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Chapter 617: Strange Noises in the City

“Whoosh!”

Gusts of wind swept through the crossroads, and the tattered streamers hanging by the roadside fluttered noisily.

An overturned bus lay rotting in the middle of the road, while a dozen grimy and terrifying zombies stared with pairs of hollow, blood-red eyes, swaying slowly.

From the looks of the street, Dongming City seemed no different from other cities; equally desolate, dilapidated, and overrun with zombies.

Suddenly, a faint noise caught the attention of these zombies. It was as if a spring had been wound up inside them all at once; they lifted their heads together, a dangerous gleam flashing in their eyes as they scanned their surroundings with eager anticipation.

“Giggle…”

The faint sound gradually became clearer, but it sounded like someone with unclear speech was opening their mouth, emitting bursts of meaningless noise from their throat.

The zombies turned their necks one after another, searching for the source of the sound, their sharp, elongated fingers continuously retracting inward.

This indistinct noise made them somewhat restless and agitated. However, when they stretched their necks, fluttered their eyelids, and slowly twisted their wrists, they resembled wolves too impatient to pounce on their prey.

“Thud!”

A muffled sound suddenly came from one side, and at the same time, under the sunlight, an elongated and somewhat distorted shadow appeared on the ground.

Those feet landing heavily were engulfed in the rising dust, and at the same moment, the shadow fiercely spread its arms wide: “Roar!”

“Ow ow!”

The zombies responded with bared teeth and wide mouths, accelerating as they rushed forward.

They moved on all fours, leaping over the tops of abandoned vehicles, leaving behind fresh, deep scratches on the car bodies.

When the first zombie lunged from mid-air towards the owner of the shadow, the ten or so zombies that followed suit also pounced from various directions.

Even for high-level zombies, this was no easy situation to handle…

“sweep!”

As the first zombie was still mid-air, its abdomen suddenly burst open with a flesh-rending hole, and with a heavy thud, it crashed to the ground.

Droplets of blood still hung in the air when the second zombie was violently smacked away.

Flesh and limbs were strewn about, and in just one minute, the intersection had turned into a gruesome exhibition of bloodied, tattered dolls.

And those bare feet, stepping in the sticky blood, suddenly lifted up and then forcefully stomped down on the head of a zombie lying at their feet.

This zombie had just managed to crawl over when its head was firmly pinned underfoot.

Its blood-red eyes were still wide open, but a trail of fresh blood was already flowing out from beneath it…

“Roar!”

A dull roar echoed once again…

“What’s that noise?” Ling Mo halted, looking around in confusion.

Mu Chen wore an expression that said ‘you’re making a fuss over nothing’: “Zombies…”

“But that sound… it’s too loud, isn’t it?” Ling Mo still looked doubtful.

“Yeah.” Shana nodded in agreement, her gaze also lifting to the surrounding buildings.

In a city full of buildings like this, such a sound could only indicate the source was nearby, but pinpointing the exact location was difficult.

“Stay cool, it’s just zombie-Pavarotti. Did you think zombies don’t have tenors?” Mu Chen said with an eye-roll.

As he spoke, he shook his head in resignation: “Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles. Try to understand zombies a bit more…”

“I don’t understand zombies?” Shana’s eyes widened as she opened her mouth slightly, then turned to look at Ling Mo.

Ling Mo just silently shook his head at her…

That sound was definitely unusual—not just loud, but also with a lion’s roar quality that could send shivers down one’s spine.

And this was the first time Ling Mo had heard such a sound…

“Speaking of which…” Mu Chen glanced helplessly at the back of the group. Xu Shuhan was following behind, weapon in hand, vigilantly watching the surroundings, “You’re making your precautions against us pretty obvious.”

“We’re in your territory, after all.” Ling Mo’s nonchalant response seemed to deflate Mu Chen a bit.

This meant he still didn’t have a chance to interact with Xu Shuhan, but fortunately, they had a shadow-like messenger at their disposal.

If one wasn’t purposely looking for him in the crowd, Xia Zhi, who liked to follow silently in the shadows, was indeed hard to spot at first glance.

