Dark Civilization Volume 1 Chapter 7

Book 1 Chapter 7: Striving Together!

Ye Chen was momentarily startled, immediately after, he shook his head saying: "Out of the question, you are still too weak, even I'm not strong enough to guarantee your safety."

Ye Zhu suddenly raised her head and stared straight at Ye Chen with eyes filled with conviction saying: "You must let me go with you!"

Ye Chen could only smile bitterly; he understood well how stubborn his little sis can be, he knew that persuading her further was a futile affair, sighing softly, he said: "If it's gonna be like that, then you must listen to everything I say when we're out there, no acting on your own, you hear?!"

Ye Zhu was delighted, nodding her head while giggling, she replied: "I knew you would agree, c'mon, lunch is already prepared."

Ye Chen chuckled wryly before closing the door behind him as he entered. He headed straight for the washroom in order to clean off any chunks of flesh and blood that clung on him. After a through cleansing, he entered the kitchen. Upon the gla.s.s table, he spotted several home-cooked dishes; he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia wash over him. Under the awaiting gaze of his younger sister, he pinched a piece of sliced potato with some chopsticks and popped it into his mouth.

"How does it taste?" Ye Zhu inquired with a tinge of apprehension, normally, it was Ye Chen who was in charge of preparing meals. This could be counted as one of her first attempts at cooking a proper meal.

Too salty!

Ye Chen could feel his tongue suffering; it was akin to tousling a slab of salt in his mouth. However, upon noticing the excited gaze of his antic.i.p.ating little sister, he forcefully swallowed in order to protect her feelings. With a strained smile, he replied: "These sliced potatoes are not bad; I never expected that you had such talent for cuisine."

Ye Zhu's cheeks reddened, with her head held low, she stuttered softly saying: "T-this….actually is….p-potato silk…"

Ye Chen was flabbergasted.

With fl.u.s.tered cheeks, Ye Zhu pinched a piece of potato and delivered it past her rosy and delicate lips. Immediately after, with a frantic puff, she spat it back out, exclaiming: "Too salty!"

Ye Chen chuckled, pinching another piece, he wolfed it down in an instant, saying: "No big deal, this is still quite palatable, you should eat the other dishes."

Salty?

In the later stages of the apocalypse where it was fortunate to have something to eat at all; would taste still be of concern?

Ye Zhu gazed at her brother, lifting the plate of sliced potatoes; she spoke in a low voice saying: "Don't eat any more, I'll add some water to it and boil it for dinner."

After thinking briefly, Ye Chen nodded.

"Right." Ye Chen remembered about the piece of mutagenic flesh he had stored in a plastic bag and immediately took it out and presented it to his sister saying: "Eat this, it will boost your stamina!"

Ye Zhu received the black plastic bag with a face coloured with surprise, she opened it. The bag appeared to contain a questionable piece of meat similar to lamb fat. Confused, she inquired: "What's this?"

"Mutagenic fles.h.!.+" After a brief consideration, Ye Chen spoke saying: "In simple terms, it's an edible piece of meat that strengthens your body; it contains vast amounts of energy."

Ye Zhu responded with an "Oh", she immediately returned it to her brother saying: "You have it; I can't imagine myself getting much use out of it anyway, when you get stronger, you can better protect me."

Ye Chen smiled gently saying: "I've had a lot already; this tiny bit no longer has much effect on me, but if you eat it, it should bring your strength up to that of a strapping young man, if it came down to escaping, you'd need that extra stamina to keep up with me."

After a brief consideration, Ye Zhu no longer refused, placing it slowing into her mouth, she carefully chewed, before swallowing it."

A brief period later.

"Sure enough, my body feels lighter!" Ye Zhu glanced over her own body with a look of surprise, how inconceivable; a tiny piece of meat like that actually had such miraculous effects!

"Alright now, let's continue with lunch." Ye Chen chuckled before continuing with his meal.

Time pa.s.sed….

