Chapter 24—The black figure

Because Song Yu cut his expedition short, he decided to cultivate the fields a bit more. Spring was planting season, so he took into account of the weather and decided on a day to plant tomatoes. He turned the soil and readied to seeds.

Planting always gave him comfort. The repetition of toiling, fertilizing, seeding, watering, and watching as it bore fruits or vegetables held a sense of pride and satisfaction. Song Yu’s hands at first used to be smooth and uncallused, but overtime with all of the gardening and fighting zombies, they were rough.

Song Yu let Derpy and the cows trot through the unfinished garden, making the laborious efforts lessen three-fold. He fed Derpy some more fresh carrots before putting his gardening tools away for the day. Overlooking his new plantation, by fall it would aglow with bountiful colors.

Song Yu stretched his hands and laid on the hammock swing, his sweaty body glowing with health and vitality.

He still thought of Lan Zhou, which dampened his perfectly good day. He pouted when he started remembering the way Lan Zhou looked at him. Like he was an enemy. Song Yu realized that he expected that kind of expression all along. Like a fulfilling prophecy, it came true in the most hurtful of ways.

2 Years. 2 years in the apocalypse could change someone from a nice person with morals to someone who could throw you into a zombie pit to save a few seconds. Lan Zhou seemed to have a great group of comrades with abilities capable of fighting and a beautiful healer who looked like he hadn’t been touched by the filth of the apocalypse.

Squinty eyes came forward and put his muzzle in Song Yu’s upturned palm. Song Yu scratched his chin lightly, his mood darkening again.

“He has fire abilities. Beautiful blue flames that can blow up on impact. He has a good sense of his ability, and can level up quickly. Say, Squinty…did I make a mistake and should have told him it was me?”

Song Yu frowned again, “But maybe he and I were just a one-night stand to each other. Maybe he already forgot my face. Maybe he was drunk that night and didn’t matter who he brought back?”

Those revolving door thoughts went back into his head, making him a little teary.

“I just want to live a good life. I have you guys, the villa, and the peace and quiet.” He suddenly hugged Squinty, more tears overflowing.

“I don’t need anything else.”

Song Yu’s sad tirade ended quickly, and he was brought back to reality and worked hard for the next two weeks. Planting, going on walks, swimming in the lake with Squinty and the ducks, making a basement full of ready to eat mushrooms, and taking care of the farm animals.

On other days, he trained his body. His figure from 2 years ago was nothing compared to now. His body was tight with muscle, lithe and lean. It was slender but powerful. Song Yu practiced mixed martial arts on the dummies, and shot arrows in the targets 50 feet away. His gunmanship was quite accurate, but the shots were too loud. His fighting style relied mostly on stealth and silence. With his heart technique, he could slow his heart rate to an extreme low, so his presence was basically undetectable.

He determined that he would still finish his route from the northwest which led to the snow peaks in the south, but in the next few weeks. That gave plenty time for Lan Zhou’s group to leave. The Sun Base was the farthest base of A country, and since he was excommunicated, no one would dare risk 8+ hours of driving with no stops and hit mountains. It was simply a death wish.

…

About three weeks since he bumped into Lan Zhou’s group, Song Yu went to survey his property line. The wall hadn’t had a chance to fight zombies yet, so he was reasonably assured that any zombie animals hadn’t tried to bite through.

The wall perimeter was also quite wide, creating a large circle surrounding both the lake and the cliffs. If zombies could climb the steep 300m high cliff, he would give props to them. Song Yu got up on Derpy, wearing clean riding gear. It was one of his favorites, and this was indeed a great day. The tomatoes had sprouted!

All in black, his shirt was light and airy, tucked in black pants. Matte black boots with a small wedged heel and silver buckle adorned his feet while a riding vest with leather buckles fit comfortably over his shirt.

Derpy also wore a matching saddle and stirrups, making his beautiful reddish tint come out more. The sky was clear of clouds, and had somewhat cooled by the summer rain. Song Yu rode Derpy while Squinty followed, his tongue lolling in happiness. Song Yu went at a good pace so Squinty wouldn’t get tired as he followed the wall.

Song Yu knew that there weren’t any zombie about, so he turned on his phone and played music on his phone. Derpy, getting into the groove started nodding his head in appreciation, the beat making the journey even more fun. Song Yu hummed along as he surveyed the walls.

It took a few hours with no hiccups, so Song Yu decided to go out of his perimeter for a bit and see which fruit trees were in season. The bamboo forest a little bit away was also fresh for cutting. Song Yu deducted that he could get away with making ten more traps before anyone would notice.

“Squinty, don’t eat anything! Last time, you got a stomach ache I had to let you rest in my space for a week!”

Squinty who had just sniffed some nice orange berries shook his head, trying to shake those bad thoughts.

“Woof woof, woof. Woof…woof.”

Wasn’t it you who gave it to me? You know that grapes cause indigestion??

Song Yu: “…”

Squinty eyes rolled his eyes and led the way. Song Yu stuck out his tongue at his back.

They had gone little bits away when they saw a strawberry field. Seeing it, Song Yu happily got off and walked towards the bushes, his hands already encased in leather gloves. Some strawberries were green with tinges of red, while others were fully ripe. There were several zombified strawberries emitting a red glow, so Song Yu avoided them making sure Squinty and Derpy weren’t tempted by it.

He grabbed the ripe strawberries and some almost done, leaving the green ones to grow a little more. Almost 5 kg of strawberries were already picked by the time the sun set. Song Yu put them in his space for purification before heading to the bamboo forest.

The bamboo forest was on a long decline off the side of the mountain. He didn’t know if people had grown them or if it was naturally made, but the bamboo’s were thick and had good fibers. He had made several furniture’s thanks to Li Z*Qi videos.

He took out a long knife, one side quite thick before thinning down to a blades sharpness, its handle made of polished wood. The blade was shaped rectangular, and was a relic he found in one of the towns shops. It was the perfect size for cutting down the bamboo. Leading the Derpy and Squinty a few meters away so they could keep lookout, Song Yu began cutting down several bamboo trees.

Mid swing, he heard Squinty’s growl. Turning towards the duo, he locked gazes with another’s, his body ready for combat.

Lan Zhou and the gang had just been on the run from the Sun Base and had separated in different directions. Yu Ci had been wandering in the forest for 3 days, almost at his limit when he heard the bamboo trees falling. Thinking it could be an animal he could eat, it took him all of his strength to make it to where the sound was.

When Song Yu turned, his eyes flashed with coldness, his uncovered face so beautiful and ethereal, Yu Ci could not only blink, but blush from the tips of his toes to his forehead.

Mouth agape, Yu Ci recalled those cold penetrating eyes from the black figure. Still clad in black, he would have never expected the beautiful creature in front of him was the deadly cosplayer he saw a few weeks ago.