Dark Civilization Volume 1 Chapter 8

Book 1 Chapter 8: Swift Hunting!

A moment later, Ye Chen was done with the first corpse, flipping through its innards; he didn't discover any mutagenic flesh. With slightly furrowed brows, he abandoned searching it further and got up to work on dissecting the next corpse.

Ye Zhu stood at the side watching her brother without uttering a word. She felt that the familiar brother she knew from her memories becoming gradually estranged. Back then, this man had a gentle temperament; he would never get into a fight with anyone and had a soft spot for small animals. She recalled an incident that happened during their childhood where they found an injured cat on their way home from school. The incident saddened him for weeks to come.

But right now….

Be it killing zombies or dissecting them, Ye Chen seemed to maintain an unperturbed calm. It was like he had become a cold blooded killer, taking lives like it was nothing….

Had he really change?

A sense of confusion came over Ye Zhu. Although her brother's brutal actions against the zombies gave her a sense of estrangement, he still presented her with his usual gentle smile, just like he always did!

He hadn't changed after all!

Ye Zhu shook her head inwardly reprimanding herself, were such needless thoughts justified? Her brother had after all been hunting zombies all morning; the experience must have toughened his heart plenty, this much should be normal.

What she didn't know was the fact that Ye Chen's unperturbed calm wasn't a result of a morning's worth of zombie hunting; it was drilled into him through ten long years!

The experience in his previous life during the apocalypse encompa.s.sed many hards.h.i.+ps. There were times he despaired, felt lonesome, lost, sadness, anguish….

The many trials had made his will strong; therefore when he realized that he had been sent ten years into the past, he accepted it without fretting over the specifics. No matter what calamities he came upon, he would face them head on!

"Brother!" Ye Zhu called out, causing her brother to turn around to gaze at her in confusion. Gathering her courage, she stepped before him, with her head held low and her arms trembling, she stuttered: "T-the remaining cor-corpses, l-leave them to me!"

Ye Chen was momentarily startled, staring fixedly at the stubborn girl before him. Though she was visibly trembling, her voice carried unwavering conviction. Softening his gaze, he nodded saying: "Careful now, cover your hands with a plastic bag, don't let their blood touch your skin."

Ye Zhu nodded in response, covering both her hands in some black plastic bags, she walked over and squatted before a zombie corpse. Gazing at its grizzly fangs and bloodstained lips made her feel like it could pounce at any moment, taking a bite out of her!

Ye Zhu gulped nervously before carefully pus.h.i.+ng the watermelon knife onto the corpse's torso, attempting to slowly cut into its skin. However, the skin on the zombie corpse was far tougher that she imagined, like sc.r.a.ping against thick cowhide, refusing to be punctured.

Ye Chen who was beside her began giving hints, saying: "A zombie's skin has been strengthened immensely, making it far tougher than cowhide, you need to put your back into in and utilize a chopping motion to cut it open."

Ye Zhu nodded in understanding, taking in a deep breath, she lifted the watermelon knife. Closing her eyes, she vigorously chopped the knife down. After hearing a dull thud, she immediately opened her eyes to find that she had landed the knife atop the corpse's shoulder, cutting past the flesh and hitting the bone. It appears that closing her eyes sent the knife chop far off its intended target.

Ye Zhu despaired, in her heart she was muttering: "Please don't blame me, I truly didn't intend to cut you there…."

Straining her arms, she pulled out the knife attempting to chop out once more. Due to being squeamish towards the gory sight of its hacked opened innards, she involuntarily closed her eyes again.

Therefore….

The chop once again veered off course. This time, the knife landed upon the right side of the chest.

"Mutagenic flesh can only be found right around the heart." Ye Chen pointed out while remaining beside her.

Ye Zhu's cheeks began to redden; she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for this corpse. Gritting her teeth, she thought: "This time, I must strike true!" Raising the knife for another chop, she forced her eyes to remain open, making sure to perform an accurate strike.

Plorkk!

Finally, the chop landed upon the left side of the chest.

Ye Zhu heaved a sigh of relief, wiping the perspiration from her forehead, inwardly cheering at this small triumph.

This pitiful Mr. Zombie, even just lying there, it wasn't safe. Not only was it dissected, it even took two additional chops for no apparent reason.

With its skin finally perforated, Ye Zhu began to work on slicing open the underlying muscle. Upon uncovering its innards, Ye Zhu began to feel her scalp go numb as this was her first time touching something so revoltingly gory. As she reached for the heart, her skin began to crawl. Locating mutagenic flesh meant searching carefully around the blackened heart. As she took hold of it, she felt its smooth, squishy texture, not too dissimilar to the feel of a soft-boiled egg. The sense of revulsion immediately prompted her into a fit of vomiting.

Beside her, Ye Chen speedily dissected the third corpse. After briefly rummaging through its innards, he didn't find any mutagenic flesh. Sighing softly, he turned to face his younger sister. Gazing upon her pale yet delicate face, he couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her, saying: "Just leave this one to me."

Ye Zhu stubbornly shook her head saying: "I'll be fine."

