CHAPTER 9

"I'm Shao Haoran, by the way.", the man introduced himself as he pulled himself up.

"Although it's not the best circumstances, glad to meet you, Mr. Shao."

"You can just call me Haoran. It doesn't look like we're too far apart in age."

"Oh, okay. You can call me Tian or Shen Tian, whichever you find comfortable.", Shen Tian agreed. He inched back out of the hole so Shao Haoran can come out. "Are you able to get down on your own?"

"Yeah, I should be able to."

"Okay, I'll climb down first and wait for you below." Shen Tian said as he started going down the rope. With his own strength alone, he won't be able to bring Shao Haoran down anyway. "Don't force yourself. For someone who had such a high fever, it's a miracle that you can still move around. Don't you feel dizzy."

"Well, I do feel dizzy and weak.", the man admitted helplessly, following Shen Tian down. "But there's nothing I can do. In this environment, you can't catch a break even if you have a high fever. You just have to get used to it."

Shen Tian agreed. It's the apocalypse and if a high fever can bring you down, then you'd definitely be zombie food in no time.

After the two of them landed on the ground, the dog cleverly removed the rope and dropped it. It then moved inside the hole and grabbed the backpack inside and dropped it down below as well. After that, it jumped down on its own.

Shao Haoran then proceeded to make the dog wear the backpack. The backpack was just a regular-sized backpack, so the dog was able to carry it without any problems.

"You've got such a clever dog.", Shen Tian can't help but admire the dog's action.

"Thank you.", the man smiled and rubbed the dog's head. The dog nuzzled its master's palm in response. "His name is Baobao."

"Cute name.", Shen Tian commented. He then moved his own backpack to the front and bent down with his back in front of Shao Haoran. "Here, come on up."

"I can walk on my own.", the latter tried to reject.

"Let's try to go back to my safe zone while there are no zombies around.", Shen Tian responded. "We won't know when a zombie will come shuffling towards this location and notice us, so it's better for us to move fast."

Hearing that, Shao Haoran no longer rejected Shen Tian's proposal of giving him a piggyback.

Although Shen Tian isn't strong enough to carry Shao Haoran down the tree, he's fit enough to carry him up on his back for a short distance.

With hurried steps, Shen Tian trailed back to the safe zone.

Shao Haoran was really dizzy with fever, so he quickly fell back asleep as they were going back to the safe zone.

Shen Tian was a bit nervous all throughout. Carrying a man on his back means that he'll have limited mobility if a zombie happens to spring up on them, after all. He was fervently praying while hurrying back to the safe zone to please make it so that he doesn't meet any zombies along the way.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to get out of the forest and was traversing the clearing. He remained vigilant, though. Only when he passed the gate and was within the safety of the safe zone that he was able to let go of his tensed emotions.

"Haoran, we're here.", Shen Tian woke up the sleeping man on his back. Although he didn't want to disturb the man's rest, it's impossible for him to put the man down on his own.

Shao Haoran woke up from his light sleep as soon as he heard Shen Tian's voice. He got off the latter's back and only then did he have the time to look around.

"This is...", Shao Haoran's voice was filled with disbelief as he looked at the area in front of him. "This is your safe zone?"

The mesh wire was lined up neatly, ensuring that the safe zone was properly fenced. In the distance, he can see a house and a few scattered trees here and there. There's also a road from where they are leading to the house. Looking back, there wasn't a mesh gate or anything of the sort right where the gate is.

"You didn't install a gate?", he asked as he sat down in the grass on the side of the road. "Isn't that unsafe?"

Shen Tian smiled smugly.

"Don't worry. The zombies can't enter my safe zone!"