Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 18: Hunting the Bandits

Zuo Chen casually tossed the communicator to Xiaohei and said, “Hack into the Jicheng Base’s internal network. If you can’t get in, I’ll kill you.” Erzi hurriedly translated and added, “The King says to hack into the Jicheng Base’s internal network. If you can’t get in, he’ll kill you.” Xiaohei nodded rapidly, a look of confidence spreading across his face. He took the communicator, entered line after line of code via the holographic keyboard, and began working. For him, as long as he could connect to the network, everything would be manageable. Moreover, the internet across all of human society hadn’t yet recovered from the chaos of the apocalypse; security levels had dropped significantly compared to before, making it much easier to breach. Soon, various entry points to Jicheng Base’s internal network appeared on the holographic screen. Zuo Chen pondered for a moment, then selected the entry labeled “Academy of Biological Sciences” and clicked through. Sure enough, on the list of experts at the Academy of Biological Sciences, he found Song Tianqiao’s name! Judging by his profile, he held a rather high position within the Jicheng Base—he was the project lead for the “Type I Improved and Optimized Serum” project. After carefully reviewing the relevant experimental data, Zuo Chen already had a clear picture in his mind. Song Tianqiao was indeed hiding at Jicheng Base—that made everything much simpler… His strength was now far greater than it had been before; he was confident he could take on that mutated zombie in the Biological Research Institute’s underground testing facility one-on-one. He couldn’t wait to enter the institute and retrieve the relevant documents. However, that mutated zombie wasn’t acting alone. To take him down, Zuo Chen would need some helpers—at the very least, some backup. With that in mind, Zuo Chen pulled out a simple, hand-drawn map—the one left behind by the human he’d rescued earlier. The place was located on a street not far away; he had no idea what might be inside. He immediately returned to the revolving restaurant, cleared out everything that might be useful and stowed it in his storage space, then strided out of there with Zuo Chen and Xiaohei. By now, he had taken on the aura of the Head Chef Zombie, so the zombies at the Bihai Grand Hotel naturally dared not make a move. After sneaking out of the hotel, the cat and the two humans arrived at the location marked on the map. It was a multi-story residential building. Although there were a few zombies inside, they were no match for Zuo Chen. By now, Erzi and Xiaohei had also realized just how convenient it was to be out and about with a powerful Beast King. “This is the spot,” Zuo Chen said, looking at the yellowed, tattered character for “Fu” on the wooden door before him. Erzi fired a shot that blew the lock off the door and was the first to burst inside. In his view, even if the Beast King could handle every obstacle, he still had to demonstrate his loyalty and bravery—otherwise, his days were numbered. Xiaohei hurriedly followed him inside. But the two of them froze in their tracks. Zuo Chen sensed something was off, so he stepped inside—only to freeze in place as well. The living room was actually filled to the brim with cat food—it took up nearly half the room. Judging by the scattered packaging boxes, the owner had apparently been an online seller who’d been using the room as a warehouse… “Meow!” Zuo Chen kicked over a shelf with his paw. What a joke! He’d thought there might be something good, but it turned out to be a room full of cat food cans. No wonder that person had a “you’ll definitely be satisfied” look on his face before he died—he must’ve thought Zuo Chen would like these cat food cans. But then Zuo Chen noticed that a glimmer of longing flashed in Xiaohei and Erzi’s eyes—especially Xiaohei, who seemed to be swallowing hard. Then it suddenly dawned on him. For people surviving in the apocalypse, cat food was actually a rare delicacy. After all, cat food is primarily made from a puree of animal offal and meat—it’s nutrient-rich and doesn’t taste too bad either. It’s certainly better than eating feces, tree bark, grass roots, paper, or human flesh! “Meow…” Sighing, Zuo Chen said to Xiaohei and the others, “If you want some, go ahead.” Xiaohei was overjoyed. He immediately opened a can, scooped out a large chunk of meat paste with his bare hands, and began devouring it voraciously. Although he’d just had a meal of potatoes, pork ribs, and rice not long ago, the sight of food still made him feel nothing but hunger—a conditioned reflex caused by prolonged starvation in the apocalypse. In comparison, Erzi was a bit more composed. After a moment’s hesitation, he explained to Zuo Chen, “Your Majesty the Beast King, you may not know this, but canned meat like this is considered the hardest currency in the apocalypse. Just one can like this can buy a human life!” This was meat, after all! He then opened a can of his own and began eating it in small bites. Zuo Chen slashed open a can with his claw and tasted the minced meat inside. To his surprise, it actually tasted pretty good. However, he knew full well that this was largely due to the feline genes within him. After wandering around the room, Zuo Chen was certain that, aside from a room full of cat food cans, there was nothing else here. Time to recruit some reinforcements, then. After filling the remaining space in his storage with cat food, Zuo Chen jumped onto Xiaohei’s shoulder, patted him on the back of the head with his paw, and said, “Take me to the Zao Fang bandits (Take me to find the bandits).” Hunger—an endless sense of hunger—welled up from deep within his body, engulfing Ma Dong like a tidal wave. His last meal had been three days ago, when they’d killed a little girl hiding in a house and cooked her meat. Thinking of the child’s tender flesh, Ma Dong felt even hungrier. He struggled to suppress the hunger that was nearly consuming him, clutching the fire axe in his hand as he cautiously peered out from beneath the supermarket checkout counter. It was a