Picking Up Special Marine Creatures While Going to the Sea [Apocalypse] - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The Unfolding of the Apocalypse

Su Ran didn’t want to pay any attention to this guy who couldn’t even get up but was still mocking him.

‘No matter whether it’s raw or cooked, he has done his best!’

He patted his trouser legs and stood up to leave, and the mermaid didn’t call him again.

If he finds the right place, he will find plenty of goods.

Su Ran wandered in the mudflats for a long time and discovered many orchid crabs and swimming crabs. Each one was quite big and soon filled up a bucket.

The crabs were pushing each other inside, their legs scratching the wall of the bucket, making a rustling sound, and it sounded very dense.

Su Ran didn’t bring a fishing net today, so he couldn’t cover the bucket. When crabs tried to escape, he would poke them with an iron hook and ruthlessly push them back into the bucket.

He walked a long way and picked up two small octopuses along the way. He didn’t decide to return until the tide started to rise at 1:30 in the middle of the night.

On the way back, he walked along the edge of the beach. Because he was paying too much attention to the crabs in the bucket all the way, when he came to his senses, he remembered that the mermaid should be behind me.

‘…Forget it, let’s leave it at that.’

He walked towards the village.

•|•

Luckily, he didn’t encounter any zombies on the way back.

Su Ran tiptoed home, closed the door, and immediately moved the old wardrobe over to prop it up.

Xue Tuan ran down the steps in front of the living room door excitedly, sniffed him, then sniffed the plastic bucket, and whimpered.

Su Ran said happily: “We caught a lot of crabs today, look!”

He put the plastic bucket on the ground and Xue Tuan came over to look at it curiously.

An orchid crab lying on the top just raised its claws high and opened them in a deterrent manner.

Xue Tuan shuddered and immediately retreated, thus avoiding having his nose pinched and broken.

Su Ran couldn’t help laughing. He quickly touched its nose and patted its head to comfort it. He raised the corner of his lips and carried the bucket into the house.

It was almost three in the morning, and he didn’t plan to do anything more.

He skillfully threw the hairy clams and cat’s-eye snails into the seawater tank, then slaughtered the two octopuses, removed the internal organs, washed them, put them in a plastic bag, and put them in the freezer of the refrigerator.

He found another net bag and buckled it on the mouth of the plastic bucket to ensure that the orchid crabs and swimming crabs inside couldn’t crawl out.

Su Ran clapped his hands after he finished it.

In this kind of weather, the crabs won’t die if left out overnight.

He closed the door of the living room on the first floor and waved at Xue Tuan, who was entertaining himself with his own doll in his mouth. Xue Tuan immediately spat out the doll and ran towards him.

They turned off the lights on the first floor, and the man and the dog went upstairs.

In this house, in addition to the living room and kitchen, there are two bedrooms on the first floor.

Su Ran’s grandparents died when he was very young, so his maternal grandparents lived with them.

In the past, the two bedrooms on the first floor were used by my grandparents.

Later, his grandmother passed away, and his grandfather died in the earthquake relief efforts five years ago, and the two rooms became empty.

Two years ago during the Chinese New Year, his parents’ sleep quality seriously deteriorated, so they decided to sleep in separate rooms. His father moved downstairs and slept in his grandfather’s old room, which was the one on the first floor next to the door. As for his mother…

On the second floor, there is a small living room and three bedrooms. These three bedrooms are for his mother, brother and sister respectively.

Of course, these three people are not at home most of the time, so these three bedrooms are now empty all year round.

Su Ran lives alone on the third floor.

Since he was a child, he liked to live in a higher place, always feeling that he was closer to the sky and could overlook the scenery farther away.

There is a super large terrace facing west on the third floor, as well as a study and an empty bedroom, which are usually rarely visited.

At first glance, Xue Tuan doesn’t seem to have his own room, but the entire house and the entire yard are his nest.

