Chapter 103: Barbecue?
Aiming for the ditch 10m away, Zhang Xiao Qiang flung the torch in his hands fiercely. 1, 2, 3…”Hong!” A huge flame burst out from the ditch, roaring towards the skies. A searing hot temperature swept out towards Zhang Xiao Qiang and Yang Ke’er, who immediately turned around to run. The heatwave chased at their tails until they reached a distance of dozens of meters before they felt it was safe to stop.
The pillar of fire rose to about 10m, and dark smoke billowed out. Ashes danced as the smoke continued to rise. Zhang Xiao Qiang felt his scalp go numb, never setting such a huge fire before, he hadn’t expected it to be so strong. He and Yang Ke’er was almost turned into grilled chicken as well.
Yang Ke’er watched the fire, her small mouth open in shock. After a long while, she regained her wits and lost her temper at Zhang Xiao Qiang.
“Why is it like this! I was still hoping to fight the BOSS! Hubby, are you afraid that I will cause to lose face by killing the D2?!”
After a while of grumbling, under the pretext of fearing that her skin might get dark, Yang Ke’er walked retreated further towards the house, her words now focused on the topic of food. Zhang Xiao Qiang didn’t bother, he continued to watch, as he was not confident that the fire was enough to deal with the D2. Wasn’t its skin too thick?
“AO~~~” A huge roar resounded from the ditch. It was the D2 wailing out in pain, as the heat had finally become unbearable. Soon, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt the ground beneath his feet tremble. Even as the ditch was burning in flames, Zhang Xiao Qiang could see sand and stone being knocked out from the ground. It seemed that the D2 was hammering against the earthen walls.
The ditch was about 5m-deep, Zhang Xiao Qiang wasn’t worried about the D2 climbing out. At the very least, each time it hit the walls of the ditch, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt the tremors weakening as time passed until there weren’t any movements left.
“Ao~~~” The D2 roared out once more pitifully before the sound died off. The flames became even fiercer, as though proud that it had extinguished its victim.
The bodies of zombies were usually devoid of water and were vulnerable to flames. Even a person whose body composition was at least 70% water could burn up, what’re more these mummy-like zombies?
As the flames burned on, a strong scorched smell permeated through the air. Zhang Xiao Qiang felt stifled and decided to walk about to take a look.
By the time he walked to the bridge, he realized he had walked around the radius of the flames. The end of the bridge had lost its original color, and it was only one color now: black.
It was a result of the countless zombies being stuck and cooked together. It was a pile of mixed meat and internal organs, and Zhang Xiao Qiang almost threw up again. However, because he had already thrown up just earlier, there was nothing much that his stomach could regurgitate. He walked towards the edge of the bank and saw a few zombies standing, some lying, some flowing along with the water. The deepest part of the river had been filled with zombies, and some zombies stood on the pile made of their fellow zombies.
Zhang Xiao Qiang wanted to cross the bridge to take a better look, but it was covered in layers of meat and bones. He simply could not find a place to set his foot down securely. In order to cross properly, he would have to find a huge shovel to sweep off the gunk on the bridge, before spreading some quicklime on it. However, he didn’t have the time, nor the energy to do so. He decided to grit his teeth and stepped gingerly into the meat paste. He tried to convince himself he was walking through a thick layer of mud.
Every single step felt heavy and long. By the time he reached the opposite bank, he vomited again.
There was the sight of the metal shack torn in two by the D2, as well as the hundreds of zombies being flattened during the D2’s rampage. Some small stands that sold cigarettes and tabloid magazines had been destroyed. A small alleyway between 2 buildings led to the market, however, each step was filled with a layer of blackened meat and bones, where numerous zombies had long since lost their lives.
As he exited the alleyway, he saw a huge plastic sheet covering the marketplace. There were 2 stands that sold clothes, 1 sold children’s clothes as well as toys. There was an autumn and winter clothing store as well, and finally, the most eye-catching was a store that sold women’s leather coats.
Without any zombies roaming about, the entire area was quiet and peaceful. Zhang Xiao Qiang walked silently, and he felt strange. There were no zombies, no people, there was no difference from prior to the apocalypse, it was just that there was nobody.
His military boots caused some scrunching noises in the mud, and from time to time, he would pass by some bones. He walked till he reached a cement pier, and there were a few tarpaulins laid out on the ground. The vegetables that were displayed on those sheets were already decomposed, even potatoes and garlic that were usually easy to store had gone dry. Zhang Xiao Qiang continued to walk on, when suddenly he came to a stop.
He whirled around suddenly, eyeing those vegetables and beans on the sheets. A feeling arose in his heart, slowly turning into hope.
He came to the oil sheet, and grabbed a garlic, as he gently stroke the buds. His eyes turned moist, the garlic was ok. He picked up the beans, which had lost much of their moisture. However, there were still little sprouts in some of them. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked around carefully and came to a conjecture.
The huge field was covered in the plastic sheet to block out the violent sunlight. The surrounding buildings and zombies had also helped to block the winds. Although these buds had not much water, they still sprouted, if they were transferred to the earth, and under some care, they should be able to reap some benefits. What could be more precious than these?
He carefully picked up the wrinkled beans that seemed to have become moldy in his hands, and looked at it carefully under the light, as though he was looking at a precious diamond, his heart filled with joy.
“Guang dong…” From afar, the sound of a beer bottle dropping to the floor sounded, and a strong sense of oppression arose in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s heart. It was that inexplicable and annoying sixth sense of his. He was careful, and he knew each time his senses went crazy, there would be trouble afoot. This time was sure to be the same, and he pulled out his Jing Wei Sword and military knife.
Wielding the knife in his left and the sword in his right, he watched his surroundings carefully as he retreated towards the marketplace. The field was still silent, however, it took on a whole new suspenseful feel to it. It seemed as though the earlier disturbance might have been a figment of his imagination, but the feeling that something was about to happen became stronger. In fact, compared to the past time that could be described as a drizzle, it was like a thunderstorm in his mind now.
Zhang Xiao Qiang was alert, but not afraid. Each time his life-and-death situations had forged his mental fortitude, although he did not know the trouble would arise from where he knew that it was vital to stay calm. Being impatient and panicking would not solve any problems, it would only serve to lose his life.
He moved slowly with the balls of his feet, not making as much noise as possible. He retreated slowly like this, all the way till he exited the marketplace. The sense of crisis did not lessen, but it did not increase as earlier. When he reached the alleyway, he heaved a small sigh of relief. As long as he crossed the bridge, it would be ok, at least there wasn’t any complicated terrain there, nor were there any obstruction. He could then see what the source of danger was.