Xiao Hu saw his mother crying and immediately opened his mouth to cry as well.
Li Yuxin, already old enough to understand, fully grasped what had just happened, and was wiping away her tears nonstop.
I stood off to the side, watching the few of them crying together in a mess, my own nose stinging a little.
Just then, Xu Shu and Shen Feng finally pushed their way through the crowd toward me.
Seeing Shen Feng, my heart gave a jolt—I instinctively didn't want him to get close and witness what was happening before us.
But before I could come up with a good excuse to send him away, a startled cry came from behind me—Han Xue's voice—followed immediately by the sound of flesh tearing open…
Sister Qian's grief-stricken wailing stopped instantly.
I whipped my head around and saw that Brother Qian, still lying on the bed, had opened his eyes—and was biting down hard on Sister Qian's arm that had been cradling his head.
I hadn't expected Brother Qian to awaken so quickly.
The sight left me stunned, almost in disbelief.
Sister Qian froze as well, and only when Brother Qian ripped away a whole piece of flesh, skin and all, and swallowed it, did she let out a blood-curdling scream.
She yanked her arm back with all her strength, but the force threw her backward off the bed.
Being heavyset, she crashed into Han Xue, who had been holding her up in shock.
Han Xue couldn't withstand it at all and was instantly knocked over, the two of them rolling on the ground together as Sister Qian wailed in agony.
Xiao Hu saw his "dad" sit up and bite his mom, and he burst into terrified cries.
My instincts kicked in, and I rushed forward to pull him and Li Yuxin away from the bedside.
But before I could even take a full step, Xiao Hu darted ahead of me straight toward the bed.
He raised his tiny hand high and swung it down at Brother Qian, crying out, "Bad daddy, don't bite mommy!"
The scene left me breathless, nearly choking from the shock.
I screamed, reaching desperately to grab Xiao Hu.
Meanwhile, Li Yuxin was quickly pulled aside by Xu Shu and Shen Feng, who had just arrived.
At the very moment my hand brushed Xiao Hu's clothes, Brother Qian—now fully risen from the bed—snatched the boy's small hand that had just reached his face.
And in that instant, amid my and Xu Shu's screams, Brother Qian sank his teeth savagely into it.
It was a sight I could never have imagined.
Right before my eyes, I witnessed a father—after turning into a walker—savagely bite his own wife and son in mere moments.
The shock in my heart defied description.
I couldn't stop recalling how many times I'd seen Brother Qian kneeling on all fours, letting his beloved son ride on his back like a horse, laughing so joyfully his eyes squinted into thin lines as Xiao Hu smacked his back with carefree glee.
I rushed forward, trying to wrest Xiao Hu—gasping in agony—from Brother Qian's mouth.
I had completely lost all sense of reason; the only thing I could do was clutch the boy tightly and pull him back with all my strength.
Finally, after Brother Qian tore off the entire piece of flesh from Xiao Hu's hand, he loosened his jaws at last, greedily chewing on his own son's tender meat.
Because I had been pulling with all my might, the sudden release sent me staggering backward, clutching Xiao Hu, and we both crashed hard to the ground.
As I fell, I caught sight of Shen Feng, who had reacted swiftly—pulling out his dagger and charging straight at Brother Qian, who was about to climb out of bed.
But just before Shen Feng reached him, Auntie Qian suddenly lunged forward and rammed into him, shoving him back several steps until he stumbled over me and Xiao Hu lying on the floor, losing his balance and tumbling down with us.
"Don't kill my so—" Auntie Qian, who had shouted furiously at Shen Feng, didn't even get to finish her words before her voice cut off.
Her face twisted into disbelief and agony, and after a moment she finally let out a muffled groan.
From where I lay on the ground, I saw Brother Qian's teeth sunk deep into Auntie Qian's neck, and my mind exploded in shock.
In just this short span of time… right before all of us… he had bitten three people in a row.
If Brother Qian's soul still had any shred of consciousness, if he knew he had personally bitten to death his three dearest family members—wouldn't he hate himself so much he'd want to end his own life?
Shen Feng scrambled back up quickly, but his dagger had been flung far away.
As he rushed to retrieve it, Brother Qian had already torn away a huge chunk of flesh from Auntie Qian's neck.
Blood spurted out like a fountain, gushing wildly.
Just then, Xu Shu stepped forward and kicked Brother Qian aside, and Shen Feng darted in, driving the knife straight into his skull with all his strength.
Brother Qian collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open in disbelief, as the life drained from him completely.
After all that had just happened, the people inside the house started screaming and rushing toward the door to escape.
But after only two of them managed to get out, several sharp gunshots rang out, followed by the thunderous sound of the front door being slammed shut.
Xu Shu and Shen Feng pulled me up from the ground.
Xiao Hu had already lost consciousness from the sheer pain, so I laid him down and didn't bother with him for the moment.
Together with Xu Shu and Shen Feng, I walked over to Uncle Gazi to check on Uncle Qian.
