Chapter 6: Escape

  Fifty or sixty zombies surrounded us, perhaps wary of the short knives in our hands and holding back, but it wouldn't be long before they realized we were out of options and would charge forward. I looked around to see if there was a place with fewer zombies, but these guys were smart, surrounding us three layers deep inside and out. The car was right behind us, but the little sheep wasn't a motorcycle, just a body made of hard plastic that wouldn't withstand a forced breakout.

  Now that things have come to this, we can only force our way out. After I figured it out, I immediately told Hei Zi my thoughts. Hei Zi was staring blankly, not understanding what he was looking at, and hadn't heard what I was thinking! I got angry in my heart - at a time like this, you're still spacing out?! I couldn't help but kick his calf, and Hei Zi let out a loud "Ah yo!" of pain. Coming back to himself, he looked at me with an innocent face and said: "Jizong, this is abusive love, behavior that the country's laws do not encourage."

  I didn't have the heart to listen to him ramble on and repeat my thoughts, so Kuro nodded and said: "Hasn't anyone noticed that the big stone at the village entrance is a bit strange?" I didn't understand what he was getting at, so I waved my hand for him to continue. "Think about it, there are so many goblins... no, zombies, and they all like to dig out from underground, go back to their own homes, do their own thing, and never leave the village. Don't you think that's strange?" My brain suddenly reacted and I understood what Kuro was getting at. Seeing that I understood, he continued: "I'm guessing these zombies... no, goblins are definitely afraid of something here, so they don't dare to go out. Maybe there's some kind of mystery in this stone. Let's find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and rush to the stone monument together!"

  The corpse-like creature seemed to understand human language and knew what we were going to do, slowly approaching us. My forehead and Hei Zi's forehead were sweating profusely. When the creature was only two or three meters away from us, Hei Zi and I exchanged a glance, our arms tensed up, and with a swift motion, I stabbed my dagger at the creature closest to me. To my surprise, these creatures were more difficult to deal with than I had imagined. The military-grade dagger, which could pierce through stone, was unable to penetrate the creature's body and instead bounced back, causing my wrist to ache. Hei Zi fared no better, almost dropping his dagger due to the shock. Our initial attack failed, and we enraged the creatures. Their blood-red eyes glowed as they charged towards us, their ears hissing with an eerie sound. One of the creatures pounced on us, attempting to pin us down. I lifted my leg and kicked it with all my might, but my foot felt like it had hit a steel plate, sending shockwaves through my thigh. The creature pinned me to the ground, and I rolled around in agony. Hei Zi was entangled by another creature and couldn't come to my aid. The creature on top of me opened its mouth, revealing rotten fish-like flesh and emitting a pungent odor that made me gasp for air. Its slender fingers ended with long, sharp nails like knife blades, slowly reaching towards my throat. I held my breath and summoned all my strength to push the creature off me. Unbeknownst to me, my arm had been slashed open by the creature, leaving a gruesome wound that gushed blood.

  I secretly cursed, having no time to tend to my wounds, as more and more of the Shibei corpses squeezed towards me. I had suffered greatly at their hands, and my fists and feet were useless against them. I didn't dare act rashly again, waiting for an opportunity to strike with a palm blow, hitting the Shibei corpse. Although the Shibei corpse was impervious to swords and guns and wouldn't feel pain, it also lacked true energy protecting its body, and was knocked down by my palm's force, five or six of them falling. However, within three or four seconds, the Shibei corpses stood up again. Hei Zi loudly shouted: "What are you going to do, ancestor? These things can't even be stabbed with a military dagger, and yet they can still snap blades in two! You'd better come up with a plan!"

  I took a rough look, the stone is still more than 30 meters away from us. There are still five or six dozen Shabi corpses, not one has been killed yet. It's hard to say if we can escape, let alone fly out. If we put all these things down, there would be two seconds of time to run, but this seems impossible. Despite this, I dodged the attacks of the Shabi corpses while telling Hei Zi my idea.

  Before long, Hei Zi loudly said to me: "Descendant, your idea is not bad. Next, I'll cover for you and help you get rid of more Xi Bi corpses. After you put these things down, go take a look at Shi Tou and see if there's anything they're afraid of, then come back and rescue me!"

  I've worked with Hei Zi for over a decade, and when faced with danger, we naturally don't like to say much nonsense to prove our brotherly bond is deep. After all, by the time you finish saying these words, you might already be dead. I've seen this scene too many times in TV dramas.

