There was a pause inside before a voice came through: "No."
Chirp: "..."
Chiu Chiu quickly withdrew her hand and didn't ask any more questions.
He leaned closer to the door and whispered, "Then you can continue sleeping. Ba Zai and I are going back to sleep too."
The mutant's hearing is very sensitive, so Six-Zai can clearly hear Chirp's words.
"Um."
He responded, then listened as the footsteps of Chiu Chiu and Ba Zai grew fainter and fainter.
Once the footsteps were completely out of reach, Liu Zai sat up and asked the person on the bed, "When are you going to get out?"
The person on the opposite bed answered something, and the next second, Liu Zai threw his pillow at them.
Time passed little by little.
Since the eldest brother was the first to fall asleep, the younger ones all followed suit and fell asleep as well.
Yu An slept until the afternoon and was still not awake, but Xie Chiyuan had already rested enough.
He got up and carefully covered Yu An with the blanket.
Yu An's face was a little flushed as she slept, but her body temperature was normal.
Xie Chiyuan couldn't resist watching for a while and leaned in to kiss him.
After the kiss, he continued getting dressed.
After Xie Chiyuan finished getting himself ready and helped Yu An put on her pajamas, he opened the door.
Outside the door, there were rows of little ones sitting.
The kids were having a good time playing by themselves. When they saw Xie Chiyuan open the door, Qiuqiu dropped the eight kids she was playing with and stood up from the ground.
Where is my older brother?
"Still sleeping."
Xie Chiyuan had other things to do, so he didn't stay with them any longer.
"I brought some food with me this time. It's in the dorm. You can go and find some to eat."
Xie Chiyuan said, then looked at Sanzai with particular interest: "Sanzai, you can change your way of addressing him a little."
The third child ignored him.
Xie Chiyuan didn't mind. After sending the kids to their dormitories, he walked out of the dormitory building himself.
The old man was already waiting across from the dormitory building.
The excuses that were useless in front of Yu An could finally be used in front of Xie Chiyuan.
Yu An's being besieged this time was truly an accident.
"Commander, I never expected Yu An to be here."
The old man's words were sincere, and his attitude seemed genuine.
Besides apologizing for Yu An's matter, the old man also reported to Xie Chiyuan what he was going to do this time.
"There are a few survivors in the city, but they have been here for too long and may have developed some mental problems."
"In addition, I also found the source zombie. I found it based on the identification of one of the survivors. As for whether this zombie is the source zombie or not, I can't be 100% sure."
The old man completed both tasks, so his mission should be considered successfully accomplished.
However, with the unexpected turn of events involving Yu An, the old man couldn't quite grasp Xie Chiyuan's current thoughts.
The two stood facing each other, and as the old man's emotions grew increasingly tense, Xie Chiyuan finally spoke.
"Where are the survivors?"
He said calmly, "Pei Si is here this time too. Let Pei Si take the survivors away."
As for the source zombie, he took it away personally.
The old man nodded and agreed, "Okay, I've arranged separate accommodations for the survivors and the source zombies. You can take them away at any time."
The old man was always very proper in front of Xie Chiyuan.
Xie Chiyuan had a good impression of him before this.
But this time...
"We can talk about forming a zombie squad when we get back to base."
Xie Chiyuan said, glancing around at his surroundings.
Excluding the one that only knew how to feed the three cubs, the rest of the zombies on campus basically participated in the attack on An An.
He won't leave a single one of these zombies alive.
The old man, observing Xie Chiyuan's expression, had already guessed his intentions.
"Commander, some of the advanced zombies in M City have already regained consciousness."
"They are more powerful than the zombies elsewhere. I can control them, I—"
"You can't control them forever."
Xie Chiyuan interrupted him calmly: "At least when they were besieging An'an on campus, they weren't under your control."
"Sir, I've already explained. It was an accident."
"Uncontrollable zombies should not be given a second chance."
Xie Chiyuan shut him up with those words.
The old man remained silent, but Xie Chiyuan's unyielding attitude prompted him to say, "I understand. I will clean this place up."
"Okay, it's up to you."
After discussing this topic, Xie Chiyuan called Pei Si to go see the survivors.
Survivors who can survive in a place like M City are either incredibly lucky, finding an excellent hiding place and having just enough food stored up, or they are smart enough and resourceful enough.
The number of advanced zombies evolved from the M faction is not small.
To survive under the noses of these zombies, one must be no pushover.
"I only found these few."
The old man opened the door to a house, inside which were several wary-looking humans.
They all have one thing in common: they are very thin, the kind of thinness that comes from starvation.
“I checked them, they are all human, and none of them have been bitten by zombies.”
The old man followed behind Xie Chiyuan and introduced them to him in a low voice: "These people don't know each other. After I found them, I arranged for them to be grouped together."
Xie Chiyuan gave a noncommittal "hmm".
He gave Pei Si a wink, and then Pei Si smiled slightly and said to the old man, "Isn't there another Source Zombie? I'm quite curious, can you take me to see it?"
The old man hesitated for a moment, but still took him there.
After Pei Si left with the old man, Xie Chiyuan chose a separate sofa and sat down.
He glanced at the wary group and gave them his names.
"I am Xie Chiyuan from the West District. Have you heard of me?"
It's not that he's unreliable, but rather that most people would have heard of him once he mentions his name.
And those who have heard of him will not be too wary of him.
But this time, Xie Chiyuan miscalculated.
After he finished speaking, a long while passed, and the people opposite him stared at him without saying a word.
Xie Chiyuan: "..."
Xie Chiyuan sat up straight and cleared his throat: "Ahem, it's okay if you haven't heard of me. Do you know the West District?"
"Know."
Finally, someone responded. The middle-aged man in the floral shirt among them scrutinized him for a long time before speaking in a hoarse voice: "I know the West District, and I know you."
"Are you here to find the Source Zombie?"
"Yes, find the source of the zombies, and you guys too."
The middle-aged man was unmoved by these words; like the others, he remained indifferent to Xie Chiyuan's appearance.
Xie Chiyuan couldn't properly offer them psychological support at this moment. He quickly asked, "Which of you sent out a distress signal?"
The middle-aged man pointed to the young man beside him: "It's him."
The young man's hair was a bit long, and his bangs were messy, covering his forehead. He looked listless and didn't seem to be in good spirits.
"He's a student at the Agricultural University, and he's gone mad."
The middle-aged man said, then added self-deprecatingly, "If we stay here any longer, we'll all go crazy and become idiots."
Or, they could simply become infected zombies.
He didn't want to become that kind of thing; rather than become that kind of thing, he would rather end his life sooner.
The agricultural college student who sent out the distress signal looked truly dumbfounded.
Xie Chiyuan tried to talk to him, but couldn't exchange a single word.
After staying with the survivors for about half an hour, Xie Chiyuan got up and left.
Pei Si breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him come out.
The Source Zombie is just an ordinary zombie, nothing special at all.
The old man couldn't explain the origin of the Source Zombie either, only saying that this zombie was beyond his control and had been pointed out by the survivors he found, so it was almost certainly the Source Zombie.
After walking away from the old man, Pei Si was still talking to Xie Chiyuan: "Brother Xie, I always feel uncomfortable when I'm with the old man. Don't you feel the same way?"
Xie Chiyuan didn't answer, but only asked him, "How's the Yuan Zombie investigation going?"
"There's nothing to see. I can't understand the zombies' roars. That zombie was tied up and didn't roar. He ignored people."