Living with My Aloof Ex-Wife After the Apocalypse - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Survival Training and a Tragic Discovery

After the meal, Qing Meng moved to clear the table, but Xing He quickly took over the task.

Although the small courtyard was now stocked with essential supplies, it was still, overall, in a state of “waiting for reconstruction.” Many things needed rearranging, and the plan to grow vegetables hadn’t even made it onto the schedule yet.

However, the most important task at hand was teaching Qing Meng basic self-defense. Xing He couldn’t be by her side every second; Qing Meng needed the fundamental ability to protect herself when facing zombies.

Xing He planned to head out tomorrow to search for firearms. If Qing Meng learned how to handle them, Xing He could feel much more at ease, whether Qing Meng stayed home or came along.

Currently, their arsenal was limited. Aside from basic shovels and axes, they had a few hatchets Xing He had purchased, an entrenching tool (military shovel), and her kitchen knife.

Axes required significant physical strength, and kitchen knives carried a high risk of accidental self-injury. The entrenching tool, however, was foldable. One side of the shovel head featured serrated teeth for sawing wood, while the other was a sharpened blade. It was versatile: offensively, one could cave in a zombie’s skull; defensively, the flat of the shovel or the handle could parry an attack.

Ultimately, Xing He decided on the entrenching tool as Qing Meng’s primary weapon.

Qing Meng responded enthusiastically to the proposal of learning self-defense. The arrival of the apocalypse and the surrounding zombies had placed a heavy sense of pressure on her. She wanted to stand by Xing He’s side through every challenge and unknown, which meant she first needed the capability to stand at the same level. Learning how to kill zombies was her first step.

Wasting no time, the two of them began practicing in the courtyard after lunch.

Xing He’s goal wasn’t to prepare Qing Meng for a formal exam, but to ensure her survival. Consequently, she omitted most formalistic or “flowery” movements. Drawing from her experience in the blood and gore of the front lines in her previous life, she extracted only the most practical techniques.

Xing He demonstrated, and Qing Meng followed behind her, learning movement by movement.

Slash— Parry— Slash— Parry—

Simple movements were repeated over and over.

Building a foundation wasn’t a matter of a single day. Xing He focused on drilling the forms until they became muscle memory. Once Qing Meng could perform these moves as a reflex, without conscious thought, it would be enough to handle ordinary zombies.

When Qing Meng’s form faltered or her movements were insufficient, Xing He stepped in to physically correct her. At a time like this, there was no room for worrying about social boundaries or physical distance.

Fortunately, while Qing Meng’s stamina was nowhere near Xing He’s, her foundation wasn’t bad, thanks to her habit of exercising in her spare time.

While monitoring Qing Meng’s movements, Xing He supplemented the training with knowledge about their enemy.

“As you’ve seen, zombies are extremely sensitive to sound. Sometimes, even the slightest noise can attract a massive horde.”

“Always stay alert outside. Keep your movements as quiet as possible.”

“Zombies feel no pain and no fear. Never try to intimidate them or wear them down through a battle of attrition.”

“Zombies are not ‘alive’; they move purely on the craving for flesh. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have weaknesses. The spinal cord at the neck is their greatest vulnerability. Sever that, and they lose all mobility.”

“Unlike us, a zombie’s skin is very tough. Once you aim, you must strike their weak point with all your strength.”

“Any hesitation or carelessness will put you in mortal danger.”

Qing Meng learned seriously. Whether it was the characteristics of the tool or the nature of the zombies, she committed everything Xing He said to memory. To know one’s enemy is the first step toward overcoming fear.

Once Qing Meng was familiar with the forms, Xing He left her to practice and headed out. Before their long trip into the city tomorrow, she wanted to “clear the snow from her own doorstep” to ensure the immediate area was safe.

Xing He knew the neighborhood well. There were three households within a 500-meter radius. The furthest was across the river at the foot of a small hill. The nearest was only 200 meters away—just around the bend of the road in front of the gate. The third was a bit further past the second.

The greatest advantage here was the low population density. Low density meant fewer zombies. As she scouted the area, she only saw two zombies wandering the road.

For safety, she checked inside the houses. Based on the scattered daily necessities and clothes, it seemed the original owners had left in a hurry for the designated rescue points. She hoped they had made it safely.

