°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° Here’s the bonus chapter as promised. This release is thanks to:
Kilsikon7, Anon, Michelle in Colorado and Mrow
I am really thankful for the support!
The fierce wind gradually subsided in the narrow space and Zhang Yi's blood thirst also gradually calmed down. He could tell from the metal in his home, if he wanted to and had enough metal he could form a strong turtle shell. If Zhang Yi wanted to break it, who knew how much energy he would expend to succeed.
Yan Fei spoke without waiting for Zhang Yi to start. "Don't take lives, otherwise the military will come looking for trouble." He lightly swept the bloody half naked men a glance. "In half a day, before tonight make sure you leave this building or we will throw you out the window."
Before when he and Luo Xun had heard noises from downstairs but did not want to meddle in others business. Since no matter how they retaliated the two did not feel it excessive since in truth, there was reason for revenge.
It was only after people opening the door and them realizing that women were being harassed that they opened the gate and came downstairs to check out the situation.
Whether it was Yan Fei or Luo Xun, even if the woman was part of the gang who stole from someone's house – if she opposed the theft, she was not really involved. They ignored women who voluntarily sold themselves on the roadside but would not tolerate squalor and chaos in their area. Especially if the other party was a group of men ganging up on a single woman, no matter what the behaviour was excessive.
A man hiding in the room shivered and whispered. "They, they stole our stuff…"
Zhang Yi smiled. "You are not pleasing to my eyes. What? You want me to send you out the window right now?" He had absolutely no interest in who was the guilty party. He was not a policeman or a judge, only a person who cut down those not pleasing to his eyes.
The man rapidly shook his head. In the apocalypse the strong ruled with actions and talk was not always necessary. No one in the corridor saw the man in the back. A few in the room saw – a handsome man appeared at the beautiful man's shoulder and a dark thing appeared in his hand which blocked the terrible wind! Neither of them were human! The two men were not people! Should never be provoked!
Seeing those people with goosebumps, Li Tie and the others followed Zhang Yi and Yan Fei up to the 16th floor. After passing the iron gate they breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of hero saving a beauty, it was the other way around…
Luo Xun had been following behind Yan Fei, he smiled and asked. "Did anything happen while you were in the barracks?"
Han Li first opened the door while He Qiankun walked in while answering. "Nothing, what about you? You came back around noon, did anything happen on the road?"
After a brief description of the incident from yesterday, the group went into 1601 to have a meeting. Yan Fei sealed the metal gate before following.
Li Tie sat on a folding chair and explained what had happened to them yesterday. "We realized something had happened on base when the alarm sounded. Boss received a notice saying that there had been a zombie virus outbreak on base. Let us first wait inside since the studio was large enough to live in. In the evening, people were all driven back by the army – they lived in a new neighborhood near the barracks. Since there was nothing there, it was said to be safe and no one turned into a zombie. Today we heard that nothing had happened and returned after the base was checked."
After that, a few people curiously asked. "Why was the neighborhood so rowdy today? Has it been like this since yesterday?"
Luo Xun wryly smiled at the questions. "Nothing happened after everyone fled home in chaos yesterday afternoon. This morning, after the military came to check security someone smashed glass to steal things and the area became disorderly. What was the situation on the road like as you came back?"
No one troubled each other in times of danger, but once passed people who expose such an ugly side. Li Tie and the others felt uncomfortable.
Zhang Yi was not affected like the five pure-hearted university students and motioned outside. "We vaguely heard some noise from the neighborhoods along the way, but do not know the specific situation because of the distance. But I am afraid the situation is similar to here."
Zhang Yi was not like Li Tie and the others, he was already accustomed to the worst, ugliest aspects of human nature. He had been mad at those people simply because…*cough* that water user dared aim at Wang Duo and company. These guys had always been covered by him. If his people were beaten up in front of him, what would happen to his image? They should go home as soon as possible.
So Wu Xin should be very grateful for his good roommate and classmate Wang Duo, if the water had not been aimed at Wang Duo's body, Zhang Yi would have not reacted to strongly.
Yan Fei suddenly asked. "Does work resume tomorrow?"
Li Tie recovered from thinking about the dark side of human nature and nodded. "Yes, our team leader said that work would continue as usual tomorrow if there is no accident!"
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were confident that tomorrow, both of them should be ready to work.
Han Li spoke secretively at the couple. "I should tell you that the superiors have begun to prepare a new station on base. Once ready, people can use mobile phones for convenient communication on base!"
"Oh? Are there requirements for the mobile phones?" Yan Fei asked with great interest.
