Descending to the first floor, the hallway’s mix of blood and rot stench grew even stronger, almost tangible, sticky and clinging to her nostrils and throat.
The emergency light was dimmer here, barely outlining the chaos in the lobby—overturned potted plants, scattered delivery packages, and pools of dried, blackened blood.
Ruan Ning gripped her machete tightly; the cold handle kept her fully alert. She hugged the wall, shadows perfectly concealing her form, eyes scanning the entire lobby like a hawk.
Ho… ho…
A faint, windbag-like growl came from the mailroom on the right.
Ruan Ning silently crept closer to the open door.
Inside, a figure in a courier uniform lay face down on something, shoulders jerking with nauseating chewing sounds. In the shadow beneath it, a foot wearing a high heel lay motionless.
No hesitation.
She suddenly lunged in, light-footed like a cat. Just as the courier zombie sensed her presence and stopped chewing to turn around, her machete sliced upward with a fierce wind!
Pfft!
This time she aimed at the vulnerable connection between the cervical vertebrae and the skull. The blade precisely cut under the jaw, slanting upward—destroying the brainstem!
The courier zombie froze, then collapsed softly, revealing the severely bitten and disfigured corpse of a woman underneath.
Ruan Ning didn’t look at the corpse, quickly withdrew her blade, and listened intently for sounds.
The noise seemed to attract attention from the other side of the lobby.
Ho!
Ho ho!
Two figures staggered out from the shadowed stairs leading to the underground garage. One wore a suit with a protruding belly; the other was a young woman in a fashionable short skirt, half her body stained dark red, limping as she walked.
Their cloudy eyes immediately locked on Ruan Ning at the mailroom door, growling and hastening their clumsy approach, arms outstretched, driven by an instinctive hunger for fresh flesh, flanking her from both sides.
“Two of them…” Ruan Ning’s eyes narrowed. Instead of retreating, she stepped forward to meet them!
She first charged the faster skirt zombie. As its withered arm reached for her, she deftly sidestepped, simultaneously kicking hard at its knee joint!
Crack!
The sound of bone breaking was clear. The skirt zombie lost balance and fell forward, groaning.
Without looking back, Ruan Ning spun with the momentum of her kick, swinging her machete in a half-circle toward the approaching suited zombie.
The fat zombie seemed stronger, wildly swinging its arms, carrying a foul stench.
Ruan Ning ducked to avoid its grasp and slashed horizontally at its relatively slender ankle!
Shhhk!
The blade cut through skin and muscle, severing tendons. The suited zombie crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Without pause, Ruan Ning stepped forward and brought down the machete again!
Crack! Crack!
Two clean, precise chops shattered the heads of the downed zombies.
The lobby fell silent again, leaving only three increasingly cold bodies and an even stronger stench.
Ruan Ning breathed heavily, sweat beading at her temples. Consecutive kills, especially facing two at once, took a toll on her stamina and focus. Her arm muscles ached slightly, but the warm energy from the spirit spring rapidly circulated, easing the soreness.
Standing in the dim, bloodied lobby, surrounded by gruesome corpses, blood splattered on her clothes, her eyes shone brightly.
These few scattered zombies proved her strength and gave her a more direct understanding of early-stage zombies. Strength, speed, reflexes, and technique had all been honed in real combat.
She walked to the closed glass door of the apartment, looking out through the blood-smeared glass. More staggering figures appeared on the street, with occasional screams or crashes from afar, soon swallowed by silence.
This “safe zone” was no longer safe. Or rather, the whole world had fallen.
Practicing only in the hallway wasn’t enough. She needed more real combat experience and to adapt to the wider, more dangerous outside world.
On the community grounds, a few scattered zombies wandered. Because this was a high-end apartment complex with few residents and strict security, outsiders rarely got in.
Ruan Ning gripped her machete and quietly approached a zombie, swinging the blade—the zombie’s head flew off.
Her actions attracted nearby zombies. One by one, she decapitated them, getting herself dirty in the process. Luckily, her black clothes made the blood less noticeable.
Some residents peered from behind curtains, watching her kill zombies with eyes that seemed to say she was foolish. They believed these slow zombies couldn’t break in to eat them because of the complex’s high security.
They still held onto illusions about the government and military, hoping rescue teams would arrive.
Although water and electricity had been cut off, there was a water reservoir on the roof of the Mei Building, so there was no immediate worry about water contamination—but supplies wouldn’t last forever.
And they didn’t know that zombies evolve.
If they didn’t practice killing zombies now, when the day came to face zombies outside, they would only become food.
Ruan Ning wasn’t a savior and naturally wouldn’t remind them. When food ran out, they would have no choice but to leave their homes.