The woman"s screams mixed together with those of the crowd. No one paid attention to the victim, everyone wanted to save their own lives, as for others…oneself was not the one who died? Others could die in order for more people to escape!
Yan Fei saw Xu Bin pus.h.i.+ng the female students desperately towards the crowd. The guy was stronger and taller, otherwise he would not be the boss of the group. With his movements, a few physically weak people were dragged to the ground, he could smoothly bypa.s.s the gate.
The corners of Yan Fei"s mouth curled into a meaningful smile, he raised a finger and pointed at the people pus.h.i.+ng to escape through the iron door. Xu Bin"s footsteps stopped, he and several companions stood in the door gasping for air.
A few people had seen him come in and the remaining zombies would not follow for the time being so he stopped and did not run immediately inside. If he dumped his own escape first it would be easier than if he waited.
*Creak* A bunch of people heard the sound of groaning. Xu Bin and the others were horrified to see the big iron gate slowly falling towards them!
Xu Bin, who had experienced many life and death crises, reacted immediately. He turned his head seeing someone panicking with a wide mouth, he desperately ran towards the community. But after taking a few steps, the iron gate unexpectedly collapsed towards his head!
*Crash* The people running for their lives unconsciously looked and saw that the closed door had collapsed, with a few unlucky souls crushed underneath. The zombies staggered over with excited footsteps…
Luo Xun remained firm and did not pay attention to the collapsed door or people who were hit. He stepped on the accelerator rushed through the wide channel, in one breath reached the parking lot. The two cautiously descended from the car.
Yan Fei grabbed a crossbow from his backpack along with some cone shaped steel wire. A newly formed metal bat at his waist – the metal had been deliberately left inside the car and attached to a compartment. In case of any danger on the road Yan Fei could dismantle the car for metal and spare weapons.
The two people got off and hurried to their own home, because their building was the innermost, there were few people fleeing towards it. There were a lot of people outside today, so there were not many residents. Unfortunately because it was lunch time, the external base food window was beginning to sell food, so there were a number of people occupying the staff.
Luo Xun motioned to Yan Fei and the two climbed the stairs while on guard. The corridor was not too messy at the moment, although some people hurried home to avoid danger, since the number was not high, it was not crowded.
The pair climbed up the stairs while listening carefully to the sounds in the corridors. Confirmed that there seemed to be no zombie movements. They were also relieved that there was no screaming.
While climbing the stairs, hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind. Luo Xun suddenly turned, holding his bright flashlight aimed his crossbow towards the staircase. Yan Fei had also slowed down and focused on the situation behind them.
A gang of people were walking up the stairs but suddenly found someone above holding a weapon. The first person fell due to fear onto the person behind them, fortunately they were not in a staircase or the group would have all fallen down.
Seeing that the two above were Luo Xun and Yan Fei and there was a floating steel needle, the person"s face instantly paled as they took two steps back. Their voice was slightly hoa.r.s.e. "…We"re just heading home…"
Luo Xun was also slightly surprised to see the people, they were destined to meet after a thousand miles! The woman who still had red lipstick was standing beside the man at the end of the group – it was the founder of the Rose Mercenary Corps and her boyfriend.
A quick glance showed that their bodies did not have obvious wounds, Luo Xun motioned to Yan Fei with his head. The two continued upwards but the line of people behind were afraid and waited a full flight of stairs before following.
Safe and sound on the 16th floor, Yan Fei opened the metal door and confirmed that there were no problems in the corridor. They would use the chain locks in case Li Tie and the others came back to the door. They returned home and put down their self defense weapons and backpacks.
The little puppy excitedly faced the two and bounced around while wagging her tail.
Seeing the puppy, Luo Xun instantly relaxed and he bent down to touch her head and give belly scratches. After he headed towards the radio in the living room.
Yan Fei took off his coat and first headed to the balcony and living room windows to check outside. Although there were zombies in the neighborhood, the number was not high.
The radio made a familiar static noise, but this time there was no host voice.
Luo Xun also came to the living room window to observe the outside situation. After a while he whispered. "Doesn"t seem like any others turned into zombies?"
Yan Fei looked through the telescope at a nearby building. "Have not seen, but perhaps we might see in a moment."
As for if a more distant community had people becoming zombies at home? They could not see.
