21 Zombie Trial Card 21

Zombie Experience Card 21

Until a little girl tied him up with a rope and dragged him forward, disheveled and covered in dirt, Xiao Wang still couldn't understand how things had come to this.

He was a lone wolf.

As the name suggests, he usually scavenged for supplies alone.

After all, finding a good convoy wasn’t easy.

For someone like him, with no special skills or background, joining a reliable convoy wasn’t something that could be done casually.

The convoys that accepted newcomers easily often had extremely high mortality rates, and he didn’t fancy those either.

The result of being picky was that he ended up working solo.

At least if one person eats enough, the whole family won’t starve, and he didn’t have to endure unexplained grievances. His movements were especially flexible, and it was hard for troublemakers to find him.

Apart from not being able to defeat strong monsters alone, it wasn’t all bad.

Being cautious, avoiding wandering around, especially hiding well at night and not making unnecessary noise, greatly increased the chances of survival.

However, recently, in the safe zone of City C where he was, the clearly low-risk areas nearby had been thoroughly scavenged by survivors, and useful supplies were becoming scarce.

Not wanting to starve, Xiao Wang decided to explore farther afield.

To improve his survival odds, Xiao Wang inquired widely and even hitched rides on several ordinary convoys gathering supplies.

After traveling like this for several days, he arrived near the safe zone of City S.

According to his original plan, Xiao Wang intended to rest in City S’s safe zone and see if he could exchange the supplies he had found for food and water.

But something was off in City S. Rumor had it that various factions inside were fighting fiercely, and a chaotic battle was underway.

Not only were many people fleeing the safe zone, but entering the city had also become extremely difficult.

From the people escaping City S’s safe zone, Xiao Wang heard a slew of confusing rumors.

Something about Boss Mou wanting to monopolize some unknown benefit;

About Boss Mou’s faction suffering heavy losses and multiple enemies taking the opportunity to strike;

About Boss Mou being betrayed by a new lover, who secretly conspired with several enemies, presenting a lush green prairie to Boss Mou;

About Boss Mou, pushed to desperate ends, dragging more people down with him, causing other faction leaders to get involved, and a chaotic history of betrayals among the leaders emerging, and so on.

The safe zone in City S was a tangled mess.

Xiao Wang listened, stunned, and thought the world truly held all kinds of strange things.

He also marveled at the stark differences between safe zones.

For example, City C’s safe zone didn’t have so many chaotic bosses. Apart from the management, there were numerous distinct convoys.

All the gossip he heard offered Xiao Wang no practical help.

Trading with those who fled from City S’s safe zone yielded very limited food and water.

Xiao Wang felt very hungry.

Hungry, he joined an ordinary convoy that had fled City C, preparing to move toward the next safe zone.

He roughly knew the convoy’s route.

But due to severe damage, blockages, or special conditions around City S’s safe zone, the convoy’s route deviated.

Xiao Wang didn’t know the details and couldn’t explain.

In any case, they were lucky on this stretch; Xiao Wang even found some canned food, though he had no time to eat.

Then they encountered danger. Unable to fight, everyone had to flee wildly, losing their vehicles.

After that...

After that, things turned into what they were now.

Before noticing something amiss, Xiao Wang and four other companions had all been violently thrown out.

Before flying out, all they saw was a blur of white.

Xiao Wang didn’t know what happened to the others, but he had been semi-starving and exhausted from running, and after being suddenly thrown, he had almost no strength left to resist.

As he flew through the air, he thought perhaps this was where he would die.

But things didn’t go as he imagined.

He wasn’t eaten by a suddenly appearing monster until nothing was left.

Instead, a little girl appeared beside him out of nowhere.

In the apocalypse, one of the “most burdensome” yet “most precious” things in the world was undoubtedly children.

Children…

Children and the elderly were the groups most likely to perish from the zombie virus.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, infected children turned into zombies most unexpectedly.

When people realized the situation and began to flee, children and the elderly became synonymous with burdens.

Those unruly children, making loud noises, also attracted zombies.

Of course, there were obedient children, and parents and responsible, loving adults unwilling to give them up.

They instinctively risked their lives to protect the children.

Once human safe zones were established and things stabilized, many children had already died.

How children and the elderly were treated varied among safe zones due to differences in management philosophy.

When survival became so hard, young survivors naturally found it difficult to bring new life into the world.

No matter how survivors wished, the fact was that in this apocalypse, children and the elderly made up only a small portion of the surviving population.

Even within safe zones, children as young as Nai Nai were rare, let alone outside safe zones.

So when Xiao Wang saw Nai Nai appear silently, he was a bit stunned.

What confused him more was that Nai Nai showed no hint of fear, just staring at him with her large, clear black-and-white eyes.

