Chapter 3- First Encounter with the Zombies
Qiu Chen decided not to care about those people after driving them out. He came out of the villa with Commander Xiao. Outside the walls of the villa stood two more military trucks. Commander Xiao gave Qiu Chen heads up about the situation. There were about 30 people in each of the trucks, of which 20 were people without abilities who were rescued from attacked cities, and 10 were soldiers who were in charge of protecting them. The team that went in to help Qiu Chen was consisted of An Ziâs most trusted sub-ordinates. Other soldiers in other trucks are also from the same regiment, but not directly under An Ziâs command.
After having an idea of overall situation, Qiu Chen entered the van with Commander Xiao. The matter of his space ability should not be known by other people of other two trucks. There were 90 mouths to feed and it will take almost one and half a day to reach the base. They decide to drop by some abandoned supermarket to collect ration and other daily necessities.
After driving non-stop for almost four hours they found an abandoned supermarket. Ten people including Qiu Chen entered the market. Although Commander Xiao tried to stop Qiu Chen, he could not cope up with the spoiled young masterâs temper.
The isles of the market were massacred, like something terrible happened here, but from an overlook of the goods, not many things were missing. It seemed like someone fought for their life here, but did not have the time to take anything. Qiu Chen got a bad premonition. He turned on the systemâs navigation system. There were zombies on the second floor, he also detected the presence of a person. But the presence was so week that the navigation system almost missed him. Qiu Chen was about to tell Commander Xiao about it when he sensed another zombie wave coming from the backside of the market.
âCommander, go to the second floor, take four of them with you. Prepapre to fight, both with your ability and arms. Donât ask anything now. Itâs urgent,â Qiu Chen told Commander Xiao. This was a time of emergency, he forgot to use his âspoiled young masterâ voice. He commanded the Commander like he used to do in previous life.
Commander Xiao was dumbfounded for a moment. The person in front him is obviously just a teenager, but when he gave the orders, he found himself obeying him as he obeys the Major. Commander Xiao turned and left for the second floors with four soilders.
Qiu Chen turned his head to the remaining four soilders, âFollow me.â He did not wait for them answer, marched to the backdoor.
They door was sealed. Qiu Chen did not have enough time to wait for the soilders to break it. He raised his right hand, moved it in a certain way, and fire burst out of his palm buring down the door. He did not practice his fire ability even once but his move gave the present an illusion that he must be an expert.
Looking up in short distance, five of them saw a crowd of zombie approaching. There were almost 100 zombies, the number was way bigger than the zombies upstairs.
âGuard the door, donât let even one pass. Kill whichever reach you. Donât meddle with me, and most importantly, donât leave the door, any of you at any cost.â Qiu Chen order coldly. The soldiers were not under his command, but he did not care. There was something in his voice, he was so natural at giving orders, even Commander Xiao could not disobey him, let alone these soldiers.
Qiu Chen did not wait for their response anyway. He ran forward with his back staright towards to the zombies. He raised his two hands at the same time. From the the soilderâs point of view he looked like an unbending immortal about to summon the destructive power from both hell and heaven with the signals of his hands.
At the same time, on the second floor Commander Xiao was moving silently towards a certain direction. He heard some faint noise from there. When He reached, he saw the swaying sturdy back of a man. The man was in tattered military uniform, sacry wounds were showing from the torn parts of it. He was not using any special ability or any arm, but a steel pole from who knows where he broke it apart. He held the pole like a sowrd and was hitting the zombies with it using his last bit of strength.
The five of them quickly acted and subdued the remaining zombies. As if sensing that help had come, the man gave up his struggle. He fell on the ground with his face down. Commander Xiao hurried to him. As he turned the man over, he got shocked.
âBrigadier Yan!â Commander Xiao shouted in horror. The man was the grandson of their General Yan, who held the highest position in their base.
Yan ChangYi was the only grandson of General Yan. His father died when he was an infant. He was basically brought up by his grandfather. Although the General loved him, he was excessively hard on him. Yan Changyi had to start from the grassroot level in the military. He climbed up to the position of a Brigadier with his own ability.
When the apocalypse began, Yan Changyi was in a bordering city. All communication was cut off. No one knew what happened to him or his team. Who knew General Yan only saw the man aging rapidly in these months. Though the man was tough, they knew that the General was worried about his grandson.
The said grandson was now lying in an abandoned supermarket, burning fever putting him in a coma. Commander Xiao did not dare move him impulsively. He just dragged him to slightly cleaner place and sent his subordinates to search for medicine downstairs.
Qiu Chen on the other hand was slaying zombies like they were rag dolls. His one hand was shooting deadly water-arrows aiming at their heads, while the other hand was creating surging snakes of fire to burn them. He attacked them non-stop. One or two zombies got away from his attack and ran to the door but were killed by the soldiers present there.
After about two hours, every single zombie was dead. Qiu Chen felt tired, both in body and heart. He was entitled âthe most ruthless leader the Raven ever hadâ in his last life. But he never killed so many people at once. Though these people could no longer be called âhumansâ, they had been humans at a time. This killing frustrated Qiu Chen. He did not talk to the soldiers waiting for him. He walked into the market. He thought he could not eat, but when he saw the breads which were now on the floor, he suddenly felt hungry. He picked up one pack and started eating unceremoniously. After filling his stomach, he felt a little better. But he suddenly felt cold and lonely. He wanted someone to cuddle him. His mood again fell. His eyes fell on something in the shelf. He walked towards it, took it and walked out.
