Chapter 52: Blew Up (4K Request for Follow, Follow, Follow)

With training and prior experience killing zombies, Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanyi’s movements had become much more fluent, with significant improvements in both strength and accuracy.

After four or five strikes, the zombie’s skull cracked, its arms twitched, then it lay still on the ground.

“Eugh!”

Zheng Xinyu vomited as expected, patted her chest, swallowed hard, and whispered: “Good thing I didn’t eat, good thing I didn’t eat…”

“Morning training means doing it before breakfast!”

Zhang Su didn’t move, standing on the stairs all along; after the zombie was downed, he walked over, crouched down, and prepared to search for gear.

“Brother Su, let me do it.”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi volunteered, quickly crouching and rummaging through the zombie’s pockets, soon finding a broken-screen phone, a set of keys, half a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter on the male zombie.

“That’s all the useful stuff,” Zhong Xiaoshanyi handed the items to Zhang Su.

Zhang Su nodded approvingly, shoved everything into his bag, then said: “Your movements were still a bit awkward just now—adjust your form, use more force, aim to kill zombies in less time.”

“The faster you kill a zombie, the safer you are. Watch my motion—if you’re striking downward, coordinate the rest of your body like this…”

After collecting the gear, Zhang Su gave them both a lesson.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanyi listened intently, knowing these skills were vital for survival, and dared not slack off.

After demonstrating several times and letting them practice a few rounds, Zhang Su nodded at Zheng Xinyu: “You saw how I did it just now, Xinyu—this time you go. Close the door quietly!”

“Watch out for me—if anything goes wrong, save me.”

Zheng Xinyu wiped saliva from her lips and said nervously.

“Don’t worry.”

Zhang Su gave her a light pat on the back.

Zheng Xinyu couldn’t bear the sight of bloody, mangled flesh—even more than her fear of zombies—but she remained calm when luring zombies.

Mimicking what she’d seen, she quickly lured a female zombie out of the safety door, kicked its leg as she slammed the door shut—the mission completed.

Zhang Su and Zhong Xiaoshanyi coordinated perfectly, instantly killing the zombie.

Looking at the wrench caked in slime, Zhang Su said: “We need to go to Yileiwen Convenience Store—they’ve got some decent daggers hidden there. Keep practicing precision and force; when you use daggers, it’ll be much easier!”

Luring zombies one by one consumes little stamina, but if you’re ambushed by a large group, your stamina will drain terrifyingly fast!

After searching the gear, Zhong Xiaoshanyi awkwardly said: “I guess she kept everything in her bag—she had nothing on her…”

Zhang Su didn’t care; zombies wouldn’t carry much unless they’d been refugees carrying heavy bags when they turned.

“It’s been a few days—the smell’s gotten worse…”

Zheng Xinyu waved her small hand in front of her nose, utterly helpless.

When the zombies first broke out, the air was only filled with blood; now, a putrid, sour stench hung everywhere, making people feel nauseous.

“This is already cooler weather—if it were as hot as before, the smell would be even more unbearable…”

Zhang Su also shook his head; there was nothing to be done—the neighborhood had more dead than living, more zombies than dead, so the stench would only grow stronger.

“Uh… Brother Su, Sister Xinyu, I’m going up.”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi knew it was her turn after Zheng Xinyu; she picked up the heavy wrench and headed upstairs.

“Remember—close the door softly, strike hard!”

Zhang Su reminded her.

“Yeah, got it!”

Unlike Zheng Xinyu, who recoiled at the sight of bloody flesh, Zhong Xiaoshanyi feared zombies—she’d fought hard to overcome it, but some fears couldn’t be simply willed away.

Carefully stepping behind the safety door, Zhong Xiaoshanyi copied Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu’s motions, slowly pulling the door open, curling up, not daring to breathe.

Whether the zombies sensed the trembling figure hiding behind the door or just hated her, they refused to emerge for a long time.

Zhong Xiaoshanyi stared fixedly at the edge of the door, straining to hear the zombies’ footsteps, her hand gripping the handle trembling slightly, growing tighter with every passing second.

Time ticked by, the waiting excruciating; prolonged focus dulled the senses, numbing hearing, sight, and reaction.

Like Zhong Xiaoshanyi now—already, a zombie had shuffled out from behind the door, yet she didn’t react immediately.

