After everyone finished eating lunch, Yueyue suddenly suggested a proposal as everyone relaxed on the sofa.
"Do you guys want to continue to explore the other mansions? I think we continue it."
"Sure, I don't mind it," Xiaoyun replied.
"I'm not going. I want to stay home with Lily." Nami instantly replied after noticing the sunny day through the window.
"I'm not going either. I'm a little tired," Yuqi replied, her eyes constantly looking around near Lily and Nami.
"Same... I need to take care of the garden. I haven't checked it for the entire day now." Leyan replied.
"Well, then, it's just me and Xiaoyun," Yueyue murmured, looking toward Xiaoyun to see his reaction.
"That's fine... Let's go in thirty minutes. I'll get packing right now."
---
"Luoping community is a U-shape... And we live right in the middle of the U-shape at 303——the last two houses we went to clear were the houses on our left side."
Yueyue murmured as the two of them walked down the street, holding the map in her hand as Xiaoyun looked around them.
"We already cleared the two houses on the left, so we should clear the one on the right now."
Yueyue put the map away as she looked back at Xiaoyun, instinctively waiting for him to be the one to make a decision.
"Okay. Let's go to the right then."
Ten minutes later...
As they headed towards the remaining houses in Luoping on the right side of the U-shape, they finally could see a mansion ahead.
"Does the map say anything about 304?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Nope, it says no one living in it... Should we just skip that one?"
Xiaoyun stopped for a second and tried to look through the mansion window, but in the end, he couldn't come up with a decision.
"Hm... let's get closer first and decide later."
"Okay."
After walking for another minute, the two finally arrived in front of the main gate of 304.
At first glance, the mansion looked fully abandoned as leaves were flying all over the air when a gust of wind flew by.
However, both of their minds changed when they noticed a broken steel padlock on the ground, with traces of brute force applied around the shackle.
"Someone is definitely inside..." Xiaoyun murmured, examining the padlock in hand before he dropped it back down.
"Should we go inside then?"
"They live too close for us to feel safe without having a check. We need to make sure if they are humans or zombies."
"Zombies? How do they know breaking padlock inside a house?" Yueyue raised her question.
"Who knows... Maybe it wasn't Zombie who broke it. It could have been a burglar who broke in a long time ago and left already.
Either way, we need to make sure this community has no zombies in it... And make sure no one could threaten us."
As the two began walking past the front gates, Yueyue asked another question.
"Should we be friendly, or should we use force?"
Xiaoyun thought for a second, then answered, "Let's stick to friendly first. But we'll use force if they don't comply."
Yuqi nodded as they slowly approached the front door. At the same time, Xiaoyun's mind was thinking of something else.
He quickly realized how much he had changed. The old Xiaoyun would never have thought of needing to use physical force on another human being in the past.
However, his experience as Songming made him feel much more cynical toward other people.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized how naive he was in helping Yezi and Huayi, who were strangers to him.
But, for some reason, his gut and heart told him he did the right thing. If he were presented with the same problem, he would have stepped out again.
---
After getting fully ready, Xiaoyun stepped forward to knock on the door first.
"Hello! Is anyone there? We just want to make sure you are okay. We don't mean any harm."
Despite yelling just loud enough for people inside the mansion to hear, there was zero response.
"If you don't open the door, we assume no one is in here."
The only sound the two of them could hear was the leaves raveling in the front yard. Not a single movement from the inside at all still.
"Yueyue, move back a little. I'm going to brute force this door."
Yueyue quickly took a few steps back as Xiaoyun took out his axe from the side and raised it all the way to the air.
With a loud chop, a giant cut appeared right in the middle of the door. But it was still not enough to open it, so Xiaoyun raised his axe again.
This time, it finally made a hole big enough to peek inside.
"You see anything inside?" Yueyue curiously asked as Xiaoyun moved his head a little closer through the gap.
"Nope... There's a security gate behind this door."
Xiaoyun moved his hand inside the hole and opened the wooden door, revealing the metal security door right before them.
