There are always some lunatics trying to harm me.
Passing by the laughing Han Bo and Zhou Yi, I heard Han Bo sigh: "That idiot Wu Bainian hasn't improved at all in the past few years. He's stuck in his old dramas and can't get out. He's trying to play hard to get, but he doesn't even know who his sister Da Feng is."
Han Bo always seemed to understand me perfectly; he spoke exactly what I was thinking. My anger and resentment towards Wu Bainian didn't stem from lingering feelings for him, but rather from profound shame. What could be more shameful than a young woman encountering a scumbag during the most youthful, innocent, and hopeful years of her life, only to have her intelligence plummet by more than one level?
My story with Wu Bainian is actually quite cliché and simple. He was my first love, handsome and eloquent, with a natural talent for charming women. So, I was captivated by his good looks and for a while, I put down my weapons and became a lady, indulging in the sweet words he said that now make me want to vomit. Later, he cheated on me, but the story didn't end as easily as I'm used to it.
I acted out every melodramatic scene imaginable: fighting scumbags and mistresses, drowning my sorrows in alcohol, sobbing under the moon, and being completely distraught. It terrified my mother and dragged a lot of my friends into this mess. This isn't my style. I've lived for over twenty years, a man of honor and integrity, fearless in any one-on-one or group fight. But I was ruined by that scumbag Wu Bainian, leaving me a laughingstock, a stain, and lasting repercussions. In the past two or three years, I've beaten up several innocent women who showed me affection, resulting in me being completely ignored now. How can I not get angry whenever I see him?
If I weren't worried about making too much of a scene, I would have given Wu Bainian a good beating today—he only got beaten up once back then before hiding. In the end, the incident escalated into a brawl between me and my mistress, with the two of us taking turns calling in reinforcements. It got really heated, and several unrelated groups of people ended up becoming mortal enemies, all forgetting about the scumbag's existence. It was too easy on him.
This unease persisted until I entered the dimly lit Sui'an Department Store, where I saw piles of zombie corpses scattered about, cosmetics counters smashed to pieces, brand-name shoe racks empty, and clothing counters on the second to fourth floors looted. I was furious.
Standing in the home appliance section on the fifth floor, Han Bo, Zhou Yi, and I exclaimed in unison, "Holy crap!"
The flashlights, batteries, emergency lights, and portable lighting equipment I wanted were all gone, leaving only big, heavy, and useless things like TVs, air conditioners, and washing machines.
"Someone beat us to it again," Han Bo said helplessly, propping the gun barrel against the ground.
“Come and take a look.” Yu Zhongjian flipped over a corpse on the mobile phone counter, pointed to the forehead and said, “This is not a zombie, it’s a person who was shot.”
Han Bo and I walked over and looked at the small eye on the corpse's forehead, right between the eyebrows, its eyes wide open in death, the blood already dried on the bridge of its nose. We exchanged a heavy glance, and instantly thought of the man in the armory who had been shot in the head.
Yu Zhongjian scouted the area again and returned, saying, "There were three or four people, all shot dead."
Han Bo asserted: "It was the same group that did it, the same group that robbed the armory."
Zhou Yi was very disappointed: "Do we still need to go to that other shopping mall and supermarket? Will those bastards take everything from us too?"
My mood grew increasingly uneasy: "That's not what I'm worried about, it's the grain depot. These people who were shot may have originally been hiding in the mall, when they ran into those looters, and a conflict broke out, and they were killed. The group with guns had a 'kill anyone who gets in their way' attitude, and they were obviously hoarding supplies, and the grain depot was probably part of their plan."
Zhou Yi roared, "Damn it, people like that deserve to die! They leave no way out for anyone! Let's skip the granary and go straight to them. If we wipe them out, we'll have everything!"
“No, firstly, you don’t know how many of them there are; secondly, you don’t know where they’re hiding; and thirdly…” I shook my head in disagreement, “you don’t know what they took from the armory, it’s not just guns. We look like we have eleven people, which is a lot, but some of them are paralyzed or weak. Even if you include my dad and Binbin, we’d be doomed if they threw a grenade at us. I’m not letting you take that risk.”
Yu Zhongjian listened to us quietly, and only spoke after seeing Zhou Yi's angry silence: "Let's go to the supermarket. It's not so easy to empty the supermarket."
Han Bo said, "What if they bring a large container?"
