Chương 11: Exploring the mansion
As the clock hit two, Leyan had finally finished cooking lunch. But seeing no one was in the living room, she headed upstairs.
"Lunch is ready!" Leyan yelled out loud as she stood in the hallway, too lazy to knock on the doors.
All of the doors opened except for Xiaoyun's office room.
"Where's Xiaoyun?"
Leyan wondered as the three walked out of their room, looking a little exhausted despite only being the afternoon.
---
When Xiaoyun finished cleaning all of the evidence and headed out to the kitchen, the whole room turned dead silent until Leyan's question resumed.
"Ahem, Yueyue, what were you talking about earlier? You said about that phone call?"
"Oh, um, yeah, so I just called Ningjing earlier in the morning."
"Sister Ningjing? Is she okay? Where are they at?" Nami asked curiously.
"She's doing fine in the air-raid shelter with her boyfriend. But they are running short on food, so they are sending people to the city to search for food."
"Telling civilians going in the city? What is the military doing? " Yuqi questioned.
"She said that the military seems to have lost contact with the government and is following their last order to protect as many people as possible.
But they are too involved in rescuing people, so they are asking people to join them to salvage food along the way.
Yueyue paused to take a bit of her food, then continued.
"Also, the zombies in the city are apparently mutating. Some of them can jump high, climb walls, or be bulletproof."
The dining table fell into silence, unable to believe what just came out of her mouth.
"What? I thought the zombies themselves were already bad enough." Nami whispered.
"Yeah, I thought so too, but that is just reality now... But their head is still their main weak point, so not all hope is lost."
Even though Yueyue had already accepted the fact and tried to comfort them, all four didn't only have gotten more worried.
For the rest of the meal, no one could speak up to change the grim mood until the very end.
"Hey, Mom, I'm going for a run later with Xiaoyun and Yuqi later outside." Yueyue stated.
"Huh? When did——Ahem, yeah, we were planning to go out later."
Xiaoyun quickly changed his answer after Yueyue put up a threatening face and stepped on top of his left foot underneath the table.
But seeing the change in his tone was enough for Leyan to feel something was off, not to mention the worries of mutations.
"You even just talked about those mutating zombies, and now you're telling me you're going outside?"
Leyan questioned, her voice clearly not wanting them to take such risky action.
"We're just scouting near the Luoping community. It's not like we are going into the city or anything. I promise we will just stay within the area."
Seeing Yueyue giving him a constant eye signal to say something, Xiaoyun reluctantly sat up from his seat.
"Yueyue got a point. We really should scout our surroundings. The last thing we want is to find out that a zombie horde is already heading in our direction.
We need time to prepare in case we need to abandon our house. Also, when I was coming back from the city, Yuqi and I didn't see any zombies in Luoping's street.
So it should be fine if we go out to check—at least for now. We're just making sure the area is safe."
With now two sides against her, Leyan quickly looked over to Yuqi, hoping she would reject Yueyue's idea.
However, Yuqi sat in silence, staring at the empty plate on the table as if she was too busy thinking about something else.
"Fine... but you guys better stay safe when you are out there." Leyan backed down.
"Woohoo!"
Just as Yueyue was celebrating her plan to go out, it was quickly interrupted by someone else's voice.
"I want to go too!" Nami suddenly chimed in.
"I don't think that is safe for you, Mimi. Yueyue, don't you think so?" Leyan asked as she turned to Yueyue.
Yueyue nodded in agreement, and with Yuqi still sitting in silence, Nami turned to the last possible option.
"But I really want to go! I promise I will listen to brother!"
Xiaoyun suddenly felt a sharp pain in his knee, almost as if someone had just kicked him.
"Ahem, I don't see why we don't let her go. I mean, we are just running around the block to get some fresh air."
The switch caught both Leyan and Yueyue a little off guard, but Yueyue immediately switched sides to back his argument.
"Alright, fine. I guess I will stay home alone to watch over it."
Leyan backed down again as Yuqi still looked preoccupied with her thoughts and refused to answer her eye signals.
Thirty minutes later...
As Leyan was cleaning the dishes, all four of them sat at the dining table, discussing where to run.
"If we run here... Then, we can see if any zombies are coming from the city while at a safe distance.