"There's no way we're cutting through this one," Yueyue murmured as she poked the door with her baseball bat.
"Yeah... Maybe there's another way to get inside the mansion." Xiaoyun answered as he began looking around the mansion.
After circling the front for a bit, Xiaoyun suddenly noticed the window looked completely defenseless.
"Wait, I have an idea."
Xiaoyun quickly moved over to the window near the door and bashed it as hard as he could with the axe.
But as the glass broke open, there was still a metal security bar blocking them from climbing inside.
"Fuck. Who the hell installed this much security?" Xiaoyun murmured as he stepped back from the broken glass.
"Maybe there's a backdoor entrance," Yueyue suggested.
The two of them immediately headed to the back of the house, where they found that every window had a security bar behind it.
Oddly enough, all of the security bars in the back were fully visible, facing outward rather than being inside.
"All these windows still have security bar, and there's not even a back entrance..."
Just as Yueyue was about to ask Xiaoyun if they should just leave, she suddenly noticed a few footprints on the ground.
"Wait, I think I know where's the back entrance... There are footprints here."
"Really?
Xiaoyun quickly met up with Yueyue, following behind her as the footprint led them all the way to a white wall.
"Why do the footprints end here?"
Yueyue wondered, her mind thinking that someone might have climbed over the wall. But the smooth surface makes it practically impossible.
"Wait, there's a door here."
Xiaoyun's sharp eye immediately noticed a small gap in between the wall lines and kicked it as hard as he could.
To their surprise, the 'white' wall slammed right open as the inside of the mansion was finally revealed to them.
"How could you tell there was a door here?" Yueyue curiously asked, her face still looking a little shocked.
"The metal gate is broken into, so something spent all that effort getting through the first entrance.
There's no way they are going to stop because of a security door now, so they must have found another way in."
Xiaoyun put his axe back to the side, took out his flashlight, and attached it to his chest. Then he pulled out his gun and turned off the safety.
"You ready?"
Xiaoyun asked as he turned around to look towards Yueyue, who had already attached the flashlight as well.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Yueyue replied with her bat in hand.
The two slowly entered the dark house, walking together back to back to prevent someone from sneaking behind them.
Arriving past the backdoor hallway into the kitchen, they noticed the entire house was empty inside.
Not a single piece of furniture was inside. Not even a sink or a stovetop. It was barebone to the core.
"You scared?" Xiaoyun asked, noticing Yueyue's body was shaking a little.
"N-No... Why does the light switch not turn on?"
Yueyue quickly changed the topic out of embarrassment, her body slowly stopping shaking as they continued walking deeper inside.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Xiaoyun murmured, detaching his flashlight to his other hand to have a better look.
Suddenly, a child's screeching sound echoed in the mansion.
"What the fuck was that!" Yueyue yelled in shock as she almost dropped her bat from the surprise sound.
"Shit. Somebody is upstairs!"
The two of them quickly rushed upstairs as the sound of the child screaming in pain only got louder and louder.
As the two made it to the second floor, three rooms were in front of them.
Both of them could instantly tell the noise was coming from the middle room by the sheer loudness.
Just as Yueyue was about to open the door, Xiaoyun pulled her back. His mind realized this might have been bait.
"What are you pulling me back for?" Yueyue questioned as the noise grew even louder.
"I... Nevermind."
In the end, Xiaoyun lets her go, allowing her to reach for the door handle, which easily turns open as the door isn't locked.
"We're here to help you——"
Both Xiaoyun and Yueyue froze as neither of them could believe or choose to understand what was before their eyes.
It was a man chewing on some sort of flesh, with a boy tied to a chair, bleeding profusely as his left leg was missing.
"Who the hell are you guys——"
"Help!"
Before the man could finish talking, Xiaoyun knocked the man out with the butt of his axe. Meanwhile, Yueyue ran up to the little boy and started examining the wound.
"Xiaoyun, what should we do? This is way too much blood."
Yueyue was in full panic as the bandage from her backpack was to no use, with blood continuing to flow straight out onto the floor.
"Shit! There's no way Leyan can get here in time... Wait, maybe I can try this..."
