Chapter 597: Chapter 584: Outburst Amid Desperation
The evening was drawing near.
In this silent ghost city, two figures trudged forward with great difficulty, leaving a trail of clear and solid footprints behind them.
They were two boys!
The older one looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, while the younger one was only about ten years old.
Their eyes were deeply sunken, their pupils a dull gray. Years of malnutrition had transformed their appearance, making them look as if they were drug addicts, somewhat unrecognizable.
It’s hard to imagine such young children surviving in this harsh environment. They were exhausted and weak but did not pause for a moment, continuing to search for something in this ghost city.
The two children stopped. Using simple tools, they began to dig into the soft ground. They were searching for a type of food called "Mud Snail," which didn’t taste very good, being a bit astringent and bitter, but it was one of the unique foods of the apocalypse.
After the rainy season, these "Mud Snails" would appear in the soft soil.
"Brother, the food is getting less and less. Are we going to starve to death?"
Beside the teenager, the ten-year-old boy was already exhausted. His skinny little face was covered in dust, and with swollen eyelids sporting large dark circles, it was apparent he hadn’t slept well recently. His small hands were also scratched, bleeding slightly. Yet he never complained of pain or hardships, only trembled his thin shoulders as he softly inquired of the older boy.
"Don’t talk nonsense. I can feel it; we’re close to finding food. Just hold on a little longer, and we’ll find it soon!"
Though the teenager was also terribly haggard, his eyes were exceptionally bright, and his voice was full of determination. He believed in miracles and the saying of their mother that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Zhang Ye, an ordinary fourteen-year-old boy, or more precisely, he was already a young man. Having lived alone in this doomsday for such a long time, he had already parted ways with boyhood.
The miserable life did not drive him to despair. Instead, the obsession to protect his younger brother filled him with fighting spirit. He believed he could create miracles and turn the impossible into possible!
Zhang Yi nodded, firmly believing in everything his brother said.
In an environment where death and grayness were the main themes, the reliance between the two brothers was the only thing that kept them motivated to survive.
Although every day, a portion of food would be distributed in the city, it was never enough to fill their stomachs.
The brothers had an astonishing appetite. When they originally each received a piece of frozen insect meat, they would spend hours searching for more ingredients. But after Chen Feng took power and the supply of frozen insect meat clearly increased, inexplicably, after food increased, they felt even hungrier and needed more food after just a few days!
Zhang Ye rarely communicated or came in contact with strangers. Living in such an environment, he had already witnessed the harshness of life.
In extreme hunger, humans could turn into madmen.
In the scarcity of food, people would extend their sinful hands towards their kind.
Even though Chen Feng’s reign had changed these bad habits, making it a capital offense treated like a zombie if discovered, Zhang Ye had long cultivated a cautious nature on his long journey for survival. Even though crime reduced dramatically due to new laws, he intentionally stayed away from crowds.
The reason he stayed away from people was that he feared those starved might turn against him. It wasn’t the time yet; at the very least, he needed the strength to fight back or kill before he would choose to contact strangers.
Life was very harsh.
Activities like digging at the moment still required them to endure for a long period.
In peaceful times, a "Mud Snail" was only the size of an adult’s thumb and was a delicacy on the human dining table with no lethal capacity.
But in this apocalypse, these creatures had also mutated, with the smallest being the size of a fist. They could spew venom from their mouths that, though not potent enough to be deadly, could still corrode skin, leaving ugly scars.
At this moment, the skin on Zhang Ye’s arms was terrifying, resembling burn scars from flames, demonstrating the significant price paid in catching "Mutated Mud Snails."
But they had no choice. The brothers had an astonishing appetite, and frozen insect meat couldn’t satisfy their daily intake; they had to stabilize their bodily functions this way.
Yet, just as the brothers were digging for food, a flash of lightning suddenly darted across the sky, followed by rumbling thunder. The starlight that hung in the sky was suddenly obscured. The dark weather and sudden downpour startled the two, and they had no idea what was happening around them!
Living in such a cruel world, Zhang Ye had a keen sense of danger, which many times allowed him to turn disaster into safety.
And this was Zhang Ye’s most crucial trump card in this apocalypse!
Though unlike other profession holders who possessed various abilities, Zhang Ye relied on this perception to avoid several crises.
For example, when his chest tightened while catching "Mud Snails," he quickly fled with his brother. It wasn’t long before he discovered that a Blood Nether Centipede measuring over three meters long was lurking there. Had they delayed even a moment, they would have been gobbled up, leaving not even a body to be found.
But now, as thunder and lightning accompanied the rain, Zhang Ye’s heart began to race, feeling as if it might jump out at any moment!
