The woman's frightened shrieks are ear-piercing to the point of migraine-inducing. Surrounded by a mass of undead, the off-road vehicle begins to rock dangerously from side to side. As though vastly enticed by something within, the growls intensify.
With a crack, a window of the vehicle shatters and the screech abruptly cuts off. A pool of scarlet begins to spread on the dark asphalt road which is washed away swiftly by the continuously falling rain.
An uncomfortable silence grips the four men. This entire time, although they slew more than their fair share of undead, this is still the first time witnessing a human being torn apart by those creatures.
"Little Yuan." The one who eventually breaks the silence is Long Zhanye as he hugs his lover.
"Eh...what is it?"
"Now, the attention of that group is all on devouring those two people, it is the best opportunity to escape. Else once they finish eating, there wouldn't be enough time for us to leave even if we want to. Also, the loud sound of the rain will mask any noise we make, so there's no need to worry about them noticing us." Long Zhanye speaks lowly, controlling his volume so it is loud enough for the others to hear but soft enough to be drowned out by the pattering rain.
"I understand. Hang on a minute." Disappearing in a flash of silver, Huo Zaiyuan returns a few seconds later, holding a few yellow paper folded into small triangles in his hand.
Giving another Aura Concealment Charm to the others, Huo Zaiyuan steps out of the array first, gracefully sliding down the mountain slope. The horde is located at the other end of the street, separated by a mere two or three meters. As soon as his feet touch the ground, he waves his left hand.
The modified Hummer H1 he purchased from the black market before the apocalypse began finally saw use. Opening the car door, he hurriedly enters the driver's seat and starts the engine. Long Zhanye, Li Qing and Qin Jun who were preparing for this signal immediately slide down and scramble in.
The doors close with a 'pa' and the vehicle immediately speeds forward. Only now do the gorging zombies take notice. But the Hummer is already tearing down the street. None of the undead would be able to catch up even if they tried.
"Too...too intense. If we were only a second slower, we would have been surrounded." Li Qing gasps, patting his chest to calm his racing heart.
"That off-road vehicle was unmodified. Once you are surrounded, you would be a goner. This Hummer, however, has bullet-proof glass and steel-plated frame." Although Huo Zaiyuan still drives like a beginner, but driving on a smooth, unobstructed road is no problem. Besides the initial start being a little too fast when trying to escape the horde, now that he decreased the speed, he isn't in danger of losing control.
Reaching out, he turns on the central heating in the car, not caring if it will waste a significant amount of gasoline. Soaked as they are currently, it will be easy to catch a cold and fall ill. At the same time, he retrieves a couple of large towels and hands them out.
"Dry your clothes and body, lest one of you catch a cold."
"Un." Li Qing nods, taking the towel and removing a set of new camouflage attire and underwear from his storage ring, giving one first to Qin Jun, then Long Zhanye. Finally holding one for himself and Huo Zaiyuan, he stares meaningfully at Long Zhanye.
Understanding his unspoken words, Long Zhanye drapes a dry towel over his shoulder as he turns to Huo Zaiyuan. "Little Yuan, stop the car for a while. Let's change our clothes first, then I'll take over driving."
Glancing around to ensure no traces of zombies can be seen, Huo Zaiyuan consents, stepping on the break and killing the engine. Taking the clothes Li Qing offered, he disappears into his space.
Compared to the others who merely dried their bodies and changed clothes, Huo Zaiyuan enjoyed the comforts of his space. First, he enters the bamboo house and turns on the stove, adds fish, chicken, ginger, some seasoning and water in order to cook soup. Beside the stove, he sets up a steamer to prepare some mantou before taking a bath and changing into dry clothes. By the time he is done, the meal is ready and he exits the space.
Parked at the side of the road and listening to the drumming of the rain, the four men huddles in the Hummer and enjoys a hot meal.
"Phew...after being soaked by rain, eating hot food is the best." Li Qing sighs in contentment as he inhales the soup and devours another mantou.
"Little Yuan's cooking skills are becoming better and better. In the past, I never thought I would witness the day you can cook an edible dish." Qin Jun grins.
"I was forced to learn. Try letting little Qing starve for a few days and you'll know what I mean," Huo Zaiyuan retorts as he bites into a mantou.
Before his rebirth, he experienced starvation and nearly freezing to death. These memories never fail to make him shudder, which is why he is so determined to be able to feed himself after being given a second chance, so that he will not starve or freeze this time around.
"Little Yuan had been starved before?" Currently in the passenger seat, Long Zhanye asks, reaching out to pull Huo Zaiyuan into his lap. His heart ached a little from the knowledge.
