Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

Morning came slowly, Zhang Su’s bloodshot eyes were wide open. Good Fortune lay at his feet, having washed off in some puddle, the mud had disappeared, leaving its original fur color, albeit a bit puffed up, probably from shaking itself after washing.

“Brother Su, Chen Hanzhou hasn’t turned into a zombie yet for so long, should be fine by now.”

Zheng Xinyu lifted Zhang Su’s arm to check the time; it was already past seven in the morning, more than two hours since the zombie attack. She recalled escaping with Qiu Shuo and Lu Yubo before; this was enough time for zombification.

“Cough, cough.” Zhang Su cleared his dry throat, took a sip of water, and shook his head, “It’s much longer than Qiu Shuo before, but we can’t rule out individual differences, still need to observe.”

He stood up, stretched lazily, and bent down to look out the window. The clouds scattered, sunlight spilled back onto the earth, coating the wet road with golden light, but sadly, strewn with corpses, limbs, and various organs.

Looking at the piles of zombie corpses all around, Zhang Su’s expression was grave, “We can’t stay here, need to find a relatively safe place to rest!”

He was about to leave the car to inform everyone but was pulled back by Zheng Xinyu.

“What about Chen Hanzhou? You said you’d keep watch over him.”

Zhang Su glanced at the sleeping Chen Hanzhou, handed the handgun to Zheng Xinyu, and said, “You watch him for me first!”

“Me, you, damn it, you irresponsible man. I don’t want to, hey!”

Looking at Zhang Su stepping out of the car and the USP in her hand, Zheng Xinyu felt as disgusted as swallowing a fly.

“Brother Su.”

“Big brother, what should we do later?”

“Is Chen Hanzhou all right?”

As Zhang Su entered the Mercedes RV, everyone looked at him, nearly everyone was in disarray, covered in bloodstains, mud, and unknown substances. The smell inside the car was quite complex.

Luckily, the temperature was only seven or eight degrees; otherwise, combined with the zombie stench, it would be unbearable for everyone present.

“Xiaochen is temporarily fine. Prepare, we can’t stay on the road. I remember there’s an abandoned factory about a mile north; let’s head there to settle temporarily!”

Zhang Su pointed to the north, barely visible hundreds of meters away were dilapidated red brick buildings, distinctly characteristic of the last century, remnants of an era.

“Aren’t we going back to the downtown?”

One of the Tiguan trio, Zhou Litao, asked, only to find everyone giving him strange looks, even his two colleagues; this made him quite embarrassed.

Zhang Su looked at the speaker and said, “Your name is Wang Xin, right?”

“Brother Su, I’m Wang Xin, he’s Zhou Litao.” The tall Wang Xin smiled awkwardly, mixing names was understandable given the rushed situation.

“Oh, Zhou Litao, the city situation is complex, with our current state it’s hard to handle tricky situations, we should choose a closed and safe place to rest, understand?”

Facing virtually all companions, Zhang Su didn’t want to reply harshly to Zhou Litao; authority maintained by violence isn’t stable, he knew everyone chose to follow him, not solely because of his high combat power.

“Un, understood.” Zhou Litao replied awkwardly.

“You speak too much, Brother Su’s arrangement naturally has his considerations!” Liu Tianji retorted Zhou Litao discontentedly.

Wang Xin also shook his head in frustration, stood up, and said, “Brother Su, anything you need help with?”

He and Liu Tianji had made up their minds to join Zhang Su’s team, as for Zhou Litao’s thoughts, they no longer cared, if willing to stay, then perform well, if not, they wouldn’t associate with him.

Zhang Su’s gaze subtly scanned the Tiguan trio, naturally seeing their division; it wasn’t the time to deal with this, he said, “First take the Prado to check out the factory, clear any obstacles, and inspect the environment.”

Those familiar with Zhang Su knew he intended to test Liu Tianji and the others’ abilities.

