Eaten Ch.16

Chapter 16: Wild and Free

The mutated cat’s fur bristled like steel needles, glinting under the moonlight. Its bloodthirsty eyes had none of the former silly cuteness it once showed when rubbing against strangers’ pant legs begging for a sausage. Now it fixed its unblinking gaze on the two people before it, arching its back, ready to strike at any moment.

At that instant, X darted away from above Lin Mengzhi’s head, fleeing to a safe zone.

The moment its wings fluttered, the mutated cat’s pupils shrank, and it lunged straight toward Lin Mengzhi.

It was as fast as lightning, brimming with murderous intent. Wu Heng stepped in front of Lin Mengzhi in a single stride—his body reacting faster than his mind. By the time he registered what was happening, the mutated cat was already gripped in his hands and slammed hard against the ground.

The creature wasn’t large, but its shriek was shrill and piercing. It roared at Wu Heng, claws flashing like sharpened blades.

Wu Heng hesitated for not even two seconds. With a half turn of his wrist, the short blade in his hand pierced clean through the cat’s skull.

The mutated cat’s body convulsed twice before its eyes slid shut.

A few warm droplets of blood splattered across Lin Mengzhi’s face. He closed his eyes, his small heart trembling like a sieve. In his mind replayed Wu Heng’s strike—so fast, so ruthless.

If not for Wu Heng, given the cat’s ferocity and speed, he would already have been reduced to nothing more than a walking sausage for it.

Crack. Crack.

A crisp chewing sound rang in his ears. Lin Mengzhi’s eyelids quivered. He opened his eyes and looked down.

Wu Heng was crouched on the ground, still in the same stance as when he struck the mutated cat—though now much more relaxed.

The skin from his ear to his jawline was pale and lustrous, like fine white jade. The chewing came from beneath that smooth surface, deep in his jaw.

In his long, slender fingers, he held a furry leg of the mutated cat. The meatiest thigh portion had already been bitten clean off and was in his mouth. His teeth ground through raw bone with ease, eating swiftly and neatly. Only his lips were stained with fresh, hot blood—yet even that vivid red paled in comparison to the uncanny glow of his crimson eyes.

Under the moonlight, Lin Mengzhi almost mistook Wu Heng for the mutated cat just now.

“A’Heng?” Lin Mengzhi swallowed hard, feeling like he was about to faint.

“Hm?” Wu Heng glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, his meal interrupted. That one look seemed almost like a complaint.

Lin Mengzhi’s mind whirled in circles before he finally squeezed out a sentence: “Why don’t you… maybe eat it cooked instead? Raw meat could have parasites—and this was a mutated cat.”

Though he said that, deep down he knew perfectly well: with Wu Heng’s current condition, forget raw meat—even eating parasites whole wouldn’t really be a problem.

Wu Heng gave a muffled “Mm,” then lowered his eyes. He wiped his fingers casually on the mutated cat’s stiff, bristly fur. “Already finished.”

“Fi… finished? If you’re finished then let’s go,” Lin Mengzhi said quickly.

“Is your hand okay?” Wu Heng asked.

Lin Mengzhi raised his hand and glanced at the back of it. The wound was a bit deep, but the bleeding had stopped, and the surrounding skin looked normal. He shook his hand lightly and said, “The mutated cat shouldn’t be carrying the zombie virus. It’s not a big problem.”

After they left, the gray parrot that had been circling overhead landed beside the pile of the mutated cat’s remains. It lifted a claw to rake at the scraps, then lowered its head and swallowed a few mouthfuls of meat.

They made it safely through the path and arrived at the fountain in the middle of the residential complex. The water had stopped running a day ago, but there was still a pool of it left. What used to be crystal clear was now murky, and inside floated half a corpse—its human features no longer recognizable.

On the steps below the fountain, a cluster of zombies had gathered. Wu Heng narrowed his eyes, and soon saw what they were surrounding: a dog, massive and muscular like a calf. The dog was already dead, split open from belly to chest, and the zombies were feasting on its flesh.