This will be the perfect running trip for some nice exercise as well," Yueyue stated as she pointed to the iPad's map.
"Is that a little too long? We are going to spend an entire afternoon just getting there. That's not including the way back."
The question raised was by Yuqi, who seemed to be finally out of her thoughts as she looked towards the route made by Yueyue.
"You're right. How about we readjust from here... To here. Now it's half the distance, and we still get a somewhat good view of the entrance."
The readjustment made all three of them nod in agreement, but Nami felt something was missing.
"Actually, why don't we investigate the nearby mansions? We will have a higher angle, and we will be able to search for things we need." Nami suddenly suggested.
"No, it's too dangerous! Remember what happened when Xiaoyun went to get Yuqi? There are too many corners that could be hiding zombies."
Leyan immediately intervened out loud as she stepped out of the kitchen sink, sending Nami to zip her mouth.
Both Yueyue and Yuqi nodded, agreeing with Leyan's argument as they realized the inherent risk of going inside the mansions.
"Ahem, I think Nami's suggestion is pretty good... We will be able to see if anyone is trapped and help them. And since it's the same path, we can still check if zombies are coming from the cities.
We kill two birds with one stone right there... Besides, what happened that day was an accident. I would have killed that zombie easily every time if I had more experience like right now."
All three girls looked a little surprised by Xiaoyun's sudden support for Nami, but they were still a little hesitant.
"Fuck... I'm getting blackmailed."
Xiaoyun thought to himself as an awkward silence ensued. He had only said it out loud after seeing Nami saying Yuqi and Leyan's names with her lips.
After a long silence, Yuqi finally decided to step up to make her stance.
"Actually, I think Nami's idea is very good. Think about it. If we don't have medicine, sooner or later, we will need to find it.
And I doubt Xiaoyun could create something like a painkiller or whatever kind of drugs that he never used before."
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement as he proved her point by only creating basic anti-fever drugs in hand.
"Here's another example. If a car breaks down, none of us can repair the car. That's like the main tool if we need to abandon ship."
The four of them all nodded in agreement as Yuqi didn't stop there and continued.
"And imagine if we got so sick that we needed surgery. No offense to you, Mom, but you're just a nurse, not a doctor. The fact is, we will need to work with other people if we want to survive this apocalypse.
The sooner we do it, the more people and items we can save... If we take too long, who knows how many people will still be alive for us to save?"
"What if they are dangerous? How can we tell that they are genuine, good people? I am not going to trust a stranger living in the house."
Leyan raised her last concern, still unwilling to fold completely to the idea that Yuqi provided.
"We can test their character. You know, like a company hiring people. It's not just going to be easy, but I'm sure we can figure out a way.
Besides, we don't actually need them to live here. We can just let them take one of the mansions that no one lives in."
As Yuqi finished her argument, all the other three instinctively clapped.
"That was such an amazing speech." Xiaoyun complimented as the other three girls nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, thank you." Yuqi bowed down in gratitude as she sat back down.
"Okay then. It looks like everything is decided... Let's all meet in the living room in twenty minutes." Xiaoyun declared.
With Leyan in silence, all three of the girls accepted it and started heading upstairs to prepare.
However, before Xiaoyun could head upstairs to prepare himself, Leyan suddenly grabbed onto his arm.
"Wait. When you go explore later, you need to skip the house with 301 on it, okay?
If I remember correctly, there used to be a lot of rumors that the person living there used to be an arms smuggler." Leyan warned.
"Okay, I will avoid it."
After hearing Xiaoyun agree to it, Leyan finally lets him go.
"Why do I always have a bad feeling? Is it because I'm worrying too much?"
Leyan muttered as she walked back into the kitchen to resume washing all the dishes.
---
Fifteen minutes later...
Yueyue was the first to arrive in the living room, wearing a white T-shirt, track pants, a backpack, and a cap.
Meanwhile, Yuqi arrived next, dressed almost the same way as her sister, except she was wearing blue jeans.
Xiaoyun arrived next, dressed up almost the same as Yueyue, with the only difference being the hiking backpack he had gotten from the mall.
"Just in time. Where's Nami?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as twenty minutes had just passed.
