Damn it!
That was the first thought that flashed through my mind.
On the tree where Wang Jun was, there were still the two kids—Tingyun and Rongrong.
Because that tree was easier to climb, Jun Di and Xu Shu had also taken the children up there.
The reason for Rongrong's breakdown last time is still unclear.
I asked Bruno what the examination results showed back in Section 2, but he always dodged the question.
When pressed, he would just make up something obviously perfunctory.
But since he didn't want to say more and he was willing to let Rongrong stay with us, that means the situation definitely isn't the worst it could be.
Even so, with all these walkers surrounding us, I couldn't guarantee Rongrong wouldn't be frightened into losing control again.
And more importantly…
We have an even bigger hidden danger — Zhao Qiuting.
Realizing this, I kicked the walker in front of me to the ground, and while Yangyang rushed forward to finish it, I shouted in the direction of Wang Jun's tree:
"Find a way to calm the kid! Uncle Gazi! Cover Rongrong's eyes! Who is with Zhao Qiuting?! Cover her eyes too! Hurry!!"
The second my words fell, Yangyang—who had just gone up to stab another walker—was suddenly tackled to the ground by a large female walker.
That thing must've been starving; it was frenzied. Its whole heavy, rotting body pinned Yangyang down.
The decaying face lowered toward his, its mouth gaping as it let out low, hungry growls.
Yangyang was holding its chin up with both hands, desperately keeping those clacking, wet teeth from closing in on his face.
I honestly wondered if it would shatter its own teeth from how hard they were clacking.
In just a few seconds, Yangyang was clearly on the verge of losing his grip.
I hacked down the walker blocking my path and ran over.
I don't know where I found the strength, but I grabbed that female walker's half-rotten clothing and hauled her entire body off Yangyang.
"Go to hell!!"
With a roar to force more strength into my arms, I threw her hard onto the ground.
Yangyang had just started to get up when the walker, relentless like a giant centipede, dragged itself through the mud, growling and lunging at him again.
Teeth clenched, I yanked Yangyang up and stomped down on the walker's head.
But maybe the ground was too muddy — the impact wasn't strong enough.
Even with all my force, she was still moving, only some more rotten flesh torn off.
I raised my foot for another stomp, but by then more walkers had already rushed in from behind.
Someone grabbed my arm sharply, pulling me back — and in that instant, a silver throwing knife buried itself directly into the advancing walker's skull.
Suo Tian surged forward.
He kicked two more walkers to the ground, yanked his throwing knife back out, and immediately drove it into another walker's head.
No hesitation. No wasted motion.
Every strike was clean and fatal.
Taking advantage of the momentary space, I checked Yangyang quickly, hands moving fast:
"You okay?!"
"I'm fine."
Yangyang wiped the smeared blood off his face and shook his head.
Seeing how steady he was, I couldn't help feeling proud.
I nodded at him and tightened my grip on the dagger:
"Stay sharp! This fight isn't over yet!"
"Got it!"
Just as he answered, Suo Tian stepped back to our side.
He glanced at me—just a short, meaningful look—and said, low and steady:
"Stay safe."
Then he turned and moved out again, rejoining the front line.
Wang Jun's kid was still crying nonstop, and more and more walkers were being drawn over by the sound.
Before long, there were at least twenty of them gathered under their tree.
I didn't know if it was because our movement was limited or something else, but it felt like these walkers were endless—one after another, almost without pause.
Yangyang and I, who had been full of energy at first, were gradually running out of strength.
When I tried to kick away another walker, my weakened leg didn't have enough power and I almost fell.
Yangyang saw this and rushed forward with a shout, stabbing his knife straight into the walker's skull.
Before the walker even collapsed, he pushed its body back, knocking down two more behind it.
I managed to steady myself and hurried over to help—each of us taking one—finishing both with quick stabs to their heads.
I had no idea how much time passed during the slaughter.
All I knew was that every muscle in my body felt like it was on fire.
Only when the surrounding area finally cleared up a bit did I notice that the walkers had shifted their focus entirely to the crying child—clawing at the tree so fiercely they were peeling its bark right off.
Up in the branches, Tingyun and Rongrong were held tightly by Uncle Gazi, their eyes covered.
The two of them were frightened, but having been through so much already, they huddled quietly instead of crying.
But things were worse on the other tree.