Wu Heng took a step forward. “Mengzhi, let’s deal with these zombies.”

Lin Mengzhi screamed inwardly.

The zombies were engrossed in their feast when Wu Heng silently appeared behind one of them. In a single second, his blade pierced straight through its skull, the tip jutting out from its forehead.

Lin Mengzhi’s eyes were half open, half shut. He jabbed frantically at the heads of the nearby zombies, stabbing one and immediately moving on to the next.

Once the group of zombies was dealt with, Wu Heng bent down and pried open the dog’s jaws for a closer look. “No wonder…”

“No wonder what?” Lin Mengzhi almost thought Wu Heng was about to eat the zombies’ leftovers. That would be way too indiscriminate.

“No wonder this dog looks so…” Wu Heng originally wanted to say delicious, but considering Lin Mengzhi’s already-fraying nerves, he instead said, “…so big.”

“It is big!” Lin Mengzhi hadn’t even noticed until Wu Heng pointed it out—the dog’s body was far larger than any dog he’d normally seen.

In the city, the largest common breed was usually something like an Alaskan Malamute. But this one was just as big as an Alaskan, except with sleek, shiny short fur and a frame that was even more muscular. If instead of attacking zombies it had gone after people, it would have started eating long ago. Clearly, this mutated dog hadn’t yet figured out how to kill zombies.

“Eh?” While examining the mutated dog, Lin Mengzhi suddenly noticed something out of place. Forcing down his nausea, he used his knife to dig it out. “What’s this?”

It came out still attached to a strand of the dog’s innards. Lin Mengzhi clamped a hand over his mouth and staggered aside, retching silently.

Wu Heng bent down, grabbed it in one hand, and strode quickly up the steps. He stepped onto the fountain’s edge and rinsed it thoroughly in the pool.

Cleaned, the object revealed itself: four to five centimeters long, perhaps two centimeters wide, diamond-shaped, and completely transparent.

Wu Heng’s eyes narrowed slowly. He slipped the crystal into a side compartment of his backpack, then ran back and used his blade to search the corpses of the zombies one by one. Inside each skull, he found the same thing—but instead of being transparent like the dog’s, the zombies’ were gray, like lumps of charcoal.

Lin Mengzhi stood by watching as Wu Heng dug messily through zombie brains. All he could do was keep pinching his philtrum to stave off fainting—convinced that Wu Heng was looking for something to eat.

After they had washed everything clean, Lin Mengzhi finally realized. “Oh! These must be energy cores! Mutated creatures should all have them inside—just like in the movies!”

Wu Heng frowned slightly. “But a couple of days ago, I checked the brain of that wholesaler at the market. Didn’t find anything.”

Lin Mengzhi said, “I think it’s because the zombies from a few days ago hadn’t developed enough yet. Naturally, no energy core would’ve formed. But… what’s the use of these anyway?”

“They’re useless to ordinary people,” Wu Heng murmured, though he still gathered them all up.

“You’re calling yourself ordinary?” Lin Mengzhi clearly didn’t believe it.

“Xie Chongyi said some people gain special powers—that should be what they call abilities. Maybe these energy cores are useful to them. I don’t have any special power, so they’re useless to me.”

Lin Mengzhi flicked his knife and let out a sharp snort. “So what? As long as we can stay alive, that’s enough.”

The two of them left the residential complex one after the other. Their area was all housing blocks; now, every household was shut tight and dark. The crisscrossing roads felt eerily vast and empty, while the roadside greenery was spreading wildly, encroaching on the streets.

“Careful,” Wu Heng said in a low voice. “We’re heading to the supermarket.”

Bent low, Lin Mengzhi whispered, “What if Old Zheng comes after us?”

“We’ll deal with it then.”

The supermarket doors were locked. Earlier that morning, Old Zheng had probably still been asleep.

Wu Heng made a motion to pry the lock open with his knife, but Lin Mengzhi quickly pulled him back. “Let me do it. If someday the world goes back to normal, breaking into places like this shouldn’t ruin your future.”