"She's still preparing," Yueyue replied.
After waiting for five minutes, Nami still didn't come down.
"Why is Nami taking so long? It's been past ten minutes at this point."
As soon as Yueyue finished complaining, the sound of the door being opened could be heard from upstairs.
Nami had finally finished preparing as she walked down the stairs, stunning everyone with her look.
Rather than something that looked practical, she was dressed up as if she were going on some spring field trip.
Her knee skirt and a double ponytail on the back with her small backpack almost made her look like an elementary or a middle schooler, despite being way older in actual age.
"Xiaoyun, are you sure this is a good idea to bring her?" Yueyue questioned.
Both Yuqi and Leyan expressed serious doubt on their face as well, all agreeing with Yueyue's statement.
"It's fine. Let's just get moving now..."
---
Originally, the four of them were running to get light exercise, but Yuqi was already tired from just three minutes of running.
"Qiqi, your stamina is so poor," Yueyue complained as everybody was now forced to walk.
"Yeah, I'm just a high schooler, and I can run longer than you."
Nami quickly adds fuel to the fire, seemingly to instigate Yuqi's anger on purpose as she falls for the bait.
"How am I supposed to exercise every day in the office? Easy for you all to say when I have to sit nine to six every day."
Seeing Yuqi panting heavily, Xiaoyun quickly moved closer to support her so they could continue walking down the road.
A few minutes of walking later, the four finally reached their first mansion.
Xiaoyun quickly took out a map that Leyan had given to him before he left, checking out the address as he matched the location.
"This building is 302. The map says it's a mansion with an elderly couple... Where the hell did Mom get this map?"
"I think it was from Mom's friend or something," Yuqi replied.
As the four of them approached the entrance, a padlock held two metal fences together, blocking their way.
"Should we ring the doorbell first or just go in?" Xiaoyun asked as he turned over to the three.
"If we want to show that we are friendly, we probably should ring the doorbell, right?" Nami suggested.
Seeing the other two nodding in agreement, Xiaoyun walked over to the keypad and rang the doorbell.
But after waiting a minute, no one answered.
"This doorbell seems to have run out of batteries. Did you guys hear any sound?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Nope." All of them responded.
"Maybe we should just skip this one," Yuqi suggested, getting a little creeped out by the complete darkness past the mansion window.
"Come on, don't be scared. We have already walked all the way here... Just let me smash the lock——"
"Wait, let me do it."
Nami pushed Xiaoyun back, stepping forward to the padlock herself as she took out what seemed to be a paper clip from her backpack.
With a few moves and clicks, the padlock was unlocked right before their eyes.
"Okay, now we can go in," Nami stated as she pulled the padlock down and pushed the metal fences aside.
"This skill... when did Nami learn this? Does mom know about it?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"I don't know either. I have never seen her do this," Yueyue replied, with Yuqi nodding in agreement.
The three followed Nami past the front gate, slowly accepting the fact that Nami knew how to lockpick.
Soon, their attention was taken by the front yard.
A bunch of creaking sounds appeared as they walked over the front yard full of dead leaves, which seemed to have not been cleared up for a long time.
"I remember the elderly couple walking on the block... They probably forgot to hire someone to clean this." Yuqi commented.
The four of them stopped at the front door of the mansion before Nami looked back at her sibling.
Seeing them all nodding, she pressed the doorbell and waited.
To their surprise, a ding came from the inside, which was soon followed by a loud banging sound from the second floor.
"Nami, can you try to pick the door first?"
Xiaoyun's request was quickly met as Nami took out a different tool this time and started trying to pick it up.
But after waiting for almost five minutes, there was still what seemed to be zero progress made.
"I give up. This is too advanced for me... Stupid barrel pins."
With Nami stepping back to the side, Xiaoyun signaled for the three of them to step even further back.
"Hello? Anyone inside?"
Xiaoyun knocked one last time. Seeing no response, a fire axe appeared in his hand.
Raised the fire axe all the way up into the air, he chopped it right down at the door with his full force.
"Clanck!"
A small hole in the door was followed by an even more aggressive sound from upstairs as he raised his axe again.
After several heavy blows at the door, it finally created a big enough hole to see what was inside.
