Where should she throw the corpses?
She didn’t dare to throw them outside. The zombies were lurking outside, ready to pounce. If she opened the door, they would likely rush in, and she didn’t want to become one of them.
Throwing them into the well was also not an option. Finally having clean water to drink, throwing corpses in would contaminate it, cutting off her only means of survival.
Ning Xin thought about the windows on the second floor, attempting to move the bodies upstairs and throw them out through the window.
But after trying once, she promptly gave up.
They were too heavy, impossible to move.
She could only move all the bodies to a corner, covering them with a large canvas, planning to deal with them later when she had more energy.
After finishing this task, Ning Xin washed her hands, drank a few more cups of water, and looked at the remaining half of the porridge, suspecting that the old lady was hiding something.
She must have been living here for a while. Could it be that she had hidden all the food?
Ning Xin had searched both upstairs and downstairs in the asylum, except for the old lady’s room.
She didn’t want to steal from an old person, but she also didn’t want to starve to death.
After some thought, she gathered some cleaning supplies – rags, brooms, buckets – and returned to the second floor outside the old lady’s room.
Knock, knock, knock.
“What is it?”
“Your room seems a bit dirty. I want to clean it up.”
“Come in.”
With a casual demeanor, she walked in and smiled at the old lady.
The other party seemed to have a hidden meaning in their words:
“You’re quite diligent.”
“Haha, well, I have nothing else to do anyway. And the things outside are too terrifying. I don’t want to be alone. Do you mind?”
“I don’t mind. Do as you please.”
The old lady remained seated by the window, seemingly never moving.
Ning Xin calmed her mind and began to clean the furniture. To avoid arousing suspicion, she kept the conversation going.
“Grandma, how long have you been living here?”
“For quite a while.”
“How did you come here?”
“It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten.”
“Where did the other people in the hospital go?”
“I have no idea. I’ve just been in my room, never went anywhere else.”
“I noticed the sign outside the hospital says ‘Asylum.’ Aren’t all the patients living here mentally ill?”
After a long time passed without a response, Ning Xin called out a couple of times.
“Grandma? Grandma?”
The old woman hung her head, emitting a faint snoring sound from her nose, apparently falling asleep.
Ning Xin didn’t believe it. She walked over and waved her hand in front of the old lady’s eyes.
The other party remained motionless, sleeping soundly.
Alright, it’s really a heaven-sent opportunity.
Ning Xin carefully searched the room, not letting anything slip past her – bedside table, wardrobe, under the bed, she checked them all.
But after a thorough search, she found nothing.
She flipped through the clothes in the wardrobe, unwilling to give up, trying to recall where she might have overlooked.
“What are you looking for?”
Suddenly, a question from the old lady behind her made her heart skip a beat. She turned around and explained, “I thought I heard mice in here just now. Have you heard them before?”
The old lady didn’t answer directly but said, “I don’t have any food left here. That bit of rice is the last bit of storage.”
Turns out, she had seen through it all…
Ning Xin’s cheeks flushed hot, wanting to deny it but unable to open her mouth.
The old lady waved her hand. “You can go now. I want to rest for a while.”
She hurriedly ran out of the room, forgetting even the water bucket.
Standing downstairs, she recalled what had just happened, still feeling ashamed and embarrassed.
When running her own shop, she might have played some tricks to make customers pay faster.
But it was always within certain limits, never resorting to deceitful tactics. Deceiving an old lady felt shameful even to think about.
She had no idea how to face the old lady next.
Ning Xin laid her head on the table, letting out a painful groan.
As night fell, with the activities of the zombies becoming more frequent, she checked the doors and windows again, reinforcing them with a stick. Then she added some water to the porridge, boiled it, and carried it upstairs.
This time, she dared not speak out of turn again. The old lady, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind, not mentioning anything about what happened during the day. She simply said, “This bit of porridge probably won’t last a few days.”
