Chapter 56: Exchange
The café was very messy. All the food was definitely gone, but nobody took the equipment inside. Bai Yi very quickly used the equipment in the café to brew a cup of coffee for everyone. By now, the rest of them had already tidied up the café. It was definitely pleasurable to be able to drink a cup of rich and warm coffee in this cold weather.
"What is this taste, it's so weird!" Martin took a sip and creased his eyebrows.
"Civet coffee, it's the treasure of the original owner Yoshimoto; I've never tried it before either." Bai Yi said.
"What treasure, it's not even as good as the coffee I normally drink." Martin shook his head.
"Civet coffee, produced in India. Coffee beans are one of the things on a civet's diet, but the coffee beans cannot be digested by the digestive system. The coffee beans then ferment inside the intestines of the civet and are excreted out later. The locals then collect the coffee beans from its excrement and process it further, producing this 'cat poop' coffee. The taste is very unique, and I heard that the production volume is also very small…" Hong Qi Hua wanted to carry on speaking but Martin and Sara immediately spat out the coffee.
Cat... Cat poop coffee?
"Your interests are really too special." Martin apparently couldn't carry on drinking.
"People always liked to keep rare things as their treasures to display their own unique taste and status, even if these things aren't actually that valuable. Actually, I don't really like this taste either." Bai Yi creased his eyebrows, but he still finished his cup of coffee. Not wasting food was one of the basic qualities of a chef.
"It's just like that thing that I saw it on television awhile back, that Paris Fashion Show. The so-called 'fashionable' clothes that the models were wearing just looked like a few rags wrapped together, but they still treated it as the 'fashion trend'. It's not even as nice as the clothes that I'm wearing now!"
Everyone looked at Woolf dumbly.
"What's wrong, why are all of you looking at me?"
"No, nothing. I just didn't expect that you would be able to occasionally see the truth." Bai Yi said, and he himself couldn't help but to burst out laughing. The others weren't too different and they all started laughing. Actually, there were a lot of things that everybody knew, just that they didn't bother saying it out loud.
"Warm up. While the sky isn't dark yet, let's try to see if there's any gas." Bai Yi said to the rest.
……
After finishing the coffee, Bai Yi split the group into 3 teams. Bai Yi and Martin were team one, while Woolf and Heloise were team two. The two teams would split up to look for gas in the city, and the rest of them would stay back to guard the place. There wasn't enough gas left. If they couldn't find some, then they would have to walk to Tongariro National Park.
The city was still very quiet. After all, this wasn't like the zombie outbreaks in the movies. The two kinds of viruses were different. Binge eating and starvation caused those who still retained their rationality to leave the city that didn't have any food left in it.
After more than two hours, Bai Yi and Martin didn't manage to find anything, and upon seeing that the sky was getting dark, they returned to the main group. Everyone was waiting for Woolf and Heloise, but after a long period of time they stared in the direction that Woolf and Heloise went off in and creased their eyebrows.
Still not back!
"Drive the car into the forest and hide it well, then we'll all go and search for Woolf and Heloise…" Just when Bai Yi thought that something had happened to the two of them, Sharpei suddenly started barking loudly. They then saw Woolf and Heloise running towards them with another two people beside them.
"Bai Yi, we found gas, but the other side wants something in exchange." Heloise went towards Bai Yi and said softly.
"You are the leader of this team?" One of the newcomers observed Bai Yi's group and said to Bai Yi.
"Yes, I am the leader." Bai Yi nodded and at the same time observed the two newcomers silently.
"We are the only ones that have gas. You will probably have a very hard time finding more in the city. If you want some, then bring out something in exchange for it."
"What do you want?"
"Food, this is a must. Other things like weapons are fine too."
"How do you want to exchange this?"
"There's no fixed way to exchange. After all, things are different from before. As long as we both feel that the terms are ok then we can do the exchange. Hurry up and decide. If you feel that it's ok then follow us." This guy looked rather skinny, as if he hadn't eaten for days, but his mind was still rather clear.
"Where are we going for the exchange?"
"Of course it's to our place, who would bring gas around everywhere?"
"Ok then, lead the way." Bai Yi nodded. At least from what he could observe, the other side was still quite normal. However, when Bai Yi turned around he still nodded to Hong Qi Hua almost imperceptibly. Bai Yi negotiated with the two of them as the leader, while Hong Qi Hua went to warn the others to be careful after seeing Bai Yi's gesture.
"They don't seem to be bad people." Martin said.
"We have a saying in China - You must always have the heart to guard against others!" Hong Qi Hua said. In reality, Hong Qi Hua had some things that she didn't say. The two of them were too skinny, just like skinny dogs. They also retained more than 90% of their human appearance, but rather than saying they did not fuse with any genes, it was more accurate to say that they did not have enough nutrition to provide their activated cells with. To put it simply, they were malnourished.
Although Martin and the rest did not understand the saying too well, they still followed Hong Qi Hua's words and held their weapons properly, secretly being on guard for anything.
Bai Yi gave the two of them a packet of dried meat, and tried to butter up to them deliberately. The two of them very quickly revealed quite a bit of information. They were apparently starving very badly, after receiving the dried meat, they didn't stand on courtesy and started devouring it in the car while telling Bai Yi some things.
They belonged to the same team and were just struggling at death's door in the city. At the start everyone wanted to go outside to look for food, but a large portion of them never came back after leaving. The wilderness became incomparably dangerous. Although there wasn't much food left in the city, it was still the territory of humans. These people struggled to survive in the city and though the food was gone, they collected quite a bit of other resources.
"We're here!" One of them said.
Bai Yi stopped the car and looked at the so-called gathering point. This place wasn't remote, and it was right beside Whanganui River and a mini hydroelectric plant. The gathering point was initially a supermarket, and beside it was a flower shop. At this time, a group of people walked out from the supermarket and the majority of them looked extremely skinny. Their expressions were also incomparably gloomy and in despair.
The two groups observed each other and had their own thoughts silently.
"Welcome, welcome. What's your name?" The leader still looked quite 'normal', he was about 2.5 meters tall with bulging muscles over his body. A boar's tusks grew from his neck and his canine teeth stretched more than 10 centimeters outside of his mouth. A praying mantis-like sickle grew out from his right arm, while his left arm was in a huge bundle hidden inside his clothes and wasn't visible.
"Bai Yi."
"Mr Bai Yi then, I am Jodi." This Jodi was very warm and drew closer familiarly. While introducing himself, he similarly looked over Bai Yi's group. Wow, what a huge dog, that is a complete monster…
The other group was extremely terrified when they saw Sharpei and some of them even immediately raised their guns.
"Stop!" Jodi immediately stopped everyone.
"I'm sorry, your dog is too frightening, and they were also too agitated. I heard that you wanted some gas?" Jodi apologised on the surface, but he too looked cautiously at Sharpei. Seeing that Sharpei had no other movements, he finally relaxed a little.
"That's right, we need some gas." Bai Yi nodded.
