There were only our two vehicles on the road, so we were able to drive pretty freely.
Shen Feng kept pace with Suo Tian's vehicle the entire time.
Not long after we set out, we spotted a car up ahead parked at an angle on the side of the road—it was the one that Suo Tian, Uncle Gazi, and I had driven before.
Suo Tian's car honked once and gradually slowed down, signaling for us to stop as well.
Once our vehicles came to a halt, we all got out.
I walked over to Suo Tian and said, "Let's just come back for this stuff later."
But Suo Tian didn't respond.
Instead, one of the black-clad men who was getting out of the car turned to me and replied, "We don't believe in letting time ruin things. What's in your hands is the only thing that's really yours."
I had initially wanted to remind them that the supplies belonged to Uncle Gazi, but after thinking it through, I realized there was little chance he'd be coming back for them.
So I didn't say anything more.
Still, I glanced at the man who had just spoken.
Something about him seemed really familiar.
I thought about it for a while before it finally came to me—he was the guy who had spoken to me back when we were trapped by a horde of walkers in that roadside building.
That's right—his name was Nan An.
After they had moved almost all of the supplies, I finally stepped forward and patted Nan An on the shoulder.
He turned his head to look at me, asking curiously, "What is it?"
I gave a slight smile and said, "Nothing, just saying hi."
He was stunned for a moment, then smiled back. "You remember me?"
I nodded and smiled. "Nan An, right? How could I not remember?"
His smile widened even more, and just as he was about to say something else, Suo Tian gave the order to move out.
"Chen Yang, get in the car," Shen Feng, already in the driver's seat, called out to me.
I turned and responded before glancing back at Nan An and waving. "We'll talk if we get the chance."
Before he could reply, I quickly headed back to the car.
The convoy finally set off again.
The road ahead was smooth and unobstructed.
A few walkers who tried to block our path were easily knocked aside by the vehicles.
As we neared the village, I started to feel a subtle anxiety rising in my chest.
The closer we got, the stronger that nervousness became.
What if Yangyang and Rongrong really weren't here?
If we didn't find them today… where would I even begin looking for them next?
Up ahead, Suo Tian's vehicle came to a stop at the entrance to the village, and Shen Feng followed suit, pulling our van up behind them.
I rolled down the window and called out to Suo Tian, who had just gotten out of the car, "Not driving into the village?"
"Mm. We'll go in on foot," he replied.
"Alright, let's get out," I said, turning to Shen Xue and Xu Shu to let them know.
As we walked down the road into the village, I finally understood why Suo Tian had chosen to stop the vehicles at the entrance.
The last time they fought their way out of the walker horde, they'd left a number of corpses behind.
The bodies were now lying sprawled across the road in a mess, making it nearly impossible for vehicles to pass.
As we made our way through the pile of walker corpses, I noticed a few that must've had their limbs broken by vehicles—they lay on the ground, unable to move, pointlessly opening their mouths and snarling at us.
But they no longer had any killing power.
Suo Tian and his team didn't even glance at them as they passed by, clearly thinking these things weren't worth wasting time to finish off.
But with the mindset that "one less walker is one less threat," I made sure to put them down for good as I walked past.
If they still had any awareness left, I believe they would've thanked me.
Lying on the ground like that, missing limbs, unable to do anything but groan, unable even to die—there's nothing more miserable in this world than that.
The pile of walker corpses at the village entrance was the largest.
Just judging by the number of bodies, it wasn't hard to imagine how bad things must have been that night.
In truth, the number of walkers that stormed the village that night wasn't even as large as the horde we had encountered and fought on the road previously.
The problem was, that time we saw the walker horde coming ahead of time and had time to prepare.
But this time, they arrived in the middle of the night without warning.
By the time people realized what was happening, the walkers had already flooded in.
The result of the rushed defense was chaos—everyone was completely disorganized, and our fighting power plummeted.
There were still a few straggling walkers wandering near the entrance, but with the black-clad men and Suo Tian around, they posed no real threat.
While the others stepped forward and drew their blades, Xu Shu, Shen Xue, and I quickly slipped past them and entered the village.
The courtyard we had stayed in before was at the far end of the road opposite the village entrance.
So we started our search from there.
