"Ah…"
All the survivors on the second floor, both men and women, let out a panicked scream. If they fell at this time, even if they were not thrown to death, the large pile of living corpses below would be enough to kill the two people and the dog. The weight on their bodies was probably not enough for the living corpses to fill the gap between their teeth.
At the critical moment, although Jack stayed for half a second, he still kicked Thomas Xu hard on the butt immediately, kicking him into the second floor in an extremely awkward manner. Even the rifle in his hand fell far away, and Jack himself With a dangerous kick, he climbed onto the edge of the second-floor curtain wall at the critical moment. Once again, he showed off the powerful strength of his arms. With a sharp lift, he jumped neatly into the second floor. At the same time, a large red hunting dog with its head held high happened to appear next to him.
"Damn it, this is really killing me!"
Thomas Xu Dexter spat out a mouthful of dust, got up from the ground, picked up his gun, and checked the chamber for any damage with a "click-click." Then he looked at the eight or nine gaunt survivors in front of him and frowned, saying, "Don't just stand there like idiots! I went through hell and high water to come save you guys. Let's have some good cigarettes and drinks first, so we can catch our breath!"
In the center of the restaurant, a large bonfire was burning brightly. It was clear that the place was nearly empty; they had probably burned up all the wood that could be used for fuel. Aside from a pile of dirty bedding and pots in the corner, even the original stove had been pushed aside to block the passage to the second floor. The scene was quite miserable; it probably resembled a beggar's den.
"T-Two… two gentlemen, we've long run out of supplies. We… we only have a few packs of dried tea. If you don't mind, you can take them!"
By the flickering firelight, a middle-aged man in his forties appeared, holding the hand of a small girl of about ten. The girl timidly hid behind the man, clutching his shirt, her face dirty. The man wore a pair of cotton shorts and an ill-fitting gray long-sleeve shirt, but from the mottled color of the collar, it was clear that it had originally been a white shirt, showing just how dirty it had become.
"What? Just dried tea? That stuff is so salty it'll kill you if you eat too much! Who wants to eat that? What about cigarettes? You can't eat cigarettes; you must have saved some, right? Come on, give me ten or so, and I'll take you guys away!" Thomas Xu grimaced, but judging by the mischievous expression on his face, it seemed he mostly wanted to tease these people.
"Thomas Xu… you are Thomas Xu!!!" Just as the middle-aged man was struggling to speak, a tall, strong man behind him excitedly stepped forward, pointing at Thomas Xu, his excitement almost overflowing. Beside this tall man was a pregnant woman with a round belly, also looking at Thomas Xu with surprise.
"What the hell… who are you?" Thomas Xu was taken aback, instinctively taking a small step back, squinting at the tall man with a dark face in front of him. But the next second, Thomas Xu suddenly widened his eyes in shock and pointed at the man, shouting, "You… you are Gao Hai?"
"Yes, yes, it's me, Thomas Xu! I can't believe it's you!" Gao Hai looked at Thomas Xu with excitement, his hands going up and down, appearing somewhat flustered.
"You're still alive? But the other guys said you turned into a zombie…" Thomas Xu kept sizing him up, his face filled with disbelief. Finally, he pointed at the surprised pregnant woman beside Gao Hai and hesitantly said, "They also said… you bit your wife to death!"
"Damn them, those bastards!" Gao Hai suddenly exploded in anger, his honest face twisted in an unusual way. He clenched his fists and shouted fiercely, "They all think we came here to die for sure, but none of them expected that we could still be alive and well!"
"You've been missing for over two months now. What's going on?" Thomas Xu frowned, took out a Chinese cigarette from his pocket, and generously handed one to each man present. Then, looking at Gao Hai with confusion, he asked, "Aren't those guys your fellow townsmen? Do they really want to harm you?"
"Sigh~" Gao Hai took the cigarette but didn't light it. Instead, he slapped his forehead in frustration. The pregnant woman beside him gently patted his shoulder with teary eyes. After a while, Gao Hai said angrily, "Those bastards were tempted by those guys from Guangdan and want… want to sell my wife's milk to them. They're a bunch of beasts!"
"What? Those guys from Guangdan again?" Thomas Xu's expression turned cold. He glanced at Jack, who seemed a bit confused, and then turned to explain in a low voice, "This is a scheme to exploit pregnant women. Since it's almost impossible to get fresh milk now, they're trying to get women pregnant. Once they start lactating, they'll take them directly to sell their milk. The ugly ones will be squeezed into bottles, while the pretty ones will be consumed directly. And now, pregnant women are rare, so the price of milk has skyrocketed. Some guys with resources and not quite right in the head are very interested in this!"
Gao Hai and his wife heard Thomas Xu's words, and their faces turned extremely grim. Gao Hai lowered his head, clenching his fists tightly, and said angrily, "It's all my fault for trusting them too much. I never expected they would harm us without any regard for our feelings, wanting my wife to sell her milk. That's like pushing our child to death!"
Indeed, now that adults can barely feed themselves, if infants don't even have milk to drink, it's a dead end. Thomas Xu looked at Gao Hai's wife with some sympathy. Although her face was pale, she had a standard goose egg face and was a genuine beauty. Her delicate and weak appearance was quite charming. It's no wonder those people had their eyes on her. A high-quality pregnant woman like her would definitely be in demand wherever she went. However, being eight months pregnant, her belly looked like it was only five or six months along, likely due to malnutrition. It was a miracle that she could still carry the fetus at this point.
"Sister-in-law, have this sausage to fill your stomach for now. There's more good food waiting for us at Brother Lin's when we get out!" Thomas Xu stepped forward, took a sausage from his pocket, and handed it to Gao Hai's wife. Her eyes immediately fixed on the sausage. Although she swallowed hard, she hesitated for a moment. When she saw the sincerity on Thomas Xu's face, she shyly thanked him and accepted it. With Gao Hai's help, she surprisingly swallowed the whole sausage in just two bites, showing just how hungry she was!