Chapter 33: The Feeder

In movies and TV shows, when people got startled, they usually shouted and screamed, showing extreme fear.

But Bai Chen Zhu was different. He had not been particularly bold since childhood, but every time he encountered something frightening, he appeared calm on the surface instead.

‘……Actually, he was just stunned, to the point where he could not react at all.’

Bai Chen Zhu stared expressionlessly at that face for a moment, then bent down at the waist, retreated two steps, and slammed the door shut with a whoosh. Only afterward did he clutch his chest and gasp for breath, his hands and feet turning ice-cold.

What had he just done? He had nearly come face-to-face with a zombie!

After the lingering shock, Bai Chen Zhu gradually sensed that something was off.

He thought for a minute, then warily pushed the door open. Sure enough, just as he remembered, that zombie was bound with iron chains, cloth strips, ropes, and various other mixtures, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Since every floor of this villa had a ceiling height of nearly five meters, even when hoisted up, the zombie was still about two meters off the ground.

So it was partly his fault for being tall; otherwise, he would not have gotten so close to it. Bai Chen Zhu gestured to measure, confirming that the zombie had been about half a meter away from him. Though a bit close, it looked secure enough and would not fall.

The sound of the scenic elevator operating came from behind. Bai Chen Zhu quickly shut the door, looked left and right, and hid inside the wardrobe.

However, that zombie twisted its head toward his position and let out guttural growls.

No good, too obvious. Bai Chen Zhu’s heart leaped to his throat. He spotted a genuine leather sofa in the corner; when he lifted the seat cushion, there was a storage compartment underneath. As they say, the darkest place is under the candlelight. Without hesitation, he lay inside it. Even if the zombie howled at the ground, no one would immediately suspect it.

The door opened, and two sets of footsteps entered, circling the room.

The room was large, so Bai Chen Zhu held his breath and listened as the footsteps receded, circled around, and came back. The interval was so long that he nearly bolted out to escape at one point, but remembering his leg injury, he held back his urge to run for safety’s sake.

Someone plopped down onto the sofa with a thud.

Bai Chen Zhu clamped his hand over his mouth.

After a long while, an unfamiliar voice said, “There’s no one here.”

Bai Chen Zhu could not resist releasing his mental power to check the situation outside, but he encountered unprecedented resistance, as if the air had been instantly devoured, leaving someone dependent on oxygen unable to move an inch.

The zombie sensed the mental power and howled louder, thrashing excitedly as if trying to express something, but its brain could only produce meaningless roars.

“Dad, are you hungry? Don’t worry, the villa is huge, and he has a leg injury. We’re not afraid of him running off.” Tang Jie’s voice rang out, still so feeble that it made people dismiss him as any threat upon hearing it. “But what are we going to do? Brother Jiang and the others are starting to suspect me.”

The man who seemed to be A-Liang said, “If worst comes to worst, lock them all up.”

“That won’t work.” Tang Jie sounded a bit anxious as he rose from the sofa. Bai Chen Zhu heard footsteps pacing back and forth nearby. “I don’t want to fall out with them. And did you see that day? Brother Jiang can fight zombies barehanded, and that girl’s voice is some kind of superpower too.”

“You forgot we have that, right? Just make them drink it, and they’ll be as weak as Uncle Duan. Then we tie them up…” A-Liang paused. “Except for that pretty boy. I saw your dad is interested in the girl too. It wouldn’t be impossible to use her to feed him.”

Tang Jie was still hesitating.

“You need to think this through. We’re not trying to kill them.” A-Liang sighed. “If there wasn’t a traitor, if Uncle Duan hadn’t escaped, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Blame Uncle Duan. If a few people suffer a bit to protect all of us, Tang Jie, think it over.”

The room fell silent.

Just as Bai Chen Zhu grew anxious wondering why these two had not left yet—half his body had gone numb from lying there—Tang Jie suddenly said, “A-Liang, bring the bowl over.”

“Dad, lend a bit more of your blood.”

The two left.

Bai Chen Zhu did not get up right away. A while later, the door opened again, and their footsteps returned to the doorway.

A moment after that, the door shut.

Bai Chen Zhu closed his eyes and carefully probed the surroundings, confirming no mental power fluctuations and no one nearby.

They must have really left this time. He laboriously pushed open the sofa cushion and climbed out.

The zombie saw food dangling right in front of it and roared louder. Bai Chen Zhu paused in his movements, brushed the dust off himself, and noted that the empty bowl in the middle of the room’s carpet was gone.

He squatted at the spot where the empty bowl had been, picked up a fragment, and poked at the residual foul-smelling bloodstains on the carpet. The zombie overhead wailed in hoarse, eerie tones. At first, it made his skin crawl, but after Jiang Ye had pinned his neck and forced him to listen for so long, he was no longer fazed.

Jiang Ye. Bai Chen Zhu lowered his gaze, tossed the tile fragment aside casually. Tang Jie had just said he was ‘suspecting’ him.

Oh, so this was what ‘friends who had been through danger together’ meant. Bai Chen Zhu rubbed his chin and sneered, deciding to figure out how to get out first.

