Chapter 1 Rural Villa

In many areas of the Jiangzhe countryside, the layout of houses consists of an old single-story dwelling on one side and a two-story or higher building on the other. The older generation usually lives in the single-story house, while the next generation and younger generations live in the multi-story building.

Once the elderly pass away, the single-story house is either kept as a storage room or torn down and rebuilt as a new single-story structure to be used as a kitchen or something similar.

Stepping out of this single-story house, Zhou Ze saw a three-story villa with a large courtyard in front of the entrance and a self-built fishpond further out.

Surrounded by farmland, it was a common sight in the countryside, but from another perspective, it was a genuine rural villa.

Old Man Cui emerged from the tunnel under his mud house, presumably arriving here. But now the question was, after leaving this single-story house, where did Old Man Cui go?

Under the cover of the night, if Old Man Cui hid with his daughter in some corner of the fields, it would be very difficult for Zhou Ze to find him.

People inside the multi-story building were still awake. It was late at night, but the sounds of drinking and laughter could still be heard.

Zhou Ze walked to the courtyard in front of the building, lit a cigarette. Tonight's events made him feel somewhat annoyed. Perhaps, for the current Boss Zhou, the most pleasant thing was to sit in the Late Night Bookstore and wait for willing customers to come.

It was like the small cards slipped under hotel room doors; the person who comes when you call is definitely not as pretty as in the picture, but at least you can guarantee immediate service.

If you go out and search place by place yourself, without a membership card or being a regular customer, they might not even bother with you, telling you that their services are absolutely legitimate, as pure as a delicate white lotus.

But just as Zhou Ze was smoking,

his nose twitched suddenly.

It wasn't that Boss Zhou's nose had evolved into a dog's nose, but his past identity made him extremely sensitive to a certain smell,

the smell of disinfectant!

At this moment, the smell of disinfectant was actually coming from this house, which made Zhou Ze turn around to face the building, drop his cigarette, and step on it with his shoe. Zhou Ze walked to the side room door, used his fingernail to open the lock, pushed the door open, and walked inside.

The first floor should be the kitchen and living room. The side room where Zhou Ze was, also had a large corn-drying ground.

Only in the countryside could housing space be used so luxuriously.

Walking to the corner of the living room, there were stairs leading to the second floor.

The sounds of laughter came from the second floor, and Zhou Ze slowly walked up, the smell of disinfectant becoming increasingly strong.

"Why hasn't Lao San arrived yet? Didn't we agree to drink and watch the game together tonight?"

"Who knows about him? Maybe some widow invited him to fix her toilet again, hahaha."

"Lao San is just too enthusiastic. He'll do anything you ask him to do, so silly."

"Don't be surprised. Let me tell you, Lao San is shrewd to the bone. Who knows how many young wives' doors he's felt up."

In the living room, three men were sitting there, watching TV and drinking, with dishes like pig's head meat and peanuts on the small table. The atmosphere was very lively.

"Yes! It's in! Hahaha, it really went in!"

"Damn it!"

"I told you not to bet on Saudi Arabia to win, but you insisted. Saudi Arabia is the weakest team in Asia, and Russia is the weakest team in Europe. Although they are both weak, there's still a big difference. If you let the national team play against Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia would only have a 60-40 chance of winning."

"Didn't the national team beat Saudi Arabia in the last Asian Cup?"

"That's right, in the last Asian Cup, Wang Dalei saved a penalty kick first, and then Yu Hai's free kick changed direction and went in. It seems like we won one to zero."

"I just thought the odds were high and wanted to take a chance on an upset?"

"Guys, Shunzi, keep your voices down. Your sister-in-law and the kids are still sleeping inside."

"It's fine. We're just watching a game at night, what can women say? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

The three men were shirtless, watching the game and bragging. Zhou Ze walked up the stairs, didn't enter the living room, but turned and walked towards the rooms on the other side.

Because Zhou Ze smelled an even stranger smell,

the same smell that made Zhou Ze, with his past profession, very sensitive,

the smell of blood.

Zhou Ze pushed open the bedroom door. Haha, to be honest, it really felt like those descriptions in a rural erotic novel about sneaking into a neighbor's house late at night to steal a kiss.

It's just that Boss Zhou didn't have any such thoughts at this moment, because the stench of blood was becoming increasingly strong.

The room was dark, and the furnishings were simple, a large bed, wardrobes, and other things. The space was very spacious.

Zhou Ze stopped as soon as he stepped inside.

Under his feet, he seemed to have stepped on something, something sticky.

Reaching out and groping on the wall next to the door for a while, Zhou Ze found the light switch.

"Snap!"

With a crisp sound, Zhou Ze turned on the light.

A pool of blood, trickled down from the bed, slowly spreading out, and Zhou Ze's shoe, just happened to step on the slowly flowing blood.

On the bed were presumably a mother and child. Their bodies were twisted in death, their deaths extremely tragic, as if they had been gnawed by wild beasts, and in a way that carried a strong sense of revenge.

