Back to the Apocalypse - chapter 37

When Bai Jing reached the hotel lobby he noticed that a thick lock had been placed on the hotel doors. A number of seals had been plastered everywhere, written on them was the date June 14, which also happened to be the third day after the lightning incident.

Bai Jing was slightly annoyed. From what he had observed of the hotel, there seemed to be no sign of human activity, which led him to believe that the hotel has been closed for quite some time. He really wanted to know how long he had actually been unconscious in his dimension, but knowing would make no difference.

Therefore, instead immediately of going outside, he went on a hunt in the hotel. A five-star hotel like this would have a lot of valuable things that have now been left to waste away. It would be better if he used them to fill his dimension. Two hours later, Bai Jing suddenly appeared on the street outside the hotel drenched in sweat and feeling tired.

He was unaware that at the exact moment his figure appeared on the street, in another place someone shouted excitedly.

“Big brother, big brother, I just saw young master Jing. He is on Fuhua Road 15 meters in front of the Royal Garden Hotel.” The man yelled excitedly as he stared at a monitor.

It was possible to conclude that Bai Jing was quite lucky, since out of all the monitors in the room, his lone figure standing in an abandoned area had naturally attracted the observer’s attention.

Xiao Sa rushed over like the wind. He saw that Bai Jing was perfectly fine, all his limbs were intact and that he had not suffered any injuries. Only then did his heart fill with a profound sense of relief.  Without pausing for a moment he immediately turned to leave and said: “Continue monitoring the situation and report any new developments back to me. I’m going out.”

The man slapped a hand over his chest: “My brother rest assured and leave this to me. I will definitely help you get a favorable outcome regarding sister-in-law’s situation.”

Recently it was clear to see that something big was missing from their brother’s life. In the past few days, as they watched their big brother anxiously work non-stop without stopping to sleep or rest, they too sincerely hoped that Bai jing would be safe and sound.

What’s more, they now understood that the reason their big brother had broken away from the family wasn’t because of Bai Jing. Indeed it had been for their sake that he had spent so much money. Bai Jing was innocent, but they had unfairly placed all their anger and blame on him.  None of them can forget that it was for this exact reason that they had wanted him to go away and stay at the hotel. In fact, they were currently feeling very guilty.

The hardest thing for Han Yan to bear was that sadly Xiao Sa was still refusing to acknowledge him. He wants to speak to him, but can never get any opportunity to do so. Han Yan felt quite wronged but didn’t dare to say anything to his brother and just kept these feelings buried in his heart. His elder brother has just been feeling anxious that’s all. Who knew that things could change so quickly?

“It’s dangerous to go out alone, why don’t you take us with you.” led by Xie Minhang several men came forward.

Xiao Sa nodded then turned to leave at once, as Xie Minhang and the men who came forward rushed to keep up with him.

Once he left, those who remained in the house let out sighs of relief; Bai Jing had finally been found. The pressure that their heavenly brother had been previously emitting had been extremely frightening.

***

Bai Jing walked down the street while casually looking around. This once lively city was now only filed with scenes of desolation; infrastructural damage could be seen everywhere, and a nauseating odor still permeated the air.

Bai Jing suddenly tensed, his mind going on alert as he heard a sound come from somewhere ahead.  He took hold of the gun he had strapped on his waist then followed the noise.

The sound was extremely familiar. Even after being reborn he could still recognize this sound.  Even in his dreams he would still know that chilling sound of chewing that produced a “crunch” noise every now and then.

Bai Jing was also not shocked by the image of unparalled savagery before his eyes. He just calmly attached a silencer to his gun and shot at the man who was busy enjoying a great meal fit for a dragon’s son, with a bloody mouth and obscured face.

“Bang!” the zombie’s forehead bust open and his brains splattered everywhere. The person whose body the zombie had consumed nearly half of, was completely dead. The ground was covered in the person’s blood, and their intensities had spilt out of their stomach. Several chunks of flesh and bone fragments were also scattered all around the body.