She nodded silently, without saying a word.
The old lady raised her gaze. “Why aren’t you eating?”
Ning Xin awkwardly smiled, “I’m young and can handle it. Please, you eat.”
However, the old lady took the initiative to serve her a bowl, saying, “Now, we depend on each other for survival. How can I eat alone? Come on, let’s split it evenly.”
Feeling even more embarrassed by her generosity, Ning Xin blushed and buried her head in the porridge.
The old lady sighed as she looked out the window. “I’ve lived to this age, and I’ve had my fill of life. But you’re still young. It wouldn’t be worth it to starve.”
Ning Xin smiled bitterly. “Is there any other way?”
With a meaningful look, the old lady said, “There must be a way.”
They quickly finished the porridge. Ning Xin tried to control her appetite and left a bit at the bottom of the bowl, planning to mix it with water to drink tomorrow.
There was water in the well, but she didn’t have the energy to bathe. She just wiped her face casually and went to sleep in the empty ward.
The blanket was thin, suitable for the high daytime temperatures, almost like summer. But at night, the temperature dropped sharply, and even under the blanket, she felt chilled to the bone.
Occasional cries from the zombies outside sounded like death knells.
Ning Xin buried her head in the blanket, covering her ears, praying for the night to pass quickly.
The next morning, she diluted the remaining porridge with three times the amount of water and ate it together with the old lady.
The porridge was too thin, and soon they were hungry again. To conserve energy, Ning Xin moved a chair and sat next to the old lady, enjoying the view outside together.
No wonder the old lady sat there all day without moving; it was indeed much more comfortable.
She stretched her neck and looked into the distance, her gaze passing over layers of zombie heads, landing on a patch of woods.
The woods were estimated to be about half a mile away from here, with a large area covered densely by leaves, making it impossible to see what was inside.
Would there be food in there?
With so many trees, there must be some bearing fruit, but could they have already been picked by the group that left earlier?
Ning Xin remembered the taste of fruit, involuntarily salivating. She swallowed it back, reluctant to spit it out.
Her body felt weak and powerless, her head dizzy and heavy. Unconsciously, it was already afternoon, time for a meal.
The porridge bowl had been licked clean long ago. She went downstairs and brought up two bowls of water, handing one to the old lady.
“Luckily, we still have water for the time being. We should be able to hold out for another two or three days.”
As for what would happen after two or three days…
The old lady didn’t respond, her hands resting on the blanket as she asked, “Are you sure you can make it through these few days?”
The feeling of hunger was unbearable, especially without hope. Enduring until one couldn’t take it anymore would result in starvation, akin to a slow and agonizing death with no end in sight.
Ning Xin was naturally afraid, but being afraid wouldn’t help.
She looked out the window and muttered, “If the food were just outside the door, I would risk my life to get it. But now, I can’t see anything. Even if I go out, it would just be walking into my own death.”
The old lady smiled faintly. “I do know of a place.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Go south from here, and after about three miles, you’ll see a village. There are no people left in the village, but there’s still uneaten food. It depends on whether you have the ability to get it.”
Ning Xin’s spirits were lifted at the words, but she soon became skeptical.
“Is it true? Have you been there before?”
The old lady leaned back in her wheelchair. “As I said, I’ve lived long enough.”
She closed her eyes and fell silent. Ning Xin looked out the window, feeling restless.
Should she go?
If she didn’t know, starving to death would be one thing, but if she knew and still didn’t act, it would be even harder to accept.
But with zombies outside, how could she go out?
Ning Xin left the room and went to the adjacent ward, lying down and pondering for a long time. She decided that she must try no matter what.
It was too dangerous outside; she needed to prepare some weapons for self-defense.
After searching the building, she found a rusty kitchen knife and a long-handled hoe.
The hoe was heavy, and she was weak, unable to wield it effectively and lacking in killing power.