She forcefully suppressed her revulsion towards the internal organs and quickly began to search them thoroughly. Suddenly, in a tight corner behind the heart, she found it, a fingertip sized piece of mutagenic flesh. Her eyes immediately lit up with glee, cheerfully declaring: "I found some!"

"You did?"

Ye Chen couldn't help but feel flabbergasted.

It should be noted that mutagenic flesh was quite uncommon; experience had taught him that only an average of one out of ten zombies possessed mutagenic flesh. Both the zombies he dissected came up empty. He already had it in his mind that this hunt was a fruitless endeavor; he sure didn't expect his little sister to find a piece!

"Brother, what about your end, did you find any?" Ye Zhu excitedly sprung up and turned to face her brother. Upon seeing him empty handed, she felt puzzled.

Ye Chen gave a dry cough, saying: "These two zombies were of too low a grade, they didn't have any mutagenic flesh."

"Truly?" Ye Zhu eyed him suspiciously.

Ye Chen boastfully declared: "But of course!"

Afterwards, it was decided that Ye Zhu should be in charge of holding onto the mutagenic flesh, they would hold off on consuming it until they returned. Ye Chen inspected the room's door, estimating it to be st.u.r.dy enough for another round; he called over his sister to convey his plans, saying: "Later, I'll go out and attract some zombies over, you stay here and brace yourself."

Ye Zhu nodded her head before pleading: "Be careful, don't go attracting too many!"

Ye Chen chuckled in response before leaving the room to approach the fourth room down the corridor. After confirming that the door was locked, he gave it a knock.

A while later, there was still no response.

Ye Chen speculated that it was probably an empty room and moved on, approaching the fifth room. This room's door seems to be ajar. Without taking his time, Ye Chen brutally kicked the door open and swept his gaze across the room's interior. What caught his eye were the two zombies wandering in the living room, one male and the other female, the thing was----

They were both stark naked….

Ye Chen's expression was the same as usual, upon witnessing the zombie couple staring back at him; he shot them a dirty look before he spun around to flee.

In an instant, he dove back into the second room. Ye Zhu was still busy dragging the corpses into a corner of the room.

Ye Chen immediately went to work on jamming the door with the sofas, leaving only a narrow gap. A few short seconds later, the zombie couple had caught up and began pounding on the door.

Following his usual method, he speedily took care of the zombie couple. However, it would seem that this room was no longer usable as the door's hinges came loose.

As for dissecting the new corpses, Ye Zhu was already on the case. Yet what made Ye Chen ashamed to the point of wanting to hide his face was the fact that his little sister seemed to be far luckier than him, finding a fingertip sized piece of mutagenic flesh among the two corpses. It made him feel like puking blood when she started grumbling while holding the piece of mutagenic flesh. With an unimpressed demeanor, she lamented: "What a pity that the other corpse didn't have any, sigh!"

Ye Chen felt like crying a river, the two zombies he dissected both came up empty, how could this be!!

Later….

Ye Chen and his sister both moved into the fifth room to designate it as their new kill zone. Ye Chen would attract zombies from other rooms and obstruct them using the door; he would repeat this method until the door was worn out before switching to another room, repeating the process….

Three hours pa.s.sed.

It was now 4:30 in the afternoon, the setting sun shone its rays through the windows into the corridor, the sky was beginning to darken.

The 17th floor, room number thirty.

Rrrargh! Grrargh!

Four zombies were madly slamming themselves into the door. Ye Chen was standing right behind it, with the watermelon knife at the ready, he'd cut off the limbs of any zombie that got near.

Suddenly----

Crack!

The door suddenly started to collapse!

The four zombies with their bloodthirsty maws wide open began to lunge right at Ye Chen!

"Brother----" behind him, Ye Zhu cried in alarm.

Ye Chen maintained his calm, among the four zombies, three of them already had their claws hacked off leaving their jaws as their only weapon. They weren't much of a threat anymore.

Ye Chen positioned his feet, with a twist of his body, he unleashed a spin kick. The force of a spin kick was fifty percent stronger than a straight kick, adding to the fact that his current strength was more or less similar to that of a zombie; it resulted in an explosive burst of force. This one kick sent the first clawless zombie flying, slamming into the two zombies right behind it.

Rrrargh!

The zombie with intact claws rushed forward das.h.i.+ng past Ye Chen and headed straight for his sister. With a savage lunge, it pounced straight at the girl.

Ye Zhu's face instantly paled, her hand holding the watermelon knife was trembling nonstop. Her eyes were clouded with helplessness as she retreated desperately.

"SCRAM!"

A voice carrying unbridled fury resounded from behind the zombie. All of a sudden, Ye Chen had already caught up with the zombie. Gripping his empty hand into a fist; he slammed it into the side of the zombie's face. The ma.s.sive impact rocked the zombie, forcing it tumbling to the ground. Ye Chen was furious, beneath his handsome features boiled seething killing intent, with his frigid glare focused upon the zombie, he stepped forth towards it, arms rippling with bulging veins.