Chapter 44: Never Seen Anyone So Happy to Be Live Bait
Inside Seed City.
Behind a wooden shack, flames roared inside a stone brazier.
A piece of clothing was burning within.
A dozen people stood in a tight circle around the brazier, watching the deep blue fabric get devoured by the fire.
The body of their fallen teammate was lost to the wastes. City bylaws forbade residents from erecting tombstones at will, meaning memorial rites could only be held at the end of each month.
The end of the month was too far away. Even if they built a cenotaph for him then, who knew how many of them would still be drawing breath?
Such was life in the apocalypse. No one could guarantee whether tomorrow would be their turn to die.
A man crouched down, carefully peeling back layers of cloth from a bundle in his arms.
Inside lay an old black-and-white handheld game console.
With a heavy sigh, he laid the console into the stone basin.
Flames licked at the plastic shell, giving off an acrid, chemical stench.
“Hall’s favorite thing was wiping this console clean. He always said that once the apocalypse was over, he’d find a power source and beat the levels he never finished…” The man choked up halfway through, his voice catching in his throat.
Only after a long moment did he manage to speak again. “We’re burning your console for you. Wherever you are now, I hope you can play your games happily, without any worries.”
A few muffled sniffling breaths broke out around the fire.
The dead were spared further agony, leaving the living to shoulder twice the weight.
A woman standing beside Zhou Xue spoke up, her voice hushed: “Hall loved cracking jokes with us. He was the youngest, always saying we took such good care of him, so it was his duty to keep our spirits up. Right now… if his soul is watching, he wouldn’t want to see us drowning in sorrow.”
“Yeah. Before we headed out past the walls this morning, the kid grinned and told me his ability had awakened. He said if things went bad, I should hide behind him, that he’d keep me safe…” The speaker was Church. A faint smile touched the tall, burly man’s lips during the first half, but as he spoke, his expression curdled into pure bitterness.
He couldn’t even bring himself to finish.
“Tomorrow.”
Zhou Xue spoke up then.
“Those who haven’t awakened will stay behind. Xia Dong, you’ll lead the reserve squad. The detox serum and half of the crystals are yours. The rest of you will come with me to hunt down that C-rank mutant.”
Staring into the embers, the woman kept her head lowered. Black smoke from the fire drifted through the stray wisps of hair framing her face.
A cold, steely edge flared in Zhou Xue’s eyes. “We’re going to avenge Hall.”
“Understood,” the woman beside her answered.
The flames crackled and popped, their fiery glow reflected in the eyes of everyone present.
It was pure, smoldering fury bred from grief.
Outside the walls.
“Is it okay if I just stand right here?”
Completely unaware that a memorial service was being held in his honor, Hall turned around, a sunny smile plastered across his face as he addressed the divine emissary… or rather, Boss Ling.
The lady who had saved his life refused to let him call her a divine emissary, insisting he simply address her as Boss Ling.
“Mhm.” Ling Jing nodded.
She fetched another carton of pork cracklings from the tricycle, hopped down, and handed it to him. “This portion is on the house, for braving the dark to accompany me on a hunt.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to! You’re far too generous, Boss!”
While his mouth offered polite demurrals, Hall’s hands moved with practiced swiftness to accept the food.
This stuff was absurdly delicious! And the physical benefits were instantaneous.
He had eaten two orders back in her shop, and now he could walk upright under his own power!
Though a dull throb remained in his chest, it was no longer the bone-deep agony that made him shake with every step!
Beaming, Hall popped a golden crackling into his mouth.
“When that mutated beast shows up, just dive into the white light.”
“Got it, got it!!”
Chew, chew, chew.
“Aren’t you worried I won’t be able to handle it?” Seeing how gleefully he was munching away, Ling Jing couldn’t help asking out of sheer curiosity.
This kid hadn’t witnessed her protective barrier disintegrate mutated monstrosities firsthand.
“Didn’t you say everything would be fine with you here?”
“I did.”
“Then what’s there to worry about!”
Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew.
“What if I was bluffing? Or what if my powers aren’t actually that strong?”
