Chapter 21.1

After they left that corridor, the surroundings fell quiet again.

Mu Xiao and the others ran to the elevator area. Yi Sheng quickly leaned by the door leading to the stairs to observe the movement on the other side, while Mu Xiao stood in front of the still-functioning elevator and pressed the button.

Once the number on the screen began to change, Mu Xiao took two steps back, put An Qi down, and without another word stuffed her into Ling Qi’s hand.

In an instant, Ling Qi had a warm, soft little hand in hers. She looked at Mu Xiao, only to receive a look of trust from her.

“…”

Ling Qi’s expression went wooden, but she did not let go.

Mu Xiao, meanwhile, gripped a badminton racket in one hand and stared tightly at the elevator doors.

Ding—

The crisp notification sounded, and the doors slowly opened.

A swaying zombie lunged out from inside, only for Mu Xiao, who had a whole breath of pent-up frustration with nowhere to vent it, to smash its head rotten with a tennis racket.

“…”

Ling Qi’s expression became even more wooden.

After dealing with the zombie and kicking it out of the elevator, Mu Xiao had Ling Qi enter the elevator and hold down the door-open button. Then she ran like smoke to the nurses’ station and carried a stool back.

Placing the stool inside the elevator, Mu Xiao bent over and slammed her elbow against the panel several times. She actually managed to knock it open—this was something Yi Sheng had discovered earlier when he went down the elevator shaft. It used hidden clasps, not a lock.

Mu Xiao checked the area above the elevator to make sure it was safe. Only then did she lower her head and reach out to An Qi.

An Qi was very obedient. She walked to Mu Xiao’s side and let Mu Xiao lift her up, supporting her onto the top of the elevator.

By this time, Yi Sheng had also entered the elevator. They let the elevator doors close, but did not rush to press a floor button.

The second to go up was Yi Sheng. He listened to Mu Xiao, and as soon as he got up, he protected An Qi and found a relatively safe position. It would not block Mu Xiao and Ling Qi from coming ​bailiantales.com​up, nor would it touch the steel cable in the center of the elevator, avoiding the danger of being scraped or even caught in it.

Seeing that Yi Sheng had gone up, Mu Xiao reached out to Ling Qi.

“Come on. I’ll send you up.”

Ling Qi, however, shook her head and stood still in front of the elevator buttons.

“You go up. Just leave a hand to pull me.”

Mu Xiao froze, exchanged a look with Ling Qi, then nodded and jumped upward without another word, supporting herself up.

Very soon, she turned around and stretched her hand down, half her head showing.

“Come!”

Ling Qi pressed the button for the first floor, turned, stepped onto the stool, and steadily grabbed Mu Xiao’s forearm as she jumped upward. Mu Xiao also quickly gripped Ling Qi’s forearm at the same time, lifted her body, and perfectly connected with the force of Ling Qi’s jump, pulling her onto the top of the elevator.

When Ling Qi landed steadily on the elevator roof, the elevator had only just begun to move, and the steel cable started operating.

Mu Xiao let go and gave Ling Qi a smile. Their smooth coordination made her gloomy mood brighten a little.

Soon, the elevator’s arrival tone sounded again.

As the elevator doors opened, all of them held their breath.

Outside the doors, there was no sound. Not the slightest movement.

Only after the elevator doors automatically closed did Mu Xiao brace herself on the edge and jump down. One hand tightly gripped the tennis racket, while the other held down the door-open button.

The elevator doors opened once more. Mu Xiao leaned against the side and extended the tennis racket outside.

Still, there was no sign of any zombies appearing.

Mu Xiao withdrew the tennis racket. One hand pressed against the elevator door while she poked her head out.

The corridor was empty. Aside from [unauthorized copy]the few zombies they had killed when they first came to the hospital, there were no other traces.

Mu Xiao let out a breath of relief and softly said to the people above, “Come down.”

After saying that, she simply leaned her back against the elevator door, keeping watch on the direction leading to the lobby at all times.

She wondered whether those students who had said they were looking for medicine had left or not. It would be best if there were no more sudden incidents.

Very soon, everyone came down.

Without another word, Mu Xiao led them along the original route to the automatic door.