Their family didn’t restrict it too much. Before the zombie virus broke out, it could sleep wherever it wanted, but most of the time it liked to sleep in Su Ran’s room.

As for now, Su Ran would order it to sleep with him.

He was afraid that one day while he was asleep, the zombies outside would suddenly mutate and become stronger, jump over the wall, break into the house, and eat the dazed and heartless big dog.

Su Ran turned on the light in the bedroom and gestured to Xue Tuan.

Xue Tuan obediently stepped into the doghouse at the corner of the bed and lay down, while Su Ran picked up his pajamas and clean underwear and went to the bathroom on this floor to wash up.

He filled a shallow basin of water, brushed his teeth first, then washed his face, then wet another towel to wipe his body.

Su Ran didn’t dare to use too much water. Even if he could go to the beach to carry water back, his personal strength was limited, and water was still a scarce resource at the moment.

After finishing this work, he poured the water into the bucket beside him and used it to flush the toilet.

Then he filled another shallow basin with clean water and squatted down to wash his butt.

•|•

At 3:30 in the morning, Su Ran cleaned himself up, returned to the room, closed the door and locked it.

Xue Tuan had curled up into a ball, feeling sleepy.

Hearing the noise, he just opened his dark eyes and looked at him.

“Don’t worry about me, go to sleep.” Su Ran said softly.

Xue Tuan closed his eyes with peace of mind.

Su Ran tiptoed past it, walked to the window and looked out.

Uncle Fang and Aunt Fang were still swaying back and forth in the opposite yard. There were no zombies in sight on the quiet village path.

It’s a calm night today.

Su Ran drew the curtains, turned off the lights and went to sleep.

•|•

March 17th, sunny.

Su Ran slept until noon, yawned, and went to steam two potatoes for himself. After eating them, he began to think.

Last night, he caught a total of thirteen orchid crabs and three swimming crabs.

He also picked up a lot of spicy snails, mussels and clams yesterday, and he definitely couldn’t eat them all in a day or two.

The leftovers can be frozen. His freezer has plenty of space, so it can easily hold them. But he could also…

Su Ran’s eyes flickered.

Having made his decision, he got up and went to the kitchen.

He grabbed two orchid crabs from the plastic bucket, tied them tightly with a thin rope, then bent down to find a plastic bag from the cabinet and threw the two crabs into it.

Su Ran returned to the living room, walked to the seawater tank, scooped some mussels and clams into the bag, and tied the bag tightly.

This counts as one bag.

He packed another bag in the same way and went out carrying two bags of food.

Today is not as stressful as yesterday.

Su Ran walked along the winding path and successfully arrived at Aunt Li’s house.

The door of their house was still closed. Su Ran moved closer and listened carefully, but just like yesterday, he couldn’t hear any movement from behind the door.

After hesitating for a moment, he raised his hand and pressed the doorbell.

The doorbell rang from inside the room, so Su Ran naturally couldn’t hear it from outside.

He waited patiently for a minute, but there was no movement behind the door.

It was so quiet that not even the birds could be heard.

After a moment of silence, Su Ran cleared his throat and said, “Aunt Li, are you here? I’m Su Ran, I brought some food!”

After saying that, he pressed the doorbell again.

But still no response.

Su Ran finally took two steps back, his hesitant gaze slowly falling towards the crack under the door.

“…”

He took a deep breath, squatted down, and lay on the ground, supporting himself with his hands. He turned his head and looked through the palm-wide gap in the door with difficulty. He saw two pairs of feet finally appear in the yard, one in front and one behind, responding to the sound from a distance.

The two pairs of feet were not walking very fast, but they were stumbling with a clear goal.

Su Ran slowly tightened his hands.

…He stood up quietly, stared at the door, and took a step back with his right foot.

“Bang!”

It was as if two people had bumped into the door.

Su Ran turned around and ran.

The wind picked up, scratching his face, and his heart pounded.

•|•

On February 13, the first day after the Lantern Festival, he was awakened from his sleep by screams outside.