From the moment he first met the youth until the moment he found out Huo Zaiyuan's true identity as the eldest young master of S City's famous Huo family, he never thought his beloved would have experienced going hungry in his life.
"After my mother passed away, I moved out of the family home. Although my father lets me do what I wanted, he didn't care other than giving me a monthly allowance. But that's all in the past," Huo Zaiyuan replies vaguely, tone nonchalant.
He isn't exactly lying. It is the truth that his father didn't care about his wellbeing besides ensuring he got a monthly allowance. And he did starve during the apocalypse in his last life. But these are indeed all in the past.
Listening to Huo Zaiyuan, Long Zhanye and the others think that Huo Zaiyuan is merely joking. Qin Jun and Li Qing, being a good friend and a childhood friend respectively, are both well aware of his situation after his mother's death. The Huo Zaiyuan of the past is someone who flits away money like one pours water down the drain. He ate and wore only the best. However, they aren't always with him twenty-four seven, so who knows what happened when he is alone?
As for Long Zhanye, although he knows Huo Zaiyuan is the eldest young master of a wealthy family, from what he knows about the child's life, he assumes Huo Zaiyuan has been wronged even further, and can't help feeling sad on his behalf.
"I promise you, as long as I, Long Zhanye, is alive, from now onwards I will absolutely not let you starve or freeze. Come, have some soup. I didn't see you drink any." Saying thus, Long Zhanye holds out a spoonful of warm soup before Huo Zaiyuan's mouth.
This soup was cooked by Huo Zaiyuan in a relatively large pot, but when he took it out of the space, Qin Jun, Li Qing and Long Zhanye all drank a large bowl each. However, Huo Zaiyuan had only been nibbling on a couple of mantou, and hasn't touched the soup yet.
Who would have imagined Huo Zaiyuan merely glanced at the chicken soup before turning his head away.
After cultivating for a while, Huo Zaiyuan's preference in terms of food has changed. Before, he can't have a meal without meat. After, he begins to prefer light foods and avoids greasy or strongly-flavoured ones. Afterwards, he also dislikes food with a strong aroma. In the beginning, he wasn't aware of this change, but once, Li Qing was feeling gluttonous and craved barbecue. He decided to accompany his friend and the two stuffed themselves full of barbecued chicken wings. That night, he meditated in his space and woke up the next day covered in a layer of grease...
It was then he finally begin to notice that the art he is cultivating instinctively resist foods like fish and other meats, expelling the impurities from what he intakes. Because heavy foods will cause blockages in his body, his cultivation will be greatly affected if too much is accumulated. Hence, he becomes pickier regarding the food he eats in order to prevent his cultivation from suffering.
Still, while Huo Zaiyuan knows this, Long Zhanye doesn't. The soldier mistakenly assumes he is deliberately starving himself so the others can have more to eat. Seeing Huo Zaiyuan refusing to drink the soup, he changes tactic and pours some into his mouth. Catching Huo Zaiyuan's chin with one hand, Long Zhanye slants his mouth over the youth's lips and forces the soup into the other's mouth.
"Mmhmm..." Huo Zaiyuan completely doesn't expect Long Zhanye will resolve to use this method to feed him soup. Caught off guard, a vivid blush stains his cheeks.
Seeing this mouth to mouth feeding, the pair happily eating in the back seat pretend not to notice.
After all, it's not as if they have never done it between them before. And it's not exactly Long Zhanye and Huo Zaiyuan's first time either...
"You - you...what are you doing?!" Swallowing the mouthful of soup, Huo Zaiyuan clasps a palm over his mouth and splutters, face as red as a tomato.
"Be good and finish this bowl of soup. Or else I will simply feed everything to you with my mouth." Licking his lips as if savouring a delicacy, Long Zhanye smirks, mirth dancing in his eyes.
"...R - rascal!" In the end, Huo Zaiyuan takes the offered bowl and downs the remaining soup.
For he is afraid Long Zhanye will really keep to his word and feed him mouth to mouth until every drop is gone.
After filling their stomach, the Hummer's engine starts again and continues heading towards M City's safe zone. Outside, the thunderstorm shows no signs of relenting.
Following the Pan Yuan main street all the way to the outskirts of the city, one can see the number of zombies steadily increasing as one draws closer. Under the rain, these undead continue to wander aimlessly, not even glancing towards the passing Hummer. Apparently, heavy rainfall is capable of limiting their range of movement and muffling their senses.
"Why do I feel like the number of undead keep increasing?" Li Qing mumbles, staring out the window at the vague figures flashing by.
"There are indeed more. It could possibly be connected in some ways to the safe zone. We'll know once we take a look." Huo Zaiyuan replies.