Joining Tiandao Company: Starting by mending a zombie world

The mountain forest was shrouded in mist in the early morning, and the birds sang sweetly.

The mountain path was rugged, and he hadn't gone far before sweat beaded on his forehead, and the wound on his back was throbbing with pain from being squeezed.

Along the way, Lin Susu forced herself to stay alert and pointed out the directions to him.

We made several turns, taking two or three breaks along the way, but thankfully the journey was safe, and we arrived in Mengcun that afternoon.

I looked up.

Mengcun is nestled in a valley.

Dozens of mud-brick houses stand, and rudimentary traffic trenches are dug around the village.

Chu Sheng had only taken a few steps closer when he heard someone calling out to Lin Susu.

……

"Sister Susu?"

The guerrilla fighter guarding the village was a child, but his eyesight was quite sharp.

She spotted Lin Susu clinging to Chu Sheng at a glance, and ran over to her, anxiously asking:

"Are you alright?"

Lin Susu shook her head, about to speak, when Chu Sheng, seeing that she was only seventeen or eighteen years old, said:

"She's fine, she just has a fever."

"Find a doctor to take a look at him first."

"Ah, Sister Susu, I'll go and invite Uncle Chen right away." The young team member glanced at Chu Sheng, his eyes clearly darting around.

He stepped forward and took the three long spears from Chu Sheng's back.

As he ran towards the village doctor's house, he turned back and instructed Chu Sheng to take Lin Susu back to her residence first.

"Am I disarmed?" Chu Sheng was both amused and exasperated, feeling that his spoils had been taken away by that little kid.

"His name is Liu Dou, but we all call him Xiao Douzi. He was twelve years old when he started fighting as a guerrilla with us."

"Pretty clever, right?"

Lin Susu introduced it to Chu Sheng with a smile.

"Twelve years old? So young?" Chu Sheng was shocked again. "However, this little guy's plan has completely backfired."

"Don't worry, your spoils are yours, no one will take them from you," Lin Susu comforted her.

Chu Sheng blushed and blurted out, "That's your spoils of war."

Strictly speaking...

Those three little bastards were killed by Lin Susu, so it had little to do with him. He said to Lin Susu:

"I don't want the gun, but could you teach me how to shoot?"

Lin Susu nodded weakly: "That's easy, I'll have Xiaodouzi take you there in a bit."

Chu Sheng nodded and followed Lin Susu's instructions, heading towards a small courtyard.

Suddenly, he asked doubtfully, "Is that young man alright?"

Lin Susu burst out laughing. "Why not? Haven't you heard a song before?"

Chu Sheng suddenly realized and laughed, "We are all sharpshooters, each bullet eliminates an enemy."

Little Bean arrived quickly, dragging and pulling the village doctor over.

"Oh dear, you're badly injured."

The village doctor frowned slightly as he looked at Lin Susu's injuries.

"Fortunately, it didn't fester, otherwise even a miracle couldn't have saved it."

Lin Susu looked at Chu Sheng gratefully, "Thanks to Comrade Chu Sheng, he found some herbs to treat me."

The village doctor looked at Chu Sheng, cupped his hands, and said, "So you're a fellow doctor. My apologies for not recognizing you."

The village doctor was quite old, over 50, and his gesture of cupping his hands resembled that of a martial arts master in a TV drama.

This truly amused Chu Sheng, who immediately returned the greeting:

"Senior, you've misunderstood. I only know a little bit."

"Young man, your manners are impeccable, I admire you greatly." The village doctor was taken aback by Chu Sheng's reply, feeling as if he had met an old friend in a foreign land.

It's been so long since I've heard anyone call him "senior".

Lin Susu found their way of speaking awkward, and smiled as she reminded them, "These days it's not fashionable to call someone 'senior' anymore; you have to call them 'comrade' with their title."

Chu Sheng and the village doctor awkwardly scratched the back of their heads and both agreed, saying that times are changing and the way we address each other should change.

"By the way, Xiaodouzi, where's the captain? Why haven't we seen him come back?" Lin Susu asked Xiaodouzi.

"Ah..." Little Bean then remembered to explain:

"Sister Susu, I forgot to tell you, the day before yesterday, when the team was on a mission, the members were ambushed by the enemy."

"The casualties are heavy."

"The captain has also been infected with the corpse poison and is dying. He needs a lot of glutinous rice."

"The other team members are collecting glutinous rice from all over."

"Corpse poison!" Lin Susu immediately realized the situation was dire. "It's only July, and the surrounding villages haven't received their food supplies yet."