Xue Tuan was beside his bed, anxiously nudging his face with its wet nose. When it saw that he woke up, it whimpered.

Su Ran didn’t understand what it was in a hurry for, so he just habitually picked up the phone and turned on the screen.

It was 10:30 am.

His sleep and rest schedule had always been very regular. If he didn’t stay up late the night before, he wouldn’t usually wake up naturally around seven or eight in the morning the next day.

Su Ran also doesn’t like staying up late. He doesn’t play games, nor does he like watching TV series and anime. His life is boring compared to other people of his age. On the night of the Lantern Festival, he naturally went to bed early with Xue Tuan. It was obviously abnormal for him to sleep until this time the next day.

But there was nothing wrong with his body, and he didn’t seem to be sick. Su Ran had no time to think more, and he heard the door downstairs being knocked on hurriedly.

He ran downstairs in his pajamas and opened the door. His neighbour came in with a stern face, slammed the door shut, covered his mouth as he was about to ask a question, and led him to retreat repeatedly, staying away from the door with extreme caution.

Screams, cries, and the sound of messy running.

The chaotic noise behind the door made Su Ran wonder for a moment if a film crew had entered their village to shoot a disaster movie, otherwise how could it be so terrifying?

Or was it a variety show crew filming a scene? It’s said that a production crew visited the island recently, and many paparazzi and fans followed them.

However, no matter how wild his guesses were, the dangerous factors in the air had already caused his body to react.

Goosebumps appeared and hairs stood on end.

Su Ran unconsciously held his breath, while the neighbour stared at the door, slowly lowered his head, and whispered in his ear: “Something happened.”

People woke up this morning, thinking it would be an ordinary day.

Office workers return to work after the holidays and primary and secondary schools start classes.

College students can still lie down for a few more days, but some have long journeys to go and are already on their way back to school.

However, when they stepped out of the house, what they saw were scenes that only appeared in dreams and movies.

•|•

People were running away screaming, with someone chasing them.

They would catch up, pounce, and bite them.

The zombie virus, something that has appeared countless times in movies and TV dramas, has made a bloody appearance in the real world.

And the situation is far worse than people can imagine.

•|•

Su Ran didn’t want to recall that day in detail.

Anyway, all the useful information about the zombie virus was slowly discovered and summarized by them during the days when they were locked up.

This virus has two modes of infection.

One is transmission. When an infected person bites a healthy human, the latter will die or mutate immediately, or complete the process within 24 hours.

The second is the primary cause. They were shocked to find that healthy humans would naturally turn into zombies. The air seemed to be full of viruses, and each of them had already inhaled them. Whether they would become completely infected depended on their immunity… or fate?

Su Ran finally found out the reason why he slept so soundly. It was the reaction caused by the virus replicating in his body.

During those days, his last thought before falling asleep every night was whether he would be able to wake up alive tomorrow.

Everyone’s body reacts differently after inhaling the virus. His next-door neighbour started sweating easily, Aunt Li and Uncle Li became particularly irritable, and Sister Zhao’s family became particularly thirsty…

It wasn’t just February 13th that was hell. It was every day after that.

The people in their village either died or escaped. No one knew whether those who escaped successfully crossed the sea-crossing bridge to the other side.

Su Ran only knew that the number of survivors left in the village had decreased from 21 at the beginning to 18, then to 9, and then to 6…

Even if a family stays at home, there is a chance that a family member would suddenly turn into a man-eating monster in their sleep or at the dinner table one day.

The virus was hard to prevent and they were defeated one after another.

Everything suddenly eased a week ago on March 9th.

That day, Su Ran’s narcolepsy suddenly recovered because at 23:55 in the evening, he was awakened by the vibration of his cell phone.

The slight buzzing vibration was not supposed to wake him up, but he woke up just like that. The vibration of the phone came from his father who called him during the brief period when the signal towers in the two places were restored.

