“Huh?” Hearing Brian’s sudden question, Sarah’s expression changed slightly.
After hesitating for a moment, she said softly, “I… I let him go.” Brian shrugged, not overly concerned.
In truth, he had already guessed this outcome.
He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, stood up from the sofa, and said, “Let’s go.
It’s time to move out.” Exiting through the door on the other side of the house, the two headed straight for the house opposite.
Brian had just observed the route from the second-floor bedroom; the roads here were basically blocked off, so he could only see if they could climb through a side window of the opposite house.
As usual, they scavenged for usable items.
After all, they didn’t know what might happen along the way, and collecting more useful supplies was quite necessary.
Climbing out of the window of the neighboring house, a huge crack in the ground appeared before them.
It must have been someone’s basement; perhaps due to an explosion, the entire ceiling had been blown open.
Looking down into the gap, it was overgrown with red, blocky fungal growths, and the air had turned a yellowish-green.
However, the basement was less than five meters wide, there were no Infected inside, and there was an open window on the opposite side.
If they went through there, it would take less than five seconds to cross the basement.
“What should we do?
Should we go in?” Sarah asked, sounding uncertain as she looked at the clearly dangerous place.
“No.
The air clearly has issues.
Although we don’t know if those pathogens can be transmitted through the air, we can’t take that risk.” Shaking his head, Brian vetoed the route through the basement.
He looked around at other areas; the left was blocked off, and the right was a passage leading to the main road.
The street was now completely filled with Infected, so they definitely couldn’t go that way.
He looked back into the window they had climbed out of, wondering if they should go back and find another route.
“Hey, we could go above.” Just as Brian was trying to find another route, Sarah, beside him, looked up at a two-story apartment building in front of them.
Following the direction of Sarah’s finger, Brian glanced at the height of the second-floor walkway.
He estimated it was over three meters high.
His eyes lit up, and he said, “I remember there should be a folding ladder inside the house.
I don’t know if it’s high enough, but let’s take it out and try.” Returning to the house they had come from, it wasn’t long before he carried out a small ladder over a meter tall from a utility room.
“Hold on tight, be careful.” Extending one end of the ladder out the window, Brian signaled to Sarah to be very careful.
If they slipped and dropped it to the ground, it would definitely attract the attention of nearby Infected.
Successfully lifting the ladder outside, he then climbed out himself and set the ladder up against the wall.
“…Why is it still so short!” Looking at the height that was clearly still quite lacking, Brian scratched his head.
He thought for a moment, then climbed onto the ladder, straddling the middle step.
He re-estimated the remaining height, nodded, and waved to Sarah below, saying, “Come on, step on my shoulders, you should be able to reach it.
Once you’re up, tie the rope to the railing, and I’ll climb up the rope.” “Okay!” Sarah didn’t hesitate.
She climbed onto the ladder, took Brian’s outstretched hand, and climbed up.
When her feet stepped onto his shoulders, she inadvertently glanced downward, suddenly feeling dizzy, and her body became a bit unsteady.
“Sarah, don’t look down.” Feeling the girl’s legs beginning to tremble, Brian knew she must have looked down.
He gripped Sarah’s legs tightly, supporting her body, and quickly warned, “Take a deep breath, steady yourself.
Don’t be afraid, I’m holding you.” “Hoo~” Brian’s voice was like a stimulant, giving Sarah immense courage.
She took a deep breath, steadied her emotions, looked up, and grabbed the railing on the edge.
Using her hands to pull herself up and kicking against the wall twice, she managed to scramble up.
But just as she climbed up, she saw an Infected standing not far away in the walkway, with its back to her.
This shocking sight nearly made her scream in fright, as she was completely unprepared.
Hurriedly covering her mouth tightly with her left hand, Sarah forced herself to suppress the scream.
At the same time, she stretched her right hand out and frantically waved it back and forth, signaling Brian not to make any noise, lest he alert the Infected in front of her.
Seeing this, Brian below understood that there might be an Infected up there, so he just waited silently, not daring to make a single sound.
After waiting a while and seeing that the Infected didn’t make any unusual movements, Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.
