Uncle Gazi said with some frustration, "Didn't I just say that young people need to be patient?"
I didn't respond to his words and quickly ran toward Suo Tian.
By now, he had already taken down two or three of the walker, and a few others behind them had been tripped by the fallen bodies.
Suo Tian seized the opportunity and swiftly swung his blade, cleanly slicing off the heads of the walker on the ground.
Just as I was about to reach him, Uncle Gazi also caught up, gripping a kitchen knife.
At that moment, Suo Tian, who had his back to us, suddenly leapt forward, stepped onto the wall beside him, and used the momentum to vault into the air.
With a powerful kick, he launched it at the foremost walker, sending not only that one flying but also knocking down several others behind it.
Without hesitation, Suo Tian stabilized his stance and delivered several quick, clean slashes at the fallen walker.
By the time Uncle Gazi and I reached his side, all the walker had already been dealt with.
Uncle Gazi stared in awe for a moment, glancing between the corpses on the ground and Suo Tian, unable to hold back his admiration: "Young man, you've got some real skills."
Suo Tian looked back at the two of us but said nothing.
He scanned the surroundings quickly, then continued forward at a brisk pace.
"Uncle Gazi, let's go," I said with a smile, urging the still-awestruck Uncle Gazi who was watching Suo Tian with admiration.
"Right," Uncle Gazi quickly responded and caught up with us.
He asked, "What did this young guy do before? He's got serious skills. That kick alone—definitely trained in martial arts."
I followed closely behind Suo Tian, and while running, Uncle Gazi's words made my heart suddenly sink...
Come to think of it, I actually had no idea what Suo Tian's background was.
I let out an awkward laugh and changed the subject: "Uncle Gazi, from what you're saying, sounds like you've got some experience yourself?"
"Hahaha, experience or not, I just know a thing or two," Uncle Gazi said with a hearty laugh.
Though he was older, his pace didn't falter at all.
He kept up with us easily, and even after running for a while, he wasn't out of breath.
Before we left, Uncle Gazi had already explained the route to the village chief's house to Suo Tian in detail, so from then on, Suo Tian ran ahead to clear the way.
Uncle Gazi and I were responsible for guarding the rear and taking care of any straggling walker that Suo Tian might have missed.
In the distance, we spotted a two-story house with a bright, eye-catching exterior—clearly radiating a wealthier, more vibrant aura.
The courtyard gate alone looked far grander and more elegant than Uncle Gazi's.
Suo Tian, who was leading the way, stopped and glanced back to make sure we were still with him.
Panting slightly, I pointed to the house and asked, "Is that the village chief's place?"
"Yep, that's the one," Uncle Gazi nodded.
"Why don't I see a car?"
"Probably parked inside the courtyard. Their car's never been parked right outside the house."
"Mm." I nodded and glanced back at the building again.
In front of the house was a small patch of concrete, and beyond that ran a narrow creek.
The only path leading to the front gate was on the right side.
At that moment, a one-armed walker was wandering along that only road.
Suo Tian turned back to us and said, "Let's go check it out first."
Uncle Gazi and I nodded and followed him down the path.
That one-armed walker spotted the three of us from afar.
It opened its mouth greedily, growling and staggering toward us, clearly unaware of its own limits.
Suo Tian merely walked around it as he passed, but Uncle Gazi stepped forward and finished it off with a single strike.
After the walker hit the ground, Uncle Gazi stared at it for a moment and muttered with some guilt, "Sorry about that, Old Li."
I glanced over at Uncle Gazi and asked, "You knew this person?"
"Of course I did. We were real close—known each other most of our lives."
Uncle Gazi's voice dipped slightly with sorrow, but after all, he was an old man who'd seen much of life's impermanence.
Though he had just struck down a friend of decades, his response was subdued—just a slight heaviness in his tone.
Looking at him, I began to understand a little better how he'd managed to survive all this time and take care of his granddaughter so well.
By the time Uncle Gazi and I reached the village chief's gate, Suo Tian had already finished scouting the entire area.
