Watching the four people leave the courtyard from the window, Zhao Tuantuan finally let out a sigh of relief, her kitchen knife still gripped tightly in her hand.
"Consider yourselves lucky to have run fast; if you dare to come back, I'll hack you to death!"
The young girl's eyes were filled with ferocity. In her heart, she had already accepted the cruelty of this Apocalypse and was long prepared for slaughter.
At this age, accepting new things is much faster than for adults.
It wasn't until the afternoon, when she saw Lin Qi's figure from the window, that Zhao Tuantuan relaxed her guard and put the kitchen knife back in the kitchen.
Lin Qi, who had walked up to the Iron Gate, saw that the door lock had been destroyed, and his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
"Oh no, someone has been here!"
In the current stage of the Apocalypse, zombies are not the most terrifying thing. With a handy weapon and the courage to fight, facing zombies is merely somewhat dangerous.
But human hearts are unpredictable. No one knows if someone might be lurking in the shadows to fire a cold arrow, or sneak in to steal from behind, causing the supplies and spoils of war he had worked so hard to search for to vanish into thin air.
There was no time to think; Lin Qi ran quickly toward the residential building. Only when he saw that the door lock of the unit he lived in was still intact did he breathe a sigh of relief.
After going upstairs and heading straight to the room, just as he opened the door, Zhao Tuantuan's figure ran over. She hesitated for a moment before reaching out to hug Lin Qi's waist.
"Brother Lin, please take me with you next time you go out, okay? I can help you carry things!"
Today's incident had kept the young girl on edge. Although it was just a false alarm, if those four people had broken in, it was definitely not something she could have resisted at her current stage.
Feeling the thick sensation against his chest, Lin Qi took several steps back, pressed against the wall.
Under the force of the recoil, the area of contact became even larger, and Lin Qi even felt it bounce a few times.
"Let go first and then we can talk."
Lin Qi gently patted Zhao Tuantuan's back. After a few days of living together, the two had shared hardships, and their distance had invisibly grown closer.
It was just that after knowing where that milk came from, a sense of awkwardness arose in his heart.
"Those people from the hotel broke in. Fortunately, they didn't enter this building. I suspect they definitely know we live here."
Zhao Tuantuan's eyes were filled with worry; unknown danger is the most terrifying.
"Don't worry, tomorrow we will set off and evacuate toward the direction of the central street."
When he went out today, Lin Qi had only investigated half the route. Because of the warning sound of the helicopter flying over, the zombies in the entire city had become restless, and the number of zombies on the street had clearly increased.
After comforting Zhao Tuantuan, the two began to pack their supplies.
During the day, because someone had broken into the vicinity of the courtyard, Zhao Tuantuan hadn't had time to prepare and had only organized the supplies and placed them in the kitchen.
The two boiled all the remaining dozen eggs, steamed the rice into rice balls, made the flour into steamed buns, and organized the rest of the supplies into lightweight items, stuffing them into their backpacks.
Busy until late at night, under the pale yellow light of the vegetable oil lamp, Zhao Tuantuan's small body seemed to possess immense energy, showing not a trace of fatigue.
"Alright, this is enough. We can't carry any more than this."
Two full backpacks of food would be fine for a normal trip, merely tiring, but since they still had to avoid the zombies outside, too much weight would undoubtedly become a hindrance to their escape.
When Zhao Tuantuan thought about it, she realized something was wrong and took some items out, putting them into her own backpack.
"Brother Lin, you carry a lighter one tomorrow, and I'll carry a heavier one. Don't worry, I will definitely be able to keep up."
If it were a few days ago, Zhao Tuantuan would never have joked with her life, but during the tension today, she had unknowingly realized a new ability of hers.
At that time, seeing Liu Bo and the other three enter the courtyard, Zhao Tuantuan had already formed the thought of fighting to the death. Under the agitation of her emotions, a force slowly spread from her chest throughout her body, allowing her physique to undergo a comprehensive improvement.
And now, she could feel her physical quality changing slowly at any time. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before her strength exceeded that of a strong man.
"Actually, there's no need to worry so much. Most of the zombies in the city now are virus bodies. As long as you are careful, you won't encounter danger."
The mutated zombie he encountered in the building next door today, although somewhat special, was easy to deal with using the special skill Lin Qi had acquired.
And as he practiced the skill longer, its power would become stronger, and he would only grow stronger slowly.
"I believe in Brother Lin!" Zhao Tuantuan encouraged him, clenching her fists.
She didn't know much about Lin Qi's strength, but after feeding herself the high-energy nutrients he had condensed several times, she believed Lin Qi's physique had also been greatly improved. Seeing Lin Qi's strength progress bit by bit, Zhao Tuantuan also felt very gratified.
After finishing their work, it was already midnight, so the two said goodnight to each other and returned to their respective rooms.
It wasn't until the next morning that the two packed their luggage and walked out of the door.
Lin Qi carried a backpack, held the longbow in his hand, and had the quiver tied to his waist, while Zhao Tuantuan held the steel pipe for self-defense and also carried a backpack full of food on her back.
After leaving the building, they saw two zombies wandering in the courtyard. The iron gate had been pried open yesterday, and Lin Qi hadn't closed it when he returned; he hadn't expected that zombies would have wandered in.
"Don't be afraid, let me handle it."
Lin Qi drew an arrow and shot it as soon as he raised his bow.
At a distance of less than twenty meters, for him, it could be said he would hit every shot. Before these two zombies could react, the arrows had already hit their heads, sinking in by a third.
Lin Qi retrieved the arrows and reinserted them into the quiver. After confirming there were no other stray zombies around, he took Zhao Tuantuan and continued forward.
Of the thirty arrows from yesterday, a few had been ruined, and now only twenty-five remained. He had to use them cautiously; otherwise, if the advanced task for Basic Archery wasn't completed yet, he feared all the arrows would be ruined.
"Brother Lin is truly amazing!"
A trace of doubt appeared in Zhao Tuantuan's bright eyes. She still hadn't figured out which aspect of gene enhancement Lin Qi had awakened, and how these crudely made arrows could have such power. Just by sharpening the arrow shaft, he could shoot through a zombie's head—one had to know that a skull is very hard.
"Stay close. Don't fall too far behind when we cross the street later."
Just encountering zombies upon leaving made Lin Qi's heart feel a bit heavier. Generally, if a trip starts poorly, the entire journey won't go very smoothly.
Sure enough, after leaving the courtyard gate, the zombies on the street were clearly more numerous, and one could even faintly hear the roars coming from the mouths of the infected zombies.
Lin Qi had already planned the route of action yesterday. If he were alone, he could easily avoid the zombies, but with Zhao Tuantuan, he had to ensure her safety.
"Walk close to the wall and try to stay as far away from those zombies as possible. Beyond ten meters, as long as the movement isn't too big, they won't attack."
Lin Qi observed the surrounding environment while looking for a suitable route, sharing the information he had mastered with Zhao Tuantuan.
The eyes of the virus-body zombies had mostly rotted away, and they had no vision to speak of. The means by which they searched for prey should be the magnetic field induction between creatures.
Of course, if the vibration sense was too strong, their position would also be locked.
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