After a moment, Nai Nai produced a rope from her arms.

Xiao Wang didn’t even notice how she pulled it out.

Then she tied him up with the rope.

The other four companions, who hadn’t gotten lost and were also unable to move, were tied up as well.

While they were being tied, a bunch of furry little rabbits appeared.

Xiao Wang hadn’t reacted when he first saw Nai Nai, but seeing these rabbits, he suddenly realized something.

Didn’t the little girl and these rabbits look a bit too clean?

Was this really possible in a world where water was scarce and precious to humans?

This doubt flickered through Xiao Wang’s mind only briefly.

Then he was dragged up.

The other four companions shared the same fate.

Being dragged was naturally no comfortable experience.

At first, Xiao Wang was bewildered by his predicament, but after being dragged for some time, his attention shifted.

Despite being dragged so long, he hadn’t seen any zombies nearby.

Not a single zombie; it was eerily quiet—no other dangers either.

The number of cockleburs increased.

Wait… these rabbits carried cockleburs on their backs? Was it due to mutation?

Perhaps because he was too weak, Xiao Wang’s thoughts wandered increasingly.

These chaotic thoughts continued until a man appeared.

He was handsome, dressed neatly, but with a section of climbing ivy entwined around him.

Before the apocalypse, a man like this was nothing unusual—at most, the ivy wrapping might seem odd.

But in the current situation, it was plainly abnormal.

Xiao Wang, already very weak, tried to make sense of it.

Before he could figure anything out, a kindly-faced, smiling middle-aged woman appeared from behind the man, carrying a basin.

Her cheerful eyes did not rest on Xiao Wang but fell on the rabbits following along.

Instantly, her eyes lit up.

“Oh dear, I knew that as long as I followed this gentleman, I would find the bunnies~”

She finished speaking and looked at the man, Tian Yi, with a pleading expression.

Tian Yi glanced at the suddenly alert and wary rabbits, their ears standing upright, and almost laughed.

The middle-aged woman holding the basin was Zhao Su’s mother.

Zhao’s mother was in poor health and mostly resting.

But since she had recovered enough to get up and understood how much Tian Yi valued her, she immediately rolled up her sleeves and got busy.

She wasn’t busy with anything else.

She was cooking for the bunnies.

Of course, Zhao’s mother loved raising animals.

Before the apocalypse, she kept many animals at her old home.

Cats, dogs, big white geese were just some of them.

She raised each of them to be plump and healthy.

The big white goose, the village’s local tyrant, could chase pigs for two streets.

After the apocalypse, many animals mutated.

Their temperaments changed somewhat, making them much harder to care for.

Originally, Zhao’s mother had a big white goose with enhanced combat abilities due to mutation.

Unfortunately, the goose got lost during a battle.

Zhao’s mother wanted to use her animal-raising skills, full of love, but was limited everywhere.

Of course, this was also largely due to the extreme scarcity of food and clean water.

Now, at Tian Yi’s place, Zhao’s mother not only received regular food and water but also “wild game” caught by the bunnies themselves and “ingredients” defeated south of the southern mountain.

Along with these were so many adorable rabbits, which, under Tian Yi’s instructions, wouldn’t attack on their own!

Zhao’s mother felt her whole being ignite.

Her mood was so good that she smiled even in her sleep.

Whenever she saw the hopping rabbits, she would start calling out from afar.

Every time she called, she held a basin bigger than her face.

The basin contained food specially prepared for the bunnies.

She didn’t understand scientific feeding or animal feed.

She only knew they had to eat well.

Wild vegetables from the fields, “wild game” running around on the mountains—all good things.

Plus, the rare, clear, sweet water Tian Yi provided in this apocalypse, fought over by many.

These good things, after Zhao’s mother’s preparation, became treats for the bunnies.

The bunnies: “…”

They didn’t mind eating more to gain nutrition and grow.

But they really felt they had eaten enough!

There’s a kind of hunger called “grandma thinks you’re hungry.”

So, after Tian Yi nodded, Zhao’s mother smiled widely and walked toward the bunnies, speaking as she went.

“My dear little ones, you must be so tired today, right? Look at the delicious food Grandma made for you! Hahahahaha…”

Clearly, Zhao’s mother could no longer suppress her joyful laughter.

The bunnies: “…”

Even the toughest muscle bunny showed a troubled expression and involuntarily took a step back when Zhao’s mother approached with the basin.

For Xiao Wang, this scene was more absurd than seeing Tian Yi, who clearly didn’t belong among the mutated flora and fauna.

It was so absurd his mind couldn’t process it.

Amid this atmosphere, a sudden voice rang out.

“…Are these rabbits tasty?”