Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 46: Zhao Ritian’s Confusion

“Two…” The Shennu’s voice was cold and resolute, laced with unyielding cruelty. “There really is only that one item—I already gave it to you a long time ago. There’s nothing else. I beg you, spare my children! Take it out on me—they’re just kids!” The only man whose mouth hadn’t been gagged lay on the ground, struggling and shouting, veins bulging on his forehead, yet he was utterly unable to break free. “Waa… waa…” His wife and children all wept bitterly, trembling with despair and terror, yet unable to make a sound. Shennu remained unmoved: “Three…” He suddenly pressed down harder with his foot, about to stomp down. “Meow, meow…” Just then, a soft meow rang out, causing Shennu to freeze in his tracks. He instantly drew his gun and spun around, only to see a plump Orange Cat emerge from the bedroom, looking at him with an innocent expression, its big eyes blinking rapidly—the sight was simply too pitiful to bear. Where did this cat come from? It didn’t seem infected—could it be the family’s own pet? “Wang Wang…” Immediately afterward, a dog’s bark rang out, and a Teddy bear dog wearing a little vest slowly emerged from the bedroom, looking at him with the same innocent expression, its black eyes like two black pearls. “What a stroke of luck—I’ve snagged an adorable pet cat, and now I even get to eat dog meat…” Shennu smiled excitedly as he looked at Teddy. Whenever they went out on missions, any personal loot they acquired was theirs to keep, and live, uninfected pets like these were highly sought after at the base. The Orange Cat and the Teddy looked up at Shennu with timid expressions and slowly walked toward him. By now, Shennu had completely taken control of the situation; the rest was purely for fun. Smiling, he bent down and reached out his hands toward the cat and dog, intending to pick them up. The cat and dog let out another soft meow and whimper, lowering their heads to rub against his hand. But the moment he reached out, he suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain. To his shock, both his arms were swallowed whole by the cat and dog, who bit all the way down to his elbows—it felt as if he were wearing two fur gloves made of cat and dog fur! “Aaah—” Shennu let out a bloodcurdling scream, trying to shake off the cat and dog. After the excruciating pain, his arms suddenly felt light—his palms and forearms had been bitten right off! The wounds bled heavily. Having lost both arms, even as an Evolver, his combat effectiveness was reduced to less than 20 percent. They were mutated zombie beasts! He gritted his teeth and turned to run; at this point, fleeing was his only chance of survival. But after taking just a few steps, he felt an icy, stinging pain in his back—a bone spike had pierced his heart, ending his life. Zuo Chen withdrew his tail spike from the Shennu’s chest, shook off the blood, and quickly walked up to the teenager, placing his cat’s paw on the artery in his neck. There was no pulse. At the same time, Zhao Ritian examined the remaining little girl and her mother, then shook his head at Zuo Chen as well. They had endured far too much torment; their breaths had long been faint and feeble, and now they were completely lifeless. “Thank you… thank you for avenging our family…” the lone middle-aged man said as he writhed on the ground, his eyes brimming with gratitude. Watching his own flesh and blood suffer such inhuman torture right before his eyes, yet being powerless to do anything about it—it was the cruelest punishment imaginable. And now, he could finally find release. That was precisely why he wasn’t particularly surprised when he saw the cat and dog before him. In this post-apocalyptic world, he had seen far too many things. Zuo Chen stepped forward, slashed through the ropes binding the middle-aged man with a swipe of his claw, pulled out a bottle of water, gave him a sip, and asked, “Why did he do this? What exactly was he after?” “Cough, cough… You… can talk?” The man choked on a mouthful of water, then seemed to let go of his anxiety. He was already on the brink of death; nothing mattered anymore. Besides, a talking cat was still better than a human who was worse than a beast. “This man suddenly showed up at our shelter, demanding an item I’d previously found in a meteor crater. I gave it to him, but I never expected him to insist there was another one. He tied all of us up and tortured us mercilessly… Xuanxuan and Xiaolong were both killed by this monster…” As he spoke, hot tears streamed down the corners of the man’s eyes. Zuo Chen took out his energy detector; it buzzed incessantly, pointing toward the corpse of the Shennu. He went over to search the body and pulled a metal tube, about ten centimeters long and riddled with holes, from the man’s pocket. The moment he picked up the tube, the energy detector began to vibrate uncontrollably; when he stowed it away in his storage space, the humming ceased instantly. Clearly, this object was the energy source that had triggered the detector’s reaction. However, it wasn’t a fragment of the Gourmet System—he had no idea what it was. This Shennu also possessed an energy detector. Even though he knew he had already obtained the energy source, he still cruelly tortured the people in this shelter—clearly, purely for his own amusement. What a brutal and repulsive creature… Zuo Chen’s opinion of the Divine Presence Organization sank a little further. It was a pity for these survivors of the Weicheng ruins, who had spent all these years hiding in fear amidst the zombie-infested ruins, only to be killed in the end by another human being. “Cat Brother, he’s dead too,” Zhao Ritian said to Zuo Chen. This man, tortured until his body was covered in wounds, finally breathed his last after avenging his great wrong. “Why do humans torment one another?” Zhao Ritian asked Zuo Chen, his face full of confusion, his dark eyes brimming with pity and compassion for the refugees. Animals hunt one another as well, but that’s for survival—and they usually kill their prey with a single strike. This kind of cruel torture, however, mostly happens only among humans. “That’s because…” Zuo Chen turned to look into Teddy’s clear eyes and sighed, “…I don’t know either. I’m just a cat…” A cat and a dog laid the bodies of the eight deceased refugees side by side on the floor, gathered some fuel from inside the house, set the entire building ablaze, and then left. With raging flames and thick smoke behind them, the cat and the dog walked into the darkness, their faces illuminated by the firelight, their minds heavy with thoughts. If there is a next life, may you live forever in a time of peace. After this brief interlude, Zuo Chen and Zhao Ritian continued to make their way toward Weicheng Middle School. However, Zhao Ritian, who had been chattering nonstop at the start, suddenly fell silent for the rest of the journey, appearing somewhat depressed. That stupid dog! He trusts humans way too much—sooner or later, he’ll get eaten… Zuo Chen knew full well that humans were the most vicious and cunning beasts on this planet. Zhao Ritian had spent too much time with his father, which had made him overly fond of humans. If this continued, he was bound to get hurt someday. Zuo Chen would have to find time to give him a good talking-to. In his mind, Zuo Chen had already put Zhao Ritian’s “social education” on his to-do list. Without even realizing it, he seemed to have grown somewhat attached to this annoying, chatty dog… Weicheng High School was located near the center of Weicheng City. Once a top-tier high school in Weicheng, it covered a vast area. But now, the original school had been transformed into a blood-red labyrinth. Countless thick, blood-red webs spread out from the center of Weicheng’s ruins, wrapping each building into a massive blood-red cocoon and fusing them together into a single entity. Many of these threads were as thick as an arm, or even as thick as a bucket—they could no longer be called mere threads. As far as the eye could see, the central area of the Weicheng ruins bore almost no trace of the human world; it looked entirely like a hellscape straight out of a nightmare. The energy detector vibrated violently, its cursor pointing to a meteor crater on the playground of Weicheng Middle School. That’s the spot!