Stranger Danger

Chapter 161: This Show Isn’t Free

“Do you hear me?” Ye Qing raised his voice when it looked like the two men were blanking out.

“Y-Yes, my lord!” Chen Dun and Qian Yidui replied in a hurry. They might have a million complaints about this arrangement, but they didn’t dare to voice any of it.

“If someone ignores or disobeys you, you have my permission to beat the living shit out of them,” Ye Qing instructed before turning toward a restaurant and yelling, “Show’s over, my friend! It’s time you assist me with taking care of the zombies. You didn’t think that the show was free, did you? Don’t be so shameless and learn from your friend!”

It was none other than the restaurant where Xuanlang was watching the commotion from.

Xuanlang: “...” Isn't it a little too much to call me shameless?

By the time he thought to make a retort though, Ye Qing was already gone.

Suddenly, Xuanlang turned to Runyu and asked, “Wait a second. Why did he rebuke me but not you?”

His doctor friend didn’t even bother lifting his head. “Because I’m actually busy, and you’re just lazing around and doing nothing!”

Xuanlang: “...” Shit, I can’t say anything against that!

It was at this moment another realization struck Xuanlang. “Wait just another second. How did he know what is happening inside this restaurant when we’re so far away?”

The young Patrolman could’ve gotten a glimpse of him through the window since he wasn’t hiding himself, but Runyu had been crouching on his feet and examining the zombies this whole time. He shouldn’t have known that Runyu was inside the building, much less grasp their activity like he was right there with him! Either he had a Stranger’s ear, or his spirit was far from ordinary!

“This Patrolman Ye is more interesting than I thought!” Xuanlang chuckled to himself before heading downstairs to tackle the zombies as Ye Qing had ordered.

……

“Ahhhh! Save me!”

“Monster! It’s a monster!”

“Uwaaah! Niu Niu is scared, mama! Niu Niu is scared…”

“Eat… eat… eat…”

Ye Qing had just finished dealing with an alleyway of zombies when suddenly, he heard a cacophony of panicked cries. Something bizarre yet strangely familiar was mixed within the cries as well.

Bang bang!

What followed next was a series of loud bangs and a rumble. It sounded like something big had crashed through several buildings.

“A zombie… no. None of the zombies I’ve encountered so far possess this much power!” The commotion was pretty far away, so Ye Qing could only see the dust clouds but not feel it with his spirit. “Did it mutate into a new species or something?”

Eyes sparkling with curiosity, Ye Qing kicked off the ground and dashed toward the scene.

It didn’t take much effort to identify the culprit behind the commotion. It was a mountain of a zombie covered in oily fluid, stench and rot. It was damaging the surrounding houses like crazy in search for the civilians who were sheltering inside the buildings.

The giant zombie was incredibly powerful. Its punches were at least as strong as a Vessel Augmentor’s, so of course the buildings stood no chance whatsoever. While it was smashing in the wooden boards and brick walls, the zombie laughed strangely from time to time and muttered, “Eat… eat… eat…”

From time to time, the giant zombie would grab a smaller zombie who was trying to snatch its food and shove it between its yellowed teeth. As it chewed, disgusting-smelling blood and bits of rotten flesh poured out of its mouth. It was incredibly gorey and cruel to say the least.

“Eat… eat…”

After the giant zombie was done eating, it wore its signature smile and renewed its assault against a half-collapsed building once more.

Boom!

The next punch turned out to be the last straw, and the house finally collapsed into rubble. Panicked cries filled the air as a dozen or so civilians rushed out into the open.

Unfortunately, a young girl about five or six years old tripped as she tried to run through the debris. The giant zombie immediately grabbed her and lifted her toward its mouth.

“Mama! Mama! Save Niu Niu! Save Niu Niu!”

The little girl screamed and struggled with all her might, but she was as powerless as an ant before the giant zombie.

“Niu Niu! Niu Niu! Someone, please save Niu Niu! I beg you, please save my Niu Niu! Please!”

A woman in the crowd spun around and screamed herself hoarse trying to convince someone to help her. No one lent her a hand, however. She even tried to block their way and pull at their clothes, but they just shoved her out of the way and kept running.

In the end, the woman gritted her teeth and raced toward the giant zombie with fatalistic determination. And it would be fatal. The woman was just an ordinary person who couldn’t even pin down a single person to save her daughter, much less the giant zombie. Both her and her daughter would surely die a gruesome death.

It was still a better ending than the alternative.

Unfortunately, she was too late. Before she could even run up to the giant zombie, the little girl was mere inches away from its mouth.

“NIU NIU!” The woman screamed and collapsed to her feet in despair. She could only watch as her daughter was being shoved into the zombie’s mouth.

A second before the little girl would perish between the giant zombie’s jaws, it suddenly froze as if it had turned into a statue.

Then, the little girl slowly floated out of the giant zombie’s hands and into a young man’s embrace.

He was Ye Qing, of course.

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore, kid. I’ll keep you safe,” said Ye Qing while shooting her a reassuring smile.

Surprisingly, the little girl lost her fear almost as soon as Ye Qing held her. She asked innocently, “Are you here to protect Niu Niu, big brother?”

Ye Qing nodded smilingly. “That’s right. I’m here to protect all of you. I’ll defeat all the monsters and return everything back to normal.”