small supermarket, almost completely stripped bare, but from Ma Dong’s vantage point, he could see a few cans of luncheon meat in the deli section; to him, the little white pig on the cans looked like the most beautiful painting imaginable. However, between him and the cans, several shadowy figures were staggering along. These “people” could no longer be called human—their bodies were covered in wounds and oozing pus and blood, their faces deathly pale, and dark brown blood occasionally oozed from their mouths. They were zombies. “Just these four zombies—that’s all. Let’s move fast; grab them and run.” Ma Dong kicked his companion standing next to him. Originally, there had been seven of them; now only two remained. His companion nodded, gripping the wooden stick in his hand tightly. The two exchanged a glance, then stood up simultaneously, scrambled over the cash register, and dashed into the middle of the aisles. With a single blow of their sticks, they smashed the zombie in the lead. Then, before the other three could close in, they quickly stuffed the last few cans of luncheon meat into their backpacks. The other zombies had now spotted them and were charging toward them with low growls. The two turned and ran, but just then, a massive zombie suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking their path. The fifth zombie! Where on earth had this one been hiding? They’d actually missed it earlier! They were trapped between the shelves by the zombies! “Aaah—” Their companion behind them let out a blood-curdling scream as he was grabbed by two incredibly strong zombies, which sank their teeth deep into his arm. Ma Dong gritted his teeth and acted without hesitation, swinging his axe at the back of his companion’s neck—cleaving off both his head and that of one of the zombies. The mutation process only takes twenty seconds. If he didn’t kill him now, there’d be a sixth zombie in no time. All or nothing! He swung his axe and engaged the remaining zombies in combat. To have survived this hellish wasteland this long, he must have had something special—but he was simply too hungry. Although he’d taken down three zombies, he was eventually cornered by two more, which grabbed his arm and were about to bite him! “Thud, thud!” The muffled sound of bowstrings vibrating echoed as two crossbow bolts instantly pierced the heads of the two zombies with their mouths wide open, sending them crashing to the ground. “Clap, clap, clap.” A faint round of applause rang out, and then seven or eight men, their bodies smeared with blood, walked in through another entrance of the supermarket, all wielding hunting crossbows. The man leading the group smiled at Ma Dong and clapped. On each of their chests, a severed finger was pinned with a safety pin—a particularly eerie sight. “Bandits?” Ma Dong’s face betrayed panic when he saw the finger. “No, no, no. Please call us the Wilderness Hunters,” the muscular leader said with a sinister grin, revealing a mouthful of brown teeth. “Thank you for helping us eliminate these zombies and leaving us so much meat. Go ahead and kill yourself—it’ll taste better that way.” Ma Dong noticed that the hands holding their hunting crossbows were trembling slightly—a symptom of regularly eating human flesh. Their diet really was quite varied… He’d heard rumors of bandits flaying people alive, but now it seemed even more terrifying than that. Ma Dong took a deep breath, swung his axe around, and was about to bring it down on his own face. Just then, a terrifying roar suddenly rang out. The supermarket’s doors and windows shattered violently, and more than ten zombies surged in from the street outside, completely surrounding the small supermarket. Leading the pack was a massive zombie standing nearly two meters tall, its body covered in patches of hardened skin resembling calluses—it looked just like a suit of armor. “It’s a mutated zombie! A defensive type!” The bandit leader frowned as he instantly fired an arrow from his hunting crossbow, which struck the armored zombie’s forehead. “Clang!” As if striking a sheet of iron, the bolt sank in only as far as the arrowhead—it couldn’t pierce through at all. “Aaaargh—” The armored zombie roared furiously and charged forward in great strides. The dozen or so zombies surrounding it let out a collective howl as they rushed toward their prey. The bandits’ squad, which had originally been certain of victory, immediately fell into chaos. Arrow after arrow was fired, but it was difficult to hit the heads of the moving zombies. After one volley, they had only managed to pin down four zombies, while the rest were already upon them. The main culprit was the armored zombie leading the charge—it was practically a tank, blocking most of the attacks. A horde containing a mutated zombie was a completely different matter from an ordinary horde. Faced with the mutated zombie’s near-invincibility, many could already envision the entire group being wiped out. With only long swords and axes at their disposal, the bandits had no choice but to engage the zombies in close combat—and in the blink of an eye, two of them had already been bitten! We’re done for… We’re really done for this time… Ma Dong’s face was deathly pale, but his instinct for survival still drove him to raise his fire axe and bring it down hard on a zombie’s neck—only to find the axe lodged in the zombie’s collarbone, stuck fast! Another zombie had already closed in on him, opening its mouth dripping with black blood and lunging to bite his neck! Ma Dong’s mind went blank. “Crack!” With a sharp crack, the zombie was killed instantly, and blood stained Ma Dong’s face. His vision was blood-red, yet he saw a blond-haired man with a Mohawk and sunglasses appear at the supermarket entrance. In his left hand, the blond-haired guy held a silenced pistol; in his right, a hunting crossbow. Perched on his head was a plump Orange Cat! This Orange Cat had four or five gold chains and jade pendants hanging from its neck, a gold watch on each front paw, a pair of sunglasses perched on its head, and a cigarette clenched between its teeth! Judging by the bell around its neck, it seems to be a house cat…