The man with the axe had someone add an extra lock to the door to keep Song Jinhe under heavy guard.
Before leaving, they stood by and watched as Cheng Yan took Song Jinhe’s temperature once more. After confirming she was indeed running a high fever, they confiscated their backpacks, travel bags, and even the crowbar.
The rest of the survivors had been herded into the main hall. A woman let out a piercing scream as she was dragged across the floor. A man squeezed her throat, forcing her cries into painful, hoarse gasps.
The crowd watched helplessly as she was hauled into a room. Their faces were etched with fury and terror, yet no one dared to show any sign of resistance.
Nearby, a burly man let out two sharp whistles, his eyes roaming lewdly over the remaining women.
“Did you get all that?” Fang Qinghe whispered, his voice low. “In a moment, take the chance to run outside. They only have one gun. If even one of you can make it, it’s worth it.”
“You’ll die!” Qiu Ling’s eyes welled with tears.
Fang Qinghe looked at her, his gaze exceptionally calm. “I can’t let you go through that.”
Without another word, he pulled a utility knife from his sleeve and charged. He was no match for these men; before the blade could even graze them, he took a heavy punch to the abdomen.
“Go… run!” he spat out a mouthful of blood, shouting with every ounce of strength he had left. “Don’t look back!”
“Damn it! Get them back here!”
Gunshots rang out, and one of the companions was hit and collapsed. Qiu Ling fled, sobbing, her pace quickening in a panic. In the chaos, the group scattered. The girl with the long hair eventually found herself cornered on the terrace with nowhere left to retreat.
“Run! Go on, keep running! Let’s see where else you can go,” the burly man spat on the ground. “You bitch, refusing the easy way. I’ll show you what I’m made of in a minute.”
The girl’s eyes were red as she let out a desperate laugh. She turned, climbed over the railing, and jumped without a moment’s hesitation.
Hearing the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground, the burly man’s face turned livid as he cursed. Out of five people, three were dead and two had escaped. This place wasn’t small; it would take a lot of effort to search every nook and cranny for the runaways.
“No need to go to all that trouble,” Chou Xiang said, stepping out of a room. “They won’t get far. We’ll just kill a few people every so often. Didn’t Wu Dayong say these people are kind-hearted? Let’s see if they come out then.”
“And then there’s that other group. We can’t touch the woman and the doctor for now, but isn’t there one left? If those two really want to join us, they won’t care if this one lives or dies.”
He directed his last sentence toward Peng Zhixue, his expression unreadable.
Sitting on the floor, Peng Zhixue clenched his fists. Song Jinhe definitely knew where Zhang Yi was. If he gave these people the information, he might have a chance to live. These people really did kill; they weren’t just trying to scare him.
But if Zhang Yi fell into their hands, her life would be a living hell. He couldn’t speak…
“Big brother, since I brought you here and gave you all that info, how about letting me join you?” Wu Dayong chimed in. Hearing that they were going to start killing people, he was terrified he’d be next and hurried to show his loyalty.
“Who do you think you are?” The lead burly man looked at him and sneered. “You don’t even dare to kill a zombie. We don’t want dead weight in our team. Since you led us here, we can move you to the back of the execution line.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Dayong’s face went dark. If looks could kill, the resentful stares from the people around him would have killed him hundreds of times over.
“It’s all because of you! You brought these demons here!”
“Wu Dayong, you godforsaken bastard! How did we ever wrong you that you’d screw us over like this? And Fang Qinghe—their people ran away and left us here to die!”
“What was I supposed to do!” Wu Dayong’s eyes widened in fury. “These people killed Old Jiang without saying a word! If I didn’t lead the way, they would have tortured me to death! If it were any of you, you wouldn’t have held out either!”
“If you want to blame someone, blame them! It was that guy Cheng who told everyone there were supplies outside; that’s why we went out! Who knows what he and that woman told these thugs? Think about it—everyone who died was one of ours, but they’re perfectly fine. Maybe they were just scouts for this gang!”
“You have no shame! Did you go out because of us?” Peng Zhixue glared at him. “You went out to find food for yourself! You’re the one who wants to join them, but do you think they’d even want someone like you?”
“Enough! What’s the point of arguing?” Yang Minghao said in a low voice. “That guy with the tattoos—I saw his picture when I worked in the neighborhood. He’s a wanted criminal! He was a killer even before the apocalypse. Do you really expect these people to let us go?”
“Then what can we do? They have a gun!”
At the thought of the gang’s brutality, those who had briefly considered resisting lowered their heads again. They say the bird that sticks its head out gets shot; no one dared to stand up and face death.
On the other side.
Zhang Yi took a deep breath, pushed aside the quilts, and crawled out of the closet. Her face was pale as she looked toward the door. “Who are they… what are we going to do…”
Song Jinhe handed her a knife. “Can you kill someone?”
“I… I’ve… never…” Zhang Yi stammered as she took the kitchen knife, her hands still shaking.
“If they don’t die, we will.”
Song Jinhe then brought out two Molotov cocktails and several rat traps. “If you want to survive in this world, there are some things you have to do. Don’t hesitate when it’s time to move.”
Zhang Yi nodded earnestly, not yet realizing where Song Jinhe had suddenly produced all these items from.
“They have the car keys and the supplies. We’ll look for a chance to prioritize getting the supplies back during the chaos.”
“But your condition…” Zhang Yi looked at Song Jinhe with concern.
“A bit better than before.” During the worst of it, she had nearly failed to pull through.
Though she couldn’t see past the door, Song Jinhe could vaguely sense that the man guarding her was standing to the left, smoking. She could also hear faint screams echoing from the hallway, but she couldn’t sense anything further away.
“They’re having all the fun while I have to guard a half-dead female zombie,” the man outside muttered impatiently, grinding out his cigarette with his boot. He kept glancing toward the rooms where the noises were coming from.
Song Jinhe pulled two pieces of bread and some milk from her space. Even though she had no appetite, she forced herself to eat. She needed to wait for the right moment, and her body needed a bit more time to recover.
“How do you still have food? Didn’t they take all our things…”
“I hid it.” Song Jinhe gave her a spare key to the iron door leading to the loading bay. “With these people firing guns, it’s going to be very easy to lure zombies here. Go find Cheng Yan and the others first. If things go wrong, retreat toward the loading bay.”
“Okay, I understand.” Zhang Yi’s gaze gradually turned steely.
In the pitch-black, ominous corridors, low-pitched growls were drawing closer. Light from broken windows cast flickering shadows across the concrete stairs.
The man with the axe and his group had already finished looting the bath center.
“These losers actually had quite a lot of stuff. Much better than the last place we hit,” a muscular man said, biting into a slightly shriveled apple.
“Those idiots even sprayed ‘SOS’ on the walls with paint, thinking someone would actually come to save them.” He couldn’t help but let out a couple of chuckles.