Wang Ya, who had always kept herself tightly wrapped up, let out a piercing scream upon seeing her father's tragic state. A tremendous force erupted from her, sending Yun Fei Wu and the others flying backward. Even the Beautiful Zombie staggered away in horror.
Then, Wang Ya's clothes completely disintegrated. Her wind hood and face-covering black cloth were blown away, revealing her true appearance.
At this sight, Bai Wen couldn't help but gasp sharply!
Now fully exposed, Wang Ya was beautiful—more so than even Yun Fei Wu in her prime. Her skin was pale, her features delicate, her figure slender and graceful.
But she had transformed into something utterly terrifying. Her eyes had turned completely blood-red, her crimson lips now bore sharp fangs, and dazzling red patterns slowly lit up across her delicate face. She looked like a demon crawled straight from hell.
"My God... she... she's actually a Zombie?!" Bai Wen exclaimed in shock, unable to believe his eyes.
Faced with Wang Ya's complete rampage, even the Beautiful Zombie paled in apparent fear, not daring to approach as she stared dumbfounded at Wang Ya.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Wen rushed forward with his Blood-colored Battle Blade. Whatever Wang Ya was, he needed to deal with one threat first. Facing two bizarre Zombies at once would spell certain doom.
But before he could get close, Wang Ya—who had been radiating terrifying energy moments before—suddenly stopped screaming. All her power vanished instantly as she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Bai Wen froze. Even the Beautiful Zombie paused, her horrified expression shifting to one of cruel amusement before morphing into naked hunger. She immediately lunged at Wang Ya, jaws gaping wide for the kill.
Bai Wen had already closed the distance. While Wang Ya was likely a Zombie herself—and thus not someone he planned to save—he couldn't let the Beautiful Zombie consume her. What if that triggered another evolution? That would make the creature even more unstoppable.
With a twist of his blade, he slashed viciously at the Beautiful Zombie's neck. Too fixated on Wang Ya to notice Bai Wen's approach from behind, the creature only reacted as the blade descended. She shrieked, abandoning her attack on Wang Ya to jerk her head aside.
"Thunk!" The blade severed her entire arm at the shoulder. Howling in pain, she barely avoided Bai Wen's follow-up strike by scrambling away. Bai Wen pursued with a roar, delivering another brutal slash.
"Aaaah—!" This time the blade took her leg at the thigh. Green blood gushed forth as the Beautiful Zombie lost all capacity to flee, reduced to flailing her remaining arm in desperate defense.
Bai Wen sneered. His blade flashed past her arm without hesitation before plunging straight through her skull.
The Beautiful Zombie's remaining leg twitched once... then fell still.
Bai Wen drew his Blood-colored Battle Blade and approached Wang Ya once more. Staring at her delicate face that had now returned to normal, he tightened his grip on the blade, hesitating to strike.
At that moment, Wang Ya suddenly stirred awake. Through her blurred vision, she saw Bai Wen standing before her and, for the first time, spoke in an extremely weak voice: "B-Big Brother Bai..."
Bai Wen smirked, sheathed his blade, and scooped Wang Ya into his arms. "Don't be afraid. That Zombie is already dead."
Unbeknownst to Wang Ya, her simple address of "Big Brother Bai" had just saved her life.
Yun Fei Wu and the others gradually regained consciousness. Upon seeing the gruesome corpses of Yun Lin and Yun Feng, they broke into anguished sobs.
Bai Wen urgently called out, "Stop crying! This place isn't safe anymore. We need to leave now, or we'll all die!"
Without hesitation, Bai Wen fired a shot into each of the three corpses' foreheads to prevent them from turning into Zombies. He then dug three shallow graves in the greenbelt and buried them.
Coldly eyeing the tear-streaked faces around him, Bai Wen said, "This isn't the time for grief. We've been exposed—the gunfire will draw the Black Cloud Zone's attention. We must move immediately! Yun Huo and Yun Shan, gather food and water. We need a new Safe Spot."
His words jolted the group into action. They realized how close they'd come to death—had it not been for Bai Wen, none would have survived.
Soon, Yun Huo, Yun Shan, and Tai Long emerged from the Safe Spot with two large packs of supplies. Tai Long lamented, "There's so much food left behind. What a waste!"
Bai Wen sneered, "And whose fault is that?"
Yun Fei Wu and the others hung their heads in shame. Bai Wen was right—had they not caused trouble, none of this would have happened.
"We can't stay here. I know another Safe Spot. We're leaving now." With Wang Ya in his arms, Bai Wen strode northward. The group hurried after him, knowing he wouldn't wait for stragglers.
Bai Song Orphanage.
The sight of those weathered letters stirred something in Bai Wen's ironclad heart. This had once been his home, where he'd lived for five years with that person.
He'd come here for two reasons: concern for the orphanage, and the large Air-raid Shelter beneath it—a temporary refuge.
The orphanage lay in ruins, its gates twisted beyond recognition, clearly ravaged by Zombies. He wondered if the director had survived.
After starting university, Bai Wen had moved out, returning only a handful of times. Back then, about a dozen children lived here. Since the Zombie Virus outbreak, he'd never returned, knowing the odds of the director and children surviving were slim.
With mixed emotions, Bai Wen searched the orphanage thoroughly. He found no signs of life—nor any Zombies—only dried bloodstains everywhere. The director and children were likely gone.
He arrived at the orphanage's backyard, where an iron gate marked the entrance to the air-raid shelter. The open door was proof that zombies had visited this place before. Bai Wen raised his gun and stepped inside, following a trail of bloodstains that sent chills down their spines. From the depths wafted waves of foul stench, causing several girls to vomit instantly. Yet, for the sake of survival, they had no choice but to steel themselves and press forward.
When they reached the air-raid shelter, the sight inside made everyone's faces pale. It was less of a shelter and more of a living hell—blood and chunks of flesh were scattered everywhere.
Bai Wen immediately called Yun Huo and Yun Shan to clean up the mess while he laid Wang Ya on the ground. Then, he located the power distribution room, where a small generator and two large barrels of gasoline were stored—enough to keep the lights running.
Yun Huo and Yun Shan suppressed their disgust and cleared out the gruesome remains. Bai Wen then found some mugwort and burned it, finally dispelling the pungent stench. After starting the generator, the entire air-raid shelter lit up, no longer as eerie and terrifying as before.