The little girl’s eyes lit bright and clear like a pair of stars. “You’re amazing, big brother! When Niu Niu is older, I’ll become strong like big brother and defeat the evil monsters as well! I’ll protect mama, papa and everyone!”

Ye Qing nodded seriously. “You better grow up quick then, Niu Niu.”

“I will! Niu Niu will become as big as big brother very soon!” The little girl waved around her cute little arms just as seriously.

“Niu Niu!” It was at this moment the woman finally recovered from her roller coaster of emotions and cried out in pure joy.

“Mama!” After Ye Qing had put her down, the little girl immediately raced over to her mother and hugged her like a tree.

“Niu Niu… Niu Niu…” The woman couldn’t stop sobbing for a time. When she finally managed to rein in her emotions, she looked at Ye Qing and thanked him from the bottom of her heart, “Thank you. Thank you so much for saving Niu Niu…”

The woman even tried to kowtow to him. Perhaps she thought that it was the only way she might express her gratitude.

“It’s my duty.” Ye Qing stopped her with a wave of his hand and said gently, “You should head to the entrance. The Pacification Sentinels will protect you.”

That made the woman realize that she and her daughter were still in danger. Shooting to her feet, she said, “Got it! Thank you again!” carried Niu Niu over her shoulder, and ran off as quickly as she could.

“Bye bye, big brother!” Niu Niu cried while waving Ye Qing goodbye.

“Yeah. See you some time.”

After the woman and her daughter were gone, Ye Qing finally turned around to look at the immobile zombie. It was then he noticed that the smelly fluid leaking out of its skin looked very familiar. “Is that… corpse wax?!”

“I was wondering why the zombie seemed so familiar to me. It’s the same type of zombie as Deng Qiang!”

The giant zombie was almost identical to Deng Qiang, the giant zombie that had been dragged to Heavenly Heart Clinic a day ago. He hadn’t made the connection until now because it was bigger, uglier, and stronger.

“Corpse wax? Giant zombies? Deng Qiang?”

Ye Qing casually bound a few normal zombies who were trying to attack him with his Blood Shadows when he recalled something, “Wait a second. If I remember correctly, the people who delivered Deng Qiang to the Heavenly Heart Clinic yesterday mentioned that they’re from Longwind Street.”

“A massive group of zombies had appeared in Longwind Street after Deng Qiang had changed into a giant zombie. Now, I found another giant zombie at the site of a zombie outbreak. It can’t be a coincidence, right?”

Could Deng Qiang and this giant zombie be the reason behind these sudden outbreaks?

It was then he noticed then the biggest population of zombies was concentrated around the giant zombie. The farther away it was from the giant zombie, the sparser their numbers became. If he wasn’t mistaken, the civilians had transformed probably because they had made contact with the giant zombies.

The more Ye Qing thought about it, the more he thought he was right.

“I’ll ask Xu Banren about this later. If there was a giant zombie at Nanping Boat as well, then my theory is most likely correct.”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose and arrived at a decision. “I was going to burn this thing to dust, but… we’ll have to keep it for now.”

“What the hell is that thing? The generic zombies look like pipsqueaks compared to this monster.”

Suddenly, a curious voice came from above a nearby wall. Ye Qing turned around and saw Xuanlang examining the giant zombie curiously and eating some melon seeds [1].

“It’s probably the cause of this zombie outbreak,” Ye Qing answered honestly.

“You serious?” Xuanlang immediately looked interested. He dropped down the wall for a second before suddenly launching himself forward without touching anything. He landed nimbly and almost soundlessly next to Ye Qing.

Look at how light-footed he is! He must practice an extraordinary movement art, Ye Qing thought to himself.

Xuanlang circled around the giant zombie once before voicing his doubts, “I don’t know, man. This guy is uglier, smellier and fatter, sure, but besides that there’s nothing special about him. Why do you think he’s the reason these people changed into zombies?”

Ye Qing answered, “You said it yourself, didn’t you? It’s because he’s ugly!”

“... Really?” Xuanlang stared at Ye Qing incredulously.

Ye Qing replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “He’s ugly because he’s special, and he’s special because he’s the root cause of this zombie outbreak!”

Xuanlang blinked. “That… actually makes sense. Even if the way you word it is a little sloppy.”

Xuanlang wasn’t stupid. The giant zombie was clearly different from the changed civilians. Even if Ye Qing was wrong, it must be an important clue of some sort.

“Right?” Ye Qing smirked. “Speaking of which, why are you here when you can be catching zombies? You’re not playing truant, are you?”

Xuanlang: “...” Excuse me? I came over to lend you a hand, and instead of being grateful you accuse me of playing truant? How is that fair?

As if he could hear Xuanlang’s thoughts, Ye Qing added, “If you're going to do something, strive to do it better than anyone else. Do it all the way. If you're going to half-ass it, why bother?”

“Also, have you not heard that half-assing your job will cause your lifespan to be halved? I’m doing this for your own good, brother!”

No, I definitely haven’t heard of that saying. Do you think I’m stupid and illiterate?

But… if it’s true then…

Xuanlang knew it was complete horseshit, but for some reason he just couldn’t help but think, “What if?” So, he defended himself in a small voice, “I’m just catching a break, man. Is that illegal?”

Wait, why am I talking like I did something wrong?

1. This guy is truly committed to being a part of the peanut gallery. ☜