Yueyue couldn't understand what Xiaoyun was trying to do as all he did was hold the boy by the hand. But she didn't hurry him.
"Hang in there. We are going to help you," Yueyue assures the boy, whose face looked to be in extreme pain.
"Thank you..."
As the boy loses consciousness, drops of tears begin to fall from Yueyue's face as she experiences someone dying before her for the first time.
"No, no, no, please just hold on. You're too young to die here. Please, just hold on for a second."
Just as Yueyue was about to lose faith, a glowing light suddenly appeared at where the boy's wound was.
After a few seconds, the light disappeared, revealing a fully grown leg on the boy's left ankle.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the left leg was a carbon copy of the right leg, with the ankles facing in the opposite direction.
"This should be good enough for now..." Xiaoyun murmured, letting go of the boy's hand as a headache began to pop up.
"Xiaoyun, how did you do this?" Yueyue asked, her face still looking a little shocked by what just happened.
"It's just a part of my power... This was my second time trying this on someone... You forgot Leyan this morning?"
Xiaoyun slowly sat down on the floor; sweat began to fall from his forehead as the headache worsened.
"Oh. You did that? I thought it was just Mom's makeup skill... No wonder why Mom looks so young today..."
As Yueyue double-checked to make sure the boy was fine, she finally turned around to check on Xiaoyun.
"Xiaoyun, are you okay?"
"I'm fine... Just give me a short second to rest."
After sitting on the floor for a few minutes, the headache was finally gone as Xiaoyun stood back up to examine the room.
"Yueyue, what do you think we should do with this person?" Xiaoyun asked as he gently lifted the unconscious boy from the floor.
"I think we shouldn't let him go. He clearly is insane... Why would someone eat someone else's flesh?"
Yueyue murmured the last part as she looked down at the pot of water, which still had a giant chunk of the boy's leg inside it.
"How about we just——"
Xiaoyun moved his hand over the neck, signaling that he was willing to unalive the man for his crime.
"W-wait, let's at least interrogate him and ask him why he did this."
Yueyue got a little scared by Xiaoyun's proposal, as she never expected him to suggest killing someone outright.
"Fine, maybe we can get some useful information that way..."
Xiaoyun gently puts the boy back up to the chair as Yueyue begins tying up the man with a pair of ropes from her backpack.
After everything was done, the two waited for a second as they discussed what to do next.
"How do we wake him up?" Xiaoyun questioned, his mind thinking of ways to wake the tied-up man.
"Maybe you should pour some cold water on him. I saw they do it in the movies," Yueyue suggested.
Xiaoyun instantly creates a bottle of ice water and pours it right over the man's face, which instantly works.
"Ah! What the fuck! So fucking cold!" The man yelled as he tried to cover his face with his hand, but he was already all tied up into a ball.
"Huh, I guess those movies aren't just full of lies..." Xiaoyun murmured as the two examined the man in silence.
"What the hell do you want? Have you two heard of our boss? You better let go of me before I call them."
Despite the threat, the two could notice the fear on the man's face. It was a clear bluff as Xiaoyun took a step closer.
"I actually never heard of your boss. Can you tell me where he is located? Also, I wouldn't yell if I were you."
The moment Xiaoyun raised his axe with the blade facing the side of his neck, the tied-up man instantly lowered his voice.
"Please don't kill me. I don't want to die." The tied-up man begged.
"Answer. The. Question. Where is your boss?"
Xiaoyun gently patted the man's neck with the back of the axe, giving him a cold touch of the steel.
"Okay, okay. I will answer the question. Our boss is at 312, on the right side of the Luoping community."
"Don't bullshit me. There are only 310 max in Luoping. Looks like someone here isn't being honest."
Xiaoyun started raising the axe on top of his neck as if he was planning to drop it right down guillotine style.
"Wait, wait. I remember now. It's 309, 309! Sir, please don't drop that axe."
The man finally seemed to fold, but Xiaoyun took the info with a grain of salt. He still didn't fully trust him.
"Does he have any weapon? How many people work for him?"
