Chapter 66: Armed in the Rainy Night p2
Lin Xiwan ripped off a piece of the bumper and climbed into the truck bed.
Looking at the charred remains, listening to the rain drumming on the metal roof, she used the bumper as a shovel, digging through the ashes.
Beneath the surface layer, she saw some recognizable colors.
In the light from the men moving the truck, she could see that it had been filled with crates of canned food, stacked inside wooden boxes.
Perhaps the ones in the center hadn’t been burned.
Lin Xiwan dug more vigorously.
Soon, the corner of an intact box appeared.
Yes!
Although charred on the outside, it hadn’t been burned through. The contents should be fine.
Lin Xiwan’s eyes lit up. Careful not to damage the box, she removed the charred cans and charcoal around it and lifted it out.
“Crack—”
She broke the seal on the charred box. Her expression turned slightly odd.
Inside weren’t cans of food, but bottles of wine.
Packed in sawdust, surprisingly well-preserved, only a few broken.
She rummaged through the remaining debris, but there was nothing else salvageable.
A beam of flashlight shone on her.
She straightened up and looked towards the light. “Brother Gou?”
“We cleared a path on the other side. How about here?” Wang Dongfeng asked, looking at the box in her hands.
He raised an eyebrow.
A case of wine?
Not very useful for two young women, although it was technically clean water.
They couldn’t survive on wine alone.
“Impressive, Team Leader Lin, you found a case of wine.” Wang Dongfeng grinned and took out a bottle. “Sell it to me? Twenty cans of food, six bottles of water, and a travel bag.”
Lin Xiwan was slightly taken aback.
Not because the offer was too low, but because it was too… normal.
There were about eleven or twelve intact bottles in the box.
Back at the camp, this could be traded for much more. To those who wanted it, a single bottle could fetch 5g of blood crystals.
But this wasn’t the camp. Wang Dongfeng could have simply taken the wine without offering anything, and she wouldn’t have been able to complain.
He had saved them from the horde; if it weren’t for him, they would still be running for their lives.
“Silence means consent.” Wang Dongfeng chuckled, shaking the bottle, and then turned to leave.
Raising the bottle in one hand and holding the megaphone in the other, he shouted, “Brothers, we found a case of wine! We’ll rest at the entrance of Yutian Town tonight! Drinks for everyone!”
“Woohoo—”
“Ohhhh!”
Cheers erupted from the military base camp members, lifting their spirits after the harrowing escape.
This is what a true leader is like, Lin Xiwan thought, understanding why an ordinary person like him could lead an entire camp.
His easygoing nature and the decisiveness he’d shown earlier, prioritizing the others’ safety over his own son’s, weren’t qualities most people possessed.
Lin Xiwan carried the box of wine towards the jeep.
Reaching it, she found the trunk was already open. She placed the wine inside and climbed in, closing the trunk door behind her.
“Thump—”
Wang Dongfeng got into the passenger seat, comforted his two daughters, who had fallen asleep shortly after his return, and then closed the door.
“Driving at night is too dangerous. We’ll rest at the highway exit about 2km ahead. You can spend the night in the car. We’ll part ways tomorrow morning.” Wang Dongfeng explained their plans as he started the jeep.
Lin Xiwan’s route was to turn right, pass through Yutian Town, and head towards Xin City. Wang Dongfeng’s convoy was going left towards Fuzhou City.
“It’s fine. I’ll take my sister to find a house in the town for the night,” Lin Xiwan declined his offer.
Knowing he was a good person and feeling comfortable staying with the convoy were two different things.
“Suit yourself,” Wang Dongfeng said casually. “Pick your favorite flavors.” He then started driving.
2km wasn’t far. Soon, the convoy stopped at a highway exit.
Left was the main road; right was the road through Yutian Town, towards Xin City.
The jeep slowly came to a stop, the other vehicles ahead turning off their engines.
Lin Xiwan and Lin Jiayao had already chosen a bag of canned food and water, packed in a travel backpack.
“The trunk is open,” Wang Dongfeng whispered, his two daughters asleep in the front.
“Mm, take care, Brother Gou,” Lin Xiwan nodded, put the backpack on her chest, and then, lifting her sister onto her back, kicked open the trunk door with her foot.
Lin Jiayao, clinging to her sister’s back, clutched the rifle tightly.
After getting out, Lin Xiwan carefully closed the trunk door.
Then, carrying her sister, she walked into the dark highway exit ramp.
Wang Dongfeng took out a pack of cigarettes, placed one in his mouth, but didn’t light it.
His daughters were asleep.
He watched the two sisters disappear into the darkness and sighed deeply.
Seeing these two strong girls reminded him of his own daughters.
He only hoped that before he died, he could provide them with a safe environment… at least, within his control.
This was his unspoken motivation, the reason he kept striving.
After a moment of silence, Wang Dongfeng opened the car door, took out a few bottles of wine from the trunk, and, using the megaphone, assigned night watch duty and set a drinking limit.
Meanwhile, Lin Jiayao, on her sister’s back, looked at the familiar highway, slightly dazed.
She had been here before, controlling Mask.
She even recognized the bushes where Mask had crawled and the power lines the “Spider-Man” Awakened had used.
This was also where she had first encountered the Voodoo Cult. She even remembered where the other two unsalvaged backpacks were.
Scanning the roadside, her eyes lit up, and she tapped her sister’s neck.
“Sister, look, backpacks over there!” Lin Jiayao remembered taking only the leader’s backpack; she hadn’t thoroughly searched the others.