Once we caught up, Suo Tian slung his long blade over his back and said to us, "I'll go in and take a look first."
Without waiting for a response, he glanced at the wall, stepped back a couple of paces, then launched forward with force.
In a swift motion, he scaled the wall with ease.
Crouching on the wall, Suo Tian glanced into the courtyard, and suddenly his expression changed.
He let out a sharp hiss and leapt down into the yard without hesitation.
At the same moment, a woman's shrill, agonizing scream echoed from within the courtyard.
It was a sound filled with intense pain, and the next second, the groans of walkers followed.
I thought I could even hear the gruesome tearing of flesh.
"Sister Zhang?" Uncle Gazi's voice sounded anxious.
After a brief pause, he shouted toward the courtyard, "Sister Zhang? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
I quickly tugged at Uncle Gazi's sleeve, signaling him to lower his voice, afraid that it might attract more walkers nearby.
The woman's scream just now had already been loud enough.
Although there weren't many walkers left in the village after the horde passed through, if a dozen or twenty were drawn over, we'd be in serious trouble.
"There's actually still someone alive in the village? I've been wandering for months and didn't know. Who would've thought Sister Zhang was still alive," Uncle Gazi muttered in disbelief.
I followed up, "Maybe she's been hiding, which is why you never noticed. After all, it's not like you searched every house for survivors, right?"
From inside the courtyard came the sound of wet slicing—pu chi pu chi—followed by the abrupt end of the walker groans.
The woman's screams had stopped just seconds after they began.
As I was speculating about what was happening inside, the courtyard gate suddenly burst open with a loud thud.
Uncle Gazi and I quickly rushed into the courtyard.
Suo Tian poked his head out to scan the surroundings once more, then slid the bolt to lock the gate from the inside.
The scene inside the courtyard was pretty much what I had imagined earlier while standing outside.
Sure enough, a black sedan was parked there.
The driver's door was half open, and on the ground just in front of it lay two walker corpses twisted in grotesque positions.
Their bodies had decayed beyond recognition.
Not far from them, a woman was lying on the ground, still twitching slightly, her legs weakly kicking.
I noticed she was an older woman.
Uncle Gazi glanced at the woman and immediately ran forward.
He was about to reach out and help her up, but suddenly withdrew his hand.
He remained bent over, staring at the woman in silence for a long moment, then finally sighed and stood up straight.
Judging by the large pool of blood beneath her, she'd clearly been bitten in an artery.
No matter how you looked at it, there was no saving her.
I shook my head and turned to Suo Tian, asking, "What just happened?"
Suo Tian glanced at the woman and replied, "She opened the car door. I didn't stop her in time."
I froze. "You mean… those two walkers were inside the car the whole time?"
"Yeah." Suo Tian gave a short reply, then stepped over the two corpses and walked toward the car with the open door.
As I stared at the still-twitching woman, things gradually began to make sense in my mind—I could more or less guess what had happened.
Turning to Uncle Gazi, who was examining the two corpses and the woman with a grim expression, I asked, "Uncle Gazi, do you know these two?"
He looked back at me and let out a heavy sigh, speaking with sorrow in his voice, "How could I not? They're Sister Zhang's two sons."
I nodded, growing even more certain of the guess in my heart.
Those two walkers inside the car had probably mutated from the very beginning.
Otherwise, there was no way that woman could have managed to lock them inside by herself.
They must have been kept in the car all along, never having left.
I guessed one of them might've bitten the other during that time.
And this woman, whom Uncle Gazi called Sister Zhang, had likely been hiding here alone for months.
Her mind had probably started to break down under the strain—tortured by loneliness and fear—while her two sons remained locked inside the car, facing her every day, though they no longer belonged to the same world.
I glanced at the spotless car window, wiped clean from the outside.
Maybe today her mind finally collapsed completely, and she opened the car door.
Perhaps she did it in a daze, not even aware of her actions—or perhaps, it was the release she had been seeking all along.
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