After the two of them were finished with their simple meal, they rested from 11:30 till 1:30. After getting up, Ye Chen proceeded to ready their weaponry. Awakened by the movements, Ye Zhu went over to inspect the four watermelon knives placed on the cabinet. Picking up a watermelon knife, she gave it a few swings, seemingly quite excited.

Ye Chen exasperatedly glanced at her; she was like a newborn that has yet to experience fear. She may seem excited now, but that will soon change when she comes into contact with the brutality and terror a.s.sociated with zombies. Before setting out, Ye Chen remembered to bring another bottle of gasoline, it would be his life saving ace when things went south.

But shouldn't he bring more?

The reason was simple; carrying more would only enc.u.mber him needlessly, affecting his movements. Moreover, with his current strength, anything less than a combined a.s.sault of seven zombies or more could be handled with minimal risk.

After he was done with the preparations, he turned around to gaze at his little sister wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of jeans. Dejectedly, he muttered: "Go change into some thick clothes and camo pants, they're in the closet, I bought them just the other day."

Ye Zhu blinked her eyes in a daze; she briefly gave her ensemble a look-over before obediently heading into the bedroom to get changed. Her battle wear consisted of a black short sleeved top and thick camo pants, appearing quite amusing. She was a duckbill cap away from resembling a break dancer.

"Take this." Ye Chen handed her a watermelon knife for self-protection before warning her in a grave manner saying: "When we're out there, make sure to stick close behind me, don't let down your guard and no acting on your own unless I say otherwise."

Ye Zhu obediently nodded her head.

Ye Chen was still worried, but there was nothing more he could do. He hesitantly beckoned: "Let's go!" before exiting the door after making sure the coast was clear.

Behind him, Ye Zhu closed the room's door with a 'click'.

Leaving their safe haven behind them, they proceeded carefully. Their deathly silent surroundings gave a subtle sense of suffocating dread. Ye Chen maintained his calm demeanor, with Ye Zhu in tow, he carefully gave the entire floor a sweep, with no wandering zombies in sight, he marched onwards to the floor below.

When pa.s.sing the stairs, Ye Zhu was startled at discovering zombie corpses lining the corners; she stumbled to hold herself against the wall, repulsed into a fit of vomiting.

Ye Chen felt reluctant to carry on, he sympathized with the fact that anyone who came across such a gore encrusted scene would not be able to tolerate it. He approached her side and gently patted her on the back, attempting to ease her discomfort before saying: "Perhaps, you should head back for now, there's always next time."

Ye Zhu immediately stifled her vomiting, wiping her lips clean, she gave a snort before pouting her lips grumbling: "You wis.h.!.+ Humph, they're nothing but a dumb bunch of c-corpses! N-nothing to be mindful of." After her brief declaration, she spun around to glare at the zombie corpses in a chastising manner, appearing to say: "Humph, I'm not afraid of you!"

However, when gazing at the corpses, her line of sight accidently landed upon their exposed craniums, with blackish blood oozing from their gaping lacerations….

"Urk."

The revolting sight once again prompted her into a renewed fit of vomiting.

Ye Chen could only chuckle bitterly, in situations like these; she could only rely upon herself.

After a brief period, Ye Zhu had regurgitated everything she ate during lunch; her beautiful face was ashen, yet her eyes shone with an unprecedented stubbornness. Immediately after she recovered, she turned around to once more confront the sight of the zombie corpses. This time, although her delicate eyebrows were knitted into a sullen furrow, she managed to overcome the urge of throwing up once more.

"Let's go!" Ye Zhu urged after gathering herself into a calmer state.

The air was thick with the stench of rot; Ye Chen was already quite familiar with such a smell. After all, in the later stages of the apocalypse, you'd be hard pressed to find a place that didn't reek of such a rotting stench.

The two once more, began descending the stairs.

As they pa.s.sed by the zombie corpses, Ye Zhu's delicate features were still ashen, her body trembled slightly and her eyes glistened with a hint of tears. However, biting her lips, she pushed on whilst forcefully suppressing her fears.

