Chapter Ch148.2 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (27.2)

translator: xiin

editor: apricot

The arsenal had always been sealed up tight. The new humans had come up with many different options such as a frontal assault, cutting off the food supply, polluting water sources, letting sick dogs loose, or even re-releasing arsenal soldiers who’d been caught and infected with the virus.

However, the arsenal remained standing. When it came to a frontal assault, they had more weapons; when their food supply was cut off, they would fight a bloody path to reach their supplies. Polluting the water didn’t work as they had independent reservoirs. When sick dogs were let loose, they were killed immediately even before they reached the edge of the arsenal. And lastly, infected soldiers would directly choose to commit suicide before they returned to the arsenal so as not to drag everyone down with them.

But what was the use of all this?

When it came to long term guard duty, it was always a war of attrition.

These new humans wouldn’t have gathered here from all directions just to fight for a share if they hadn’t already noticed that the arsenal could no longer afford to let things drag on.

The full-scale war broke out at night, three days later.

“Captain Gu!” One of Gu Xinzhi’s team members entered his tent, his voice excited. “It’s starting! At least three new human teams have made their move! It seems that tonight, things will––”

Gu Xinzhi rolled out of his sleeping bag and sat up without the slightest trace of hesitation. He grabbed his sniper rifle and dagger, then ran out of the tent.

Against the fierce light cast from the fire, Bearded Man was nervously commanding his staff and preparing to set out.

Gu Xinzhi silently went up to stand beside him.

As soon as Bearded Man looked back and saw Gu Xinzhi, his heart heated up. He took out a pistol he was wearing at his waist and said, “Take this.”

It was a Browning. It looked small and beautiful, and it was very similar to the one in Gu Xinzhi’s memories.

And the man in his memory had held out this gun, giving him the order: “Within shooting range.”

He couldn’t help but lower his head, smiling suddenly. “No need, I have a gun.”

He then patted his own waist again, “And a dagger.”

Gu Xinzhi’s smile was really attractive, and Bearded Man almost choked from the sight. Although Gu Xinzhi had refused his kindness once again, he still felt warm all over. He couldn’t help saying, “Follow me closely when the fighting starts later!”

Gu Xinzhi could see the total trust in his eyes. He felt that this scene was really familiar.

During the many times he’d reincarnated in his nightmares, he’d seen this light from Ding Qiuyun’s eyes countless times. They were eyes which regarded him as the most reliable person.

His expression tensed up slightly when he became aware of this point, but he soon returned to his former coldness, “Mm, I will.”

And the person who lingered in his thoughts was currently in the midst of playing war games with Yiming in a small town thousands of miles away.

The guns they were using were wooden ones. They were very fine, and Chi Xiaochi had personally made them by hand.

Jing Yiming had grown up to that age where even dogs would disdain him, and he was endlessly nimble as he jumped up and down. The sick child from the gas station, who couldn’t even leave the house, was now crouching on top of a gas machine at the gas station with a gun, making ‘dada’, ‘dada’ sounds as he pretended to fire his gun at Chi Xiaochi.

As the referee, Boss Coal licked its claws gracefully and watched on calmly.

Chi Xiaochi hid behind a wall with another wooden gun and shouted loudly, “You’re a liar! How can there be a gun with infinite bullets?”

Jing Yiming giggled and fired his gun like a laser.

Jing Zihua, who had her hair pulled back into a bun at the back of her head, walked out of the house, bringing the fragrance of rice with her. “It’s time to eat.”

Jing Yiming was quite obedient to his mother. He jumped off the gas machine with a swish. “Mom, I knocked uncle down.”

Chi Xiaochi poked his head out and complained, “Old Jing, he’s cheating. I only gave him a 92, but he used it like a Gatling gun.”

Jing Zihua bowed her head and asked Jing Yiming, “Really? You beat your uncle with a Gatling?”

Jing Yiming twisted his fingers a little guiltily, “……”

Jing Zihua reminded him, “You’ve broken the rules, what should you do?”

Jing Yiming pattered over to Chi Xiaochi and said sweetly, “Uncle, I was wrong. I’ll follow the rules of the game next time.”

Chi Xiaochi: “Good…”

His voice had just rung out when Jing Yiming took out the wooden gun hidden behind his back and ‘instakilled’ Chi Xiaochi.

Chi Xiaochi: “……”

Jing Yiming stated, “Uncle, you’re dead.”

Chi Xiaochi: “……” Were children’s traps so deep now?

Jing Yiming jumped back into Jing Zihua’s arms and said proudly, “Mama, I succeeded in protecting you!”

… They were playing a game of defending the gas station. Jing Yiming was the defender, and Chi Xiaochi was the attacker.

Jing Zihua crouched down and kissed Jing Yiming’s hair, pushing him lightly on the back and indicating that he should go inside for dinner.

The ‘attack’ was over. Jing Yiming also re-found his enthusiasm for Chi Xiaochi and waved him over, “Uncle, come in for dinner.”

Chi Xiaochi pretended to lean weakly against the wall, so ‘hurt’ that he couldn’t breathe. “You’ve killed uncle.”

Jing Yiming, Jing Zihua: “……”

Chi Xiaochi said, “Don’t worry, uncle doesn’t blame you. Uncle’s spirit in heaven will bless you with good weather.”

Jing Yiming, Jing Zihua: “……”

Chi Xiaochi began to whistle. From his meandering, off-key notes, only 061 was able to tell that what he was whistling the theme song for CCXV’s [Weather Forecast].

