Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 504 - 497: Returning Home (Part 2)

"What?" Tang Xiaoquan was taken aback, then a hint of joy appeared on his worried face.

He was shocked that there were still living people coming and going here, but happy that "catching" this person might help him understand what really happened in this place, potentially revealing the fate of his parents.

With that thought, Tang Xiaoquan didn’t dare to delay; no matter what, he couldn’t let the other person run away.

Carefully, he tore his parents’ photo from the cupboard wall, tucked it into the notebook he carried with him, and then reassuringly patted his pants pocket. After confirming the notebook was securely in his pocket, he swiftly followed Wang Qiang down the stairs.

The short, small man ran wildly for his life, while Xu Renjie relentlessly pursued him. As he ran, he signaled his identity: "Hey! I say, brother up ahead, don’t run! I’m not a zombie, I’m a survivor! A living human!"

However, the small man clearly didn’t buy Xu Renjie’s story and continued driven by his legs, skidding about, leaving Old Xu with no choice but to chase madly after him.

I have to admit, the short small man’s stamina was decent, and his running speed was incredibly fast.

Had it been any other person, they would most likely have a hard time catching up to him. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Unfortunately for him, today he ran into someone extraordinary; Xu Renjie, a top military officer from the Sharp Blade Company, frequently took wilderness training as a staple.

Capturing "prisoners" was also one of their key training subjects.

So, a long-distance chase like this was not particularly difficult for him.

On the other hand, the initially composed small man started showing signs of inconsistent breathing after running for a while, leading to a rapid drop in his alertness and reaction time.

Glimpsing back at Xu Renjie, who was relentlessly closing the distance, the small man panicked like an ant on a hot pan.

Panic-stricken, he darted into a narrow alley once again, hoping to shake off the pursuer.

However, little did he know, a hidden danger in the corner was gradually closing in on him.

Once inside the alley, the tall, small man used his familiarity with the terrain to play hide-and-seek with Xu Renjie, making numerous turns and actually managing to widen the gap slightly.

Forced into a corner, Xu Renjie kept shouting for the small man to stop, but the latter only ran faster.

This not only annoyed Xu Renjie a bit, but he also suddenly pushed off with both feet, his form leaping forward like a hunting leopard.

Hearing the footsteps closing in again, the small man grew even more frantic and agitated.

Seeing him vanish from view yet again, Xu Renjie instinctively yelled for him to stop, but unexpectedly, before he could speak, a black shadow suddenly flashed past him five meters ahead, and then came the small man’s wretched howl.

"Help!"

"Oh no!" Realizing something was wrong, Xu Renjie quickly ran toward the corner where the small man had disappeared, pushing open the door, which shot open from rebound, and dashed inside.

Once inside, Xu Renjie was oddly amused at the scene on the floor.

The short, small man was holding a thick wooden stick, pressing it firmly against a zombie’s mouth as the creature struggled to bite through the stick, eager to feast on what lay beneath. The entwined position of the two resembled a long-stifled gangster attempting to assault his unfortunate male victim.

"Not running anymore! Phew~" Xu Renjie straightened up, taking a couple of deep breaths, with a noticeable sense of schadenfreude in his posture and gestures.

No wonder he felt this way. After all, he’d repeatedly stated his identity throughout the chase.

But the other guy treated his words as nonsense, solely focused on running away.

This unabashedly stoked Xu Renjie’s anger; he deliberately decided to let the other endure a little bit of revenge.

"H-help..." The small man, seeing the man beside him was not making a move, forced himself to speak, squeezing out a plea.

"Hehe, you ran so vigorously, chasing you tired me out, would you at least let me catch my breath?"

"No, no, it’s not that, I... can’t hold on much longer."

Seeing the small man’s trembling arms, Xu Renjie knew he wasn’t faking. If he kept watching, the guy would indeed be done in by the zombie.

This was certainly not an outcome Xu Renjie wanted to see. He stepped forward, stooped to pull the gnashing and biting zombie aside, flung it to the side, and then the cold flash of a triangular military dagger immediately saw trickles of black blood seeping from the beast’s brow center.

With this, Xu Renjie stood up, not bothering to look at the fate of the creature, and approached the small man, asking in a deep voice:

"How is it! Are you okay?"

Gasping for air, the small man’s face was pale without a hint of color, seemingly scared out of his wits by the recent incident.

"Why the hell were you running?"

"I didn’t want to, brother—you... you chased me, could I not run?"

With a bitter smile, Xu Renjie looked at the man in front of him, somewhat at a loss for words.

Fine, turns out it was his own fault after all. Xu Renjie couldn’t be bothered to argue further and straightforwardly revealed his identity: "Listen, I’ll be honest, I’m with the military; I’m not a bad person and I have no ill intentions towards you, got it?"

"You’re in the military?"

Xu Renjie distinctly saw the slight fear in the small man’s eyes when he mentioned his ’military identity.’

At this, he noncommittally replied, "Yes! I’m in the military! Why?"

Upon getting the confirmation, the small man started to avoid eye contact, his behavior so odd that it piqued Xu Renjie’s curiosity and suspicion.

"Are you afraid of soldiers?"

The small man shook his head nervously.

But almost the same time, a glaring steel blade was set against the small man’s neck.

The fear of "military" displayed by the other made Xu Renjie very curious.

So to obtain the truth, he had no choice but to use unconventional means.

Of course, this doesn’t mean he intended to "torture" the small man, but merely to scare him into honestly confessing.

’I’m not one for nonsense; you have one more chance. Speak, why are you so afraid of the military?’

With a harsh tone and the looming threat of steel cutting into his neck, the small man finally succumbed to the fear of death, plopping to his knees, loudly begging for mercy: "Big... big brother, please... don’t kill me, I... I’ve sinned, I... ran from you because I was afraid... you would catch me, be-because I killed someone, but... but it was unintentional, I didn’t want to kill them, but if I didn’t, they would kill me; they were all mad! Demons! They bit and ate people everywhere! I was forced! I’m innocent!" (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to recommend and vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)