“Fatty said he’d only wait until nine last night. So much time has passed, so he’s probably no longer there. But he said there’s a square outside the north gate. The zombie outbreak happened before the lunch break, and the weather was hot, so there shouldn’t have been many people there. So we’ll still rush toward the north gate,” Mu Xiao quickly whispered to the others.

If they encountered a large number of zombies outside, their only choice would be to run for their lives. In order to avoid wasting time choosing a route, Mu Xiao simply settled the direction first.

There was another reason to choose the north gate. At the very least, they had to avoid that long string of zombies that had followed the small truck when they rushed in.

Once they decided to go, they went. Mu Xiao still led the way, with Yi Sheng bringing up the rear. As Mu Xiao approached, read the original at bailiantales.com the automatic door opened. Mu Xiao stepped out of the building, and on the empty ground outside were two flattened zombies.

“Looks like Fatty ran into zombies here,” Mu Xiao said quietly.

She tightened her grip on the tennis racket, then reached back and felt a small pocket on the side of her backpack. It was bulging, stuffed with something.

The sun had already risen, but because it had been raining the whole time, the sky was still gray and hazy. The rain was very fine and dense. It did not feel like much when it fell on the body, but before long, a patch would be soaked.

Mu Xiao led the way for a while, then suddenly stopped and lowered her body.

There was a zombie in the flowerbed ahead. It was raising its head and standing there motionlessly, doing who knew what.

The evolved zombie they had encountered in the hospital had left Mu Xiao with lingering fear. She carefully observed this strange zombie. It looked the same as most other zombies, with nothing particularly odd about it.

Mu Xiao gritted her teeth and gestured for the others to pause. Then she crouched and went over alone, until the zombie seemed to sense something and stiffly turned its raised head toward her.

Mu Xiao immediately jumped up, and the tennis racket went straight for the back of the zombie’s head.

The zombie fell to the ground with the impact. Its movements were still ​unauthorized copy​slow, and Mu Xiao smashed its head rotten with several more strikes in succession.

Mu Xiao let out a long breath and waved at the people behind her.

“No problem.”

On the road afterward, zombies strangely raising their heads to look at the sky could be seen everywhere. Mu Xiao and the others soon realized that these zombies’ perception was even a little lower than ordinary zombies. After hitting two or three of them, they simply began carefully going around them.

After all, human stamina was limited. They had only gone through intense running and fighting the day before, and Mu Xiao’s back and legs were still sore even now. It was better to conserve more strength. They could not possibly kill all these zombies anyway.

This good luck lasted until they were about three to five hundred meters away from the north gate.

Mu Xiao’s group could already see the north gate, and inside the north gate was a large outdoor parking lot. The hospital’s parking lot was always filled with cars. Most of them were empty, quietly parked there.

Mu Xiao looked over and felt somewhat uneasy.

Those silent cars were lined up densely. No one knew what might be hidden there.

“Take the main road.” Mu Xiao quickly made the decision, ​bailiantales.com​not forgetting to warn them, “Don’t get close to the cars.”

Yi Sheng did not quite understand what Mu Xiao meant, but seeing An Qi and Ling Qi follow quickly without the slightest objection, he felt too embarrassed to voice his question.

The so-called main road was actually the main lane wide enough for two cars to pass side by side, the straight four-lane road between the hospital building entrance and the north gate. From the angle where Mu Xiao and the others were approaching the north gate, it meant taking a turn, making the distance longer than if they cut straight through the small path.

Fortunately, no zombies were wandering on the main road. Everyone followed Mu Xiao and walked in the very middle of the main road. Occasionally, they could glimpse zombies among the narrow spaces between those cars, raising their heads to look at the sky.

The whole way was startling but not dangerous, and they reached the front of the building smoothly. There was only about one or two hundred meters of straight road left to the north gate.

Mu Xiao’s heart beat very fast. Leaving the hospital was right in front of them.

But before she could take even two steps, hurried running sounds suddenly came from the right, followed closely by furious zombie roars—the number sounded like far more than three or five.

Mu Xiao turned her head and saw several people rushing out from the parking lot on the right. A mighty string of zombies followed behind them, while even more zombies were coming from other places, drawn by the noise.

Mu Xiao had sharp eyes and recognized them as the students who had entered the hospital with them earlier. One, two, three, four—not one missing.

