Chapter 50: I Gave Her the Mother’s Day Gift
Perhaps this was the true speed of a zombie that had broken through human limits. In just a moment, she was out of sight.
However, this wasn’t a problem. The app Eddie gave me could confirm the location of my companions. As long as Li Nai had her phone, I wouldn’t lose her.
After leaving the station and entering the city, I was met with a scene that looked like purgatory.
This wasn’t the bloody fight I’d seen in movies. although there was blood everywhere, the meaning was completely different.
There was only eating and being eaten. They had no intention of fighting whatsoever; they just wanted to stuff themselves full.
Seeing a corpse, they swarmed like jackals, devouring it together. They didn’t even leave the bones, gnawing everything clean before looking for another target.
Ghouls, a race that could never be full.
I was stunned by this primitive struggle, but I still braced myself and walked forward. My phone indicated that Li Nai was at the very end of this street.
She must have been surrounded by ghouls when she passed through here.
The ghouls noticed us but didn’t attack. They just stared intently, their mouths watering incessantly, as if cursing us to die quickly so they could have a feast—
A zombie, its entire body engulfed in flames,
shambled towards us. One arm was missing, and the left side of its head had been bitten off, but it still desperately staggered towards us, pointing behind itself with one finger and speaking with great effort.
“Ah… that—”
“Hey! Zombie Uncle!”
Even in this state, he was still thinking of saving Li Nai?
But before he could reach us, he was overwhelmed by the ghoul pack, which attacked like rabid dogs. This wasn’t a fight at all—
“Ghoul!”
I clenched my fists, gritting my teeth, wanting to command them to stop immediately. But Xuan’er held my hand and squeezed it.
“Wait, Juncheng. If you command the ghouls, I will also be affected. Your spiritual power is too strong right now, and it will hinder my actions. Moreover, provoking them here will only waste time.”
“…”
I truly couldn’t bear to just watch these beasts continue to eat like this!
Xueqing tugged at my sleeve and said.
“I’ll… kill them, okay?”
I hesitated. It didn’t feel right to let Xueqing go alone.
After I calmed down, I realized Xuan’er was right.
Although these ghouls hadn’t actively attacked us, if we provoked them, they might not just stand there and take it.
If they counter-attacked, the three of us would be trapped here.
“Even so,
I’m really angry this time. If we just incapacitate them, it would be too easy for them. To experience the feeling of eating before they die would be the greatest forgiveness for them.”
“Eh?”
“Since you dare to do such things, don’t blame me for—”
I saw that Xuan’er’s expression had completely vanished. Her rage had reached its limit, and her overflowing killing intent carried something else.
She was stopping me not because she was concerned about the current situation, but because she wanted to act herself!
Xuan’er lowered her head and slowly walked forward, holding my hand. I was being pulled along by her, so I quickly grabbed Xueqing with my other hand.
Thus, holding Xuan’er in one hand and Xueqing in the other, we strolled down the burning street.
But then I heard her suddenly say something.
I had thought Xuan’er was suppressing her anger and just wanted to pass through here quickly.
“Gluttony Hair.”
Immediately after, I saw Xuan’er’s waist-length hair, like a black waterfall, moving as if in a wind.
Then, they intertwined, becoming denser and leaving no gaps. The originally uniform ends of her black hair split into three strands, and the ends wove together, becoming sharp.
Even more astonishing changes were yet to come. A mouth appeared on the back of Xuan’er’s head! The protruding teeth looked like a hairband from my angle, but in reality, that mouth wasn’t just for show. It was as if her hair had been parasitized by some creature, and it even let out low growls.
What is that?
“Then, I’m going to start eating.”
Saying this at a time like this, a phrase that should have been used to thank food, only made people shudder. It was as if she were saying, “I’m going to feast!”
The hair-blades pierced the surrounding ghouls and sent them into the mouth of the hair.
The serrated teeth instantly crunched a ghoul to pieces, and the dismembered body parts completely disappeared into that mouth.
Xuan’er, with a blank expression, just kept walking forward. Her hair naturally swept away everything in its path. The ghouls scattered in all directions,
but in the end, they couldn’t escape the entangling hair. Their hearts were pierced and sent into her mouth.
Not a single thing classified as a “corpse” was left behind.
Not only the ghouls, but even the severed limbs and broken arms left behind by the ghouls were also—
Nothing was spared; everything was sent into her mouth.
Yet, that mouth showed no signs of being burdened, continuously eating, and even seeming a little unsatisfied.
It was like a bottomless pit, never full no matter how much it ate, always craving food.
This was the “Ghoul,” who had lived for countless years, standing at the top of the food chain.
