Chapter 66: The Last Survivor - The Stalker

Li Changsheng did not retrace his steps.

Zoe had told him that making a vaccine would require samples from various special types of walkers. At present, he only possessed the typical undead from The Walking Dead, and Rot, a hybrid creature from Left 4 Dead. He had no samples from other regions whatsoever.

Moreover, this place was not far from Mississippi, where—according to the world of The Last of Us—fungal infected could be found. It had been two months since the cataclysm erupted. Li Changsheng reckoned that by now, the infected in Mississippi must have begun to bloom grotesque flowers from their heads.

Seizing the opportunity, he intended to capture one of these fungal infected, bring back samples, and provide Zoe with ample materials for her experiments.

After discussing their plan, Li Changsheng drove to the dock where the yacht was moored. He had not been gone long, and no one had stolen the vessel. Leading Zoe down to the cargo hold, he showed her the sunflowers, now reduced to bare stalks.

“There are so many companion flowers here!” Zoe exclaimed in surprise.

“There were more than just flowers. At the very start, there was a whole warehouse full of Witches,” Li Changsheng replied coolly.

“W...Witches! Did you keep them? You didn’t bring me here to...to...” Zoe’s voice trembled, and she eyed Li Changsheng as if he were a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Oh, come on!” Li Changsheng flicked her forehead, exasperated. “I just wanted to ask if these stalks were still useful. If they are, I’ll take them all back.”

He had already plucked the sunflower petals, which now rested quietly in his mysterious space.

“Oh, I see.” Zoe heaved a sigh of relief at his explanation. “Once the flowers are removed, the stalks wither quickly, look.” She crouched down and pointed to the base of the stem, which had already turned ashen and seemed on the verge of decay.

“Never mind, then,” Li Changsheng sighed. He hadn’t expected these sunflowers to be so fleeting—here one moment, gone the next.

...

The two of them found a luxurious black SUV and drove for some time along Highway 71, finally arriving at a small town by dusk. Both got out and surveyed their surroundings.

The town was small, with perhaps seventy or eighty little courtyards. Each house stood alone, two stories high. Li Changsheng cast an envious glance at these homes; in his previous life, he had dreamed of owning such a quaint, detached house, but in those days, everyone flocked to the cities, and stand-alone houses belonged only to the realm of fantasy.

The town was silent, lifeless. In just two months, some homes had already been overtaken by vines from garden plants, and tufts of grass had forced their way through cracks in the pavement. It was as if this world were a paradise for wild things.

A gust of wind swept through, swirling leaves and newspapers along the road. Li Changsheng caught a flitting newspaper out of the air and glanced at it.

“Mississippi Pioneer

Mysterious infection reported nationwide, hospital admissions surge 300%.

The outbreak in Mississippi started late, but despite precautions, hospitalizations have soared.

FDA discovers more contaminated crops, massive recalls pending.

The Food and Drug Administration is conducting a nationwide investigation into crops possibly tainted by fungal mold...”

Wasn’t this the very first newspaper in The Last of Us? The familiar headlines made Li Changsheng shake his head.

The Last of Us was a game, later adapted into an American TV series. Li Changsheng had only watched online playthroughs in his previous life, never playing himself. But from his very first viewing, he was hooked by the story—experiencing a game as if it were a series of films.

He remembered the plot well: Joel, the middle-aged, divorced protagonist, lost his sweet daughter Sarah during the outbreak. Twenty years later, living in a quarantine zone, he was drawn into the events surrounding Ellie. To fulfill a promise to his late partner Tess, he escorted Ellie in search of the Firefly group. The journey was fraught with peril, and in the end, Joel discovered the Fireflies planned to open Ellie’s skull—literally. In a fit of rage, he wiped out the Firefly headquarters and fled with Ellie to Sarah’s uncle Tommy.

There was a sequel, but the plot was a mess, and Li Changsheng had paid it little mind.

He was lost in thought when a sudden, guttural clicking echoed nearby—a figure emerged from one of the houses.

It retained a human shape, but its skin was ravaged by grotesque tumors and necrotic patches. Its face had split open like a blooming flower.

A Clicker!

Li Changsheng frowned. In the original story, these monsters appeared twenty years after the outbreak. It took time for infected humans to develop into such forms. Yet here, after barely two months, these horrors were already loose. The fungus in Mississippi was evidently far more aggressive than anticipated.

Zoe saw the Clicker too and squeaked in terror, hiding behind Li Changsheng and clutching his shirt. “An...infected!”

“You’re a chief researcher, aren’t you? Haven’t you seen worse? Why act like such a scaredy-cat?” Li Changsheng said, helpless.

“It’s different! In the lab, I only work with tissue samples—those are safe!” Zoe protested stubbornly.

The Clicker, blind but hyper-sensitive to sound, perked up at their voices. With a shrill screech, it charged at them.

Zoe’s face turned deathly pale as she clung to Li Changsheng, as if the monster had made him her only refuge.

There was a faint whistle—somehow, a dagger had appeared in Li Changsheng’s hand. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled it straight into the Clicker’s head. There was a sharp crack, and the creature collapsed.

“Incredible!” Zoe peeked out from behind Li Changsheng. Seeing the Clicker motionless, her panic gradually faded. Watching Li Changsheng’s calm and decisiveness in danger, her feelings toward him subtly shifted.

“All right, we’ve got our sample. Let’s hurry and collect it—then get out of this hellhole,” Li Changsheng said, retrieving a machete, several large plastic bags, and a sealed glass container from the car.

Donning a gas mask, he strode over, hacked off the Clicker’s flower-like head, and, suppressing his nausea, packed it—layer upon layer—into the plastic bags, then sealed it in a box.

Zoe wanted to take a closer look, but Li Changsheng stopped her. “Just keep watch from behind. Who knows if this thing is releasing spores—if you get infected, it’ll be trouble.”

He was a G-type organism, so he had nothing to fear. But for an ordinary human like Zoe, he insisted on caution.

Zoe nodded meekly.

Darkness gradually fell. Li Changsheng, never keen on traveling after nightfall, decided they should rest at the edge of the town.

He locked up the car. Zoe slept in the back seat, while Li Changsheng half-dozed in the driver’s seat.

In the middle of the night, suddenly—

Gunshots rang out not far away.

Li Changsheng snapped awake.