Shen Feng and Chu Zhaoyan had spent ten days underground. During this time, the two had been digging through the soil layer online, but the deep soil was too hard, and their progress was slow. The water flow on the stone wall was also decreasing. Shen Feng tore a piece of his underwear and placed it under a crack in the stone wall. As long as the water flowed onto the cloth, it would be absorbed by the fibers. When they were thirsty, they just had to twist the cloth hard to squeeze out the water.
Chu Zhaoyan took out compressed biscuits from her backpack, broke one in half, and offered it to Shen Feng. After a long silence, she said, "I only have five compressed biscuits left!"
Shen Feng paused for a moment, then smiled again, "Is that so? It seems we can hold on for a while longer. We've already dug thirty meters. If we persevere, the soil above will become softer and softer."
Chu Zhaoyan continued, "I only have one dry battery left."
In the past ten days, Shen Feng and Chu Zhaoyan had been digging a passage upwards. However, the soil had been accumulated for thousands of years, and the soil deep underground was extremely compact. Even with their efforts, after ten days, they had only dug thirty meters, with at least twenty meters to go to reach the surface.
Shen Feng had also tried to find an exit in the second layer of the passage, but he was ambushed by countless zombies. The zombies attacking Shen Feng were no longer ordinary zombies but mutated ones, with speed-type and projectile-type zombies being the most numerous. In the narrow space, a projectile-type zombie could force Shen Feng to dodge with just a spray of acid.
Under these circumstances, Shen Feng had no chance to find a passage to the upper level. Instead, he almost led the zombies to his hiding place. Fortunately, he and Chu Zhaoyan had dug a hiding passage earlier, allowing them to evade the zombies' pursuit.
Shen Feng looked at the flashlight and, after a long silence, said, "We can't use the flashlight anymore. Turn it off."
When the flashlight was also turned off, the cave was plunged into complete darkness. In the past ten days, the two had been relatively calm at first, believing they would eventually leave the underground. But now, the reality was completely different from what they had imagined. With their drinking water and compressed biscuits dwindling, both of them sensed the worst outcome.
The compressed biscuits were like their lifeline. Once they were gone, it would mean the end of their last hope.
Chu Zhaoyan said in the darkness, "Shen Feng, I don't think we can get out. Even if someone is searching for us, it might be too late!"
Chu Zhaoyan had fallen into despair. She had waited underground for ten days, constantly digging the passage above. Her dagger was already pitted and no longer sharp. For ten days, she had been striving to survive, hoping to leave the underground. But no matter how hard she dug, she saw no way to live.
Shen Feng quickly comforted her, "It's okay, we haven't run out of supplies yet. You rest for a while, take a nap, and I'll continue digging upwards."
Shen Feng didn't want to give up. He still had a reason to persevere. He remembered Chang Jianyi's constant warnings when he left Jiangyang, telling him to be careful, that the battlefield was extremely dangerous, and that he must not take risks, but return safely.
But now, Shen Feng and Chu Zhaoyan were trapped underground, with no one to call upon. Unless an earthquake suddenly occurred and the ground split open, they would not be able to leave the underground anytime soon. In the underground world, zombies were searching everywhere, and Shen Feng and Chu Zhaoyan had no way to break out.
Shen Feng braced himself against the sides of the passage and quickly reached the end thirty meters above. He drew his long sword and began to dig through the soil. Soil fell from above piece by piece. Although the progress seemed good, Shen Feng could only dig three meters deep per day. After all, a long sword was not a hoe and could not dig effectively.
In the darkness, Chu Zhaoyan closed her eyes silently and then began to transport the soil and rocks from the ground. Soil and rocks kept falling from the passage above. If they were not cleared in time, they would have no footing. But she truly didn't believe she could survive, and she felt she was dragging Shen Feng down.
Another five days passed. No more water flowed from the cracks in the stone. Shen Feng and Chu Zhaoyan stopped. Without a water source, they would surely die underground!
Chu Zhaoyan fell silent and said nothing, while Shen Feng analyzed, "The water in the stone cracks should have entered the ground after the snow melted. So, there's no water in the stone cracks now. Either all the snow has melted, or it's snowing above."
Shen Feng calculated that they had already dug over forty meters of passage. Perhaps if they persevered, they could reach the surface. But at this critical moment, there was no water in the stone cracks, and survival had become very difficult.
Shen Feng reflexively reached for his phone to check the time, but the phone had long since run out of power. His current time estimates were entirely based on instinct, and he didn't even know if it was day or night outside.
Chu Zhaoyan said in a low voice, "Shen Feng, you go on your own. Take my backpack with you. It contains my suicide note. You deliver the note to my grandfather. As for me, I will only be a burden to you. With less weight, your speed will be faster, and you will have a greater chance of escaping the underground."
Shen Feng was stunned when he heard this and quickly asked, "What are you talking about? We haven't reached a dead end yet. We can explore other tunnels, maybe we can find a new water source. We can definitely last longer."
Chu Zhaoyan shook her head and said helplessly, "Shen Feng, don't worry about me. You go on your own. I can't hold on any longer!"
At this moment, Shen Feng felt something was wrong. Chu Zhaoyan's voice seemed to have become hoarse. He quickly turned on the flashlight to observe. Upon carefully looking at Chu Zhaoyan's face, Shen Feng was greatly shocked. Chu Zhaoyan's face was sallow, her cheeks sunken, and her eye sockets seemed to have receded into her face. Her eyes had lost their luster, filled only with endless numbness. It seemed that Chu Zhaoyan's despair had deepened over these days.
What Shen Feng cared about most was not Chu Zhaoyan's mental state, but her physical condition. Chu Zhaoyan's lips were dry and cracked, and she was severely dehydrated. If she hadn't been holding on to life, she would have died of dehydration by now.