"Not yet, its in accordance with the previous recovery mode communication. The stations were ones set up before the apocalypse, just needed to change signals for reception. But I am afraid that new phone cards will be made." He Qiankun explained to the two.
"Yes, they want the phone card to be adaptable to all previous mobile phones so that everyone can directly receive information from the base. Not like now, where many people do not have a radio at home and cannot hear broadcast news. Some are afraid that using the speakers will attract zombies." Li Tie explained with excitement, they were participating in this matter, once finished it would be good thing for the entire base!
"If someone has lost their phone, you can pick one up from outside or exchange for a cheap one! The price of mobile phones will definitely rise in a few days!" Wang Duo spoke to everyone.
However, Luo Xun was thinking about another matter – because he had known about the cell phone thing and used on in the past, from start until now he had a phone on him and even grabbed two spares.
"Did you hear anything about the cause of the zombie virus outbreak?"
Hearing Luo Xun's question, Li Tie and the others looked at each other before bitterly shaking their heads. "Unclear investigations, our boss did not hear anything."
Zhang Yi laughed after hearing the words. "I heard a little bit."
He worked in a hospital, the news would naturally be clearer than his counterparts.
Seeing the people looking at him with suspense, Zhang Yi crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, leaving only two legs on the ground. "The specifics have not been identified but I heard that the first zombies were from downtown." He glanced around with irony. "Downtown, specifically near the stalls for food exchange."
It was as if the mute button had been pressed in the room, one would clearly hear a pin drop in the silence.
After a while, Yan Fei slowly responded, "You mean – poisoned?"
Zhang Yi shrugged, he had similar ideas. His first reaction after hearing the news was – poison to deliberately create chaos.
"How, how is that possible?!"
"That's horrible!"
"Zombie virus, definitely zombie virus!" Li Tie and company could not hold back startled exclamations.
Luo Xun suddenly said, "Not necessarily." Seeing the gazes, Luo Xun smiled towards the kitchen. "The probability of deliberate poisoning is not high, after all, once such things are detected it becomes too dangerous for the perpetrators to do anything. I think it had something to do with the food-selling windows, maybe the water was not cleaned before cooking."
Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow and involuntarily nodded. Indeed he had felt that Luo Xun's insisted method of filtering water was too cumbersome. He felt that boiling the water for a while would kill the virus. Although he was a doctor, he was not neat. For the sake of convenience there would be some who carelessly used untreated water for cooking.
Luo Xun explained further when the students did not thoroughly understand his implications. "The water filtration method promoted by the base is quite cumbersome, for those who need to cook a lot of food everyday, after a while perhaps they would gradually not care about this problem…"
"But…why did it suddenly explode yesterday?"
They heard that it had occurred in several locations. Those people could not ave all bought food from the same window. Luo Xun's words made Li Tie and company feel that buying food was very dangerous. Although nothing had appeared in the barracks, but just in case…
Luo Xun shook his head. "I am not positive, still have to wait for the results of the investigation to be sure." He also judged based on his past life experience, after all now was only the early apocalypse stage. When the zombies mutated no one would know the source of the virus.
The zombie virus transmission was intuitive, could drinking water contain the zombie virus? What was the reaction of the human body upon infection? How long would it take for symptoms to appear? There were not understood for the time being.
Li Tie and the others breathed a sigh of relief at Luo Xun's words, compared to someone using the zombie virus as a poison, they would rather accept unsafe health conditions causing the accident. At least they would not worry about accidentally eating a zombie when they bought food at the barracks.
After the discussion, everyone on the 16th floor went home. Li Tie and the others had not slept well outside yesterday. Though the barracks security was high, they also had to worry about getting lost inside. What if they came across a zombie? Thus everyone had not slept well last night.
Luo Xun got up, ready to return to their own room. Today was another day off and tomorrow would be a return to regular work. The two had to go back and discuss if there was a need to continue eating meals in the barracks dining hall.
After all, the degree of food safety could be self controlled at home. But for food from outside, it was necessary to rely on the caution of the cooks.
Zhang Yi opened the door and walked out. But after exiting, he stood with a smile on his face looking in the direction of the iron staircase gate.
Luo Xun and the others were puzzled and also came out to look – three women stood trembling below the stairs. Upon seeing everyone come out they were surprised at first, then timidly sneaked glances at the group from time to time.
It was the female fire user from the 15th floor and the two female college students in the other room.
"What? You are…" Wu Xin started when he saw the three people below. However he remembered what the group of students had seen – a beauty surrounded by several men…*cough* that sort of scene.
The heads of the three women lowered and the group of university students also blushed heavily.