Perhaps there were other valuables inside.
“Backpacks?” Lin Xiwan looked in the direction her sister was pointing and saw three bodies lying there.
Two of them still had backpacks, open but seemingly full.
After confirming there were no zombies nearby, Lin Xiwan walked towards the bodies.
“Hold on tight,” she told her sister before reaching the bodies and carefully kneeling down.
She couldn’t squat with Lin Jiayao on her back.
Supporting Lin Jiayao’s bottom with her left hand, she searched the bodies with her right.
Nothing… nothing… nothing…
Empty pockets, only damp masks in the backpacks, and even an expired condom.
The bodies were as clean as if they had already been looted.
Then, she saw the “V” shaped tattoos on their swollen faces.
“Voodoo Cult?!” Lin Xiwan exclaimed, then lowered her voice. “So they were killed by the Voodoo Cult…”
But why were the Voodoo Cult members also dead here?
“What’s wrong, Sister?” Lin Jiayao asked curiously.
“I figured it out!” Lin Xiwan smiled excitedly. “Yao, I know what happened!”
“Huh? What happened?” Lin Jiayao blinked, confused.
She even touched her sister’s forehead; it was cold from the rain, but she didn’t have a fever.
“I figured out what happened here,” Lin Xiwan said, ignoring the rain, a triumphant grin on her face. “The overturned truck, the massacred convoy, the dead Voodoo Cult members, it all makes sense now.”
“Huh?” Lin Jiayao was confused, momentarily worried that her actions as Mask had been discovered.
“The truck and the convoy encountered the Voodoo Cult on the road and were attacked. And then!” Lin Xiwan rubbed her hands excitedly. “Remember the person from Survivor’s Light who saved you?”
“They must have killed the Voodoo Cult members! That’s why they were so far from Donghai City! They were chasing the Voodoo Cult! It all connects!”
Lin Jiayao stared at her sister, speechless.
She… she actually figured it out?
Impressive.
“I think so too,” Lin Jiayao said, nodding sagely.
Just as she was about to praise her sister’s cleverness, Lin Xiwan let out a surprised “Eh?”
“What is it?” Lin Jiayao asked.
“Car keys?!” Lin Xiwan pulled off a Voodoo Cult member’s belt; a set of car keys with a remote was attached.
“Their car might be parked in the town! Yao! We can look for it!”
Lin Xiwan’s voice was filled with excitement, and her enthusiasm was contagious.
Lin Jiayao had briefly looked for the Voodoo Cult’s vehicle when she’d passed through the town as Mask, but had quickly given up.
But with the remote, they might actually find it!
“Let’s find a house in the town to rest for the night first,” Lin Xiwan said, running towards the town. “You’ve been out in the rain for too long; your body can’t handle it.”
Only then did Lin Jiayao realize how exhausted she felt.
Perhaps because of her increased mental strength, she wasn’t sleepy or dizzy, but her body was reaching its limit.
Fortunately, the town wasn’t far. Lin Xiwan burst into a small villa with a courtyard.
“Roar—”
A Biter by the door lunged at her, but Lin Xiwan was ready.
She swung the belt she’d taken from the Voodoo Cult member.
With precise control of her strength, the belt looped around the Biter’s neck.
She yanked it tight, then kicked the zombie’s head.
With a “crack,” the Biter’s neck snapped, and it collapsed at her feet.
Five years in the apocalypse had made her adept at dealing with ordinary zombies.
Lin Jiayao didn’t fire her rifle; the gunshot would attract more zombies.
Lin Xiwan closed the villa’s door, searched the house, and, finding no other zombies, carried her sister upstairs.
The first floor was flooded; they couldn’t stay there.
If the rain didn’t intensify, the water level shouldn’t rise further, and they should be able to drive any car they found.
Lin Xiwan carried her sister to the master bedroom on the second floor. The room was covered in dust, seemingly unoccupied for a long time.
She took off the travel backpack, opened it, placed the canned food and water on the dusty, bloodstained nightstand, spread the empty backpack on the bed, and carefully placed her sister on it.
“Wait here, I’ll see if there’s anything useful.”
After checking the wardrobe and under the bed for zombies, Lin Xiwan started searching the ensuite bathroom.
Luckily, she found a package of new towels.
She took one out, held it out the window to soak it in the rain, and then wrung it out.
Her gaze fell on the leather sofa in the living room.
The owners of this villa must have been wealthy. The sofa hadn’t rotted, just covered in dust.
She kicked it to scare away any cockroaches, dragged it out, and wiped off the dust with the wet towel.
Cleaning a leather sofa was easy. Soon, it was clean enough to use for the night.
Then, she took another towel, soaked it in the rain, wrung it out, and went to her sister.
Placing the rifle on the bed, she lifted Lin Jiayao and placed her on the clean sofa.
“You’re so cold… you’ve been in the rain too long,” Lin Xiwan said, helping her sister undress.
Her sister didn’t reply, her eyes drooping sleepily.
She first wiped the rain from Lin Jiayao’s body and then started drying her hair.
As she gently towel-dried her hair, she realized her sister had fallen asleep, leaning against her shoulder.
After wringing out her sister’s clothes, Lin Xiwan hung them up to dry. She then dried herself and her hair, hanging up her own wet clothes as well.
Satisfied, she took off her shoes, wrung out her socks, and climbed onto the sofa, holding her sister’s slightly cold body from behind, sharing her warmth.
“Goodnight, Yao,” she whispered, closing her eyes and falling asleep amidst the storm.
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