G City was located on the easternmost edge of the region.
It was still some distance from the ocean.
But this city used to be a coastal city in ancient times, renowned as a famous seaport.
However, it was now considered an inland city.
Yu Qingxian watched the zombies strolling along the streets and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It was clear that this city was still under zombie occupation.
But just as Yu Qingxian relaxed, she heard gunshots, which frightened her into dragging her luggage into a side alley.
In general, any human-made noises made her jumpy like a startled bird.
Shi Xingyu followed Yu Qingxian into the alley.
After they entered the alleyway, a convoy of vehicles approached from afar.
There were five cars.
The number of people must have been considerable.
Indeed, even a small squad of survivors in a big city had a sizable number.
Yu Qingxian watched the five vehicles drive past her, with a horde of zombies following behind.
These zombies had clearly evolved during the winter.
Their speed had become very fast, already surpassing the running speed of ordinary humans.
Nowadays in the apocalypse, relying solely on human legs would be no match for the zombies' speed.
She watched these running zombies and couldn't help but remark, "If these zombies participated in a marathon, there wouldn't be enough medals to award them."
Shi Xingyu didn't understand what Yu Qingxian was saying, only calmly replying, "At this speed, they're bound to starve to death."
Yu Qingxian paid no mind to Shi Xingyu's irrelevant response.
These zombies were already faster than her.
But Yu Qingxian felt that her physical abilities had become stronger than when she was human.
If the zombie virus was an evolution, Yu Qingxian felt it was quite apt.
But whether it was a good evolution was debatable.
If zombies like herself could choose not to eat humans, then that would be quite good.
From any perspective, the zombie creature undoubtedly had obvious weaknesses, but as long as those weaknesses were protected, they were truly invincible.
They had strong endurance and could persist for a long time by consuming just a bit of flesh and blood.
However, their tendency to charge towards the scent of blood and flesh was indeed unsuitable.
Clearly, only advanced zombies would suffice.
Like Shi Xingyu.
Yu Qingxian thought this as she looked up at Shi Xingyu, noticing drool starting to drip from the corner of his mouth.
...
Never mind what she said.
Zombies clearly couldn't change their nature of eating humans.
"Didn't you just eat two people? How are you hungry again?" Yu Qingxian couldn't help but tease Shi Xingyu.
How gluttonous could he be?
Upon hearing this, Shi Xingyu retorted, "It's not 'just ate', it's been almost a month."
As an advanced zombie with rapid evolution in the apocalypse, consuming only once a month would surely invite ridicule from other advanced zombies.
Yu Qingxian said nothing. It had been three months since her last meal, yet she felt no hunger or desire to eat.
"The appearance of a survivor squad here indicates there must be a survivor base nearby. Of course, it's also possible these squads traveled a long distance, but either way, it means we can't linger in this city for too long."
Yu Qingxian watched that group of zombies leave, then bent down to help up a small zombie lying on the ground.
The small zombie was probably only five or six years old before turning, and now it was running and chasing with the other zombies.
But after Yu Qingxian helped it up, it continued running ahead without stopping.
However, after running for a while, it lost its target and slowed down, wandering aimlessly, indicating that the vehicle convoy had left the range of these zombies' sense of smell.
Yet Yu Qingxian's nose still faintly picked up some fragrance.
And after a minute, these scents also dissipated from Yu Qingxian's nose.
It seemed those people had completely left this city.
Yu Qingxian turned around, riding on her luggage, and continued towards the city center.
The Oriental Garden in the center of G City was the destination for this trip.
Although there were many zombies in the city, they posed no obstacle for Yu Qingxian and Shi Xingyu.
They arrived smoothly at the Oriental Garden.
The garden was undamaged, but due to lack of maintenance, the plants had grown wildly over the past three months.
But this was completely unimportant for Yu Qingxian.
She went to the entrance, queued for a while, then leaned in to take a visitor's ticket before entering the garden area.
She was still sitting on her luggage.
Holding a visitor's map in her hand.
She acted just like a genuine tourist, unconcerned by the surrounding zombies or her own zombie nature.
Yu Qingxian carefully observed the scenery around her and would take out a camera to take photos.
Shi Xingyu followed behind Yu Qingxian, his eyes scanning the surroundings, but he didn't find anything special.
He also didn't understand what was going through Yu Qingxian's mind.
At this moment, Yu Qingxian wasn't thinking about anything.
She was simply appreciating the scenery in her own way.
Previously, when Yu Qingxian watched others' travel videos, it was more preparation for writing novels.
After all, some experiences couldn't be written without personal involvement to capture those feelings.
But an author is an existence like that, using words to depict everything, weaving a false yet real world for readers.
A skilled author can make readers feel as if the characters in the book had truly lived in the world.
However, Yu Qingxian didn't possess that level of skill, at most writing for her own amusement.
But now, as Yu Qingxian gazed at these sceneries, she somewhat understood why many authors enjoyed traveling.
It was only that Yu Qingxian no longer needed those things, she came out to admire the scenery influenced by authors, her parents, and her neighborhood elder sister.
But most importantly, it was because of the step she had taken.
If she hadn't thought about going out for sightseeing, she would still be confined in her home, lying on that bed, waiting for her energy to be depleted, then dissolving into blood and water, white bones, and finally a handful of soil.
But now, Yu Qingxian was grateful to herself.
Grateful that she had stepped out of that room.
When the sun set, Yu Qingxian didn't continue sightseeing.
Instead, she left the garden and found a hotel to rest.
Shi Xingyu didn't understand why she did these things.
But he felt that he had learned something from Yu Qingxian.
That as a powerful zombie, one shouldn't be too boastful.
Humans were not fragile.
Perhaps he should part ways with Yu Qingxian.
Zombies were never herd animals.
And he didn't worry at all that Yu Qingxian might die at human hands.
Even less so from zombie mouths.
They were fundamentally different.
Yu Qingxian couldn't understand a zombie's mindset, just as he couldn't understand Yu Qingxian's human consciousness.
So when Yu Qingxian saw Shi Xingyu standing at the door to bid her farewell, she wasn't the least bit surprised.
"Farewell, I hope to see you again this autumn. You said we'd go see the autumn colors at Autumn Lake again this year, just don't get killed by humans," Yu Qingxian said.
There was no hint of reluctance on her face.
Upon hearing this, Shi Xingyu only nodded slightly, then disappeared from the hotel room entrance.
Zombies were predators of humans after all.
Shi Xingyu must have been a gentle person when he was human, as even without memories of being human, he would subconsciously avoid her when feeding.
And he wouldn't actively hunt humans either.
It must have been quite difficult indeed.
