Looking closely, Lin Jiu was shocked.
The zombie in the back seat was clearly the grandmother of that little girl from before.
She was tightly bound with green nylon rope, her messy hair stained with streaks of blood.Her body was torn in multiple places, and her mouth kept opening and closing, gnawing on the car seat.
"Why did you bring her with you?"
Lin Jiu's mouth twitched. Her appearance clearly made his skin crawl.
Grandpa Chen's face darkened, and his tone turned serious.
"Xiao Jiu, that's Granny Wu — the dance goddess of Chaoyang Square! How could we leave her behind?"
"Yeah, can't leave her."Grandpa Lü nodded in agreement.
"Fine… you two sure value loyalty."
Lin Jiu shook his head and returned to his Benz. After making a U-turn, he asked where they were going.
The two grandpas gave a mysterious smile and told him to just follow.
The two cars didn't drive far before turning onto a narrow road going north.
"Screech…"
About 100 meters in, Grandpa Chen suddenly stopped the car.
Lin Jiu realized — wasn't this just the back path of the park?They could've driven straight through instead of circling around the main road. Ridiculous.
While he mumbled complaints to himself, the grandpas got out and looked around cautiously by a manhole cover.
After confirming no one was around, they lifted it.
The three of them — with Granny Wu in tow — climbed down and sealed the manhole.
"Squeak squeak!"Rat sounds echoed through the tunnel.
After one turn, they arrived at a wall with an old wooden door.
Grandpa Chen bit a flashlight between his teeth, dug around in his pocket, and pulled out a ring of keys.
Once inside, he turned on two rechargeable lamps in the corner.
To Lin Jiu's surprise — the place had been turned into a mahjong den.
The tunnel was sealed off at both ends with grey bricks.The walls were whitewashed, and there were even tiles on the floor.In the center stood a mahjong table, with a wine cabinet nearby stocked with red wine, white liquor, and beer.
Lin Jiu stared dumbfounded. No wonder the street above always flooded in the rain — this was their doing!
But now, this place might be their salvation.Maybe they could hide out here for nine days.
"Xiao Jiu, there's no bed here — we'll just sleep on the floor."
Grandpa Chen pulled sheets from a cabinet and laid them down.
That night, while everyone was fast asleep, rats chewed through the ropes binding Granny Wu.
"Grrrrrr…"
Her mutated red claws tore through the wooden door.
Lin Jiu was snoring, smacking his lips like he was dreaming about a feast.
Only when he heard chewing near his ear did he jolt awake.
Opening his eyes, he saw Granny Wu gnawing on Grandpa Chen's head.
"AHH! Not again!"
He sprang up instantly, grabbed a nearby hammer, and swung.
But Granny Wu's skull was much harder than expected — the hammer strike numbed his arm.
"ROAR!"
She turned and lunged at him.
Lin Jiu ran for it, Granny Wu hot on his heels. Her claws narrowly missed him several times.
At the manhole ladder, he just managed to climb up when she grabbed his ankle.
"Sh*t!"
Lin Jiu felt like his bones were about to snap. He kicked with his free leg, but it did little damage.
Granny Wu climbed higher, baring her fangs, about to bite—
SHING!
A flash of cold light — and her head was sliced clean off.
Lin Jiu's leg was finally free.
"Xiao Jiu, you okay? D*mn… never thought Granny Wu would actually kill Chen."
Lin Jiu looked down. It was Grandpa Lü who'd saved him.
In his hand was a gleaming Nepalese kukri blade, a weapon he once seized during anti-terrorist operations.
He was once a special forces soldier who fell from high altitude during a mission and crashed into a jungle.He survived, but suffered brain trauma — occasionally going into violent fits.
After accidentally injuring teammates, his commander had no choice but to send him home.
Grandpa Chen had been his best friend for over a decade. Now he was gone.
"Whew… Thanks, Grandpa Lü. I thought I was gonna have to start over again."
Lin Jiu jumped down and stayed far from Granny Wu's corpse.
Grandpa Lü grabbed a large sack and carefully gathered the remains of both Granny Wu and Grandpa Chen.
He carried them to the park and buried them.
He knew Grandpa Chen had secretly loved Granny Wu.They couldn't be together in life, so he ensured they could rest together in death.
Lighting three cigarettes and planting them at the grave, Grandpa Lü told Lin Jiu to head back.He was going out to find food.
"No way! It's way too dangerous out there now. I still have biscuits and bread in my bag. We just need to last nine more days."
"And after those nine days?"
Grandpa Lü's question stunned Lin Jiu.
Right… what about after?
Even if they made it through the countdown, there'd still be zombies outside.Even escaping the 2-kilometer radius wouldn't guarantee safety.Food and water would still be an issue.
In fact, this might be the safest place right now.
Realizing that, he decided to join Grandpa Lü.
With Grandpa Lü's combat skills and blade, it would be safer with him around.
Lin Jiu drove with Grandpa Lü, and soon they reached a small supermarket.
"Careful. I see three zombies inside. Your hammer's not that strong — aim for the back of the neck!"
Grandpa Lü said, then drew his blade and charged in.
With one slash, he decapitated a scrawny zombie feasting on a dead cat.Then he wrestled with a bulky zombie nearby.
Lin Jiu took a deep breath, gripped his hammer, and went for a creepy zombie kid grinning behind the counter.
While the kid was slow, Lin Jiu smashed repeatedly at the back of his neck.
"Crack!"
Luckily, a kid's bones were softer. After a few hard blows, the spine gave out.
The boy's head flopped sideways, but his legs still twitched, and his claws kept swiping.
"BANG! BANG!"
Lin Jiu kept pushing and smashing until the zombie collapsed, motionless.
Just then, Grandpa Lü finished off the bigger zombie.
"Hahaha! Grandpa Lü! Guess what? I got one too!"
"SHING!"
Before he could finish, Grandpa Lü's kukri blade flew through the air.
"THUNK!"
It stabbed into the neck of a female zombie in a red dress lunging behind Lin Jiu.
In a flash, Grandpa Lü somersaulted over, grabbed the hilt, and finished her off.
"Be more careful. This is a battlefield. One mistake and you're dead."
He wiped the blade and sheathed it.
Then he started filling a sack with food. Lin Jiu followed suit, grabbing jerky and bread from the shelves.
Looking at Grandpa Lü now, Lin Jiu felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
He never imagined the quiet old man who played chess would be this deadly.
He now saw him in a whole new light.
With three large sacks of food and canned goods, they had enough to last nine days.
Back at their hideout, Lin Jiu decided it was best to stay put and wait out the countdown.Every outing was risky.
Maybe once the countdown hit zero, he'd be able to leave.If other cities were clear, he could head there.If they were overrun too, then he'd go find the school beauty — Xiao Lan.
Six days later. Morning.
Beep beep!
Countdown: 3 days.
"Clunk clunk!"
Just as Lin Jiu checked the countdown, he heard someone lifting the manhole cover.