Chapter 283: The Haunting Melody

Witnessing the madmen’s brutal savagery had already instilled immense fear but now their behavior shifted. They stopped roaring like beasts and held back their charge. Instead they lurked in the shadows letting out sinister chuckles which somehow felt even more terrifying.

Being watched and sneered at by the madmen from afar felt worse than if they’d just charged in for a brutal fight.

Sensing the rising tension in the group Lu Xin casually moved to the other side pretending to clear the shelves near the broken back door. He adjusted his glasses and whispered, “Sister, do you see anything?”

“Hiss… Ah…”

A bloodcurdling scream echoed beside him.

Sister was clinging to the wall next to him head down clutching the Screaming Chicken.

This time Sister appeared promptly, surprisingly not goofing off.

But her small face held a strange expression. She strained to look in a specific direction seemingly lost in thought.

After a moment she shook her head gently. “I don’t know either but…”

Beneath her messy black hair Lu Xin saw her brow furrow. “Brother there’s something… really annoying.”

“Annoying?”

Lu Xin looked at his sister silent for a moment.

He couldn’t recall seeing this kind of expression on Sister very often.

Most of the time she was just like any other child—like the kids from the orphanage or the ones dressed up like little princesses shopping with their parents in the city or even the ones throwing tantrums on the floor for a toy. No different at all…

At most the way she walked was a bit different from other children.

Sometimes her inappropriate antics angered Lu Xin.

But this time Sister wasn’t messing around at all which actually made Lu Xin a little worried.

He reached out picked Sister up and held her close whispering “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.”

Sister looked up at Lu Xin her small face showing a mix of confusion and irritation. “Brother did you hear anything?”

“Hear what?”

Lu Xin frowned listening intently.

He heard the ragged breathing of the old drivers around him the chattering of teeth from some the clatter of firearms. Then from outside he heard the growing number of madmen their cold laughter fixed on the supermarket. He heard them scrabbling on the walls and abandoned car roofs the sound of them gnawing on corpses.

Then Lu Xin suddenly sensed a faint almost imperceptible fluctuation in the air…

He focused trying to identify it his expression turning surprised.

“There’s a violin sound…”

A faint elusive violin melody drifted through the abandoned city.

The music was low muted and seemed distant so quiet it was barely noticeable.

Before noticing the violin it was hard to even discern its presence.

But once he did Lu Xin immediately sensed a connection between the violin music and the madmen. He felt a suppressed slow-paced quality in the melody echoing the madmen’s cold laughter.

Could it be… the violin music is controlling the madmen?

…

“It’s over there… So annoying…”

In Lu Xin’s arms Sister clenched her small fists tightly.

Looking at his sister’s unusual behavior Lu Xin paused then asked softly “Where’s Mom?”

Sister looked up and whispered “Mom was really irritated just now too.”

…

Lu Xin frowned slightly. He still wasn’t sure what exactly was happening in this city…

The sneering madmen the eerie violin music his temperamental sister.

And Mom becoming irritated something he’d never heard of before…

Lu Xin pondered turning back towards the group. He needed to share this intelligence with the panicked drivers first.

By now the convoy members had split into two groups positioned at the two windows facing the street.

The most powerful guns were set up at the windows ready to spit fire at any moment.

No one knew when the madmen would charge but everyone was prepared for a fight.

“We’ve definitely walked into an ambush…”

Near the door the convoy leader Boss Gao wiped the grime and blood off her face with her sleeve gritting her teeth as she spoke harshly:

“There’s no way so many madmen appeared out of nowhere. We would’ve spotted them earlier if they were here.”

“For so many to show up at once there’s only one explanation!”

She looked up fiercely her eyes glinting coldly. “We’ve been set up!”

“Someone waited for us to get inside then deliberately released these madmen…”

…

“Boss… what… what do we do?”

Someone beside her asked his voice trembling.

They felt the boss made sense but had no idea how to handle this situation.

Few people could still think clearly amidst such extreme panic.

“What do we do?”