“How could you not be strong! You can turn post-cataclysm ingredients into edible meals, make them taste out of this world… and you opened a shop right outside the city walls! Your power is unfathomable! Not to mention you saved my life and gave me free food—you’re genuinely the best!”
Hall gave Ling Jing a vigorous thumbs-up, still chewing with unbridled enthusiasm.
He trusted her implicitly.
“Let me clarify one thing,” Ling Jing corrected him.
“Only this portion is free. I charged you double for everything earlier.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Hall didn’t argue, simply nodding like a bobblehead.
Boss Ling claimed she charged him, but for a feast of foods that were virtually non-existent in this wasteland, how much had he really spent?
She had even handed him back a decent wad of City Coins. How was this any different from running a charity?!
Forget acting as hunting bait for Boss Ling—even if she drafted him as hard labor for the rest of his days, Hall would sign up with a grin!
Hehehe, does that mean an endless supply of pork cracklings to eat?
Hall stood just outside the tricycle’s halo of white light, grinning like a fool.
Back on the tricycle, Ling Jing felt a wave of speechlessness wash over her. “…”
Was this guy’s heart made of stone, or was he just hopelessly airheaded?
She had never seen anyone so delighted to be live bait.
A rustling scrape stirred within the darkness.
Ling Jing’s posture tightened instantly. “It’s here!”
It seemed the carefree young man had been right after all.
Mutated predators tracked the scent of human blood. Even though the beast that had stalked him all day had been blinded in one eye, it had clung to the blood trail nonetheless.
It was prowling very close to the Chinese Restaurant right now.
Hall hurriedly tucked the box of cracklings into his tunic.
He trusted Boss Ling’s limitless power, but if a brawl broke out, his precious pork cracklings couldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Swish—!
From behind a towering mutated plant to their front-left, two thorny vines suddenly whipped forward at blistering speed, lashing straight for Hall outside the light.
Hall had fallen victim to this exact ambush earlier that afternoon. Having learned his lesson the hard way, his reflexes were razor-sharp. He vaulted backward two steps, landing squarely within the white light surrounding Boss Ling.
Whoosh—!
The pair of vines pursuing him vanished into nothingness the split second they crossed the threshold into the white light.
Hall looked back, peering past the barrier with a baffled blink.
Huh? Where did the vines go?
“Moo-roooar—!”
A chilling, grotesque roar ripped through the air, sounding like a chaotic blend of a bull, a wolf, and a lion.
A towering silhouette stepped out from behind the limp mutated foliage.
Evidently, it was in pain and furious.
As the beast charged into view, Ling Jing finally caught a clear look at it.
It was an utter monstrosity, standing easily two stories tall. It had the curved horns of a bull and the maw of a lion, with the lower body supported by heavy cloven hooves, yet several pairs of bird wings jutted awkwardly from its flanks.
The wings were tiny, laughably disproportionate to its massive bulk, looking as if they had been forcibly grafted onto its hide.
Perched atop this nightmarish creature’s skull was a tangled mass of yellow and green vines, resembling a nest of squirming serpents from afar.
Up close, the “foliage” lacked any luster, looking more like an errant bird had woven an untidy nest directly into the beast’s cranium.
From the base of this “nest” down to its eyes grew dense clusters of yellowish-green nodules, horrific enough to trigger instant revulsion in anyone with trypophobia.
…This bull-like chimera was indeed blind in one eye. Who knew how much desperate force Hall had put behind his strike, but thick, blackened scabs were crusted around the ruptured socket.
Its hide was crisscrossed with bloody lacerations, and its front hooves showed jagged signs of having been gnawed on.
Ling Jing suspected it had clashed with other mutated predators during its long pursuit.
Curiously, though…
The enraged chimera charged straight to the spot where Hall had been standing moments before.
Barely two or three meters from the white light.
Yet it didn’t continue its charge. Instead, it skidded to a halt, sniffing warily at the perimeter of the light.
Its tail lashed back and forth in visible agitation.
And then… it took a step backward?