Yan Changyi had a good physic. His fever subsided within an hour. When he woke up he could vaguely remember that he was fighting the zombies with his ability tire out and his strength leaving his body. Then someone came from behind and helped him. He did not remember anything else. Although those people helped him, in the last days no one is an unconditional friend. He tried to feel his ability. He primarily had two abilities, ice and metal. None of them was very good at dealing with the zombie attacks. But he practiced more and more efficient. On his way of survival, he lost all his comapnions. He just tried to reach his grandfather, he knew that his grandfather formed a base. But at last moment he felt that heâd never make it alive.
Trying to accumulate the chill on his fingers Yan Changyi sense that his ability was not lost but was very weak at the moment. He felt something strange in his body. But it was not the time to test it. He slowly opened his eyes. Commander Xiao was paying attention to him. When he saw him opening his eyes, he walked over.
âBrigadier Yan, how are you feeling?â He asked.
Yan Changyi did not expect it to be Commander Xiao. But his face did not betray him. He looked at the Commander and said slowly, âCommander Xiao. Why are you here, may I ask?â
As his job this time was not a secret, Commander Xiao started, âThis time I was on a missionâ¦â¦â¦â¦.â He told the whole story from start to finish, obviously omitting the parts of Qiu Chenâs abilities.
A spoiled young master? Defending against a surge of zombies with just four soldiers? Yan Changyi cocked an eyebrow. He understood that that person must have some special ability which the Commander did not tell him. He also knew why. But he could not help but want to meet this person.
Yan Changyi, âWhere is this Young Master Wen?â
Commander Xiao, âHe should be downstairs, resting.â
Listening to the answer Yan Changyi got up. Commander Xiao tried to stop him but only got one sentence from him, âIâm not fragile.â
The Commander was dumbfounded, I found you almost dead, okay?
Yan Changyi came down the stairs very slowly. He was still weak. He thought he would find the person inside the super market as it was already dark outside. Being in any open place after dark was extremely risky at this time. In his heart he thought that it must be because of the otherâs young masterâs temper, he did not understand the gravity of the situation.
He walked out of the burned down back door. While passing it he observed the door. It was burnt down by powerful fire ability. Yang Changyi chuckled a bit. He was envious of the people who had fire abilities at the beginning of the end of the days. But as time passed by he noticed that controlling fire is extremely tough. The ability users who could not tame their fire skillfully would be burnt down by their own fire as they level up.
Outside the market, the night was yellowish foggy. Yan Changyi saw a blurred figure at distance, a glimps of fire was going up and down on the right side of the person. He advanced. As Yan Changyi walked, he encountered torn and burnt remainings of countless zombies. He carefully avoided them. Soon the blurred figure became clear. It was a lonely back of a thin teenager, he was sitting on a stone. Around him were scattered bodies of zombies. The glimpse of fire he saw earlier was the cigerrate the teenager was smoking. Smoking at such a young age? Yan Changyi got a bit annoyed seeing the rebelliousness of the youth, but he was not eligible to disciplne him.
Qiu Chen sensed someone approaching him. He turned his head sideways and looked at the person. His eyes stopped at the other personâs eyes. He felt his heart beating crazily all of a sudden. Is it him? He thought.
Yan Changyi was about to call the youth when the youth turned his head. He saw his eyes. The boy got a beautiful pair of emerald eyes. He looked at him like he was looking down on him. But Yan Changyi did not feel the slightest disgust from his gaze, on the contrary his breathing hitched. He got a déjà vu, as if this person should be sitting solemnly like this, but not in the midst of disgusting zombies, but in the midst of white water-lilies. His cloths should not be full of blood and dirt like this. He should be wearing an Empressâs robes. Yan Changyi did not know why this picture came in his mind, but it baffled him. The person in front of him is obviously a boy, why would he be an Empress? He felt like someone squeezed his heart. The fearless Brigadier General Yan suddenly got scared. He felt like he was late, this person was here for him and he kept him waiting like a big villain. The feeling came and went very fast. By the time he sorted out his emotions, the boy was standing in front of him.
âWen Quan,â Qiu Chen extended his hand.
âYan Changyi,â the man grabbed the extended hand.
He tried to withdraw his hand after a generous handshake but the found the boy not letting go. He looked up in askance. He saw the boy looking at him with piercing eyes. Yan Changyi was slightly surprised. He wanted to ask the boy what he was thinking about. But the boy suddenly took a hurried step forward and hugged him.
When Qiu Chen shook hands with the man in front of him, he was almost sure that this was his man. He acted on impulse and hugged him. He was so frustrated today, yet this person was not there. He needed him right now.
After a few moments he remembered what he just did. His man was not like him. He did not have any memory of the past, he did not know him. His action just now was too much impulsive. It might make his man uneasy.
âIâm sorâ¦â Qiu Chen was about to let go of the person and apologize but a big pair of hands surrounded him from both sides and pulled him into even a tighter embrace.
A/N: may I use sadness as an excuse for shorter chapter? I wasn't feeling like writing at allð