Chapter 143: The Harvest Returns
The sky had only just begun to brighten and visibility was still very poor.
Nobody dared turn on lamps or other light sources, so the residents could only rely on their own eyes to observe the outside world through their windows.
At this time, however, the outside was still shrouded in darkness.
Only by looking up toward the sky could they catch glimpses of faint traces of light.
Joo Joowon had not been sleeping peacefully to begin with and was awakened by the sounds made by the zombies.
Compared to before, when he often could not tell whether noises were coming from upstairs or downstairs, his improved attributes now allowed him to instantly determine exactly where the sounds were coming from.
His body immediately tensed as he jumped up from the sofa and hurriedly put on his clothes before rushing outside.
Although with his current abilities he was no longer afraid of being surrounded and could simply escape if he encountered danger, unless faced with something completely unavoidable, Joo Joowon still preferred to take the initiative and eliminate danger in advance rather than flee from it.
While quickly putting on his equipment, Joo Joowon could not help wondering what kind of emergency situation had occurred.
Had zombies launched a coordinated attack under the command of a leader?
Had some kind of treasure appeared in the apartment complex that attracted zombies? Or could this be a zombie tide?
If it were a zombie tide, however, the commotion would not be this small.
Joo Joowon immediately ruled out that possibility.
As his thoughts raced, he drew closer and closer to the source of the noise.
Before he could clearly make out the situation, however, he suddenly heard a long drawn out Meow.
The sound was so familiar that he recognized it instantly.
It was the exact kind of Meow Byeol only made when asking for attention, pets, or cuddles.
Could it be that Byeol was being surrounded by zombies?
The thought instantly shattered Joo Joowon’s composure.
Without hesitation, he turned on his flashlight.
The beam of the high powered flashlight was blindingly bright.
The zombies, whose sensitivity to light had not been diminished, immediately discovered that standing in front of them was not just two "walking small meat" but also an enormous chunk of fresh meat.
They instantly let out excited roars.
Joo Joowon paid no attention whatsoever to the zombies.
The first thing he noticed was Byeol.
Its fur was clumped together in wet strands and even the white fur on its body had been stained red by filthy blood.
Joo Joowon’s expression changed immediately.
Without hesitation, he pulled Byeol into his arms using spider silk.
"Byeol, what happened to you?"
After anxiously checking Byeol over from head to tail and finding no obvious wounds on its body, Joo Joowon finally let out a sigh of relief.
Byeol flicked its tail, struggled free from Joo Joowon’s arms, jumped back onto the ground, then glanced over its shoulder at the zombies behind it, who had become so excited that they had trampled over one another and ended up rolling around in a tangled heap.
With its tail held proudly in the air, Byeol let out an arrogant Meow.
"Meow~ Meow~ Meow~"
My human servant, look! Behold the empire I conquered for you!
Only then did Joo Joowon finally realize what had happened.
So all of these zombies had been deliberately led back here by Byeol.
If a human had come up with something like this, Joo Joowon would not have found it surprising at all.
After all, humans were experts at creating tools and using their brains.
But Byeol was just a cat.
Originally, Joo Joowon had thought that even if Byeol and Hwi were able to help him, they would at most be able to provide support from the sidelines.
He had never imagined that they would actually be capable of carrying him instead.
How in the world had they managed to do this?
He had actually lived long enough to experience the feeling of being raised by cats.
Joo Joowon felt deeply comforted as though his child had finally grown up and become independent.
A strange sense of pride and emotion welled up inside him.
Instinctively, he wanted to hug and cuddle Byeol, but after noticing how filthy and bloodstained its body had become, he forcefully suppressed the urge.
Still... Hadn’t Byeol been unable to understand what he was saying before?
The thought flashed briefly through Joo Joowon’s mind, but he did not dwell on it for long.
After all, hearing words and understanding their meaning were two completely different things.
That did not mean Byeol was incapable of thinking for itself.
Perhaps this was simply the result of Byeol’s own reasoning and planning.
Looking at the zombies sprawled across the ground, Joo Joowon rubbed his hands together excitedly.
Because he had come out in such a hurry, he had only brought his composite crossbow with him and had not bothered bringing the fire axe, which rarely proved useful anyway.
However, crossbow bolts were consumable resources.
Although he had managed to recover some after fighting several elite monsters earlier in the day, he had still lost five bolts and only managed to retrieve the arrowheads.
Against ordinary low level zombies like these, he naturally had no desire to waste precious ammunition.
Joo Joowon searched the corridor for a fire axe.
Unfortunately, the wall mount was completely empty.
Someone had already taken it.
Several days had already passed since the apocalypse began.
Anyone brave enough to leave their homes and hunt monsters would never overlook such an easily obtainable weapon.
Besides, weapons inevitably wore down over time.
Many people would not stop after taking only a single fire axe.
At this stage of the apocalypse, fire axes remained one of the best weapons that ordinary people could realistically acquire.
Aside from a handful of exceptional households, most families simply did not own anything suitable for fighting.
Even owning a heavy butcher’s cleaver could already be considered a stroke of incredible luck.