He limped to his feet, drew the dagger from his waist, and gripped it in his palm. As he gradually gained control over his superpowers, his body had recovered by more than half; at least his strength was nearly back to normal. He could run and jump now.

The zombie dangled in the air like a ridiculous punching bag, swaying.

He had to get rid of this possibly evolved thing to avoid future trouble. Bai Chen Zhu took a deep breath, gauged the position, hardened his gaze, and lunged the dagger toward the zombie’s forehead.

The dagger pierced through the forehead. Bai Chen Zhu squeezed his eyes shut as foul-smelling blood splashed over half his body. Unexpectedly, the dagger got stuck there, and the zombie kept howling and struggling.

Faced with a threat to its life, even if the zombie did not feel pain, it began thrashing wildly. With its movements, dust sifted down from the ceiling, which started to crack.

Bai Chen Zhu’s pupils contracted. He glanced at the remnants of the two collapsed walls in the room and suddenly understood how those had come down.

The ceiling center had sagged a few centimeters.

The zombie shook with all its might like a madman, and Bai Chen Zhu could not grab hold to deliver a fatal blow.

As the structure teetered on collapse, he turned and ran.

The building was huge, so he fled in the opposite direction. Along the way, cracks spread across the ceiling overhead, debris rained down endlessly, the floor-to-ceiling windows shattered with a crash, and water from the outdoor mini-waterfall poured in, bringing a fierce wind if one stood too close.

If the zombie broke free, he would be the first one it wanted to eat.

The ceiling vibrations grew more intense. He could clearly see someone ascending the ornate spiral staircase to investigate. Bai Chen Zhu hurried in the opposite direction from the zombie. Due to his movements, his leg wound split open and bled.

He thought he could evade them successfully, but unexpectedly, he ran headlong into someone coming up the stairwell at the other end.

He never imagined there would be patrol personnel on the stairs. Bai Chen Zhu turned and bolted.

“Grab him! He’s there!” Voices shouted behind him one after another.

Bai Chen Zhu swiftly grabbed the outdoor water pipe. Gravity immediately pulled him down a section until he caught a bracket with his foot.

“Are you trying to die?!” someone yelled from a window. “Come up, we won’t kill you!”

With Tang Jie and A-Liang absent, he had nothing to say to these people. Bai Chen Zhu ignored them, but when he glanced downward, dizziness hit him.

It was the fifth floor, but due to the special ceiling height, it was no different from the tenth.

“We’re all good people, brother. Whatever the misunderstanding, come up and talk.” Their attitudes were surprisingly friendly, coaxing him pleasantly. “You don’t want to end up as a meat pancake, right? Come on up!”

Bai Chen Zhu felt a twinge of regret, but he was already on the pipe. He silently slid down another section, equivalent to a full floor’s distance.

As he moved away from the zombie’s room, he felt his mental power no longer suppressed. It drifted out and located someone nearby.

When that familiar aura settled on his shoulder, Jiang Ye immediately sensed the signal and rushed toward the garden villa.

Ignoring the shouts from above, Bai Chen Zhu precariously balanced on a pipe bend and inched downward bit by bit, arms and legs aching, until he was about five or six meters from the ground.

Bai Chen Zhu did not want to die yet. He stretched to reach the nearest window, but the distance exceeded his limit; his fingertips barely brushed the window frame’s edge.

Tang Jie’s people arrived faster than Jiang Ye and reached out to grab him. Bai Chen Zhu resisted, clinging to the pipe and straining to pull away.

The people above chattered like monkeys. Bai Chen Zhu’s attention was elsewhere; he kicked off one shoe and flung it downward with one hand. It landed far away near Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye heard the noise and instinctively looked up, his pupils contracting in shock, his face full of surprise, as if to say: How the hell did you get up there?

Jiang Ye had finally arrived. At the same time, Bai Chen Zhu judged the height, let go, and plummeted like a swallow, landing squarely in Jiang Ye’s raised arms, caught steadily.

“Are you okay?” Jiang Ye asked tensely, lowering his head to check Bai Chen Zhu.

Bai Chen Zhu let out a heavy sigh of relief. Once he confirmed he was steady on his feet, he grinned at him, his phoenix eyes brimming with affection and wild charm, sparkling like stars.

It was rare to see Bai Chen Zhu smile so brilliantly, and Jiang Ye was momentarily stunned.

The next second, Bai Chen Zhu punched him square in the face.

The blow was full force; Jiang Ye released his hold, staggered back two steps, turned his head, and stood there dumbfounded.

“Little Bai!” Zhou Zhuo Hua and Bai Tao, who had followed, gaped in shock, not understanding what was happening. “What’s going on with you two?”

“You little shit, you’ve really gotten cocky lately, haven’t you? Think my temper is that good?” Bai Chen Zhu gnashed his teeth; the angrier he got, the broader his smile.

Jiang Ye said in astonishment, “What are you talking about?”

“Still pretending? Spill it—what else did you bait out using me besides scouting the villa? Let’s see what intel was worth all your scheming.” Bai Chen Zhu was furious and shoved away Jiang Ye’s supporting hand. He hopped on one foot to put his shoe back on.