After some thought, Ning Xin dismantled the handle of the hoe and tied it to the kitchen knife, trying it out in her hand.
What a magnificent weapon it became!
Satisfied, she put it away and continued preparing other things.
Water was essential. Ning Xin found an empty plastic water bottle, washed it clean, and filled it with water from the well.
There was a small utility room on the first floor. The food inside had been looted long ago, leaving behind some bedding such as patient gowns, shoes, hats, and bed sheets.
She used a bed sheet to make a makeshift backpack for herself, perfectly fitting the water bottle. If she really found food, she could also put it in there.
Then she layered several patient gowns on herself, dressing like an Eskimo.
This way, even if she was scratched by a zombie, it shouldn’t break the skin and cause infection.
With everything ready, she just lacked opportunity.
Ning Xin stood at the door, taking deep breaths repeatedly. After mustering up courage, she looked up and realized it was already dark outside.
Nighttime meant the zombies were more active, which also meant more danger. It might be better to wait until tomorrow noon before setting out.
She returned to her room and slept through the night. The next morning, she delivered water to the old lady again.
The old lady probably deduced from her attire what she was about to do, but she didn’t say a word.
Ning Xin’s heart raced as she thought about the corpses still in the living room. Summoning all her strength, she hoisted one of them to the second floor and pushed it out of the window opposite the main entrance.
The falling body attracted many zombies, clearing the area around the front door in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, brandishing the knife, and rushed out. Suddenly, a question popped into her mind: Which way was south?
“North is up, south is down, left is west, right is east… no, that’s for maps.”
She faced the direction of the sun when she woke up in the morning…
Some zombies noticed her and started running towards her.
No time to think, Ning Xin randomly chose a direction and sprinted.
She hadn’t eaten properly in days, and her stamina was low. After running a few hundred meters, she was exhausted, relying entirely on willpower.
The zombies were right behind her, and she couldn’t stop, couldn’t die!
With a burst of energy, Ning Xin dashed into the woods. Just as the zombies’ claws were about to grab her clothes, she narrowly climbed up a tree, escaping to the treetops.
The zombies were strong but stiff, unable to climb up after her, only howling beneath the tree.
She breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, feeling tired and hungry, with her vision dimming.
To prevent herself from falling, she sat on a branch, holding onto the tree trunk tightly.
More and more zombies gathered below, roughly numbering in the dozens.
What should she do now? She won’t be left hanging on the tree to become a dried corpse, right?
No, no, no…
Ning Xin began a long wait, hoping that with time, they would leave on their own.
But as she watched, the sky darkened again, and not only did the zombies not leave, their numbers showed a vague trend of exceeding a hundred.
She drank half a bottle of water, but it had no effect, her stomach burning with hunger.
She wanted to go back, continue her small business, save money to buy a house, and not stay in a place like this…
Ning Xin looked up at the moon, tears uncontrollably flowing, overwhelmed with sadness.
The zombie horde below became restless, and she belatedly noticed the anomaly. Wiping away her tears, she looked down…
A flash of gold passed, several zombie heads rolled off their bodies.
Ning Xin: “!!!”
Zombies had no intelligence; seeing their companions die, they not only weren’t afraid but continued to charge forward.
More flashes of gold, and half of the zombies fell to the ground. A figure appeared before her eyes.
It should be a man, dressed in black with a masked face. His physique was extremely tall, holding a broadsword with a dark golden dragon pattern, emitting an imposing aura.
Ning Xin touched the handle of her long-handled cleaver, feeling embarrassed, and hid it behind her back.
She stared at the man, and he noticed her too, looking back at her.
His eyes were sharp as needles, causing her to shrink back. When she looked again, there were only corpses littering the ground, and the man had already walked far away.
Who was this big shot?!
Ning Xin’s eyes lit up, with no time to think, she quickly climbed down the tree and chased after him.
“Big brother! Wait for me!”
This big fish, she had her eyes set on him! No one could stop her!
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