A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

Bei Nuan's heart instinctively tightened every time she saw Huo Ren.

However, Lu Xingchi was present today.

Moreover, the area where Bei Nuan and the others sat was quite dark, unlike the brightly lit area where Huo Ren and his group were. Although they were close, Huo Ren might not be able to see them.

Bei Nuan put on the hood of her jacket and cautiously peeked out, searching for Zhen Zhen, but she couldn't find her.

Several men were sitting on the sofa in Huo Ren's group. Besides Huo Ren, Bei Nuan didn't recognize any of them.

Several heavily made-up young women accompanied them. Huo Ren probably hadn't brought Zhen Zhen, likely because they were at this kind of place.

Beside Huo Ren sat a tall, thin man in his forties with a hooked nose. He leaned over to offer Huo Ren a cigarette, saying, "Sitting downstairs is lively, but it's too noisy."

Huo Ren casually waved his hand, declining the offered cigarette. "The noise is good. I've been going crazy cooped up with zombies these past few days."

Two girls were clinging to Huo Ren, one on each side. Feeling squeezed and impatient, he pushed them away. "Old Yin, is there anything else interesting?"

Bei Nuan thought, Could that hooked-nose man beside him be the wealthy estate owner surnamed Yin? It was certainly possible. Shouzi had mentioned that Taiping Gate was his establishment.

Old Yin said obligingly, "Actually, there is. We have a special program starting soon."

Just as he spoke, the music suddenly changed. A powerful melody and drumbeat reverberated through everyone.

A door not far away suddenly lit up.

A person dressed as a clown ran out, bouncing and holding a large box filled with paper flowers, followed by a large group of people.

It resembled a parade float.

The people who emerged were all zombies.

The zombies were all young men, quite handsome, but they all wore muzzles.

Like the zombies from earlier in the day, they were dressed in various strange costumes. Some were dressed as classical princes and kings, while others wore modern uniforms. All were tied to moving floats.

Seeing the living people around them, the zombies all groaned.

Their groans caused the entire venue to erupt in laughter.

Dressing up zombies, putting them on floats for amusement, allowing close contact—it was a bizarre and stimulating idea, and who knew who came up with it.

With their ability to attack removed, some people boldly reached out to touch the zombies, causing them to bare their teeth and growl. The louder they growled, the more amused the audience became.

People took flowers from the clown's box and tossed them onto the floats.

This peculiar procession circled the nightclub and arrived at the brightly lit stage.

The clown rushed to the front and babbled for a while before Bei Nuan understood. The way they had thrown the paper flowers was a vote for today's Zombie King.

In the end, a young zombie dressed as a prince won.

This zombie wore a white shirt with gold buttons and lantern sleeves, and a golden crown. He was young, perhaps in his early twenties, and it was evident that he had been handsome before becoming a zombie.

The clown took out something that looked like a colored ball, turned his back to the audience, and threw it backward.

The audience scrambled for it, and the ball eventually landed in the hands of a man with a fleshy face.

The man, holding the colored ball, swaggered onto the stage, raising his hands high to the audience as if he had won some championship.

Someone immediately came onto the stage and helped him into a protective suit and a transparent face shield. Then, they brought a metal rack onto the stage, hung with various weapons.

All sorts of weapons were available.

Bei Nuan saw long knives, daggers, firearms, crowbars—all commonly used to kill zombies. In addition, there were even bows and arrows, and a crossbow. The crossbow was made of wood, far inferior to Lu Xingchi's.

The man casually picked up a chainsaw, the most lethal weapon, pulled the starter cord, and the chainsaw whirred to life.

He raised the chainsaw high, waving it at the audience triumphantly.

Cheers and whistles erupted.

The clown went over and released the zombie from the float, chaining his feet to the stage, limiting his movement to a certain area.

The zombie's instinct was to grab living people, and he immediately lunged at the nearest person, the clown. The clown turned and ran, his movements comical, drawing laughter from both the stage and the audience.

The clown ran out of the zombie's range. Unable to catch him, the zombie changed targets, going after the man with the chainsaw.

