Dig In

Long Ming walked straight into the house ahead. The gate stood wide open, and entering through it led directly to the living room. The entire living room was in utter disarray, with overturned tables and chairs everywhere, their surfaces covered in a thick layer of dust. Frightening claw marks scarred the metal walls. Long Ming stared at the scratches, his nerves instantly tightening. What kind of creature could leave marks like these? He cautiously checked the first floor, found nothing of value, and went up to the second floor, soon reaching the doorway of the master bedroom. Long Ming pressed his body against the doorframe and peered inside bit by bit. The master bedroom was in complete chaos. An iron nightstand lay on its side, the wardrobe doors stood open, and clothes and sundries were strewn across the floor. Judging by the dust distribution, Long Ming confirmed there was no danger, then entered to search. He first gently turned the nightstand over, then pulled open the drawer. Inside lay a jumble of tools. Long Ming glanced over, selected a wrench, and stuffed it into his backpack. Next he rummaged through the clothes and sundries scattered on the floor. After searching for a long time, he found nothing of value. At that moment, Long Ming's gaze fell on the open wardrobe. He went over and searched it, eventually finding an iron box in the innermost corner. The iron box had a rusty lock hanging on it. Long Ming drew the wrench and smashed it hard against the lock. Bang~ After a few blows, the rusty lock was smashed apart. Long Ming impatiently lifted the lid of the iron box, and a gold nugget came into view. Beside the gold nugget lay a rough silver necklace inlaid with several red gemstone fragments. Long Ming took it out and scanned it with his wristband. Gold nugget Grade: White Weight: 150 g Value: Low Rough necklace Grade: White Material: Silver, gemstones Value: Low Weight: 35 g Long Ming glanced at them, stowed both in his backpack, and continued searching. A short while later, Long Ming had searched the whole house. Finding nothing else of value, he left. He headed for another house to the right. As he passed the mouth of an alley between them, he suddenly noticed trails of black blood on the ground, as if something had been dragged. He stopped, turned, and followed the black bloodstains into the alley, where in a corner he found some scattered crumbs. Long Ming held his breath, crouched down slowly, and touched the crumbs of biological tissue. His brow furrowed at once. These crumbs of biological tissue didn't look like human tissue. And though the tissue was shriveled, it still held a little moisture—considering how dry the air was here. Therefore, the owner of these tissue crumbs had been torn apart not long ago, so this place was definitely not safe. Thinking this, Long Ming hurried away. When he returned to the street, he heard excited shouts. "Brother, look what we found!" Long Ming looked up and saw Gu Yi and Chen Wei running over. The two were like they were presenting a treasure, holding up a double-barreled short gun engraved with gold patterns. "Not bad." Long Ming was stunned. He hadn't expected Gu Yi and Chen Wei to have such good luck, actually finding a firearm, and judging by its appearance, the quality seemed decent. "Do you like it, Brother? If you do, I'll give it to you." Gu Yi generously handed the short gun to Long Ming. "No need. I'll find my own." Long Ming refused directly, turned, and walked toward a building ahead that looked like a warehouse. "Wait." Gu Yi and Chen Wei hurried after him. "Why are you following me? Why not hurry and search for more stuff?" Long Ming stopped and looked at the two. "True. And be careful. There should be monsters here." "Ah! Monsters?" Hearing Long Ming's words, Gu Yi and Chen Wei immediately looked anxious and uneasy, nervously glancing around. After warning them, Long Ming paid them no more attention and walked straight toward the building. When he entered, he found it really was a warehouse. The warehouse was spacious, with dim lights hanging from the ceiling. Steel and iron boxes were piled everywhere, and various tools lay scattered on the ground. Long Ming looked with interest—there were hammers, screwdrivers, and so on. But these things were of little value to him, so he just glanced a few times and then carefully searched inside. At that moment, on the steel beam above the warehouse, a pair of crimson eyes lit up silently, staring fixedly at Long Ming. Long Ming walked lightly, trying not to make a sound. Just then, a drop of mucus dripped from above, landing on the ground behind Long Ming. Long Ming's pupils contracted. He stopped abruptly, turned around, and looked up. He saw a hideous figure leap down from the steel beam overhead, moving extremely fast, pouncing toward him. Long Ming instinctively tried to dodge, but his body couldn't react in time. He was knocked to the ground by that figure. He was dazed by the fall. When he regained his senses and looked, an ugly humanoid face stared back at him—rotting flesh, crimson eyes, sharp teeth. Buzz~ A red alert popped up on Long Ming's wristband interface: "Man-eating ghoul!" Ah~ Accompanied by a hideous roar, the ghoul opened its mouth and bit toward Long Ming. Long Ming's heart quivered. He hurriedly grabbed the ghoul's neck with both hands. The ghoul was like a mad dog, baring its teeth and desperately trying to bite Long Ming. Long Ming gritted his teeth and held on, veins bulging on his forehead. Disgusting mucus sprayed onto his face. Seeing it couldn't bite Long Ming, the ghoul grappled with him, rolling over and over. Bang~ Long Ming kept crashing into debris on the floor. His whole body ached terribly, but even so, he dared not let go—otherwise he would surely die. At this critical moment, Gu Yi and Chen Wei ran in, shouting loudly, "Brother, we're here to save you!" After separating, the two had kept recalling Long Ming's warning, growing more and more uneasy and fearful, so they didn't dare go far. Hearing the crashing sound just now, they had hurried over. "Quick, shoot it dead!" Long Ming held on grimly and shouted at Gu Yi and Chen Wei. Gu Yi immediately raised the double-barreled short gun in his hand toward the grappling ghoul, but hesitated for a long time without firing. Long Ming shouted angrily, "Why haven't you fired yet!" "No good, you two are tangled together—I can't aim!" Gu Yi kept moving the muzzle to follow the two rolling figures, but simply couldn't get a lock. Hearing Gu Yi's words, Long Ming nearly spat blood in frustration, but he could do nothing now. "Damn it, aim quickly! Why can't you aim? Chen Wei, you try!" Gu Yi was like an ant on a hot pan, speaking anxiously. "No good, I can't aim either." Chen Wei hurriedly waved his hands. At that moment, Long Ming hardened his resolve and rolled directly toward the stack of steel on the right, taking the ghoul with him. (End of chapter)