Jing Zihua and Jing Yiming naturally wouldn’t understand this joke.

Jing Yiming took one step, then another, and slid away. Jing Zihua headed for Chi Xiaochi, who’d added extra drama to himself, and after confirming that Jing Yiming couldn’t hear him anymore, she smiled and said, “In fact, you don’t have to let him win like this.”

Chi Xiaochi took out the hand he’d kept behind his back.

There was a gun in his hand.

He’d been on guard against Jing Yiming’s sudden approach right from the start, but despite having the advantage, he hadn’t shot first.

Chi Xiaochi waved his hand, not minding this at all. “It’s alright. I’ll save it for next time.”

Jing Zihua invited, “Stay for dinner?”

“Okay.”

When Chi Xiaochi entered the mother and son’s small dining room, he took a careful look at the wall.

There was a mechanical crossbow hanging on that wall.

It was a crossbow that Chi Xiaochi had seen when he went to Shu Wenqing’s town a few months ago, and it was exactly the same style and shape of crossbow that ‘Old Jing’ had used in Ding Qiuyun’s memory.

Chi Xiaochi had bought it and given it to Jing Zihua, nicknaming it ‘Town House’.

This came from a sense of ritual, where Chi Xiaochi felt that such things should belong to her.

But at the same time, he hoped that she would never have to use such a thing in her life.

After dinner, the female team member that Gu Xinzhi had sent out entered their town, found Chi Xiaochi and gave him the box of cigarettes.

He opened up the cigarette case and was stunned for a moment when he saw the densely packed handwriting, filling the space with an above-average quantity of words.

However, when he finished reading the content from beginning to end, Chi Xiaochi and 061 both laughed quietly.

Chi Xiaochi: “Liu-laoshi, what are you laughing about?”

061 asked, “What are you laughing about?”

Chi Xiaochi: “It looks like the task is about to be completed.”

061 corrected him, “‘Our’ task is about to be completed.”

Chi Xiaochi breathed out an unobtrusive sigh of relief.

Data wouldn’t deceive people. Gu Xinzhi’s regret value had been rising steadily, and his regret value was now at 87 points.

There were 13 points left before they could leave.

Chi Xiaochi thought to himself that if what Gu Xinzhi had written in his letter was true, then the black trump card he’d buried ahead of time probably wouldn’t need to be put into use.

But only half a minute later, Chi Xiaochi’s expression changed abruptly––

The fire burned from late last night to noon the next day.

The battle which involved fighting spread across various teams, first started with the struggle between the old humans and the new humans before moving onto fighting between the new humans and other new humans. Reserve teams went up one after another, and there was no scheming, no clever resourcefulness. It was pure gun against gun, knife against knife fighting. There were no tricks, and what it tested was skill and determination to kill.

Control over the base changed hands several times. Everyone was red eyed and had become lost to the fighting. They killed whomever they saw, and more than one person fell under the blade or gun of their red-eyed comrades.

Finally, the balance of victory tilted towards the Bearded Man.

As soon as the situation was settled, the Bearded Man’s heart bloomed with joy. He ordered the remaining dozens of people in his team to quickly clean up the battlefield, sending several people out to pick up their back-up troops, telling them to come quickly and seize the arsenal through an advantage in numbers.

Like the other teams, their reserve teams that had originally been meant to take over the arsenal had already been used up during this round of round robin warfare. There was blood and broken limbs everywhere, and the Bearded Man was both happy yet dismayed at the sight.

He circled around the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, wanting to simultaneously roar in joy and smash everything in front of him in despair.

Fortunately, as soon as he turned around, he found that Gu Xinzhi was still with him.

Amongst the man corpses, only the two of them had been left alive.

Gu Xinzhi’s face was covered with blood, and his body was also coated in blood. He pulled up his sleeve and gently wiped his dagger, revealing its sheen once again.

The Bearded Man burst out into hearty laughter. He stretched out his arms and took Gu Xinzhi into his embrace.

The Bearded Man was tall and strong. When he took Gu Xinzhi into his bear-like embrace, he only felt his heart fill up with security and warmth––

Warmth?

Wait, new humans shouldn’t have this kind of body temperature!

A flash of fear swept through his mind. He wanted to push Gu Xinzhi away, but the back of his neck had been pinched by Gu Xinzhi’s iron-strong fingers, and he had no way to escape.

A voice that he loved to such miserable extremes slid through his ears. It was very pleasant to listen to.

“Thank you for leading the way.”

“I didn’t want your life, I just wanted your team to help me open up the way.”

“Well, now––”

The blade that had just been wiped clean was covered in thick blood once again. Blood gushed out from the Bearded Man’s throat like a spring, and his beard filled up with blood, dripping down his fine whiskers.

The Bearded Man made a clucking sound in his throat, his eyes filled with an incredulous light.

Gradually, the light faded and changed, turning into a burning dark fire.

Gu Xinzhi patted the back of his neck, feeling his increasingly weak breathing accompanied by the increasingly violent flow of blood. He comforted him gently, “Alright, alright.”

But just then, something cold and hard slammed into Gu Xinzhi’s body.

––Bang.

A dull gunshot exploded between them.

In Bearded Man’s hand was the little Browning he’d planned to give to Gu Xinzhi.

Fine tendrils of smoke swirled out from the muzzle of the gun.

A bloody hole opened up in Gu Xinzhi’s lungs as faint gun smoke floated up from the wound, and the scent of gunpowder was as pungent as the scent of blood.

Gu Xinzhi’s brain stopped for a moment.

He thought: What happened?