Chapter 29: The Duo of Plump and Lean

Chapter 29: The Fat and Thin Duo

In the heart of the small town stood a clock tower, three or four stories high.

This area should have been a quiet and peaceful place, but at this moment, a group of ragged men and women—their faces bruised and purple, acidic bile dripping from their mouths—were frantically pounding against the stone walls and wooden doors of the clock tower.

At the top of the clock tower, a head poked out cautiously, only to shrink back immediately upon seeing the crowd below.

"Jimmy, how is it? Have those living corpses scattered?" Several people around him immediately crowded in to ask.

Although the sounds of doors being battered and the incessant roaring from below echoed upward, they still clung to a sliver of hope.

The man named Jimmy, a slightly chubby white man, shook his head. "No. After those few chimes earlier, not only did the living corpses not scatter or decrease, their numbers have doubled. There are at least twenty, maybe nearly thirty, of them now."

There were six men and two women on the top floor, and their expressions darkened at his words.

"So many? Doesn't that mean the eight of us are dead for sure?"

"More than that. Listen to the sound below. The clock tower door is sturdy, but I don't think it will last much longer against their battering. Once it breaks, we'll all become their rations."

"..."

The bald, muscular black man, clutching a steel pipe, couldn't help but curse, "Damn it! Is there really no second option for us?"

"There is," Jimmy said.

The bald man looked at him and snapped, "Then spit it out!"

"We've stayed outside longer than planned. If we just hold on a little longer, we can wait for the black poisonous fog to spread over here. By then, we’ll turn into living corpses ourselves and blend into the crowd below," Jimmy said calmly, looking at the thick black mist engulfing the edge of the town.

"What’s the difference between turning into a living corpse and dying?"

"No difference. But would you rather have living corpses tear your flesh off piece by piece until you die of blood loss, or would you prefer to turn into one without any pain?"

"..."

The others exchanged glances, and one whispered, "If we have to die, we choose the second option. At least the body remains intact."

"A bunch of spineless trash! Can’t you think of any other way?" The bald man couldn't help but wave his steel pipe.

*Clang.*

The pipe struck the wall with a sharp sound. Several people were ready to snap back at the verbal abuse.

But after glancing at the man’s bulging muscles and the heavy steel pipe, they all turned their heads away.

Jimmy looked at him and muttered under his breath, "If you hadn't dragged us along, insisting on searching those damn rooms for supplies, we would have already made it back to the church."

"Fatty, are you blaming me now?!" The bald man glared at Jimmy, brandishing his steel pipe menacingly.

"How could I ever dare to blame you?" Jimmy offered a contemptuous sneer.

Under normal circumstances, he would never have dared to provoke the strongest fighter in the group, but they were all about to die anyway—and largely because of this man—so what was there to fear?

"You fat pig, I'll make you bleed for that!" The bald man tightened his grip on the pipe and lunged toward Jimmy.

Suddenly, a slender figure blocked his path.

It was a beautiful young girl with wavy blonde hair, delicate and perfect features, and skin as fair as snow—like a green apple that had yet to fully ripen but was already full of temptation.

"Kennedy, this has nothing to do with you. Move aside." Seeing it was the girl, the bald man stopped, suppressing his rage.

Taylor shook her head stubbornly. "Jimmy hasn’t done anything wrong, and what he said is the truth. But if we are talking about whose fault it is that we are trapped here, it must be mine."

"Kennedy, I know you wanted to search those houses for supplies because you wanted to find a mirror for me. So, in reality, I am the one who caused this."

"No matter how much you hate, please direct it at me!" As she spoke, her gaze swept over the others, tears shimmering in her beautiful eyes.

"Miss Taylor, you are far too kind."

"No, no, how could we blame you?"

"Miss Taylor, you didn't know about this; you are innocent."

Seeing this, the men spoke up immediately.

Jimmy looked at the group of "simps" who were still acting like sycophants even as they faced death, and he cast a look of disdain before leaning out over the railing to look into the distance.

As a dying man, he had long since moved past the low-level hobby of being a sycophant.

Now, he just wanted to look closely at the scenery of the town, even though it hadn't changed in the two weeks he had been here.

"Huh? Someone's there?"

Seeing two figures walking toward them from afar, a glimmer of hope sparked in Jimmy’s heart.

"What? Someone is there?" The others heard him.

"Out there. I see people coming this way." Jimmy said, his expression agitated as he pointed in that direction. "Two of them. A tall, fat man and a short, thin man."

"A strange combination. Are they newcomers?"

Everyone leaned out to look. In the dim light of dusk, they saw the tall, fat man and short, thin man Jimmy had described.

Yet, for some reason, they all felt something was off about the pair.

"Only two people? They don't look like they have guns. What good will they be?"

"True. I bet as soon as they get close and see the living corpses below, they’ll run away."

"Just wait to die. We’re doomed."

Just as everyone was sighing and even Jimmy had slumped to the ground, the bald man suddenly smiled.

"I think... I might have a way," Kennedy said quietly. Seeing Taylor look at him with expectation, he continued, "We can wait for them to get closer, then throw something to draw the living corpses' attention to them. That way, we can make our escape."

Jimmy’s eyes lit up. "That’s a good method! If we just throw objects, it might not lure the corpses away, but if we have other people as bait, it will definitely draw them off."

"Find anything nearby we can throw. Something that can be thrown far and makes a loud noise when it hits the ground."

"Hurry, hurry! Our survival depends on this!"

The others smiled, nervously searching the floor for anything they could dismantle.

Taylor looked conflicted. "We... is it right for us to do this?"

"Miss Taylor, this is the only way to save the eight of us. And please, trust me, the living corpses aren't that fast. Those two will be able to shake off the pursuit." Kennedy explained.

Seeing Taylor seemingly considering his words, he took the opportunity to let his gaze hungrily scan her youthful, beautiful frame.

Nearby, Jimmy, who was still monitoring the "fat and thin duo," heard the bald man’s words and felt nothing but contempt.

The living corpses weren't fast, but they weren't much slower than a human running at full speed.

To avoid being caught, let alone shake them off, one would have to run at maximum effort.

But how long could a person keep up a full-sprint pace?

Meanwhile, the living corpses were mindless, tireless monsters who felt no pain. Furthermore, since those two were newcomers and unfamiliar with the town's layout, they would undoubtedly be caught by the corpses and turned into their next meal.