Chapter 409: More Than One AirTag
By the time we returned to the living room, Lingyun had reopened the same section of his ribs for what had to be the fourth time.
I didn’t know whether to blame the black market, the zombie outside the wall, or his complete inability to remain seated when something dangerous happened within several kilometers of me.
If I had to guess, though, it was probably a mix of all three.
"You’re going back to the couch," I told him.
"I was already on the couch."
"And then you left it."
"The man in the garage started screaming."
"So did your ribs."
Lingyun looked down at the blood beginning to soak through the fresh bandages. "They’re dramatic."
"They learned from you."
Yuche guided him toward the sectional before Lingyun could come up with another argument. He didn’t exactly carry him, but one hand remained firmly around Lingyun’s uninjured arm until he was seated.
I settled into the corner beside him, while Yuche took my other side and returned my legs to his lap as though we were continuing the movie instead of dealing with an invisible connection to a giant underground monster.
Chenghai sat at the opposite end of the sectional with one hand resting around my ankle. Zhenlan lowered himself onto the floor again, although his attention remained fixed on the hallway leading toward the garage.
The man inside the metal box had stopped screaming.
That wasn’t necessarily comforting.
"He’s conscious," Yuche said, apparently feeling the movement through the steel. "He’s restrained, and the box hasn’t been damaged."
"Can he still feel it?" Chenghai asked.
"I’m not opening the door to ask him," I replied. "He can suffer quietly for five minutes."
Lingyun leaned against my shoulder with a satisfied sigh. "You’re very compassionate."
"I let him keep breathing."
"That’s practically charity for you."
Before I could decide whether to restart the movie or pretend the entire day hadn’t happened, the radio Lingyun had taken from the market crackled on the coffee table.
Han Zhi’s voice came through after a burst of static. "Head Wei?"
Lingyun stared at the radio like it was trying to kill him.
I stared at him.
He sighed as though the universe had interrupted something important, then reached across the table. Yuche caught the radio first and placed it in Lingyun’s hand without allowing him to bend far enough to strain his ribs.
Lingyun looked offended by the assistance, but he accepted it. "What happened?"
"We’ve started reviewing Head Luo’s old records," Han Zhi replied. "You told us to collect anything connected to unusual zombie behavior."
"I said reports involving bites, underground attacks, or zombies ignoring closer prey," he clarified.
"Yes. We found several."
Lingyun’s expression sharpened while his body remained relaxed against mine. "How many?"
"Six confirmed reports from the last four months. There may be more, but Head Luo’s people didn’t record everything unless it affected trade."
Yuche reached for the radio, and Lingyun allowed him to hold it between them.
"Read the earliest report," Yuche said.
Paper shifted on the other end of the connection. "A shelter in the southern district was discovered after taking in an injured woman. She’d been bitten during an underground attack three days earlier. The shelter moved her twice after the first group of zombies appeared."
"Did the zombies follow?" Zhenlan asked from the floor.
Han Zhi hesitated. "Each time."
My fingers tightened around the snack bag in my lap. "Could they see where she went?"
"No. The second shelter was beneath a commercial building with no surface entrance. The survivors used an old service tunnel and sealed it behind them."
"And the zombies still found her?" Chenghai asked.
"They gathered directly above the room where she was sleeping."
That sounded familiar enough to ruin what remained of my mood.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"The shelter turned her out."
Lingyun’s mouth hardened. "Alive?"
"At first."
The room became quiet.
Han Zhi continued before anyone asked for details. "The survivors left her several streets away and returned underground. The zombies followed her instead of attacking the shelter."
"So they used her as bait," Chenghai said.
"Yes."
I ate a Cheezie and imagined several creative ways to introduce those survivors to my plants.
"Did the herd kill her?" Yuche asked.
"The report doesn’t say. A market patrol found the street empty the next morning. There was blood, but no body."
Lingyun shifted slightly against me. "What’s the second report?"
"A convoy picked up a bitten man near the western highway. They noticed coordinated zombies appearing behind them over the next two days. The convoy changed routes, doubled back, and abandoned vehicles, but the zombies continued following."
"Did they throw him out too?" I asked.
"They killed him."
"Well, at least that is a predictable response," I sighed.
Han Zhi didn’t respond to that. "The zombies stopped following the convoy after his body was burned."
That was new.
I looked toward the garage hallway. "Did they burn the head?"
"The report says they burned everything."
Yuche’s thumb stopped moving against my ankle. "The connection remained after the zombie outside died, but its attention shifted to the other carrier."
"Maybe the Devourer tracks whatever part of us is still alive," Zhenlan said.
Lingyun turned the radio slightly. "What about the remaining reports?"
"The details vary, but the pattern is similar. Someone survives a bite, then zombies begin appearing nearby. In two cases, the victims disappeared before the larger groups arrived. In another, the survivors moved the bitten person into an underground bunker, and the zombies gathered above it without finding the entrance."
"So there are more people walking around with AirTags," I said.
Lingyun looked at me. "Zombie AirTags."
"Yes, thank you. Branding is important."
Chenghai’s hand tightened around my ankle. "How many of them are still alive?"
"We don’t know," Han Zhi admitted. "Most records end when the group reporting the incident moved or died."
Lingyun’s expression went cold again. "Find the rest."
"We’re searching the paper records now. Some of Head Luo’s contacts may know more."
"Ask them politely."
Han Zhi was silent for a moment. "Your version of politely?"
"No. Yuche’s."
"That’s probably worse," I muttered.
Yuche ignored me.
Pages shifted over the radio again, but Han Zhi didn’t continue reading immediately.
"What?" Lingyun asked.
"There’s a name attached to one of the reports."
The casual humor disappeared from the room.
"Whose?" Yuche asked.
"The report came from a patrol that found another bitten survivor near the northern industrial district. According to the notes, someone had already spoken to him and directed him toward a protected residence."
I stopped eating.
The bitten man in our garage had used almost the same words.
Lingyun sat up despite the pain, and Yuche’s hand moved to his shoulder before he could pull against the bandages. "Who spoke to him?"
Han Zhi took long enough to answer that I could hear another page turn.
"The name written beside the report is Gu Han."
My grip tightened around the snack bag until it crackled loudly in the silence.
Lingyun looked at me, but Han Zhi spoke again before any of us could respond.
"There’s another note underneath it," he said. "That’s actually the reason I called."