Scanning the road quickly, we spotted only two walkers staggering toward us with their heads tilted unnaturally.
After exchanging a glance with Xu Shu and Shen Xue, the three of us drew our blades and charged straight toward them.
When I rushed up to the two walkers, I kicked one of them hard.
But to my surprise, instead of collapsing like usual, the walker only stumbled back a couple of steps and stayed on its feet.
That was something I absolutely didn't expect.
Before I could recover my balance and pull my leg back, the walker lunged at me.
At the very last second, Shen Xue quickly dashed in from the side, shouted sharply, and drove her dagger straight into the walker's head.
Xu Shu also stepped forward at the same time and brought down the other walker with two swift slashes.
She then turned to me, frowning, and asked, "Are you okay?"
Still shaken, I waved at her and replied, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I guess I just didn't put enough force into that kick."
"We're not playing around here. You better not zone out," Shen Xue said, patting my shoulder as a warning.
I gave her a wry smile and nodded.
Heaven knows, I wasn't zoning out—I just didn't get the move right or use enough strength.
Otherwise, that walker definitely would've been knocked over.
Suo Tian and the others came up behind us.
As they passed by, he quickly said, "Keep up."
Not daring to waste any more time, the rest of us hurried after them.
The first place we searched was the courtyard we had stayed in before.
Even though Suo Tian had already checked it and confirmed no one was there, I still held onto a shred of hope—maybe, just maybe, the two of them had come back from somewhere else recently.
The front gate of the courtyard was half open.
The moment I saw it, my heart sank.
If Yangyang and Rongrong were really here, there's no way they would have left the door like that.
At this point, it didn't really matter whether we searched this courtyard or not—there was no way the two of them were here.
But since we had already come, we had to go through the motions.
Suo Tian kicked the gate open with one solid blow.
Of the four black-clad men behind him, two stayed at the entrance while the remaining two followed him swiftly inside.
I stood at the gate in a daze until Shen Feng gave me a push, snapping me out of it, and I hurried in after them.
There were still several walker corpses lying around in the courtyard.
The sun had been blazing these past few days, and since those bodies were already decomposing, they looked even worse now—practically beyond recognition.
Shen Feng and the others quickly spread out to search each room.
I just stood there in the courtyard, too weary to join them.
It was already certain that no one was here.
Just as I was about to turn and leave the courtyard to wait for them outside, a sudden scream pierced the air from the room Shen Feng and Shen Xue had gone into.
It caught me completely off guard.
The whole area had been so quiet that the scream sent a jolt through me.
After a brief moment of stunned stillness, I immediately turned and dashed toward the room where the sound had come from.
Suo Tian and the others also came running from the other rooms toward the source of the scream.
And the moment I entered the room, I was completely stunned by what I saw.
My mind went blank.
The large chest in the room, originally used for storing clothes, was now wide open—and inside, Zheng Rongrong was crouched down, screaming hoarsely at the top of her lungs.
The hair that Xiao Xue used to neatly tie up for her every day was now completely disheveled, making her look like a little madwoman.
Shen Xue and Shen Feng were standing beside the chest, trying desperately to speak to her.
But Rongrong seemed completely unresponsive.
She just kept shaking her head and screaming, as if she couldn't hear them at all.
Suo Tian and the others stood stunned in the doorway for a couple of seconds before finally stepping forward.
I snapped out of my daze and quickly followed them in.
The chest was very large, and Rongrong's small frame made her look even more fragile as she crouched inside.
It had only been a few days since we last saw her, but her face had already become noticeably thinner.
Her once bright, curious eyes were now completely lifeless, filled to the brim with fear.
Though she was staring right at us, it was as if she wasn't really seeing anything at all—just trapped in some invisible horror, screaming with all her might, as if trying to scream out every last ounce of strength in her tiny body.
Shen Xue had already started crying, patting her hands and speaking with a trembling voice in an attempt to snap Rongrong back to reality.
But it was useless.
Any time Shen Xue's hand got even slightly close, Rongrong would instantly scream louder, even more desperately.
I stood there, my mind nearly blank, my heart aching uncontrollably at the sight of her like this.
I was terrified that with every scream, her little body might shatter from the sheer force of it.
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