Chapter 201 - 186: Bloated Zombie, Community God of War

Chapter 201: Chapter 186: Bloated Zombie, Community God of War

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

Yu Dong, Zhao Youcai, Huang Zhiqiang, Yan Yikai, and Zhao Wenjie stared at each other, speechless, as they looked at the zombie Huang Henian had just fished out of the sea.

It was a zombie, bloated from being submerged in water. Its skin was deathly pale, its blood vessels were a dark green, and one of its eyeballs was hanging halfway out of its socket. Barnacles, shells, and algae clung to its body.

If it weren’t still roaring, one might have mistaken it for a corpse that had been floating for days.

ROAR!

The zombie was still struggling, flailing in the water. A tremendous force traveled up the fishing line, causing it to dig deeper into the piece of wood Huang Henian had wrapped it around.

"It’s this waterlogged... and it’s still alive?"

"Where did it float in from?"

"Damn, it’s disgusting. Just let me stab it to death."

"Wait! Don’t move... Let’s pull this bloated zombie up and take a look first. It’s a legendary survivor."

Yu Dong had the others pull the zombie ashore while he called Meng Dongqing on his walkie-talkie.

"Professor Meng, you need to come see this."

By the time Meng Dongqing came down, Yu Dong’s men had already dragged the bloated zombie out of the sea. A few of them were pinning it down with riot control forks, keeping it from moving.

Yu Dong pointed at the zombie and said, "Professor Meng, this bloated zombie seems to have mutated... If we hadn’t fished it out, we never would have realized this thing was still alive."

Most of the waterlogged zombies Yu Dong had seen would sink and disappear after a while, with some flailing about for a longer or shorter period before they did. ℯ

This one... seemed different.

"Let me examine it..."

Wearing a stab-resistant suit, Meng Dongqing circled the zombie, observing it. She even used a syringe to draw a vial of green blood from its body.

Yan Yikai said, "Holy crap, how did its blood turn this color... Was it censored or something?"

"It’s definitely different... This is the first time I’ve seen a zombie with green blood. Even the blood of Climbers is a dark, blackish-red."

Yu Dong had rarely been to the seaside in his previous two lives, so this was genuinely his first time seeing such a rehydrated-looking bloated zombie.

After observing for a moment, Meng Dongqing said:

"This zombie has a large amount of gas in its stomach, which allows it to float on the sea’s surface. That’s probably the main reason it didn’t drown."

"The eyeball detachment, the loss of vision, the changes in its skin and blood... I suspect this thing is toxic. Don’t kill it in the sea, or you might contaminate the surrounding water."

"Its severely swollen skin allows it to float and move in the sea, but on land... its movements will be extremely slow, probably like a person taking a stroll. It’s actually not much of a threat."

Yu Dong nodded, a bold guess forming in his mind.

"Do you think it’s possible this thing attacked our cargo ship?"

Huang Zhiqiang replied, "But this big fatty is so clumsy... Wouldn’t they have finished it off in a few shots with their crossbows? How could they have been attacked?"

"Not likely. The two men I sent are very sharp. This type of zombie just looks a bit strange and barely manages to survive at sea. It would have a hard time even climbing onto a cargo ship... How could all five of them lose contact without a single one managing to make a call?"

Zhao Youcai felt this thing was just a zombie with a new look. Besides being able to float, it didn’t have any special abilities.

"Professor Meng, what are your thoughts?"

"Hmm... It’s hard to say. For now, this one doesn’t seem to be a threat, but we can’t rule out other variants. Can you help me keep this zombie? Get it to the research institute for me. I’d like to study the changes in the zombie virus."

"Live zombie research, huh... Alright, I’ll have it packed up for you."

Yu Dong arranged for his men to bind the zombie’s joints with chains, then wrap all its dangerous parts in cloth until it was bundled up like a giant mummy. They temporarily stuffed it into a warehouse.

"Dongzi, if it wasn’t this type of zombie that attacked... then how did our ship suddenly lose contact? Could it be... that bastard Zou Long came back and hijacked our ship?" Zhao Youcai asked.

