More than a dozen zombies brushed along the side of the vehicle as they passed. Even with the windows sealed shut, the thick, suffocating stench of blood still lingered, refusing to dissipate.
Everyone stared intently out the windows, not daring to relax for even a second.
Only after the road at the construction site’s main gate had been cleared did Jiang Si seize the opening and slam on the accelerator, cranking the steering wheel half a turn to the left. Under the pull of centrifugal force, the car nearly tilted as it veered into the construction site.
The zombies being drawn away by the explosion was only temporary.
Once they got over there and realized there was nothing they cared about, they would quickly turn back.
Jiang Si stomped on the brakes, and the SUV came to a steady stop on the wide gravel road at the entrance.
Shi Zuo An and Xia Ao flung open the doors and jumped out.
One on each side, they grabbed the white barricade gate and heaved it shut with all their strength.
Most of the barricade was made of mild steel, but the edges were wrapped with exposed metal framing.
As the gate closed, the metal frame scraped against the ground, producing a grating sound even worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.
The zombies were like brain-dead robots that could only recognize a single command, point them somewhere, and that’s where they went.
No sooner had the sound of the explosions faded than they were immediately drawn back by the noise of the gate scraping along the gravel road.
Xia Ao sensed something was off the moment he started pushing the gate, the resistance was abnormally heavy.
So when the dull, grating noise rang out, he was already prepared. The instant the gate shut, he locked it.
At the same time, he and Shi Zuo An hauled over a discarded steel plate and wedged it against the gate.
They had just finished when zombie claws slammed against the door.
The “thud, thud, thud” of pounding echoed through the quiet night, unnervingly loud.
After parking the car, Jiang Si and Song Zi Qiao also got out.
“How is it?”
The pounding from the zombies continued nonstop, grating on everyone’s nerves.
There was also a serious problem: the only entrance they knew of had been blocked, and the zombies outside were not going to disperse anytime soon.
They still had to find another way out.
“How about we get the work done first, then look for an exit?” Song Zi Qiao suggested.
“No.” Xia Ao refused sharply. “We find an exit first. That way, once the delayed device is set, we can leave immediately. It’s less risky.”
“We’ve made a new adjustment to the plan.” Shi Zuo An recalled that on the day they finished making the bombs, he and Xia Ao had discussed a revised course of action for the construction site, but hadn’t yet had the chance to tell Jiang Si and Song Zi Qiao.
According to the revised plan, they would install two to three bombs on the hoisting crane’s cables, making sure the cables would snap so the steel bars would fall and create a loud wave of noise.
Once the bombs were set, they would have to withdraw immediately. Otherwise, when the zombies within several hundred meters swarmed over, the construction site’s barricades would never be able to withstand that kind of pressure.
After hearing the new arrangement, both Song Zi Qiao and Jiang Si said they had no objections.
The construction site was littered everywhere with scattered building materials and rubble, and the farther in they went, the harder it was to drive.
The group simply decided to abandon the vehicle and rely on their own legs to first feel out a way out.
The surrounding barricades were at least two meters high, enclosing the area so tightly it was airtight.
Shi Zuo An switched on his flashlight and swept it around the barricades. Although they were made of mild steel, and in theory, you could smash through them by ramming a car straight into them, by the time they broke out, the front of the car would probably be wrecked.
After walking for nearly five minutes, the road from the entrance gradually widened, until the buildings of the construction site finally came into view.
A huge deep pit yawned in the ground, inside which wooden frames and steel rebar of various thicknesses were laid out in crisscross patterns.
Song Zi Qiao complained, “This project’s been going on for two years already. They said it’d be built by early next year, but who would’ve thought they haven’t even finished laying the foundation?”
No wonder netizens kept arguing about it endlessly on short-video apps.
The four of them didn’t linger there and continued winding their way deeper inside.
The path was blocked when they turned left, turning right put them face to face with makeshift rest rooms for workers built out of shipping containers… After twisting and turning through the site, they were all getting dizzy.
“I give up, does this place really have only one exit?!” Shi Zuo An grew angrier the more they circled around.
In the end, they turned into a narrow passageway, and inside it turned out to be a restroom.
And it was a stench-filled pit latrine!
Shi Zuo An, who was walking in front, immediately turned around. Xia Ao, right behind him, caught the person who suddenly threw himself into his arms without understanding why.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hurry up, hurry up, ugh—”
The sound of retching startled him. He quickly grabbed Shi Zuo An by both arms, bent down, and looked at his lowered head.
At that moment, a faint breeze blew through, carrying a sharp, nauseating stench.
!
Xia Ao instantly understood what that whole reaction had been about.
Without a word, the two of them turned around in tacit agreement and retreated from the narrow path.
Now it was Jiang Si and Song Zi Qiao at the back who were completely dumbfounded.
“What’s with you two, holy shit!”
The sound of frantic footsteps followed right behind them as they burst out of the narrow path.
Song Zi Qiao covered his mouth and nose with one hand while grabbing Jiang Si with the other.
“Damn, you two are way too unethical! You didn’t say a single word and just ran out, do you know how easily that gets people’s curiosity going?!”
Shi Zuo An had already steadied his breathing, only a faint redness at the corners of his eyes still bore witness to the ordeal of being assaulted by the stench.
Right now, he had plenty of energy to bicker with Song Zi Qiao. “Exactly, Xiao Song, learn to remember this next time. Curiosity kills little idiots~”
When Xia Ao backed out, he casually caught hold of Shi Zuo An’s left hand.
