She’s Fiercer Than Zombies - Chapter 26

The vehicle had already left the center of H City, but Yinxi still hadn’t spoken to Qiao Gaogao. Seeing that she was being ignored, Qiao Gaogao pouted but continued to focus on driving.

Ever since she became an ability user, her physical constitution had greatly improved, and her recovery speed had also increased significantly. In just this short amount of time, the bleeding on her arm had already stopped. She believed that in another day or two, the wound would heal completely, as if nothing had ever happened.

After driving for nearly seven or eight hours, the sky gradually darkened. Upon reaching a highway service area, Qiao Gaogao decided to rest there for the night and take the opportunity to refill the gas tank.

As she drove into the service area, she could see many vehicles parked inside, along with numerous zombies wandering nearby. The entire area was filled with an aura of deathly stillness.

Since the outbreak of this zombie virus was not like the ordinary, non-evolving type, the difficulty of human survival had increased by more than just one level.

Qiao Gaogao parked the car at the entrance and began clearing out the zombies from the periphery. The stench of decay was now pervasive everywhere. Not only had Qiao Gaogao grown accustomed to it, but even Yinxi, who was usually fastidious, had gotten used to the smell.

She still carried the sweet scent of blood on her. As soon as she stepped out of the car, the smell became even more noticeable. She didn’t even need to seek out the zombies they were already swarming toward her. Among the horde, she could sense a few stronger zombies.

Nowadays, Qiao Gaogao was like a bulldozer when thrown into a crowd of zombies. Ordinary zombies couldn’t hinder her progress at all. Gray Crystal zombies might make her pause for a few seconds, but that was likely only to dig out the crystal cores from their brains.

Soon, she had cleared out all the zombies attracted by her blood scent. She then returned to the car, maneuvered around the pile of corpses, and parked in front of a convenience store. Looking at the tightly closed rolling shutter of the store, Qiao Gaogao hesitated but decided against forcing her way in. There might still be survivors inside. If she damaged the door, they would no longer have a place to hide.

She drove the car further and stopped in front of a specialty store. Seeing the disarray at the entrance, Qiao Gaogao concluded that there were no survivors inside. She got out of the car with Yinxi, gathered some essential supplies, and headed into the store.

This service area didn’t have any lodging facilities, so they had no choice but to find a break room to settle in for the night. At least it would be more comfortable than staying in the car.

After checking the area and confirming there were no zombies, Qiao Gaogao found the door to the break room and pushed it open. To her surprise, she discovered a person who had starved to death.

Seeing the corpse, Qiao Gaogao fell silent. There was no way her senior would want to stay in this room.

Sure enough, Yinxi let out a cold snort and turned her head away.

Qiao Gaogao sighed heavily, closed the door to give the deceased some peace, and led Yinxi back outside. Just as they were about to get into the car, she noticed the rolling shutter of the convenience store moving slightly. A gap appeared underneath, and a head was peeking out sideways.

Qiao Gaogao stared at the head.

Noticing her gaze fixed elsewhere, Yinxi also turned to look.

Clearly, the owner of that head seemed startled, and with a thud, he pulled the rolling shutter back down.

Yinxi: “…”

Qiao Gaogao felt a little amused but didn’t dare laugh in front of her senior. After a moment’s thought, she walked up to the convenience store and knocked on the door.

If she hadn’t misjudged earlier, the person inside seemed to be a child?

After knocking, it remained quiet inside for a while. Just as Qiao Gaogao was about to leave, the door slowly rolled up again, revealing a boy who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, timidly gazing at them.

Confirming it was a child, Qiao Gaogao fell silent for a moment, wondering how this young boy had managed to hide inside without being detected by the zombies all this time.

The boy looked at them timidly, then at Yinxi, clearly quite afraid of her, yet he had no choice but to stand before them.

“Is it just you here?” Qiao Gaogao spoke up.

“Y-yes!” The boy’s voice was noticeably hoarse, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

“Can we come in and take a look?”

Instead of answering immediately, the boy glanced behind her, spotting the motionless zombies lying on the ground. Anxiously, he asked, “Did you kill all those zombies?”

“Mm-hmm!” Qiao Gaogao nodded, feeling rather proud.

The boy’s eyes gradually lit up. “Then, can I come with you?”

Qiao Gaogao: “…”

Yinxi, feeling bored, looked away, sensing a pang of hunger.

Seeing no response from them, the boy’s eyes slowly dimmed. Having been forced to mature through such drastic changes, he could already interpret the silence as an answer.

He rolled the shutter door higher and stepped aside to let them in.

They had only taken a couple of steps inside when Qiao Gaogao and the others abruptly halted. They thought they might have figured out how this boy had managed to survive among the zombies.

When they were outside, the smell hadn’t been as intense, but now that they were inside, the stench of rot and decay was almost overwhelming, threatening to knock out their sense of smell.

How on earth had he managed to make the smell even worse than the zombies outside?

“Yue!”

Yinxi couldn’t take it anymore and turned to leave.

Seeing Yinxi’s reaction, the boy looked anxious and embarrassed, mumbling an explanation, “I had no choice but to do this. The zombies’ sense of smell is too sharp.”

Qiao Gaogao’s expression was complicated. She followed Yinxi out of the convenience store. Clearly, to survive, the boy had been eating, drinking, and relieving himself inside, so the smell was naturally far from pleasant.

The boy awkwardly followed them out. Even though they hadn’t agreed, he still wanted to stick with them.

Qiao Gaogao shook her head at him and said, “We have things to do and can’t take you with us. But I can tell you that there’s a safe base called Tianxia in H City. You can go there.”

The boy looked at her blankly, clearly still not fully understanding what she meant.

Seeing his confused expression, Qiao Gaogao thought for a moment and continued, “There are many survivors like you gathered there. If you can make it, you’ll be much safer.”

