The middle-aged man groaned, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood before passing out.
"Heh, how boring. He's already out cold," the Gold Chain Man sneered, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he cast a sidelong glance, his hand moving towards his pants.
"It's no fun when they're unconscious. Here, let me give you something special."
As he spoke, he began to unzip his pants.
But just then...
BANG!
A gunshot rang out.
The Gold Chain Man was hit directly in the center of his forehead by a bullet.
His hand froze on his zipper, his face still frozen in its previous expression as he fell stiffly to the ground.
Those around him immediately went on high alert.
"Boss!"
"Who's there?! Who's shooting from the shadows?"
"Weren't all the rice mill people taken care of? What's going on?!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Before they could make sense of the situation, a barrage of gunfire erupted from three different directions.
People kept falling as bullets found their marks.
Terrified, they scattered for cover.
Without even catching a glimpse of their attacker, they had already lost nearly half their men!
Who on earth were they up against? This was terrifying!
But they had no time to think, as the attacks from Yun Xiaoxiao and her two companions were relentless and overwhelming.
The three split up to fight, methodically taking down the hidden bandits.
Ling Jing grabbed one of the men, eyeing his neck. He licked his lips.
Then, he bit down hard.
"AAAARGH!" The man screamed in agony.
Ling Jing tossed him to the ground and waited silently.
One second, two seconds...
After about fifteen seconds.
The man clutched his neck, curled up on the ground shaking violently, his eyes beginning to roll back.
A few more seconds passed, and he staggered to his feet.
His joints cracked as he moved, his pupils had turned completely grey-white, and black blood vessels bulged on his face.
He had clearly turned into a zombie.
Ling Jing's eyes darkened.
So it was true!
These past few days, he had been fighting the urge to bite people.
If he hadn't been suppressing it so hard, things might have spiraled out of control.
He suspected that the zombie virus in his body had spread.
Would he eventually turn into a mindless zombie, devoid of humanity, endlessly killing?
Looking at the confused, groaning male zombie before him, Ling Jing's expression grew somber.
He put a bullet through its head.
About fifteen minutes later, after Yun Xiaoxiao had stored the last piece of equipment in her spatial inventory, she went outside to regroup with Nie Yizhou and Ling Jing.
"This one's still breathing," Nie Yizhou said, checking the nose of the man who had been slapped earlier.
"Should we take him back?"
"Let's bring him," Yun Xiaoxiao decided. This man was likely a comrade of Liu Cheng and the others. Taking him back would give the rice mill another skilled professional.
With the man in tow, the three teleported back immediately.
"Dad!" As soon as they returned, Tao Mi'er, who had been wallowing in sadness, looked over.
Her face immediately lit up with shock and joy.
She ran over quickly.
Liu Cheng and the others also gathered around.
"He's not dead," Nie Yizhou said, handing the man over to them, seeing their worried expressions.
They nearly wept with joy.
"Thank you, thank you so much."
"We can't thank you enough!"
Liu Cheng and Tao Mi'er kept bowing and expressing their gratitude to Yun Xiaoxiao and her companions.
"No need for thanks, we just happened to save him," Yun Xiaoxiao said dismissively.
It really had been a coincidental rescue.
She had only gone there because she didn't want the rice and equipment falling into the hands of those scumbags.
This man being alive was just luck on his part, and they happened to be able to bring him back.
Yun Xiaoxiao might say that, but Liu Cheng and Tao Mi'er didn't see it that way.
In their hearts, Yun Xiaoxiao and her companions had risked their lives to save him.
Although they grieved for those who had died, having even one person survive was an immense blessing.
They were deeply grateful.
Especially Tao Mi'er, who now looked at Yun Xiaoxiao and her companions not just with gratitude, but with intense admiration.
"Can we come with you to the place you mentioned before?" Tao Mi'er asked.
Yun Xiaoxiao nodded, "Of course."
While everything seemed peaceful on their end, Yun Xiaoxiao and her group were unaware that they hadn't actually killed all the bad guys.
Ten minutes after they left, in a corner diagonally across from where Ling Jing had bitten the man, a previously invisible figure gradually materialized.
It was a thin man with a snake tattoo on the back of his hand.
His eyes gleamed with cunning.
If Yun Xiaoxiao had been there, she would have recognized him as someone with an invisibility ability.
When Yun Xiaoxiao and her group had first appeared, he had been using the bathroom.
He had just finished when he heard the gunshots.
Out of habit, he immediately turned invisible.
Then, he hid in this corner, observing the situation outside.
Seeing his side at a complete disadvantage, he didn't dare move.
So he had remained invisible, hiding here the whole time.
But unexpectedly, he had witnessed Ling Jing biting someone.
At first, when Ling Jing bit the man, he was confused.
He couldn't understand why a seemingly normal person would bite someone.
Wouldn't it be quicker to just kill them?
But when the bitten man turned into a zombie, he was terrified.
Wasn't it supposed to be zombie bites that turned people into zombies?
Why did a bite from this seemingly normal person have the same effect?
Filled with intense fear, he remained absolutely still.
Only after Yun Xiaoxiao and her group had completely vanished did he let out a heavy sigh and reveal himself.
Looking at his dead comrades strewn about, he felt no sadness.
He had only recently joined this group.
It was his invisibility ability that had earned him food and shelter with them.
Of course, he did whatever they told him to do.
Now that these people were dead, it seemed he would need to find a new group to join.
The man found a car and drove away from the rice mill.
--
Yun Xiaoxiao and her group continued their journey.
They encountered several groups of zombies along the way, which delayed them a bit.
Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, they returned to their base.
But outside the base, they found a huge crowd of people.
"Why are there so many people?" Nie Yizhou rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things.
"Xiao Feng, do you see all those people in front?"
"I'm not blind, of course I can see them," Xiao Feng replied, also staring ahead with furrowed brows.
"Strange, where did all these people come from?"
It was a dense crowd, at least seven or eight hundred if not a thousand.
How had so many people arrived at their base during their short trip?
At that moment, the empty vegetable plot in front of the base's main gate was packed with people.
They all looked dirty and travel-worn.
Some were standing, others sitting directly on the bare earth.
Everyone had bags of various sizes with them.
