The hotel's geothermal system became ineffective after nightfall, and the temperature in the lobby dropped to around seven or eight degrees Celsius, so much so that even the breath exhaled was white when one spoke.
A bone-chilling cold spread from my toes to my fingers, making me drowsy.
Xiao Yu and Zhang Xiaojuan gave the blankets to Sun Tiantian and Han Rui, and the two grown men curled up in a ball.
He tucked his hands into his sleeves, hunched his neck, and leaned back to back to keep warm.
Zhuangzhuang shook its big head and squeezed into Lu Sheng's arms, pressing its warm belly against her body, turning the whole cat into a warm blanket like a starfish.
Lu Sheng has already unlocked the low-temperature resistance attribute, so weather of seven or eight degrees Celsius has no effect on her.
When Zhuangzhuang started purring in her arms, she quietly got up and covered him with the blanket.
“We’ll switch shifts. You can rest for a while, and I’ll take over the night watch.” Lu Sheng quietly walked to Xu Yi’s side.
Xu Yi waved his hand and tossed a heating pack to Lu Sheng.
"Then I'll go upstairs and take a look."
Knowing she couldn't win an argument with Xu Yi, Lu Sheng turned around and silently went upstairs.
As Zhang Xiaojuan had said, the second floor was deserted. Lu Sheng checked around and found only an empty fish tank at the foot of the stairs.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she quietly went up two floors.
They skipped the third floor where Li Dongran was and went straight up to the fourth floor.
Unlike typical hotels, the kitchen and cold storage of the Cloud Hotel are located on the fourth floor, in the right-hand corridor.
Lu Sheng first found the cold storage, which, as Li Dongran had said, still contained a lot of semi-finished food products.
Next to the cold storage was a warehouse for storing alcoholic beverages, piled high with various mineral waters, soft drinks, and beers, with boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling.
The entire warehouse was piled up to the brim, all the way to the door, leaving no room to even step.
Lu Sheng touched the box near the door, and his hand immediately got covered in a thick layer of dust.
She frowned slightly, turned around, and walked quickly toward the central kitchen on the other side.
There was still a faint smell of cooking oil in the kitchen, and the stove was still warm to the touch, indicating that Li Dongran had just left.
There was a bowl of leftover frog porridge on the table.
In the dark, Lu Sheng couldn't tell what kind of porridge it was.
Fortunately, the printed font on the semi-finished product packaging of the Cloud Hotel was exceptionally large. As soon as she entered the room, she saw the three big characters "Frog Porridge" written on the torn packaging box next to the stove in the moonlight.
Lu Sheng reached out and touched the rim of the bowl; it wasn't cold yet.
She snapped her fingers and, using the light of the small flame, carefully observed the remaining porridge in the bowl.
The frogs and rice grains were gone, leaving only half a bowl of milky white rice paste in the bowl.
A subtle feeling welled up in Lu Sheng's heart as he glanced at the empty trash can.
Bang bang bang!
A dull thud suddenly came from the first floor, as if a huge thing was crashing into the hotel door.
Lu Sheng lightly leaped down the stairs to the next floor, landing in the lobby in no time.
The loud noise woke up the people on the first floor. Zhuangzhuang rushed to Lu Sheng's side immediately, saying, "There's a zombie outside with an index of 20+."
Lu Sheng strode to the window and looked at the street scene outside in the moonlight.
A bald zombie, about two meters tall, pinned another zombie against the door of the Cloud Hotel.
The zombie that was being held down had evolved at least twice, and its bones and muscles were thick and powerful.
But in the hands of the bald zombie, it was like a broken doll, unilaterally crushed and powerless to fight back.
The bald zombie let out a hoarse roar, then bit off the zombie's arm, making a chilling chewing sound.
Crunch, crunch.
The eerie sound sent chills down the spines of everyone in the hall.
The bald zombie chewed quickly, only gnawing on the arms and neck before tossing the rest of the remains aside.
It just so happens to be hung on the signboard of the Cloud Hotel.
"I hate picky eaters the most. They eat all the chicken wings, and who's going to eat the rest of the junk?"
Zhang Xiaojuan crossed her arms and watched the bald zombie gradually disappear from sight, then complained.
"There are already predators in Hongcheng County..."
Lu Sheng's mind sank.
Predators are the first generation of mutated zombies after the apocalypse, and they usually appear in the most densely populated areas of zombies several months after the zombie virus has spread.
But the zombie virus has only just begun to spread, and predators have already appeared so quickly.
"What is a predator?" Sun Tiantian tilted her head in confusion.
Lu Sheng strode to the door and carefully checked the lock. "Predators feed on other zombies. After digesting each zombie, the predator's size and strength will increase by one point."
"After consuming a certain number, the predator will evolve into a third-tier zombie, which is very difficult to deal with."
"No wonder it's not interested in us, it just doesn't suit our taste."
Han Rui stuck out her tongue, still shaken.
"Don't be so optimistic." Lu Sheng opened the bottle and poured a large bottle of water. "After this thing reaches the third level, it will enter a berserk mode. Even dogs on the street will get slapped twice if they pass by, let alone people."
"Then we need to set off early tomorrow and try to leave Hongcheng County as soon as possible before the predators evolve to the third tier." Xiao Yu was wide awake and first packed everyone's backpacks.
Xu Yi lowered his eyes to look at Lu Sheng, "Have you discovered anything?"
"That Li Dongran is suspicious."
Lu Sheng subconsciously gripped the Tang sword in his hand. "Do you remember? He kept coughing and clearing his throat ever since he came downstairs, saying he was very thirsty."
"But I just checked the warehouse on the fourth floor, and the warehouse for storing alcohol is full. All the boxes are piled up to the door. He didn't take any water from the warehouse at all."
"And the frog porridge he just ate, the whole bowl was just rice water, not even a bone or a grain of rice was left."
Zhang Xiaojuan rubbed her chin. "Is it possible that there are men who are so diligent that they clear the table after eating and throw away the bones?"
“I checked the trash can, it’s empty.” Lu Sheng frowned slightly. “He didn’t even go downstairs, there’s no way he could have taken out the trash.”
"Then we..."
Han Rui was speaking when a slow, deliberate footstep suddenly came from the stairwell.
"What's that noise outside? I'm so scared."
Li Dongran stood on the landing of the stairs and asked expressionlessly.
The diamond-shaped moonlight streaming through the window divided his handsome face into two parts, one bright and one dark, making him look particularly eerie in the quiet night.
"Ahem, are you hungry? I just heard someone go to the kitchen on the fourth floor."
Li Dongran coughed a few more times, and his usually friendly smile now looked quite eerie.
"It's so noisy outside, I'm scared. Do you mind if I sit here with you?"
As he spoke, he smiled and extended his hand to Han Rui, "Didn't you just ask for an autograph? I just found a notebook and signed one for you. Here, take it."
A flash of cold light appeared.
Lu Sheng swiftly slashed at Li Dongran's outstretched arm with the Tang-style horizontal sword in his hand.
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