Don’t Be a Kept Man

r>We are dying from starvation here and you as soldiers for the country don’t even care.
What, you think you are so great for having guns huh! Then shoot me if you can! Shoot me dead!”

Pei Ran rolled down the window to take a look and found an overly plump middle aged man who looked like a giant mountain, throwing a bag of hardtack biscuits hard onto the floor in anger.
He stomped on them harshly until they were reduced to crumbs.
A few soldiers standing by were all trying to curb their burning anger by gritting their teeth tightly.

Pei Ran felt that he looked a bit familiar before recognizing that this was the survivor who almost pushed a soldier into a pile of zombies when they were under attack earlier.

The middle aged man did not stop yelling and one of the soldiers couldn’t stand it anymore.
His face was flushed red and he wanted to teach the guy a lesson.
But he was pulled back by his fellow soldiers with a tight grip and so he could only point at the other man’s nose and say in frustration, 

“These hardtack biscuits are what we eat too! Whoever keeps the good stuff for themselves is a bastard! The provisions are to be checked over and counted by the base so we have no power to split up the supplies.
To save you, two of my fellow comrades died within the pile of zombies! How can you say these things without going against your conscience?!”

He was probably unable to hold back his emotions when he talked about his fallen comrades as his eyes had reddened.
The soldiers nearby all fell silent, standing tall and not saying a word.
Leng Feng had been on guard by the trucks, and seeing this play out, he jumped down and said with a heavy tone, 

“All soldiers on guard, stand your positions with your weapons! Whoever keeps making a scene, I will shoot them dead!”

When he said these words, he kept staring right at the middle aged man.
His eyes were as sharp as a knife and so intimidating the man wasn’t able to say a single word.

A young woman wearing a t-shirt and jeans was just leaning against the roadside railings and applying lip stain with a small handheld mirror.
She looked a little overly delicate compared to the rest, a very big contrast to the rest of the group of ashy, dirt covered faces.
She did look a bit familiar, like an internet influencer from some internet streaming platform before the apocalypse.
She was fixing her long, waist length curly hair when she saw that middle aged man stubbornly and matter-of-factly say to the group of soldiers, 

“Where are the biscuits.
Give me another bag.”

The woman laughed, closing her handheld mirror with a snap.
She smiled fakely and said, 

“Old man, go eat shit.
What fucking biscuits.”

These words came so suddenly and were so out of the blue that the man froze in shock before realizing that they were directed at him.
He immediately erupted in anger, stomping madly, and shot forward to yell at her.

“You bitch, what did you say huh?! Dare to say it again in front of me?!”

“I said, people like you are only fit to eat shit.
Even becoming a zombie would only be raising your status.”

The woman looked quite delicate and weak so no one would have expected that she would have the upper hand in the fight.
Her three inch high heels kicked the middle aged man’s chest, sending him far away.
The man collapsed onto the floor with a loud thud, creating a thick cloud of dust while all the onlookers jumped in shock.

This could not be considered the end.

The woman click-clacked with her high heels and dragged the other up by the collar and gave him two loud and bright slaps, 

“I’ve had enough from you.
Being annoyed with this, being mad about that.
Your mouth is so tiny but smacks nonstop, why don’t you go holler with the zombies huh! The soldiers were standing on guard by the trucks all fine and dandy but then they were pushed off by you to become a meat shield.
If I had a gun, the first one I’d shoot would be you!”

And then ruthlessly kicked him, 

“SB! Shithead! Wait until you starve to death!”

The middle aged man was being smacked around until his head had swelled up like a pig’s.
Slumped on the ground, he couldn’t even climb back up.
The few soldiers standing guard couldn’t help but turn their heads back, thinking inwardly, holy shit, that lady looked so delicate and weak but she can be more vicious than any of them when it comes to a fight.

At the same time, they thought, how fucking stress relieving!

Pei Ran couldn’t help but laugh.
But then when he glanced down at Qu Yan, he couldn’t help but sigh.
He scanned over him and then quietly reached out to pull at Qu Yan’s cheeks.
He played with them, rubbing and squishing them.

After that exciting “scene”, everyone quieted down.
A wave of drowsiness suddenly fell over Pei Ran and he leaned against the seat to take a nap.
But just as he was falling into a deep slumber, he suddenly felt an ice cold touch at the back of his head, causing him to shiver all over.

He automatically looked over at Qu Yan who still had not woken up.

Pei Ran settled Qu Yan into a good resting position and then got out of the car.
But unexpectedly, a night breeze blew back, bringing with it a faint kind of disgusting stench, one that seemed to be getting heavier and heavier which caused his expression to slightly change.

A soldier on guard saw him stand there without moving and gave a salute before asking,

“Comrade, is there anything I can help you with?”