Having witnessed what happened on our side, Uncle Gazi's face looked like it had aged ten years in an instant.
Tingyun had already been carried back to Section Six by Jun Di and Chen Pu—probably the only thing giving Uncle Gazi even the slightest comfort right now.
"Sis, we're surrounded outside. The gate's been locked from the outside too!" Yangyang, who had been squeezed against the door this whole time, finally found a chance to run over to us.
Hearing this, Shen Feng turned his head and stared at the gate for a moment before saying, "They must already know what happened in here."
"How is that possible? It's only been such a short while," Xu Shu muttered as she helped Han Xue—who had been crushed under Sister Qian—back to her feet, also glancing toward the door in confusion.
I forced myself to suppress the turmoil in my chest, quickly scanned the room, then furrowed my brows tightly and asked Shen Feng and the others: "Where's Zhang Hongsheng?!"
"Wasn't he just… wait, I swear I saw him when we came in…" Xu Shu answered, quickly scanning the room again.
Shen Feng rubbed his temples and said, "Don't bother looking. He slipped out. Those people outside must've been called here by him."
"So he didn't listen to a single word my sister or Uncle Ga said?" Yangyang said angrily.
Uncle Gazi raised his hand and replied, "That doesn't matter anymore. Honestly, if we'd gone along with what he said earlier and called those people here, maybe things wouldn't have gotten this bad."
The moment he finished, the room erupted in an uproar.
Before long, someone shouted, "What's going on outside? Are they planning to keep us locked in here?"
Then someone else spoke up: "Didn't I hear someone say before that people who get bitten also turn into walkers? What if the ones lying on the ground turn into walkers any minute now?"
I turned toward the speaker—a tall, thin young man—and after a moment of thought, I shifted my gaze back to the three people lying on the floor.
I stood in silence for quite a while, then clenched my teeth and gave Shen Feng a firm signal to go deal with them first, just in case.
If it hadn't been for our carelessness earlier, how could we have let a single walker kill three people right in front of us?
Shen Feng went straight to Auntie Qian, who had collapsed by the bed.
She'd been bitten on the neck, and with her artery torn open, she'd already lost far too much blood.
Whether she turned into a walker or not, there was no way she could survive.
Actually, Xiao Hu was lying not far from our feet, but the two of us deliberately avoided looking at him.
Such a small child… even if our hearts were made of stone, there was no way we could bring ourselves to end his life while he was still breathing.
Shen Feng walked up to Aunt Qian, squatted down in front of her, and just as he raised the knife, his expression faltered for a moment, as if something crossed his mind.
He reached out and placed his hand beneath her nose to test for breath.
After a short while, he pulled his hand back, his face now showing a trace of resolve.
Without further hesitation, he lifted the knife and drove it hard into Aunt Qian's head.
"Grandma!" Li Yuxin, who was being held aside by Han Xue, screamed in horror.
The instant blood and brain matter spurted out with Shen Feng's strike, Li Yuxin's eyes widened in shock.
Terrified, she opened her mouth and screamed with all her might: "Ahhhhhhh—"
Xu Shu hurried forward with Han Xue, who crouched beside the girl, trying to calm her down and silence her.
But no matter what they did, it was useless.
Li Yuxin screamed without pause, as if she didn't even need to breathe, her mouth open so wide that I could see the back of her throat.
Xu Shu gradually lost her patience, her face darkening.
I had no time to worry about that and instead walked over to where Sister Qian's still writhed on the ground, crouching down beside her.
She was still conscious.
The wound on her arm was bleeding heavily, but not enough to make her lose consciousness.
However, the sight of Brother Qian biting Aunt Qian to death and mauling Xiao Hu had clearly shaken her to her core.
Now, lying on the ground, aside from twisting unconsciously from the pain, her eyes were locked wide open, staring at Xiao Hu, who lay motionless a short distance away.
Seeing this, I shifted the dagger in my hand behind me, crouched quietly, and waited for the moment when she would finally lose consciousness.
No matter what, I simply couldn't bring myself to strike her down.
But just as she lay there with her head tilted, staring at Xiao Hu, Sister Qian's suddenly seemed to realize something.
She jerked her head toward me in a sharp movement that startled me so badly I instinctively tightened my grip on the dagger behind me.
"Miss… Chen." Sister Qian's fixed her gaze on me for a couple of seconds before speaking weakly.
I stared at her in shock for a moment, then asked, "What is it, Sister Qian?"
"Xiao… Xiao Hu…" Her clouded eyes, worn from years of toil, locked onto mine with an unusual glimmer, as if she were clinging to some desperate hope.
"Xiao Hu?"
"Xiao Hu… Xiao Hu will be fine… Xiao Hu… won't die… Xiao Hu is not like us…"
Hearing this, I furrowed my brow deeply.
I knew Sister Qian's was clinging to some unrealistic belief.
Looking at her pale face, I couldn't bear to shatter that fragile hope.
So I simply nodded along with her words and said, "Mm, Xiao Hu really does seem like a special child."
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