Yu Zhongjian smiled: "How many shipping containers would it take to hold the goods of two shopping malls and one supermarket? And have you ever thought about why these murdered people would hide in this shopping mall where there is no food or water, when there is food and water in the supermarket?"
This was the longest speech Yu Zhongjian had given since he appeared, and it left us both terrified and filled with mixed emotions. Wu Bainian just said they went to Tianhong and found many zombies; perhaps those people didn't actually go?
"You mean there's someone blocking the entrance to the supermarket?"
"I'm afraid there are quite a few."
"If even those murderers can't get down there, aren't we just asking for death if we go?"
The cleaver twirled gracefully in Yu Zhongjian's hand before he tucked it into his waistband. He said calmly, "Yesterday, the four of you killed nearly fifty zombies. Today, you have guns in your hands, but you're scared?"
"What's there to be afraid of! They're just low-level zombies. I'm not afraid of fifty of them ganging up on me. Let's take them down!" Zhou Yi was the first to respond arrogantly.
Han Bo also picked up his gun: "If we go back now, I'll be so frustrated I could vomit blood. Let's go."
Yu Zhongjian nodded approvingly: "You have guts. If we don't act recklessly, as long as we plan properly, it's not impossible for five people to take down ten times or even more zombies."
Han Bo asked, "What's your plan? We don't have many bullets, so we need to use them sparingly."
Yu Zhongjian said decisively, "First, we'll find out the terrain. One person will act as bait, two will charge forward, and two will cover the rear."
"How exactly will it be implemented?"
"so……"
The three of them discussed the specific plans for the operation very seriously. Yu Zhongjian, probably worried about casualties, abandoned his usual indifferent demeanor and spoke in great detail. Han Bo and Zhou Yi nodded frequently, occasionally adding their own thoughts.
I listened for a while and realized that, with my intelligence, I couldn't find any loopholes. However, the occasional strange words Yu Zhongjian uttered, such as "map," "sector," and "retreat support," made me suspicious again. What had Yu Yu gone through? An orphan, an unemployed youth, who supposedly dropped out of school at a young age—even if his IQ was above average, could he really come up with such obscure and professional things just from his wildly imaginative mind? I didn't believe it.
I nudged Li Tonggu, who was standing dumbfounded to the side playing on his phone, and whispered, "Hey, Li, when did President Yu recruit you into his organization?"
Li Tonggu rolled his eyes and thought for a moment: "I don't remember."
"Then why do you listen to President Yu so much?"
"He saved my life."
"Tch, someone with your physique needs to be rescued? When did that happen?"
Li Tonggu rolled his eyes and thought for a moment: "I don't remember."
I patted him with ill intent: "You've been brainwashed. Yu Yu never saved you. He lied to you. He just wanted to recruit you as his underling."
"He saved me. Someone kidnapped me and was going to bury me alive, but he saved me," Li Tonggu said with absolute certainty, as if it were the truth.
"That's false information he's been feeding you. When were you admitted to the hospital, and when was he admitted? There's a difference of more than a year between you two. Besides, who would dare bury you alive in the military? That's nonsense!"
"No." Li Tonggu didn't even look at me, only fiddling with the games on his phone. "He was saved before he went to the hospital."
After the group finished their discussion, they called out to go out and survey the terrain and plan their route. I followed behind, absentmindedly circling around Baolong Ace. When I returned to the first floor of Sui'an Shopping Mall, I hadn't even processed Li Tonggu's perplexing answer when I paid the price for trying to turn him—I was sent by Yu Zhongjian as bait, and what's more, he wanted to take my gun.
"No way!" I glared angrily at Han Bo, saying that it was his idea to run fast. "I'll go as bait, but I won't give him a gun. What if I get caught by the zombies?"
Han Bo showed no remorse for betraying me, and cheerfully said, "Go ahead and run! Back in school, you always got first place with 800 or 1500 points. How could those short-legged zombies outrun you!"
Yu Zhongjian's lips curled into a slight smile: "Carrying a gun would be a burden for you. First, lure the zombies at the supermarket entrance to the plaza, to Sui'an Department Store, and then directly into Tianhong through the staff entrance on the first floor. There are no zombies at Sui'an, and there are three doors in the connecting passage. We'll help you open the staff entrance to Tianhong. After you complete the mission, if there are still many zombies, then go back and lure them again, leading the remaining zombies to the basement. Then, go up one floor through the fire escape stairs at Exit A2, and I'll have Han Bo meet you there."