“Don’t let go of my hand and Xue’er’s hand, Juncheng. If you let go, ‘Gluttony Hair’ will consider you food too.”
“Uh, I know.”
Only the small circle around us was safe.
As we moved forward, we encountered no further obstacles. All the creatures we met along the way disappeared, all of them, of course, sent into her mouth.
Although Xuan’er’s hair didn’t get a single drop of blood on it, the mouth on her hair ate very cleanly. However, I felt that she was even more terrifying now than when she was covered in blood and eating corpses in a pool of gore.
As more and more corpses were consumed, Xuan’er’s eyes turned redder and redder. For some reason, I had a feeling that if I let her keep eating like this, it wouldn’t end well, but I couldn’t find any reason to stop her.
In fact, I also felt a sense of satisfaction watching these ghouls being eaten by Xuan’er.
But what was this unease?
“Juncheng?”
“Hey? Ah, I’m fine. Let me see, Li Nai is just ahead. We’re almost there!”
Let’s hurry up.
Thanks to Xuan’er, we safely crossed the street and reached the vicinity of the only tall building around.
Before even entering the building, I saw a mother and daughter embracing on the sports field from a distance.
It was Li Nai and Aunt Qing!
Although they were both injured, their injuries didn’t seem serious. There was a circle of undead surrounding them, protecting them with their bodies and blocking the approaching ghouls.
However, the situation was not optimistic. The ghouls surrounding them were clearly different from the previous pack of rabid dogs.
Each of them was in human form, about the size of elementary school students, and looked not at all intimidating. But this was proof of their strength, just like Xuan’er.
“Haha! Blood Corpse King! You have nowhere to run! Just let us eat your ‘essence meat’!”
“And the little girl beside you looks delicious too.”
“Not looks, she *is* delicious! I took a bite just now, and the taste was amazing.”
Blood Corpse King? I remembered Skeleton King mentioning that it was the lord of the inner city, so that meant—
I narrowed my eyes, searching for this title, and found it above Li Nai’s mother’s head.
[Blood Corpse King (Awakened)]
[An Qian]
Huh? The name An Qian… I think I’ve heard it. This… I shouldn’t not know this name.
She wasn’t wearing that strange roadblock this time, so I could see not only her title but also her face.
There wasn’t a single photo of her at home. For some reason, Dad had burned all her pictures. Yet, during the Qingming Festival and New Year’s Day, he still missed her the most.
I had always been curious about what she looked like and searched everywhere at home. Finally, I found one photo. Although Dad had thrown away most of them, he couldn’t bring himself to throw them all away in the end.
It was a “memento” photo from the hospital bed, holding the newborn me and Xinran, smiling happily.
She looked exactly the same, really, not a bit different. Ah, it’s because she had already died, so she was still in the state she was in when she gave birth to me and Xinran.
Why would this happen?
“Xueqing, Xuan—We’re breaking through.”
“Mhm.”
“No problem!”
We charged into the chaotic sports field. Xuan’er’s hair attacked the ghouls, but this time it wasn’t an instant kill. It only managed to push them back, clearing a path.
“First.”
“Ghoul, stop moving!”
“Zombie and undead, make way!”
I crossed the ghoul encirclement, then the horde of corpses, and finally arrived in front of the two of them.
“Why did you come over here! Yi-ya!”
Without a word, I gave her a light rap on the head.
“Do you think I came here for no reason! You idiot zombie!”
Then I looked at Aunt Qing.
“Oh, um, Juncheng, ah, why did you come here? No, I mean, look, I wasn’t prepared… No, I’m—”
Aunt Qing panicked when she saw me suddenly appear, looking around frantically, probably searching for her roadblock.
So, she did know who I was.
Well, what should I say now?
Would calling her “Mom” directly be too sudden? Besides, I wasn’t psychologically prepared either—
Ah, that’s right, that thing.
I took out the object I had tucked into my chest.
“It’s a bit early, but I’ll give you this gift first.”
“This is?”
“Ah, that!”
“Idiot, you left it with me.”
I scratched my cheek and handed her the gift-wrapped box.
“This is a Mother’s Day gift that Li Nai and I picked out together. Happy Mother’s Day.”
“Yes, Mom! Happy Mother’s Day!”
There, that should be fine.
“Ah, hey, don’t—”
“Um, after everything is over, can we take a photo together as a memento?”
“Of course, that’s always been my dream.”
“Mhm, that’s my dream too.”
I turned around to face the ghouls, a smile involuntarily spreading across my face.
“Well then, let’s settle things here first!”
It seems coming here wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
