Chapter 59: Marching Forward in the Breaking Dawn

Lin Qingqing let him vent, then turned and walked over to Aunt Zhang. At this moment, Chen Tao's face was covered in tears.

"Th... thank you, Miss Lin!"

He mumbled his thanks to Lin Qingqing with trembling lips, then closed his eyes and breathed his last.

"Son? What's wrong with you? Wake up! Open your eyes, you can't just die like this!"

Aunt Zhang shook Chen Tao's corpse, crying with a voice warped beyond recognition.

"Miss Lin, please save him!"

"Aunt Zhang, Chen Tao is already dead. Leave him to me for now!"

"No, he can still be saved, he's not dead yet..."

"Please accept my condolences!"

"No..."

Aunt Zhang refused to cooperate, and no matter how Lin Qingqing tried to persuade her, it was no use. She finally had no choice but to strike her unconscious, and only then was she able to deal with Chen Tao's body before it underwent mutation.

Having dealt with Aunt Zhang, Lin Qingqing finally walked over to Zhao Na. She hadn't noticed it before, but taking a closer look now, she realized Zhao Na's condition was no better than Yue Tingting's. Her clothes were in tatters, her body was covered in bruises, and her face was smeared with blood.

Whether due to shock or trauma, Zhao Na seemed completely dazed. The once vibrant and lively girl had been reduced to a soul-less puppet.

Lin Qingqing called out to her a few times. Seeing no reaction, she could only helplessly wipe the blood from her face and settle her down next to Aunt Zhang.

Seeing this, Lei Min also brought over Yue Xuanxuan, who had finally calmed down. She instructed Wen Ling to keep a close eye on them, and then joined Lin Qingqing in clearing the corpses littered across the ground.

"Everyone will make do here for tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we'll take Aunt Zhang and the others to the base."

Lin Qingqing rubbed her brow. She had been fighting for an entire day, and no matter how good her physical fitness was, she was exhausted now.

Sensing Lin Qingqing's condition, Lei Min proactively offered to take the first watch so Lin Qingqing could get some proper rest.

"You're going to stay up by yourself?" Lin Qingqing was somewhat hesitant.

"It's fine even if I don't sleep for a night. I can always catch up on sleep tomorrow during the day. Right now, besides the two of us, there's no one else capable of keeping watch."

Lei Min insisted on taking the watch. After thinking it over, Lin Qingqing stopped refusing. "If there are any abnormalities, wake me up immediately!"

"Go get some rest, Sister Lin. It'll be fine, I'll wake you up right away if anything happens!" Lei Min promised.

Lin Qingqing no longer insisted. After settling the other four people, she found a corner near the entrance and fell asleep.

Her sleep was deeply uneasy. Her dreams were filled with scenes of her time spent with Chen Gang's team—everyone rescuing people, driving, killing zombies, and cooking just like always. The strange part was that there was not a single sound throughout the entire dream, resembling a silent movie playing in reverse.

She sensed something was wrong, but she couldn't break free no matter what she tried. Just then, someone suddenly shook her body and was calling out anxiously to her ear.

At first, there was still no sound, but gradually the voice grew louder and clearer, until finally Lin Qingqing jolted awake with a start.

"Sister Lin, wake up quickly, something's happened!"

"Lei Min?" Lin Qingqing finally made out the person in front of her. "What is it? Are there zombies coming?"

"No, it's that girl named Zhao Na—she committed suicide!"

"When did this happen?" Lin Qingqing was stunned.

"Just now, I only just found out!"

"I'm sorry, Sister Lin, I didn't keep a close eye on her!" Lei Min felt a pang of remorse in her heart.

"Tell me what happened."

Just waking up from an unpleasant dream had already left her in a bad mood, and hearing this tragic news made Lin Qingqing's expression even darker.

However, her emotional control was top-tier, and she quickly calmed down, asking for the situation in a level tone.

"At first I was keeping an eye on them, but later, seeing that they were fast asleep, I went out to patrol around the gas station. Who would have thought that right when I came back, I'd find the girl named Zhao Na was gone."

"I was shocked and frantically searched everywhere, and finally found her next to the corpses of Chen Gang and his son. By that time, she was already dead."