Pei Ran looked far into the distance but it was still pitch black and nothing could be seen.
Yet the unease in him was growing stronger and stronger.
He couldn’t help but say, 

“There may be a zombie horde heading our way.”

The soldier thought he was kidding, 

“What?”

Pei Ran couldn’t be sure whether it was true or not either as Qu Yan had been the one who checked for zombies before.
After all, besides using the psychic ability, no one could be sure.
But there was an unsettling feeling in him and he walked back and forth.
He was just about to say something when he suddenly saw the soldier’s face change.
The other man put his ear on the ground and then stood up in a rush, frantically yelling, 

“Not good captain! A wave of zombies is about to attack us!”

This immediately sent everyone awake into a panic, but the majority was still deep asleep.
Leng Feng quickly and nimbly climbed up on the truck and took a look with a pair of binoculars.
Shivers immediately ran down his spine as not far from the road, a huge wave of zombies, roughly estimated to be at least three hundred zombies, was quickly covering ground, heading towards them. 

“Everyone get ready in your defensive positions! A large wave of zombies is heading over here! Get ready to leave now!”

Leng Feng then jumped down the truck and woke up all the sleeping ability holders.
He yelled, 

“Get in the trucks now! Zombies are coming!”

Everyone woke up in a panic, frantically saying in their fear, 

“What? Zombies are coming?”

“Where? I don’t see a single thing, this must be a lie!”

“Holy fucking shit! Right behind us! I can even hear their screams, go hide in the trucks now!”

Borrowing the light from the moon, the faces of those zombies were slowly being revealed to them, screaming as their unimaginably stinky saliva poured out of their mouths.
When they discovered living humans, they lurched faster and faster.

The trucks had not driven far away before they were under attack by a few high level zombies and all of a sudden, only crying and sharp piercing screams could be heard.

Pei Ran had never seen such a thing and shivers ran down his spine.
He was preparing to speed out of here when six zombies suddenly climbed onto his car.
One of them was even a T3. 

Leng Feng’s situation wasn’t any better either.
The trucks were blocked off and quite a few survivors had been pulled out.
He could only command the soldiers to hop off the trucks and protect them.
All of a sudden, gunshots rang out nonstop.

The ability holders in the first military truck were also helping out but there were just too many zombies; their abilities wouldn’t last much longer.
The leader of this group, a long haired woman, yelled out, 

“Captain Leng, stay behind to help, but we must leave now! We cannot lose any of the dimensional space holders!”

Leng Feng’s bullets were almost used up.
His eyes were burning red as he yelled at the woman,

“What is your motherfucking problem! Are you letting these people die! You are all ability holders! Are you shittier than this non-ability holder right here?!”

This was a special situation, and if they lost the support of the ability holders, death would be their only option.

“No! Don’t leave! Save me! I don’t want to die!”

“Please I beg of you guys, don’t leave! Don’t leave us behind!”

Cries of sorrow and desperation came in waves but the first military truck did not stop at all.
It sped up to crash into the zombies, opening up a road and speeding away into the dark of the night.

“Fucking grandmothers and shit, those fucking bastards!” 

The soldiers were having a very difficult time defending against the attacking zombies and they yelled out in vain, 

“Captain! There are not enough bullets! What should we do!”

Leng Feng was shaking in anger and he yelled back, 

“Use your knives if you don’t have bullets! Everyone get off the fucking truck, drivers take the survivors and escape! It’s life or death now, and if this is it, then this is it!”

This was the apocalypse.
Everyone wanted to live, but they could not escape death.

Veins were popping on the driver’s head and his eyes became red, 

“Captain! I am going to stay with you all!”

Leng Feng had already used up his bullets and just used his knife to begin chopping at the zombies.

“Don’t motherfucking say useless shit, leave now!”

Their bullets were dwindling to nothing, to the point where no more gunshots could be heard. 

The twenty or so soldiers formed a weak meat shield, trying to block the tsunami of zombies.
Yet it was all in vain.
The truck only moved a couple of meters before being blocked by another group of zombies.

Pei Ran did not dare to open the window.
There was very limited space in the car for evasion and the result of being scratched could not be dampened in severity.
Seeing that the others outside could really not defend anymore, he grit his teeth and slammed the door open, kicking into the foray.

Humans have limited stamina but zombies did not know what it meant to be tired.
The few remaining soldiers were already unable to keep up, their movements slowing down.

It’s been said that the best resting place for a soldier was on the battlefield, but if there was a possibility, they probably wished that they would never have such a chance in this world.

War did not belong in this world, and it should not appear either.

As another wave of zombies stormed towards them, they held their blades tight, preparing to fight to their death.
But just then, a purple net of electricity suddenly blocked the zombies in front of them and following the loud sound of zapping, the zombies that had just been so aggressive were suddenly fried into ash.