Zhang Yi only faintly looked at the three woman, then sneered at their bowed heads before walking towards his room's door.
The sound of the door sparked the three women. The former head of the Rose Mercenary corps in Luo Xun's memory looked up with unsteady eyes and trembled. "They, they all moved away."
Zhang Yi ignored the women as he prepared to return home. Wang Duo also looked at the women but seeing Zhang Yi going into 1602, he left and followed.
Li Tie and the others turned to look at the remaining Yan Fei.
Yan Fei gave the three women a glance, seeing their expressions mixed with embarassment and anticipation, he stated. "Oh."
That was it?
The three women were also a little dumbfounded. Upstairs, Li Tie and the others were uncomfortable and dared not look at the women's eyes – as if they had anxiety. There were no openings with Yan Fei's response.
Thinking of Yan Fei's relationship with Luo Xun, the four guys quietly exchanged looks. Han Li coughed, "That…Since they've left, you'll be fine. Live well." Could it be that the women had come up to tell them this was related to Yan Fei?
The three women seemed to be anxious, one stepped forward and said with gritted teeth, "They, they left but also took everything away…leaving only us…"
They were afraid of Yan Fei waiting for people to find trouble so the ruffians left in a hurry. But as they left, all food and useful items such as cloth or wood were taken away.
First, they had collected these supplies. Second, since other people had robbed them before, stealing in retaliation was a sort of compensation. Third, Yan Fei had also told them to leave, but he had not mentioned stuff. What was wrong with them taking their belongings?
These women did not dare say anything but how would they live if they had nothing? So they came up and waited for Yan Fei or someone else to come.
Luo Xun could not help huffing and took two steps towards his apartment. Yan Fei's expression also held sarcasm. "What? You want me to call them back for you?"
The three women were shaking and looked incredulously at Yan Fei. His cold eyes did not compare to his even colder heart.
After a while, a girl hesitantly mumbled. "We…we can help you with laundry and cooking. Could you please help us?"
Another girl also nodded while Xu Mei looked hopefully at Li Tie and company. "I have an ability and can go out to hunt zombies. If needed I can definitely go with you outside the base!"
She had never been weak, even before the apocalypse she had a strong personality. If not for the blow from being betrayed by her boyfriend, she would not have accepted the insult!
"But…" Li Tie and the others exchanged glances. Did not think that helping save someone would end up with people following them. "But we are not…"
"This was not our idea, it's…it was our previous companion seeing someone else breaking into people's houses which prompted action, then…"
Xu Mei had only half explained when the two girls behind her suddenly flared up. "We had no way of doing anything! It was all the doing of men in Xu Mei's group! Obviously not related to us! The people in Xu Mei's home suddenly remembered…that our place had women. So they broke in and got rid of the guys we were living with…"
The girls in 1503 were really unlucky, people in 1502 suddenly got greedy and broke into 1503 and 1504. The consequences were placed on her.
The men who only targeted 1502 had coveted Xu Mei's beauty early on and just took the opportunity to realize their desires. After all, Xu Mei had been the only woman in the apartment and there were quite a few men in the two homes. Some had devious intentions, knowing that there were female college students suggested some to go next door. They broke into 1503, stole things and grabbed the two girls who did not go out.
Yan Fei saw the two girls glare at Xu Mei with resentment. But they stayed quiet since they were in the same position. But their hearts had placed Xu Mei was the source of disaster – if Xu Mei did not live in 1502, those thieves would not think of assaulting women, or think that they had few points. They had been implicated by living next door.
But Xu Mei had an ability and the three's current position was similar so they had to temporarily cooperate.
The men on the 16th floor seemed to be doing well, at least they knew that the occupants went to work every day. Able to go to work meant filling their stomachs! They now had nothing and urgently needed to find a backer, a patron that could help them survive!
Compared to the previous neighbors that always coveted their beauty. The men of the 16th floor, two were very handsome, the remaining six were quiet, young people. Which was not better than those outside? Besides, they were very kind.
One girl ran up two steps and clung to the railing while tearfully entreating Li Tie and the others. "Please help us! We are willing to do anything. We have no way to survive now…"
The other female college student also ran over crying, "We did not think our old classmates were such heartless people, once scared they abandoned us. You are kind hearted people, help us!"
Li Tie and friends who had thin skin involuntarily looked to Yan Fei. They were not bad people and this was the first time they had encountered this sort of thing – being begged by these two female students, who were not as beautiful as Xu Mei but still regarded as high level women.
In particular, these two girls had just experienced misfortune. If they helped the women, perhaps after slowly getting along and cultivating feelings…they could get rid of their 'single' label?