“Damn it!” Mu Xiao gritted her teeth and swallowed back the curse. She pushed An Qi forward. “Run. Run outside. bailiantales.com Ling Qi, you take the front. Yi Sheng, watch the defense!”

An Qi did not immediately run. Her small hand reached out but failed to catch Mu Xiao’s, so she turned back to look at her.

Mu Xiao received An Qi’s gaze and gave her a grin. “An Qi, run forward as fast as you can. Don’t look back. I’ll be right behind you!”

An Qi pressed her lips together, then turned and obediently ran.

Ling Qi also looked at Mu Xiao, but in the end, she ran beside An Qi.

The group had not used much strength earlier, so they were still running at a decent speed now.

However, because of that long chain of noise, even the parking lot on the left gradually began to boil over.

Bang—

A car by the roadside suddenly shook violently. On the car door, an outward bulge like a claw mark actually appeared—and that mark was continuously increasing.

This seemed to fire a starting signal. More and more cars began showing abnormal movements.

The zombies on the surrounding small roads also became excited because of the noise, gathering toward this main road one by one.

Looking at the endless stream of zombies rushing out from the parking lot, Yi Sheng finally realized how wise Mu Xiao’s decision had been just now. Forget the zombies inside the cars—even the ones outside, hidden near the cars and blocked from sight, would have been enough to leave them with nowhere to run.

No matter which path they took, they might be blocked by zombies that suddenly appeared!

In just a few short seconds, the entire parking lot became lively.

Those people also saw Mu Xiao and quickly ran toward them.

Mu Xiao felt like cursing someone’s mother right then.

However, she could only run while pulling out the bedsheet strips stuffed at the top of her backpack, which had already been torn into several long pieces. With a few reverse movements, she wrapped them around the tennis racket, then pulled out a bottle from the side pocket.

It was a specially made sealed plastic bottle, filled with medical alcohol.

When An Ming had arranged that great fire step by step, Mu Xiao had also stored this bailiantales.commethod in her heart—of course, with a little processing.

Please, it has to work.

Mu Xiao prayed silently in her heart.

Another three to five seconds passed.

Those people had already run up to them and were now running parallel with Yi Sheng and the others.

Because of what she was doing with her hands, Mu Xiao had fallen two steps behind. The zombie running at the very front was almost able to touch Mu Xiao’s back.

The click of the lighter was drowned out by the zombies’ excited roars.

The flames that ignited followed Mu Xiao’s movement and slapped straight at the zombie reaching for her.

The zombie was struck on the claw by the burning tennis racket, leaving a patch of charred skin behind. The few zombies around it shrank back because of the scorching heat of the flames, causing their speed to slow by a step as well.

Mu Xiao did not linger. She turned and ran outside, only keeping the burning tennis racket read the original at bailiantales.compointed behind her the whole time.

This actually had some effect. Because the front two or three zombies shrank back, the zombies behind them crashed straight into them, triggering a chain of falling and trampling.

Although it would not kill many zombies, at least it slowed this wave of zombies’ pursuit.

However, this only bought them two or three seconds of breathing room.

“Sorry, we didn’t think—” The one speaking was Kang Kai. He looked like he still had some strength to spare, yet he had fallen back two steps to run alongside Mu Xiao.

“Shut up.” Mu Xiao squeezed these two words out through her teeth without giving Kang Kai even a glance.

Talking at a time like this—did he have too much stamina to spare? Mu Xiao felt this person must have a hole in his brain.

In just the time it took for those two sentences, Mu Xiao felt the zombies behind her closing in again and hurriedly turned back to swing twice.

The rain kept falling. Medical alcohol was not as resistant to burning as oil, after all, and what was underneath was only a combination of cloth strips and a tennis racket. The fire had already shrunk considerably. After being “threatened” by Mu Xiao twice, the zombies’ courage grew.

After all, what was in front of them was living, breathing “fresh meat”!

“Holy fucking shit, your Fat Grandpa shouldn’t have come back!!!” A miserable scream came from up ahead, and at the same time, the sound of a car engine rang out.

Mu Xiao’s eyes lit up. When she raised her head, what she saw was that familiar small truck.

The hospital’s north gate was wide open. The outside and inside were simply like two extremes. At least within Mu Xiao’s range of sight, aside from Fatty’s small truck, there was nothing else.