He was like a log, neither doing anything to draw attention nor speaking up to be noticed; even his expressions were so lacking in presence… Blank-faced and quite ordinary in appearance…

However, when Mu Chen looked his way, Xia Zhi responded quickly.

He naturally walked over to Mu Chen…

“Hey? No, no, no… don’t come over now!” Mu Chen immediately felt a bit panicked inside.

Although Ling Mo and the others seemed to be focused on the surrounding environment at the moment, Xia Zhi’s approach…

Okay, he wasn’t noticed… He was gloriously ignored.

Mu Chen was somewhat stunned; he didn’t know whether to call it a talent or a tragedy…

But if the two of them were to talk, they could only pretend to watch the road while trying to speak as quietly as possible.

“How’s it going?” Mu Chen nearly whispered through clenched teeth.

Xia Zhi was quite composed, his eyes fixed straight ahead, and his fingers tapping lightly in his pocket before making an “ok” gesture.

“So…” Mu Chen asked again, “Who did she choose? And who do you choose?”

This kind of talking, akin to using codes, gave Mu Chen a bit of reassurance; even if overheard, the plan wouldn’t be exposed.

Mu Chen was feeling uneasy; he knew that people tend to trust themselves the most, yet paradoxically, they can’t choose themselves.

This was the same for him.

After all, though the path of fleeing alone was tough, it surely beat staying behind as a hostage…

Xia Zhi thought for a moment, then pointed to himself first.

“Did she choose you?” Mu Chen asked with a hint of disappointment.

Xia Zhi nodded, then pointed backward.

“So you choose her?”

However, Xia Zhi then pointed to himself again and shook his head.

He gave Mu Chen a grimace that was hard to look at and then returned to the middle of Ling Mo’s group.

“Hey, you!”

Mu Chen called out in a lowered voice, but got no response.

His expression was complex, but also tinged with awkwardness.

Xu Shuhan chose Xia Zhi, and Xia Zhi chose her.

But Xia Zhi’s final gesture indicated that he had abstained…

In such a situation, to give up the right to choose was to hand over the easier path to survival to Xu Shuhan, wasn’t it?

It was unexpected that Xia Zhi would be so magnanimous, but on reflection, Mu Chen realized he didn’t really understand Xia Zhi’s character.

No one really understood Xia Zhi…

Regardless, Mu Chen had to admit that he admired the decisiveness of Xia Zhi’s action; it wasn’t easy to make such a decision…

This, however, left Mu Chen with only one option.

He glanced back at Xu Shuhan and took a deep breath.

Their eyes met, and there seemed to be an awkwardness between them.

Mu Chen stared at Xu Shuhan for a while before turning away.

“She’ll do… Xia Zhi isn’t one to make decisions lightly; I should be able to trust her as well. Plus, she’s articulate and has all those recordings…”

Mu Chen gripped the handle of his knife, thinking: “Now there’s just one problem left, when to make a move?”

Dongming City was completely unfamiliar to Ling Mo and his group; they had never been to this city before, let alone search for Niepan within such unfamiliar confines.

Therefore, the responsibility of leading the way naturally fell on Mu Chen and his group.

However, after wandering around for half the day, Ling Mo quickly lost his patience.

“Get us there by the end of the day.”

“That’s impossible.” Mu Chen shook his head decisively, “Didn’t you see how many zombies there are?”

Of course, he wouldn’t admit that he was deliberately taking detours, but it was true that there were a lot of zombies on the route they had taken.

Indeed, this was the result of his intentional choice to navigate through the busier streets, a tactic that had proven effective.

“We can travel at night,” Ling Mo continued.

“No, absolutely not at night.” Xu Shuhan’s complexion changed at this suggestion.

“Ha…” Ling Mo looked at the three of them with interest, “No problem, I’m used to it.”

He was indeed no stranger to traveling at night. Although the danger increased significantly, it was manageable with extra caution.

What interested him was the reaction of these three; it made him feel like he had touched on something significant to them.