"Please enter, we have gas here. We collected some while searching for food…" Jodi walked at the front and Bai Yi followed behind, the two groups of people still observing each other. There were quite a few people on the other side, more than 20 of them, but more than half were relatively skinny. It seemed that they didn't have enough to eat for a long time. The other portion seemed to be healthier, but their expressions also seemed to be more ruthless.
Someone very quickly wanted to check their heavy truck, but Hong Qi Hua suddenly appeared beside the guy and grabbed onto the hand that was about to open the car door.
"What are you thinking of doing?" Hong Qi Hua asked calmly.
"Scram you little whore, can't I take a look?!" This guy was even taller than Woolf, a full 3 meters tall. He looked just like an elephant and waved his hand at Hong Qi Hua. The guy waved his hand and Hong Qi Hua also exerted her strength at the same time. Their hands clashed together but the guy who was even bigger than Woolf was the one sent flying away. He flew about 4-5 meters and landed heavily on the floor.
A loud 'boom!' sounded as if a mini earthquake happened.
This immediately drew everyone's attention and they all looked over, while Bai Yi stared at Jodi.
"Sorry, sorry, Maurice is a bit too impetuous. He just wanted to see what you guys have to eat, there were no evil intentions. But I didn't expect that this little Miss would have such great strength." Jodi laughed loudly and explained.
"Oh really, of course you guys can look. Just bring the gas to exchange; it's that simple." Bai Yi said.
"Sure, Mallory, bring out the gas." Jodi nodded.
Bai Yi nodded to Hong Qi Hua and she brought the prepared Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat over. Tentacle Slug meat wasn't too tasty, but it was good for staving off hunger. The Giant Crab Alligator's meat tasted better, but the nutritional value was very average, probably around the same as how beef would be like to a normal human before. Anyway, it was all meat from evolved lifeforms, so it had much higher nutritional value than normal food.
Very quickly, Jodi brought the gas out, not only was there gasoline but various other types of gas. After that, Bai Yi and Jodi started to negotiate and barter over the terms of trade.
Seemingly… this Jodi wasn't being too difficult. Although the meat he wanted was quite a bit, it was still within the acceptable range for Bai Yi. In the end, the two of them finally reached an agreement, and it was considered a happy business completed……?
Chapter 57: Thoracic Vertebra
The gas was brought over to Bai Yi's side, and all the gas tanks of the vehicles were filled to the brim. Other than that, there were still three full containers of gas that were placed on the truck. They initially wanted to do it themselves, but the guy who helped them to move the gas container was too enthusiastic and directly brought it up to the truck. After that guy came down, he gave an almost imperceptible nod to Jodi.
"The sky is already dark, why don't you guys stay over at our place?" Jodi invited them passionately.
At this time, Bai Yi saw from the corner of his eye a woman secretly shaking his head at him.
If nobody tried to warn him, then he might have really left immediately. Bai Yi who was keeping a close eye on everybody saw the slight nod that the guy gave to Jodi, and moreover the atmosphere here was really strange. However, with somebody trying to warn him now, he on the contrary wanted to see what exactly was going on here.
"Sure then, thanks!" Bai Yi replied.
"No need for formality, we owe Brother Bai Yi so much, our food stock was running really low, hahahaha!" Jodi laughed loudly, seemingly very straightforward and passionate.
Thinking that Bai Yi did not see her warning, the skinny woman sighed in her heart.
The supermarket still had electricity. Apparently, this was the reason why they chose to set up their base right beside the mini hydroelectric plant. Humans had a natural fear towards the dark, especially during dangerous times like this.
"I think there's no need for you guys to bring your weapons here?" Jodi couldn't help but speak seeing that everybody in Bai Yi's group were still carrying their weapons.
"Sorry, we are all really frightened by New Zealand's situation recently. Bringing our weapons with us will make us feel safer." Bai Yi smiled and explained. Doing this seemed to be quite rude, but Bai Yi didn't have any intention of putting down his sword. Jodi continued on the subject but seeing that Bai Yi just smiled and patronised him with no changes, he didn't bother to continue.
……
Jodi apparently treated himself like a host, and took the initiative to treat them to dinner. Very quickly, the food was served. It wasn't considered to be plentiful, but it wasn't little either. A lot of it was the Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat that Bai Yi handed over just now, and the rest of it apparently came from their own supplies.
"Eat, eat!" Jodi invited.
Bai Yi ignored the Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat. He was already sick of it over the past two days. He looked at the other types of meat on the table, and there was even a type of vegetable that he didn't recognise…a new type of plant? At this time, Mavis suddenly put down her fork and knife, and shook her head at Bai Yi. Bai Yi looked at Mavis' actions and he too put down his fork and knife.
"What's wrong, why aren't you guys eating?" Jodi's tone suddenly became slightly colder.
"The thoracic vertebra, each vertebra gradually increases in size from top to bottom, and its horizontal cross section looks roughly like a heart shape. From the lateral profile, there's an upper and lower cavity at each vertebra to connect to the ribs. I want to ask you, what is a human's thoracic vertebra doing on a plate here?" Mavis' eyes were very complicated. In reality, she had already guessed the answer, but she couldn't accept it in her heart. It was a human being served on the table!
"You, you can tell!" Jodi's voice started trembling.
"I am a doctor!" Mavis said plainly. She wasn't only a doctor, but one with great medical skills and proficient in both internal and external medicine. Nobody here was more familiar with the human body than Mavis.
"Move!" Jodi suddenly shouted. Actually, he didn't intend to act in a situation like this, but he didn't expect that the group of them would be so cautious. Now that things had developed to this stage, he had no other choice.
Before Jodi's voice could come out, Bai Yi already rushed forward, running across the hastily built table. His every step landed on the gap between the cups and plates, and not even a single drop of soup was spewed. Jodi's mouth opened wide and his eyes looked at Bai Yi in shock, at this moment Bai Yi was already right in front of him. Jodi could clearly see his pair of eyes that were calm to the point of being icy.
Bai Yi wanted to subdue Jodi before he could even speak, but apparently his movements were still slower by a bit.
Gunshots rapidly fired, at this moment everyone swiftly dodged and ran.
Hong Qi Hua grabbed Momo, rolled on the floor and rushed behind a corner. The bullets raised a trail of dust on the floor and the rest of them too quickly dodged to the side, frantically looking for cover.
'CHENG!'
Bai Yi's broadsword landed heavily on a canine tooth-like weapon in Jodi's hand, and sparks immediately flew. This guy, his actions were so swift as well! Two powerful strengths clashed against each other, and the chair beneath Jodi instantly broke into pieces. Bai Yi made use of the momentum and flipped in the air. He simultaneously tilted his blade slightly, hacking down along the canine tooth.
"AHHH…!!" An ear-piercing scream filled the air and Bai Yi's blade sliced off four of Jodi's fingers.
Bai Yi wanted to follow up with his attack, but his eyes abruptly contracted, and he quickly raised the sword to block in front of him.
'Ding ding!' Bai Yi's broadsword moved almost imperceptibly to intercept the incoming objects.
