I am Jinshan Youxia

"Gaocheng..."

He said softly, "I'll take care of you tomorrow."

Chapter 66 Zombie New Energy

No sleep for one night.

Zombies don't need to sleep.

Zhang Chengyi felt bored all night, but at least he could observe the condition of the two biker gang members and check on his own body, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

The blue-haired creature, bitten by someone with zero infection ability, woke up again in the middle of the night. It seemed normal; it hadn't turned into a zombie, but its body temperature was slightly elevated. The main issue was that the wound on its arm was too deep, hadn't scabbed over, and was a bit inflamed.

The blond guy's condition was strange. After being bitten by someone with 0.1 infection ability, he stayed huddled in a corner. After falling asleep, his breathing became very heavy, and his body temperature soared to 40, then hovered between 39 and 38 until dawn.

Long Yi got up in the morning and acted as the eyes to observe the two. Blue Hair was awake and seemed normal, but the wound on his arm was a bit festering and infected. The flesh was almost bitten off, but he seemed to be doing alright.

The blond guy was much stranger. He wasn't asleep; he was unconscious. The wound on his arm showed no change whatsoever. There was no scab or pus. His skin was a little red. When you opened his eyelids, his eyeballs were bloodshot and his pupils were dilated.

The changes in Zhang Chengyi himself were even more interesting. The side effects of his physical breakdown caused the degree of decay to increase rapidly. He didn't pay attention to it last night, and by this morning it had almost reached level three. Meanwhile, all the cracks on his skin were repaired overnight, his skin color changed to grayish-black, and his body looked a bit thinner. Long Yi also said that he had a faint stench on him.

At the same time, both strength and speed decreased somewhat.

He adjusted the level of decay back to zero, rinsed his body, and within ten minutes of Long Yi eating, the stench disappeared.

Zhang Chengyi strongly suspected that zombies' bodies didn't function by eating, but by the degree of decay. As their bodies decomposed, they maintained their bodily functions, and eating was merely an instinct. Given the high rate of zombie transmission in this world, most zombies wouldn't even have a few bites before their targets became their own kind.

As a zombie, he could clearly sense that zombies can distinguish their own kind and will not attack them.

Decay can repair the body and maintain its functions, but it can also cause the body to become emaciated, meaning that a part of the body has decayed.

What strange mass-energy exchange?

However, this means that one cannot arbitrarily exceed the limits by using too many times the power and speed. The zombie's body obviously cannot regenerate. Adding power and speed will obviously not allow it to recover from injuries and grow taller and stronger like the body in the Tianlong world. If it is used up carelessly, it may eventually become a skeleton.

Who knows if a zombie turned into a skeleton can survive?

While Long Yi went to have breakfast, Zhang Chengyi took another look at the captive zombie. Since the earmuffs were put on, it had been very quiet and showed no signs of attacking anyone. It stood there blankly, its body slightly hunched, its head and arms hanging naturally, and its legs slightly bent.

Like a delinquent student being punished by the teacher to stand in the corner, he didn't even stand properly.

[I'm thinking, maybe we can find a way to use this. The power's going to run out in a few days, so I'll modify a hand-cranked generator and see if we can get the zombies to generate electricity?]

If possible, they would be absolutely the best of the best, tireless, and incredibly strong. As true oxen and horses, the slow speed of zombies is actually an advantage.

Zombie millstones, zombie generators, zombie farming tools... wait, the attributes overlap with African farming tools, let me think about it again...

Zombie Capitalist Zhang Chengyi patted the zombie on the shoulder, "I'm sorry, Ms. Zombie, since we're leaving soon, you haven't been hired."

Without hesitation, he laid the zombie's head flat on the ground. The zombie offered no resistance whatsoever. Then, he slowly stomped down, breaking the skull and crushing the head into pieces. The zombie died completely.

According to the map Ryuichi described and the plot in his head, Fujimi Academy is located in the southwest of Tokoname City.

Tokoname City is divided diagonally in two by a river. In both the manga and anime, the main characters' activities seem to start from the southwest and head north to any location in the story, including the Takashiro family home, the East Ward Police Station, and the Tokoname Higashisaka store in Oei Shopping Mall. All of these locations are in the story after crossing the river.