There was no sign of anyone inside, and the entryway was pitch black, barely illuminated by the light outside.
Seeing it as safe, Xiaoyun reached his hand in and turned the doorknob from within, unlocking the door.
"Nami and Yuqi, you two guard outside. Yueyue and I are going to check what is inside."
Both of them nodded in agreement, accepting his plan.
"Yuqi, do you still have the gun I gave you?"
"I have it. You can take it back."
She quickly took it out and tried to hand it back, but Xiaoyun quickly pushed it back to her.
"I already have one in my pocket... If there are people outside, call us. Try not to use the gun unless it's an emergency."
Seeing her nodding again, Xiaoyun and Yueyue finally took their first step into the entryway.
"Yueyue, take this baseball bat. I'm going to use this axe."
With a weapon in hand, the fear on Yueyue's face disappeared as she looked much more confident than before.
After walking past the entryway, they entered a dark living room barely lit by the light shining through the curtain fabric.
Yueyue quickly took out her phone and turned on the flashlight as they tried to find a light switch.
With a short flick, the room was finally lit up fully.
"Still power in the house," Xiaoyun murmured.
The two of them began to separate as they walked on either side of the coffee table before they found evidence of their own.
"The CD player has no dust on it. Someone had used this recently."
Xiaoyun commented as he took out the animal documentary CD from the CD player connected to the TV.
"There seem to be a few empty potato chip bags. Not a single crumb inside."
Yueyue commented next after looking through the trash can, putting the empty bag back inside as she patted her hand on her pants.
"Someone is living here recently," Xiaoyun concluded as Yueyue agreed with his statement.
Seeing the signs that the house was occupied, the two got a little nervous. But they continued after finishing checking the living room.
As they began walking to the next unexplored area, a short hallway brought them to a split end.
One was to go up the stairs, and the other was to continue forward.
"We probably should search the first floor first."
Yueyue nodded as she followed Xiaoyun's lead, walking past the stairs before arriving at a kitchen.
With the light turned on, they immediately split up, trying to find something useful in the house.
Xiaoyun opened the fridge and found nothing inside besides an empty egg carton.
Meanwhile, Yueyue rummaged through the cabinet and found only kitchen utensils and knives.
The two exited the kitchen and resumed walking down the hallway, but the next few rooms were storage rooms with old furniture.
After a few minutes of walking, they explored the entirety of the first floor before arriving at the backyard that connected to the front yard.
The two quickly headed back to the split end, right before the staircase.
"I'll go up first. You follow me," Xiaoyun whispered and walked up, with Yueyue following right behind.
---
The second floor is just a long corridor, with three rooms on the left and two rooms on the right.
At the end, there was a balcony that allowed them to see outside.
As the two of them quietly walked to the end of the balcony, they could see Yuqi and Nami talking to each other on the bench.
The road they came from is still empty in the distance. Unfortunately, several trees blocked their view towards the Luoping entrance.
They quickly walked back to the corridor and then knocked on the first room on the left.
Within seconds, the third room and the second room on the left side started banging on the door from the inside.
"I'm 100% sure there are zombies in those two rooms. Just stand back and watch how I take care of this one."
Yueyue immediately walked all the way to the staircase, watching Xiaoyun walk all the way to the door to the third room.
Turning the doorknob, it was locked just as he expected. So he quickly raised the ax and hacked towards the door.
A massive hole appeared, unlike the one at the front entrance, revealing a zombie behind it as it instantly rushed toward the hole.
Xiaoyun immediately took a step back as the zombie got stuck in the hole he had made, unable to move its lower body.
With the ax raised, he chopped down right at its head, giving it a clean cut right into the zombie's head.
"Don't be afraid, okay? You are going to do the next one."
Xiaoyun warned after noticing she was a little stunned by blood and brain pieces all over the floor.
"O-Okay."
Despite her nod, he could feel she was starting to feel a little frightened, almost a little taken back by the killing.
"Let's go inside and have a look inside first."
Xiaoyun quickly kicked the headless corpse to the side before chopping the hole big enough to allow him to open the door.
As they entered inside, they quickly realized it was an office, with a family photo showing a face similar to the zombie Xiaoyun had chopped.