Two bullets instantly slid off the surface of the sword and flew past Bai Yi's body. One of the bullets even rubbed across Bai Yi's face, forming a line of blood. Bai Yi flipped in the air and landed, immediately bursting towards the corner and hiding behind the wall. Only now did Bai Yi touch his waist, finding his hand full of blood.
Just now in that hasty moment he only blocked the two fatal bullets, as for the other bullets he didn't have the capacity to care about them.
Closing his eyes, Bai Yi took a deep breath and opened them again, his eyes containing incredible coldness and anger. Actually, Bai Yi long knew that something like this would happen. After all in the history of China, there were records detailing how families would eat their children in times of extreme famine. However, regardless of the reason, this kind of behaviour was not forgivable.
Bai Yi suddenly dashed out again, his body rapidly flashing past a guy holding a gun in another corner.
'Puchi!', a line of blood appeared on the guy's neck and his head fell onto the floor. Bai Yi's left hand grabbed his submachine gun and squeezed the trigger towards the other firing points. Those people who were scared of death immediately retreated and dodged behind obstacles, but in that short window of opportunity, Woolf, Heloise and Martin had already taken the chance and rushed forward.
'Your weapon must never leave your hand.' That was what Bai Yi had always been emphasizing. Only now did they truly understand what he meant.
Honestly speaking, Woolf and the others did not have the mental preparation to fight with fellow humans, but their bodies still moved with practiced familiarity… This was an instinctual reaction to danger. Everyone rushed towards their respective opponent, even Little Warner, while Pupu hid in an unknown place with its fat and round body.
The moment she brought Momo outside, Hong Qi Hua immediately threw her and turned around. 'Dang dang dang!'…Hong Qi Hua's two short knives clashed against a steel rod. In an instant, her hands moved with an imperceivable speed and knocked against the steel rod dozens of times. The sounds were so concentrated that it connected together. The rapid continuous collisions dispersed the strength behind the steel rod and she then flipped in the air and crouched on the floor.
When Momo was about to land on the floor, Sharpei suddenly rushed out from inside and caught her. Momo also familiarly grabbed onto the tuft of hair on its neck, and looked at Hong Qi Hua and the big guy. Although Momo felt very nervous, she was gradually getting used to these kind of sudden situations after the encounter with the monster by the river.
"Protect Momo!"
"Woof!" Sharpei barked and ran somewhere else carrying Momo.
Hong Qi Hua stood up straight and looked at the 3-meter-tall elephant-like fellow. She seemed to remember that he was called Maurice? This was the guy that she'd sent flying earlier. Now he was carrying a giant thick steel rod, carrying an incomparably dangerous air around him.
……
After creating a gap for Woolf and the others, Bai Yi did not continue to stay at the supermarket but chased after Jodi deeper inside. Along the way there were two people who tried to shoot at Bai Yi, but Bai Yi triggered his gun faster than them and killed them instantly.
Along the corridor, Bai Yi finally managed to stop Jodi. Bai Yi did not waste any words, and aimed his submachine gun at him and squeezed the trigger, only to find that there were no more bullets.
This was why he'd said that hot weapons were just like pieces of scrap metal without bullets.
Jodi's four fingers on his right hand were already cut off, but the sickle on the surface of his arm swiftly shot forward, incomparably sharp. The left hand that hid inside his clothes all along also revealed itself to be a…mouth, a big mouth that was full of sharp teeth. Seeing that Bai Yi threw away his submachine gun, Jodi didn't try to run anymore and turned around panting, standing off against Bai Yi.
Bai Yi fiercely rushed forward, his broadsword tilted at an angle from his body.
Apparently, Jodi understood well enough too, and after giving a loud roar, he similarly sprinted towards Bai Yi, raising the sharp sickle on his arm.
'Clang~~!'
Bai Yi's broadsword vibrated at a high speed within an extremely small area, and from looking at it, it seemed just like a normal sword. The two of them flashed past each other with a loud collision. Jodi's left arm flew into the air from his elbow onwards, and a giant gash appeared on his chest as well. Jodi's eyes filled with deep disbelief. His sickle was even tougher than normal swords, how could it just break like that?
In some ways, Bai Yi's broadsword could be considered to be one of those more treasured blades inside the mangas.
"Hahahaha, I never thought that you would be so powerful. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have had ill-intentions towards you." Jodi kneeled on the floor and laughed loudly, blood spewed out from his mouth, making his voice sound somewhat strange.
"I don't think that's the issue here!" Bai Yi walked over and said coldly.
"You can't blame for me that, you can only blame this damnable world! You understand right, that kind of hunger, that extreme hunger that drives you crazy, that hunger that forces you to eat even if it meant eating another human being!" Jodi said loudly and gradually became more and more agitated. "In the end, all of us have become monsters, who still treats another person as a human being? I saw it, this world's future! Everyone will become monsters, preying on each other as… food."
Jodi looked at Bai Yi viciously, a maniacal look on his face.
Chapter 58: Hope Within Despair
"How did you block it?" The elephant-like Maurice asked. Only he knew how much power was contained in that steel rod of his. With Hong Qi Hua's small body, it shouldn't have been possible for her to stop it.
"If once is not enough, then I just have to do it multiple times and disperse it." Hong Qi Hua held her two short knives and replied seriously.
"Disperse?"
What she was dispersing was of course the impact!
For example, that huge steel rod. In theory, it'd be impossible to try and use a small knife to block it. The knife would either be knocked away or broken. However, even if it were a toy knife, it would still be able to cause some resistance to the steel rod when being knocked away. What Hong Qi Hua did was to automatically separate their weapons when she felt that the force her knife could bear had reached its limit. She then rapidly repeated the same movements multiple times in a short period, causing resistance every time and dispersing the force of the steel rod.
If it were before, then it was impossible for her to do this, but now it was possible!
This was of course one of the blade force techniques that Bai Yi talked about that was very hard for humans to do before!
Hong Qi Hua apparently did not have the habit of clearing doubts for her opponent, so after that sentence she gripped her knives in both hands and burst forward. Maurice was shocked, he instantly raised his steel rod and smashed it down. At this time, Hong Qi Hua was actually waiting for his attack. Her body was as agile as a cat. When the steel rod smashed down, she instantly jumped on top of it and flew up.
From the left and right, the two short knives crossed and went through his neck.
After landing, Hong Qi Hua stared at the dark sky, her eyes containing great sorrow.
To be truthful, Hong Qi Hua did not have the mental preparation to fight with her fellow humans as well. However, this group of people had already started eating other humans, and their intentions were clearly bad as well. She wouldn't be that stupid to let those people live after that. It wasn't that she couldn't be kind, but many times unnecessary kindness would just harm yourself.
"So… fast!" Lifeforms infected with activated cells really had scarily powerful life forces.
"A real battle aims for fatality!" Hong Qi Hua turned around. Since she had the strength to kill her opponent in one strike, there was no need to dilly dally. That wouldn't be a real battle. After purposely fusing with some animal genes, Hong Qi Hua and the others were already ahead of the majority of people.
