Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 45: The Scent of Humans

As dusk fell, the zombies coming from the wilderness were still drawn by the call of the Wei Abyss, continuously pouring into the ruins of Weicheng. However, since a full day had passed, a vast number of zombies had already entered the sprawling ruins of Weicheng, significantly reducing the size of the zombie tide and slowing the flood-like surge considerably. Yet a vast number of zombies had already approached the central area of the Weicheng ruins, where they were bound and controlled by the red slime web. Viewed from the air, the area covered by the web of red slime within the ruins of Weicheng had expanded several times over, now enveloping a quarter of the central area of the ruins—and it continued to spread outward! In an office building in Dongcheng District of the Weicheng ruins, Erzi, Bai Biao, and the others were smearing blood-soaked severed limbs all over their bodies. The room they were in was littered with the headless corpses of zombies, a scene of blood and gore. They had secretly lured these zombies inside after opening the door and killed them, all to mask their own scent. All eight of them were soon covered in blood—not only were their clothes smeared with it, but even their faces and every crevice between their fingers were meticulously coated with the zombies’ filthy blood. Before their evolution, they had worried that the zombie virus might infect them through tiny cuts on their bodies, but now that they had become Evolved, they no longer had any such concerns. The number of zombies in the ruins of Weicheng was growing by the minute, and many had already begun scaling the office building; they could not stay here much longer. It had been a day since the Beast King left, and with his fate unknown, they were genuinely worried. Moreover, without the Beast King’s spiritual presence, it would be impossible for them to break through the horde of a million zombies. After discussing it, they made their decision: to leave this place, blend into the zombie horde, and set out to find the Beast King! “Xiaoqing, you’ve never disguised yourself as a zombie before. Once we’re out there, try to stay in the crowd as much as possible and follow our lead at all times. Otherwise, ordinary zombies might be manageable, but if a mutated zombie spots us, we’ll have no place to be buried,” Bai Biao said to Mo Xiaoqing with a grave expression. Mo Xiaoqing, having completely shed her usual mischievous demeanor, nodded solemnly to show she understood. Soon, all eight Blood Men were fully disguised. They staggered a few steps; as long as they didn’t open their mouths, it was impossible to tell from their scent or posture alone that they were still human—they were, in every respect, eight zombies. Adopting the “six on the left, seven on the right” formation, the group staggered their way to the office building’s lobby. After observing their surroundings for a moment, they opened the main doors and blended into the vast horde of zombies swarming through the night… In the central district of Weicheng’s ruins, beneath a blood-red web that obscured the sky, a plump Orange Cat was striding angrily ahead, followed by a Teddy bear dog with claw marks on its face. Damn it, do you think this is a new version of *Tom and Jerry*—*Cat and Teddy*? That kick nearly snapped my paw! Zuo Chen’s hind paw was still throbbing slightly, and he had absolutely no desire to pay any attention to the Teddy behind him. Zhao Ritian also looked utterly aggrieved. Since his evolution, he’d become incredibly strong, so when he used to play ball with his owner, they’d play with that colorful shot put—who would’ve thought Big Cat would just kick him right in the face… These kittens are just so delicate! Zhao Ritian muttered to himself, though he certainly wouldn’t dare say it out loud. Seeing the Orange Cat walking faster and faster, Zhao Ritian hesitated for a moment, then hurried to catch up and whispered, “Cat-bro, you’re going the wrong way… Weicheng Middle School is behind us…” “Then why the hell didn’t you say so sooner!?” Zuo Chen’s eyes widened, and his whiskers stood on end. “We’ve been walking for nearly ten minutes, and now you’re telling me we’re going the wrong way!?” “I… Wang Wang… I didn’t dare just now… I was afraid you’d hit me, Cat Brother…” Zhao Ritian said cautiously. Zuo Chen: “%￥@#*&@!” He suddenly smiled, actually finding the