She quietly took off her backpack, pulled out the rope, and while keeping an eye on the Infected’s movements, tied one end of the rope to the railing.
Grabbing the rope thrown down from above, Brian stood up on the highest point of the ladder and easily climbed up.
Climbing quietly into the walkway, Brian looked at the Infected standing in front.
He drew his dagger and was about to step forward to eliminate the threat, but a small hand from the side suddenly reached out and stopped him.
He looked at Sarah beside him, puzzled.
Unexpectedly, she pointed at the dagger in his hand and whispered, “This time, let me do it!” Gazing at Sarah’s determined eyes, Brian nodded and handed the dagger to her.
In this environment, everyone needed to grow, so he had no intention of dissuading her, only following silently behind to protect her safety.
Gripping the dagger tightly, Sarah inched closer behind the Infected.
At this moment, she was extremely nervous, but she could no longer accept being someone who was only protected by others.
When she was in danger, Brian would protect her, but if the situation were reversed and Brian were in danger, who would protect him?
Therefore, she could no longer continue to hide behind him; she had to stand up and face these dangers.
Looking at the Infected, which was clearly much taller than her, Sarah recalled the method Brian used to handle them and kicked hard with her right foot toward the inside of the creature’s knee.
Caught off guard, the Infected instantly fell to its knees.
Immediately after, a slender arm appeared from behind it, tightly locking its neck to prevent it from making any sound.
Then, the sharp dagger seized the opportunity and stabbed straight into its temple, eliminating the Infected in a split second.
“Impressive, impressive.” Having witnessed the whole process, Brian watched Sarah’s fluid actions and couldn’t help but praise her, “I didn’t expect you to be hiding your strength.
I underestimated you.” “Alright, it’s getting late.
Let’s get moving.” Rolling her eyes at Brian, Sarah handed the dagger back to him.
Looking at the Infected lying on the ground, she couldn’t help but feel a little proud.
“Wait, there’s someone over there.” Just as they were about to continue moving forward, Brian suddenly saw a young black woman walk out of a restaurant diagonally opposite them.
Her backpack was flat, clearly indicating she had come up empty-handed inside and hadn’t found the food she wanted.
Just as she was hiding her form and heading toward another Convenience Store opposite, a creature suddenly appeared where she had been hiding.
It was an Infected with half its head wrapped in mushroom-shaped fungi, which had grown out of one of its eye sockets and completely destroyed that eye.
Contrary to the norm, this Infected didn’t roar and pounce on its target directly.
Instead, it stealthily followed behind the young black woman, seemingly closing the distance between itself and its prey.
“What… what’s up with that Infected?” Sarah asked in horror, pointing at the strangely shaped Infected.
She could tell that this Infected was clearly different from the others; it looked much more sinister.
“As expected!” Brian looked at the familiar-looking Infected with a grim expression.
It was the Infected with the largest fungal coverage he had seen so far, and it appeared to have completed its “evolution,” entering a second stage.
He knew his hypothesis was correct.
As time passed, the pathogens inside these Infected were constantly modifying the host’s body, making the host stronger so that it could infect more prey and “serve” the pathogens.
On the other side, just as this evolved Infected got within a sufficient distance, it suddenly let out a “hissing” screech and lunged at the young black woman.
At the same time, the strange screech awakened all the nearby standing Infected; as if they had received some kind of signal, they roared and ran toward the direction of the sound.
The young black woman turned around quickly upon hearing the screech behind her.
Seeing an Infected lunging at her, she was instantly panicked, but she had killed quite a few Infected during this time, so she reacted quickly, raised her handgun, and fired a shot at the head of the lunging Infected.
The bullet flew out, striking the fungal area on the Infected’s head precisely.
The fungi instantly burst apart, but the Infected seemed unaffected and continued to lunge at the prey in front of it.
Staring wide-eyed at the still-living Infected, the young black woman screamed in terror and, without hesitation, turned to run away.
But this evolved Infected was clearly faster than ordinary Infected.
In a few strides, it caught up to the young black woman and tackled her to the ground.
“Ah—!” Instantly, a shrill scream echoed throughout the entire block, the sound of that desperate wail piercing deeply into the hearts of all the Survivors hiding nearby.