Bai Jing was unfazed by this, only apathetically wondering: has the apocalypse finally arrived? He spied a cell phone on the ground but unfortunately it was completely shattered. So without a backward glance he turned to walk away. He could guess where Xiao Sa would probably be.

From all that he had seen, he deduced that the apocalypse should have only just begun, and that the situation must still be under the government’s control. Otherwise, it would be impossible that there would be so few zombies on streets. Therefore, without wasting any more time, Bai Jing decided to go search for Xiao Sa at him home.

A car hurtled by and Bai Jing rushed forward to try to stop it: “Hey you wait a minute!”

The person driving the car didn’t even glance at him once. Instead, as if he had seen a ghost, the driver immediately stepped even harder on the accelerator, speeding past him and only leaving behind a burst of dust.

“Fuck!” Bai Jing was extremely angry. He had only wanted to know what day it was; otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered trying to flag down the car.

With a hateful glare his eyes swept across both sides of the street, before spotting a better off-road vehicle across the street. Without hesitation, he took out a long steel pipe to smash the car window with.  Currently he still didn’t want to remove any of his cars from his dimension, so he would just be temporarily borrowing this one to use in the time being.

“Hey hey hey, that’s my car.”

In the midst of his actions, Bai Jing heard a voice call from a far. He rolled his eyes arrogantly, and didn’t bother to slow down his movements.

“Ah! Don’t – I have the key.” The man yelled urgently.

Only then did Bai Jing very slowly stop his movements.

A young man in his twenties ran towards him stealthily. His hair was dyed every color under the sun, and likewise, his clothes were of the same colorful pattern as his hair. When he caught sight of Bai Jing, he instantly flashed a charming smile at him: “Brother, where are you headed, wont you take me along?”

Bai Jing raised an eyebrow. Right from the start this guy was acting too familiar.

The man saw that Bai Jing remained silent, so with a face covered in tears he held the car keys in both his hands in offering, then pitifully said, “Brother, just have mercy on me, I haven’t eaten a single thing in two days.”

Bai Jing took the keys and opened the door, but he was still very skeptical. How can this person so quickly have taken a liking to him? And as for the story about not having eaten for two days straight, who could believe that?

“Where does this brother live? I’m called Yu Yue. The Yu stands for excess and the Yue stands for laughter.”

The young man glanced at the gun on Bai Jing’s waist, and for a moment his eyes seemed to reflect his chaotic thoughts. Bai Jing could then instantly tell that this was not a sincere person. Without waiting for Bai Jing to respond, Yu Yue started heading into the car.

It then became evident to Bai Jing that this guy must have witnessed him killing the zombie before, and thus had come forward to try to strike up a conversation with him. Bai Jing had just been thinking that he needed someone to ask questions to, and so he didn’t refuse the guy’s offer. He took hold of Yu Yue and directed him into the driver’s seat, while he took the front passenger seat, then casually said: “You drive.”

Yu Yue was startled for a moment, but did not dare to resist. These days he was too frightened to even step outside the gate. However, he had now found a powerful person so it was only natural that he would want to follow him closely. He asked, “Where to?”

“The burning flame alliance headquarters.”

“Huh? Does that mean you have family there? I must advice you against going there. A few days ago the elders caused a huge commotion which caused the family to break up. I heard that the head of the group was kicked out, leaving with only a small group of people.”

Bai Jing’s face darkened: “What day did this happen?”

“June 11, it was the same say as that terrifying lightning storm. I was really scared to death. My family lives around here and it had felt like the lightning was directly on top of our heads. Don’t you know? That night there was an abrupt gale along with lighting. I watched the whole thing from start to finish.”

Yu Yue pointed to the hotel building not too far away: “I heard the sound of a loud explosion and thought that the whole building was going to collapse, the entire top floor of the hotel was on fire. More than 100 people died at that hotel. There was such great damage that there was no other choice but to it shut down.  Then a few days later, out of nowhere a mad dog appeared and started biting people on the street. ”

“What day is it today?” Bai Jing asked urgently. He was most interested in finding out about this matter.