"I'll not let you suffer fighting this battle alone, never!" Staring at the familiar sight of her brother's back, Ye Zhu eyes shone with resolute persistence.

The 17th floor, within its corridors hung a grave air of silence. Standing at one end of the corridor, the two gazed into the distance that permeated a stifling pressure. With his usual calm, Ye Chen carefully crept past the room containing the mutant ant, arriving at the third room on the left, this room was locked.

Ye Chen gave the door a knock.

"Rrrargh!" from the enclosed room came a beast-like roar followed by a series of loud bangs on the door.

Ye Chen placed his ear near the door, after listening carefully, he deducted that there were a total of three zombies in the room. Considering the st.u.r.diness of this door, he estimated that it would hold for roughly another three minutes, after all, three zombies were equivalent in strength to nine adult men!

Ye Zhu who was standing behind was frightened by the mad snarling of the zombies, the disturbing growls brought forward memories of the few instances she beheld their savage countenance. Feeling a chill run down her spine, she couldn't help but vividly realize what kind of monsters her brother had been battling!

Her delicate hands gripped the watermelon knife tightly, due to her nervousness, her palms were sweating profusely. With both her hands trembling, she recalled a method of calming down she had once witnessed on a certain TV programme. Silently, she began to repeat in her heart: "I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid…."

While the zombies were hammering on the door, Ye Chen dove into the second room that was previously occupied by the eight zombies. At the moment, it was completely vacant making it perfectly safe.

Ye Chen closed the door and immediately went with the old method of stacking sofas behind the door, allowing it to open just enough for a zombie to squeeze halfway through. Shortly after the preparations were done, the door of the third room was forced open, following the scent of warm blood, the zombies scrambled for the second room entrance. Shoving madly, they fought for the opportunity to go first.

After battering through the previous door, the zombies had expended much of their strength; they weren't as ferocious as they were before.

Ye Zhu was standing at the corner, through the gap in the door; she could see a zombie forcefully stuffing half its head into the room. Its eyes were mad with bloodl.u.s.t, snarling its bared fangs; it locked its sinister eyes upon her, claws scratching furiously in her general direction, no matter how persistently it struggled, it couldn't quite reach her.

The sight caused her delicate features to pale even further.

Shluk!

Standing on the other side, Ye Chen chopped out the watermelon knife with a cold indifference, with one precise stroke, he took the zombie's arm clean off. In the midst of its agonized howl, Ye Chen closed in and smashed the flat tip upon its forehead, forcing it back.

The ma.s.sive impact forced the zombie to tumble backwards, leaving the gap wide open. Diving at the opportunity to enter, the other two zombies forced their way to the forefront. Seeing their exposed claws, Ye Chen effortlessly began lopping them off one by one. Afterwards, he adjusted the sofas to allow the gap in the door to widen. Immediately, one of the zombies bulldozed its way to the forefront. Ye Chen was already awaiting for it behind the door, with a clean stroke upon its exposed skull, the zombie was slain.

The other two zombies suffered a similar fate, forever silenced through a blade to the head.

After dragging their corpses into the room, Ye Chen shut the door behind him. Looking at the three armless corpses as well as their severed appendages strewn across the floor, he approached one of the corpses and indifferently began to split open its torso.

"What on earth are you doing?" Ye Zhu's face was pale with terror; her two hands clenching the watermelon knife trembled incessantly. Anyone who had been forced to witness such a h.e.l.lish scene would be shuddering in raw terror.

Ye Chen smiled gently saying: "That mutagenic flesh I gave you was found within the chest of one of these zombies; I'm just looking for more."

Ye Zhu watched as her brother dissected the corpse and rummaged through its internal organs. Yet whilst doing such unspeakable things, how could he still be smiling? The frightening experience was causing goose b.u.mps to rise all over her body and her scalp numbed with increased intensity. But it didn't end with that. Out of the blue, she was informed that the strange piece of meat she ingested earlier came from the bodies of these grotesque creatures, the shock literally drove her to the brink of losing consciousness. Grasping desperately onto the walls beside her, she began retching uncontrollably.