Chapter 506: Mutation
If not for the young man who was able to provide them with water, they might not have been able to survive for so long. So, when they smelled the scent in the air, they couldn’t help but take several deep breaths.
They were already hungry in the first place, and with the addition of the fragrance in the air, their stomachs rumbled loudly. Feeling the pain, one of the women said, "Brother, I’m hungry."
Hearing this, the leader narrowed his eyes and said, "It must be those people."
"Brother, didn’t they go to the warehouse? How can they still be alive?" a thin man asked.
The leader thought for a while before he gazed at the young man who was sitting at the corner with a lowered head. "Chen Wenwu, you go outside and check the situation," he said.
Everyone turned to the young man and saw that he was motionless. Everyone who stayed in the convenience store was either an ability-user or their lover.
Out of all the ability-users, Chen Wenwu was the weakest. Besides providing ten liters of water daily, he couldn’t even kill a zombie. So, he was often used as bait to lure the zombies away or as a scout to check the situation outside.
Now that they needed to find out the situation in the warehouse, they wanted to push him out again. But unlike before, he dared to ignore their boss openly now.
Feeling angry, the leader spat and cursed, "Your mother! How dare you ignore me!?"
Noticing his anger, one of his henchmen quickly said, "Boss, I will teach him a lesson!"
After he said this, the thin man walked over to Chen Wenwu and kicked him while saying, "Bastard, Boss is talking to you! Get up and check the situation outside!"
They thought that Chen Wenwu would wake up. Unexpectedly, he lay on the ground unmoving. Noticing his pale face and heavy breathing, the thin man was taken aback.
Feeling that something was not right, he reached out to check his temperature and said, "Boss, his body is cold!"
Hearing this, everyone was shocked. They knew that one of the mutation signs was low body temperature. With this thought, they panicked, and a woman said, "Brother, he is turning into a zombie. We have to throw him out!"
The leader was also afraid. Even though he always acted tough, deep down, he was scared when facing zombies.
Therefore, he never went out by himself and always sent his henchmen to get supplies. It was not until the second rain that he stopped sending people out as they had enough supplies.
When he heard his woman’s words, he returned to his senses and said, "Quick, throw him out!"
As soon as they heard this, three people quickly carried Chen Wenwu to the back door. With one person opening the metal door, two people carried him out. After they were done, they quickly returned to the convenience store and locked the door.
At this moment, Chen Wenwu was having a high fever, but his body temperature was going down. He felt as if he were roasted inside but frozen outside. His consciousness was slipping away, but he forced himself to stay awake.
Knowing that he had to hide to survive, he used every bit of his energy to crawl away. He didn’t know where he was going, he only knew that he had to survive.
Twenty minutes later, his body reached its limit and he could no longer move. His fingertips were stained with blood while his body shivered from pain.
He stared at the fire in the distance and thought, ’Am I going to die? No, I’m unwilling to die. I don’t want to die!’
Just before he lost his consciousness, he saw a pair of boots appear in front of him, followed by a man’s voice, "Comrade, are you okay?"
Gao Bohai was surprised to find a young man out here. He had just gone to relieve himself and patrol the area. Seeing the young man’s body was covered with a thin layer of ice, he quickly checked his vitals.
With just one glance, he knew that this man was undergoing the process of awakening his ability. If he were left alone, he would die for sure. As a doctor, he couldn’t let this man die. So, he reached out and carried him back to the warehouse.
When he returned, he said, "Jinzhe, help me make more bonfires. This man is freezing."
The moment he said this, the members opened their eyes and walked over. Noticing the young man’s situation, Shen Jinzhe opened his palms and several blue wisps floated above them.
With a wave of his hand, the blue wisps flew toward Chen Wenwu and floated around him. With the blue flames surrounding him, his body temperature stopped dropping and the layer of ice covering his body slowly melted.
While he opened the man’s shirt, Li Sikai asked, "Brother Bohai, who is this man?"
"I found him not far from the warehouse. He must be one of the people hiding inside the convenience store," Gao Bohai replied while taking out his first aid box from his backpack.
"If he was one of them, why was he left outside?" Zhou Huajian said with doubts.
Shen Jinzhe controlled the blue wisps and replied casually, "They might think that this man is turning into a zombie, that’s why they threw him out to fend for himself."
Li Sikai observed Chen Wenwu’s condition for a while before he said, "We can only find out the situation after he wakes up."
Since Gao Bohai and Shen Jinzhe were busy saving the man, Li Sikai and Zhou Huajian took turns on the night watch.
At dawn, Chen Wenwu’s condition finally stabilized, but he was still in a coma. Gao Bohai checked his temperature and heaved a sigh of relief.
"He is no longer in danger but we still have to observe his condition and keep him hydrated," he said.
When he heard this, Shen Jinzhe extinguished the blue wisps and stretched his body. He stood up and said, "I will go find some water."