The elephant-like Maurice cracked open a smile and his head rolled onto the floor.
No matter how powerful the activated cells were, apparently even they couldn't save someone from decapacitation.
……
"Do it, I have already lost hope in this world. In truth, the rest of them are probably in despair as well. Maybe death to them is a form of mercy. You are very strong, if possible, I hope that you can bring them and… live on." After shouting and venting, Jodi seemed to become calmer.
"I'm sorry, I don't have that power!" Bai Yi rejected him even before he finished his last few words.
"But, I will give them hope, hope within that despair." Bai Yi said, as he swung his broadsword in the middle of Jodi's puzzlement, providing liberation.
……
Very quickly, everyone gathered back at the supermarket. The battle ended abnormally quickly. Just as Bai Yi said at the start, life was actually very fragile. When you had the advantage, it only took an instant to kill the opponent. All the guns were confiscated and thrown into the center, and those who originally belonged to Jodi's group were either dead or kneeling along the wall.
"You, tell me what happened exactly!" Bai Yi pointed to the woman who tried to warn him at the start.
The woman that Bai Yi pointed at raised her head and looked at Bai Yi seriously. Her eyes were full of disbelief, and at the end a hint of sorrow appeared in them. She only wanted Bai Yi and his team to leave this place, she never thought…
"Actually, Jodi did not actively kill people for food. We weren't originally in one group, but gradually we started to gather together. A few days ago, there was a conflict due to starvation and a few people died. Jodi and the rest were too hungry and so… The rest of them couldn't bear with their hunger either, and followed Jodi to start consuming human flesh. The others, which are the few of us remaining, still refused to eat human flesh, and we became so thin in just a few days." Doris explained.
"And then?"
"Jodi saw that you guys had a lot of food, so he wanted to steal it." Doris said in a low voice.
"It's like that… How much food do you guys have left?" Bai Yi suddenly asked.
"There's none left." Everyone who were originally here shook their heads.
"Bai Yi!" Sara saw Bai Yi's expression and wanted to say something, but Mavis stopped her.
"Bring all the corpses over here." Bai Yi suddenly said after standing at the same spot for a long while and giving a deep sigh.
Most of the people in the supermarket had not guessed Bai Yi's intentions yet, but Hong Qi Hua suddenly opened her eyes wide. Bai Yi's actions, is it for real? I really hope that I guessed wrongly. However, very quickly Hong Qi Hua knew that her guess was right. Bai Yi really intended to do that.
In one battle, nine people died. All the bodies were gathered at the center, and the stench of blood coming from the bodies assaulted their noses.
"What if I, too, tell you guys to eat human flesh!"
His tone wasn't too heavy, and was even quite light. However, everyone was absolutely shocked to the core and couldn't believe their ears. Even Woolf, who had the most trust in Bai Yi, opened his eyes wide. Sara and Martin immediately couldn't hold it in and wanted to say something but were suppressed by Hong Qi Hua and Mavis.
"The situation now is that, if you don't eat their corpses then you will die of starvation! Even if we showed some kindness and leave some food, it's definitely not enough for all of you to eat."
"Actually, human beings and other animals aren't too different. We are similarly made out of muscles, fats, proteins and other compounds. It's just that the subjective notions of humanity… morals, religion and law, give a different meaning to these corpses. However, now that even the human organization called 'society' is non-existent in New Zealand, these subjective notions of course have no basis to exist on anymore. What I feel is that, rather than letting these corpses rot away underground, why not let you guys survive and live on." Bai Yi slowly said.
None of them could express how they felt inside their hearts. What were these words that sounded like the Devil's voice, freezing their souls and tempting them into the abyss?
"If you have really starved to the limit and want to eat them, I will not object to it."
"But!"
"I hope you remember how you feel while eating them, but I'm definitely not telling you to prey on other humans. I'm letting you guys remember, this resolution you have to survive even if it meant eating your fellow human beings! When you eat them, your life will carry another set of heaviness and hope. You must not only just continue living, but see for yourself, why did this world become so cruel!" Bai Yi said in an abnormally heavy and ruthless voice.
After speaking, Bai Yi drew his broadsword and picked up Jodi's corpse. He then cut off Jodi's left arm that resembled nothing like a human's.
Bai Yi picked up the left arm, and under the gaze of everybody here…
Bite!
Everyone could see, Bai Yi really bit off a piece of the flesh from the arm and swallowed it just like that. After eating a mouthful of flesh, Bai Yi passed the arm to Hong Qi Hua beside him.
Hong Qi Hua looked at the arm and stood silently on the spot, while everyone else looked at her.
If there was one person who could still understand Bai Yi's actions, then that could only be Hong Qi Hua. Even if it meant carrying the lives of others, we have to continue living? Uncle Bai, has New Zealand already become so cruel in your eyes? Hong Qi Hua looked at Bai Yi, and slowly received the arm. She then…bit on it.
Everyone understood Bai Yi's words, but understanding was one thing and accepting was another. Nobody thought that they really had to eat their own kind.
Carrying another set of heaviness and hope, to see with your own eyes why this world became so cruel!
With Bai Yi and Hong Qi Hua taking the lead, everyone else gathered their resolution and they all took a bite from the arm, just like taking an oath. Even Little Warner and the four-year-old Momo didn't fall behind. They bore with the stench of blood and bit a piece of human flesh.
Eating human flesh, this violation of morality that countless people couldn't accept it the world, actually evoked a sense of hope in their despair.
Even those who refused to consume human flesh initially did not reject it now. One notion arose in everyone's hearts: Even if it meant eating the corpses of my kind, I will live on for you to see! This world that became cruel, why exactly did it become like this!
Everyone's mindsets started to change!
……
Before leaving, Bai Yi's group left behind half of their food. Doris, who became the temporary leader, did not reject as well and accepted it graciously.
"What are you guys planning to do?" Hong Qi Hua asked.
"Bury the corpses of Jodi and others." Doris gave an answer that was different from her question.
"Oh? So confident?"
"En, just like Uncle Bai said, we will carry on the burden and hope from the others. We will continue to live on courageously in this world, and see for ourselves why it became so cruel." Doris said seriously. The other people beside Doris nodded their head solemnly as well. The air around them and their expressions were already worlds apart from their previous despair and lack of will to live.
"I wish you guys good luck." Hong Qi Hua smiled, waved her hand and left.
"Help me to thank Uncle Bai!" Doris shouted. Actually, many people here were older than Bai Yi, but at this time everyone addressed him as Uncle Bai from the bottom of their hearts.
"He will say that you guys are making him seem older than he is!" Hong Qi Hua walked towards the vehicle convoy, leaving behind the view of her back.
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TN: I really liked this chapter, the human aspect of this story is so intriguing. Normally people like Jodi would just be passed off as 'evil' and 'scum' in other stories, but is evil so easily defined? Many times, we are simply forced by circumstances, what would you do if you were in that 'evil' person's shoes? And you have to admit Bai Yi's character seems cold and dull at the start, but it's actually very interesting.