Wearing a muzzle and gloves, the zombie posed no real threat. The man waited with a grin, and when the zombie charged, he leisurely grazed the young prince zombie's arm with the chainsaw.

Bei Nuan understood.

The protective suit was to prevent the zombie's blood from splashing onto any wounds and causing infection. Looking closely, she saw that the stage floor was covered with black plastic sheeting, presumably for easy cleanup later.

Bei Nuan had killed zombies herself and had seen Lu Xingchi kill countless zombies, but never like this.

The man discarded the chainsaw and switched to other ways of tormenting the zombie, but he avoided the head.

Without hitting the head, the zombie wouldn't die, and the audience roared with laughter.

Bei Nuan glanced at Lu Xingchi.

His face was expressionless as he watched the triumphant man on stage and the ecstatic audience.

The man on stage was about to hack at the zombie's other arm with a large knife.

Mid-swing, the knife suddenly veered, strangely changing direction and heading straight for the zombie's neck.

The zombie instantly went still.

The fun was over, and the audience booed in disappointment.

"You killed him so quickly?"

"Man, are you even trying?"

The man on stage was furious. He yelled at the clown, "I accidentally cut off his hand just now! Get me another one!"

The clown politely refused, "We only kill one a day."

The man, still fuming, ignored everything and grabbed a dagger, walking towards the back of the stage.

All the floats were parked there, and the zombies were still tied to them, witnessing their companion's slaughter.

The man approached, randomly picked a zombie dressed as a vampire in a cloak, grabbed his hair, and sliced off his ear.

Then, he turned and waved triumphantly to the audience.

Bei Nuan saw Lu Xingchi frown.

Suddenly, things changed.

The iron muzzle on the zombie on the float suddenly came off.

The man, too close and with his back to the zombie, was completely unaware. The zombie lunged forward, biting the man's neck.

Completely terrified, the man hadn't expected the supposedly harmless zombie to break free and attack him.

He struggled free from the zombie and scrambled off the stage. Halfway down, he collapsed, convulsing.

He was turning.

The clown seemed experienced in handling such situations. He grabbed a gun from the weapon rack and shot the transforming man.

To Bei Nuan's surprise, the clown didn't shoot the zombie that had just bitten the man. He simply called a few people to restrain the zombie with long forks and put the muzzle back on.

Bei Nuan immediately understood.

They were all zombies. The man was ugly and useless after turning, so they killed him without hesitation.

The zombies at Taiping Gate were all attractive; they were used for performances and wouldn't be casually killed.

Different fates for different zombies.

The floats on stage were dragged away.

Bei Nuan couldn't help but glance at Huo Ren.

He remained sprawled there, seemingly bored.

"What's so interesting about this?" he said to Old Yin. "Isn't it enough to kill zombies outside every day? Do I have to come here to watch someone else kill zombies?"

Old Yin quickly apologized. "There are other interesting things."

He called someone over and gave a few instructions. After a while, several zombies were brought up.

All young girls.

Bei Nuan immediately recognized one of them as the female zombie who had pleaded with her for help earlier.

She was wearing a different red, low-cut dress, still muzzled and gloved. Two people dragged her forward as she struggled, baring her teeth and groaning at those around her.

Like vegetables in a market, they were lined up.

Old Yin smiled. "Tired of people? Let's change the flavor."

Huo Ren's eyes showed a flicker of interest. "This is a little more interesting. But aren't you afraid of infection?"

Old Yin leaned in and whispered something to him, and they both laughed.

"You're really something, coming up with ideas like this," Huo Ren said with a smile. "Where did you find so many beautiful female zombies?"

Bei Nuan then heard something that made her instinctively shudder.

Old Yin tapped the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray on the coffee table and casually said, "Just find the pretty ones. Turning them into zombies is easy."

This Old Yin deliberately infected beautiful people to turn them into zombies for his amusement.

No wonder the zombies here, both male and female, were all strikingly attractive.

Then she heard Huo Ren say, "The things on their mouths are a bit of a mood killer."

He was referring to the zombies' muzzles.

Old Yin was startled. "We absolutely can't remove those. Mr. Huo is brave, but we're all afraid of being bitten."