The blade was sharper than either of them expected. With just a twist of its tip, the lock dropped neatly to the ground.

“No wonder those things are so damn pricey—makes sense now. No wonder stabbing a zombie’s skull felt like stabbing into mud,” Lin Mengzhi muttered as he gently pushed open the supermarket door. Inside, it looked just the same as usual.

Wu Heng slipped in behind him and quietly closed the door.

“You take the food section. I’ll go to daily necessities.”

Without glancing at the shelves packed with snacks, Wu Heng walked straight into the daily goods aisle. He unzipped his backpack and tossed it to the ground, threw in two flashlights, then swept a whole row of toiletries into the bag. Though he had stocked up a little before, it was far from enough for what things looked like now.

The backpack couldn’t hold much—it was stuffed full in no time.

Crouching down to zip it up, Wu Heng’s eyes fell on the neighboring shelf, crammed tightly with bulky packages of sanitary pads. His lashes lowered under the glow of the night-vision goggles. Even though there wasn’t another soul here besides him, he instinctively masked his expression, not letting anyone read what was on his mind.

With a sharp rustle, he dumped everything out of the pack, leaving only the two flashlights inside.

He didn’t know much about sanitary pads, and he didn’t want to waste the limited space on something useless. So he stood in front of the shelf, studying the packs one by one.

Bent low like a sneak thief, Lin Mengzhi crept into the daily goods aisle. “I’m done loading up. We don’t have much meat at home, so I grabbed all meat. Look, I even snagged a few big grass carp.”

His backpack wasn’t just stuffed—the zipper couldn’t even close, left gaping open. On top of that, he carried a giant supermarket plastic bag in each hand, the live fish inside still thrashing their tails.

“They’re not mutated fish?” Wu Heng asked.

“Shouldn’t be. They didn’t bite me. I scooped them right up.”

“Mutated ones taste better.” Wu Heng, fresh from eating the mutated cat, had discovered that in both satiety and flavor, mutated creatures were leagues above ordinary food.

“…And where the hell am I supposed to get you mutated ones?” Lin Mengzhi was drenched in sweat. After snapping, he finally noticed Wu Heng—calm as always—still leisurely picking and choosing, and still choosing sanitary pads. “You’re grabbing those… Are you planning to use them, or am I?”

“For Wu Zhi,” Wu Heng said, putting back the daily-use items.

Lin Mengzhi suddenly understood. “Right… having your period at a time like this really is a problem.”

Once his backpack was filled, Wu Heng followed Lin Mengzhi’s lead, stuffing several shopping bags full of sanitary pads and carrying them in his hands.

“Tomorrow, let’s come back and grab a few cartons of cigarettes,” Lin Mengzhi said wistfully as they passed the checkout counter.

Outside the door, X, who had been keeping watch, heard their voices. It spun around and flew straight toward them, shoving them backward.

—

“Down!” Wu Heng’s voice was low and firm. He and Lin Mengzhi quickly crouched together.

A dark shadow moved slowly toward the supermarket entrance from the distance, the sound of heavy, ragged breathing arriving first.

Wu Heng gently loosened his grip on the shopping bags and wrapped his fingers around the short blade at his thigh.

A Tosa dog, half as tall as a man, appeared at the supermarket’s entrance. Its beastlike panting made one’s scalp crawl. Had they not seen it with their own eyes, no one would have believed such sounds could come from a dog.

Its broad, sturdy forepaws pressed onto the steps, and its wet nose nudged the supermarket’s door. The door was only ajar, so it poked its head inside, scarlet eyes scanning everything within.

From its mouth dangled a severed arm, blood dripping as it chewed. The stench of gore instantly overwhelmed Wu Heng and Lin Mengzhi, who were hiding behind the checkout counter.

With a creak, the glass door swung shut again. The Tosa drew its head back.

Wu Heng tilted his head to glance outside. In the darkness, multiple pairs of crimson eyes gleamed with greedy hunger. The massive Tosa returned to its pack—yet among them, its bulk seemed almost small.