Only when the zombie turned its head toward her did she suddenly snap to awareness…

Grayish skin crisscrossed with veins, bloodshot eyes, a mouth full of gleaming white teeth like death’s blades—all suddenly right before her.

Her heart lurched, her mind exploded; she instinctively let go—the safety door snapped back, slamming into the zombie with a sharp crack.

Auuuugh!

The shock triggered the zombie—it let out a shriek and lunged for Zhong Xiaoshanyi.

Regaining her senses, Zhong Xiaoshanyi forgot everything she’d learned, swung the wrench upward with all her strength, striking the zombie hard.

Thud-thud-thud.

The zombie was strong, but its balance was terrible; after the jaw was hit, it toppled backward and tumbled down the stairs.

But true danger had only just arrived!

The five remaining zombies on the twelfth floor, hearing the commotion, immediately shuffled toward the safety door with no regard for anything.

The safety door, still open, was instantly smashed open!

“Jump!”

Zhang Su saw Zhong Xiaoshanyi fighting the zombie and knew it was bad—he was about to rush up when the falling zombie blocked him; he leapt again to close the door, only to see zombies lining up to exit, toward the frozen Zhong Xiaoshanyi—he shouted:

That shout instantly drew the zombies’ attention away from Zhong Xiaoshanyi, creating a brief opening.

Zhong Xiaoshanyi thought she was dead—when she heard Zhang Su’s shout, she snapped back, swung the wrench hard at the zombie in front of her, then jumped down the stairs regardless of whether she’d break her legs.

Zhang Su had let her jump because he had a plan.

He timed his movement, extended his arm, shortened the distance between them, touched her without resisting the impact, then pulled downward smoothly, absorbing the force and redirecting her fall.

Plop.

Zhong Xiaoshanyi landed squarely on the back of the fallen zombie.

She didn’t care about anything else—kicked off and stood up, raised the wrench high, ready to face the next zombie.

“Go, hide first!”

Zhang Su pulled both girls to the stairwell corner leading to the eleventh floor.

Gurgling-gurgling.

After the three had taken cover, a cascade of thuds followed as the pursuing zombies tumbled down, rolling like burlap sacks into the stairwell corner, piling atop the three corpses below, forming a human pyramid.

“Attack!”

Zhang Su growled, swinging his axe and smashing it into the zombie whose head faced him.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanyi reacted just as fast, swinging their weapons at the pile of zombies before them.

Instantly, a rapid series of thuds echoed through the corridor, mixed with women’s strained cries and the heavy thumps of hard objects striking flesh.

The zombies were trapped—stacked on top of each other, dumb, unable to coordinate or rise; their sharp teeth useless, they stretched their necks to bite fresh flesh, only to receive a hammer blow.

The fight didn’t last long—about two minutes later, Zhang Su was the first to stop, breathing heavily as he stared at the bloody, mangled scene.

“All dead. Stop.”

He slowly stepped back, leaned against the wall, slid down, and sat on the floor. He reached to wipe the blood from his face, saw his sleeve was worse, and ignoring the cold, took off his shirt to clean his face and hands with the lining, then tossed it onto the zombie pile.

Thud-thud.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanyi collapsed beside him, weapons slipping from their hands, fingers, arms, and entire upper bodies trembling.

The stairwell corner had become a scene from hell…

The dead zombies were battered into pieces; the three survivors looked like demons from the underworld!

“Seriously, why did you just fight the zombie right at the door?”

Zhang Su massaged his palms, then kicked Zhong Xiaoshanyi with his foot, annoyed.

“I… waited a long time, and when I saw the zombie, I just reacted instinctively.”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi now felt a wave of dread—her courage had grown, but she’d still made a mistake.

“You were still nervous. If I’d been with you, it’d be better,” Zheng Xinyu slumped and said: “Then you wouldn’t fear zombies, and I wouldn’t vomit at the sight of gore…”

“This training got messed up… Come on, let’s all talk about what went wrong and what we learned.”

Zhang Su no longer dwelled on past mistakes—summarizing progress was key.

“I’ll go first…” Zheng Xinyu said: “I was too excited, didn’t aim properly—missed too many times, wasted a lot of strength…”

The three gradually calmed down, each recounting their mistakes and insights from the fight—post-battle analysis improved emergency response and combat skills.

