On the way back, Ning Xin wanted to retrieve her kitchen knife since it was her only weapon. However, it seemed that the zombies had taken it with them, and she couldn’t find it along the way. Fortunately, she had these treasures in her bag, turning her into a mobile zombie exterminator. Wherever she went, not a single zombie remained, as they all ran away quickly.
She safely returned to the asylum, seeing the effect was so good that she couldn’t wait until tomorrow noon. She quickly packed half a cup of water for herself and brought along a spare sheet, then headed out again.
With the map to guide her and plants to protect herself, her journey this time was much smoother, and in less than an hour, she safely arrived at the village.
This village was slightly larger than the one before. Ning Xin immediately plunged into the house and carefully searched through it.
The results were truly satisfying. Not only did she find a large bag of rice, but also plenty of salted fish, cured meat, potatoes, and radishes. If she ate sparingly, she estimated she could have meat and rice for a month.
Since many of the bowls were broken by Nie Ran, she also took some plates and bowls.
With two full bags of food and a bag of rice in front of her, Ning Xin tried to lift them but couldn’t even budge them.
What to do now? Transport them in batches? That would be too troublesome.
She remembered seeing a handcart in one of the houses just now, so she quickly went back to find it. Soon, she returned, pushing the cart.
It was a unicycle with a large wooden tub-like compartment above the wheel and two support racks below, allowing her to take a break when she got tired from pushing.
Ning Xin managed to load everything onto it one by one. However, when she was ready to set off, she encountered a difficulty.
This thing was quite ancient, and she had only seen it on TV. She had no idea how to exert force on it.
After trying dozens of times, she finally managed to awkwardly push it out the door.
Unexpectedly, it was already pitch black outside, with a chilly moon hanging in the sky, casting eerie shadows on the ground.
The zombies were more active than during the day, and their sounds were everywhere.
Ning Xin’s heart was pounding with fear, wishing she could fly back to the asylum in the next second.
Hurry up, she needed to get back quickly to cook…
While chanting in her mind, Ning Xin hurried forward, accidentally overturning the cart several times and attracting the attention of the zombies, making her even more nervous.
But halfway there, she noticed something strange about the zombies.
They still kept their distance from her, not daring to approach, but were all moving in a neat formation towards the same direction.
What was happening there?
She didn’t have the time or the mindset to care, taking advantage of the situation to move even faster.
A few minutes later, she suddenly caught a faint scent of blood in the air.
Frowning, Ning Xin looked around and saw the zombies gathering in a large group at the foot of a distant hill. There were thousands of them, densely packed like an ant colony, climbing upwards one after another.
Above the hill, a silhouette stood at the cliff, holding a huge broadsword in his right hand, as if he could fall down at any moment.
Wasn’t that Nie Ran? Was the smell of blood coming from him?
How could he, with his skills, be injured?
Ning Xin was deeply puzzled. Suddenly, she saw Nie Ran raise his hand and the broadsword, about to slash his own neck.
“Stop!”
Without thinking, she shouted loudly and ran towards him, leaving the cart behind.
The plants in the backpack on her shoulders emitted a scent that made the zombies automatically clear a path for her.
She rushed up the hill, arriving in front of Nie Ran, panting heavily as she stopped.
The latter frowned at her. “It’s you again. What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. What are you doing? Self-harming?” Ning Xin retorted.
Leaving the asylum so decisively, was he planning to find a hilltop to end his own life?
Nie Ran looked away, his expression emotionless. “It’s none of your business. Leave.”
She smelled the strong scent of blood emanating from him and carefully examined him in the moonlight.
The sight startled her. He had many more wounds on his body now, the longest one stretching from his waist to his shoulder.
The wounds seemed to have been inflicted within the last few hours, and fresh blood was still dripping down, staining his blue and white patient’s gown with dark red.
“Are you… are you out of your mind?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Nie Ran grew impatient, pointing the blade at her. “If you don’t leave now, don’t blame me for being rude.”
“Okay, okay, I’m leaving…”
When Ning Xin spoke, she observed his eyes, took advantage of his inattention, rushed over, snatched the big knife, and ran.
The knife was too heavy, she couldn’t lift it, so she could only drag it on the ground like an old ox pulling a plow.
Nie Ran’s face turned ashen, and he growled, “Stop!”
“If you dare, come and take it yourself!”
She provocatively said, pushing harder, taking several steps forward.
Nie Ran couldn’t bear it anymore, he rushed after her, but having lost too much blood earlier, he collapsed to the ground after not getting far.
Ning Xin stopped and called out twice. Seeing no response from him, she put down the knife and ran over to him, checking his breathing.
His breathing seemed normal, but what to do now?
A person so heavy, a knife so heavy, she absolutely couldn’t carry them.
After thinking for a moment, she took out some leaves from her backpack and sprinkled them around him. Then she ran down the mountain, unloaded the food from the unicycle, pushed it back up, and moved him onto it.
She tried the handle and managed to push it, so she started moving forward.
As for the knife and the food, since there were no other living people around, and the zombies weren’t interested, she would just come back to retrieve them next time.