Although Fatty kept wailing, the truck was parked there without moving, showing no intention of running.

A bit of inappropriate amusement rose in Mu Xiao’s heart. She simply raised her voice and shouted, “Fatty, get the truck moving! Ling Qi, the cargo door is up to you!”

Perhaps Mu Xiao was someone who could occasionally have sudden strokes of inspiration. The two people she named did not say anything more, but both did as she said.

Ling Qi’s speed abruptly became even faster. With a few rises and falls, she actually left the group behind and reached the back of the small truck. She quickly opened the door—this latch truly counted as nothing to Ling Qi, who had already opened it once. If needed, she could even rip the entire latch off.

When the small truck’s door was completely open, the truck also slowly began moving. Its speed was just slightly slower than that of the people running.

Fatty was already controlling the truck skillfully, ready to step on the accelerator and leave at any time. Sweat seeped from the palm of his hand gripping the steering wheel, and he glanced at the rearview mirror from time to time. Through the mirror, the figures of the young people were already blocked by the truck. All he could see were the zombies running toward them.

To be honest, he wanted nothing more than to ignore everything right now, step on the accelerator, and flee!

But damn it, he just could not abandon those girls he had personally sent into the hospital!

By then, Yi Sheng and An Qi had already reached the back of the small truck. Suddenly, from the diagonal side, a zombie shrieked and pounced over. Yi Sheng quickly swung the tennis racket Mu Xiao had given him and slapped it toward that zombie.

“An Qi, you get on first!” Yi Sheng guarded one side, thinking that at least he could buy a little time.

An Qi did not say much either. She knew that at a time like this, she absolutely could not cause trouble. Gritting her teeth, she placed both hands on the edge of the small truck’s cargo compartment and jumped. She barely managed to hook one leg onto the compartment, her body wobbling as she worked hard to climb up.

After all, she was still a seven-year-old child. The cargo compartment was a little high, and An Qi was unable to climb up in one try.

The girl who had followed behind was only half a step slower than An Qi. One hand rested on the edge of the cargo compartment, but her other hand had nowhere to go because An Qi was blocking her, so she reached out to push An Qi aside.

A slightly cool hand suddenly grabbed the girl’s hand. Clearly, that hand was even thinner than the girl’s, but it held her so firmly that she could not move.

“Fuck, which bast—”

The girl began cursing, but when she looked at the owner of the hand, Ling Qi’s chilling eyes stared her into silence.

Ling Qi only grabbed her for that instant. Very soon, she released her and instead pulled An Qi into the truck. The stunned girl was pushed by her boyfriend, only then remembering that they were fleeing for their lives. She climbed into the cargo compartment in a few movements and chose a place far away from Ling Qi to sit.

Her boyfriend also quickly climbed up and sat beside her, complaining loudly, “What the hell were you doing just now? Suddenly stopping—were you trying to get me killed?!”

The girl was quite timid in front of her boyfriend and did not dare talk back.

“Yi Sheng, get on!” After Lu Wei—the injured boy from before—also got into the small truck, Mu Xiao suddenly shouted.

She had almost stopped in place, still two or three steps away from the small truck. While smashing zombies with the tennis racket, she threw all the remaining bedsheet strips onto the ground. The bottle of medical alcohol was also flung by her, spilling completely onto the zombies in front of her.

Yi Sheng had only just dealt with the zombie in front of him. Seeing the urgent situation on Mu Xiao’s side, he had just been about to go help when Mu Xiao shouted at him. He froze, somewhat hesitant.

“Get on.” Ling Qi’s voice rang out as well, her tone filled with unquestionable authority.

Yi Sheng finally did as Mu Xiao said. He turned his head, grabbed the edge of the cargo [unauthorized copy]compartment, and jumped up.

Just as he used his strength to jump, Mu Xiao’s next command came by his ear. “Fatty, step on the gas!”

Yi Sheng almost lost strength in his hands and fell.

Fatty’s scalp had already gone numb from the zombie horde. Mu Xiao’s shout was loud and clear. By the time Fatty reacted, his foot had already slammed down hard on the accelerator.

The sound of tires grinding against the ground was extremely piercing. The small truck accelerated rapidly in a matter of seconds.