"How is it possible to find glutinous rice?"

She suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly asked:

"By the way, where is that very powerful Taoist priest? Where is he?"

Xiao Douzi replied, "That Taoist priest is also over at the brigade, helping the brigade leader expel the poison."

"I've seen it from afar, it's amazing."

"Golden light could shine from his fingers as he drew and drew in the sky."

"One finger was used to press on the back of the captain's neck, causing him to cough up blood."

"Really?" Chu Sheng's eyes widened. According to this kid, Mao Xiaofang was even more powerful than he had imagined.

"Really!" Little Bean nodded vigorously. "Lots of people saw it."

Chu Sheng had originally intended to complete the task, but now he felt a tinge of anticipation:

"Come on, brother, take me to Master Mao. I want to become his disciple."

If Taoist arts are truly that powerful, I could learn just a little bit, open a feng shui shop back home, and never have to worry about food or drink again.

"That won't do." Little Bean refused Chu Sheng without hesitation, proudly stating, "We have rules. I have to guard the village; I can't leave."

Lin Susu explained, "That's right, Xiaodouzi has a mission and can't leave. I'll take you tomorrow morning."

Chu Sheng nodded. He had only been there for two days; he still had five days, enough time to formally become an apprentice. He scratched his head.

"Well, I still have some glutinous rice here, I was just thinking of sending it over as well."

"What?" Now it was Little Bean's turn to be shocked: "You have glutinous rice?"

"Where is it?"

Chu Sheng had a sudden thought, grabbed a handful of things from his spatial storage, and spread them out in his hand:

"Refined grains, extremely pure, you can eat one without making a sound."

Little Bean had never seen glutinous rice turn into rice from empty hands before, and exclaimed in surprise:

"Sister Susu, it's true, he really conjured up glutinous rice."

Lin Susu hesitated, then looked at Chu Sheng. "How much glutinous rice do you have left?"

Chu Sheng glanced at the space and said, "There's still a little over a pound left."

"Can you sell us?" Lin Susu asked earnestly. "Captain, he's very important to us. We absolutely cannot let anything happen to him."

"There's no need to sell," Chu Sheng shook his head. "I'm a patriot too, consider it a gift from me."

Little Bean was overjoyed, and the way she looked at Chu Sheng changed. "Brother Chu, you are such a good person."

Lin Susu shook her head, her tone gentle but uncompromising: "Comrade Chu, we appreciate your kindness. But we have rules; we cannot take things from ordinary people."

She winked at Xiaodouzi: "There are silver dollars in the cabinet, take three... no, this glutinous rice is precious, take five for Comrade Chu."

Upon hearing this, Xiaodouzi immediately complied, taking out five dollars from the wardrobe, putting two back, and handing three dollars to Chusheng.

Chu Sheng refused repeatedly, but in the end, Xiao Douzi insisted on giving him a piece, and he glanced at the inscription "Zhonghua, the third year of the Republic of China" on it.

Without thinking much, he tossed it into the spatial storage compartment and joked,

"Well, a pound of glutinous rice costs one silver dollar. If I do this a few more times, I'll be rich."

Little Bean thought Chu Sheng was serious and was startled, exclaiming, "Brother Chu, we're not rich, don't hit us!"

His words immediately drew laughter from everyone present, instantly easing the tense atmosphere.

Lin Susu gritted her teeth and said, "Little Bean, tomorrow morning, you will take Comrade Chu to see the captain."

Upon hearing this, Little Bean immediately jumped up: "Why wait until tomorrow? The captain's corpse poison can't wait!"

"Brother Chu, let's go now! I know a shortcut; we'll get there before dawn!"

Chu Sheng looked out at the pitch-black night. Although he was eager to find a master, the world was not safe after all.

Deep down, I was a hundred times unwilling.

But seeing the earnest looks in Lin Susu and Xiaodouzi's eyes, and thinking of the life-or-death situation, he had no choice but to steel himself and grit his teeth, saying:

"Alright! Let's go then!"

Lin Susu was also delighted upon hearing this, as she secretly hoped that Chu Sheng could go and save the captain. Taking a deep breath, she instructed:

"Little Bean, you must ensure Comrade Chu's safety."

"He's a college student, after all."

When everyone heard that Chu Sheng was a college student, their eyes widened and they gave him a thumbs up, praising him as remarkable.

Chu Sheng was so angry he wanted to disappear into the ground, but he was secretly pleased with himself.

"Wow, buddy, you're really that good."

……