Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Endless Sorrow (Part 1)
"Brother Hu! Hold on!" Tang Xiaoquan blurted out, but his warning was a step too late. Hu Xiaodong, preoccupied with the rooftop situation, didn’t hear his words at all and had already climbed the wooden ladder.
With no choice in the face of Hu Xiaodong’s disregard, Tang Xiaoquan could only call the others to follow closely behind him upward.
On the rooftop, it was quiet with no wind, and the heat rising continuously made the cement floor appear as if it were covered in a thin mist, creating an illusionary scene.
Hu Xiaodong sternly flipped onto the ground, and after standing still and surveying for a moment, his black eyes suddenly widened in shock.
Less than two meters in front of him, a corpse with its stomach ripped open lay horizontally, with various scraps and mutilated flesh splattered about, the gruesome scene making one’s hair stand on end.
"Urgh~" An uncontrollable surge from his stomach, Tang Xiaoquan, who had followed closely behind, was immediately bent over retching at the bloody smell pervading the air.
Not only him, but the others like Wang Qiang were also inevitably showing signs of retching to varying degrees.
Only Hu Xiaodong stood there motionless, as if he had lost his soul.
After about two minutes, the survivors’ churning stomachs finally started to settle down.
Tang Xiaoquan casually wiped his lips a couple of times, clearing away the filth on them, and only after this did he begin to closely examine the corpse in front of him.
The corpse had an arm extended forward, its fingers clawed and naturally curved, indicating that it had attempted to climb away before dying.
Moreover, the two long blood marks behind it clearly showed the hardship and helplessness of its escape route.
"Is this... Old Lin?" Someone at the end of the group muttered in a drawn-out tone, and with the utterance of this voice, everyone started to notice the identity of the deceased.
A pure white short-sleeved shirt, silver hair full of dust and blood, and from the torn, barely recognizable face, one could make out a few profound wrinkles.
"Phew~" Hu Xiaodong took a deep breath. Although he was unwilling to admit it, the evidence pointed to the old man he had considered family.
The atmosphere on the rooftop immediately became oppressive, even Wang Qiang and others who had no affection for Lin Muye felt as if they couldn’t breathe, as if a massive stone was pressing on their chests.
"Who? Who’s there?" A stern shout pulled everyone back to reality from their sorrowful thoughts, as they saw Wu Chao walking towards the back of the rooftop, holding a steel blade.
"Wait! Little Wu!"
Tang Xiaoquan reached out to hold back Wu Chao, who was about to proceed, and then motioned with his mouth to Hu Xiaodong behind him, signaling him to take people around from the other side to encircle the area, acting separately to avoid unexpected events.
Understanding his intent, Hu Xiaodong said no more, pointed to Wang Qiang behind him, and together with Wang Wu, they moved in a fan formation towards the bathroom at the back of the rooftop.
As the distance closed, the survivors nearing the target location could hear a faint ripping sound, similar to a hunting dog gnawing on meat from a bone.
"Zombies!" The word popped almost simultaneously into everyone’s mind, as Hu Xiaodong frantically dashed out, leaving Tang Xiaoquan without a chance to stop him.
However...
The footsteps suddenly halted, and Hu Xiaodong froze in place as if struck by a nerve point, leaving Wu Chao and the others puzzled. Only Tang Xiaoquan sighed in helplessness.
"Whoosh~" With a sound of drapery being brushed aside, the stunned survivors turned their gaze simultaneously towards the noise, then collectively drew in a cold breath!
In their eyes, a once white plastic curtain now covered in glaring crimson looked like a slaughterhouse, horrifying to the extreme.
Perhaps noticing the movement outside the curtain, the zombie enjoying a feast inside suddenly stuck its head out, its large mouth stained with blood and bits of flesh, and it emitted a low, menacing growl of "gurgle, gurgle."
Seeing Hu and Wu standing motionless as if not taking action, Wang Qiang took it upon himself to raise his spear for a thrusting stance, preparing to end the zombie behind the curtain.
Yet before he could act, his spear-bearing right hand was quietly pulled back from behind.
When he looked back, he saw Tang Xiaoquan shaking his head mysteriously.
Why? The reason was very simple because zombies cannot climb stairs, so the only possibility for a zombie to appear now is that a survivor was infected.
Judging by the small and frail appearance of the zombie before them, it should be no other than the person Hu Xiaodong mentioned before, Huzhe.
Hu Xiaodong trembled uncontrollably, feeling a penetrating sorrow welling up from his heart, suffocating him.
"Huzhe" slowly crawled out of the bathroom, clearly no longer recognizing the people in front of him, having lost his mind to the virus.
At this moment, he was left with only a bloodthirsty instinct, and consuming the opponent was his sole thought.
Shaking back and forth, Huzhe slowly stood up and his gaze moved to Hu Xiaodong at the forefront.
One man, one zombie, inches apart.
"Huzhe! Huzhe!" Hu Xiaodong murmured softly, but "Huzhe," advancing step by step, responded with nothing other than an excited growl.
Hu Xiaodong gripped the cleaver in his hand tightly, wanting to lift it several times but remained motionless, only the sound of "crack, crack" from his joints could be heard.
Tang Xiaoquan fully understood Hu Xiaodong’s hesitation.
Although the Law of Survival rule 22 explicitly tells you: When facing friends, relatives, even family members who have lost their humanity, show no mercy in extinguishing them, never let affection endanger the fate of the whole team.
But people are always people, distinct from zombies because we have a heart, we have emotions, no matter how depraved the world becomes, there will always be a place in our hearts where we keep things we consider precious, sacred, and inviolable.
And right now, "Huzhe" is undoubtedly that precious thing in Hu Xiaodong’s eyes.
Watching the snarling, ever-closer "Huzhe," Tang Xiaoquan exhaled lightly. While he empathized with Hu Xiaodong’s current actions, it didn’t mean he would let the former endanger everyone’s lives.
"A villain" still needs someone to be, so Tang Xiaoquan raised the Long Spear and stepped forward, but before he could leave the crowd, a large hand blocked his way.
"Let me!" A deep, slightly hoarse voice came from Hu Xiaodong’s mouth. Tang Xiaoquan couldn’t see his face, but from the continuously trembling right hand beneath him, it was clear he had summoned great courage to say these words.
The long knife glimmered coldly, drawing a perfect arc under the sun.
And as the blade fell, so did "Huzhe’s" head.
Hu Xiaodong reached out to support the falling body, and a stream of tears finally burst uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.