After summarizing, Zhang Su said: “I said before—if you mess up, you get punished. Xiaoshanyi, remember?”

“I remember, I remember—it’s fair. I’ll accept any punishment…”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi felt her pounding heart—she thought being alive was the greatest happiness; punishment meant nothing.

“You messed up, but you’ve improved—you didn’t scream and panic like before. Still, you need to overcome your fear. Sit here alone and train your courage—sit for half an hour, then jump down the stairs for ten minutes. Watch out not to injure yourself. And uh…”

Zhang Su frowned, thinking.

Zheng Xinyu grinned: “Hey, wasn’t the reward-and-punishment system supposed to be clear and public? Why are you making it up now? Damn, you’re being authoritarian! Xiaoshanyi, we protest!”

“No, no, these punishments are good for me…”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi waved her hands frantically at Zheng Xinyu.

Zhang Su looked at Zheng Xinyu strangely—he’d expected tension between them after last night, even prepared to mediate—but instead, they’d grown even closer, even helping each other?

“The previous two tasks, plus bringing back thick clothes from the apartments above—done!”

Above the eighth floor was now completely safe—not a single zombie remained; Zhang Su trusted Zhong Xiaoshanyi to act alone.

“Alright, Brother Su, I’ll start right away…”

Zhong Xiaoshanyi cheerfully accepted her punishment, forgetting even to eat—she immediately sat down, staring intently at the bloody, mangled zombies, her expression as focused as if she were back in school attending her favorite class.

…

……

Breakfast and lunch were combined into one meal; after eating at noon, Zhang Su and the other two reorganized the clothes Zhong Xiaoshanjian had collected, picking out the wearable items.

“Brother Su, you look so weird in that outfit…”

Zheng Xinyu watched as Zhang Su put on a stand-collar jacket, like a newly appointed official, and couldn’t help laughing.

Zhang Su tugged at the sleeves, pushed the stand-collar down further, and grinned: “What time is it now? Just make do. It’s a genuine Yar, at least two or three thousand per piece—super warm!”

Aside from its odd appearance, everything else was excellent: not only warm but also well-fitted, with minimal restriction on joint movement.

Zhong Xiaoshanjian couldn’t help covering her mouth and said: “Brother Su, in this jacket, you look like a leader coming to inspect the office—and your build screams integrity.”

“Really?”

Zhang Su readily adopted a bureaucratic pose, pointing imperiously at the two: “That little girl has a lovely face—you should show it off. And this young lady, nice figure. I’ll come give you both guidance tonight…”

Boom—

Just then, a massive explosion rang out, followed by violent shaking.

Zhang Su and the others could barely stand; they quickly threw themselves onto the bed to avoid falling.

“The building exploded?!”

Zhang Su’s forehead broke into cold sweat. He dashed out of the bedroom toward the window. Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanjian followed right behind, faces pale with fear.

Fighting zombies was still winnable—but if the building collapsed…

The chance of survival would be even lower than being surrounded by zombies!

“What the hell!”

Zheng Xinyu sprinted to Zhang Su’s side and peered outside, instinctively raising a hand to cover her mouth.

The adjacent unit had exploded violently, but due to obstructed views, the exact scene was invisible—only thick black smoke rose from below, and flames licked and raged against the glass.

Zhang Su said nothing, but heard someone shouting.

“Hahaha! Burn! Wife, son, I’m coming to join you! Burn, ah!!!”

The mad screams lasted only a moment before ending in a cry filled with rage and despair.

“Damn, a lunatic!”

Zhang Su cursed, face dark with fury. He didn’t know what the man had detonated, but the massive explosion and roaring fire next door would surely engulf his side.

“Zhang Su, what did you say?”

Zheng Xinyu, still unaware of the severity, stared blankly at Zhang Su.

Zhang Su shook his head without answering, then suddenly sensed something—he looked up across the way and saw someone there!

Qin Ya leaned out the window, frantically waving clothing. Seeing the young man finally notice him, he shouted: “Run! Get out of the unit!”

A reader mentioned concerns about blood splatter protection—I forgot to explain. I assumed splattered blood wouldn’t transmit infection, but I never wrote it down…

(End of Chapter)