tightly.

  I thought this thing should react slowly, like the black corpse I saw that night, unable to withstand a single blow. But I was wrong, it just walks slowly, but its movements are abnormally agile, and its body is harder than steel, with incredible strength. Was what I encountered that night not a zombie? What did I encounter then? And what about the golden heart I bit through? I thought of all this in an instant, and then I felt my breathing becoming difficult as I was getting closer to this monster.

  This thing has opened its mouth, revealing sharp and white fangs, is it going to bite me? I suddenly realized that I might be about to die. My eyes glanced around and found Zhang Xiaohong hiding in the corner of the wall, trembling with fear, my face was instantly covered in cold sweat, both from pain and fright. At this time, Zhang Xiaohong called out my name in a weak and hoarse voice: "Meng Fei, don't die, I'll be your girlfriend... don't die!"

  Am I going to die? Listening to Zhang Xiaohong's passionate confession, I saw the monster's teeth about to bite my neck. I was tightly grasped by two black and sticky hands that emitted a foul odor, which almost made me suffocate. The pain on my body made me lose the courage to continue fighting. Life and death were right in front of me, and I subconsciously closed my eyes, waiting for the moment when blood would splatter everywhere. Well, Meng Fei, who was once invincible, died just like that, I thought.

  "Bang——" Suddenly, I heard a particularly loud noise, and the zombie in front of me shook. After waiting for a long time, this thing didn't bite me. I wonder if it's asleep. It can still sleep when biting people, what a weird zombie.

  I slowly opened my eyes to verify my guess, and as a result, I saw a yellow talisman stuck on the zombie's face, covering its forehead, and it didn't move at all.

  "Hmph, I've been chasing you for three days and nights, almost killing another innocent person. You're a jiangshi who's exhausted your yang energy, tonight I'll burn you to ashes." A middle-aged man wearing a yellow Taoist robe suddenly appeared by the window, his right hand holding out a copper coin which he threw at the jiangshi's forehead, shouting: "Let go!"

  This Taoist had a small goatee, his hair was messy and looked like it hadn't been washed in hundreds of days, his whole body emitted a foul odor, only slightly less than the ugly corpse in front of him. On his back he carried a large frame containing talismans, peach wood swords and other things, as well as many paper ingots and incense sticks, candles, looking just like a peasant from the mountains. This was my master, Chen Tianyi, the ninth generation founder of Mao Mountain.

  "Master!" This person suddenly appeared out of thin air, startling me. But that familiar figure made me excited, and I shouted loudly. After the Taoist priest cast his spell, the zombie actually let go of me, and I narrowly escaped death. My whole body was in pain, and when I looked at my wound, I gritted my teeth and used my index finger and thumb to forcibly pull out a black fingernail from my body. The fingernail had pierced into my body for an instant, causing a sharp pain, but when it was pulled out, the intense pain made me almost cry. It took a lot of effort to pull out that piece of black nail, and a dark gas emerged from the blood hole on my shoulder. After about ten minutes or so, the blood around the wound actually coagulated, and except for some skin damage, I felt like it wasn't hurting as much anymore.

  "You stinky brat, always thinking about heroically saving the beauty! You were injured by this evil thing and infected with yin energy. We must quickly clear out the corpse poison, otherwise you will definitely die." The yellow-robed Taoist said calmly as he took out a pair of pincers, attached a yellow talisman to them, lit it on fire, and pulled out the remaining black fingernails from my shoulder. This time, it didn't hurt at all, and a faint red blood flowed out from my shoulder. My master then applied some white powder to me and bandaged me with a cloth strip from his clothes. Only then did he stop. This guy still remembers that I'm his disciple, but he disappeared for several years, saying he was going to subdue demons and monsters, who knows where he went to indulge in pleasure, I thought to myself.

  "What's going on?" The blood didn't turn black, and the master was taken aback, then smiled slyly at me and asked: "Foolish kid, when did your blood become able to counteract the zombie toxin?"

  "Hmph, apprentices naturally have their own opportunities!" I also coldly snorted in response.

  "You're still showing off, but I'm here to teach you a lesson today. Don't think that just because you've hooked up with a young beauty, you can show off in front of me. This girl is not simple, she's not someone you can mess with." The master began educating me again.

  "You won't teach me magic, those ghosts and monsters always want my life, I'd better take advantage of my youth to play with some girls, in case I get killed one day, wouldn't that be a loss?" I continued arguing with Master, this is how we've been since childhood.

  "Shut up, I'll deal with you later!" Master scolded me and walked towards Zhang Xiaohong. The zombie stood stiffly in the middle of the room, very obedient. I didn't dare to get close to this ghost thing, so I hid behind Master.