The corner of Huo Ren's mouth twitched upwards. "Are you all stupid? Let me teach you a trick. Just pull out their teeth and fingernails with pliers."

Bei Nuan's fingernails ached in sympathy. She subconsciously clenched her fists, and suddenly, her hand was enveloped by a large one.

Lu Xingchi reached over, unfolded her clenched fingers, and held her hand in his. His warmth seeped into her, calming her down.

As soon as Huo Ren offered his vile suggestion, the people around him began to flatter him.

Old Yin asked Huo Ren, "Mr. Huo, choose one."

Huo Ren's eyes swept over the zombies, and he pointed his chin at the one who had asked Bei Nuan for help earlier. "Her. The one in the red dress."

Old Yin gestured with his cigarette towards the upper floor and instructed his subordinates, "Take her to the second-floor private room for Mr. Huo," and then added with a smile, "Find a few people to go up and pull out her teeth and fingernails."

As they spoke, Bei Nuan saw the female zombie growl.

Her arms were held, and she couldn't move, but she leaned forward, baring her teeth and staring hatefully at Huo Ren and Old Yin, adopting a predatory stance like an animal.

Bei Nuan felt like the zombie understood them.

Since that afternoon, Bei Nuan had felt that this zombie was special.

She had understood Bei Nuan's "Obedient" command, so perhaps she could understand other things as well.

Thinking of "Obedient," Bei Nuan suddenly realized something: this zombie's name should be on the immunity list. She wondered what her name was.

Bei Nuan clicked on the small triangle icon next to "Obedient" in the task list, revealing a list of names.

The list seemed to be arranged in the order in which they were controlled by the ability. The first was Lu Xingchi, the second was Zheng Yin, followed by someone named Zhai Qiang, who must be Da Hei, and then Du Ruo.

At the end of the list, a new name had appeared.

Zheng Mo.

So, the girl's name was Zheng Mo.

She had the same surname as Captain Zheng, although there were many people with the surname Zheng, so they might not be related.

As Bei Nuan was thinking, she saw several people dragging Zheng Mo upstairs.

Bei Nuan stood up.

Lu Xingchi also stood up and asked softly, "Do you want to save her?"

He had guessed correctly.

Bei Nuan nodded. "I think she can understand human speech. She kept asking me to save her. I want to take her away. Even if I just let her wander outside the base, it would be better than this."

Just as they stood up, they saw Captain Zheng.

As always, Captain Zheng's expression was cold and impassive as he made his way through the crowd.

And as usual when searching for supplies or killing zombies, he carried weapons.

He held a bow and arrow. Bei Nuan could see a black tight-fitting T-shirt under his open combat jacket, and a tactical belt with a gun and dagger attached.

There was a security check at the entrance, and Bei Nuan wondered where his weapons came from, then realized—

They were from the weapon rack used for killing the zombie earlier.

Captain Zheng calmly walked through the reveling crowd. Some people looked at him curiously, but didn't pay much attention. Everyone knew there were no weapons allowed inside, so they probably assumed it was some new form of entertainment.

Captain Zheng quickly reached a spot not far from Huo Ren and his group.

He calmly drew his bow.

Just like when he killed the zombies in the morning, his arrows flew like shooting stars, each shot finding its mark. Almost instantly, all the thugs behind Old Yin and Huo Ren fell.

It seemed to happen in a flash, and no one at the scene had reacted yet.

Captain Zheng, unfazed, slung his bow over his shoulder and drew a dagger.

With a flick of his wrist, the dagger flew out, its hilt embedding itself firmly in Old Yin's chest.

Old Yin, completely bewildered, stared blankly at the deeply embedded dagger in his chest. He looked up and finally located the indifferent Captain Zheng in the crowd.

Bei Nuan thought, Why not just shoot him with an arrow? A flying dagger like that might not kill him, right?

Then she saw Old Yin clutch his chest and slowly collapse onto the sofa.

His face was filled with terror, his body seemed paralyzed as he convulsed, and soon he rolled off the sofa onto the floor.

He continued to convulse, seemingly in extreme pain, white foam frothing at his mouth.

However, his eyes remained their normal color, and he didn't appear to be turning.

Bei Nuan suddenly understood.