"T-The boss has a gun. H-He used to work in the triad. All of us were part of his gang when the zombie virus broke out.
We fled the city with all ten of us... Also, several other people are working as slaves for him. C-Can I go now?"
The man was starting to give out more and more answers that Xiaoyun didn't even ask as the axe rested right above his neck.
"Assuming you're telling the truth, I have one final question before you can go: What are you... eating that boy?"
Xiaoyun moved the axe away from his neck, almost as if he was really going to let him go free.
"I-I was sent here to scout ahead, as the boss wanted the whole community as his base... I just got a little hungry, so I... I'm sorry, I know this is wrong."
The man fell silent as if he was ashamed of his actions. But he still didn't say it out loud explicitly, as if he didn't want to admit it.
"You know, I was thinking of punishing you with death for that. But I'll give you one more chance. Tell me, what's happening to the city?"
"The city? It's a hellhole. Some zombies can do things we can't even imagine they can do. One time, there was even an invisible one that killed half of our gangs.
Even the boss doesn't want to go there, but there isn't enough food for everyone. Even gang members like us don't get enough ration."
The man noticed Xiaoyun raising his axe again, causing him to panic even more.
"I am sorry, I don't want to do this either, but I'm so hungry. Please! Don't kill me! I have elderly parents and young kids to take care of."
The man begged again, but Xiaoyun was no longer listening to his excuses as the tied-up man had lost its value.
"There's always a choice, and you picked the wrong one."
"Wait, wait, I thought I was free to go. You're scamming me, you bastard!" The man angrily yelled.
"Yeah, free to go to hell!"
Just as Xiaoyun was about to swing his axe down, Yueyue suddenly grabbed onto his arm, preventing him from killing the man.
"Wait!"
The tied-up man started to piss his pant as he almost passed out from the swing of the axe that landed less than a centimeter from his head.
"What's wrong?" Xiaoyun asked.
"I-I don't want you to kill someone. It's not our job to deliver justice... and the man already knows he is in the wrong.
He was just pushed to make a difficult choice... Can we just leave?" Yueyue pleaded, her eyes not wanting to see the man dead.
"I'm so sorry, but I will never do this again. Please, please spare me. I beg for your forgiveness."
The man yelled out, looking extremely thankful to Yueyue for giving him the chance to live.
"Yueyue... you are too soft."
Just as Xiaoyun raised his axe again, Yueyue stopped his arm once again.
"Brother PLEASE! I don't want to see you kill someone! Please... We don't have to add to another tragedy."
Yueyue suddenly started crying as she held onto Xiaoyun's arms, not letting him move at all.
"Fine. I won't kill him."
Xiaoyun attached his axe back to the side, heading over to the boy as he lifted him from the ground.
"Thank you, thank you." The man thanked the two as the two began heading towards the door.
"Wait, Yueyue, can you hold the boy for a second?"
"Sure."
As Yueyue held the boy in her arms and walked out of the room, Xiaoyun immediately turned around and pulled out his gun.
Within seconds, Xiaoyun aimed it and shot the man right in the head, not giving him any chance to survive.
The man's face was still in shock as blood dripped out of his forehead, but Yueyue didn't get to see it as Xiaoyun closed the door right away.
"Oops, my gun went off on accident. Good thing it didn't hit anybody." Xiaoyun stated out loud as they walked downstairs.
"Brother, you——"
"What? The man is still alive. I didn't kill him. You really think I will waste a bullet to that trash?"
Despite Xiaoyun's reassurance, Yueyue didn't trust it a single bit as it was just too big of a coincidence.
"Come on, let's go home now," Xiaoyun hurried Yueyue as they entered through the main entrance.
But Yueyue stood still at the doorway with the boy in her arms. Her eyes knew there was zero chance the man had lived.
"B-brother, you really didn't kill him?" Yueyue nervously asked as if she really wished it was true.
"Yeah, you can go check right now if you want. But the sun is already down, so we better go home now."
Yueyue had no choice but to take his word as her hands were still full with the boy in her arms.