However, the nearest shopping mall is the Tokoname South Ward store, and the residential area where I live now is due south on the map, which is much farther than the distance from Fujimi Academy to my home in Takashiro.

Even disregarding the fact that all the bridges leading to the northern district, except for Tokoshu Bridge and Gobetsu Bridge, are blocked by the government, to reach the Takashiro family home, one must first go to Gobetsu Bridge, which is more than ten kilometers away, and only then can one consider how to cross the bridge.

This is no coincidence. The right wing has gained the upper hand in the entire Tokoname City. The Patriots Association is full of wealthy and powerful people in Tokoname City. Ryuichi's grandfather and the left-wingers who came to pick them up have long since fallen out of favor in this era, which is why they live in remote suburbs.

In other words, the straight-line distance to the Takashiro family and the Yukoku Isshinkai is nearly 20 kilometers, and you have to cross a bridge that has been blocked by the government.

Under normal circumstances, taking the tram, even with transfers, would take at most half an hour to an hour, but now it's very troublesome.

"Can you drive?" Zhang Chengyi asked.

Long Yi's expression froze for a moment before he said, "I'm only ten years old."

"Then it seems I'll be the only one who opens it." Zhang Chengyi grinned.

"Wait a minute." Long Yi sensed something was wrong. "Didn't you say you couldn't see things clearly?"

Zhang Chengyi's expression was practically grinning. "Anyway, at this time, it doesn't matter if we bump into something."

"You agree, right?"

-------------------------------------

Two hours later, on a road near a residential area, in a small truck.

"Hiss~ Hiss~"

Ignition successful.

Zhang Chengyi wasn't quite used to right-hand drive cars in Japan, and he hadn't driven in a long time. He had spent more than half a year in Tianlong World and was still nearsighted. He started very slowly and then brushed past a street lamp with a squeak.

Sitting in the passenger seat, clutching an airbag pulled from another car, Long Yi said fearfully, "A little to the right, a little to the left, there are zombies coming from about ten meters ahead..."

"Very good, sit tight and hold on tight."

Zhang Chengyi squinted as he adjusted the car, then said, "Remember to keep an eye on the map and report your location to me promptly."

"Yes!" Long Yi vaguely guessed what this guy was going to do, and with a jolt, he responded loudly.

"Buzz!"

The engine roared to life, and then the truck suddenly shot forward. The zombie that had been standing directly in front of it slammed into the hood with a thud and flew away. The truck did not slow down; instead, it sped up even more.

Wuhu!

Zhang Chengyi let out a strange cry, quickly shifted gears, and floored the accelerator. The speedometer needle on the dashboard rose rapidly, followed by a series of crashing sounds accompanied by his maniacal laughter.

"Hahahahaha!"

Chapter 67: Just Missing the Protagonist

"Crackling sound~"

A burnt smell hit his nostrils, and Long Yi slowly woke up, took a deep breath, and sat up straight.

"I...I'm not dead?"

He was still somewhat immersed in the life-or-death race he had just experienced.

"Don't worry, you're far from dead." Zhang Chengyi's voice came from not far away.

A sickening creaking sound of steel rustling filled the air. Long turned his head and saw that the speed-loving 'zombie' was tearing open the back of the overturned truck with his bare hands.

The blue and yellow fur inside were tied up very securely and filled with a lot of air bladders, so they looked, well, fairly intact.

“You have cuts on your right hand and cheek,” he reminded him.

Zhang Chengyi raised his right hand and glanced at it. There was a gash from the edge of his palm to his wrist, with thick blood clinging to it. He shook off the almost congealed blood, paid no attention, and pulled out the two unconscious test subjects inside.

It must have been scraped when the deformed car door was opened. There's nothing we can do about it; zombies don't feel pain at all, and even their sense of touch is very faint, not much different from corpses.

In addition to their extremely fast infection rate, the zombies in this world undergo a very clear mutation process: the infected person dies, and only then will they turn into zombies and stand up. Within a short period of time, their skin and eyes will show obvious changes.

Most people get up and turn into zombies in less than a minute after being bitten. There are even scenes in comics and anime where someone is bitten and falls down, but gets up and bites others within seconds. The speed is incredibly fast.

