The journey to the seventh floor was agonizing for Hao Ming and his group.
They had to stay on guard against zombies that might suddenly appear from any corner while also worrying that their benefactor on the seventh floor had already died in a zombie’s jaws.
Lu Xiaowu, Hu Zeyu, and the others were suffering as well.
No one could see what was happening at the center of the battlefield.
The center was obscured not only by rolling dust and hordes of zombies blocking their view, but also by countless clouds of black blood mist spreading through the air. The sluggish black blood flowing through the zombies’ bodies splattered everywhere under the Ancient Blade Divine Art.
They trusted Zhou Jinshi.
That trust had not come out of nowhere. It had been built day after day and night after night as Zhou Jinshi led them in killing zombies and gathering supplies.
But now, even that trust had begun to waver.
Despite their efforts to cut down the zombies layer by layer along the outer perimeter, Zhou Jinshi remained surrounded by countless zombies. No one knew whether he could survive. Even if he did, there was still the question of whether he had already been infected.
Most importantly, regardless of the outcome, without Zhou Jinshi as their main combat force, they had absolutely no way to retreat safely from Yanhu Lake Grand Hotel.
His certainty, his killing intent, and his plan had brought them here.
And they had followed him willingly.
Everyone knew that opportunities were hidden within danger, and that high risks also brought high rewards.
Now none of them had any way out. Fortunately, Zhou Jinshi had attracted the vast majority of the high level zombies, leaving them only with some sluggish and clumsy F Rank Walking Corpses.
Even someone like Shen Yucheng could only grit his teeth and continuously activate his ability to slaughter the Walking Corpses.
This was not for someone else’s safety, but for his own. The more zombies they killed here, the greater Zhou Jinshi’s chances of survival. If Zhou Jinshi could live, then they could live too.
Shen Yucheng was killing until he was utterly exhausted and could not help looking dejected. Once again, he deeply regretted the lie he had casually fabricated.
Perhaps he should never have returned to the camp. But he did not even possess the courage that Su Zhihai had to wander alone. He had become accustomed to the life in the camp, being with others, having an organization, and even being protected. How could he endure days of constant fear and hunger that made him dizzy?
Kill, and keep killing even if there was no end to it. Shen Yucheng gnashed his teeth.
Li Qiu was suffering too.
Running for her life did not feel good.
She had brought Li Dong into the dark sewer and hidden there. Once they were inside, the delicious scent of the ability users’ flesh became much fainter. After following her down, Li Dong remained very obedient and quietly crouched in a corner like a giant rock that had grown ears and a nose.
Li Qiu listened to the sounds outside.
These people had come thoroughly prepared. The sound of explosions outside rang out without end, as lively as the New Year celebrations of her childhood. By now, the outside had probably been thrown into chaos, and many zombies had surely died.
When she was little, fireworks and firecrackers had not yet been banned.
They might not have gone off all night, but they would at least continue for half the night.
They had been even noisier than what she was hearing now.
But back then, Li Qiu had been happy.
She had still been a child, wearing brand new New Year’s clothes and sitting on the sofa, crossing her legs while eating candy and watching the Spring Festival Gala.
On her left had been either her father or mother, and beside her had been her grandmother, who had not yet passed away and smiled kindly at her.
She had not even worried about whether she had finished her winter vacation homework, and only thought about how much lucky money she would receive.
Now it was different. Now she was fleeing for her life.
In only a few short hours, Li Qiu had already lost the kind heart she had felt while saving her fellow humans. She no longer wanted to accumulate any blessings or good fortune. Instead, she secretly hoped that her zombie compatriots would win.
Even if they could not win, at the very least, they should be able to drive these human ability users away.
But faintly, she also felt that this was wrong.
Compared to her little more than a month as a zombie, her twenty two years as a human made her heart lean more toward humanity. This was something she could not deny.
Nor could she deny that she would favor whichever side allowed her to survive.
She had no choice.
The expression on Li Qiu’s face shifted unpredictably, first shock, then vigilance, then nostalgia, and finally confusion.
“Sigh.”
In the empty underground water tunnel, Li Qiu’s sigh seemed especially obvious.
Li Qiu finally noticed that Li Dong had been staring at her the whole time.
It was not even staring, but observing.
The expression on Li Qiu’s face changed again. She was certain she had not seen wrong. Li Dong was imitating her expressions. She did not know what his features had looked like before he became a zombie, but after turning into one, his features had become cold and sinister. Yet now, that cold and sinister face had slowly displayed the same expression as Li Qiu’s.
Even the surprise currently on Li Qiu’s face was copied by Li Dong perfectly.
After imitating her, Li Dong returned to his usual appearance, expressionless and looking confused.
From Li Qiu’s observations, none of the other D Rank Intelligent Species seemed capable of doing what Li Dong did.
She almost cried tears of joy.
What did this mean?
It meant that Li Dong was becoming more like a person.
Perhaps in the future, Li Dong could even learn to speak and communicate with her as humans did.
Was this her true companion?
After this moment, Li Qiu finally and completely regarded Li Dong as her companion.
She no longer saw him as a tool for carrying backpacks, nor as a puppet to push out as a shield whenever danger arose.
Loneliness was like hunger, it could wear a person to death. Or wear a zombie with a human mind to death.
“From now on, we’re companions, we’re friends.” Li Qiu lightly patted Li Dong’s shoulder.