Chapter 56: Exchange
The café was very messy. All the food was definitely gone, but nobody took the equipment inside. Bai Yi very quickly used the equipment in the café to brew a cup of coffee for everyone. By now, the rest of them had already tidied up the café. It was definitely pleasurable to be able to drink a cup of rich and warm coffee in this cold weather.
"What is this taste, it's so weird!" Martin took a sip and creased his eyebrows.
"Civet coffee, it's the treasure of the original owner Yoshimoto; I've never tried it before either." Bai Yi said.
"What treasure, it's not even as good as the coffee I normally drink." Martin shook his head.
"Civet coffee, produced in India. Coffee beans are one of the things on a civet's diet, but the coffee beans cannot be digested by the digestive system. The coffee beans then ferment inside the intestines of the civet and are excreted out later. The locals then collect the coffee beans from its excrement and process it further, producing this 'cat poop' coffee. The taste is very unique, and I heard that the production volume is also very small…" Hong Qi Hua wanted to carry on speaking but Martin and Sara immediately spat out the coffee.
Cat... Cat poop coffee?
"Your interests are really too special." Martin apparently couldn't carry on drinking.
"People always liked to keep rare things as their treasures to display their own unique taste and status, even if these things aren't actually that valuable. Actually, I don't really like this taste either." Bai Yi creased his eyebrows, but he still finished his cup of coffee. Not wasting food was one of the basic qualities of a chef.
"It's just like that thing that I saw it on television awhile back, that Paris Fashion Show. The so-called 'fashionable' clothes that the models were wearing just looked like a few rags wrapped together, but they still treated it as the 'fashion trend'. It's not even as nice as the clothes that I'm wearing now!"
Everyone looked at Woolf dumbly.
"What's wrong, why are all of you looking at me?"
"No, nothing. I just didn't expect that you would be able to occasionally see the truth." Bai Yi said, and he himself couldn't help but to burst out laughing. The others weren't too different and they all started laughing. Actually, there were a lot of things that everybody knew, just that they didn't bother saying it out loud.
"Warm up. While the sky isn't dark yet, let's try to see if there's any gas." Bai Yi said to the rest.
……
After finishing the coffee, Bai Yi split the group into 3 teams. Bai Yi and Martin were team one, while Woolf and Heloise were team two. The two teams would split up to look for gas in the city, and the rest of them would stay back to guard the place. There wasn't enough gas left. If they couldn't find some, then they would have to walk to Tongariro National Park.
The city was still very quiet. After all, this wasn't like the zombie outbreaks in the movies. The two kinds of viruses were different. Binge eating and starvation caused those who still retained their rationality to leave the city that didn't have any food left in it.
After more than two hours, Bai Yi and Martin didn't manage to find anything, and upon seeing that the sky was getting dark, they returned to the main group. Everyone was waiting for Woolf and Heloise, but after a long period of time they stared in the direction that Woolf and Heloise went off in and creased their eyebrows.
Still not back!
"Drive the car into the forest and hide it well, then we'll all go and search for Woolf and Heloise…" Just when Bai Yi thought that something had happened to the two of them, Sharpei suddenly started barking loudly. They then saw Woolf and Heloise running towards them with another two people beside them.
"Bai Yi, we found gas, but the other side wants something in exchange." Heloise went towards Bai Yi and said softly.
"You are the leader of this team?" One of the newcomers observed Bai Yi's group and said to Bai Yi.
"Yes, I am the leader." Bai Yi nodded and at the same time observed the two newcomers silently.
"We are the only ones that have gas. You will probably have a very hard time finding more in the city. If you want some, then bring out something in exchange for it."
"What do you want?"
"Food, this is a must. Other things like weapons are fine too."
"How do you want to exchange this?"
"There's no fixed way to exchange. After all, things are different from before. As long as we both feel that the terms are ok then we can do the exchange. Hurry up and decide. If you feel that it's ok then follow us." This guy looked rather skinny, as if he hadn't eaten for days, but his mind was still rather clear.
"Where are we going for the exchange?"
"Of course it's to our place, who would bring gas around everywhere?"
"Ok then, lead the way." Bai Yi nodded. At least from what he could observe, the other side was still quite normal. However, when Bai Yi turned around he still nodded to Hong Qi Hua almost imperceptibly. Bai Yi negotiated with the two of them as the leader, while Hong Qi Hua went to warn the others to be careful after seeing Bai Yi's gesture.
"They don't seem to be bad people." Martin said.
"We have a saying in China - You must always have the heart to guard against others!" Hong Qi Hua said. In reality, Hong Qi Hua had some things that she didn't say. The two of them were too skinny, just like skinny dogs. They also retained more than 90% of their human appearance, but rather than saying they did not fuse with any genes, it was more accurate to say that they did not have enough nutrition to provide their activated cells with. To put it simply, they were malnourished.
Although Martin and the rest did not understand the saying too well, they still followed Hong Qi Hua's words and held their weapons properly, secretly being on guard for anything.
Bai Yi gave the two of them a packet of dried meat, and tried to butter up to them deliberately. The two of them very quickly revealed quite a bit of information. They were apparently starving very badly, after receiving the dried meat, they didn't stand on courtesy and started devouring it in the car while telling Bai Yi some things.
They belonged to the same team and were just struggling at death's door in the city. At the start everyone wanted to go outside to look for food, but a large portion of them never came back after leaving. The wilderness became incomparably dangerous. Although there wasn't much food left in the city, it was still the territory of humans. These people struggled to survive in the city and though the food was gone, they collected quite a bit of other resources.
"We're here!" One of them said.
Bai Yi stopped the car and looked at the so-called gathering point. This place wasn't remote, and it was right beside Whanganui River and a mini hydroelectric plant. The gathering point was initially a supermarket, and beside it was a flower shop. At this time, a group of people walked out from the supermarket and the majority of them looked extremely skinny. Their expressions were also incomparably gloomy and in despair.
The two groups observed each other and had their own thoughts silently.
"Welcome, welcome. What's your name?" The leader still looked quite 'normal', he was about 2.5 meters tall with bulging muscles over his body. A boar's tusks grew from his neck and his canine teeth stretched more than 10 centimeters outside of his mouth. A praying mantis-like sickle grew out from his right arm, while his left arm was in a huge bundle hidden inside his clothes and wasn't visible.
"Bai Yi."
"Mr Bai Yi then, I am Jodi." This Jodi was very warm and drew closer familiarly. While introducing himself, he similarly looked over Bai Yi's group. Wow, what a huge dog, that is a complete monster…
The other group was extremely terrified when they saw Sharpei and some of them even immediately raised their guns.
"Stop!" Jodi immediately stopped everyone.
"I'm sorry, your dog is too frightening, and they were also too agitated. I heard that you wanted some gas?" Jodi apologised on the surface, but he too looked cautiously at Sharpei. Seeing that Sharpei had no other movements, he finally relaxed a little.
"That's right, we need some gas." Bai Yi nodded.
