Chapter 72: Double Kill: The Fierce Woman

Zhang Su finished using the restroom, tested the faucet, and found no water. Back at the convenience store, he saw Zheng Xinyu chatting with a middle-aged woman, Wang Guang holding a crowbar beside her, and Zhong Xiaoshan pacing in front of the shelves, inventorying supplies.

Zhang Su walked over to Zheng Xinyu and asked, “What did you find out?”

Zhang Su’s appearance startled the woman; she felt among the four present, Zhang Su was the most terrifying.

Zheng Xinyu said, “Her name is Tan Huajun, a native of Qincheng, thirty-seven, lives in the Phoenix International Community right next door. On the day the zombies broke out, she was on night shift and never got her replacement.”

“Tan Huajun, right? Come, sit down and talk.”

Zhang Su offered a faint smile and pointed to the shelf that once held bottled water.

“No, no, thank you.”

Tan Huajun waved her plump hands rapidly, deeply fearful of Zhang Su.

Zhang Su told Zheng Xinyu and Wang Guang, “You two go move the supplies. I’ll chat with Sister Tan.”

“B-Brother, Brother, good.”

Hearing Zhang Su, the fearsome brute, wanted to talk to her, Tan Huajun nearly pissed herself and hurriedly greeted him.

“I may not be a dashing beauty, but I’m not exactly terrifying, am I? Why are you so scared?”

Zhang Su was utterly baffled.

Tan Huajun’s face twitched, forcing a smile uglier than crying, and stammered, “Brother, you’re… very handsome, not scary at all.”

Zhang Su noticed Tan Huajun glancing unconsciously at his sword scabbard, and suddenly understood: “You saw what we did outside, didn’t you?”

“No, no, I really didn’t! Brother, my eyesight’s bad, I can’t see anything clearly. I’ve been hiding in the office the whole time, I know nothing, nothing!”

But these words deeply shocked Tan Huajun; her face changed drastically as she vehemently denied it, failing to notice her own illogical speech.

Zhang Su scratched his cheek, frowning: “So you saw it? Big deal. I’m not going to kill you to cover it up. Relax, really.”

Though meant as reassurance, to Tan Huajun it sounded like a death warrant from the King of Hell. She collapsed onto the floor, head tilted up, weeping: “Brother, I won’t tell anyone anything, I swear I won’t say a word—don’t kill me! I have an old father above and a daughter below—please don’t kill me!”

“Are you even listening to me?” Zhang Su frowned. Suddenly he felt the challenge task wasn’t as easy as he’d imagined—this woman was utterly unyielding.

“I’m listening, Brother, I’ll listen to anything you say—just don’t kill me.”

Tan Huajun nodded frantically, her greasy face streaked with tears.

“I’m a kind-hearted man—I’d never kill randomly! Come on, get up. I really need to ask you something. Don’t be afraid.”

Zhang Su shamelessly praised himself, then helped Tan Huajun to her feet.

Wang Guang and the others glanced curiously at Zhang Su, puzzled why he was being so courteous to this middle-aged woman.

“You must work night shifts often—I’ve come here to refuel many times. I know that guy, the fat Xu you guys have here. I’ve never seen you. Do you smoke?”

Zhang Su had Tan Huajun sit down and offered her a cigarette.

Hearing Zhang Su knew her coworker, Tan Huajun’s panic and guilt eased somewhat. Seeing the cigarette, she instinctively pointed to the no-smoking sign, then remembered their current situation and mumbled, “I… I don’t smoke. Thank you, Brother.”

“Has anyone come to the gas station since all this started?”

Zhang Su lit his cigarette himself and asked.

“Before today, there were at least thirty of those zombies in the station. Around midnight, there was an explosion over on the opposite side—it drew away a lot of them.”

After calming down, Tan Huajun’s speech became fluent.

“An explosion?” Zhang Su pondered briefly. Last night at midnight, Zheng Xinyu was on duty; he’d been sleeping and hadn’t heard it. Besides, explosions had been happening everywhere lately—he couldn’t tell where any of them came from.

“Yeah, looks like a car crash triggered it. I heard brakes screeching. After the blast, all the cars on the road started going off, and the zombies outside just howled and ran away!”

Tan Huajun nervously rubbed her hands, hesitating: “Brother, what exactly happened out there? How did those monsters come about? Do you know any news?”

Zhang Su shook his head firmly: “That morning I slept until over ten. When I woke up, my phone had no signal. What happened here that day?”

“I was about to finish my shift—around seven—tallying up the accounts, waiting for Xiao Lan to take over. She never came. I was bored scrolling on my phone, went out when someone needed fuel. Around 7:15, there was a traffic accident…”

Tan Huajun recounted it smoothly—exactly matching Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu’s assumptions.

“You live right next door in Phoenix International? Just climb over two walls and you’re home. Why didn’t you go back?”

Zhang Su pointed to the residential complex separated by two walls.

Tan Huajun gave a strange smile. The gas station’s fence was four or five meters high; the residential wall was lower, but topped with anti-climb spikes.

“Brother, I couldn’t possibly climb that wall. At first I did try to run out—but I ran straight into a zombie at the door. I barely killed it, then looked outside and saw the whole street crawling with them—so many, so thick—I nearly died of fright…”

“I ran back and hid in the convenience store ever since. There’s food and water, so I won’t starve—but I’m terrified for my family.”

After hearing Tan Huajun’s story, Zhang Su’s eyes lit up: “You killed zombies?”

Tan Huajun nodded dumbly, pointing outside: “Yeah, over by the flower bed. There’s another one near the greenery.”

“Two? That’s impressive. How’d you kill them?”

Zhang Su asked with interest. At first he’d thought this fat sister was timid, probably a liability—but she’d killed zombies on day one, even two of them. That put her ahead of ninety-nine percent of survivors.

Tan Huajun recalled: “I stabbed them with rebar…”

“Damn impressive.” Zhang Su couldn’t help but raise his thumb. Clearly, this fat sister feared people more than zombies.

After being praised, Tan Huajun calmed a little. Thinking of her family, she looked at Zhang Su with hope: “Brother, can you take me home? I’ll repay you.”

“Oh? How? Don’t tell me you’re going to offer yourself like that woman did—I’m not interested!”

Zhang Su wasn’t surprised she wanted to go home.

Tan Huajun smiled awkwardly, then glanced around: “A-All these things here… aren’t they enough to repay you?”

Zhang Su paused, wondering: Is this woman truly stupid—or clever in her own way?

“Hey, you don’t think this store belongs to you, do you?”

Zheng Xinyu set her bag aside, arms full of several large packs of toilet paper, her expression saying, You’ve got to be kidding.

“Yours, yours—I’m sorry!”

Tan Huajun waved her hands frantically.

(End of Chapter)