  I leaned back against Hei Zi, and we nodded to each other. With a push of his palm, he opened the way for me by pushing aside the corpse of Xie Bi. Very quickly, it seemed that Xie Bi's corpse had forgotten its hatred towards me, as all of them rushed towards Hei Zi. I took this opportunity to rush out towards the place where Xie Bi's corpse had fallen. The Xie Bi corpses behind reacted and got up to chase me, but in just a blink of an eye, I successfully escaped to the stone monument at the village entrance. The most reluctant Xie Bi also stopped in his tracks and turned back to join the army fighting against Hei Zi.

  I felt a sense of unease in my heart, and I didn't dare to linger. I immediately searched for any clues on the stone monument that might be related to Xi Bi's death. The monument looked very ordinary, it should have been erected with ordinary stones, except for its height and size, I couldn't think of any other special adjectives to describe it.

  I rummaged through it up and down, but still couldn't find anything special. I didn't give up and started digging under the stone again, but still found nothing. I turned my head to look at Hei Zi, who had a lot of holes on his body, and his clothes were tattered. No! There must be something somewhere! My eyes fell on the three characters carved on the stone tablet in seal script, and suddenly I felt a bit uneasy. I tapped it with my finger, and it was hollow! There must be some trickery involved! I immediately took out my military dagger and stabbed it fiercely downwards. Suddenly, a hole appeared on the stone tablet, and a white stone the size of a fist fell out from inside. What is this thing? Is this what the corpse fears? As soon as I picked up the stone, a warm energy flowed into my body through my palm, making me feel refreshed all over, even stopping the bleeding from my wounds, which slowly healed before my eyes. What is this stone?!

  But things didn't allow me to think carefully, Heizi was pressed down to the ground by the corpse of Xiabi, my heart suddenly urgent, I picked up a stone and rushed forward. The Xiabi corpses behind saw me rushing forward, raised their hands, opened their long knives towards me, I thought they would rush up, but just froze in this posture without moving.

  I was overjoyed, picked up the stone and slowly walked towards Hei Zi. The Xie Bi corpses that were hit by the stone all became motionless like wooden puppets. I directed the stone at the Xie Bi corpse that was pinning down Hei Zi, and with a burst of strength, Hei Zi managed to break free from the ground.

  Hei Zi patted his clothes, then kicked the corpse of Xi Bi who had been pressing on him earlier a few times, and finally spat out a mouthful of saliva.

  Hei Zi saw the strange white stone in my hand, took it from me and said "Huh? Is this thing really what saved our lives? It looks like a piece of limestone."

  "Do you have any strange feeling?" I said. Hei Zi stared at the stone for a while and said, "Nothing except that this stone feels quite heavy." Strange? Why do I have that kind of feeling but Hei Zi doesn't? What is this thing that can even control Xi Bi Shi?

  "Look, Grandpa! These guys are all digging holes!" Hei Zi exclaimed.

  I came to my senses and looked in the direction where the zombies had stopped earlier, and indeed these guys were digging holes on the ground, after finishing they drilled back underground again. In an instant, Pingpo Village returned to its usual silence, and except for me and Hei Zi, no one else could be found around! Is this what they call zombie digging?

  I took a glance at my phone, it was already past 9 o'clock, and I had unknowingly spent so much time! Hei Zi didn't want to stay in this haunted place any longer, so he inserted the key and started the Little Sheep, heading back to our place. The journey back always seemed especially long, the cold November wind cut like a knife, freezing us to the point of chattering teeth!

  Back to the house after 10 o'clock, the exercise in the afternoon was too much, and as soon as I returned home, my stomach growled loudly. I asked Hei Zi to pack a hot pot back, but unexpectedly, Hei Zi pushed me away and told me to go myself. With no other choice, I had to call the hot pot store and order an acid vegetable fish hot pot. Generally, hot pot stores don't do takeout, but since I said I was an old customer, the boss quickly agreed. While waiting for the hot pot to arrive, I instructed Hei Zi to wait for the takeout, and he responded with a "oh". Then I went upstairs to take a bath.

  After washing and changing, I went downstairs to find Hei Zi lying on the sofa, fast asleep. I glanced at the furniture on the sofa - 14 unreturned calls from a hot pot restaurant, starting from 15 minutes ago. Meanwhile, Hei Zi was sleeping like a dead pig on the sofa. Helpless, I opened the door and received the takeout hot pot myself...