Zhou Ze walked over and checked. He wasn't a policeman and couldn't do forensic work. He just wanted to confirm what exactly was responsible,

was it a person,

or?

After observing the wounds, Zhou Ze discovered that the mother and child on the bed had been bitten to death, and in an extremely rapid manner.

The most ridiculous thing was,

the woman's husband and the child's father,

were currently in the living room, drinking and watching the game with their two friends, completely unaware of the tragedy that had occurred in the bedroom.

"I'm going to the toilet. Damn it, Saudi Arabia made me lose money."

One of the men went directly to the bathroom on the second floor.

"Bro, did you bet on four to zero?"

"Yeah, four to zero."

"Still one goal short."

"Don't worry, it's possible. Saudi Arabia has already collapsed and lost confidence."

As the match was nearing its end, Russia scored another goal, making the score four to zero.

"Yes! Yes!"

The homeowner roared with clenched fists.

Seeing that this guy had won, the guy next to him felt a little uncomfortable. He had also bet on the game, but he had already lost. All he could do was helplessly say:

"Why hasn't Shunzi come back from the toilet? I'll go check on him, in case he's thinking of killing himself in the toilet."

In the living room, only the homeowner was left. He was happily drinking and eating peanuts, feeling extremely cheerful.

He had won money in the World Cup opening match, which was enough to prove that he was having a lucky streak recently.

On this side, Zhou Ze continued to check the situation in the bedroom. Now, he could confirm that this should be the work of a zombie, but the habits of this zombie felt somewhat unfamiliar to him.

Completely different from Bai Yingying and himself, this zombie had a very strong subjectivity, including using the walking corpses to lure himself and Xu Qinglang out, which, from another perspective, really helped Old Man Cui to "deceive the heavens and cross the sea."

Afterward, the house's female owner and child died tragically under the zombie's fangs, which also seemed to foreshadow something.

Why were there so many troubles in Xu Qinglang's hometown?

Zhou Ze shook his head with some impatience.

Covering the deceased on the bed with a blanket, turning off the light, Zhou Ze hid himself in the darkness. He could sense that that thing, like himself, was also hiding in some corner of the house.

Killing only two people shouldn't be satisfying, right?

There were still three men in this house, with the strongest blood energy. Come on, I'm waiting for you.

Using people as bait wasn't something Zhou Ze hadn't done before. He did it with a little girl before, and something unexpected happened, but that wouldn't affect Zhou Ze's choice to do it again.

If he rashly took action, reminding the people here, and letting the guy hiding in the darkness escape, who knew where it would run to? He didn't have so much time to play hide-and-seek with it.

Time,

slowly passed.

Suddenly, Zhou Ze heard movement from the bathroom in the distance. Everything happened in an instant, but Zhou Ze sensed it. He immediately bypassed the living room area and rushed towards the direction of the bathroom from the side.

The bathroom door was open, and it was a squat toilet layout, without a toilet.

When Zhou Ze arrived, he happened to see a black shadow darting out from the front. When Zhou Ze passed the bathroom door, he saw two male corpses lying crossed in the squatting position. Their stomachs had been torn open, and their intestines had been pulled out.

So fast,

it was really fast,

this speed,

made Zhou Ze somewhat incredulous. Compared to the walking corpses he had dealt with before, this original body was not even in the same league.

Zhou Ze was the fisherman, but the fish swallowed the bait extremely quickly and ran away before he could even reel in the line.

…………

The homeowner didn't know that strangers had entered his house,

and the ones who entered,

were two zombies.

He was still drinking, comfortably waiting for the game to end. There was only one minute left, so good, so good.

But just at this moment,

Russian player Golovin took a free kick over the wall and straight into the top corner, the Saudi goalkeeper couldn't reach it, and the score was changed to "five to zero"!

"Damn it!"

In anger, the homeowner directly swept the plate of peanuts in front of him onto the ground.

The money he was about to win had flown away,

and at the very last moment when the referee was about to blow the whistle,

he felt really depressed.

"Damn it, you two, are you dying in the toilet!"

The homeowner cursed when he saw that his two friends hadn't returned from the toilet.

He put his feet up on the coffee table, lit a cigarette, feeling really annoyed, very, very annoyed.

Before the cigarette was even lit,

suddenly,

the homeowner heard a sound under the coffee table,

like something was eating.

"Damn it, what is it!"

The man took his feet down,

looked down,

something was eating,

when the man leaned his head down,

he saw a woman with a hunched back wearing a shroud, burying her head eating the peanuts and pig's head meat that he had just pushed off the table.

The woman paused,

turned her head,

and looked over.

It was a terrifying face,

her hair was gray,

her lips were covered in blood, and her eyes were glowing with a dark red light, but she had a natural curve to her mouth, like she did in her black and white photos.

She was smiling,

she liked to smile,

she was smiling in every photo,

so after she died, when her son chose her portrait to enlarge, he found that all the photos were of her smiling, and in the end he had to bite the bullet and choose one.

The homeowner saw this scene,

and shuddered in fright,

his mouth opened,

and after a long time, he only uttered one word:

"Mom…………"