Chen Mo looked at the detached courtyard house ahead and pedaled faster.
Most of the farmers in this village lived in cave dwellings. Very few built proper houses, so anyone who could afford one probably had plenty of supplies.
Soon, Chen Mo rode his little yellow bicycle up to the courtyard gate. He glanced down. The gate was unlocked, standing slightly ajar.
He looked left and right. After making sure no one was around, he picked up half a brick from the ground and carefully pushed the gate open.
The courtyard was quiet. A few pieces of clothing swayed in the breeze on a clothesline.
The main house's door stood wide open. Keeping close to the wall, Chen Mo slowly edged over and peeked inside.
The furnishings were simple: just a wooden table and matching benches. A corpse lay on the floor beside the table, with bloody scratch marks across the ground.
Chen Mo glanced down. The corpse was a man, his face devoid of expression. But the strange thing was that his eye sockets... were empty.
Looking at those hollow sockets, he frowned slightly.
Go in? Or stay out?
But he did not hesitate for long. His current stock of supplies was nowhere near enough to give him any other choice.
If he gave up here and tried another house, it would probably already be too late.
This was his only option now!
At that thought, Chen Mo swallowed and slowly crept toward the kitchen at the side of the house. Fortunately, the corpse on the floor did not move, and he made it there without incident despite his nerves.
The kitchen was a mess. Pots, bowls, and utensils lay scattered across the floor. Chen Mo slowly crouched down and began checking the containers on the stove.
Empty!
Empty!
All empty!
Just as Chen Mo was starting to lose heart, his hand found a burlap sack beneath the stove. Joy surged through him. He hauled it out and untied it for a look.
It actually held half a sack of slightly sprouted potatoes!
Chen Mo slung the sack onto his back, then turned his attention to the rice jar beside the stove. When he opened it, he found a thin layer of rice covering the bottom!
There was not much, but he estimated it at roughly four or five jin.
Jackpot!
Suppressing his excitement, Chen Mo grabbed two metal bowls from the stove and used them to scoop the rice into the sack on his back.
Once he was done, he stuffed the bowls into the sack as well, hoisted it onto his back, and prepared to leave.
Just as he passed through the living room, stepped over the corpse, and was about to retrace his steps, he stopped short.
What just flashed?
Chen Mo took another look down, and uncontrollable delight instantly spread across his face.
A set of blue vehicle keys hung from the waistband of the eyeless corpse's trousers!
But Chen Mo did not grab them right away. Instead, he hurried out of the living room, set the sack down in the courtyard, and peeked outside. After confirming that his little yellow bicycle was still there, he rushed toward the backyard.
Sure enough, a blue Agricultural Dump Truck was parked there!
The Dump Truck was old, but the word "Chengfeng" printed on its cargo bed was still faintly legible.
This thing was practically a godsend in the apocalypse! It wasn't picky about fuel, it was rugged and durable, and its cargo bed could haul plenty of supplies!
Chen Mo suppressed his excitement and peered through the window into the Dump Truck's cab. The red needle on the fuel gauge rested firmly at the halfway mark.
Half a tank left!
At the sight, he barely hesitated before rushing back toward the eyeless corpse in the main house.
He'd take the gamble!
A dozen or so seconds later, Chen Mo returned to the living room. The eyeless corpse still lay beside the table, without having shifted at all.
He watched it for a few seconds. Once he was sure it showed no sign of coming back to life, he took two steps forward and slowly bent down.
When his hand was less than ten centimeters from the keys, Chen Mo suddenly sped up. He seized them, yanked hard, then turned and bolted outside. The whole sequence was fluid, practiced enough to make anyone pity him.
The corpse did not rise as he had feared!
Success!
Chen Mo hurried back to the front courtyard, shouldered the sack from the corner, and went outside the gate. He tossed it onto his little yellow bicycle, then pushed the bike toward the backyard at a run.
The Dump Truck's cargo bed was spacious. Even with the bicycle and sack inside, just under half of it remained empty.
But Chen Mo had no intention of getting greedy. This haul had already solved his immediate crisis. His top priority now was to get everything out safely.
The corpse lying in the main house and the little store at the village entrance both gave him an uneasy feeling.
With that in mind, Chen Mo unlocked the Dump Truck's door, floored the accelerator, and started the vehicle.
Soon, the blue Dump Truck roared out of the house's backyard and turned onto the rough dirt road.
The bumpy road might have posed a challenge for a sedan, but it was nothing to this rugged farm vehicle with its high clearance and large tires.
The engine had been chugging for less than two minutes when Chen Mo hit the brakes and brought the Dump Truck to a steady stop at the village entrance.
Quite a few scavengers had already gathered there. Many returned with relief and delight on their faces. In a world overrun by eerie horrors, finding a village this safe that had not yet been looted was an incredible stroke of luck.
Just then, a stir ran through the crowd. Plenty of people had noticed the blue Dump Truck newly added to the convoy.
"Chen Mo, where the fuck did you get that truck?"
"The villagers are dirt-poor! How come you managed to get a truck?"
Listening to their jealous remarks, Chen Mo's expression slowly turned cold.
Looks like he'd need to get some weapons to defend himself, too...
Just then, a sickeningly coy voice drifted in through the window.
"Chen Mo, sweetie..."
Chen Mo turned to look. A reasonably attractive woman was leaning against his window, wearing a pitiful expression.
Chen Mo vaguely remembered her. Her name seemed to be Zhang Nan. She was a walker who had joined the convoy along the road half a month ago. She looked under thirty, and he had heard she used to teach dance at a private institution before the apocalypse.
By the standards of the Silent Era, she was fairly attractive. The fact that plenty of men offered her food at night to go "stargazing" somewhere secluded made that clear.
Leaning against Chen Mo's window, Zhang Nan looked around the cab before finally resting her gaze on his face.
"I'm so tired from walking. Can I stay in your truck for a bit?"
When she saw Chen Mo look over, she quickly straightened her back, making the curves beneath her tracksuit jacket more pronounced.
"Fuck off!"
But Chen Mo merely glanced at her before coldly spitting out those words.
Zhang Nan froze. The smile on her face slowly stiffened, then she burst into curses.
"Fuck your-"
Chen Mo did not bother responding. Completely ignoring her verbal barrage, he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes to rest.
Compared to Zhang Nan's humiliation-fueled rage, the people he really needed to worry about were Brother Dao and his gang.
His haul this time was too big-big enough to drive anyone to take a desperate risk.
Although Lin Lu had laid down a rule against killing, there were plenty of ways for someone to die in the apocalypse. Their supplies might be stolen, they might get injured, or they might disappear...
At that thought, Chen Mo let out a weary breath.
"I'm afraid there's no getting out of paying some 'protection money.'"
As he pondered this, a heart-rending scream suddenly rang out from deep inside the village.
"Aaaah!!!!"
Then came a series of desperate cries.
"Run! There's a horror!"
"Stay away! My flesh tastes awful! Aaaah-!"
"My eyes! My eyes hurt so much! Help!"
Chen Mo's eyes snapped open. He looked toward the source of the cries and saw several figures scrambling desperately toward him from the far end of the village road.
Leading them all was a burly man over two meters tall, his bald head gleaming blindingly!
Someone sharp-eyed immediately recognized him. "It's Big Niu! The Transcendent!"
Big Niu had two bulging burlap sacks on his back. His thick, long legs churned furiously as he shouted while running.
"Run!"
"Run, now!"
Before you continue