Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 503 - 496: Returning to My Hometown (Part 1)

Chapter 503: Chapter 496: Returning to My Hometown (Part 1)

Tang Xiaoquan’s parents’ home is located in the northeast corner of DZ County Town, which is in the opposite direction of where the survivors had previously set off fireworks, thus avoiding the danger of encountering the zombie horde again.

Old Xu drove for a short distance and immediately instructed Tang Xiaoquan, who was in the passenger seat, "Little Tang, quickly contact Old Zhao and the others, and let them know about our situation here."

This was also one of the reasons why Xu Renjie was so eager to leave the factory earlier, as he understood Zhao Lin and the others well enough to know that, after receiving Tang Xiaoquan’s vague report, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t take "necessary" action.

So, getting out early could help stop any unnecessary "actions."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xiaoquan quickly took out the hand-held radio from his body, and after a brief report, he let out a long breath and continued to guide Xu Renjie on the roads.

After driving for more than half an hour, the survivors successfully arrived at Tang Xiaoquan’s old home in ML Town.

However, from the moment they entered the town, Xu Renjie and his group felt something was off.

The road was littered with sun-dried corpses, and most of the walls of the self-built small buildings on both sides were charred black. The once towering shade trees were now just a pile of blackened stumps, making the entire town feel as if it had been ravaged by fire.

"What on earth happened here?"

No one could answer Wang Qiang’s question, and Tang Xiaoquan’s heart was already in chaos.

Without a doubt, the various signs clearly indicated that a catastrophic fire had once burned here, and the reason for setting the fire was likely to eliminate the zombies.

However, such a destructive method of burning could easily harm innocents. If it were elsewhere, Tang Xiaoquan might not care as much, but right now, this was where his parents lived, and he couldn’t help but worry and be anxious for his parents’ lives.

As the urban management vehicle continued deeper, everyone’s hearts tightened even more, and the number of dried corpses on the ground reached an alarming level. Old Xu couldn’t help but wonder if they were exterminating zombies or burning down the town.

"Old Xu, stop by the side!"

Tang Xiaoquan couldn’t wait for the other party to stop the car steadily, and he pushed open the door and jumped out.

Seeing the young man’s reckless move, Xu Renjie anxiously slammed on the brakes and said in a deep voice, "Little Hu, Qiang, Dazhuang, you guys follow quickly, I’ll keep an eye outside!"

"Be careful, Old Xu!"

Running wildly all the way, Tang Xiaoquan arrived at the bottom of his own two-story small building, where the originally familiar red brick and white paint walls had already been blackened by the fire, and the light green security door was pried open from the outside.

Looking at the various signs of destruction in front of him, a sense of ominous foreboding rose in Tang Xiaoquan’s heart.

"Quan, don’t be so reckless..." Wang Qiang, who had caught up, originally planned to scold his brother, but upon seeing the solemn and tense expression on the latter’s face, he immediately dismissed the idea and instead patted the former’s shoulder, sighing lightly, "Let’s go in and take a look, brother!"

Pulling open the already damaged security door, Wang Qiang was the first to enter with his weapon.

The interior was dim and gave an extremely eerie feeling.

Wang Qiang quickly walked to the window, yanked open the tightly closed curtains, allowing sunlight to pour back into the gloomy little house, bringing a little life to it.

The room hadn’t suffered from the fire, and the interior was extremely simple, in stark contrast to the luxury of Liu Fugui’s villa earlier.

Aside from an old television set and a nearly unworn refrigerator, most of the space inside was empty.

From this, it wasn’t hard to see the frugality of Tang Xiaoquan’s parents’ lives.

Dragging his feet, Tang Xiaoquan inspected the rooms one by one, and his listless expression made Wang Qiang feel uncomfortable. He wasn’t very good at comforting people, so after thinking about it, he finally made a laughing joke, "Hey, Quan, your place isn’t bad, it’s quite spacious."

"Yeah," Tang Xiaoquan replied lifelessly.

Even so, it somewhat reassured Tang Qiang, as he knew his brother’s spirit wasn’t completely lost.

"I’m going up to take a look!"

"Oh, alright, I’ll go with you!"

Accompanied by Wang Qiang, the two of them went to the second floor, which was in just as poor condition as the first floor.

Although there were as many as five separate rooms, only three were furnished, and those furnishings were mostly carpentry-made cabinets and board beds, lacking any sense of aesthetics.

Lightly brushing his right hand over the coarse wooden tabletop, Tang Xiaoquan’s heart raced.

This was his parents’ bedroom, and through his inspection of the entire small building, he hadn’t found any clues regarding his parents’ whereabouts.

Slowly opening the drawer of the wooden table, he found small items like a mirror and comb neatly arranged inside, which were his mother’s usual tools for tying her hair before heading out for farm work.

"Uh, Quan, this must be your parents, right?"

A pair of young people, wearing old-fashioned yellow Zhongshan suits, stood side by side, one on the left and one on the right. The man, though not tall, had a high nose bridge and a straight posture, appearing quite dashing;

The woman had two braids tied at the back of her head, with a neat face and crescent-shaped eyes that held a hint of playful cuteness.

The smiles in the photo were so bright.

"Yes, these are pictures of my parents when they were young!"

Looking at the photo of his parents, Tang Xiaoquan couldn’t help but feel his heart twinge. After all these years, his parents had worked hard for their children’s future, their temples already full of gray, yet they hadn’t enjoyed a moment of familial happiness before encountering this damned apocalypse.

"Mom, Dad, where are you now? Please, don’t let anything happen to you!"

At this moment, Tang Xiaoquan finally understood the true meaning of the saying "The child wants to care for their parents, but the parents are no longer there."

His despondency also affected Wang Qiang beside him, as he also thought of his own missing parents.

This truly confirmed the adage that disaster doesn’t discriminate.

And just as Wang and Tang were each immersed in their sorrowful and worried thoughts, Old Xu’s urgent shouting suddenly came from downstairs.

"Hey, who are you? Hey! Stop! Don’t run!"

With this shout, both Wang Qiang and Tang Xiaoquan were startled, immediately exchanging glances before Wang Qiang quickly ran to the window ledge, then yanked open the window and looked out.

In his view, Old Xu was seen pointing forward, but due to visual limitations, Wang Qiang hadn’t noticed anything.

With no other choice, Wang Qiang had to lean out his head.

Upon doing so, he finally spotted the figure Old Xu had been pointing at—a small, short man, who was desperately running towards the heart of the town.

To this, Wang Qiang couldn’t help but exclaim to himself:

"Holy shit, Quan, there’s still someone alive here!" (To be continued. If you like this piece, please visit Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)