"They must be afraid of bright light, so they hide during the day. The reason they suddenly appeared now is because they are sensitive to noise.
The wedding procession was banging gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers when they entered the village, which must have woken up the zombies, so some of them came out. But their mobility is limited during the day, which is why we could deal with them easily."
Gu Qingcheng analyzed.
Gu Chaobei nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, saying,
"That makes sense. Let's hurry and leave. Now that we understand, there's no point in fighting further. We can't kill all the zombies anyway."
"Dad, what about the two children?"
Gu Qingcheng asked.
Now they could be sure that all the villagers in Jiren Village had turned into zombies, so the parents of the two boys couldn't escape either and must have become zombies. In this case, the two brothers would be orphans.
But they couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves, could they?
Gu Chaobei said, "Let's go back and find them first."
As they retreated, the groom and the peddler also ran with them, following them closely into the courtyard of that household.
Gu Chaobei first bolted the courtyard gate.
After all, those zombies were slow to react during the day, so as long as they didn't make too much noise, they should be fine.
The two children had already eaten their fill and their faces were much rosier.
Seeing Gu Chaobei and the others enter, they asked with anticipation,
"Uncle, did you find our parents?"
Gu Chaobei said with a heavy heart, "Your parents have also turned into monsters. They can't come back."
"Waa!"
Upon hearing this, the two children burst into tears.
Gu Qingcheng quickly said, "Keep your voices down! The monsters are still outside, and they are most sensitive to sound. If they hear us and surround us, we're dead."
As she spoke, something was indeed knocking on their door. From the sound, they knew it was a monster.
The two children were terrified and quickly stopped crying.
"Two benefactors, what happened? How did the villagers of Jiren Village turn into monsters?"
At this moment, the peddler, having caught his breath, boldly asked.
"We're not sure either, that's why we came to investigate," Gu Qingcheng replied vaguely.
"Right, do you have any relatives nearby?"
Gu Chaobei asked the two children.
"My maternal grandmother's home is in Huangyuan Village, three miles away."
The older child, who was old enough to remember, quickly said.
"Sir, would you mind taking the two little brothers to Huangyuan Village? Here is one tael of silver, consider it your compensation for the trouble."
"Certainly, this is a small matter. You don't need to give me silver. Consider it my repayment for saving my life."
The peddler quickly said.
Gu Chaobei still firmly gave him one tael of silver, and then took ten taels of silver for the peddler, saying that since the children's parents were gone, this ten taels of silver was for their living expenses, and asked the peddler to give it to their relatives.
The peddler was deeply moved and said they were truly good people.
Gu Qingcheng then told him to take the children and leave.
She gave the peddler a knife, and gave each of the two children a pointed iron rod for digging, for self-defense.
The peddler was immensely grateful and left with the two children. Gu Chaobei escorted them to the village entrance, made sure there were no zombies around, and watched them depart.
The groom sat on the ground, looking dejected and pale.
Gu Qingcheng consoled him, "Since things have come to this, your wedding cannot proceed. You should go back quickly!"
The bride and groom, looking lost, got up. After taking a few steps, they turned back and bowed deeply to Gu Qingcheng and Gu Chaobei, saying,
"Thank you for saving our lives. I, Liao, will never forget it."
Watching the groom's lonely figure depart, who had been so cheerful in the morning and was now so desolate, Gu Qingcheng was moved.
"Dad, can this strange illness be cured? It's too devastating."
Gu Chaobei said, "Let's go, we'll talk about it back on the boat."
There were at least over 3,000 villagers in the entire village. If they were all infected and were now hiding everywhere, perhaps only held back by the suppression of daylight, they might all be stirring restlessly.
Killing a hundred or eighty was not a problem, but if they had to deal with over 3,000, even if they had the strength, their arms would become too tired to swing.
The two returned to the boat, first discarding their outer clothes, then quickly showering and cleaning themselves.
After all, during the process of killing, the zombies' bodily fluids would spray onto them, carrying a foul stench.
The two changed into new clothes, looking refreshed and invigorated, and then went to the dining room.
As soon as they sat down, Hu Lanfang quickly served freshly squeezed orange juice, with ice added, which was sweet, sour, and refreshing.
The two drank it all in one go, feeling immensely refreshed and energized.
Hu Lanfang then quickly inquired about the village.
Gu Chaobei recounted their experience.
Hu Lanfang and Mi Guo listened with great shock. Hu Lanfang said,
"Such widespread infection, how can this be tolerated? They hide during the day, and what if they leave the village at night and attack people everywhere?"
"Yes, and their bloodthirsty desire seems uncontrollable. Look, didn't Prince Xia evolve to want to eat people later?"
Gu Qingcheng said with deep worry.
"This batch of villagers are probably not the first to be infected. Before the villager they were chasing, there should have been others infected. It's a pity we couldn't find that villager they were chasing, so we couldn't trace the source."
Gu Chaobei said with frustration.
As the family fell into thought, Gu Qingcheng said,
"Actually, our trip to Jiren Village today was not without gains. We can now conclude:
The characteristics of these zombies are sensitivity to sound and light, lurking during the day, and active at night; they have great strength and feed on blood and flesh."
"Yes, that's right," Gu Chaobei nodded. "In that case, from now on, when we encounter zombies, we must kill them without mercy, and at the same time be careful not to be bitten by them.
The air probably doesn't spread it. Now it's estimated to be spread through bites."
"That's right. If a person is first beaten to death and then bitten by them, they won't turn into a zombie. Only living people who are bitten by them and through such contact will turn into zombies."
Gu Qingcheng summarized again.
Thus, they had a general understanding of the living habits and attack targets of this batch of zombies, and they were fully prepared psychologically for how to defend themselves.
"But what's the use of us knowing this now? We are still far from Phoenix Village, and Phoenix Village is on a high mountain, so what's there to fear?" Hu Lanfang said.
"As the water level continues to rise, Phoenix Village might become a waterside village.
We don't know if these zombies can swim. If they can, it will be very difficult to control them, and then we will have to fight our way through blood."
Gu Qingcheng's mind conjured up the image of a large horde of swimming zombies encircling Phoenix Village from all directions, giving her a bad premonition.
Upon hearing her words, everyone simultaneously thought of this, and a chill ran down their spines.
"Then can we find a way to break this?" Hu Lanfang quickly asked.
"Perhaps Ge Hong is the key," Gu Chaobei said. "If he can develop a pill that blocks nerve conduction, then people who are bitten will not turn into zombies. Then everyone can freely eliminate the existing zombies, and once there are no new zombies, they can eventually be cleared out completely."