Chapter 12: They’re Escaping and She’s Singing
Have you ever seen a mosquito?
Have you ever been bitten by one?
What’s the biggest mosquito you’ve ever seen?
The largest mosquito in the world is roughly the size of a palm, but right now, the swarm of mosquitoes before them—blotting out the sky—had long surpassed any Guinness World Record.
“S-So… so many mosquitoes… Are those even mosquitoes?”
Monkey, the driver, stared blankly at the vast cloud of mosquitoes ahead, each one bigger than a human head.
Calling it “blotting out the sun” was no exaggeration—the air ahead was visibly darker.
The bald man’s expression grew grim. He made a snap decision and ordered, “Turn around!”
These mosquitoes were obviously a product of the apocalypse—and clearly more terrifying than zombies!
But just as the vehicles turned, the countless zombie mosquitoes seemed to receive some kind of signal. In an instant, they swarmed toward the convoy, filling the sky like a living storm.
Bang!
The driver’s side window shattered as a mosquito’s razor-sharp proboscis pierced through—straight into Monkey’s throat!
“Hhh… hh…”
Monkey stared dumbly at the gush of blood pouring from his neck. Helplessly, he tried to turn his head toward the bald man, only to find he no longer had the strength.
“B-Boss… hel—”
Before he could finish the word, Monkey went completely still.
Within mere seconds, the zombie mosquitoes outside the window had drained every drop of his blood. The once-rosy man was now nothing more than a horrifying skin-and-bones corpse.
Everyone in the car was petrified. This wasn’t just more terrifying than zombies—it was pure nightmare fuel!
“Ahhhhhh!”
A man in the passenger seat cracked completely, screaming without pause.
Bang!
A bullet whizzed past, hitting a zombie mosquito outside the driver’s side window—headshot.
“What the hell are you screaming for? Step on it and drive!”
The bald man in the back seat cursed furiously.
“You tryna get us all killed here or what?”
The man in the passenger seat snapped out of his panic. Though still terrified, he forced himself to climb over into the driver’s seat, shoved Monkey’s corpse out the window, and took the wheel to speed away.
In the back, the bald man and Old Wolf fired relentlessly, their faces grim, driving back the dense cloud of zombie mosquitoes.
“Cars in the back, listen up! If you’ve got a gun, use it! If you don’t, use a blade! If you don’t wanna die, then fight like hell!”
The bald man grabbed the radio and barked into it at the underlings in the other vehicles.
“Who here’s not ready to lose a few lives? Don’t you dare chicken out on me! They’re just damn mosquitoes—you know how to swat a mosquito, don’t you?”
Riled up by his shouting, the gang members who had been scared moments ago suddenly got fired up, yelling as they hacked and shot at the zombie mosquitoes outside.
But there were just too many of them, and they chased relentlessly. Shaking them off completely was proving near impossible.
In the trunk, Chaoyang couldn’t see what was happening outside, but he could hear the conversation inside the car and piece together the situation.
He frowned slightly. He hadn’t expected that what he’d just idly speculated about would actually appear so soon—a new mutated species.
The problem was…
This zombie mosquito swarm had shown up at the worst possible time—and they were not in his favor.
If the bald man’s gang died, then he, Mibao, and Chaolu—three kids—would have a slim chance of survival.
After all…
Mosquitoes could sense humans.
They could smell human scent, and compared to other creatures, mosquitoes preferred the taste of humans.
So…
Even if he and Mibao stayed hidden in the trunk, once the bald man’s gang was wiped out, the zombie mosquitoes would still find them—and drain them dry.
He couldn’t let the bald man and the others die!
The commotion outside woke Mibao from her sleep. Before she could even figure out what was happening, she heard the voice of her “system big brother” in her mind.
[Mibao, you can sing now.]
And what better “audience” than this dense swarm of zombie mosquitoes outside?
Still half-asleep, Mibao instinctively obeyed the system’s instruction and opened her mouth to sing.
“Dark, dark sky hangs low~ Cool, cool starlight follows~ Insects fly~ Insects fly…”
Chaoyang, whose expression had been tense a moment ago: “?”
You couldn’t really blame him for being stunned—Mibao’s singing had started so abruptly.
But then he remembered that the first time he met her, she had also been singing. Slowly, his mind made peace with the situation.
Hmm…
First, Mibao liked singing.
Second, she… was probably scared.
So he reached out and hugged her, murmuring softly, “Don’t be afraid, Mibao. I’m here.”
Mibao, who was busy gathering energy: “?”
She wasn’t scared at all.
With Brother Chaoyang and Brother System around, there was nothing to be afraid of.
[…Ignore him.]
The system’s voice sounded exasperated.
Mibao blinked, then obediently followed the system’s advice and ignored Chaoyang, continuing to sing and work hard to complete the task and store up energy.
Things outside weren’t looking good. After comforting Mibao for a moment, Chaoyang decided it was time to deal with the matter at hand.
He cleared his throat, his expression turning serious, and began to speak.
“Burn it with fire!”
From inside the trunk came the clear, crisp voice of a young boy.
“There’s a diesel factory near the outskirts of the city—use the oil from there!”
Hearing this, the bald man immediately shouted to the grizzled fellow next to him, “Old Wolf! Check the map—find that diesel factory!”
As he spoke, the bald man fired his gun, driving back a zombie mosquito outside the driver’s seat.
The zombie mosquito’s green blood, mixed with the fresh human blood it hadn’t yet digested, splattered across the driver’s face. Startled, he flinched, but didn’t dare slow down; instead, he clenched his jaw, forcing down the fear in his heart.
Since dusk yesterday, most regions had completely lost internet access.
Now, the only way to navigate was by relying on old-fashioned paper maps.
Still, many people couldn’t figure out why the network had suddenly gone down overnight.
It didn’t make sense!
There had to be some reason, right?
But with zombies already roaming everywhere, nobody had the time to investigate—they were all too busy running for their lives.
Maybe it was some kind of special magnetic field.
Maybe the transmission towers had been destroyed.
Who could say?
“Found it!” Old Wolf’s eyes lit up as he spotted the inconspicuous diesel factory on the map. “Two streets ahead, then turn left!”
Their vehicle was in the lead. The driver stepped hard on the gas as soon as he heard the words, and the cars behind them immediately followed suit.
The streets ahead were teeming with zombie mosquitoes the size of human heads. Some survivors, seeing the scene from afar through their windows, were so terrified they yanked their curtains shut.
“Holy crap, I’ve heard rumors for ages that some experts were working on cold-resistant mosquitoes—did they actually succeed?”
A young man hiding inside a hardware store patted his chest in lingering fear.
“That’s just evil! Don’t tell me the apocalypse was started by those idiot scientists?”
He couldn’t help cursing, but his voice was too loud and caught the attention of the zombies outside. The zombies then came to “politely” knock on the door.
The young man was instantly so scared that he didn’t dare make another sound.
At the same time, Bald Man’s convoy finally arrived at the diesel factory. They didn’t have time to get out and unlock the gate—Bald Man shot the lock off the iron gate, and the driver floored the accelerator, smashing their way inside!