Some people, however, are able to hold out for a while, such as the protagonist's best friend and rival in love, Igo Hisashi.

Furthermore, there are some differences among the zombies. In the beginning of the original work, the zombies moved very slowly, but in later parts of the story, some zombies were able to run.

Are there individual differences among zombies?

Zhang Chengyi thought to himself, and put the two bikers on the ground. The car chase was so exciting, but the result was an accident as expected. There was a wrecked bus parked diagonally in the middle of the road. Long Yi warned him in time, but there was nowhere to hide and the speed was too fast, so he could only crash into it. He didn't take much protective measures because he was looking forward to the thrill, and his cheek was directly pierced through the windshield wiper and into his mouth.

But it's okay. Before the car accident, he had increased the level of decay on his face, and now he can feel the wound on his cheek healing rapidly.

"Hoho~"

Scattered zombies emerged from the corner. The loud noise of the overturned car only attracted a dozen or so zombies, which was quite few compared to the dozens or hundreds of other zombies that often swarmed around. This was probably because they were near a bridge that had been blocked off by the government.

"How far are we?" Zhang Chengyi asked as he casually pulled out a baseball bat from the carriage and headed towards the car.

Long Yi got up from the ground, moved as close to him as possible, took out a map from his backpack, looked around, and replied, "We've arrived near Yubie Bridge. The distance from the New Star Bank over there to Yubie Bridge is a little over a kilometer."

"boom!"

"It seems we're making good progress."

Zhang Chengyi was happily slaughtering the zombies. Anyway, there were plenty of zombies, and killing a few wouldn't affect his future plan to turn zombies into cattle and horses.

That's definitely good, driving like that...

Long Yi thought to himself that at the age of ten, he was transforming at a speed visible to the naked eye. Now, he could stand calmly and not make a sound when facing a group of zombies that surrounded him.

"boom!"

Zhang Chengyi quickly dealt with the zombies that surrounded him, and casually wiped his baseball bat on one of them.

It's only been about ten minutes since we set off, but we've already traveled at least ten kilometers. This isn't in open terrain, but on city roads. We've crashed into quite a few zombies along the way, and we've frequently scraped and bumped into streetlights and cars parked on the side of the road. It's like a wild bumper car, and it's quite lucky that we've only overturned now.

"Then let's go to the river and take a look." He made the decision and put on the sunglasses hanging around his neck.

His current attire is quite strange: sunglasses, scarf, hat, and trench coat. It's April in Bed City, with an average temperature between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. Only zombies, who have no feelings and don't sweat, could wear such thick clothes.

"Yes," Long Yi replied, slung his bag over his shoulder, and prepared to walk.

Zhang Chengyi tugged at the chain, and Blue Hair woke up, lying motionless on the airbag, looking over with a deathly expression, showing no will to live.

I haven't eaten or drunk anything since yesterday. I've been dragged by chains and bitten. I've been tormented until now. My arm is inflamed, I have a low-grade fever and pus, I feel weak all over, and I have a bit of a cold. I really feel like I'm just tired and want to die.

[Forget it, there's no use keeping him around. It seems that 'zero infectivity' means he won't infect humans.]

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Chengyi simply unchained the blue-haired man and carried the unconscious yellow-haired man away with one hand, with Long Yi following closely behind him.

He didn't care at all whether the blue-haired guy who stayed behind lived or died.

"Buzz!"

The sound of the motorcycle grew closer and closer, finally stopping on the street. Long Yi explained, "The person riding the motorcycle is a high school student in a school uniform, and he's with a woman in a sailor uniform. They're watching us."

[It sounds like the original work's protagonist, Takashi Komuro, and his childhood friend, Rei Miyamoto.]

Zhang Chengyi wanted to see what these two looked like in real life, somewhat like watching for fun. Unfortunately, the zombie's eyes were useless; even up close, they couldn't recognize each other, and from dozens of meters away, they couldn't distinguish between humans and animals.

They were probably attracted by the sound of the overturned car.

“They’re leaving,” Long Yi said again.

Then, the sound of the motorcycle faded into the distance.