After the two looked around and found nothing valuable, they quickly walked to the second room on the left.
The second room constantly made a nonstop banging noise from the inside as they cleared the third room.
"Okay, it's your turn now. When I break the door open, I am going to back off, and you're going to kill it with your bat."
As the door started to be hacked open, Yueyue prepared her bat and waited for the hole to get bigger.
The moment Xiaoyun stopped and took a step back, she immediately stepped forward to confront the zombie.
"Urrrrggghhh!"
As the zombies tried to grab Yueyue's arm, its body was completely stuck by the hole that Xiaoyun had made.
"What are you waiting for?"
Xiaoyun's question finally made her swing the bat down, and it landed right on the zombie's head.
However, she had hit it way too hard, crushing the brain as it instantly exploded into pieces, with blood flying everywhere.
Fortunately, Xiaoyun had already created a piece of cloth in hand, quickly throwing it towards the splash.
"You don't have to hit it that hard... Their head is usually very fragile." Xiaoyun commented.
"Sorry."
Yueyue immediately apologized, knowing she had hesitated way too long when the zombie was right before her.
"It's your first time killing a zombie. You didn't do that bad... Just remember, they are zombies, not humans."
As Xiaoyun gently patted her on the back, her mind was starting to recover from the shock.
"You're right... I need to get over this."
After a deep breath, her uncomfortable face disappeared as she followed Xiaoyun into the room.
The room itself was nothing interesting—just another office space with a woman's portrait that matched the corpse.
"Do you want to go downstairs and take a break? I can clear the room myself."
Xiaoyun suddenly suggested after noticing her hand starting to shake a little from what seemed to be nervousness.
"No, let's keep going."
Seeing the shaking had stopped and her eyes looked determined, he didn't persuade her any further.
The next room was not locked, but nothing was interesting besides a bedroom with some clothes in it.
The room after was another empty room with nothing in it at all. But both Xiaoyun and Yueyue were starting to get nauseous from the smell of the corpses.
After quickly speeding through the remaining room to the restrooms and storage room with a bunch of cleaning products, they were finally left with the last room in the house.
As Xiaoyun turned the doorknob, it gave him a clunk sound, indicating it was locked.
"Hello? Is there anyone inside? I'm here to help." Xiaoyun asked as he gently knocked on the door.
With no response from the inside, he put his ear on the door in an attempt to hear some noise.
Still, there was not a single sound from the inside.
"Hello? This is your final warning. If you don't answer the door, I will assume no one is in there."
Xiaoyun yelled this time but got no response again.
Slowly, he raised his ax and hacked it down lightly, making a small hole big enough for him to peek inside.
"What's inside?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"A pink room, with a girl lying in the middle of the bed and a blanket that covered most of her lower body."
Xiaoyun quickly raised the ax again, making the hole big enough for his hand to move and open it from the inside.
As the two of them entered the room and examined it carefully, they were able to clear the room to be safe.
Turning their attention to the little girl, they immediately got a little curious.
The little girl's face was extremely red, and when Xiaoyun moved his hand to check her pulse, he could feel a heartbeat.
"Her heart is still beating. But why doesn't she wake up from all the noises?" Xiaoyun murmured as his brain couldn't think of a why.
Yueyue walked to the other side of the bed and removed the blanket, revealing the girl's body was so thin to the point that they could see her bones.
"Shit, she's passed out from thirst or starvation. No wonder why the fridge and chip bags are empty."
As Yueyue commented, Xiaoyun had already created a bottle of water and started to pour a little bit down her dry lips.
The girl coughed several times as the water slipped into her mouth, but she still didn't wake up.
Touching her forehead, Yueyue immediately noticed another issue.
"She has a fever. Can you create some medicine?"
After creating a bottle of anti-fever and taking one of the pills out, he gently fed into the girl's mouth along with some more water.
"Maybe we should bring her to mom. I don't think she can stay here safely."
Yueyue suggested as the smell of the zombie corpses was starting to get stronger and stronger.
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement and quickly wrapped the girl in the blanket before carrying her out of the room.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
IPI
IPI One down. So many more to go. I hope I can at least finish volumes 1,2 and 3 by the end of next week.
Edited as of 12/21/24
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