When Xie Liuhai and his group fled from Jiefang City, it was already evening. They took a brief pause amid the twilight.
And then they started heading east. Dazui also picked himself up from the ground.
He didn't say much, but he didn't approach Xie Liuhai again.
Seeing Dazui's cautious deanor, a hint of guilt rose in Xie Liuhai's heart, but it was fleeting.
He imdiately shifted his focus. The sun had already set and they had not yet reached their destination.
There wasn't a single tall building nearby, only a few residential houses in this secluded place, and those were tile-roofed houses.
Surrounded by mountains and forests, this desolate place was pierced through by a national highway.
But because it was too remote.
After leaving Jiefang City, they had driven a car, but after less than 30 kiloters, they ran out of gasoline.
A car without gasoline is akin to scrap tal.
At this mont, the most pressing issue facing them was whether to continue forward or find a place to survive the night. As it is extrely dangerous at night.
Nearly a year had passed since the apocalypse; roadside weeds grew wildly, and those residential houses were dilapidated. These houses, seldom lived in, now appeared even more sinister under the gloomy night sky.
"Brother Hai, what should we do? It's getting late," a man asked beside Xie Liuhai.
Xie Liuhai glanced at the horizon where the sun had set, and darkness was creeping in.
In the apocalypse, everyone feared the night, but not because of ghosts; they feared zombies.
Zombies, different from dayti, had their sense of sll and mobility greatly enhanced at night.
Especially on rainy nights, it's practically ho field advantage for zombies.
Xie Liuhai pondered for a mont before asking, "Are you familiar with this area?"
"Not really, I'm not from this county, and this is my first ti here," a man replied.
"Brother Hai, I've been here before. There are lots of woodlands around. I used to drive through here on my way ho. There's probably a big bamboo forest up ahead if I rember correctly. This place used to be called the Bamboo Sea," Dazui ntioned.
Xie Liuhai nodded, and after taking a final glance at everyone, he said: "It's not suitable to move about at night. We don't know how much longer we'll have to walk. Let's find a place to stay for the night."
Everyone nodded in agreent.
But where should they stay tonight?
Continuing to stay in the car was an option; it had seven seats and was spacious enough for a few of them.
But the car was out of gas. It couldn't be started.
Moreover, the car was parked in the middle of the national highway—if zombies passed by, wouldn't they beco targets?
If not staying in the car, then where could they go?
Everyone looked toward the few residential houses fifty ters off the highway.
These houses, nestled in the night with tile roofs and at the foot of the forested mountains,
looked like sothing out of a horror movie, potentially hiding rustic undead corpses.
But they still headed in that direction. Staying in the car definitely wasn't an option.
They could only find a building to hide out in for the night.
Sigh...
They encouraged each other and slowly walked toward the house.
Upon closer inspection, the foremost house had a collapsed fence, and when they drew near, they saw a long rope hanging inside the house.
Its purpose was unclear.
Behind the rope, the bamboo pole was broken, but it still held a white cloth aloft, staunchly.
The white cloth was stained with so black marks, and it was tattered, fluttering in the evening breeze.
Beyond this fence was a dense forest.
In the darkness, it was hard to discern clearly.
They drew closer and closer, approaching this fence.
Entering.
Suddenly, a round grave ca into view.
The grave had no tombstone.
An eerie vibe circulated around them.
Everyone felt a chill rising from their tailbone,
Hiss.
The crowd gasped, drawing in a chill breath.
This is just too eerie.
There's no way we can stay in this house, who's ever heard of building a grave for the living.
Besides, it's constructed right there in the yard, facing directly towards the interior courtyard of the house.
Inside the courtyard is the Si Shui Gui Tang, an architectural feature aning 'four waters returning to the hall'.
It's quaint, yet sowhat strange.
No signs of life, but then what's with the fabric on the outer walls? No one could figure it out, and they didn't want to.
At this mont, they all felt a tingling sensation on their scalps.
They wanted to escape from this place as quickly as possible, sensing that sothing was off.
They switched on their flashlights, but the battery was running low, casting a feeble light.
Damn it!
"Who brought a flashlight?" Xie Liuhai asked.
"I didn't. Who would bother with that? Better to save space for food," soone replied.
"Brother Hai, I didn't bring one either," another person said.
"Hai Hai, I've got so candles," Big Mouth said.
Hmm? Candles, very thorough, or should I say... never mind, let's not talk about it.
Xie Liuhai nodded, noticing Big Mouth pulling out two candles from his backpack - they were even red.
Quite festive.
But now was not the ti to light the candles.
They hurriedly fled the premises.
Glancing back at the other houses, they felt torn.
Should they check out the houses towards the back?
Seeing that dusk was gradually setting in, Xie Liuhai realized that if they didn't find a place to stay and set up so defenses soon, they'd be done for if zombies showed up.
Unable to see clearly, how could they fight off zombies? Especially if there were many.
Quick!
Quick!
Quick!
"Hurry up, let's check out that house at the back, that one!" Xie Liuhai pointed to a building behind them, which seed more intact.
Although it was also a tiled house, it appeared to be sowhat safer.
Yes, a bit safer.
They sped up, running the few dozen ters to the house.
This house had no yard. Seeing that there were no graves in front of it, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
It was good there were none; they feared encountering another one.
The grave they had seen earlier was just too creepy.
Xie Liuhai turned on his flashlight and slowly walked inside.
The light revealed so farm tools, a broken bucket, so black and grey towels, and a sowhat old table and chairs.
No problem.
Xie Liuhai breathed a sigh of relief.
In this silent mountain forest, next to the national road, inside a house.
They had finally found a place to stay.
Everyone there had survived up until now thanks to their experience with survival. They began to inspect the house.
In fact, there were not many rooms inside the house, just four, each located in the east, south, west, and north, surrounding the central hall.
They split into pairs and checked the four rooms.
Big Mouth followed by Xie Liuhai's side, lighting the candle.
Seeing the light grow, Xie Liuhai turned around and noticed Big Mouth had lit the candle, feeling sowhat apologetic.
So he asked, "Big Mouth, why did you bring red candles?"
Big Mouth looked sowhat embarrassed, lowering his head and muttered, "I wanted... to have a candlelit dinner with you."
Before Xie Liuhai could listen closely, a loud scream pierced the air from nearby!
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