The next night, Su Ran discovered that his night vision had greatly improved, and his body seemed to have undergone a strange evolution.

From this, he concluded that the primary infection of the zombie virus might have ended, and humans who had not mutated so far might not mutate naturally again.

The only way for the zombie virus to be transmitted is through biting people.

Are Aunt Li’s family and Sister Zhao’s family as safe and sound as he is?

His neighbour left the village on the morning of March 9, and the message he conveyed to him that morning was that besides him, two other families survived the infection.

From that morning to 23:55 that night, the entire day in between…did those two families really survive?

•|•

At this moment, Su Ran was running fast on the path.

The wind blew on his face and into his throat, causing him to feel severe pain.

The two zombies should not have chased him out. Su Ran did not hear their footsteps, but he did not dare to slow down, not at all. He was afraid that if he slowed down a little, some heavy and sticky emotions would immediately catch up with him and swallow him alive.

He finally stopped at a fork in the road.

Two heavy bags were still hanging on his hands. The four crabs had their claws tied, unable to move, and lay as still as dead objects inside the bags.

Su Ran supported himself on his knees and gasped heavily. It took him a while to stand up, feeling dizzy.

He looked straight ahead, sweat dripping from his face, at the end of the path.

Was he still going?

Did he want to go?

…Go ahead.

… He had to go there anyway.

Su Ran gritted his teeth and walked forward.

‘Never turn your head away when getting an injection; watch the sharp needle pierce your skin.’

If he fell and got hurt, he would never let the elders cover his eyes. He would watch them remove the gravel from the wound with his own eyes.

Su Ran doesn’t like to escape from reality.

When the pain comes, he hopes he can face it soberly and clearly.

He stopped outside Sister Zhao’s house.

Like Aunt Li’s house, the gate here was also closed and there was no sound.

He stepped forward and rang the doorbell.

A minute passed, and all he got in response was the same dead silence.

Su Ran’s Adam’s apple rolled, and he wanted to press it a second time without giving up, but suddenly he remembered something, turned his head, and fixed his eyes on a big tree next to him that had grown lush new leaves.

•|•

Five minutes later, he climbed up the tree with difficulty, sat astride a thick branch, and stretched his neck to look into Sister Zhao’s yard.

Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao are good at raising chickens. They always have a flock of hens and one or two roosters.

He didn’t know why, but the roosters they raise are always unprofessional. They don’t crow at the right time, but crow non-stop in broad daylight.

But after February 13, Su Ran never heard the crowing of their rooster in the distance again. His neighbour told him that on the afternoon of the zombie virus outbreak, Aunt Zhao decisively killed both roosters.

In order to survive, some things must be done quickly.

At this moment, Su Ran saw several chickens lying in a mess in the open space of their yard, with bloodstains all over the ground, which had already turned black. The situation was obviously abnormal.

His heart sank.

His eyes moved to the second floor of the house. He could vaguely see through the window that in the bedroom, a “man” was standing stiffly beside the bed, shaking his head from side to side, as if trying to find out where the noise in the room just now came from.

Su Ran stiffly moved back, letting the branches and leaves hide him.

…Looking back at the yard, a zombie staggered out of the room.

It’s Sister Zhao.

Her hair was disheveled like straw, her skin was blue and ulcerated, and her eyes were dull and lifeless.

She paced back and forth in the yard, apparently also looking for the source of the sound.

Su Ran sat on the tree motionless.

After a while, he lowered his eyelashes and silently clenched the plastic bag in his hand.

The huge village was extremely quiet at this moment under the pale sunlight.

Then, in an instant, a flash of light suddenly flashed through Su Ran’s mind.

He came to his senses, suddenly raised his eyes, and looked back at the yard with a flash of light.

The zombies were still pacing back and forth mechanically.

Behind its constantly moving feet, in the wooden chicken coop built close to the courtyard wall, in the shadow where the sun doesn’t reach…

A little hen was nesting inside, quietly, without making any sound.