Rebirth: Leading Families to Survive in the Apocalypse

Chapter 59: The Battle at Old Xiao’s House

Lu Hao, followed by the father and son duo of Lin Cheng, slowly made his way to the end of the alley.

The three of them clung to the wall as they walked, passing by the doors of several neighbors. Every door was tightly closed. Lu Hao remembered how in the past, when he walked through the alley, some neighbors would leave their doors open, and occasionally kids from two households would come out to scoot on their kick scooters.

But now, the alley was eerily quiet. Lin Xiuyuan, who was walking at the back, was reminded of playing Honor of Kings. As he walked, he expected enemies to suddenly jump out of the bushes to capture someone. That was precisely how he felt now, fearing a zombie might claw at him unexpectedly as he walked. Nevertheless, he insisted on walking behind Lin Cheng. As an Ice-Element Ability User, he had to protect his old man.

As the three were about to reach the end of the alley, they passed by Old Xiao’s house and discovered, to their surprise, that the door was open!

Lu Hao suggested they check it out because they didn’t know what was inside. If they ignored it and went straight past, they might face the danger of being surrounded by zombies coming from the house when they returned.

Lin Cheng and his son agreed, as they were also curious about what had happened to Old Xiao’s house.

Old Xiao’s house was quite large, so several rooms upstairs had been rented out to tenants. Lin Cheng shared this information with Lu Hao, meaning that there could be people in every room of Old Xiao’s two-story house.

The trio carefully entered the yard through the main gate. The yard was a mess, with red plastic stools scattered on either side. To get to the front door, they had to pass through a grape arbor. It was early summer, and the grapevines’ branches and leaves were thick and lush, the dense greenery casting large shadows on the ground from the light above.

The further they walked, the stronger the smell of blood became. Lu Hao was alright since he often encountered such scents. But the two behind him were so frightened by the smell that they dared not let out a sound.

They were now beneath the grape arbor, the branches and leaves swaying in the wind and casting dancing shadows on the ground.

As they walked, Lin Cheng noticed that Lu Hao in front of him suddenly stopped. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, Lu Hao kicked back with one long leg, sending both Lin Cheng and Lin Xiuyuan flying out from under the grape arbor.

“Uh, Xiao Hao…”

Lin Cheng had been kicked onto Lin Xiuyuan, so he was alright, but Lin Xiuyuan, having been bumped, dropped, and pressed, was quite disheveled.

Before he could ask what was happening, they saw Lu Hao throw a ball of fire towards the top of the grape arbor! Following a loud roar, a heavy figure crashed to the ground. But upon closer inspection, it was no longer human; it was clearly a zombie!

It turned out that as Lu Hao passed under the grape arbor, he had sensed something was off. The ground was covered in moving leaf shadows, but there was a large, motionless shadow ahead. So he stopped, discerned the heavy breathing from above the quiet grape arbor, and immediately kicked the two behind him to safety. He then used his Fire Element Ability to hit the thing above.

The fallen zombie was not yet dead. Although its body was on fire, the flames had not reached its vitals. As the zombie struggled to rise again, Lu Hao’s expression remained unchanged. He swung his knife in a flourish, decapitating the zombie’s head!

Beautiful!!

The father and son both thought the word at the same time and also realized that Lu Hao’s kick was not for nothing. Otherwise, they would have died without knowing how.

Lin Cheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead—well, there seemed to be no sweat. It appeared he had been quite scared.

Lin Xiuyuan also stood up. From now on, his idol wasn’t Ace the Fire Fist but his brother-in-law right in front of him. He was more real and cooler than Ace the Fire Fist!!!

The noise from the yard seemed to have startled the people inside the house. The three looked at the group of figures pressing against the gauze door at the entrance of the main hall—no, a group of zombies—and involuntarily raised their weapons, ready for battle.

The door to Old Xiao’s main hall was a sliding gauze door, but the zombies inside didn’t seem to know how to slide the door open, so they just kept pounding on it…

As the sliding gauze door was about to be torn to shreds by the zombies. Lu Hao and the others waited quietly, poised to deal with whichever zombie came out first!

Soon, a female zombie with short hair crawled out first from the torn gauze door. Lin Cheng felt like crying; wasn’t this Old Xiao’s daughter-in-law, who had just greeted him yesterday?

“Dad, what are you dazed for, go!” Lin Xiuyuan, who was behind Lin Cheng, reminded him not to lose focus when he saw his father hesitate.

Lin Cheng clenched his teeth and charged forward with the watermelon knife in hand.

While Lin Cheng was fighting Old Xiao’s daughter-in-law, Lu Hao kept a close watch on the other zombies inside the door. Gradually, two more zombies crawled out. Lu Hao picked up his Ghost Hand Knife and dashed forward swiftly!

Lu Hao was very fast. As the two zombies stretched their chins trying to bite into Lu Hao’s body, at the instant they were about to collide. Lu Hao’s figure flashed to the left. His Ghost Hand Knife swept across the necks of the two zombies, their heads falling and rolling to the edge of the grape trellis.

Lin Cheng took several chops at the daughter-in-law in front of him, but couldn’t strike a critical blow; Lin Cheng had shredded the female zombie’s clothes to bits. If one ignored the terrifying face, it might still pass for a spring scene.

Lin Xiuyuan covered his eyes when he saw the disparity between the two sides; it was fortunate that Huang Yunxiang hadn’t come along. He wondered if she would be furious to see her father “teasing” a female zombie like this?

“Xiuyuan, this one’s yours!” Suddenly, Xiuyuan heard his brother-in-law, the idol, call out. He snapped back to reality and saw a child zombie about waist-high charging at him. This was Old Xiao’s own grandson…

Xiuyuan inwardly groaned. But there was no time for hesitation. Muttering “forgive me,” he raised the watermelon knife and struck at the small zombie. The small zombie was quick and agile. Xiuyuan missed several strikes, becoming a bit anxious. Since there were no more zombies coming out of the main hall, Lu Hao could focus on ensuring the safety of Lin Cheng and Xiuyuan.

“Xiuyuan, don’t keep circling with him, find a way to trap him,” Lu Hao didn’t join in the battle but coached them on how to fight. Lin Cheng and his son also knew that with Lu Hao holding the front, they could focus on the two zombies in front of them.

Lin Cheng’s wild swinging finally chopped off the daughter-in-law’s lower leg. Watching the female zombie still struggle to crawl toward him, Lin Cheng’s eyes gleamed fiercely. With a “swoosh,” he drove the watermelon knife down into the top of the female zombie’s head!

The female zombie lay motionless on the ground, apparently dead for good.

Xiuyuan took Lu Hao’s advice and covered the small zombie’s head with a plastic stool lying under the grape trellis. The surface of the stool was punctured by the small zombie’s head, but it succeeded in trapping the zombie. Xiuyuan took the opportunity to stab the small zombie’s head; the watermelon knife hit its face squarely, and the small zombie finally fell.

Lin Cheng and his son sat slumped on the ground, looking at the gruesomely butchered zombies without feeling sick at all. Xiuyuan stood up, mimicking Lu Hao, pulling out the knife and searching inside the small zombie’s head.

Maybe it was just good luck, but both the female zombie and the small zombie’s heads contained Crystal Cores, and Lu Hao also found a clear Crystal Core. It seemed the trip was worthwhile after all.

Just then, the three heard the sound of a sliding window opening upstairs. A young man cried out desperately at them, “Help, please, get me out of here!”