She found nothing in the first two houses. But as she approached the third and furthest house, she realized something was wrong.

The house was a typical rural building with a courtyard. The gate was wide open, and the ground was speckled with blood. Near the entrance lay a headless zombie.

Xing He grew wary. As she crept along the wall into the courtyard, a scene that was hard to look at met her eyes. A male zombie was feasting on a woman’s corpse. The woman was unrecognizable; her organs were exposed, and blood was everywhere.

In her previous life, Xing He had seen such things so often she had become numb. But after a few days of “normal” life in this timeline, seeing this again hit her hard.

Hearing the noise at the gate, the zombie let out a grotesque shriek and charged. Suppressing the urge to vomit, Xing He ended it with a single, decisive strike.

It wasn’t the hottest time of the year, but after a day and a night, the bodies had begun to emit a foul odor. Looking at the zombie’s mutated, ugly face, Xing He felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Unwilling to let the smell cling to her clothes, she pushed aside her doubts and hurried into the house. It was a two-story building with six rooms. The blood hadn’t reached the interior, and the furniture was tidy; the zombie hadn’t made it inside yet.

Xing He finished her sweep and was about to leave when she heard a rustling sound. She stopped and turned to find the source. The room was empty of other creatures, but she quickly narrowed it down to a solid wood wardrobe.

It didn’t look like a zombie could fit inside, but Xing He stayed on guard. She picked up a stick from the floor to check. Just then, she heard a low sob.

“Is someone in there?” she asked tentatively.

“Yes… cough… I’m here! Waaaah—” A very young child’s voice.

Xing He opened the wardrobe. A little girl, face covered in tears, sat helplessly among a pile of clothes, clutching a lollipop with a crumpled wrapper.

Xing He finally realized why that zombie had looked familiar. It was the contractor who had helped her renovate her courtyard: Deng Chengjia.

And this sobbing little girl was his daughter, the sweet and adorable Deng Baobao.

Two days ago, Xing He had warned Deng Chengjia that an infectious disease was breaking out and that staying home was safer. He had listened. Since he had just finished a big job for her, he had bought supplies and stayed indoors with his family. Baobao was young and fragile; he didn’t want to risk her getting sick.

On the day the outbreak hit, Deng Chengjia and his wife, Li Yingying, were playing with their daughter in the second-floor living room. Suddenly, a loud, aggressive pounding echoed from the front door. Deng Chengjia told his wife and daughter to stay upstairs while he went to check.

Thinking it was a worker asking about wages, he went down without a weapon. When he opened the door, he was met by a blood-covered monster. The monster didn’t listen to reason. Though he fought back, an unarmed man was no match for a zombie.

Deng Chengjia was quickly covered in wounds. Not wanting to scare his family, he bit back his screams. Li Yingying, assuming it was just a regular dispute, stayed upstairs comforting their daughter.

When the monster began to tear at his flesh, he could no longer hold back his agony. In the face of death, his potential was unleashed; he grabbed a nearby axe and swung at the zombie’s head. With a heavy thud, the zombie’s head rolled.

At the final moment, fate sided with him by ending the zombie, but it was stingy with a second chance for him. Covered in bites, his mutation was irreversible. He didn’t know what zombies were, but he instinctively felt his body changing. A panic more intense than the fear of death washed over him. Would he become a monster? Would he hurt his family?

Before losing consciousness, he screamed toward the second floor: “Run!”

But in his dying state, his voice was a mere groan that never reached his wife’s ears. When Li Yingying finally realized something was wrong and looked out the window, she saw him pinned down at the courtyard gate, his life uncertain.

She tried to call for help, but there was no signal. Emergency lines were busy. She finally smelled the “scent” of something unusual in the air.

With no one to help, she had to save him. She hid Baobao in the wardrobe. Perhaps sensing her own end, she prepared food and water for the girl. It was this food that helped the innocent child survive the last twenty-four hours.

“Doudou, hide in here. Don’t come out for anyone unless it’s a policeman.”

With those words, Li Yingying went to find the most important man in her life. Sadly, the honest man who adored her was already gone; only a mindless monster remained.

Li Yingying never returned.

Baobao was an obedient child. She had endured her fear in that tiny wardrobe for a day and a night. Until today, when she finally saw the figure of the “pretty older sister” through the crack in the door.

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