"Impossible. First of all, his leg injury needs three months to heal. He couldn’t possibly go out while he’s still hurt. And even if we assume he did come to attack us in a boat... this is the apocalypse. If a boat came charging at them from the sea, our people wouldn’t just stand there like idiots. They would have had no warning? They wouldn’t know to run or call for help? To just lose contact without doing anything?"

"Besides, it’s a short voyage, only half an hour total. It was raining. For him to sail in from the open sea and so precisely hijack one of our ships that left on short notice... that’s total bullshit. It’s not like he can monitor us 24/7. How would he know what we were doing?"

"You’d have a more believable story if you said Climbers jumped into the sea and crawled onto the deck to eat them."

After Yu Dong finished, even Zhao Youcai had to laugh. "True... But we still need to be wary of that guy Zou Long. We have to prevent him from sneaking over and pulling something nasty on us one day. A desperado like him is capable of anything."

Yu Dong had originally planned to wait until the 10-day golden period for clearing zombies was over, then find a chance to go to the coordinates Yin Shuangyang gave him and finish off Zou Long. But... the cargo ship’s inexplicable disappearance now cast a shadow over his heart.

He wouldn’t let his people go out to sea again until he figured out what had happened.

"Yes, we have to keep our night sentries on high alert. Uncle Huang helps us keep an eye out every day, too."

"Heh heh~ It’s the least I can do. You young people have the energy for the big stuff. I’ll just fish and raise fish. The coastal fisheries have probably been left unattended and are teeming now. There’s plenty to catch in the sea; just the fish we pull in is enough to feed everyone on the ship."

Besides fishing and keeping watch, Huang Henian had also gathered some old fishermen to set up an area over at B Port specifically for fish farming and fishing.

"That’s great."

A suspected new type of mutated zombie had appeared in the sea, but the changes weren’t significant, and it didn’t look like it could be lethal...

And the reason for the cargo ship crew’s disappearance... was all the more bewildering.

’Perhaps only by finding that cargo ship will we know what happened...’

For now, Yu Dong could only hope that it was just some accident and that the ship would return later.

After dealing with the zombie, Yu Dong turned his gaze to the gate of A Port.

Over there, Officer Wang was chatting with two survivors.

"Huh? Why haven’t those two come in? They’ve been chatting with Wang at the gate for ages..."

Curious, Yu Dong walked over.

As he got closer, Wang Dingbei said, "Yu Dong, you’re just in time. These two are a bit stubborn, and I can’t convince them. You talk to them. I’m going to go check on that other group."

Wang Dingbei left the two with Yu Dong and went to the gate to receive a group of five new survivors.

"Huh? Convince them of what?"

The two people outside each carried a large pack and were armed. Although they didn’t have professional stab-resistant suits, they wore thick work clothes that also offered protection against scratches and bites.

They were both young men in their twenties who looked energetic and capable. Yu Dong could tell with a single glance that they had definitely killed their fair share of zombies.

"Uh, hey man, we just told the officer, we’re not here to join your base. We’re here to trade for supplies. We have our own territory."

"Oh? Where’s your territory? Why not consider coming here? The level of safety we have... you can see it for yourselves, right?"

"Well... our residential complex is also very safe. We have our own supplies and people, so we can’t leave. It would be great if we could trade for supplies. If not, then we’ll be on our way."

’A neighborhood champion?’

Yu Dong asked with great interest, "Which complex are you from? How many people do you have?"

"Um, it’s to the east, pretty close to Binhai Avenue... There are a few dozen of us."

The two were a bit vague, not wanting to tell Yu Dong the specific name of their complex. They were clearly wary of him.

Yu Dong didn’t mind.

"That’s a decent size. What supplies are you looking to trade for? What did you bring?"

The two men glanced at Yu Dong, then at the massive cruise ship behind him. They took off their large backpacks and opened them in front of him.

They were filled to the brim with supplies.

"We have medicine, condoms, cigarettes, and lighters. These are all valuable things that can’t be produced in the apocalypse. Every one used is one gone forever. If you need them, we can get more."

Yu Dong looked inside the packs. The most numerous item was condoms, and his expression became a little strained.