“Get your ass up there!” Mu Xiao gritted her teeth fiercely and said this to Kang Kai, who had been helping her hold back the zombies from the side, then took out the lighter again.

Kang Kai was startled, but soon realized that staying here would no longer be of help. He immediately ran back, supported himself with one hand on the edge of the cargo compartment, and jumped neatly into it. Right after that, he turned around and stared intently at Mu Xiao.

The corners of Mu Xiao’s mouth split into a wicked smile. She raised her foot and forcibly kicked the zombie at the very front—the one soaked with the most medical alcohol—back into the zombie horde. The lighter ignited the already-deformed tennis racket in her hand, and with a toss, she flung the burning racket, which had only burned for a few seconds, into the zombie horde before her.

The fire flared up in an instant.

The zombie horde temporarily fell into chaos.

“Senior, hurry and get on!” Kang Kai shouted loudly, stretching his hand toward Mu Xiao.

Fatty’s truck had already picked up speed. The tires were no longer grinding against the ground, and it would soon rush out.

Mu Xiao turned and charged toward the truck. What should have been only two or three steps took her four or five steps to run. The truck was right in front of her, but its speed had already surpassed hers.

Kang Kai held onto the edge of the cargo compartment with one hand and stretched his other hand straight toward Mu Xiao. On the other side, Ling Qi also unexpectedly crouched halfway down and reached out to Mu Xiao.

Mu Xiao gritted her teeth and threw herself toward the cargo compartment with all her strength.

A leap that meant either life or death.

Everyone in the cargo compartment looked at Mu Xiao.

This jump was the last thing Mu Xiao could do. Although Ling Qi looked soft and weak, and could not compare with Kang Kai, Mu Xiao still lunged in Ling Qi’s direction.

Just like on top of the elevator, her hand grasped Ling Qi’s.

Ling Qi also gripped Mu Xiao’s hand tightly at the same time, turned back, and pulled hard toward the cargo compartment.

Their timing connected perfectly. Just as Mu Xiao’s momentum ran out in midair, Ling Qi’s strength arrived. With that pull, she was brought directly into the cargo compartment and plunged headfirst into the bottled water stacked behind Ling Qi.

The truck sped away, leaving that string of smoking zombies behind as it rushed toward the main road.

“Ouch, that really does hurt a bit…” Mu Xiao crawled out from the bottled water, muttering while rubbing her arm.

Before she could even clearly see the situation inside the cargo compartment, her vision blurred. An Qi pounced over and tightly hugged Mu Xiao’s neck, her soft little body trembling.

“All right, all right. Look, we’re all fine!” Mu Xiao no longer cared that her back was still hurting from the bottled water digging into it. She quickly patted An Qi’s back again and again to comfort her.

The cargo door of the small truck was still open, and those zombies had already fallen far behind. Mu Xiao finally felt her taut nerves relax.

When she raised her eyes, she happened to meet Ling Qi’s gaze. Thinking of that desperate leap just now, Mu Xiao gave Ling Qi a huge smile.

Ling Qi had never seen such a bright smile before.

It was as if it could scorch a person until they melted.

A series of banging sounds against metal suddenly came from the front. After that, Fatty’s voice came through as he shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’m asking, where the hell do I drive next?!”

Fatty had waited in the square until nine last night and still had not seen Mu Xiao come out. There had constantly been scattered zombies swaying around nearby, and one time a zombie had even passed right under the car window. On top of that, the surroundings had been both empty and deathly silent, frightening Fatty badly for quite a while. In the end, he hardened his heart, stepped on the accelerator, and left.

It was called being ruthless, but when he woke up after sleeping and saw the dimly bright sky, Fatty had circled back again, thinking that perhaps the girls might just happen to come out.

In the end, what he saw was a life-and-death race he would never forget.

“Qingzhou City!” Mu Xiao quickly answered, without even looking at the other group of people in the cargo compartment.

They had been implicated by these people twice. Mu Xiao truly had no way to feel much goodwill toward them.

Even if that person named Kang Kai had indeed helped her block part of the zombie impact earlier.

Qingzhou City was what An Ming had pointed out beforehand. Mu Xiao had no reason not to follow it.

There was silence from Fatty’s side for a while before his loud voice answered, “I don’t know the way!”

“…”