QT: LAC Chapter 118: Eighth World (1)

ARC 8: End of the World; Approaching Fate

Chapter 118: Eighth World (1)
Translated by Zombie Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Sulo

The head of a zombie was smashed by a stick. Bai Duan quickly got into the second-hand car he bought at a low price, threw his luggage into the back seat and started the car. Some people upstairs saw this scene and shouted loudly that Bai Duan could have saved them and waited for them, but they didn’t even get a glance from Bai Duan.

He frowned slightly as he looked cautiously at the zombies, who were attracted by the shouting. He quickly found a path with less zombies and stepped on the accelerator. The cry for help at the back turned into angry curses, which were soon left behind by the car and gradually blurred. Bai Duan nervously turned the steering wheel until he left the narrow residential area and drove onto the broad main road, which made him a little relieved.

There weren’t many zombies on the main road, but it did not mean he was unimpeded. Bai Duan had to maneuver his car through all kinds of vehicles stuck on the road. It looked like a huge serial traffic accident — of course, the actual situation was similar. Some car doors were wide open, so the owner must have abandoned the car to escape; some cars had zombies inside, they were like caged wild animals.

Bai Duan looked at the blocked and seemingly endless main road, and confirmed that his small car wouldn’t be able to pass through. He sighed and dragged his big backpack and got out of the car — anyway, his small car was not strong, and because he had bumped into several zombies on the way, the front of the car had caved in. Even if there was no ‘big traffic jam’, the car would not last for long.

With his backpack on his shoulder, Bai Duan picked up the iron bar. Bai Duan stepped onto the roof of the car flexibly, jumped from one car to another, and occasionally swept zombies who were reached out to attack him away with the iron bar.

Occasionally, he would hear someone asking for help from the car, but still there would be no use in helping. Bai Duan was never a compassionate person. He didn’t want to help save the world. He just wanted to protect himself. Bai Duan really had no ability to help those who could only cry for help from others, but dare not take the first step to help themselves.

After running about ten kilometers like this, Bai Duan felt that his physical strength could not keep up with him. He soon locked onto a brand-name car that had its door open and looked very strong. He easily slid in and locked the door.

Leaning on the leather seat, Bai Duan breathed a long sigh of relief, took out the food and water in his backpack and ate it. At the same time, he turned on his mobile phone, clicked on the map he downloaded before, and confirmed the direction of his next move — even if he was using it carefully, the power of a mobile phone still couldn’t last forever. He needed to imprint the map in his brain as much as possible before the phone’s battery was exhausted.

This was the third day of the apocalypse.

Bai Duan was an orphan. Although he had no parents to take care of him, he was beautiful and lovely, with a smart and sensible personality, so he didn’t have a bad life in the orphanage.

However, due to the fact that he was too sensible and independent, the staff of the orphanage were very reassured of him. They didn’t pay much attention to him. Most of their energy was given to the children who were sweet mouthed or often made trouble.

Bai Duan had no complaints about that, and even enjoyed that kind of independent life within a certain range. Even if a family was willing to adopt him because of his beautiful appearance, Bai Duan would refuse without hesitation.

Because he couldn’t play with other children in the orphanage, apart from going to school every day, Bai Duan worked in a pet shop not far from the orphanage — of course, because he was not 18 years old and still underaged to peform labor, the owner always told the guests that Bai Duan was his nephew.

Although the monthly salary was not much, Bai Duan was not a spendthrift either. The money was enough to make him better off than other orphans. Moreover, Bai Duan liked working in the pet shop very much.

Growing up in an orphanage, Bai Duan didn’t have any close family or friends, so his sense of belonging to human society was very weak. Compared to people with complex thoughts and desires, he prefered to get along with simple animals, and he was more popular with the pets in the pet shop than even the owner.

No matter how mischievous, or fearful and irascible a pet was, it would calm down in the comfort of Bai Duan, so that other employees could better bathe, groom and examine it — which was also why the shopkeeper risked employing a child, and also wanted Bai Duan to stay and help. As long as Bai Duan was there, the pets were extremely obedient, which greatly improved his work efficiency.

In this way, Bai Duan worked as a student until he graduated from high school and reached the age of eighteen.

It was hard for orphanages to afford the cost of going to university. Although the government had set up a special financial aid, Bai Duan didn’t have a big obsession with going to university. After graduating from high school, he found a job as a cleaner in a zoo, which was self-sufficient enough.

By virtue of his inborn affinity for animals, Bai Duan was very comfortable in this job. He could easily become one with the animals. Even beasts like tigers and lions would quickly accept this strange ‘intruder’.

Due to his hard work and high efficiency, although he only had a high school degree, Bai Duan’s salary was not low, and he was quite satisfied with such a life. He rented an apartment with one bedroom and one living room, located near the zoo, and bought a second-hand car, which was very relaxing for him.

However, the situation was unpredictable. Bai Duan, who was always in good health, suddenly had a high fever for no reason at all. He asked for two days of sick leave, but he didn’t expect that when his fever died down, he would find the whole world had changed.

