Chapter 87

Chapter 87 Midnight Horror——

On the road, there were many wandering zombies. Hearing the sound of the car, many zombies gathered around. The sound of the car hitting the zombies was incessant, and coupled with the unprocessed corpses on the ground, the car was jolting violently.

Gu Ning and the other adults were already used to it, but the children, whether scared by the rushing zombies or the severe jolting of the car, all turned pale. Several children even vomited by the window.

After driving intermittently for about two hours, they got stuck on the highway. Gu Ning stuck her head out of the window and saw abandoned cars ahead, at least thirty or forty of them blocking the way.

“The road ahead is completely blocked, we have to take a detour,” said Third Brother. “When I went to Zhongnan before, I also encountered a car accident. Let’s back up a bit, there’s a small road over there, though it’s a bit longer. But we have no choice now.”

Hearing this, the three cars turned around and drove back.

After about twenty minutes, they found the small road Third Brother mentioned, barely wide enough for two cars to pass side by side.

Although the road was paved with cement, many parts were damaged by the heavy trucks that usually passed by, leaving the road full of potholes, testing the driver’s skills. Fortunately, the road was remote, and there were few zombies. After driving for more than twenty minutes, they saw a zombie wandering in the field, but before it could reach the road, the car had already driven far away.

By noon, the originally fine weather suddenly turned rainy. In no time, large raindrops pounded on the car roof, and the sky was covered with dark clouds, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Considering safety, they had to temporarily stop at a village.

Daishui Village was a small village nestled by mountains and water. Before the apocalypse, it had about a hundred households, roughly four to five hundred people.

Gu Ning and the others found a house at the village entrance. One side of the house was covered with lush green vines, which looked particularly special compared to other plants that were already preparing for winter.

After Luo Long and the others knocked on the door for a long time with no response, they simply forced the tightly shut door open.

A foul smell of rotting corpses hit them.

There were two corpses on the living room floor.

But the appearance of these corpses was extremely bizarre. They were abnormally thin, with only a layer of wrinkled skin covering their bones. Their clothes hung loosely on the bodies, seemingly devoid of any flesh. One of the corpses faced the door, hands stretched towards it, with a look of terror still on its face.

There were no obvious bloodstains around, nor any bite marks from zombies on their bodies…

Luo Long and the others had seen many terrifying and disgusting corpses, but these two on the ground gave them an inexplicable sense of horror, sending chills down their spines.

Finally, urged by Third Brother, they wrapped the two corpses in a quilt found in the bedroom and buried them in a pit dug in the backyard.

Only after confirming there were no more corpses in the house did they let the others from the car come in.

On the wall behind the sofa hung a family photo of three. However, they only found the bodies of two people in the house. Judging by their clothes, they should be the middle-aged couple in the photo, but the twenty-something girl standing between them was nowhere to be seen.

It was clear that this was a well-off family, with all kinds of electrical appliances and furniture, and the decoration was also good.

It was just noon, so they started cooking, hoping the rain would stop after the meal.

However, after eating and even washing the dishes, the rain not only didn’t stop but grew heavier, with continuous thunder and lightning, and strong winds rattling the windows.

“It looks like we’ll have to stay here tonight,” said Third Brother, looking out the window. “This rain came out of nowhere and is so heavy.”

The sky was as dark as if it were five or six in the evening.

The sound of the rain outside, mixed with thunder, gave people an inexplicable chill, especially when a flash of lightning lit up the room, revealing faces with uncertain expressions, only to plunge back into darkness.

Luo Long, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms, asked Huang Mengyao to summon two fireballs to light up the room.

Gu Ning checked her watch; it was 2 PM.

She had to return to the other world by 6 AM, which meant she could only stay here until 8 PM.

Night fell quickly. By 6 PM, the rain had lightened to a drizzle, but the sky outside was completely dark. They decided to stay overnight. After dinner, they played cards for a while, then washed up and laid out the bedding Gu Ning had taken from her space. Strangely, most of the windows in the house were broken, with vines creeping in from outside. Jia Daozhang grabbed a vine and smiled, “This house is quite elegant.” Since the rain wasn’t heavy, they laid the bedding a distance from the window, then blocked the front and back doors before lying down to rest, preparing to set off the next day.

This time, for convenience, Gu Ning occupied a room on the second floor alone. The window in this room was also broken, with vines creeping in through the cracks.

After locking the door, Gu Ning focused her mind and returned to her space, then traveled to the other world.

It was still 6 PM in this world. She changed her clothes in the room, then opened the door and walked out.

Midnight in the apocalypse.

Because of the rain during the day, the temperature dropped sharply at night, but they didn’t have to worry about freezing, as they were wrapped in thick quilts both underneath and on top. After a day of jolting in the car, everyone had fallen into a deep sleep. Luo Long lay with his eyes closed in the warm quilt, but his mind kept uncontrollably recalling the two corpses in the living room. No matter how he tried to hypnotize himself, he couldn’t sleep. Outside, it started drizzling again at some point.

Just as Luo Long was getting increasingly agitated, he suddenly heard a faint rustling sound—so soft that it would be impossible to hear if one were asleep. But it was the middle of the night, and any tiny sound was amplified, and Luo Long happened to be awake… At first, he thought someone had turned over, but he couldn’t help but hold his breath and listen carefully… Swish… There was a sound of something rubbing against the ground, intermittent and faint. Luo Long’s heart skipped a beat, and he opened his eyes. It was the middle of the night, with no moonlight, and he couldn’t see anything.

But at that moment! A flash of lightning streaked across the sky! With a whoosh! The entire sky lit up, including the room—

And it also illuminated Luo Long’s pale face.

The empty room was now filled with vines growing from outside, covering half the ceiling… the walls… the floor… everywhere except where they were sleeping!—In that brief moment of light, Luo Long even saw a vine slowly creeping towards them!

The lightning lasted only a moment, and the room plunged back into darkness.

Luo Long even wondered if he was dreaming. He pinched himself hard, almost crying out in the dark. In his shock, Luo Long was nearly scared to death, biting his lip to keep from screaming and desperately shaking Zhang Xiaobai, who was sleeping next to him.

Zhang Xiaobai was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly shaken awake. He was about to curse, but before the words could come out, a hand covered his mouth.

Luo Long’s very soft “shh” reached his ears, making Zhang Xiaobai instantly aware of something.

Luo Long leaned in close, his voice trembling as he whispered, “Xiao… Xiaobai… those vines… they seem to have mutated… our room is full of them…”

Zhang Xiaobai couldn’t hear clearly, only catching something about mutation and the room…

Before he could figure out what Luo Long was saying, a short, sharp scream came from the other side!

It was the apocalypse! People’s nerves were on edge even in their sleep, and such a scream could instantly wake everyone up!

Zhang Xiaobai immediately jumped up from the ground, raising his hand, with lightning crackling around it, instantly illuminating the room! Everyone was shocked into silence by what they saw.

Jia Daozhang stammered, “W-what’s going on?!”

In their line of sight, except for their quilts, every empty space was covered with vines, the lush green leaves now looking particularly eerie!

The vines, which had been moving, seemed startled by the sudden light. After a strange pause, they suddenly started moving again!

Countless vine tips rapidly extended towards them!

Luo Long’s mind flashed like lightning, and he pointed at the rapidly moving vines, shouting in terror, “It’s these things! Those two corpses in the living room were done in by these things!”

Just as Luo Long shouted this, the room next door, where Huang Mengyao, Gao Yue, Hong Jie, and more than twenty children were staying, suddenly erupted with the children’s terrified screams!