Liu Tianji immediately stood up, nodding, “We’ll handle that, but Brother Su… we don’t have weapons.”

“Even if abandoning the car to escape, weapons and basic supplies must be carried!”

Zhang Su couldn’t help but criticize, Zhao Xue and Wu Lue did this well, not abandoning backpacks and weapons, he looked at Zhao Dezhu: “Zhuzi, take them to get some weapons.”

“Alright!”

Zhao Dezhu responded promptly.

Moments later, the Tiguan trio drove off…

“Brother Su, are you sure they won’t take the car and run?”

Lu Yubo looked distracted, the Prado was now his assigned vehicle, he would regret if it were taken.

“Run? Wouldn’t drive them off even if I wanted to, don’t worry, absolutely won’t happen!” Zhang Su was very confident, then told everyone: “Quickly pack up!”

In four or five minutes, everyone on Zhang Su’s side was ready and back in the car, two RVs carrying over ten people headed for the factory area.

“What, what skin, no, this is a glass factory, right?”

Zhang Su drove up to the factory entrance, the iron gates long gone, likely dismantled and sold as scrap metal, left only tattered concrete pillars on both sides.

The lintel once bore five characters, exposed to elements for years, the iron letters faded into half of the word ‘glass’. Based on Qin City’s history, it wasn’t hard to guess this was a glass factory from the last century.

“That’s right, Brother Su, this used to be Nonghua Glass Factory. Come ahead, come ahead, don’t worry, it’s high enough, won’t scrape!”

Liu Tianji acted like a parking attendant, dutifully directing the RV into the factory compound.

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

The heavy RV rolled over the weathered road, crushing the concrete slabs into cobweb-like cracks…

Due to the terrain slightly higher than the road, the glass factory didn’t have much standing water, the cracked concrete overrun with weeds, tall enough to hide a person.

The leaves on tree branches were slightly yellowed, the old factory building’s walls peeling, exposing bricks inside; signs of age were everywhere, telling their story of wear.

The entire factory area wasn’t large, everything in sight could be taken in at a glance; two workshops, a warehouse, and a tile roof long leaking, seemingly used for cargo decoration.

“What’s going on in there?”

Zhang Su parked the car in the center of the factory area, jumped out, and asked Liu Tianji and the others.

“No problems.” Liu Tianji waved his hand towards the factory area and said, “No one, no zombies, nothing useful, just not very clean.”

Zhang Su noticed Liu Tianji’s strange expression when he said it wasn’t very clean. As he walked toward the largest workshop, he asked, “How is it not clean?”

“Hehe…” Liu Tianji chuckled awkwardly and said, “I guess some kids from the nearby village came to play and then just relieved themselves anywhere…”

Zhang Su paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. Compared to the zombie corpses outside, feces were nothing.

As Liu Tianji mentioned, aside from scattered trash on the floor, there was nothing valuable in the workshop. There was feces and toilet paper in the corner, which seemed like it had been there for a long time, as there was no foul odor in the air.

The gray walls were covered in large sections of chalk graffiti, messy and indistinguishable, yet vibrant with color and full of childlike wonder. Beneath the graffiti were various inspiring slogans, the paint of which remained faintly visible even after decades.

Zhang Su tapped his hammer on the workshop’s support columns and walls, then shone a flashlight on the roof, saying, “Buildings from the last century are really sturdy. They’ve been abandoned for so many years without collapsing and hardly leak in the rain!”

Except for a few spots where rainwater dripped, most of the roof was intact.

“It’s true, Brother Su. If you hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have noticed. Damn, that top floor Brother Dong rented, the building is only a few years old, at most seven or eight, and it’s already leaking, and we’re left to argue with the property management. It’s infuriating.”

Lu Yubo immediately complained.

Yuwen, hands behind his back, looked at the barely visible slogans on the wall and sighed, “It was a different era back then. People had a glow in their eyes, faith in their hearts, and strength in their actions!”

“Alright, alright, Teacher Yu, spare us the lecture. Let’s all chip in and clear up this area… huh?”

