As soon as Song Jia said that, they once again heard the explosion of fireworks from somewhere above them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Miss Ye, it seems to me that there's a crazed group attacking the passengers of the ship. It's better if we don't separate from other people for now."
Song Jia saw that the man was beginning to lose control of his limbs. She didn't know how long it would take for the virus to completely invade the healthy cells of a human body, and she didn't want to find out. There were also other people who had been bitten in this group of people, so they wouldn't be facing a single zombie alone.
"Teacher Gu, we need to go!"
"Miss Ye, listen to me—"
His words were drowned out as the emergency alarm finally went off, waking those who were still asleep in their cabins and staterooms. A red light pulsed all over the corridors and the stairwell, dyeing everything in red. Accompanying that was a high-pitched scream from the person in front of them.
Two people, which included the man that Song Jia had been eyeing before, began to twist their limbs in directions they shouldn't be able to. Their joints popped, making it look even more unnatural. Song Jia clearly saw their irises taking over the sclera, so that it seemed like black pebble stones had replaced their eyes.
A guttural keening came out of their throats, while dark purple veins bulged and twisted like worms under their skin. They looked terrifying, as if they had been possessed.
"Ahhhh!"
"What's going on? What's happening to them?"
"They look just like those insane people who bit us before!"
Song Jia took a step back, and nearly slipped. She glanced down and saw a yellow puddle on the floor. She glanced sideways at Gu Yuan and saw that urine had turned his pants into a darker color. He had peed himself from fear.
Song Jia, "..."
Alright, this grandma could understand.
"Teacher Gu, let's go," she said softly.
Gu Yuan blinked, shaking himself out of his daze. His face turned red like a cooked shrimp as soon as he had realized what he had done.
"I...uh, I..." he stammered, looking embarrassed.
"It's alright, Teacher, I understand. But we need to go."
They began to flee down the stairs, going back from where they came from. Behind them, the two zombies vaulted from their position as if there were springs under their feet just like a jack-in-the-box, their jaws open wide. There were sounds of tearing flesh, and red liquid sprayed across the walls. Screams began to sound along with the constant shrieking of the emergency alarm.
"Teacher, run faster!" Black hair flying, Song Jia followed Gu Yuan as they went past Deck 5. "I can hear them chasing behind me!"
They were on the stairs past Deck 4 when Song Jia missed a step and tumbled down the stairs.
"Ahh!"
"Miss Ye!"
Song Jia fell flat on her back on one of the landings, feeling as if she had sprained her left wrist. She sat up and clutched her aching head. Her eyesight had blurred, making her feel dizzy.
"Miss Ye, look out!" Gu Yuan's horrified scream made Song Jia glance up. Instantly, her mouth went dry.
A zombie was just several steps away from her, on all fours, his mouth stained with blood. It was the man she had seen suffering from chills before. As if it knew that its prey couldn't temporarily move, it began to stalk her like a predator.
Song Jia began to search her storage space ring for a weapon that she could use. She began to regret that after her first transmigration, she had pawned off her laser gun. Even if it violated the rules and made the people of this world suspect her for having an advanced weapon, it was still a better option than dying from being eaten alive by a zombie.
"Miss Ye!"
Gu Yuan's shout alerted Song Jia to the imminent danger. But because she was panicking, she couldn't search her storage space properly. She only managed to grab a tube of lipstick.
Song Jia, "..."
That zombie's lips were already red with blood, why on earth would I need you for?!
"Ye Jia!"
A voice suddenly shouted her name.
A tall figure swung himself from the railing above them, jumping right into the step behind the zombie. He was holding a baseball bat that he didn't hesitate to swing, cracking the zombie's head against the wall like a rotten cabbage being kicked. Ye Minzhe didn't stop but continued pounding on him like a piñata. After the zombie's head finally caved in, he turned to glare at Song Jia.
"You're lucky that I vented off stress first, or you'll definitely be punished. Ye Jia, can't you take care of yourself more? If you can hit this young master's face with a pillow, why can't you hit that thing as well? Did you vomit out the leopard's gall that you ate? Did you know that this young master's face is worth millions of yuan compared to this person with dead fish eyes?"
Before he finished lecturing, another solitary zombie staggered behind him. It was keening, making an inhuman and malefic sound in its throat that made the hair on the back of their neck stand up. It was grinding its teeth as if it had been starving for years.
Ye Minzhe's muscles flexed, and he swung the baseball bat gracefully up over his shoulder, tipping it in a small circular motion. He then strolled towards the zombie, looking calm and poised.
Then he began hitting the zombie like a thug.
"Has this young master finished talking? You dare to interrupt me? Do you think my words aren't precious, that my saliva isn't worth your life in gold? Know your place, you ugly pig head!"
Bam, bam, bam! With every hit, the zombie howled as if it was begging for mercy.
"You look like something I drew with my left hand, but you still want to take a bite off this young master? You, a toad, wants to eat swan meat? In your dreams, bastard! Eat me when you surpass the surname Ye!" [1]
Watching Ye Minzhe attack the zombie as if it owed him a thousand years' worth of debt, Song Jia was rendered speechless.
She finally remembered...un, that's right, it seemed that this half-brother of hers had a very unique background.
After all, he was the only son of the most feared gangster boss in the underworld. Song Jia nodded her head. No wonder he was attacking that zombie like a loan shark collecting debt.
Maybe the zombie indeed owed him money?
[1] Toad wanting to eat swan meat - Ch. idiom that usually means an ugly man wanting to marry a beautiful woman; a person dreaming of somebody out of their league.
I noticed that my writing style became more western-ish in this arc, though I think it's fine.
(*^∀゚)ъ
Zombies in Ch. novels are usually brushed off, so they aren't as scary. Jia, jiayou!
(`∇'ゞ