The slope was very steep, and Ning Xin carefully descended, but she wasn’t paying attention and stumbled over a rock.
The unicycle slipped from her hand, carrying Nie Ran as it flew, and finally with a loud bang, it flipped over and landed on top of him.
Ning Xin: “…”
She didn’t mean to…
The zombies gathered around him, she quickly ran over, using plants to drive them away, and checked the situation.
Fortunately, the cart wasn’t broken, and he wasn’t dead.
She reloaded the cart, passing by the food, she casually took a string of sausages and hung it on her shoulder, then took out two large potatoes and stuffed them into Nie Ran’s pockets.
After doing all this, she continued her journey under the stars and moon.
With a half-dead person on the cart, she inexplicably felt less afraid than before.
Stopping and going along the way, after an hour’s journey, Ning Xin finally arrived at the asylum just as the sun rose.
After entering, she closed the door, laid Nie Ran on the floor of the living room, and squatted beside him, pinching his philtrum.
“Wake up, can you hear me talking?”
There was no response from him, so she ran to fetch a bucket of well water and splashed it on his face.
Nie Ran remained motionless, still as cold as ice, his skin unnaturally pale.
Feeling helpless, Ning Xin suddenly heard a voice coming from the stairs.
“He won’t die.”
She turned around to look, and to her surprise, the old lady was sitting there, calmly watching her.
She asked puzzledly, “How did you know?”
Remembering the woman’s position as the head of the asylum, she asked again, “Do you know surgery?”
The old lady shook her head and simply said:
“You move him to the bed, make him warmer, and feed him something, then he’ll be fine.”
Did the old lady know him well? Why was she so certain?
Ning Xin gritted her teeth as she looked at Nie Ran barely breathing, deciding to follow her advice no matter what, and exerted all her strength to get him upstairs.
She hadn’t tidied up the room he had stayed in before, so she could use it again this time.
But with Nie Ran soaked in blood, he definitely couldn’t lie in the beddings.
She placed him on the floor, stripped off his clothes, and used three towels to clean the water and blood off his body.
Strangely, despite such a large wound, it had somehow stopped bleeding on its own without any treatment.
She didn’t know if it was because of his robust physique or if he had lost too much blood.
With Nie Ran’s body covered in cuts and bruises, she dared not dress him further, so she simply lifted him onto the bed and gently covered him with a blanket.
Looking at his pale face, she couldn’t understand.
What had happened to this man to make him self-harm like this?
If she hadn’t run fast, he might have died by now.
Tsk tsk.
Ning Xin shook her head, picked up the dirty clothes and towels, and went downstairs. She cooked a pot of soup with the sausages and potatoes she brought back, then brought it up to feed him.
Nie Ran was unconscious, unable to open his mouth, so she had to pour some soup into his mouth through the gaps between his teeth.
As for the sausages and potatoes, they served to satisfy her hunger.
After feeding him the soup, she washed the dirty clothes and towels, and wanted to sleep. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about the pile of food and couldn’t fall asleep.
It would be a pity if she didn’t bring it back, considering the effort she had put in to get it there.
With this in mind, she sat up and started dressing after a few minutes.
A few minutes later, she was downstairs, carrying her life-saving backpack and pushing the unicycle out again.
By the time she returned with the food and the big knife, it was already afternoon.
Running back and forth twice had exhausted her, and she didn’t have the energy to tidy up. She simply dropped everything in the living room and went upstairs to sleep.
In a half-dreamy state, she seemed to hear someone coughing. She went to the next room and found Nie Ran leaning over the edge of the bed, coughing violently, with a pool of blood on the floor.
Ning Xin was instantly startled awake and ran over to pat his back.
“Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
Nie Ran turned his head to look at her, his eyes filled with suspicion.
“Why did you bring me back?”
“You’re saying that, but everywhere is filled with zombies. Are you suggesting I leave you there to die?”
“Is there a difference between life and death?”
“…What nonsense.”
Ning Xin rolled her eyes and said, “You need to hold on yourself. There’s no doctor here, and there’s no proper medicine. Whether you can survive or not depends on your willpower.”
He lay on the bed, closing his eyes in pain.
“I don’t want to live.”
“Well, then get better before you die. I saved your life, so your opinion doesn’t count.”
Perhaps her tone was too bossy, which prompted Nie Ran to glance at her involuntarily.
After finishing her words, Ning Xin remembered the temperament of this “master” and quickly smiled apologetically, “I’m just looking out for you. If you’re dead, there’s no hope. Only by staying alive do you have a chance to achieve the life you want.”
He laughed self-deprecatingly, as if he wanted to say something but ultimately didn’t speak.
Seeing that he was relatively okay, Ning Xin quietly left the room, closed the door, sighed, and went back to sleep.
Unbeknownst to her, as the night fell, the door was silently pushed open by a figure crawling on the ground, slowly approaching her bed.
Ning Xin dreamed that she was eating barbecue, with her favourite garlic eggplant, happily munching away.
A bloody hand forcefully grabbed her.
The eggplant flew, and she opened her eyes, screaming at the sight of the bloodstains on her body. “Ah!!!”
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