“Lin Ye…”

  Just as Lin Tao and Bai Ru were lost in a passionate embrace, on the verge of breaking through the final barrier between them, an untimely voice interrupted. Cao Mei suddenly sat up from her sleeping bag, her eyes wide with surprise as she called out to him.

  “Cao Mei, you…”

  Both Lin Tao and Bai Ru turned to look at her, their faces flushed with embarrassment. Even though their every move had been within earshot of Cao Mei, they hadn’t deliberately tried to avoid her. It wasn’t that they didn’t care; rather, both of them wanted her to give up on whatever ambiguous feelings she had for Lin Tao as soon as possible.

  “Lin Ye, I swear I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I think there’s someone over there!” Cao Mei said apologetically, gncing at Lin Tao before pointing toward the gss curtain wall in front of them.

  “Someone?” Lin Tao’s brows furrowed as he followed her gaze. In the distance, within the hazy outline of a building, a small light flickered in a distinct, rhythmic pattern. Squinting, he realized it was the beam of a fshlight.

  “Honey, isn’t that the rest stop on the northbound side?” Bai Ru, her face still flushed, turned in Lin Tao’s arms. She, too, had noticed the fshing light and understood that Cao Mei wasn’t simply interrupting them on purpose.

  Hearing Bai Ru’s sudden change in how she addressed Lin Tao, Cao Mei’s expression turned pale. She bit her lower lip before turning back to Lin Tao and asking, “Lin Ye, do you think they’re trying to send us a signal?”

  “It looks like… Morse code.” Lin Tao’s frown deepened. He quickly wriggled out of his sleeping bag, grabbed a small pair of binocurs from his backpack, and adjusted the focus. After a few moments of careful observation, his expression turned serious. “S…O…S… They’re asking for help!”

  “There are really people over there?” Bai Ru, momentarily forgetting their previous intimacy, hurriedly pulled on her clothes. She grabbed Lin Tao’s as well, helping him dress as she asked anxiously.

  “Yes, and there’s more than one!” Lin Tao lowered the binocurs and nodded. The fshlight’s glow had illuminated multiple figures. Without hesitation, he retrieved his high-powered fshlight and started sending signals in response.

  “What are they saying?” Cao Mei, now dressed, subtly nudged Bai Ru aside and leaned in toward Lin Tao.

  “They’re not very skilled at Morse code, but from what I can make out, they’re survivors—eight of them—and they need rescue.” Lin Tao pondered for a moment, waiting as the light flickered again. Then, his expression turned grave. “One of them is… pregnant.”

  “What? A pregnant woman?” Both Bai Ru and Cao Mei turned to stare at the distant building in shock. In this post-apocalyptic world, pregnancy had become almost unheard of.

  Despite the strong reproductive nature of Chinese women, the survival camp where Cao Mei and the others had stayed saw barely any successful pregnancies. Most women relied on primitive methods to prevent conception, yet even then, only two or three cases had occurred over the past year—and none sted beyond the third month. Women like Cao Mei and Ah Xue had never conceived at all.

  “Honey, you’re thinking of rescuing them, aren’t you?” Bai Ru turned to Lin Tao, hesitation in her eyes. “But that pce is completely surrounded by the undead—at least a couple thousand of them. It’s too dangerous!”

  “No matter how dangerous, we have to try—especially for that pregnant woman. The child she carries represents the future of humanity.” Lin Tao’s brows knit together. As he turned his gaze back toward the survivors, he saw them waving something frantically. Raising his binocurs again, he spotted a rge white board with two lines scrawled on it: Help us. The pregnant woman is eight months along!

  “It’s not eight people—it’s that she’s eight months pregnant!” Lin Tao sighed in exasperation. It seemed the person trying to send Morse code had realized their skills were inadequate and opted for a more straightforward message.

  He continued watching as the message was quickly erased and repced with a new one: Too many undead outside. There’s an underground passage between the buildings.

  Another quick wipe, then a final message: Nine adults, one child. Trapped on the second floor, unable to get down!

  “Lin Ge, you’re not seriously considering this, are you? It’s suicide!” Zhang Xu had likely overheard the commotion. Clutching his makeshift spear, he rushed over, pointing at the distant building with a grim expression. “Even the undead know there are people there! That’s why they’re all swarming around. If you charge in, you’ll be throwing your life away!”

  “Maybe. But we have to try.” Lin Tao pocketed his binocurs and started gathering his gear. He gnced at Zhang Xu with a grin. “Are you coming with me?”

  “N-no way! I’m too young to die…”

  “Lin Ge, I must be crazy for agreeing to come with you. This pce is pitch bck—what if something jumps out at us?”

  Zhang Xu clutched a Type 81 rifle he’d borrowed from Hu Laoda, his face pale as he trailed behind Lin Tao. They were deep in the basement, searching for the underground passage mentioned by the survivors. The space was eerily vast, and even their hushed whispers echoed through the darkness. Scattered debris and piles of miscelneous items littered the area, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

  “I thought you were in the military? Is your courage really this pathetic? You’ve been whining the whole way—your words are more abundant than shit!” sneered Michael, the dog-like creature padding silently beside Lin Tao. Unlike Zhang Xu, Michael seemed completely unfazed, sniffing the air with a puzzled look. “Damn, the stench of death is thick here… but where are the undead?”

  “There—two corpses, not fully decayed yet.” Lin Tao’s fshlight illuminated a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner, where two bodies y huddled together. Judging by their uniforms, they had once been employees of the service station. The mess of discarded food wrappers and human waste around them suggested that they had likely starved to death.

  “No wonder. Dead bodies smell just as bad as the undead. At least there aren’t any flies here,” Michael grumbled, using a paw to fan the foul air away from his nose.

  “Phew! If there are corpses, that means no zombies. I was sweating bullets!” Zhang Xu wiped his forehead in relief.

  “Are you serious? We haven’t even seen a single undead, and you’re already this scared?” Michael rolled his eyes at Zhang Xu in disdain.

  “Well, you’re a demon dog, so of course you’re not scared. But the zombies go after humans first! Who knows if they even eat dogs?” Zhang Xu shot back, only to see Michael bare his fangs in response. Armed, he quickly retreated behind Lin Tao, eyeing the creature warily.

  Lin Tao scanned the area, his eyes settling on a pair of heavy iron doors to the left. He holstered his gun and approached, prying open the rusty padlock with his machete. The moment the doors creaked open, an overwhelming wave of rot and decay flooded out.

  Lin Tao adjusted his fshlight to high-beam mode, but even at full power, the light barely penetrated the thick fog ahead. The underground passage stretched far beyond their line of sight, shrouded in darkness.

  “Master, there are a lot of undead ahead!” Michael’s voice turned serious. He could smell them clearly.

  Before he could finish speaking, a male zombie—drawn by the light—emerged from the mist with a guttural snarl, lunging straight at them.