“Huh? Don’t you know? Today is June 21.”

Bai Jing breathed out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had not guessed wrong. Today was only the third day of the apocalypse. The true chaos of the apocalypse would begin eight days after the lightning incident.

“Your cell phone?”

“Oh, oh, here it is.” Yu Yue quickly fished out his phone, and it was the latest model at that.

Bai Jing realized that he must come from a wealthy family. Otherwise how was it possible that he lived in this area? In the business district where other than the hotel, all the buildings were commercial and trade high-rises. Bai Jing watched Yu Yue suspiciously, but didn’t bother to question any further. After all there were only strangers coming together by chance, and would probably be separated later on.

He picked up the cell phone and dialed his own number. After only one ring he heard a calm voice in his ear: “Little Jing, don’t move. I’m coming to get you right now.”

Bai Jing froze. He was somewhat resentful that he didn’t hear even the slightest bit of worry from the voice he was listening to, almost as if Xiao Sa wasn’t surprised at all. This train of thought immediately stopped as he considered the meaning of the words he’d just heard, and then hurriedly asked: “Do you know where I am?”

“Yes, I installed surveillance cameras all over the city. So do not move from where you are.” Xiao Sa responded casually. But heaven only knew how stressed he had been these past few days.

“Alright, I’ll wait for you.”

Bai Jing ignored Yu Yue’s look of astonishment, as he stewed over the conversation he’d just had. On one hand, he felt really ashamed for being inferior, since Xiao Sa could even think of such an idea. On the other hand, he was very glad. It was really nice that immediately after exiting his dimension he was able to find Xiao Sa. A huge load that had been weighing on his chest had finally been lifted.

After speaking to Xiao Sa, he learned that the reason why there were no people around was probably due to the great degree of damage caused by the lightning. Many places had to be evacuated. The apocalypse had begun during the night when there is normally close to no one in the business district. Therefore, the few zombies that do appear are shot dead by the police. Only hospitals and the residential areas on the outskirts of city were facing the most dire of circumstances. The military had been immediately dispatched the following day after the incident, and they still have the situation under their control. Only repeatedly issuing warnings to the general public to not leave their homes.

Bai Jing was silent. In his previous life, he had also thought the same way. His heart had also been full of hope during the seven days before the virus truly broke out. In the seven days following the start of the apocalypse people will only be happy, relieved that the few zombies are being eradicated. However, on the eighth day, the incubation period will be over and then suddenly people everywhere will start getting infected. Following the never-ending deaths, people start being vigilant of the people around them, lest they should suddenly find themselves near someone who is turning into a walking corpse.

After a while, Bai Jing’s lips curled up into a slight smile. After seeing the three cars in the distance moving towards them, he tossed the phone away and hurriedly waved his hand. He opened the car door and ran, not concerned with potentially encountering zombies, since he had his dimension, and he also had Xiao Sa. Xiao Sa who had countless ingenious tricks up his sleeves. They would definitely survive.

After great difficulties, Yu Yue had finally found a backer, so there was no way he would turn back now. He made up his mind to shamelessly stick to Bai Jing, thus without saying a word he also got out of the car.
Xiao Sa was worn out, but he hid it well. At the sight of Bai Jing, he eyes instantly began to water. He got out of the car and walked step by step towards Bai Jing before tightly pulling him into his arms.

It was difficult for Bai jing to breath, but he dared to move around only a little bit. He had really frightened Xiao Sa during these past few days: “Easy. See, I’m alright.”

Xiao Sa only loosened his hold after a long time. Then he held Bai Jing in front of him and carefully examined him.

Yu Yue who was standing right next to them was completely ignored. He only stood there speechless with his mouth open as he thought: so they were actually in this kind of relationship.