Holy crap! It sounds like everything's planned out, just waiting for me. I clutched my gun tightly and said, "One round isn't enough. If it's going to be another round, I might as well just jump right into the zombies' mouths."
“We might not need to trigger another round, and as long as you run fast, there won’t be a problem.” Yu Zhongjian remained unmoved. “The zombies’ central nervous system and optic nerve are damaged, so they rely mainly on their sense of smell and hearing to find living beings. They are slow-moving and have no sense of direction. They are most dangerous when surrounded by a large number of zombies. As long as you don’t run into the horde of zombies in the opposite direction, how can they catch you?”
I was a little surprised: "How do you know all this? You...didn't you just wake up yesterday?"
Yu Zhongjian said calmly, "One night is enough for observation."
How would I know what he was observing last night? Wasn't he standing guard on the roof?
I frowned. Did Yu Zhongjian think he could boss me around just because he'd become handsome? He doesn't even know whose roof he's living under. He's got all these plans, but whether they'll even work is another matter!
"I feel unsafe without a gun. Why don't you act as bait? Why don't you all act as bait?" I didn't want to surrender my gun, so I asked shamelessly.
Zhou Yi chuckled: "I'd love to be one, running two laps and that's it, but unfortunately we grown men are only fit to do dirty and tiring work."
Han Bo also tried his best to persuade me: "Do you know how much we have to do? We have to kill zombies, find vehicles, move goods, and prevent any from being missed. We have limited bullets, and we'll have to fight with knives. We don't even know what the situation is like inside the supermarket. Using you as bait is to protect you."
Yu Zhongjian stretched out his hand towards me, displaying a "I won't give up until I get the gun" attitude: "The gun is more useful in my hands than in yours, do you believe me?"
"I don't believe you." I felt like I couldn't fight city hall. I don't know what's wrong with me today, but inexplicably everyone is following Yu Zhongjian's orders. Those two have already switched sides to Yu's command, so I can only make a desperate attempt to explain, "The zombies come out at different times. If the first wave is already in front of me before the next wave comes out, how am I supposed to deal with it? If not many are lured away, how will you deal with it?"
"Your skills should be pretty good, right?" Yu Zhongjian suddenly smiled, his eyes crinkling and his features softening considerably. "Kill those who are close by. In short, try to lure as many as possible before running away."
What does "try to find a way" mean? Could you be any more general?
There are always crazy people trying to harm me. When I watched helplessly as my gun, which I hadn't even warmed up yet and had never fired, fell into Yu Zhongjian's hands, I immediately felt like I'd been tricked by the Japanese.
This feeling became even more pronounced when I entered the first floor of Tianhong Shopping Mall.
There was no electricity. The automatic doors at the two entrances to the mall were open, but the large leather curtains had been pulled down by someone. The sun shone brightly outside, but the mall was dimly lit inside. Through the gaps between the shelves of various counters, one could sense the swaying shadows of zombies and hear their dragging footsteps.
Following Yu Zhongjian's instructions, we were to remain as quiet as possible once inside. The four people besides me each found a place to hide, leaving me all alone in front of the escalator leading to the basement. I crouched beside the escalator, holding my breath as I looked down. There were scraping noises below, but it was so dark I could barely see anything, yet it also seemed like countless heads were moving about.
For me, encountering this kind of ramp and escalator is both lucky and unlucky. It's lucky because it makes it easy for zombies to climb up, which could potentially lure away most of them and clear the way to the supermarket. It's unlucky because it makes it easy for zombies to climb up, and I don't know how many zombies will be chasing after me.
I was a little nervous. I've always been the one charging into battle, and this was the first time I'd ever done something like this, a diversionary tactic. Those four guys were really well hidden; when I looked back, they were nowhere to be seen. I knew their silence didn't mean they weren't anxious. The fight hadn't even started yet, and if we waited any longer, we wouldn't make it to lunch.
With my left hand gripping the axe and my right hand the kitchen knife, I took a deep breath, stood up abruptly, and roared at the dark escalator.
A commotion erupted below, the rustling grew louder, the cries of hunger became clearer, and the echoing howls of wild beasts surged up the escalator in waves.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out behind me, followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground. I turned around and saw that the zombies in the display cases had also heard my voice and were all swaying and gathering in my direction. That shot had killed the one closest to me.