situation hilarious. Dealing with this little Teddy made him feel utterly helpless. With a look of exasperation, he said, “Don’t call me Cat Brother. You’re my brother—you’re my Dog Brother. I guess I’ve been beaten by you, you little cat… Come on, come on, Dog Brother, lead the way.” “Cat Brother, you’re not mad at me anymore?” Zhao Ritian was overjoyed and pounced on Zuo Chen, licking his face frantically in an attempt to curry favor. Zuo Chen pushed Zhao Ritian away forcefully, wiped his face hard—scraping off a pawful of drool—and looked as if he were about to cry: “I’m not mad, I’m not mad. Dog Bro, let’s get going, meow…” Zhao Ritian immediately turned around and sniffed the air by the street, leading Zuo Chen back the way they came before turning onto a side street. By now, they had fully entered the downtown area covered in red webs. Just as Zhao Ritian had said, once night fell, the zombies with blood-red threads clinging to their bodies all became much quieter, standing there motionless with their eyes closed, like a row of statues. Even if you got within a few meters of them, they wouldn’t react at all. Only when they reached a distance of about one meter would the zombies suddenly open their eyes and launch an attack. Zuo Chen also extended his psychic field, carefully sensing the source of the Wei-Zhi Abyss’s powerful psychic energy. He discovered that after nightfall, the Wei-Zhi Abyss’s psychic field had also contracted somewhat, seeming to cling more to those blood-red threads rather than continuing to expand. Could it be that the Wei Abyss also enters a state of dormancy at night? Zuo Chen was filled with confusion. “Cat Brother, do you see that white building up ahead? Just two more blocks, and we’ll be at Weicheng Middle School,” Zhao Ritian said, turning to Zuo Chen. Zuo Chen nodded and casually pulled out the energy detector he’d obtained from the Shennu Squad, holding it steady with his tail. But just as he took out the energy detector, a faint vibration immediately came from it! He hurriedly brought the energy detector up to his eyes and saw a tiny green light appear on the square screen, not far from the arrow representing the detector. Zuo Chen looked up and saw that the location of that green dot was, to his surprise, a residential complex right next to them. Was there actually an energy reading coming from there? Could it be another fragment? Thrilled, Zuo Chen immediately patted Zhao Ritian on the head and pointed his tail toward the housing complex. Zhao Ritian understood. The cat and dog quietly slipped into the complex, dodging the blood-red threads strewn across the ground and a few dormant zombies, and followed the energy detector’s guidance to the front of a residential building. Zhao Ritian sniffed the air a few times and whispered to Zuo Chen, “I smell people.” Zuo Chen extended his psychic field and immediately detected no fewer than five distinct psychic fluctuations emanating from a room on the second floor of the apartment building. However, among these mental fluctuations, one was extremely powerful, while the other four were very weak, as if they might vanish at any moment. Giving Zhao Ritian a nod, the cat and the dog scrambled up the exterior wall to the second-floor balcony. Zuo Chen extended a bony claw and gently traced a circle on the balcony glass; a neat, circular piece of glass was sliced away. He used his claw to silently put the glass back in place, and the cat and dog slipped through the hole in the glass and into the room. Both the Orange Cat and the Teddy had soft paw pads—natural sound-dampening pads—and, like two ghosts, slipped into the bedroom. The bedroom was pitch black, but a faint glow from the solar-powered lights in the living room seeped through. Half a cat’s head and half a dog’s head peeked out from the bedroom doorframe, gazing toward the living room. There, a man wearing the Divine Presence Organization’s combat uniform stood arrogantly in the center of the living room, while eight people lay on the floor with their hands and feet bound and their mouths gagged. These eight were covered in wounds; half of them were already dead, and the remaining four consisted of a married couple and two children. The Shennu walked up to one of the boys, placed his foot on the boy’s neck, and said to the middle-aged man on the floor, “I’ll count to three. If you don’t hand over the item by then, your son won’t make it either.” “One…”