"Why did you guys get so many of these..."

"I heard on the radio that you have a lot of people here. These things are consumables, so they should be used up pretty quickly. They’re a hot commodity..."

Just as Yu Dong was about to retort, Lin Zhixue walked up from behind him.

She was wearing a black shell jacket and carrying an umbrella today, giving her a valiant and heroic air. The only thing out of place was the faint blush on her delicate face.

"It’s true, our consumption rate for condoms is quite high. We need these, Brother Dong. We can accept them."

She worked in the warehouse with Lin Mo and Qiao Ping’s group.

Huh?

This was the first time Yu Dong had learned that condoms were in high demand on the ship...

"Alright then... we’ll take them," Yu Dong said, a little awkwardly. "What do you want to trade for?"

"Weapons!"

"We need more weapons to fight the zombies."

The two men had a clear goal. They had come here seeking professional-grade weapons.

"We don’t exactly have spare guns to give you..."

"How about those crossbows? Could you give us two of them? You can have both packs of supplies."

The two men had set their sights on the Death God Repeating Crossbows worn by the patrol members.

Yu Dong laughed. "You’ve got some nerve. We don’t have many of those repeating crossbows ourselves, and they’re critical equipment. I can’t give them to you."

The two looked disappointed. "Then... can we trade for those spears you’re using?"

"The spears, yes."

Yu Dong had bought a large number of these manganese steel long spears to be used as consumables. There was a large pile of them in the warehouse, so trading them wasn’t out of the question.

"That’s great! For these two packs... how many spears can you trade us?"

The corner of Yu Dong’s mouth twitched. At least half of the contents in these two packs were condoms... He had no idea what kind of residential complex could produce so many of these things.

"I’ll give you two spears. They’re very effective for stabbing zombies."

"How about three? There are a lot of us... Thank you, this is really important to us!"

"Fine, I’ll go get them for you."

Yu Dong didn’t haggle much. They were allies, after all. He went straight to his personal weapons storage.

After grabbing three spears, he saw the Python Compound Crossbow on the weapons rack, his favorite weapon from his previous life... He felt as if he was seeing a reflection of his past self in these two men.

A moment later, the two men left the cruise ship base with three spears, one Python Compound Crossbow, and twenty Crossbow Arrows.

Yu Dong watched them leave, his eyes filled with gratification.

The trade wasn’t particularly important to Yu Dong, nor was it profitable.

He just saw two people leading their team, striving to survive, and felt he should support them.

As a fellow neighborhood champion, Yu Dong felt a sense of kinship with them.

A middle-aged man on a mountain bike, who had been observing from a distance, saw the two men successfully trade their supplies and also walked toward Yu Dong.

"I want to trade for supplies too! We have a settlement at the Olympic Sports Center. My companion is injured. I want to trade our dried seafood for some topical medicine and antibiotics. It’s urgent!"

Today, in addition to those who came seeking refuge, there were also these capable survivors from the surrounding areas who chose to make contact with the cruise ship but had no intention of joining.

In that moment, Yu Dong realized that it wasn’t just them working hard to kill zombies. Many more "neighborhood champions" like these were out there, fighting and struggling to kill those damned zombies.

When disaster strikes, the darkness of human nature may fester, but true heroes will also stand up and fight for their friends, family, and people!

The stars of humanity shine brightly!

"Trade! We’ll trade for anything! The cruise ship base welcomes everyone to come and exchange supplies with us!"

Yu Dong readily agreed. Just as he had with the previous two, he told the man about the Climbers, advising him to build targeted defensive fortifications and to quickly come seek refuge at the cruise ship base if things became untenable.

Lin Zhixue happened to be in the back checking the two packs of supplies from before. She conveniently found the antibiotics and topical medicine the man needed and traded them for his backpack full of dried seafood.

After the man left, Yu Dong said to Lin Zhixue, "Go ahead and log these things into our warehouse."

Lin Zhixue hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a box of condoms and placed it in Yu Dong’s hand.

"I’ve never seen you come to get any... That’s really irresponsible of you."

Then she left, pushing the supplies with her.

Yu Dong: "?"