The leader lounged lazily on the open ground. With just a few swipes of its claws, it tore apart a howling zombie and gulped down half its body in one bite.

Around it was a stray dog pack of uncountable size. Any zombies that staggered too close were swiftly torn apart and devoured until nothing remained.

When the howls outside finally faded, Lin Mengzhi collapsed to the floor, sweat streaming down his face like a river.

Wu Heng withdrew his gaze and looked at X. “The more terrifying thing you mentioned… was it the pack of mutant dogs?”

The parrot rubbed its head against the boy’s jaw without making a sound.

Dogs were social animals, and stray dogs in the city were even more inclined to form packs. If they weren’t mutated, they wouldn’t pose much of a threat—but once mutated, they truly became terrifying.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Wu Heng sat on the floor, staring ahead, his eyes empty. “If even dogs can slaughter humans at will, then the more terrifying thing must be something else.”

Lin Mengzhi still hadn’t recovered.

Wu Heng went on, “That Tosa wasn’t a stray.”

“What?”

“It was the one from the delivery station. Its forehead had a patch of skin disease where no hair grew. I remember it very clearly.”

Lin Mengzhi had never doubted Wu Heng’s words. He closed his eyes, forcing himself not to imagine whether that Tosa, after mutating, still recognized its owner.

The two of them sat on the supermarket floor by the checkout counter for nearly an hour before they dared to get up and leave. Outside, the plaza was littered with blood and severed limbs. With their bulging backpacks and overloaded shopping bags, they ran all the way home without looking back.

Grandma Lin was beside herself with worry. She clutched at them, patting them down from head to toe.

Wu Heng took off his baseball cap and night-vision goggles. “I’ll go home and change clothes.”

“You’re not going to eat something first?” Lin Mengzhi asked. The entire trip had been pure physical labor; he himself was starving, and he didn’t believe Wu Heng wasn’t.

Wu Heng touched his stomach. “I feel… fine.”

After changing clothes, he also took a fully charged power bank from Lin Mengzhi’s home, and returned to his own house with the air of someone who had never gone out at all.

The boy unlocked the door with his key. Inside, in the living room, Wu Shiming and Zeng Like were both fretting over the current situation. Neither even spared him a glance.

But as he passed behind them, Wu Heng still showed concern for their worried faces. “Mom, is the situation really that bad?”

This time, Zeng Like wasn’t impatient. She had been longing for someone to share her bottled-up worries with. She let out a heavy sigh and said, “The internet’s down. Even the emergency number on our phones won’t connect. We have no idea what’s going on outside. Your father and I think… we might have to stay hidden at home for a month or more. But we don’t have nearly enough food!”

After listening, Wu Heng didn’t know what to say. “Yeah… it’s not enough.”

“At first, we thought maybe we could sneak out at night to buy some groceries. But this afternoon, a family from Building 7 across the way tried to run out… they didn’t make it very far before…” Zeng Like’s face twisted in fear and worry. Beside her, Wu Shiming’s expression was equally grim.

“That’s so terrifying.” Wu Heng lowered his head, playing with his fingers. His fingers had grown softer than before; they twisted together with ease, and just as easily unwound.

Wu Shiming didn’t notice anything unusual about the boy. He only asked, “Does Lin Mengzhi’s family have extra food?”

“They only have two people. They’ve stored up even less than we have.”

Wu Shiming gave up the idea of asking the Lin family to share supplies. He waved his hand, dismissing Wu Heng to his room.

Wu Heng returned to his bedroom and lay down on his bed.

The moonlight outside the window was clear and flawless, spilling across half the mattress like polished jade. With his back turned to the light, Wu Heng closed his eyes and soon drifted into sleep.

Behind the boy, bathed in moonlight, countless slender vines stretched out from his frail back. They spread neatly across the other half of the bed, and under the glow of the moon, tiny fresh green shoots sprouted one after another along their length.

Once they had finished basking on one side, the vines turned themselves over in unison, spreading out to soak up the light on the other. New buds unfurled recklessly, growing wild and free.

<< _ >>