Chapter 118 So many people were hidden here

Qinghuanli residential complex is not large. All the buildings are arranged in a circle around a huge circular flower bed in the center. There is almost no space between the buildings on the left and right sides. They are also built high up with windows packed tightly together. Standing in the middle feels like being at the bottom of a deep well, with an overwhelming sense of oppression. From their position, they can see the entire complex in its entirety.

Of course, this also means that all residents can see them.

More and more zombies gathered there. The community had a high population density and many shared apartments, so the number of zombies hiding there was actually quite a lot.

Song Rushuang stopped thinking about it, grabbed a knife and got out of the car. Before leaving, she opened the sunroof and closed the car door behind her.

She honked the horn not only to attract the attention of the upstairs residents and check the little girl's location, but also to lure out the zombies hiding in the shadows and eliminate them in advance.

A well-prepared, head-on battle is always better than being ambushed by a zombie that suddenly appears from a corner while you're focused on finding someone.

*

"Did you see someone coming?"

On the eighth floor of a building on the west side of Qinghuanli residential complex, Shi Yue, unable to stay in her room any longer, uneasily came out. Her other roommate, hearing the commotion, also peeked out from her room.

In the living room, the roommate on duty sat cross-legged on the bay window, passing the time with a book. Hearing this, he shook his head, also worried: "How can it be that fast? And I think it's unlikely. I've been watching for so long, and not a single car has passed by on the street outside..."

Although the request for help was posted using Shi Yue's account, it was actually a joint idea that the three of them had discussed together.

They dared not go out themselves, could not see the little girl's exact location, could not confirm the situation, and found it difficult to call the authorities for help. They could only try posting requests for help online to try their luck.

What if a civilian rescue team happens to be patrolling nearby and sees the message, then they can come and check on the situation?

In the three men's minds, simply assessing the girl's condition rather than immediately providing aid shouldn't be that difficult for professionals.

But after the message was sent out, they gradually began to feel uneasy.

My mind is filled with all sorts of terrible thoughts.

Although they were very careful with their wording and tried to mention all the observable situations, what if there were still things they didn't mention or that caused ambiguity, leading the rescuers to overlook some risks?

...What if these infected people are more troublesome and terrifying than they imagined?

What if the network was bad, their message never got sent, or they never received any rescuers, and the girl just died quietly, trapped somewhere?

What if, what if...

In her despair, Shi Yue even considered going out to see the world on her own, but quickly gave up the idea.

She truly didn't dare, nor did she have the ability.

Do you think anyone will actually come?

Although it wasn't their shift, Shi Yue and her other roommate obviously couldn't get a proper rest either, so they simply sat down together on the bay window, and one of them asked...

"I don't know, I don't think there's much hope." Shi Yue picked at her fingers. "Our community may not be big, but it still has at least a few thousand residents, right? The girl was crying so loudly that everyone could hear her, but no one came down to help."

She could understand, after all, she herself didn't dare to go out.

There were many others standing by the window, looking out, just like them, probably all of whom were willing but unable to do so.

But none of the thousands of people nearby stepped forward. How can we expect people from outside to come all this way to help?

Shi Yue felt distressed and couldn't bear it, so she could only comfort herself by saying that at least they had all tried their best.

"How about..." one roommate bit her lip, then swallowed the words back, "Never mind."

The other person asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"What I was thinking was, how about we take out a few packs of instant noodles I've stockpiled and ask in the neighborhood group if anyone's willing to go down and check on him? We could lower the noodles down from upstairs to him. But it seems too much to exchange a few packs of instant noodles for something so dangerous..." the woman sighed.

In the past few days, there have been sporadic requests for food in the neighborhood group chat, with people offering to exchange items. Perhaps some people are actually willing to take the risk.

But wouldn't that just be them using food as bait to lure desperate people into dangerous situations?

If something really happens, she won't be able to forgive herself.

Besides, although the instant noodles were hers, she had a good relationship with her roommates. If she ran out of food later, would Shi Yue and the others just leave her to fend for herself? Her idea was actually consuming the food reserves shared by the three of them.

Thinking of this, she shook her head awkwardly: "I was just saying."

Shi Yue and her other roommate exchanged glances and whispered, "Let's wait a little longer. If no one comes before nightfall, we'll think of something else."

As they were talking, one of the men, with sharp eyes, suddenly noticed something and sat up abruptly: "Look, isn't that car coming this way?"

The three of them rushed to the window and peered down through the glass. Sure enough, they saw a car drive into the residential area.