Snake venom.

Captain Zheng didn't want this kind of person to die a quick and easy death, so he had deliberately coated the dagger with snake venom.

While Bei Nuan was watching Old Yin, Captain Zheng had already moved on to his next targets.

His objective was clear and precise. He didn't waste a single arrow, and Bei Nuan saw him selectively shoot down several more of Old Yin's group.

Then he moved on to others.

He shot some and spared others, following his own criteria. Soon, bodies littered the floor of Taiping Gate.

Many people at the scene had finally realized something was wrong. Screams erupted as people ran in all directions. Taiping Gate security guards, armed, rushed towards them.

This time, Captain Zheng was no longer concerned about attracting attention. He drew his gun and exchanged fire with them.

Bei Nuan kept her eye on Huo Ren.

Huo Ren was just passing through; Captain Zheng didn't know him, and he wasn't a target. He remained seated on the sofa.

He saw Old Yin convulsing in pain on the floor in front of the sofa and quickly lifted his long legs, lest Old Yin's frothing mouth soil his shoes.

He busied himself avoiding the writhing Old Yin while watching Captain Zheng kill with keen interest.

Taiping Gate was in chaos, people screaming and running everywhere. The lighting effects continued to flash in the darkness, dazzling and disorienting.

Captain Zheng calmly dealt with the security guards and shot anyone who dared to run for the exit. He finally gained control of the situation, and most people found hiding places and didn't dare to move.

Captain Zheng reloaded his gun while grabbing a waiter.

"Is there only one place where you keep the zombies in the back?"

The waiter trembled for a long time before managing, "J-just one."

Captain Zheng frowned, holding the waiter by the collar. "The zombies aren't all there. Where are the rest?"

The waiter was speechless, terrified, and unable to answer.

Bei Nuan knew what he was looking for.

Bei Nuan quietly crouched beside him. "Captain Zheng, are you looking for that pretty girl with long hair? She was taken to a private room on the second floor."

Lu Xingchi came over and added, "That's right. A zombie was just taken upstairs."

Captain Zheng had likely come to Taiping Gate with the intention to die. In such a situation, a person fears nothing. Hearing a glimmer of hope, he immediately went upstairs.

Bei Nuan glanced towards Huo Ren again.

Huo Ren hadn't drawn his gun the entire time. He sat on the sofa, seemingly unwilling to get involved.

Bei Nuan thought, It's so dark here, and I'm wearing a hood. He shouldn't recognize me, right?

The three of them quickly went up to the second floor, searching the private rooms one by one.

Many rooms were occupied by people enjoying themselves, who were terrified by the sudden intrusion of Captain Zheng. However, they didn't see Zheng Mo.

At the very end of the hallway was the largest and most luxurious private room, which was also empty.

Seeing no one inside, Captain Zheng was about to leave.

But Bei Nuan called out, "Wait."

Near the bed at the back of the room was a large overturned metal cage, its door wide open.

A key lay discarded on the floor nearby.

Bei Nuan thought it looked like someone had been locked in the cage, somehow managed to overturn it, reach the key, and escape.

If a zombie had been locked inside, it wouldn't have had the intelligence to do that.

Even if you handed them the key, they wouldn't know how to unlock the cage.

But Bei Nuan had a nagging feeling that Zheng Mo was different.

That afternoon, when those zombies escaped and ran amok in the base, the soldiers had said that it seemed like someone had opened the cage door.

Bei Nuan strongly suspected that it might have been the unusual Zheng Mo.

Captain Zheng looked around again and strode to the window, pulling open the heavy curtains.

A figure suddenly lunged out from behind the curtains.

It was Zheng Mo.

Fortunately, she was still wearing the muzzle and gloves.

Perhaps due to the chaos outside, no one had come up to pull out her teeth and fingernails yet.

Captain Zheng's expression changed completely. He grabbed her and called out, "Xiao Mo."

Zheng Mo groaned, seemingly terrified.

She was different. Even after becoming a zombie, she still hid behind curtains and was still capable of fear.

Captain Zheng, unafraid that she was a zombie, embraced her, patting her back gently. "Don't be afraid, Xiao Mo. Brother is here."

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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