Chen Pu and Xiao Hu were up there with Zhou Wen, who was watching Dr. Yang.
They weren't as high up, and earlier Xiao Hu had cried for a moment from the shock—drawing several walkers under them.
I didn't know if Zhou Wen had scared him or what, but Xiao Hu was now staring at me with trembling lips, looking so pitiful I almost felt my heart twist.
The moment we cleared the space, Suo Tian and the others immediately shifted formation and charged toward the group of walkers around the children's tree.
There were around twenty walkers—roughly the same number as our group.
By the final stage, even those who had climbed the trees without children came down to help, and before long, everything was taken care of.
Wang Jun jumped down first, swearing, and yelled at Lili on the other tree to hurry down and nurse the baby.
As Uncle Gazi and the others brought the kids down, we took the chance to calm the three little ones as best we could.
Then Suo Tian led the black-clad men to scout the area, checking for any remaining walkers or more approaching.
While they did that, we hurried to retrieve our packs from the ground.
Clearly, there would be no sleep tonight.
Lili took the child back from Wang Jun and tried to breastfeed to quiet him, but it didn't work.
The baby kept wailing, mouth wide open, refusing to eat; even when he sucked for a second, the milk spilled back out because he was crying too hard.
That finally made Wang Jun panic.
He paced in circles twice and rushed to Bruno:
"Doctor, please take a look—what's wrong with him? Is he hurt? Is something wrong?!"
Seeing him so desperate and humble, I couldn't help but find him both hateful and pitiful.
No matter what kind of person he is, a father's love for his child is real.
After thinking for a bit, I asked Bruno:
"Could he just be frightened?"
Bruno glanced at me, then said to Wang Jun:
"I would need equipment to check before I could say for certain. But based on what we've seen before, the child seems fine. He's likely just worked up. You don't need to worry too much."
Wang Jun still wasn't at ease.
He kept asking the same question over and over, and only after getting more or less the same answer each time did he reluctantly go back to Lili's side, frowning as he stared at the child.
Suo Tian and his men quickly finished clearing the area.
We all thought we would be setting out again soon, but instead, he ordered the black-clad men to pile up the walkers' corpses—and said we would stay here for the night.
Everyone was confused.
People began voicing concerns, worried that we might run into another horde if we stayed.
Suo Tian shook his head and replied, "No. Large groups of walkers naturally gather together. Since we've already dealt with this group, it means there aren't any big hordes nearby."
After hearing that, everyone finally felt a little relieved.
So we all helped drag the twisted, scattered bodies into one place.
It didn't take long before we had piled up a small hill of corpses.
About an hour later, everyone lay down again.
Wang Jun's child had finally cried himself to sleep.
After everything earlier, I was completely exhausted.
The moment I lay down, my thoughts blurred, and within minutes I sank into deep sleep.
Somewhere in my dreams I seemed to faintly hear Song Meijing's voice, but it felt distant and unreal.
I couldn't tell whether it was part of the dream or reality.
That lasted until I suddenly heard Suo Tian's calm voice—my mind jolted awake, and I opened my eyes slightly.
The sky was still dark.
Suo Tian sat by the fire, poking at it with a stick as always.
Song Meijing was sitting beside him, speaking to him in a low voice.
He kept his head lowered, occasionally lifting it to look at her, sometimes murmuring a quiet reply.
I quietly watched the two of them like that for a while.
Suddenly, a whisper came from beside me: "Someone's trying to steal your man."
The unexpected voice startled me.
I turned and saw Han Xue awake, also staring in the same direction.
It took a moment for her words to register.
I gave a small, stiff smile and replied quietly:
"She's probably had that idea for a long time."
Hearing that, Han Xue glanced at me and asked, "So back then, the way she treated you… was it because of Suo Tian?"
"Maybe." I sighed and pulled my gaze away.
Even though I knew nothing was going to happen between them, seeing them sitting there together so naturally still left a heavy feeling in my chest.
Especially when I saw Song Meijing say something that made Suo Tian actually press his lips into a smile—that just made it worse.
Han Xue seemed to understand something from the look on my face.
She didn't say anything more.
She patted my shoulder lightly, then turned to soothe Rongrong, who had started mumbling in her sleep.
I thought I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again—but before long, I drifted off.
The next time I opened my eyes, daylight had already broken.
— The end of the Chapter–