The boss shot the man a glare and cursed “We survive obviously! Liu Daqiang if you dare piss yourself here I’ll shoot you first.”

The man named Liu Daqiang clenched his legs tightly gritted his teeth and gripped his gun.

“There are more and more of these madmen…”

After her outburst the boss looked aside. Someone nearby handed her a map whispering “Boss when we scouted earlier we saw there’s a wide road behind our position. The madmen are concentrated out front so we can’t charge that way but we could go out the back door and head east. If we’re lucky maybe we can break through…”

“Charging east means going through too many buildings doesn’t it?”

Boss Gao Ting was clearly hesitant. She murmured “I have a bad feeling about this…”

“How did all these madmen suddenly learn to laugh?”

“And they’re just watching us not attacking…”

“Damn it it’s like dogs in a kennel that won’t eat until their master gives the word…”

“Could someone be commanding them?”

…

Lu Xin approaching from nearby was somewhat surprised. This woman’s deductions were quite impressive.

Her rationality actually made him feel a bit favorable towards her.

“It’s the violin music…”

Lu Xin walked up to them and spoke softly.

*Swish*

Countless eyes turned towards him simultaneously.

But it was only for an instant. Many quickly snapped back turning their attention to the madmen outside the window.

“What violin music?”

Boss Gao frowned asking in a low voice.

“You haven’t heard it?”

Lu Xin raised his left hand flicking his fingers a few times. “Dee dee da dee dee… the sound of a violin.”

The gazes on Lu Xin were filled with confusion and suspicion.

Many slowly shook their heads indicating they heard nothing.

Lu Xin mused “Then it must be…”

But he didn’t finish the thought. Whose problem it was wasn’t important right now.

After all these were just drivers ordinary people. He was the professional so he couldn’t blame them for not hearing it. Being an understanding person he didn’t push them further but patiently explained his analysis:

“I don’t think charging east is the right move. The number of madmen is increasing. There’s reason to suspect they’ve surrounded this entire area. To the east it’s all old residential buildings communities full of dark windows and narrow alleys.”

“The madmen could easily drop down on you from above. Even with guns you might not escape.”

“More likely none of you will get out.”

…

As he spoke a faint blue light flashed across the lens over his left eye.

But the others couldn’t see the map of this town that Lu Xin could now view.

…

Listening to Lu Xin the group of old drivers just stared blankly at him.

They seemed unable to process it.

“Of course charging straight ahead won’t work either. There are too many madmen outside now nearly two hundred.”

Lu Xin patiently explained “These madmen do actually feel some fear. They’re afraid of guns and bullets. So if you had enough people enough firepower plus motorcycles to increase speed there might be a chance to break through directly.”

“But being surrounded your firepower is severely lacking…”

…

Perhaps because Lu Xin spoke so calmly or perhaps because they realized the situation was indeed as he described the atmosphere instantly became extremely oppressive.

The group of old drivers looked at each other their faces etched with deep fear.

Within the crowd only Little Zhou showed a hint of expectation asking nervously “Brother… Brother Lu do you know a lot about these madmen?”

“No actually this is only the second time I’ve encountered these madmen.”

Lu Xin answered frankly “But with careful observation these things are easy enough to notice and deduce.”

“Second time…”

Hearing the young man’s answer many felt a sense of absurdity.

Someone blurted out “Then what do we do?”

“I think we should find the source and deal with the problem directly.”

Lu Xin said “These madmen aren’t naturally this clever or restrained. I carefully assessed and observed the one that charged me earlier. It was extremely agitated but seemed no different from the ones outside now. So why did the previous madmen just roar while these ones sneer and slowly surround us?”

He answered his own question “They must be under some kind of mysterious influence.”

“I suspect someone is using the violin music I heard to influence the madmen. That person is the key.”

“I’ll go find the person playing the violin and ask them to help disperse the madmen.”

Saying this he gently pushed up his glasses with his index finger. “After all if they can control the madmen to sneer and surround us…”

“…then I suspect they could even control the madmen to walk right into the circus!”