The Black Zombie, covered in black bristles and with only one eye remaining, gave Li Ang a venomous glare before leaping out of the hall as if its feet were spring-loaded. It sprinted furiously along the two-lane rural road to the left of the gate and swiftly disappeared into the night.
Even hand grenades couldn't kill it...
Li Ang, peeking out from behind piles of chairs, exhaled a shaky breath, brushed the sawdust and dust off his body, and stepped out the door.
At this moment, the three villagers who had been playing cards earlier had already led the able-bodied men of the village. They raced over on motorcycles, tricycles, and bicycles along the road to the right, hurrying to the entrance of the hall.
At a glance, these villagers—wielding flashlights, torches, prongs, pitchforks, woodcutting knives, and even hunting Earthy Fire Guns—formed a dense, menacing line in the night, possessing a certain intimidating presence.
Tough environments breed tough people; living in a place as perilous as Hidden Mountain Village, it was impossible not to be fierce and resolute.
Unfortunately, this bravado was somewhat handy in disputes over water sources or fights between villages. However, it was practically useless against Black Zombies, which were resistant even to assault rifle fire. Against them, it was tantamount to delivering themselves on a platter.
The burly man leading the group dismounted his motorcycle, waved his Earthy Fire Gun, and asked Li Ang, "Hammer, where did that thing go?"
Li Ang glanced at the villagers, their combat strength clearly doubtful. He shook his head and said expressionlessly, "Where does the road on the left lead?"
Swept by Li Ang's calm gaze, the burly man subconsciously replied, "To the provincial city."
Li Ang nodded, strode forward, directly mounted the burly man's motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and pursued the Black Zombie's trail.
Feng Tiegen drove a silver-gray Wuling mini truck, its headlights cutting through the deep night as he navigated the winding mountain road.
Dense branches, draping from the low mountain walls like an intricate fishing net, obscured the faint moonlight.
Feng Tiegen was on his way to the county town to obtain his mother's funeral certificate.
His wife, Zhang Cuifang, sat in the passenger seat. Her face was gaunt, her cheekbones prominent. She had brown-dyed hair and wore heavy makeup, leaning against the window as she idly scrolled through short videos on her phone, laughing.
The inexplicable laughter and cacophonous music from the short videos echoed in the confined car, grating on Feng Tiegen's nerves. He took a deep breath and said to his wife, "Could you keep it down?"
Zhang Cuifang, as if she hadn't heard him, simply adjusted her position and continued to scroll and laugh, even turning up her phone's volume.
Anger surged through Feng Tiegen. He turned and shouted, "Turn the volume down! Didn't you hear me?"
Zhang Cuifang stared for a moment, looking at her normally timid husband with disbelief. "You dare yell at me?"
"Yes, I'm yelling at you!" Feng Tiegen clenched his teeth. "If it weren't for you, you damned woman, would my mother have died?!"
"What did you say?" Zhang Cuifang's eyes widened, the whites nearly bulging as she glared. "Feng Tiegen, you're becoming more shameless by the day! Who was it that said medical treatment was too expensive? Who said taking care of the old lady was too tiring? And who dragged their own mother into the cattle shed? You go off to play cards, get drunk and pass out, and then you blame others for not feeding your mother?"
Feng Tiegen gripped the steering wheel so tightly that veins bulged on his fingers, as if he were about to crush the wheel.
"Oh, what's this? You want to hit me?" Zhang Cuifang glanced at her husband, casually placed her phone down, and twisted herself to lie back in her seat. "Hmph, Feng Tiegen, Feng Tiegen," she sneered, "I often wonder how I could have been so blind as to marry a useless coward like you..."
Sarcasm, mockery, and all sorts of biting, harsh words spilled from Zhang Cuifang's mouth like machine-gun fire.
Suddenly, the torrent of mockery ceased. Feng Tiegen subconsciously glanced back. He saw Zhang Cuifang staring intently at the rearview mirror, her heavily made-up face now deathly pale.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
A rhythmic thumping erupted from behind the truck. Through the rearview mirror, Feng Tiegen saw a gaunt figure in brown burial clothes sprinting furiously along the winding mountain road.
The figure's running rhythm wasn't fast, but its strides were extremely long, each leap covering seven to eight meters, making it appear to glide at a low altitude.
Its greyish-white hair streamed out rigidly behind it, and the hem of its brown burial clothes billowed wildly as it somehow kept pace with the truck in the dead of night.
In just a few breaths, the figure was only several body-lengths behind the truck. As the distance narrowed, Feng Tiegen could finally make out its face.
His mother.
GASP... GASP... Feng Tiegen was so horrified he could barely breathe. The equally petrified Zhang Cuifang shoved him hard, screaming, "Faster! Drive faster!!"
Feng Tiegen snapped out of his daze. Disregarding his wildly pounding heart, which felt ready to burst, he slammed on the accelerator, leaving the zombie behind.
The mountain road was winding and treacherous, flanked by a sturdy rock face on one side and a sheer, hundred-zhang gorge on the other. Even in daylight, drivers had to proceed with caution; the slightest misstep could send a vehicle and its occupants plunging to their doom. And now, it was the dead of night.
But Feng Tiegen couldn't worry about that. His sweat-drenched palms gripped the steering wheel tightly, his foot danced between the accelerator and the brake.
A race against death.
The thumping gradually faded and finally disappeared. Feng Tiegen breathed a sigh of relief and asked his wife without looking back, "Did we lose it?"
Silence. Feng Tiegen turned to the passenger seat. He saw the disheveled, monstrous-faced zombie leap onto the rock face with lightning speed. It grabbed onto protruding tree branches, scaled the cliff with ape-like agility, and in mere moments, it was ahead of the truck.
Before Feng Tiegen could react, the zombie leaped from the treetops. Its gaunt figure, as if impossibly heavy, crashed onto the driver's side window of the truck's cabin.
The glass shattered on impact. The vehicle involuntarily swerved, crashing into the stone barriers at the cliff's edge.
The truck's steel frame twisted with a deafening shriek. Feng Tiegen, not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the cabin. He tumbled across the ground and lost consciousness.
...
After what seemed like an eternity, Feng Tiegen awoke. Blood dripped from his forehead. Half the skin on his face and palms was scraped raw, and excruciating pain wracked his entire body.
The chaotic memories in his mind slowly pieced themselves together. Feng Tiegen struggled to rise from the ground.
The truck's headlights still cast a dim glow. In their twin beams, Feng Tiegen saw his wife lying on the ground before the vehicle. And then he saw... his mother.
Zhang Cuifang was dead, her vacant eyes staring up at the black sky. The Black Zombie, its body covered in black fur, crouched beside her. It had thrust a hand into Zhang Cuifang's torso and was rummaging inside.
Literally disemboweling her.
The rich, coppery smell of blood assaulted Feng Tiegen's nostrils, nearly making him gag. But the fierce will to survive forced him to clamp a hand over his mouth, stifle his nausea, and turn away.
He had to escape for his life.
His left ankle felt broken. Each step sent jolts of agony up his leg, causing his back to spasm. He staggered onward into the pitch-black night.
Eventually, the wet, tearing sounds behind him ceased. The Black Zombie stood up. Its dull, lifeless eyes reflected the retreating silhouette of its son.