The scene outside the window was no longer one of prosperity, but one full of horror and danger like the end of the world had come. Some humans became cannibal monsters, walking in the streets, hunting their former counterparts that appeared in front of them— these monsters were called zombies by the survivors.

In addition to the sudden appearance of zombies, Bai Duan’s own body had also changed, becoming something slightly different from ordinary people.

For Bai Duan, such a change was beneficial. His body seemed to have strengthened, he became more agile and healthy, and more importantly, he had gained the ‘esper power’ of manipulating plants.

Of course, even with the emergence of esper powers, it was still very weak and was hard to use when fighting zombies, but Bai Duan was not in a hurry. In addition to taking some time out every day to learn how to use his esper powers, he had enough strength to protect himself in the face of zombies.

On the first day after the fever subsided, Bai Duan tried to leave the house, tentatively killed zombies with his own weapons, and quickly found their weakness — the head.

The next day, with combat experience, Bai Duan went to the only small supermarket in the residential area — thank goodness, the supermarket was just opposite to the building where Bai Duan lived. It was not far away, and there were not many people who visit it on weekdays.

In the supermarket, Bai Duan packed his big backpack to the brim. If he ate judiciously, it would be enough for him to last for about ten days — he couldn’t get more food, or it would affect his mobility.

On the third day, Bai Duan left his apartment with his luggage and weapons. He was more willing to choose a better place to help himself and actively seek protection, most people would prefer to hide at home and hope for government assistance — of course, such an action was based on the confidence in his own strength.

The first target of Bai Duan was the military camp in the southern suburb of the city.

There were defense facilities, troops and sufficient ammunition firepower there. If there was no big accident, it should be able to protect the survivors. If the military camp had the ability to organize search and rescue teams, the closer it was to the south, the more likely he was to encounter the search and rescue teams, which meant he had a higher chance of being rescued than sitting here and waiting for death.

Of course, if an accident did happen and the military camp was unable to protect the survivors, the decision to move to the suburbs should not be wrong. After all, the population density there was smaller than that in the urban area, and the probability of encountering a large number of zombies was lower. If Bai Duan’s judgment was correct, most zombies should also be attracted by food, and would gradually move to the urban area.

From Bai Duan’s rental apartment to the southern suburb military camp, normally it would be a three or four hours’ drive, but now the roads were blocked and zombies were running rampant, so it took him more than a week to arrive at the southern area of the city.

The journey was not peaceful. Although Bai Duan had been careful enough, he still encountered all kinds of troubles. His enemies were not only zombies, but also human beings themselves.

In this dangerous era, good and evil would be magnified to the extreme. Bai Duan had seen lovers or relatives pushing each other into the mouths of zombies for their own lives, people fighting for survival supplies, and some people forcing themselves onto beautiful girls who were unable to fight back… Of course, in addition to these evil deeds, Bai Duan also saw some infatuated people who sacrificed themselves to protect their lovers, some brave and loving parents who gave up on their chance of escape for their children, and the support and unity of people.

Bai Duan drifted away from human society and watched the scenes of joys and sorrows. He had saved people, had conflicts with people and even killed people. But from the beginning to the end, he was alone and did not accept anyone as his companion.

When he got to the Southern District, Bai Duan’s only partner was a golden snub-nosed monkey who escaped from the zoo.

Golden snub-nosed monkeys were a national first-class protected animal and a key care object for zoos. They were delicate and vivacious, and their tempers were quite arrogant and willful. They often quarrelled with the breeders and played tricks with them, that was until the arrival of Bai Duan.

Seeing that he was very popular with the golden snub-nosed monkeys, Bai Duan was tasked with their care completely later on, and they got along very well.

After the start of the apocalypse, Bai Duan often thought about the animals in the zoo, but he didn’t have the ability to save them. He didn’t know the situation in the zoo. But once, when he was surrounded by a group of zombies, a thermo cup fell from above and hit the head of a zombie who was going to attack him from behind.

After some time, Bai Duan took a look at the direction where the thermos cup fell from. Bai Duan was extremely surprised to see a familiar golden snub-nosed monkey on the branch and he raised his front paw. The monkey shouted as if he was very excited about his ‘great achievements’ — later, this one golden snub-nosed monkey became Bai Duan’s only companion.

Bai Duan didn’t know how the golden snub-nosed monkey escaped from the zoo, but it seemed to have gone through some degree of mutation as well. It was not only smarter and more human-like, but also had a lot of strength. It could easily hold something heavier than itself up, and could easily roll and jump in the air, which helped Bai Duan a lot.

One man and one monkey cooperated with each other and protected each other. Finally, they arrived near the southern suburb military camp safely, and saw a team of dark green military vehicles coming slowly towards them from afar.

The car in front rolled its window down, out stuck the head of a person, who cautiously scanned Bai Duan up and down, “Are you a survivor?”

“Hmn, yes,” Bai Duan nodded and comforted the alerted golden snub-nosed monkey on his shoulder, then he showed his first smile ever since the beginning of the apocalypse. “It took me nearly a week to come here. I want to seek protection from the military, is that okay?”

The author had something to say:
==========This world’s GuanGuan (seme) will come out a bit later, at least not in the first chapter like before. Don’t worry.