"Oh..." Upon hearing Tang Ye’s words, Chen Zhouquan and the rest of the motorcycle gang showed disappointnt in their eyes. Soon, soone asked, "Brother Nian, are you arranging a place for soone? Is that person a relative of yours?"
"Yes, yes, Brother Nian, you’re so powerful, your relatives must live well, right?"
The look on Tang Ye’s face was hard to decipher as he stared blankly at the scene ahead, images of various faces flashing in his mind. After so silence, he finally spoke, his voice slightly somber.
"Truthfully, I do not have any relatives. I’ve never had any from the start."
"No way?"
The motorcycle gang mbers were sowhat surprised, but did not ask further.
"I am a person who was abandoned. From the start, I have never known where I ca from, who my relatives are, or even what the concept of ’relatives’ ans. The biggest difference between you and is that you all have a place to return to, while I do not even know where I am going."
"An abandoned person?"
The mbers of the motorcycle gang did not quite understand Tang Ye’s words. The smarter ones guessed a bit of what he ant, but no one ventured to guess further.
Even Tang Ye did not know why he had revealed his status as an "abandoned person." It was as if the phrase had suddenly flashed in his mind and he had said it out of the blue.
"The concept of ’relatives’? There’s really no such thing in this world. These are all rules we humans have imposed upon ourselves. Life, from the mont we are born, is a journey. There is no such thing as a holand to return to. We co into this world empty-handed, and we leave it the sa way."
"Hahaha."
The motorcycle gang mbers burst into laughter, their tone seemingly self-mocking. Tang Ye remained silent, watching the path ahead in solitude.
As night fell, they found a relatively clean building and rested for the night. In a rare occurrence, Tang Ye chose to sleep.
During the long, silent winter night, Tang Ye had a dream.
He dreamt about his childhood ‒ the very beginning ‒ where he was not doing anything. Instead, he was being held by soone, walking with weightless steps on a path of yellow sand. Tang Ye could not make out this person’s appearance or body shape.
It was as though the person holding him was a shapeless liquid, carrying him step by step through the desert. He could not discern this person’s emotions or understand why he held him in his arms.
The path the person was walking on seed to be made of desert sand, but this was rely a taphor – it was only similar to desert sand. At tis, the path appeared to be a concrete road, at others a rugged mountain trail, or the dilapidated streets of an apocalyptic landscape.
Tang Ye had no idea what the sky looked like – whether it was day or night, cloudy or sunny, the mountains in his dreams were extrely high, reaching towards the heavens. The chasms were so deep they seed bottomless.
With each step the person took, Tang Ye’s surroundings seed to change. Space was distorted, ti was chaotic – everything was unseen, everything was hidden. Not knowing the person’s gender, Tang Ye knew only that this person was devoid of emotions. It was like a soulless puppet, chanically holding him and walking step by step.
Eventually, they reached a huge gate, which was the entrance to the orphanage where Tang Ye had lived. Unlike the real life orphanage, the dream orphanage was perched on an endless plain. Not far away, a long railroad track lay horizontally, with what seed to be a person lying on it.
To the left was a high mountain; on the right was desolate, crumbling scenery typical of the post-apocalypse – an unidentified place. On the arched ruin hung twisted corpses of humans and zombies, along with the skeletons of massive creatures.
His life was replayed in the dream. The odd part was that he was not addressed by his real na, but another.
"Li Henian, co here."
"Li Henian, we are one person short for hide-and-seek. Hurry up!"
"Henian, save , I don’t want to die!"
"No, Brother Nian, let live. I beg you..."
"Over there, hurry up! Li Henian, co with !"
"Oh, so your na is Li Henian. You’re a strange zombie. You even have intelligence."
"Li Henian, give up. You are...the Zombie King..."
"Where’s Li Henian?"
"He’s left!"
"Why did he leave?"
"He lost sothing very important."
"Alright."
"Hey, you seem a lot more mature. But, you don’t look as interesting as before. Also, rember, your na isn’t Li Henian... Rember your real na..."
"Rember, Li Henian, the only one who can save you is the one you hold close in your heart!"
"Brother Nian...I am very grateful to you, for teaching how to beco strong... But I rember, you once told another na, perhaps you have forgotten it, hahaha!"
"Your real na...is Tang Ye!"
Snowflakes drifted in from the window and landed on Tang Ye’s forehead. He opened his eyes to the grey sky outside; although it was morning, the sky was overcast with dark clouds.
"Another absurd dream."
Tang Ye got up from his bed and muttered. Every dream he had since turning into a zombie had been inexplicable and puzzling.
Stepping out of the room, he saw that many people were already awake, rummaging through room after room for supplies. Downstairs, others were strapping things onto their motorcycles. When Chen Zhou’an saw Tang Ye, he imdiately asked, "Boss, are we leaving?"
"Let’s go."
Tang Ye touched his nose, descended the stairs, and positioned himself atop a vehicle. The convoy started moving, heading towards the East City District. But after much andering, Tang Ye quickly realized they had sohow ended up at the spot where Gao Shunan had fallen.
Now, a colossal pit lay before them. Nurous buildings had collapsed under the impact, forming a large debris field. Looking at the pit, especially the concave depression at the center resembling a giant Chinese character, one could easily guess the previous presence of a person who had been forcefully pushed into it.
"What happened here?"
"Is this massive pit created by a punch? Who has fists that big?"
"Are you stupid, does that look like a fist imprint to you?"
A slap landed on the companion’s head. The voice snapped at him. Tang Ye glanced at the pit and couldn’t help but chuckle. After all the andering, they had ended up here again.
"Enough, don’t worry about this. Let’s move."
"Alright."
Upon hearing Tang Ye’s order, the motorcycle gang shouted in response. As they turned onto the street ahead, the group gazed upon the rolling waves of the Qulong River.
"We’re close to the East City District now. We need to go through it and then take the highway southwards to reach the Ludian Expressway," one of the n familiar with the route said.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Tang Ye’s eyes narrowed, fixating on the end of the elevated highway bridging the East and West Districts.
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