“Zombies! Stop them! Hurry!”
“AHHH! Don’t push me!”
“There’s space in the back! Move to the back!”
Inside the old shelter, everyone shoved and pushed into one another in complete panic.
Several zombies, drawn by the scent of food, had squeezed into the cave entrance and were now attacking wildly.
The girl guarding the entrance held a wooden spear with trembling hands.
She thrust the spear forward—
But her strength was too weak.
The zombie grabbed the shaft instantly.
With one violent pull, the spear was yanked away.
The next second—
CRUNCH!
The zombie bit deeply into the girl’s shoulder.
“AHHHH!”
Blood instantly soaked through her school uniform.
The surrounding girls scattered like frightened birds, desperately squeezing deeper into the cave.
In the blink of an eye, the entire shelter fell into chaos.
There were only a few zombies—
But no one wanted to be bitten.
Everyone only cared about escaping further inside.
Screams echoed nonstop throughout the cave.
…
Meanwhile, on a hillside dozens of meters away—
Lin Mao calmly picked up a strand of springy noodles with his chopsticks and slowly blew on them.
“Slurp~~”
He even lifted the bowl deliberately toward the cave entrance so the aroma would drift farther with the wind.
Beside him, Wen Rou quietly sipped noodle soup while watching her former classmates with a conflicted expression.
“Lin Mao… should we maybe…” she asked softly.
“Eat your food and stay quiet,” Lin Mao replied coldly.
At that moment, a wandering zombie nearby seemed attracted by the smell of braised beef noodles and staggered toward the hill.
Song Leyi, who was directing people at the cave entrance, saw this and immediately felt a flash of satisfaction.
Serves you right.
What’s so great about a few packs of instant noodles?
Let’s see how you deal with zombies now.
Once you die, all that food will belong to me anyway.
However—
Lin Mao continued holding his noodle bowl in his left hand.
He casually raised his right hand.
His finger tapped lightly through the air.
BOOM!
A dazzling blue-white bolt of lightning tore through the sky and struck the zombie directly on the head.
The zombie instantly froze mid-run.
Smoke rose from its body.
Its rotten skin rapidly blackened and carbonized before crumbling into ashes within seconds.
“….”
Silence.
Complete silence.
The entire shelter fell deathly quiet.
Everyone stared at the black ash pile in horror before turning toward the familiar yet suddenly unfamiliar young man on the hill.
Lightning?
Lin Mao could control lightning?!
Several girls hiding deeper inside the cave suddenly lit up with hope, as though they had found their final lifeline.
“Lin Mao! Please come back! We were wrong!”
“Yes! We apologize! Please forgive us!”
“Come back and protect everyone!”
“That’s right! We’ll listen to you from now on!”
Song Leyi’s expression changed immediately.
Seeing her authority slipping away, she angrily pointed at Lin Mao.
“Don’t be fooled by him!” she shouted. “So what if he has some strange ability? He just wants to trick us over there and turn us into slaves!”
“Song Leyi, shut up already!”
Before Lin Mao could speak, another girl interrupted loudly.
“I finally understand now! You were the one who kept stirring everyone up against Lin Mao! If it weren’t for you, he never would’ve left! We wouldn’t have ended up like this!”
Several other girls immediately echoed her words.
“Exactly! You just wanted to act like a queen and use us!”
“Lin Mao, we were manipulated by her! We know we were wrong now!”
“Yes! We’ll follow you instead! We can’t survive here anymore!”
Song Leyi trembled with anger.
Back when they forced Lin Mao out, these girls had been shouting the loudest.
Now suddenly it was all her fault?
“Liu Qian!” Song Leyi snapped furiously. “You all agreed to drive Lin Mao away too! Don’t act innocent now!”
Liu Qian ignored her completely.
She turned to the girls beside her.
“Let’s go! Right now!”
“He has powers and food. Following him is obviously safer!”
With that, Liu Qian and four other girls rushed out of the cave toward Lin Mao’s hillside.
“Liu Qian! There are zombies outside!” someone inside shouted nervously.
“What’s there to be afraid of?” Liu Qian replied confidently. “Lin Mao is strong enough to protect us!”
Then she waved excitedly toward the hill.
“Lin Mao! We’re coming over to join you!”
Unfortunately, their movement immediately attracted the nearby zombies.
Several undead creatures slowly turned toward them.
Liu Qian’s smile stiffened.
Still, she could only speed up and shout louder:
“Lin Mao! Hurry and clear them out! We’re classmates!”
On the hill, Lin Mao crossed his arms and remained motionless.
Coldly watching.
More and more zombies began approaching.
Even the undead deeper in the forest were being drawn over by the noise.
Liu Qian finally panicked.
Her tone became much harsher.
“Lin Mao! Do something already! We came to join you! Wen Rou can do things for you, and so can we!”
The other girls also began screaming desperately.
But by then, the zombies had already formed a complete circle around them.
One girl slowed down for only a moment—
And was instantly dragged down by the horde.
Her screams became horrifying as the zombies tore into her flesh.
“LIN MAO! I WAS WRONG!” Liu Qian cried hysterically. “PLEASE SAVE ME! I’LL DO ANYTHING! I’LL WORK FOR YOU LIKE A SLAVE!”
Lin Mao remained completely expressionless.
The only answer she received—
Was the growling of approaching zombies and the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh.
“You bastard! Lin Mao, you’re not human! You’ll die horribly!”
In desperation, Liu Qian shoved the last remaining classmate beside her toward the zombies in an attempt to escape.
But only a few steps later—
She was caught as well.
Soon, the forest was filled only with screams and flesh-tearing sounds.
The entire shelter fell silent once more.
Earlier, many of them still believed Lin Mao would spare them for the sake of their old friendship.
At worst, they thought he just needed time to calm down.
But now—
Everyone understood.
Lin Mao would truly stand there and watch them die.
Song Leyi’s face turned pale.
Even her legs trembled slightly.
“See?!” she shouted desperately. “He’s insane! He wants us dead! Don’t go outside! Lin Mao was never planning to save us!”
At that moment—
Lin Mao who had been standing on the hill suddenly appeared at the cave entrance.
Quietly staring at everyone inside.
This was the perfect moment to recruit new members.
His gaze slowly swept across the familiar faces before he finally spoke:
“I’m not some saint.”
“I have no interest in taking in lazy, useless traitors.”
“If you want to join my shelter, fine.”
“But you need to prove your value.”
“This is the last time I’ll say it today.”
“If you want to live, walk out on your own.”
“Food and water are guaranteed.”
Song Leyi immediately shouted back, somehow still finding the courage:
“Don’t believe him! It’s a trap! He just wants to lure you outside and feed you to the zombies! Look at what happened to Liu Qian and the others!”
The crowd fell silent.
After witnessing such a horrifying scene, nobody could understand what Lin Mao’s standards truly were.
Then—
A trembling voice suddenly broke the silence.
“I… I want to join!”