"Are you here to find someone?" Shi Yue asked happily.

But then, they watched as the car stopped, honked its horn, attracting a large group of zombies, and then two young girls jumped out of the car.

It was completely different from the professional team she had imagined. Even from a distance, she could tell they were quite young, probably still students.

How come... only a few students came?

Shi Yue was stunned. Coming to her senses, she was filled with terror: "I clearly wrote that there were several zombies! Didn't they see it? What do we do?!"

Looking at the two men, they both had short hair, wore long sleeves and trousers that covered their skin, and looked very capable and efficient. But that was all the protection they had; there were no protective suits, no helmets, and no riot control forks or anything else to keep the zombies at bay.

Are they just a bunch of well-meaning laymen?

Shi Yue's voice went off-key, and the next second, it sounded like she was being choked, because Zhang Han just raised his hand at that moment, and the fire axe in his hand slashed fiercely at the zombie's face.

The three instinctively closed their eyes, but they were still a step too slow. Half of the axe hadn't gone in, and when it was pulled out, it splashed out a large patch of red.

The three of them turned pale and felt a throbbing pain in their heads.

“My grandpa used to chop wood like this at home…” a roommate murmured.

If you replace the firewood with a human head, she covers her mouth, feeling a little nauseous.

Realizing that the other party seemed to have some skills, they finally calmed down a bit, but still watched nervously.

A number of people also emerged from the windows of the building across the street. Shi Yue even saw several people wave backward in surprise after seeing the situation downstairs, attracting more of their companions.

For a moment, not only hundreds or even thousands of eyes were watching Zhang Han and his two companions' every move.

Not long after, another girl jumped out of the driver's seat and closed the car door behind her. Shi Yue was now completely certain that it really was just the three of them who had come.

That's incredibly audacious...

Noticing the "audience" upstairs, Zhang Han kept working but couldn't help muttering, "If only I had a hat."

Being stared at like that is quite awkward.

Unfortunately, none of the three possessed the principal's skill level, which allowed him to operate even while wearing a gas mask. A baseball cap was enough to obscure most of their vision, and none of them dared to take that risk.

"Hurry up," Sun Wei said, amused. "Why are you thinking so much at a time like this?"

Shi Yue and the others upstairs had no idea what they were talking about, but they felt that the atmosphere was actually quite relaxed.

Is it just my imagination?

The three people downstairs effortlessly killed several zombies in the blink of an eye.

Before the internet was cut off, Shi Yue and the others had seen videos uploaded by netizens. Many zombies would get up again after being knocked down, but the zombies killed by these three girls did not get up again. They lay on the ground twitching for a moment before completely losing their breath, which showed how efficient they were at killing them.

But Shi Yue, standing on high ground, could see far and wide. She saw that even more zombies had come out of Building No. 8 not far away after hearing the commotion.

She hadn't noticed before, but now she realized that the entrance door to Unit 1 of Building 8 wasn't fully closed; it was ajar. There hadn't been anyone outside before, so the zombies inside were probably searching for residents in the hallways and hadn't shown any motivation to come out.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight heads popped up, and no one knew how many more were hidden inside.

"Oh no, oh no..." Shi Yue was about to cry. She was now basically certain that these people had come because they saw her post, but the number of zombies attacking the three of them was more than twice as many as she had described.

She wanted to save people, not harm them!

"No, we have to think of a way."

"We posted the message together; we can't let it harm others."

The other two roommates were also a little panicked.

Building No. 2, where Shi Yue was located, was directly opposite Building No. 8, and was in a different direction from where Song Rushuang and the others had parked. They could try to attract the zombies' attention and hold them off before Song Rushuang and the others could deal with the rest of the zombies.

With that thought in mind, Shi Yue and her roommate pushed the window open with all their might, regardless of the consequences.

The old house's windows made a screeching sound as soon as they were opened, and several zombies turned around at the sound. The three of them were delighted to find that it was useful.

But before they could even open their mouths to shout, one of the girls in the melee downstairs somehow broke free from the encirclement, stepped on the car roof and hopped twice to the zombie leading the way out of the building. Before she even landed, she had already grabbed its head and twisted it around.

The zombie's head, which it had just turned away from, was turned back again, using an extremely "forceful" method.

Shi Yue and the others were so shocked their eyes almost popped out.

This is more than just helping it "turn around"; if it had turned a few dozen degrees more, its head would probably have been severed.

The zombie briefly collapsed to the ground, motionless, before the girl finished it off. She then looked up, found Shi Yue and the others, and put her index finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture.