Saying this, Lei Min took a deep breath and looked at Lin Qingqing with a trace of apprehension.

"How did she die? Her body... have you dealt with it yet?" Lin Qingqing frowned and asked.

"She used a dagger. I haven't dealt with the body yet, I just tied her up with a rope."

"Oh, right," Lei Min remembered something else. "That man you had me tie up earlier—I threw him outside, but now he's gone too!"

"Never mind about him. He lost an arm; whether he'll even survive is up in the air," Lin Qingqing rubbed her temples. "Let's go deal with Zhao Na first."

With that, she stood up and followed Lei Min to the spot where Zhao Na had committed suicide.

There was an open concrete platform on the side of the convenience store where they had temporarily placed the bodies of Chen Gang and Chen Tao, intending to deal with them once Aunt Zhang woke up in the morning.

Right now, a skinny figure was slumped next to the corpse of Chen Tao lying on the outer edge. The two bodies leaned intimately against each other. Under the faint moonlight, Lin Qingqing recognized at a glance that this was Zhao Na. She had not yet turned into a zombie, but her hands and feet had already been bound by Lei Min.

A complex mix of emotions welled up in Lin Qingqing's chest. There was no need to guess why Zhao Na had committed suicide. The fact that she had endured for so long and silently slipped past Lei Min meant her mind had been entirely clear at the time, and she knew exactly what she was doing.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Lin Qingqing stepped forward to handle Zhao Na's body, then removed the ropes from her hands and feet.

Looking at that serene and peaceful face, scenes flashed continuously through Lin Qingqing's mind: when they first met, Zhao Na and Yue Tingting were still two shy and innocent girls trying hard to adapt to the life of the apocalypse, filled with apprehension and longing when they came to knock on her car window at night.

Even now, she still remembered the words they had said:

"I have to rely on myself..."

"I must protect my younger brother!"

"Such wonderful girls..." Lin Qingqing clenched her fists. Only a day had passed, and during the short time she was off picking someone up, how could things have ended in death?

With this thought, an inexplicable surge of fierce fury rose in her heart. Lei Min had been silently following behind Lin Qingqing; seeing her keep her head down and walk faster and faster, she immediately sensed something was amiss.

"Sister Lin, where are you going?" Lei Min asked anxiously.

Lin Qingqing did not answer. A ball of angry fire was burning inside her right now, a fire she had been suppressing for a long time, and Zhao Na's death had finally caused it to erupt completely.

Ignoring Lei Min's shouts behind her, she waved her hand to condense an ice blade and charged straight out of the gas station.

Lei Min chased closely behind her for a few steps, but the thought of Wen Ling and the others still fast asleep made her halt her steps.

Thinking of Lin Qingqing's formidable skills, she ultimately turned back toward the gas station.

"Sister Lin is so strong, she'll definitely be fine!" Lei Min hugged her knees and sat at the entrance of the convenience store, anxiously watching the direction Lin Qingqing had departed.

Under the dim starlight, Lin Qingqing sprinted desperately with the ice blade in hand. The raging fire of anger in her heart surged straight to her head; she had to do something immediately to release the stifling oppression in her chest.

The sharp patter of footsteps instantly drew the attention of the surrounding zombies. They swarmed out from every corner of the street, roaring as they lunged toward Lin Qingqing.

"Just in time!"

Lin Qingqing stopped in her tracks, swinging the ice blade in her hand. Facing these targets for her anger that had delivered themselves to her door, she wore a fierce expression, her movements grand and uninhibited, hacking and slashing without a single shred of hesitation.

"These damned zombies! This bullshit apocalypse!"

Lin Qingqing swung her blade relentlessly, cutting down one that came, slicing a pair that came in pairs. The zombies in front of her fell in successive rings until eventually the speed at which they rushed over could no longer keep up with the speed of her slaughter.

By the time she cleared out all the attracted zombies, the stifling oppression in her chest had mostly dissipated.

A raging fire ignited in the middle of the road. Lin Qingqing stood in the distance, watching quietly until all the zombies were completely incinerated, and the anger in her heart finally extinguished along with them.