The two people looked at the same time, suddenly *Woo-* sound startled them. The puppy was frightened, she stretched out and barked towards the window.
"It seems like…an air raid alert?" Luo Xun spoke to Yan Fei.
Yan Fei nodded, the two suddenly heard sound from the radio, sound also came from the large speakers on the streets.
"…Zombie virus outbreak inside the base. Residents stay calm, don"t panic, hide in a safe place…If there are zombies in the house, please isolate them and hang a strip of white cloth to alert military personnel. The military is on alert, please stay calm…"
The radio and speakers sounded over and over causing the entire base to become more tense. Those who did not know about the zombie virus outbreak were alarmed once they heard the news. Instead of immediately running back to their homes, the panicked people met the wandering zombies in the streets and raised the level of chaos…
Some people locked their doors when they rushed home but once there were zombies wandering in the corridor, even if someone knocked on the door they might not be willing to let them in. Since housing was tight, many people often shared a residence, this lead to people not necessarily being acquaintances, more like people living in a collective dormitory. Some only indifferently greet each other each day so naturally it was not easy to let people in. What if they were followed by a zombie? Or if these people were wounded?
People who had abilities and strong physical strength would get angry if they were shut out and could get into conflict with the residents.
The base was a mess, military vehicles were clearing the zombies but because of the outer wall and house construction, many soldiers had been sent out. Organizing a fighting force had not been very effective, causing the chaos on base to persist until evening.
Luo Xun looked at the wall clock and closed the radio. "They have not come back."
Yan Fei clearly knew Luo Xun was talking about Li Tie and the rest. "They were in the barracks when the accident occurred but it’s safer than outside. I reckon they won"t come back until things are completely safe."
The students were much safer than Luo Xun. At least they were still in the barracks, unless there was a similar situation inside. But as long as they were at work and the population was not as big as a canteen, the situation should not be too bad.
But Zhang Yi might be in danger, after all he was at the hospital. If someone scratched by a zombie was sent there…but considering the man"s destructive capabilities, the zombies would be easily dealt with.
They waited until midnight for the others and confirmed that they would not be back tonight before going to rest.
As for going out the next day…the day broadcast had notified that all base work was suspended until all the zombies inside were eliminated.
The next morning, the two men checked to determine if Li Tie and company had not come back before turning on the radio. Routine messages played on repeat: warning people to settle down, not panic, join construction and other work and so on.
At the time of the accident, some of the people who were still at work did not have to worry about their families. Most of the people had been moved to a safe place. Everything would be back to normal once the base ensured there were no more zombies on base.
Early next morning, a military vehicle loaded with soldiers drove down a quiet street. Luo Xun and Yan Fei could see no traces of zombies in the area. Yesterday evening, soldiers came and cleaned up most of the wandering zombies.
The zombie outbreak was rather abrupt, but the number of people who got injured and turned into zombies was not many. It was only that the incident occurred in the highly populated streets during lunch time shopping that lead to greater confusion.
"The clean up was very fast. Seems like all the zombies inside the base will be disposed of by tomorrow." Luo Xun watched from the window was a vehicle entered the area, soldiers braved the corridors checking for zombies and dealt with houses that hung white cloth.
"How did the zombies get here?" Yan Fei"s brow wrinkled. He had thought it was strange yesterday, how could a zombie virus suddenly erupt at the time? If someone had accidentally brought the virus into the base, it would have been impossible to spread in many places at the same time.
Luo Xun doubtfully shook his head. "There could be multiple potential causes."
The military needed to examine and judge these things before coming to a conclusion. As long as they could find the source of the problem, they would be able to avoid the issues in the future.
Eventually, they gradually heard footsteps in the corridor. The two quickly came out and smiled upon seeing the visitors – Lieutenant Ding.
Lieutenant Ding came with two soldiers and asked. "Just you two at home?"
"Zhang Yi should still be at the hospital, Li Tie and the others should be in the barracks and have not come out. We came back yesterday at noon and have not seen them."
Lieutenant Ding explained. "Then they should have not gone, not just them all the people did not come back from work yesterday. The base gave them a resting place. Are you all right?" There were not that many people on this floor and only Luo Xun and Yan Fei were at the door.
"No problem, nothing happened yesterday."
