Chapter 74 – What’s Wrong with Being a Butcher? (Part 7)

Tao Ran ran through her memories, comparing them carefully.

When she had transmigrated here, Shi Jia’s mind had already snapped. She was ready to die, charging into the horde of zombies in a last-ditch attempt to lead them away.

The blood covering Shi Jia’s hands came from cutting the ropes.

The wounds on her body were left by Feng-ge’s group after they grabbed her.

The knife wounds? From fighting Feng-ge while his men ambushed her.

Because she had failed to climb the tree a few times, the pursuers had closed in, and arrows were flying from behind just as Tao Ran arrived.

After confirming all this, Tao Ran couldn’t help but curse Lan Ji again.

“You really are a dog!”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Tl bye pldv bla qkhl xkdwvlp clqsal vbl saktkdyz Fbk Kky’p elyvb!

Gde bl eked’v lhld tkhl bla vbl rzsv!

Rq Mys Syd bye rydknjle yv vbl pktbv sq vbl gsxcklp yde vwadle cynj kdvs vbl yaxp sq bla ldlxklp, Wldt-tl yde Ql Nyspyd oswze byhl pbaleele bla yzkhl.

Mbl xkppksd oswze byhl ldele kd vball xkdwvlp!

Mbyv oswze byhl clld y fsjl.

Rq sdzu pbl bye yaakhle pzktbvzu lyazkla, vbkdtp oswze byhl clld xwnb lypkla. Fbl oswzed’v byhl clld kd pwnb y xlpp!

Tla ydtla cwadle qsa Fbk Kky… yde qsa Nyd Kk.

Jawpbkdt vbl xwe sqq bla nzsvblp, Mys Syd nzkxcle vbl vall.

Standing atop the branches with authority, she assumed an “H” stance, scanning the world… and herself.

The world was nothing to see.

As for herself, she truly couldn’t bear it.

Her clothes were already ripped by Luo Xue. After running all day yesterday, they were torn and shredded, ragged, worse than a beggar’s. Her stomach had been growling nonstop since she arrived. After spending the night in the mud, soaked and reeking of blood and the sour stench of zombies, she almost vomited…

Lan Ji’s choice of punishment was subtle, but brilliant.

So far, this mission had the worst possible start!

She had originally hoped to get a high vantage point to clear her head, but now her priority was comfort.

She needed to change her clothes.

But where were any clothes?

There were only two options:

1. Cover herself with leaves.
2. Strip them from a zombie.

Either choice required overcoming a psychological hurdle.

“Go ahead! Let it rain again and extend my bad luck!” Tao Ran shouted at the sky.

Was she communicating with heaven?

Of course not. She trusted herself and Shi Jia’s streak of misfortune more than fate.

Sure enough, three minutes later, the rain that had briefly stopped began falling again.

Thankfully, it was just rain, with no thunder or lightning.

Tao Ran seized the moment, lifted her head, drank a few mouthfuls of rainwater, and slid down the tree, charging straight toward a target.

Her eyes were already set.

A hundred meters away, under a pine tree, stood a zombie whose clothes were still mostly intact. That would do.

With the rain slowing the zombie, Tao Ran struck quickly.

No pursuers were nearby, so she swung her knife with the martial arts techniques she had learned in her past life.

The result was impressive.

With one clean strike, a skull rolled across the ground, neat and precise.

The strength behind it was astonishing.

Another full-strength swing felled a branch as thick as a forearm.

This strength must be partly inherited. At the very least, it was double the power Tao Ran had built through ten months of equipment training.

Quickly stripping the zombie of its coat, she climbed the tree before other zombies could notice.

She spread the jacket across the treetop, letting the rain wash it, and used the water to clean her face, hair, and neck. She tore off her outer clothes and washed every area she could.

The foul odors clinging to her body gradually faded.

Once she was done, she wasted no time, planning to move under the rain. Such heavy downpours meant no one could ambush her nearby.

Tao Ran didn’t forget the two charred birds she had found.

This wasn’t her fault; fate had intervened!

She wrapped the birds in large leaves, tied them with a vine, and slung them on her back.

“If I find other food, I’ll bury you properly. If not, you’ll rest somewhere else,” she muttered. This place was called Wuzang Temple.

According to Shi Jia’s memories, three kilometers east of the forest was a large farmland.

At its edge, there should be an old farmer, Grandpa Wang’s tile-roofed house. He used it as a workspace, for rest, and to store tools.

Tao Ran needed a place to lay low. That would be it.

With the decision made, she shouldered her knife and sprinted east.

The heavy rain masked her human scent. Zombies posed no obstacle along the way.

Moreover, Tao Ran looted zombies slowed by the rain along her path.

Unlike Shi Jia, she felt no fear of zombies. In an apocalypse, humans had to tolerate and coexist with them until they were capable of controlling the virus.

With her strength, any zombie with a stuffed pocket was immediately hacked open.

Most of these zombies had once been factory workers escaping the outbreak, carrying food with them.

After three kilometers, she had gathered five small bags of biscuits, two small packs of beef jerky, three chocolate bars, a bottle of milk, and two energy bars, all intact.

She ate without hesitation.

Even dirty food was better than bird eggs…

She also claimed a high-quality backpack.

It was filthy and caked in mud, but clearly prepared for someone’s escape.

Inside, she found clothes, bread, a pack of sausages, and instant noodles.

Finally, she wouldn’t go hungry for the next two days.

The tile-roofed house came into view.

Tao Ran approached cautiously.

Thank goodness, no one was there. There were no traces of humans.

The door had a lock.

Luck was on her side. The forest’s proximity made zombies dense in the area, leaving the house untouched.

She quietly dealt with a few zombies and cleared the surroundings.

Unfortunately, it was late November. The nearby farmland, just harvested, had been hit by the virus. No crops remained. Only a few patches of old greens survived on the field ridges in front of the house.

Breaking the padlock, Tao Ran entered.

Inside was a simple bed on a wooden stump, a pot, a single-burner stove, and a small propane tank. Clearly, Grandpa Wang had made do.

She found half a roll of toilet paper and a bottle of baijiu, quickly tending to her wounds.

Fortunately, her injuries hadn’t worsened. There were no major issues.