Chapter 70: Thank you… for keeping him alive

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Thank you... for keeping him alive

Zhou Yinuo stepped forward again. She knelt down and pressed her palms together. Her head bowed low. The others followed.

It was a quiet, humble gesture. Just like how they used to do in the past when paying respects during Qingming Festival.

They didn’t burn incense or paper offerings. But they bowed three times, lowering their heads deeply with each one. Their hands remained pressed tightly together. They closed their eyes and prayed—not to a god, not to a spirit, but from their hearts. Wishing peace for the dead, and the strength to carry on for the living.

"I hope... if there’s another life," Chen Wei murmured quietly, "you get to live safely. With laughter. With love."

Liang Zihan’s lips trembled, but he didn’t speak. His fingers clenched tightly at his sides.

Zhou Yinuo whispered her prayer in her heart, not letting anyone hear.

Even Liora, still holding her hands before her chest, lowered her head and murmured, "Thank you... for keeping him alive."

The wind blew gently across the road. It carried the scent of dust and ash, and a faint floral fragrance from the scattered wildflowers nearby. But it was mostly overlooked by the smell of death.

After a few more moments, all of them slowly stood up.



And in the back of the Hummer, the little boy slept soundly—safe for now, thanks to the mother who had protected him even in death, and to the strangers who chose not to forget.

Without saying anything more, the group turned back toward the road.

It was time to move forward again.

The road ahead was silent again. The Hummer rolled forward on the uneven road, its tires crunching over debris and dirt, leaving behind the mound of stones that marked the dead.

Inside, the little boy slept without a sound. Wrapped in the soft blanket, his small body barely stirred even as the car bumped over potholes and cracked pavement. Liora sat beside him, watching the world outside blur past the window. Her expression was unreadable. No one knew what was going on in her mind.

The others didn’t speak much either. For a while, the silence remained heavy on them, lingering like fog after a storm. But slowly, it started disappearing as their journey continued.

They had all seen too much loss to let one moment drag them down forever.

The road stretched on, and their destination still felt so far. X City—that was their next goal. They needed to gather more supplies, scout most of the places, and fight stronger zombies to grow quickly. There was no time to stay still anymore. Survival meant getting stronger. Every day.

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the gloomy sky turned into a darker shade. Zhou Yinuo leaned forward. "It’s getting late," she said. "We should start looking for a place."

Chen Wei nodded from the driver’s seat. "We barely ran into any zombies today. That’s not a good sign."

"Yeah," Liang Zihan muttered. "They’re hiding somewhere. Probably waiting for night."

And night was the worst time to be caught outside. That was when the zombies became more active, faster, stronger, and more bloodthirsty. The group knew better than to keep driving around once the sun disappeared.

They passed several buildings as they searched—a few abandoned malls, scattered hotels, and even a large supermarket complex. But none of them stopped.

"Forget the malls," Chen Wei said. "Too risky."

"Same for the hotels," Zhou Yinuo added. "Zombies love hiding in those places. All those narrow hallways and rooms... we’d be swarmed in minutes."

The group agreed silently. They didn’t need trouble tonight. They had decided to grow stronger, but that did not mean they would walk straight into the den of zombies. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

After a while, the Hummer drove into a new area. The streets visibly widened, the houses grew bigger, and the walls surrounding them turned fancier. Big gates. Long driveways. Lawns that had long since turned to weeds. Definitely, it was a neighborhood that once belonged to the rich.

Villas were lined on both sides of the road. Huge mansions with cracked marble columns, broken fountains, and shattered glass windows were everywhere. A few cars were left abandoned in driveways, their tires flat and doors open.

The place was already abandoned. It looked like nothing but an old place filled with overgrown weeds and abandoned villas.

But luxury often meant danger. The bigger the house, the more people once lived inside. And the more people... the more zombies now. But still better than those hotels and malls.



"Let’s find a small one," Liora finally added after a long silence.

They drove a little deeper into the district, finally spotting a smaller two-storey villa tucked at the end of a side road. It was decent-sized, not too big, not too flashy. The kind of place that might have belonged to a retired couple or a small family.

"This one looks manageable," Liang Zihan said.

They stepped out and approached with silent footsteps, not creating much noise. Zhou Yinuo took the lead, quietly testing the front door. It creaked open slowly.

Inside, she tried to light the lights, but obviously, it didn’t work, and the air smelled musty. But it seemed empty. There was not even a zombie there.

Until they heard the soft voices. Footsteps and whispers not far from them, probably from the upper floor.

"Someone is here," Chen Wei said in a low voice.

All of them froze at the realization. Their luck could not be this damn bad! What people feared most now was encountering other survivors rather than zombies, especially when they were outside the bases.

Because the world outside had no rules, no regulation. Only the strong would survive and thrive. Looting other people was very common nowadays, and even killing them more so.

They didn’t care about anything except surviving a few more days, especially when they could easily get food and rations from other groups. Why risk fighting zombies or scavenging in dangerous areas when the supplies were practically walking right to their doorstep?