"You..." Shen Feng carefully recalled their experiences over the past few days. He had been digging tunnels all day, and when he was thirsty, he would go to the stone cracks and twist the cloth to squeeze out water. He had been doing this until today. But now, thinking carefully, he realized he hadn't heard Chu Zhaoyan drinking water.
"Did you not drink any water these past few days?" Shen Feng looked at Chu Zhaoyan in surprise. He thought he knew the reason for Chu Zhaoyan's dehydration: she hadn't drunk the water from the stone cracks, which was why she had become like this.
Chu Zhaoyan said weakly, "From the time I realized the water source was diminishing, I knew it would eventually dry up. I gave up. I don't want to try anymore. Thinking about it, my life is meaningless. You still have to return to Yuzhou to see Chang Jianyi, so I saved the water for you. Now you see, I'm about to die. I can't hold on, so please give up on me!"
Chu Zhaoyan no longer wanted to persevere. She had experienced hope, fear, and finally complete despair underground. She didn't believe she could still leave the underground.
Hearing this, Shen Feng couldn't help but shed tears and said, "You're too foolish, too foolish! I'm not someone who would easily abandon a friend. Do you think I would abandon you in this situation? Don't talk about burdens or reducing weight. Without you by my side, I wouldn't have been able to persevere all these days."
Shen Feng wasn't lying. The reason he had persevered until now, besides having inner strength and the hope of seeing someone he cared about, was also because Chu Zhaoyan was with him. If he had been trapped underground alone, Shen Feng would have gone mad even if he hadn't been eaten by zombies.
Chu Zhaoyan opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing. She didn't know how to answer Shen Feng. Her heart had already died. Trapped underground for fifteen days, she could no longer bear such despair, physically or mentally. She had already given up struggling because it was meaningless.
Shen Feng thought seriously and suddenly took off his jacket, cutting it and tying the pieces together to form a rope. He couldn't abandon Chu Zhaoyan; he would carry her with him even if he had to tie her to himself.
Chu Zhaoyan was tied to Shen Feng's back, her expression blank. She had completely fallen into despair. People who have fallen into despair cannot be persuaded by a few words. Because Chu Zhaoyan had gotten stuck in a rut, after fifteen days of persistence, she still couldn't leave, and even saw no hope of leaving. Continuing to struggle was meaningless, unless a miracle happened, unless they were rescued in an instant, otherwise, Chu Zhaoyan's despair would not be dispelled.
Shen Feng looked up at the passage he had dug over the past few days. It was already forty meters deep. If his guess was correct, he only needed to dig another ten meters to reach the surface. But now, with no water or food, and Chu Zhaoyan in a dehydrated state, he no longer had time to dig the passage.
"Heaven is going to kill me. If there were still water in the stone cracks, we could have held on for much longer. But now, we can only take a risk!" Shen Feng muttered to himself.
Shen Feng tied Chu Zhaoyan and the backpack to his back, then used his "As Swift As Wind" technique to charge into the passage filled with zombies. The flashlight illuminated the path ahead. This was the last battery, and the flashlight could last at most one day. If he couldn't find a passage upwards within this day, he would be completely lost in the cave.
Shen Feng rushed into an unfamiliar passage and saw many zombies ahead. These zombies were strong and stood motionless in the distance.
Shen Feng's heart immediately sank, "Bad start. I've only gone a short distance and encountered zombies. It seems I'm really going to die here today!"
...
Heavy snow was falling from the sky, and snowflakes fluttered down, covering the ground in a blanket of white. Xiao Sheng and a few friends stood on a mountain. They had set up a simple shelter, and in a sheltered spot nearby, a bonfire blazed with a pot of soup boiling over it. Xiao Sheng looked at the boiling pot in front of him and sighed helplessly. Fifteen days had passed since the zombie outbreak, but they still hadn't found Shen Feng.
Zhang Zi sat beside him. Seeing Xiao Sheng's worried expression, she couldn't help but try to comfort him, "Xiao Sheng, worrying won't help. Jin Zijue and the others have been searching below all these days. If Shen Feng is still alive, they will definitely find him."
Xiao Sheng looked up at Zhang Zi and said helplessly, "Do you know, I no longer have hope that Shen Feng is alive? I just don't know how to tell Shen Yu. If she learns of her brother's accidental death, she will be heartbroken."
Fang Qinghao said in a low voice, "Didn't we have a miner trapped in a well before? Those miners held on for more than twenty days. Maybe Shen Feng is still alive now. Don't be so pessimistic!"
Hearing this, Xiao Sheng became even more dejected, "Miners underground don't have the threat of zombies! At least we know where to rescue the miners. But now, this mountain is full of caves. Who knows which one Shen Feng is in? Moreover, with tens of millions of zombies underground, Shen Feng can't possibly survive."
Xiao Sheng didn't underestimate Shen Feng. He didn't think Shen Feng was weak. After all, Shen Feng had once fought and killed a corpse king alone, so his combat power was definitely strong. But even a strong man couldn't withstand a large crowd. If Shen Feng were to face tens of thousands of zombies, he would be exhausted to death, let alone survive for so long with limited supplies.
Zhang Zi thought carefully and said, "Sister Qin is also recovering from her injuries in the hospital. Why don't we ask her to come over? Her ability can easily change the terrain. If she opens a passage to the underground, won't it be easier for us to find Shen Feng?"
Xiao Sheng thought about it and felt that this was a sensible suggestion. Qin Kewei's ability was indeed of great use in such situations, and she was needed here to help.
With that in mind, Xiao Sheng immediately stood up and said, "I'll go find her right away. She's been recovering for five days, so her body should have recovered."