Zhang Su was just instructing everyone to start cleaning when he suddenly twitched his ear, hearing an unusual noise.

The Corgi Good Fortune also turned its head.

The man and the dog exchanged glances, both seeing a look of certainty in each other’s eyes.

“Didn’t you check every nook and cranny?”

Zhang Su pulled out his hammer from his waist, frowned, and asked Liu Tianji and the others.

Seeing Zhang Su’s reaction, everyone immediately tensed up. No one doubted his warning capabilities, and they quickly drew their weapons to scan the surroundings. However, apart from the mottled walls and broken windows, there was nothing unusual.

“We, we…” Liu Tianji was at a loss, not knowing what had happened, and said awkwardly, “We didn’t have time, Brother Su. We just made a quick round of this big workshop when we heard you guys arriving. What’s up?”

“What’s up? Zombies!”

Zhang Su’s eyebrows shot up as he headed towards the workshop’s main door. The sound came from another enclosed space. If it hadn’t been for Yuwen’s emotional outburst earlier, they wouldn’t have quieted down enough for him to notice the subtle noise.

The group cautiously followed Zhang Su out of the workshop, nerves taut.

Zheng Xinyu, who was reluctantly sitting in the Prado guarding Chen Hanzhou, suddenly saw everyone coming out of the workshop, weapons in hand, her face tightened in surprise. She quickly crouched down to scrutinize the surroundings, tightly gripping the USP, keeping an eye both on the situation outside and occasionally looking back at Chen Hanzhou, overwhelmed.

“Over there!”

Zhang Su pointed to a warehouse with a half-open broken iron door.

“I’ll go check it out!”

Lu Yubo flicked on a flashlight and quickly walked to the warehouse door.

“Hmm?!!”

He peered through a hole in the door. But when Lu Yubo focused his gaze inside, he was so startled that he took several steps back, nearly falling to the ground.

Everyone knew Lu Yubo was recklessly brave, whether against people or zombies, he’d dare to stab. To scare him, something must have been significant. Many people tensed, ready for a fierce battle.

“Ghost, Brother Su, a ghost!”

Lu Yubo hopped over to Zhang Su, his face contorted, clearly rattled. Had he not developed the habit of not screaming randomly lately, he would have probably shouted.

“Ghost?”

“The sun is shining brightly, and this warehouse doesn’t even have windows. It’s eerily spooky; it could really be…”

“Could be what? Don’t speculate. No ghosts, just people!”

Zhang Su shook his head. He had distinctly heard footsteps earlier; the person inside was likely scared by Lu Yubo too.

Hearing Zhang Su say it was a person, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, evidently more trusting of his words.

Lu Yubo scratched his head, “Whether it’s a person or a ghost, it scared the hell out of me, with a face like that, hair like that, and the face…”

No one could quite grasp what the gesticulating Lu Yubo was trying to express, his vocabulary sorely lacking.

Zhang Su shook his head, no longer watching Lu Yubo’s theatrics, and walked to the warehouse door, gently pushing the broken iron door open with his hammer, producing a creaking sound that would make one’s teeth ache.

“Where’s the ghost? Come on, Brother Lu, show me. I reckon you’re the coward here, hahaha.”

Zhao Dezhu, lighting up his flashlight, was the first to step into the warehouse.

Everyone followed the flashlight beam, scanning around. The warehouse, roughly twenty meters square, held a few rotting wood pieces and the same assorted trash as the workshop floor. The walls were similarly covered in chalk scribbles, the air filled with the smell of damp rot and dust.

Finally, everyone’s gaze settled on the corner office in the warehouse. If anyone were hiding, that was the only plausible place!

“Come out. We know you’re in there!”

Zhang Su took a few steps towards the office and called out loudly.

Ah ah ah.

This time, everyone heard it clearly; there was indeed a zombie moan, but it was somewhat muffled as if the mouth were obstructed by something.