At that moment, the person involved was too busy arguing to notice anything unusual about his hand.
Xia Ao said nothing and didn’t let go either.
Might as well pretend he’d forgotten about it.
And so, in a muddled way, the four of them ended up splitting into two pairs, holding hands like elementary school kids on a field trip, and circled the entire construction site from start to finish.
What was bizarre was that such a massive project really did have only that single entrance and exit.
When they came in, they had already blocked the only exit.
With no results, they discussed it and finally decided to use Shi Zuo An’s bombs to manually blow a hole in the barricade.
That would require at least two bombs.
Which also meant that once this operation was over, all the bombs they had on hand would be used up, leaving only ammunition for directly dealing with zombies.
“What are you worried about? The manufacturer’s standing right next to you. Are you really afraid you won’t have any to use next time?” Shi Zuo An waved it off indifferently.
True enough, so long as Shi Zuo An was still around, there was no need to worry about that.
He alone was worth an entire arms manufacturer! /proud.jpg
Since both sides needed to use bombs, and the time gap between the two detonations shouldn’t be too long, pairing up was obviously the best choice.
As for who would be paired with whom, that was even more obvious.
After all, they hadn’t even let go of each other’s hands yet.
In the end, it was decided that Shi Zuo An and Xia Ao would go plant the bombs on the rebar, while Song Zi Qiao and Jiang Si stayed near the vehicle, ready at any moment to light the fuse and blow open the gate.
They took the bombs out of the vehicle, and the hands they’d been holding naturally came apart.
When the warmth of skin-to-skin contact disappeared, Xia Ao had assumed he’d get another round of his sarcastic, snide remarks. Instead, to his surprise, the man didn’t say a word this time, simply and naturally pulling the bombs from a backpack inside the car and handing two of them to Song Zi Qiao.
It seemed he really hadn’t noticed anything.
“What are you staring at? Let’s go.”
Xia Ao snapped back to his senses. Shi Zuo An was already walking ahead, bombs in his arms.
The hoisting crane was positioned beside the deep pit.
But the rebar was suspended high in the air directly above the pit. If they wanted to tie the bombs to the cables, they had to find a way to get up there.
Xia Ao frowned. There really wasn’t anything tall enough around to climb up.
“How about I tie a rope around my waist and climb up along the mechanical arm to attach the bombs?”
“No! That’s too dangerous!”
Xia Ao’s idea amounted to relying purely on physical strength to climb more than ten meters into the air.
There was no professional climbing rope here, if he fell, he’d be smashed to pulp.
Shi Zuo An firmly opposed the suggestion.
But how were they supposed to reach cables that high?
He scanned the abandoned construction materials around them, and suddenly a flash of yellow entered his line of sight.
It was an excavator.
If the crane could use such a long mechanical arm to suspend the rebar directly above the pit, then the excavator could also extend its two articulated arms at the same time and lift a person up there!
“Xia Ao!”
“Hm?”
“Do you know how to drive an excavator?”
…?
See? You’re overestimating me again.
Unfortunately, neither of them had any professional training in operating excavators, nor any interest in picking up that kind of skill in everyday life.
Who would take on this great and arduous task could only be decided by both of them climbing up and giving it a try.
They climbed up via the crawler tracks.
The cab of the excavator was small, and squeezing two people inside was clearly a tight fit.
Shi Zuo An climbed up first and discovered there was only one seat inside. If he sat down, Xia Ao wouldn’t even have room to stand.
With no other choice, the two of them each awkwardly occupied a tiny bit of space.
The roof of the cab was too low, forcing them to bend their necks and waists.
The key was already there, and starting it was simple, obvious at a glance. The real problem was figuring out how to move the excavator.
“What are these two levers for?” Shi Zuo An pointed at the two upright metal rods right in front of the seat. They looked like manual gearshift levers in a car.
Xia Ao shook his head.
Since they were already up there, they couldn’t very well just stare at everything without touching anything.
Gathering his courage, Shi Zuo An gently pulled one of the levers backward.
“Bang!”
The seat beneath him jolted backward slightly, then stopped.
Turns out the crawler tracks had run into a pile of dirt.
Shi Zuo An tried pushing the lever forward this time. Sure enough, pushing both levers forward or backward together controlled the excavator’s forward and backward movement.
“This is pretty simple!” His confidence surged instantly.
He tried again and discovered that moving just one lever allowed him to steer the excavator.
“Too easy, way too easy, I’ve already mastered this skill!” He thumped his chest and assured Xia Ao. “When the apocalypse is over, I’m going to go get an excavator operator’s license!”
Xia Ao, who hadn’t touched the controls at all: ……
“Are you sure you can handle it on your own?” he asked, still doubtful. “And even if you do learn it, what’s the point of getting that license?”
Shi Zuo An started counting on his fingers as he explained. “First, in this day and age, every extra certificate gives you more competitiveness.”
“And second?”
“Second, it’s repentance for my unlicensed driving today.”
…Idiot.
In the end, under Shi Zuo An’s insistence, Xia Ao got out of the cab, still uneasy.
Shi Zuo An finally gained exclusive control of the driver’s seat. He told Xia Ao to stay outside and obediently watch him operate it.
Next, he’d try the lever on the left.
His confidence in his own skills was boundless, so he boldly shoved the lever all the way to the left.
Xia Ao had just stepped out of the cab, waiting to see Shi Zuo An show off his technique, when he saw—
An excavator spinning smoothly in place at a perfectly even speed.
From inside the cab came a shrill, agonized scream…