Jiang Ye looked at him blankly, as if unaware he had done anything to provoke such anger.

Bai Chen Zhu sneered coldly; he was not buying it.

Even if Jiang Ye did not say, Bai Chen Zhu could guess. It was just two things.

First, to find out what was in the villa. After all, Bai Chen Zhu’s mental power was far more useful than Bai Tao’s. Her flaw was difficulty in actively releasing mental power, while his fatal weakness was inability to fully retract his own. Just toss him into the villa, and whether human or ghost, they would seek him out—even if bitten, ability users did not get reinfected.

Second, to probe the location of the second fragment. As long as Tang Jie wanted to stall him, he had to use enough topics to divert Jiang Ye’s attention for time. Tang Jie was not good at keeping secrets; one night was enough for Jiang Ye to pry it all out.

Bai Tao was best at reading people. Her eyes darted, guessing most of it. She pouted in mock complaint. “Where did you go? You just vanished. Tang Jie said you went for a walk. Who goes for a walk half a day without coming back for dinner?”

“Half a day?” Bai Chen Zhu knew she was deliberately changing the subject; he was exasperated yet amused. “I’ve been tied up all night, and they even cut my arm!”

He showed the three of them the gash on his arm. “Tang Jie and the others are raising zombies, feeding them with ability users’ blood. They plan to target you too! You didn’t eat anything they gave you, right?”

Bai Tao let out a burp.

Bai Chen Zhu: ……

“She’s scaring you.” Zhou Zhuo Hua patted Bai Tao’s back. “Cut it out. We ate our own stuff; we just borrowed their water purifier for water.”

Jiang Ye pressed his hand to the red, swollen spot on his left cheek, his expression grave. “No more talk. The food’s fine. Let’s go first.”

“Are you satisfied with the intel I brought back?” Bai Chen Zhu said sarcastically.

Jiang Ye had already heard considerable commotion. “There really is a zombie here, and not a low-level one. Let’s move!”

Screams came from upstairs. The next moment, the top floor collapsed, sending chunks of plaster and bricks flying. The group ran off quickly.

From afar, they saw a humanoid figure sliding rapidly down the water pipe, landing in a frog-like crouch and charging toward them.

The four fleeing ones clearly saw the zombie’s hideous form: a gruesome bloody hole in its forehead, bulging eyes and crooked mouth, clad in tattered Western suit—an about forty- or fifty-year-old bald zombie.

It was fast enough to catch up to Bai Chen Zhu.

As it lunged like a frog, Jiang Ye suddenly appeared in front of Bai Chen Zhu. A baseball bat smashed into the zombie’s face, sending it flying two or three meters to crash on the ground.

Meanwhile, the baseball bat that had been with Jiang Ye for a long time split into two halves. His palms trembled from the recoil as he stared intently at that zombie.

The zombie immediately crawled back up.

“Dad!” Tang Jie chased after it, his expression tense.

A-Liang at his side caught it off guard. While the zombie’s eyes were fixed entirely on Bai Chen Zhu, he quickly used a rusty iron chain to tightly bind the zombie. His face showed both fear and ferocity.

He wrapped the chain around the zombie’s neck and mouth, then yanked it back and tied it to his wrist, forcing it unable to lower its head to bite.

“Don’t kill it!” The others all ran over, surrounding the four of them.

Tang Jie checked the zombie from a meter away. His gaze fell on the bloody hole in its forehead, and he immediately whipped his head around to glare at Bai Chen Zhu.

Bai Chen Zhu pressed down on Jiang Ye’s shoulder and stepped out from behind him. His gaze was stern. “What you’re doing is raising a tiger that invites calamity.”

“You don’t understand—you know nothing!” Tang Jie said agitatedly. “It’s protecting us. Without it, the neighborhood would be overrun with zombies long ago!”

“Why don’t you think about why that is?” Jiang Ye sneered. “That’s because it has evolved and developed its own ‘territory.’ You feed it blood, and sooner or later it will evolve to a point where you can no longer control it. At that time, a zombie tide will arise because of it.”

“Talking more is pointless.” A-Liang handed the zombie to the others and blocked Tang Jie, who wanted to say more. He pointed his knife tip at Bai Chen Zhu. “Leave him behind.”

“What if I say no?” Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes.

The crowd closed in, all holding tools. They had the momentum of attacking if words didn’t agree, surrounding the four in the middle. At least numerically, they were clearly at a disadvantage.

Bai Chen Zhu looked left and right. He realized belatedly that because they had arrived early, they had instead glimpsed everything from the original plotline.

Had the original Tang Jie also raised the zombie that became Tang Father like this? Yet in the end, only he remained, and he was blind.

If they had come a bit later, Tang Jie would have befriended them and handed over the fragment and control of the Villa District. But now, the other side had become their enemy because of raising the zombie.

Everything had already changed. He shouldn’t have relied on that damn plot anymore. Bai Chen Zhu, being fought over like an item, frowned deeply at the standoff before him.

The next second, Tang Jie stepped back two paces, handing the decision to A-Liang.

A-Liang stood at the front of the group. Unlike Tang Jie, who wanted it both ways, he decisively shouted, “Attack!”