Yan Fei had not expected to hear from Lieutenant Ding, he did not ask anything but then the lieutenant shook his head and spoke. "No zombies appeared at the barracks, outside base or the walls, the only accident took place in downtown base." He gazed solemnly. "The matter this time is strange, keep your guard up. Keep eyes open for any strange things."
The pair had not expected something like this. The accident only occurred in the base downtown area? Was it artificial? But if it was man made, that would be horrible!
After confirming that the two were all right, Lieutenant Ding and the two armed soldiers turned away without even entering the iron gate. Luo Xun and Yan Fei would be crazy to hide a zombie in their home. Even if they were crazy enough, when Zhang Yi came back the zombies would not leave the area alive.
"There were only zombies in the downtown area?" Luo Xun frowned, he did not think anyone would deliberately bring the zombie virus inside the base…No it was not impossible for someone who wanted to do something like this. Those sorts of incidents were likely to appear at any time, even if there was one now, he would not feel surprised. Luo Xun only felt that it was too early to see someone like that.
Yan Fei also went with him and patted his shoulder in comfort. "There are always lunatics around."
Yes, there was no shortage of madmen. Luo Xun had seen people go mad because their loved ones became zombies, when pressured for a while resented the people who avoided becoming zombies, especially their enemies. Some of the more aggressive ones even secretly pushed others into zombie groups in order to "help" them a.s.similate.
Luo Xun did not want to study the minds of lunatics, definitely did not want to find out how they thought – too far and he would go insane too.
"So, take a day off at home and listen to the radio. When the situation outside is safe we can go to the barracks." Luo Xun clapped his hands and took the lead towards the nursery room.
The puppy stuck her black nose against the gla.s.s box. Wisps of breath blew against the gla.s.s surface and before long condensation appeared on a patch of gla.s.s.
Black eyes stared excitedly at the large and small quails, her tail occasionally wagged from side to side. She jumped up and down and chased her tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the quails in excitement.
Unfortunately the little quails were frightened by the movement and froze in place. The big quails were used to it and did not even spare a glance. Only the baby quails just put in today were looking at the boisterous puppy.
*Crash* The puppy who had been circling around got startled. The couple also got a shock while they were next door checking the wall.
They hurriedly ran to the window to look outside and saw a window from the neighboring building and same floor was smashed. A group of people crawled inside.
"Thief? Or someone with no keys?" Luo Xun then continued with "Will they come trouble us later?"
Yan Fei first laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt but then narrowed his eyes. "Close the window first. I"ll go lock the corridor door."
"Okay, I"ll go get a crossbow." Luo Xun immediately turned towards the black iron gate.
At this time the radio announced to the crowd that with the major crisis had been routed, a victory for mankind which showed that humanity would overcome the zombies and usher in a bright future.
The two people each held a crossbow and walked down the corridor. Yan Fei once again manipulated the iron gate.
The suspicious group"s movements also attracted the attention of other people, but upon discovery, the rest just involuntarily closed their doors and picked up weapons. No one came out to block the actions, but if the potential thieves dared to break into someone else"s home, the families would not hold back.
The group entered a house, looted it and found another empty room to ransack, the process repeated as things were stolen away. Some people eyes in the building seeing these actions started to s.h.i.+ne with obscure light. Once those people left, same area, building or even same floor quietly opened their doors to check out the empty rooms.
The base radio said the zombies on base had been all cleared away.
The soldiers on base checking inside meant that there was no one inside.
The area just had a thief, everyone had seen. As long as their own movements were faster to grab things away before the neighbors came back, they could pin the matter on the guy who had smashed the gla.s.s…
Greed always hovered in the hearts of mankind and could not be stifled. Now, under the premise of following suit, no one was willing to endure with such a good opportunity and scarcity of their own rations. It was easy to push open the door.
Perhaps the 16th floor was too high or its reputation was too fierce, while Luo Xun and Yan Fei diligently watched, no one dared to climb up and cause trouble. The big crossbow in Luo Xun"s arms was getting heavy, but that was of no matter and he did not really mind.
This continued until Luo Xun saw a private car drive into the area, no one dared to climb the stairs. The car parked directly downstairs, the people who walked out were ones who were out of base yesterday. They had to temporarily stay outside for a night upon being told that there had been a zombie virus outbreak. Those who were out working and stayed there due to the zombies had also returned.
Halfway to a bonus chapter. Show support by donating with the Ko-fi b.u.t.ton.