"Please enter, we have gas here. We collected some while searching for food…" Jodi walked at the front and Bai Yi followed behind, the two groups of people still observing each other. There were quite a few people on the other side, more than 20 of them, but more than half were relatively skinny. It seemed that they didn't have enough to eat for a long time. The other portion seemed to be healthier, but their expressions also seemed to be more ruthless.
Someone very quickly wanted to check their heavy truck, but Hong Qi Hua suddenly appeared beside the guy and grabbed onto the hand that was about to open the car door.
"What are you thinking of doing?" Hong Qi Hua asked calmly.
"Scram you little whore, can't I take a look?!" This guy was even taller than Woolf, a full 3 meters tall. He looked just like an elephant and waved his hand at Hong Qi Hua. The guy waved his hand and Hong Qi Hua also exerted her strength at the same time. Their hands clashed together but the guy who was even bigger than Woolf was the one sent flying away. He flew about 4-5 meters and landed heavily on the floor.
A loud 'boom!' sounded as if a mini earthquake happened.
This immediately drew everyone's attention and they all looked over, while Bai Yi stared at Jodi.
"Sorry, sorry, Maurice is a bit too impetuous. He just wanted to see what you guys have to eat, there were no evil intentions. But I didn't expect that this little Miss would have such great strength." Jodi laughed loudly and explained.
"Oh really, of course you guys can look. Just bring the gas to exchange; it's that simple." Bai Yi said.
"Sure, Mallory, bring out the gas." Jodi nodded.
Bai Yi nodded to Hong Qi Hua and she brought the prepared Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat over. Tentacle Slug meat wasn't too tasty, but it was good for staving off hunger. The Giant Crab Alligator's meat tasted better, but the nutritional value was very average, probably around the same as how beef would be like to a normal human before. Anyway, it was all meat from evolved lifeforms, so it had much higher nutritional value than normal food.
Very quickly, Jodi brought the gas out, not only was there gasoline but various other types of gas. After that, Bai Yi and Jodi started to negotiate and barter over the terms of trade.
Seemingly… this Jodi wasn't being too difficult. Although the meat he wanted was quite a bit, it was still within the acceptable range for Bai Yi. In the end, the two of them finally reached an agreement, and it was considered a happy business completed……?
Chapter 57: Thoracic Vertebra
The gas was brought over to Bai Yi's side, and all the gas tanks of the vehicles were filled to the brim. Other than that, there were still three full containers of gas that were placed on the truck. They initially wanted to do it themselves, but the guy who helped them to move the gas container was too enthusiastic and directly brought it up to the truck. After that guy came down, he gave an almost imperceptible nod to Jodi.
"The sky is already dark, why don't you guys stay over at our place?" Jodi invited them passionately.
At this time, Bai Yi saw from the corner of his eye a woman secretly shaking his head at him.
If nobody tried to warn him, then he might have really left immediately. Bai Yi who was keeping a close eye on everybody saw the slight nod that the guy gave to Jodi, and moreover the atmosphere here was really strange. However, with somebody trying to warn him now, he on the contrary wanted to see what exactly was going on here.
"Sure then, thanks!" Bai Yi replied.
"No need for formality, we owe Brother Bai Yi so much, our food stock was running really low, hahahaha!" Jodi laughed loudly, seemingly very straightforward and passionate.
Thinking that Bai Yi did not see her warning, the skinny woman sighed in her heart.
The supermarket still had electricity. Apparently, this was the reason why they chose to set up their base right beside the mini hydroelectric plant. Humans had a natural fear towards the dark, especially during dangerous times like this.
"I think there's no need for you guys to bring your weapons here?" Jodi couldn't help but speak seeing that everybody in Bai Yi's group were still carrying their weapons.
"Sorry, we are all really frightened by New Zealand's situation recently. Bringing our weapons with us will make us feel safer." Bai Yi smiled and explained. Doing this seemed to be quite rude, but Bai Yi didn't have any intention of putting down his sword. Jodi continued on the subject but seeing that Bai Yi just smiled and patronised him with no changes, he didn't bother to continue.
……
Jodi apparently treated himself like a host, and took the initiative to treat them to dinner. Very quickly, the food was served. It wasn't considered to be plentiful, but it wasn't little either. A lot of it was the Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat that Bai Yi handed over just now, and the rest of it apparently came from their own supplies.
"Eat, eat!" Jodi invited.
Bai Yi ignored the Tentacle Slug and Giant Crab Alligator meat. He was already sick of it over the past two days. He looked at the other types of meat on the table, and there was even a type of vegetable that he didn't recognise…a new type of plant? At this time, Mavis suddenly put down her fork and knife, and shook her head at Bai Yi. Bai Yi looked at Mavis' actions and he too put down his fork and knife.
"What's wrong, why aren't you guys eating?" Jodi's tone suddenly became slightly colder.
"The thoracic vertebra, each vertebra gradually increases in size from top to bottom, and its horizontal cross section looks roughly like a heart shape. From the lateral profile, there's an upper and lower cavity at each vertebra to connect to the ribs. I want to ask you, what is a human's thoracic vertebra doing on a plate here?" Mavis' eyes were very complicated. In reality, she had already guessed the answer, but she couldn't accept it in her heart. It was a human being served on the table!
"You, you can tell!" Jodi's voice started trembling.
"I am a doctor!" Mavis said plainly. She wasn't only a doctor, but one with great medical skills and proficient in both internal and external medicine. Nobody here was more familiar with the human body than Mavis.
"Move!" Jodi suddenly shouted. Actually, he didn't intend to act in a situation like this, but he didn't expect that the group of them would be so cautious. Now that things had developed to this stage, he had no other choice.
Before Jodi's voice could come out, Bai Yi already rushed forward, running across the hastily built table. His every step landed on the gap between the cups and plates, and not even a single drop of soup was spewed. Jodi's mouth opened wide and his eyes looked at Bai Yi in shock, at this moment Bai Yi was already right in front of him. Jodi could clearly see his pair of eyes that were calm to the point of being icy.
Bai Yi wanted to subdue Jodi before he could even speak, but apparently his movements were still slower by a bit.
Gunshots rapidly fired, at this moment everyone swiftly dodged and ran.
Hong Qi Hua grabbed Momo, rolled on the floor and rushed behind a corner. The bullets raised a trail of dust on the floor and the rest of them too quickly dodged to the side, frantically looking for cover.
'CHENG!'
Bai Yi's broadsword landed heavily on a canine tooth-like weapon in Jodi's hand, and sparks immediately flew. This guy, his actions were so swift as well! Two powerful strengths clashed against each other, and the chair beneath Jodi instantly broke into pieces. Bai Yi made use of the momentum and flipped in the air. He simultaneously tilted his blade slightly, hacking down along the canine tooth.
"AHHH…!!" An ear-piercing scream filled the air and Bai Yi's blade sliced off four of Jodi's fingers.
Bai Yi wanted to follow up with his attack, but his eyes abruptly contracted, and he quickly raised the sword to block in front of him.
'Ding ding!' Bai Yi's broadsword moved almost imperceptibly to intercept the incoming objects.
