"Dadada!!!"
It's the sound of the engine revving.
The surroundings are shaking violently.
Baiyin opened his eyes, and what he saw was the round moon in the sky.
Looking around, he noticed several traps nearby, as well as a dead wild boar.
He found himself lying behind a tricycle.
"Woof woof!!!"
When Blackie saw Baiyin wake up, it wagged its tail happily and licked his face.
Showing great joy.
Struggling, Baiyin sat up.
Then, looking ahead, he saw a thin man in short sleeves driving the vehicle.
"Oh, you're awake!"
The man's voice was thin and pleasant.
Looking in the rearview mirror, Baiyin could barely make out that the man was wearing glasses, but couldn't see his face clearly.
"Luckily you have a dog, or else I wouldn't have planned to save you!"
Looking around, Baiyin found the tricycle was driving on a dark highway.
"Is this Hei Jiang City?" he asked.
"Where else would it be?"
The man chuckled:
"Sorry, I checked your bag while you were unconscious. After all, I didn't want to meet any bad guys. From what I saw in your bag, you're a traveler?"
"Probably!"
"Someone who still carries a bag full of food in this day and age is definitely not simple, at least not the kind of scum who would rob me."
"Why?"
"Because I'm poor!"
Confidently, he continued:
"Where did you get this dog from?"
"Found it."
"Having the leisure to raise a dog means you're not a bad person."
"Not necessarily."
"I'm very good at judging people!"
The man's face showed a confident smile, then he introduced himself:
"By the way, I'm Anze, but don't judge me by my appearance, I'm actually a doctor!"
"Where are we going?"
"My home, a small clinic! What's wrong with your leg?"
"I was scratched by an iron rod when crossing the river."
"We'll need to administer some tetanus medicine. When we get home, I'll give you a shot!"
"Thank you."
"It's just a small effort. By the way, are you allergic to that medicine?"
"No."
"That's good!"
With that, the car had already stopped in front of a small clinic.
With Anze's assistance, Baiyin got out of the car.
Then he was led into the hall.
"Click!"
Anze turned on the lights in the room, surprising Baiyin:
"Do you still have electricity here?"
"You're thinking too much!"
Anze chuckled, and Baiyin finally saw his appearance.
He was a delicate man in his thirties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, giving the impression of someone with extensive knowledge.
"I made my own private generator, but I found it too noisy, so I put it in someone else's basement."
"Is this place just you living here?"
Apart from me and my daughter, there's no one else!"
He said, went out and buried the little wild boar from the tricycle.
When he came in, his small figure carried a wild boar half his size, making it a bit difficult to walk.
"Bang!!!"
Finally, he threw the wild boar into the kitchen.
Then, he came out panting, took a glass of water from the water dispenser, and gulped it down.
Then he went to the door and locked it from the inside.
"Why didn't I see your daughter?" Baiyin asked.
"She's sick, resting quietly in her room."
"I didn't see many zombies when we entered the city. Where did they all go?"
"Hei Jiang City had a big epidemic a year ago. Didn't you see the news?"
"I vaguely remember!"
Baiyin recalled a major event from a year ago.
It seemed that there was indeed a county that had a strange epidemic a year ago.
Then the government organized workers to take all the local people to nearby newly built hospitals for treatment.
It was quite a big project.
"Did you not leave at that time?"
"My daughter and I were delayed by some things. When we finally wanted to leave, the zombies broke out. Isn't that a coincidence?"
"In other words, now there are only the two of you in the entire county?"
"Not exactly. Occasionally, some wandering zombies come in from outside. It's been a year now, and I estimate... there may be a few hundred of them. But it's not a big problem! I set up some iron mesh traps around the perimeter. The only way to get here is along this road."
As he spoke, the tetanus medicine was ready.
Anze came over and asked, "How about it? Do you trust me?"
Baiyin lifted his arm and murmured, "If you wanted to harm me, you would have done so from the beginning!"
"That's not necessarily true."
Anze withdrew the needle, saying, "Who knows, maybe I wanted to lure you back before making a move?"
"In that case, just to be safe, you should have drugged me from the moment you saw me. Like with anesthesia?"
"Haha, true!"
After removing the needle, he went straight to the kitchen.
"You're lucky. You arrived just in time for a good catch. Even I haven't eaten fresh meat in days!"
He was busy in the kitchen, and the sound of chopping meat could be heard from inside.
"Do you need any help?"
"Forget it, you better get your leg healed first."
"Do you usually rely on hunting for a living?"
"Not really. I mainly go to other places to steal some... well... how should I put it? Modern industrial food. Like instant noodles. As for hunting, it's purely to occasionally improve our lives. After all, the city is surrounded by mountains on all sides, it would be a waste not to make use of it, right? Oh, let me tell you, a few days ago I caught a rare animal, the kind that could get me in trouble. But in the end, I let it go!"
"Are you afraid of going to jail?"
"Thinking too much. Mainly, that thing didn't have much meat. Despite my appearance, I still have a sense of protecting endangered wildlife. After all, I'm a father, I need to set an example for my daughter. Although now... I don't know if it even matters anymore."
The two of them chatted on and on like this. Baiyin could tell that Anze liked to chat with people. Perhaps there were no suitable people to talk to in this place. Of course, Baiyin was not Anze's age mate. But compared to his daughter, he was undoubtedly a more understanding conversational partner.
"May I ask, how old is your daughter?"
"She just turned ten last month. Her name is Yaya!"
"Well... what about her mother..."
"She died in childbirth, it's been ten years."
"I'm sorry!"
"It's nothing to be sorry about, it's been ten years already. I've gotten used to it."
"Last year's epidemic... are you two okay?"
"Nonsense, if something happened, we would have died long ago. Otherwise, what do you think it would be?"
"——"
"Gurgle..."
It was the sound of meat boiling. After a while, it was time for dinner
.
At the dining table, there was rice and a large pot of stewed pork in the middle.
But Anze only set two sets of cutlery, not his daughter Yaya's.