At a time like this, she could not laugh too loudly, for fear of being discovered. But she truly was smiling, smiling enough to reveal the fangs in her mouth that had grown increasingly sharp.
Li Dong did not smile. He lowered his eyes and fixed his gaze on Li Qiu’s hand.
A zombie’s heart no longer beat violently. The only thing driving Li Dong was the thoughts that whistled through his mind.
He looked at Li Qiu’s hand with fascination, wanting to reach out and hold it, and then…
But an even louder explosion sounded.
The noise startled Li Qiu into withdrawing her hand and covering her ears.
Li Dong’s gaze, however, turned cold. He glanced toward the opening through which they had entered. Li Qiu had already blocked it off, but the tremendous explosions were also pouring down through this opening. Along with the sound came several distinct roars.
Li Qiu still did not quite understand what those roars meant.
But Li Dong did.
These were cries for help from the other four Intelligent Species, directed toward him, the “traitor.”
They could no longer hold on.
Li Dong stood up. He understood, so he could not ignore them. Moreover, those ability users outside truly attracted him, even tempted him. He thirsted for blood, for flesh, for food.
Li Qiu promptly grabbed him and widened her eyes. “I can’t even beat them. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Li Qiu had always been hiding.
She hid when she had just regained her human consciousness. She hid when she encountered Zhao Siyuan’s group of five. She hid when Fang Qi had not completely transformed into a zombie. And now she was hiding again.
It could not be said that she was cowardly. People were naturally inclined to seek benefits and avoid harm. She had a feeling that she could not survive against those people yet.
She had too many weaknesses. She got hungry extremely quickly, ran slowly, and possessed neither a size advantage nor a cheat like special abilities. The only thing she had was temporary immense strength after eating her fill.
But who could guarantee that she would not suddenly become hungry again while fighting, causing all that strength to disappear along with the return of hunger? That was why Li Qiu only dared to occasionally show off among zombies and did not dare face human ability users head on.
There was nothing shameful about that.
Likewise, Li Qiu believed that Li Dong could not defeat the people outside either.
They sounded as though they had guns, cannons, and ability users. If the zombies outside could not hold out, then Li Dong would simply be delivering himself to death. She had only just accepted him as a friend and could not bear to watch him throw his life away.
Li Dong’s expression was difficult to describe and seemed to disapprove of Li Qiu’s timidity.
But in the end, he still stopped and returned to Li Qiu’s side. In the pitch black underground tunnel, his breathing gradually changed from rapid to light and calm.
“Good, that’s being obedient.” Li Qiu expressed her satisfaction.
Li Qiu listened to the sounds outside and did not simply wait around.
“Let’s keep moving forward and see if there’s another exit.”
If the battle outside lasted for several days and nights, then if she stayed here she would either starve to death directly or eat Li Dong alive.
Humans had to find a way to survive.
Zombies did too.
And Li Qiu happened to be both.
The situation outside was even worse than Li Qiu had imagined.
Those D Rank Intelligent Species and E Rank Crawling Species were not fools. They feared those explosives, and their bodies had been blasted until their flesh split open and blood flowed. They had almost lost their human appearance.
Although they felt no pain, it still hindered their efforts to kill and eat Zhou Jinshi.
If they wanted to devour this delicacy, they had to use some methods.
So, very cleverly, they gradually forced Zhou Jinshi toward the public swimming pool.
The pool water was filled with trash, bloodstains, and even some corpses and severed limbs. It was so murky that it seemed bottomless.
But it was water.
They knew that water could extinguish fire and weaken the attacks coming from the outer perimeter.
Unfortunately, they did not know that Zhou Jinshi did not rely solely on the cold gleaming blade in his hand to fight.
His ability was water based.
The public swimming pool, and even the hot spring pools not far away, contained more than enough water.
This was his domain.
The intelligence of D Rank Intelligent Species was still insufficient to understand the saying about letting the tiger return to the mountains.
They only realized that the aura of the food before them had completely changed.
Zhou Jinshi no longer looked as though he were being steadily driven back and gasping for breath.
He smiled.
From a human perspective, Zhou Jinshi’s smile was very handsome. His brows relaxed, the corners of his lips curved upward, and he looked both confident and flamboyant.
But to zombies, his smile was deadly.
As he smiled, the water in the swimming pool seemed to be sucked upward by an enormous invisible pipe, dividing into three high pressure water blades.
They turned sharply downward from midair and pierced directly into the heads of three Intelligent Species.
As for the remaining one, Zhou Jinshi naturally did not let it escape.
The Divine Art in his hand left his grip and swiftly sliced into the nearest Intelligent Species before steadily returning to his hand.
The D Rank Intelligent Species’ supposedly indestructible iron skulls and their tactic of retreating when they could not win and surrounding their enemy all seemed like insignificant jokes in the face of absolute violent force.
They collapsed almost simultaneously.
The high pressure water blades and the Divine Art immediately turned toward the remaining Crawling Species.
Those creatures that had crazily wanted to leap onto Zhou Jinshi were first beheaded and then had their nimble limbs severed.
As they were torn into pieces, they looked strikingly similar to the humans they themselves had once ripped apart.
Did it feel satisfying? A voice in Zhou Jinshi’s heart asked.
He answered that voice.
Not enough.
He had no time to look at the admiring, respectful, and worshipful gazes his companions and teammates were directing at him.
The Divine Art stained with black blood returned to his hand.
He was searching for his next target.