Shi Yue and her roommates were taken aback, unsure of what to do.

This means... they should keep quiet?

Seeing that Shi Yue and the other two nodded hesitantly, the girl went back to deal with the other zombies.

One zombie after another fell down. Shi Yue watched intently, unaware that a cell phone had appeared beside her at some point.

With limited battery life, their phones are basically switched off except for the hour when they have internet access; they simply can't bear to use them.

But Shi Yue's roommate turned on the camera and pointed it at the three of them, filming them very seriously.

"If one day the virus is eradicated, or the internet environment improves, we'll be able to release videos. We can't keep the outside world from knowing what they did, can we?"

Noticing her roommates' stares, she explained quietly.

*

To be honest, Song Rushuang didn't expect Shi Yue and the others to risk attracting zombies, since most people were just watching silently.

But she really didn't need them to do that.

Qinghuanli residential complex appears to have been built quite some time ago. Unlike the currently popular residences with their simple facade designs, the protective netting and various pipes on the exterior walls of this complex are intricate and complex, making it easy for intermediate-level zombies to climb up.

Although she couldn't spot any zombies other than the basic zombies at first glance, it wasn't uncommon for evolved zombies to occasionally slip into the ranks of their slower-moving companions.

Shi Yue and the others probably didn't think that much about it, but Song Rushuang came to save people, and they couldn't let three kind-hearted people get hurt before the little girl was even rescued.

After the last zombie fell to the ground, Song Rushuang stood on the roof of the car again, carefully looked around, and confirmed that there were no more zombies.

After reading it, she seemed to remember something, looked up, and met the gazes of Shi Yue and the others. The three of them shook their heads at her.

There shouldn't be any other zombies.

Song Rushuang gave an OK sign and called to Sun Wei and Zhang Han: "Let's go and find out where the trapped child is."

She remembered that when the car first drove in, the zombies were concentrated at the bottom of that building. She didn't know if they were trying to climb up but couldn't, or if there was really something there.

Now that the zombies had dispersed, Zhang Han stayed behind in a good spot to keep watch, while Song Rushuang and Sun Wei went around the flower bed downstairs and finally saw the part that was hidden by bushes.

There was a small rectangular window at the bottom of the building, close to the ground. It was about 40*25cm long and wide, too big for a person to climb out of.

"This is..." Song Rushuang was stunned, "a semi-basement?"

She suddenly realized that the ground floor shops had been raised, and the developer probably took the opportunity to build a semi-basement. Other buildings, because they were not along the street, did not have similar designs, which was why Shi Yue had not thought of it.

Song Rushuang knew perfectly well that the sign outside the unit door indicated that floors 2-30 could be accessed from there. Therefore, the entrance to floor -1 should be the same as that on the first floor, both located outside. If Shi Yue hadn't noticed it when she passed by, it would be perfectly normal for her not to know about the existence of this basement.

As for the residents on the second and third floors, firstly, there is a floor between them and the basement, so they may not be able to hear what is happening inside. Secondly, if, as Shi Yue said, most of the residents here are tenants rather than owners, then they may not even know that the basement exists.

But what exactly is this basement for?

“I’ll do it.” Sun Wei stepped forward, turned on the flashlight that came with the student wristband, and shone it into the small window.

Both of them were taken aback when they saw it.

In the room right next to the small window, there was a mahjong table, with dried teacups and an ashtray filled with cigarette ash on it.

The door was open, revealing a large hall outside, which also had several card tables. Several people were sitting in chairs or lying against the wall, but the flashlight beam couldn't reach them, so only their outlines could be vaguely discerned.

Noticing the flashlight beam, the person lying on the ground struggled to get up, squinted, and seemed quite weak.

Sun Wei turned off the flashlight, and Song Rushuang called out, "Is anyone inside?"

Upon hearing the sound, one by one, the people who were sitting or standing moved. The two men felt their scalps tingle. They had only come to rescue the little girl, but who would have thought that so many people were hiding here!

It took some time for everyone to gather in the room. There were about a dozen people in total, including men and women, but they were all middle-aged or elderly.

Trapped for three days, some even needed help from others to stand up.

Upon seeing Song Rushuang and Sun Wei, tears streamed down their faces: "Save us! Save us!"

The two looked at each other and saw absurdity and anger in each other's eyes.

...In the basement of this building, there was actually a hidden card and mahjong room!

Could the little girl's crying that Shi Yue and the others heard be because an elderly person brought their granddaughter along?