“H City,” the boy mumbled. Having never traveled far from home, he had no idea where H City was or how to get there.

Seeing the boy’s bewildered expression, Qiao Gaogao didn’t know what to say either. Though she knew fresh blood might temporarily alleviate Yinxi’s condition, they still needed to find her parents as soon as possible.

Their priorities were clear: first, ensure her parents’ safety, and second, explore whether any medication could be developed to restore Yinxi to normalcy.

Therefore, they couldn’t escort the boy back to the base. If they had to return every time they encountered survivors, when would they ever reach S City?

As for bringing the boy along on such a long journey to S City that would only add unnecessary complications.

She hated complications more than anything.

Qiao Gaogao sighed and sketched a simple map for the boy based on the route they had taken. “Follow this path. We’ve cleared most of the zombies along the way. If you’re careful, you should be fine.”

She felt it was time for him to face the harsh reality of this world. Even Tongtong, who was younger than him, had repeatedly ventured out with their team to confront zombies head-on.

The boy clutched the map Qiao Gaogao handed him, gazing at her with pleading eyes, hoping she would take pity on him and either bring him along or escort him to the base.

Qiao Gaogao averted her gaze and led Yinxi away to search for another place.

If the boy didn’t want to leave, he could always stay here. After all, she had cleared the area of zombies, and the supplies here should sustain him for a long time. As for the future.

Whether humanity would even last that long was uncertain. There was no need to worry about distant possibilities.

“Grrr…”

Yinxi glanced at the boy and growled twice at Qiao Gaogao.

Qiao Gaogao shook her head. “We can’t help everyone.”

If they were heading back to the base, they could have taken him along. But they were traveling in the opposite direction! There was no telling when they would return, so they couldn’t even ask him to wait for them here.

Yinxi said nothing more, listlessly lowering her eyes, her entire demeanor despondent.

Seeing her like this, Qiao Gaogao grew anxious. It seemed that mouthful of blood hadn’t had much effect perhaps it wasn’t enough.

In the end, Qiao Gaogao found a place to rest at the gas station. After filling the gas tank, she began preparing their sleeping area in the break room of the station’s convenience store. She stripped the room of its old furnishings, laid out clean bedding, and said to Yinxi, “I’ll make dinner. You rest for a while.”

She actually had more she wanted to discuss with her, but after some thought, she decided it would be better to talk after Yinxi had eaten and settled down.

There was a small car fridge in their vehicle, stocked with steaks Qiao Gaogao had specifically brought for Yinxi. After learning from her senior Qi Ji, she had become quite skilled at pan-searing steaks. In no time, she carried the prepared steak into the break room.

But the moment she stepped inside, she nearly dropped the plate in shock!

She quickly set the plate down on a nearby table and rushed over to check on Yinxi. “Senior, senior, what’s wrong?”

Yinxi was writhing in agony on the bed, biting down hard without making a sound. The moment Qiaogao’s hand touched Yinxi’s body, she was so startled by the heat that her heart skipped a beat.

Why had her senior suddenly started burning up?

“Senior!”

Receiving no response, Qiaogao grew even more anxious. Finally, she steeled herself, climbed onto the bed, and pinned Yinxi down. A dagger appeared in her hand, and she slit her own wrist. Then, gripping Yinxi’s jaw, she forced her mouth open and fed her the blood.

Whatever was wrong, for a zombie, blood should be the best nourishment, right?

It would be fine as long as she fed her enough blood.

As the blood flowed out, Qiaogao’s face grew increasingly pale. Seeing the wound beginning to clot, she immediately made another cut!

With a large amount of blood being fed to her, Yinxi gradually regained consciousness. When she realized what Qiaogao was doing, her eyes widened in horror, and she began struggling frantically.

“Don’t move,” Qiaogao said weakly, her gaze fixed on Yinxi. “Senior, the wound won’t stop bleeding now. If you don’t drink it, it’ll just go to waste.”

Yinxi froze, staring at Qiaogao as if she didn’t recognize her. How could she harm herself so calmly?

This was madness! If she hadn’t woken up, how long would Qiaogao have continued feeding her blood?

Seeing that Yinxi had stopped struggling, Qiaogao pressed her wrist directly against Yinxi’s lips. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled and said, “Senior, it’s okay. Drinking the blood will make you feel much better.”

Yinxi’s gaze flickered. Her mouth was filled with the incredibly sweet blood, and her body trembled slightly with the instinctual urge to hunt. She took Qiaogao’s wrist into her mouth.

Seeing this initiative, Qiaogao’s doll-like face lit up with joy.

Instead of sucking the blood, Yinxi gently licked the wound, trying to help it clot faster.

A long while later, when Yinxi sensed that the wound had stopped bleeding, she released it and glared at Qiaogao in frustration.

Who does something like this? Willingly feeding her own blood to a zombie!

But before long, she noticed Qiaogao’s smile growing even brighter, accompanied by a surge of excitement.

“S-Senior!” Qiaogao exclaimed, her voice trembling with excitement as she stared in amazement at the changes in Yinxi’s body. All the wounds that had once marred Yinxi’s skin had completely healed, leaving no trace of injury behind.

Overjoyed, Qiaogao reached out and pulled Yinxi into a tight embrace, cheering repeatedly. If she had known earlier that her blood could have such a powerful effect, she could have healed her senior’s wounds long ago!

Yinxi, held tightly in her arms, grew anxious.

“Grrr!!”

Don’t let the wound that just stopped bleeding split open again!

But Qiaogao paid no mind, beaming as if she had won the lottery. The emotions she had suppressed for so long finally eased, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that she knew what worked for her senior, everything would be simple.

From now on, she would be her senior’s personal blood bank!

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