Two bullets instantly slid off the surface of the sword and flew past Bai Yi's body. One of the bullets even rubbed across Bai Yi's face, forming a line of blood. Bai Yi flipped in the air and landed, immediately bursting towards the corner and hiding behind the wall. Only now did Bai Yi touch his waist, finding his hand full of blood.
Just now in that hasty moment he only blocked the two fatal bullets, as for the other bullets he didn't have the capacity to care about them.
Closing his eyes, Bai Yi took a deep breath and opened them again, his eyes containing incredible coldness and anger. Actually, Bai Yi long knew that something like this would happen. After all in the history of China, there were records detailing how families would eat their children in times of extreme famine. However, regardless of the reason, this kind of behaviour was not forgivable.
Bai Yi suddenly dashed out again, his body rapidly flashing past a guy holding a gun in another corner.
'Puchi!', a line of blood appeared on the guy's neck and his head fell onto the floor. Bai Yi's left hand grabbed his submachine gun and squeezed the trigger towards the other firing points. Those people who were scared of death immediately retreated and dodged behind obstacles, but in that short window of opportunity, Woolf, Heloise and Martin had already taken the chance and rushed forward.
'Your weapon must never leave your hand.' That was what Bai Yi had always been emphasizing. Only now did they truly understand what he meant.
Honestly speaking, Woolf and the others did not have the mental preparation to fight with fellow humans, but their bodies still moved with practiced familiarity… This was an instinctual reaction to danger. Everyone rushed towards their respective opponent, even Little Warner, while Pupu hid in an unknown place with its fat and round body.
The moment she brought Momo outside, Hong Qi Hua immediately threw her and turned around. 'Dang dang dang!'…Hong Qi Hua's two short knives clashed against a steel rod. In an instant, her hands moved with an imperceivable speed and knocked against the steel rod dozens of times. The sounds were so concentrated that it connected together. The rapid continuous collisions dispersed the strength behind the steel rod and she then flipped in the air and crouched on the floor.
When Momo was about to land on the floor, Sharpei suddenly rushed out from inside and caught her. Momo also familiarly grabbed onto the tuft of hair on its neck, and looked at Hong Qi Hua and the big guy. Although Momo felt very nervous, she was gradually getting used to these kind of sudden situations after the encounter with the monster by the river.
"Protect Momo!"
"Woof!" Sharpei barked and ran somewhere else carrying Momo.
Hong Qi Hua stood up straight and looked at the 3-meter-tall elephant-like fellow. She seemed to remember that he was called Maurice? This was the guy that she'd sent flying earlier. Now he was carrying a giant thick steel rod, carrying an incomparably dangerous air around him.
……
After creating a gap for Woolf and the others, Bai Yi did not continue to stay at the supermarket but chased after Jodi deeper inside. Along the way there were two people who tried to shoot at Bai Yi, but Bai Yi triggered his gun faster than them and killed them instantly.
Along the corridor, Bai Yi finally managed to stop Jodi. Bai Yi did not waste any words, and aimed his submachine gun at him and squeezed the trigger, only to find that there were no more bullets.
This was why he'd said that hot weapons were just like pieces of scrap metal without bullets.
Jodi's four fingers on his right hand were already cut off, but the sickle on the surface of his arm swiftly shot forward, incomparably sharp. The left hand that hid inside his clothes all along also revealed itself to be a…mouth, a big mouth that was full of sharp teeth. Seeing that Bai Yi threw away his submachine gun, Jodi didn't try to run anymore and turned around panting, standing off against Bai Yi.
Bai Yi fiercely rushed forward, his broadsword tilted at an angle from his body.
Apparently, Jodi understood well enough too, and after giving a loud roar, he similarly sprinted towards Bai Yi, raising the sharp sickle on his arm.
'Clang~~!'
Bai Yi's broadsword vibrated at a high speed within an extremely small area, and from looking at it, it seemed just like a normal sword. The two of them flashed past each other with a loud collision. Jodi's left arm flew into the air from his elbow onwards, and a giant gash appeared on his chest as well. Jodi's eyes filled with deep disbelief. His sickle was even tougher than normal swords, how could it just break like that?
In some ways, Bai Yi's broadsword could be considered to be one of those more treasured blades inside the mangas.
"Hahahaha, I never thought that you would be so powerful. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have had ill-intentions towards you." Jodi kneeled on the floor and laughed loudly, blood spewed out from his mouth, making his voice sound somewhat strange.
"I don't think that's the issue here!" Bai Yi walked over and said coldly.
"You can't blame for me that, you can only blame this damnable world! You understand right, that kind of hunger, that extreme hunger that drives you crazy, that hunger that forces you to eat even if it meant eating another human being!" Jodi said loudly and gradually became more and more agitated. "In the end, all of us have become monsters, who still treats another person as a human being? I saw it, this world's future! Everyone will become monsters, preying on each other as… food."
Jodi looked at Bai Yi viciously, a maniacal look on his face.
Chapter 58: Hope Within Despair
"How did you block it?" The elephant-like Maurice asked. Only he knew how much power was contained in that steel rod of his. With Hong Qi Hua's small body, it shouldn't have been possible for her to stop it.
"If once is not enough, then I just have to do it multiple times and disperse it." Hong Qi Hua held her two short knives and replied seriously.
"Disperse?"
What she was dispersing was of course the impact!
For example, that huge steel rod. In theory, it'd be impossible to try and use a small knife to block it. The knife would either be knocked away or broken. However, even if it were a toy knife, it would still be able to cause some resistance to the steel rod when being knocked away. What Hong Qi Hua did was to automatically separate their weapons when she felt that the force her knife could bear had reached its limit. She then rapidly repeated the same movements multiple times in a short period, causing resistance every time and dispersing the force of the steel rod.
If it were before, then it was impossible for her to do this, but now it was possible!
This was of course one of the blade force techniques that Bai Yi talked about that was very hard for humans to do before!
Hong Qi Hua apparently did not have the habit of clearing doubts for her opponent, so after that sentence she gripped her knives in both hands and burst forward. Maurice was shocked, he instantly raised his steel rod and smashed it down. At this time, Hong Qi Hua was actually waiting for his attack. Her body was as agile as a cat. When the steel rod smashed down, she instantly jumped on top of it and flew up.
From the left and right, the two short knives crossed and went through his neck.
After landing, Hong Qi Hua stared at the dark sky, her eyes containing great sorrow.
To be truthful, Hong Qi Hua did not have the mental preparation to fight with her fellow humans as well. However, this group of people had already started eating other humans, and their intentions were clearly bad as well. She wouldn't be that stupid to let those people live after that. It wasn't that she couldn't be kind, but many times unnecessary kindness would just harm yourself.
"So… fast!" Lifeforms infected with activated cells really had scarily powerful life forces.
"A real battle aims for fatality!" Hong Qi Hua turned around. Since she had the strength to kill her opponent in one strike, there was no need to dilly dally. That wouldn't be a real battle. After purposely fusing with some animal genes, Hong Qi Hua and the others were already ahead of the majority of people.