I turned sideways, getting into a backing-out position, and yelled again, "Ha!"
The shapes of some zombie heads could already be seen on the escalator; they were startled by the sounds and climbed upwards.
Gunshots rang out one after another, and any zombie that tried to approach me was instantly killed, even if they were still far away. I vaguely realized that the bullets were all fired from the southeast corner, because the zombies fell in the same direction.
It's certain that no one has been to the supermarket. If things go well, I believe we won't have to worry about supplies for the time being, even if we don't go to the grain depot. My brothers have already started coordinating to cover me. For our parents, for our livelihood, it's not the heroes of the martial world who are afraid to die!
So I slowly backed away, and then sang at the top of my lungs: "Who brought you to my side? Roar! Ha! It is the bright moon in the sky! Roar! Ha!"
"Bang!" Another gunshot rang out.
"Hungry~" The zombies climbed up.
"Pfft!" Someone spat out.
"It's that babbling mountain spring, it's that babbling mountain spring, it's that babbling mountain spring, mountain spring, roar! Ha!"
Amidst gunshots and screams, I sang out loud in a way that tormented my vocal cords, watching as rotting, inhuman zombies materialized in the darkness, claws outstretched and teeth bared, approaching me step by step.
The number of zombies on the first floor gradually decreased thanks to the sniping of a few people, while more and more were climbing up the escalator. I maintained a distance of about ten steps from the dozen or so zombies in front of me, moving slowly towards the door in rhythm with them. I could even see their detached eyeballs and rotten cheeks.
Not enough, I can't run.
"Oh, shao shao shaliwa shaliwa, ho! Ha!"
My singing spurred the zombies to move faster. Those surging up from underground collided with those that came up first, causing the horde to experience its first small ripple. Some staggered forward, some fell, and were quickly trampled over by those who came later.
I could no longer see the escalator, nor did I know how many zombies were swarming in front of me. They weren't lined up in a row; some were fast, some were slow, and soon I couldn't accurately calculate the distance of ten steps. The gunshots were still ringing out, but the zombies only had eyes, noses, and ears for me. They were all focused intently on scratching at me, singing and shouting that they were hungry, completely single-minded.
I retreated to the leather curtain, and I felt it was about time. If I delayed any longer, the nearest one would catch me in just two or three steps. I lifted the leather curtain, yelled, "Han Bo, Zhou Yi, Yu Zhongjian! Go to hell!" and ran out.
I don't know how the people in the mall will handle what happens next; I'll just focus on doing my job well.
The zombies easily broke through the leather curtain, one by one exposed to the sunlight. At first, they seemed a little uncomfortable, standing restless at the mall entrance, hesitant to move forward, some even shrinking back. But soon, led by my singing, they abandoned their fears, bared their sharp teeth and claws, and chased after me without hesitation.
For the next ten minutes, I ran back and forth in the square like a madwoman, shouting at the top of my lungs, singing out of tune and incoherently: "I am like a petal with dew on it, a petal! Roar! Ha! Saliva Saliva! Roar! Ha!"
In the silent city, in the empty square, the roars of zombies are nothing; my heart-wrenching singing can pierce the sky.
As I ran, I observed the surroundings. The leather curtains were constantly being pushed open, revealing a dense swarm of zombies. Although they were all focused on the same goal, they lacked discipline, wandering aimlessly and scattered across half the square in front of Tianhong Department Store, which hindered my subsequent actions. So, I ran around the fountain between the two shopping malls twice, singing as I went, occasionally slashing down a few that seemed to be playing a game of tag with me. The zombies gradually gathered, and I then led them towards Sui'an Department Store.
I was like a target, leading a massive horde of zombies from Tianhong to Sui'an. On the first floor of Sui'an, I hid behind different shelves and continued singing, luring these monsters in. Every time a group came in, I had to move to a different spot, making them play hide-and-seek with me until the entire floor was filled with zombies.
Only the baiter knows the exhaustion and danger of being the bait. I fell silent, held my breath, and ran. I moved stealthily among the zombies, narrowly avoiding their claws several times, and felling at least five or six that tried to block my way before finally reaching the employee entrance. I was breathless as I locked the door.
How can someone with a pioneering spirit be assigned to roundabout tasks? Yu Zhongjian really doesn't know how to use people!
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May good people live a peaceful life.
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