Chapter 19: The Mystery of Silent Village

"Ahem, Brother Fan, what on earth is going on with that doctor?" Yu Li asked, half-closing his eyes. His face was rather pale; after all, he had lost a significant amount of blood, and the fact that he was still conscious was a testament to his robust physique.

Zhang Xiaofan replied, "That fellow was a mutated zombie. I don't know much about the situation yet, so I plan to search this room. You should get some rest first."

Yu Li nodded and tightened his grip on the pistol by his side.

When Zhang Xiaofan stepped out, he glanced at the bottle of saline from earlier, unhooked it, and poured a small amount out. A hiss sounded as white smoke rose from the ground.

Zhang Xiaofan's pupils constricted. "Sure enough, there's something wrong with this saline. If that guy had given this to Yu Li, Yu Li would be dead by now."

Overcome with a lingering sense of fear, Zhang Xiaofan walked out of the room and went straight across the hall to a bedroom. It was somewhat messy, but judging by the clothes, it belonged to the doctor.

A desk was placed by the window, piled high with books. Zhang Xiaofan glanced over them, seeing volumes on human anatomy, psychiatry, psychology, and many other specialized subjects.

He then picked up a manuscript, opened to the first page, and read: *I never expected to come to this place. Since that is the case, I will...*

The rest of the sentence trailed off. Turning to the second page, he read: *The people here are very nice. I want to kill them.*

Zhang Xiaofan let out a cold snort, silently cursing the pervert.

Following that, nearly all the entries in the notebook consisted of the doctor's cynical complaints and homicidal tendencies.

"Looking at it now, this doctor must also be an outsider. But where did he come from? Or could it be that he is the one who caused the villagers to become like that?"

With these thoughts, Zhang Xiaofan searched further and found nothing else of interest in the room. He moved on to another room and was surprised to find it filled with various blades; it seemed to be a storage room for weapons.

Although these cutting tools looked sharp, the material was clearly very ordinary, so Zhang Xiaofan naturally felt no interest in them. At that moment, he noticed a back door to the room. He opened it immediately and found that it led to a small path, which instantly piqued his interest.

The path was surrounded by pine forests. Pushing aside the pine branches, Zhang Xiaofan walked forward. It felt like a secluded paradise, completely quiet and without a single sound.

However, a sudden smell of decay drifted over, mixed with a faint fragrance. The strange odor made Zhang Xiaofan feel somewhat uncomfortable.

After walking only a few more steps, Zhang Xiaofan saw a greenhouse in the woods, and the stench of rotting corpses was emanating from it.

Zhang Xiaofan walked closer, and the smell grew even stronger. Entering through the doorway of the greenhouse, he was met with the sight of numerous vegetables and melons growing inside. These vegetables were remarkably large, leaving Zhang Xiaofan quite astonished.

Right at that moment, a low groan echoed from within the shed. Zhang Xiaofan whipped his head around instantly. He was extremely sensitive to that sound and recognized it as the cry of a zombie.

"Hmm? What's going on?"

Zhang Xiaofan did not see any zombies at first. Then he realized the sound was coming from the ground. Lowering his gaze beneath the vegetable plants, he received a massive shock.

Tucked between the gaps of the vegetables was a hand. Tracing the arm upwards, he was met with the terrifying sight of a human head.

Startled, Zhang Xiaofan finally realized that these vegetables and melons were actually being cultivated directly on top of the bodies of zombies, which had been pinned immovably to the ground with wooden stakes.

Feeling utterly nauseated, Zhang Xiaofan left the place immediately. One could only imagine what kind of twisted mindset the doctor possessed to grow crops in such a manner.

Upon returning to the cabin, Yu Li excitedly shouted, "Brother Fan, I just heard from Wang Hu and the others! They are currently guarding a small Western-style villa. Let's hurry over there."

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaofan was also thrilled, temporarily putting the incident with the doctor out of his mind. He said, "In that case, let's head over. Are you holding up okay?"

Yu Li nodded and said, "It's getting dark now, though. Let's make our move tomorrow."

"Alright."

That night, Zhang Xiaofan pondered the mission of this game. The objective this time was to locate and eliminate the virus source.

This meant that the biochemical infection had a specific origin, and this very source was the reason the villagers had been infected.

Lost in thought, Zhang Xiaofan eventually drifted off to sleep. The next morning, as the sun rose, Zhang Xiaofan and Yu Li packed up their things. Yu Li's strength had mostly recovered; although he was still somewhat weak, normal walking was no longer a problem.

Zhang Xiaofan went to the kitchen and found some food left behind by the doctor. The two of them ate a little, packed the rest, and set out.

"Wang Hu, *static*... Wang Hu, do you copy?" Zhang Xiaofan called out into the transceiver.

"Copy that. We're at the white mansion, three hundred meters west of the village entrance. Approach from the east side; there are fewer zombies over there," Wang Hu replied.

"Are the others with you?"

"Everyone has arrived. We..."

*Tat-tat-tat...*

Before Wang Hu could finish, the sound of gunfire came through the walkie-talkie, followed immediately by Wang Hu's angry cursing.

"What's wrong? Hello, Wang Hu..."

*Static... Xiaofan, we are under attack. There are other people in this village... static...*

With that, the walkie-talkie went completely dead. Zhang Xiaofan and Yu Li exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with worry.

"Yu Li, can you fly over and take a look?" Zhang Xiaofan asked.

Yu Li frowned and said, "My injuries were too severe last night. My wings hurt whenever I use them now."

"Is that so?" Zhang Xiaofan shook his head and said, "Then we'll just have to charge through."

Just as the two of them were about to take a few steps, a corpse came into view.

This body did not fit the appearance of the villagers at all, because they were wearing clothes similar to Zhang Xiaofan's, and their shoes even had Nike logos on them.

"This person... looks very familiar," Zhang Xiaofan muttered.

Yu Li chimed in, "From Class 16, Grade 1."

"What?" Zhang Xiaofan looked at the deceased in shock. Recalling the past, he suddenly remembered that he had indeed seen this person during that soccer match.

"How did they end up here?" Zhang Xiaofan squatted down to inspect the body. The deceased's face was bluish-purple, the lips were black, and the eyes were wide open.

"Were they poisoned?" Zhang Xiaofan stood up. Suddenly, he spotted a syringe nearby. He picked it up, sniffed it, and said, "It smells exactly like the bottle of saline the doctor was going to give you."

"That means this person also ran into the doctor, and the doctor ambushed him after getting close."

"It has to be. Now I'm wondering why Class 16, Grade 1 came here in the first place."

After speaking, Zhang Xiaofan and Yu Li resumed their journey. Along the way, the two of them killed quite a few zombies and finally arrived not far from the white villa.

Here, the sound of gunfire was endless.