The elephant-like Maurice cracked open a smile and his head rolled onto the floor.
No matter how powerful the activated cells were, apparently even they couldn't save someone from decapacitation.
……
"Do it, I have already lost hope in this world. In truth, the rest of them are probably in despair as well. Maybe death to them is a form of mercy. You are very strong, if possible, I hope that you can bring them and… live on." After shouting and venting, Jodi seemed to become calmer.
"I'm sorry, I don't have that power!" Bai Yi rejected him even before he finished his last few words.
"But, I will give them hope, hope within that despair." Bai Yi said, as he swung his broadsword in the middle of Jodi's puzzlement, providing liberation.
……
Very quickly, everyone gathered back at the supermarket. The battle ended abnormally quickly. Just as Bai Yi said at the start, life was actually very fragile. When you had the advantage, it only took an instant to kill the opponent. All the guns were confiscated and thrown into the center, and those who originally belonged to Jodi's group were either dead or kneeling along the wall.
"You, tell me what happened exactly!" Bai Yi pointed to the woman who tried to warn him at the start.
The woman that Bai Yi pointed at raised her head and looked at Bai Yi seriously. Her eyes were full of disbelief, and at the end a hint of sorrow appeared in them. She only wanted Bai Yi and his team to leave this place, she never thought…
"Actually, Jodi did not actively kill people for food. We weren't originally in one group, but gradually we started to gather together. A few days ago, there was a conflict due to starvation and a few people died. Jodi and the rest were too hungry and so… The rest of them couldn't bear with their hunger either, and followed Jodi to start consuming human flesh. The others, which are the few of us remaining, still refused to eat human flesh, and we became so thin in just a few days." Doris explained.
"And then?"
"Jodi saw that you guys had a lot of food, so he wanted to steal it." Doris said in a low voice.
"It's like that… How much food do you guys have left?" Bai Yi suddenly asked.
"There's none left." Everyone who were originally here shook their heads.
"Bai Yi!" Sara saw Bai Yi's expression and wanted to say something, but Mavis stopped her.
"Bring all the corpses over here." Bai Yi suddenly said after standing at the same spot for a long while and giving a deep sigh.
Most of the people in the supermarket had not guessed Bai Yi's intentions yet, but Hong Qi Hua suddenly opened her eyes wide. Bai Yi's actions, is it for real? I really hope that I guessed wrongly. However, very quickly Hong Qi Hua knew that her guess was right. Bai Yi really intended to do that.
In one battle, nine people died. All the bodies were gathered at the center, and the stench of blood coming from the bodies assaulted their noses.
"What if I, too, tell you guys to eat human flesh!"
His tone wasn't too heavy, and was even quite light. However, everyone was absolutely shocked to the core and couldn't believe their ears. Even Woolf, who had the most trust in Bai Yi, opened his eyes wide. Sara and Martin immediately couldn't hold it in and wanted to say something but were suppressed by Hong Qi Hua and Mavis.
"The situation now is that, if you don't eat their corpses then you will die of starvation! Even if we showed some kindness and leave some food, it's definitely not enough for all of you to eat."
"Actually, human beings and other animals aren't too different. We are similarly made out of muscles, fats, proteins and other compounds. It's just that the subjective notions of humanity… morals, religion and law, give a different meaning to these corpses. However, now that even the human organization called 'society' is non-existent in New Zealand, these subjective notions of course have no basis to exist on anymore. What I feel is that, rather than letting these corpses rot away underground, why not let you guys survive and live on." Bai Yi slowly said.
None of them could express how they felt inside their hearts. What were these words that sounded like the Devil's voice, freezing their souls and tempting them into the abyss?
"If you have really starved to the limit and want to eat them, I will not object to it."
"But!"
"I hope you remember how you feel while eating them, but I'm definitely not telling you to prey on other humans. I'm letting you guys remember, this resolution you have to survive even if it meant eating your fellow human beings! When you eat them, your life will carry another set of heaviness and hope. You must not only just continue living, but see for yourself, why did this world become so cruel!" Bai Yi said in an abnormally heavy and ruthless voice.
After speaking, Bai Yi drew his broadsword and picked up Jodi's corpse. He then cut off Jodi's left arm that resembled nothing like a human's.
Bai Yi picked up the left arm, and under the gaze of everybody here…
Bite!
Everyone could see, Bai Yi really bit off a piece of the flesh from the arm and swallowed it just like that. After eating a mouthful of flesh, Bai Yi passed the arm to Hong Qi Hua beside him.
Hong Qi Hua looked at the arm and stood silently on the spot, while everyone else looked at her.
If there was one person who could still understand Bai Yi's actions, then that could only be Hong Qi Hua. Even if it meant carrying the lives of others, we have to continue living? Uncle Bai, has New Zealand already become so cruel in your eyes? Hong Qi Hua looked at Bai Yi, and slowly received the arm. She then…bit on it.
Everyone understood Bai Yi's words, but understanding was one thing and accepting was another. Nobody thought that they really had to eat their own kind.
Carrying another set of heaviness and hope, to see with your own eyes why this world became so cruel!
With Bai Yi and Hong Qi Hua taking the lead, everyone else gathered their resolution and they all took a bite from the arm, just like taking an oath. Even Little Warner and the four-year-old Momo didn't fall behind. They bore with the stench of blood and bit a piece of human flesh.
Eating human flesh, this violation of morality that countless people couldn't accept it the world, actually evoked a sense of hope in their despair.
Even those who refused to consume human flesh initially did not reject it now. One notion arose in everyone's hearts: Even if it meant eating the corpses of my kind, I will live on for you to see! This world that became cruel, why exactly did it become like this!
Everyone's mindsets started to change!
……
Before leaving, Bai Yi's group left behind half of their food. Doris, who became the temporary leader, did not reject as well and accepted it graciously.
"What are you guys planning to do?" Hong Qi Hua asked.
"Bury the corpses of Jodi and others." Doris gave an answer that was different from her question.
"Oh? So confident?"
"En, just like Uncle Bai said, we will carry on the burden and hope from the others. We will continue to live on courageously in this world, and see for ourselves why it became so cruel." Doris said seriously. The other people beside Doris nodded their head solemnly as well. The air around them and their expressions were already worlds apart from their previous despair and lack of will to live.
"I wish you guys good luck." Hong Qi Hua smiled, waved her hand and left.
"Help me to thank Uncle Bai!" Doris shouted. Actually, many people here were older than Bai Yi, but at this time everyone addressed him as Uncle Bai from the bottom of their hearts.
"He will say that you guys are making him seem older than he is!" Hong Qi Hua walked towards the vehicle convoy, leaving behind the view of her back.
________________________________________________________________________________
TN: I really liked this chapter, the human aspect of this story is so intriguing. Normally people like Jodi would just be passed off as 'evil' and 'scum' in other stories, but is evil so easily defined? Many times, we are simply forced by circumstances, what would you do if you were in that 'evil' person's shoes? And you have to admit Bai Yi's character seems cold and dull at the start, but it's actually very interesting.
