Chapter 31: Sweeping the Building (Prince, please follow-up read)

The life-and-death scene at dusk caused no small impact on Zhang Su and the others. After returning to 801, they silently devoted themselves to training, as if only physical fatigue could eliminate the fear in their hearts.

High-intensity training accelerated the consumption of food, and even Zhong Xiaoshan, who never ate dinner, slurped a bowl of snail noodles.

Night came, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

The three sat around the coffee table. A small lamp emitted a faint light, and the hazy halo made the few look very mysterious. The atmosphere was weird, like a secret gathering of some religious organization.

"Brother Su, the consumption of food and water is a bit fast..."

Zheng Xin said with a bit of worry.

Zhang Su naturally discovered this problem, and this was also the policy change he made.

"The acceleration of material consumption is because we increased the training intensity. This is a compromise that must be made. If food and water are gone, we can go out and find them. If we don't hurry up and become strong, we'll only be finished off!"

The previous policy was to save food and delay consumption, but now it was using food to trade for muscle, putting growth first.

The two nodded in agreement with Zhang Su's statement. Sitting and eating until the sky was empty was definitely not a way. That would really be living one day at a time, and in the end, when they were exhausted, the God of Death would easily take them away.

"Therefore, we can't continue to guard the house. We have to start collecting supplies and integrate actual combat into daily training!"

Zhang Su raised his finger and said very seriously.

"You mean..." Zheng Xin's eyes lit up, and she pointed toward the downstairs direction.

Zhang Su knew she must be talking about that van full of various supplies, and shook his head slightly: "The situation in the underground parking lot is unclear. Don't go unless it's a last resort!"

"That's right..." Zheng Xin frowned and thought, then suggested again: "The unit door is locked. Can we start searching from other residents in the unit?"

Zhang Su nodded: "Right! There are twenty-four households in our unit in total. According to the occupancy rate, there should be seven or eight households that are empty. Subtracting our floor and Brother Li's house, there are at most fourteen or fifteen households left!"

"I have a way

Zheng Xin did not wait for Zhang Su and the other to react; she slipped back to her room and brought out her phone: "The vast majority of people in the owners' group have changed their addresses to their real ones. As long as we search for 03-1, 3-1, or Building 3 here, we can get a rough idea!"

"That's a really good idea, Sister Xinyu. You tell me, and I'll write it down!"

Zhong Xiaoshan opened the notepad on her phone, trying her best to demonstrate her usefulness.

"Hmm, okay. There are people on the first floor, the first floor is full, the second floor..."

Soon, a list was compiled.

"The first, third, and fourth floors are full. No one is in unit 2 of the second, fifth, and eighth floors. We don't need to worry about the eighth floor, right?"

Zhang Su looked at the list and asked Zheng Xin.

"That's right, but just because they aren't there doesn't mean there's really no one. It's possible they didn't change their names, or they might not have joined the group at all," Zheng Xin said, closing her phone.

【Note: The source text has a line break here, but the tag numbering continues. I will follow the tag sequence.】

"Conversely, those who changed their addresses might not necessarily be living here. In any case, it has some reference value. Let's leave it at this for tonight, and tomorrow we'll start sweeping the floors!"

The discussion ended, and Zhang Su looked meaningfully at the somewhat awkward Zhong Xiaoshan.

"Then... I'll go back and rest."

Zhong Xiaoshan felt Zhang Su's gaze and knew he didn't intend to let her stay the night, so she stood up with a bit of unease.

After seeing Zhong Xiaoshan off, Zheng Xin looked through the peephole and saw the door to 802 close. She tentatively asked, "Should we have let her sleep here?"

"There's no need for now!" Zhang Su shook his head, then smirked: "Considering you're so concerned about her, I could actually put myself out and go over to keep her company!"

"Go to hell!" Zheng Xin turned and punched Zhang Su.

"That's what you said, so I won't go against a woman's wishes."

As he spoke, Zhang Su moved to open the door.

Zheng Xin blocked the door and argued unreasonably: "I misspoke. What I meant to say was, go to your grandfather's!"

"How stingy... I've been tired all damn day, I'm completely drained, and you're the one with the dirtiest mind!"

Zhang Su turned and subconsciously walked toward the bathroom. Remembering there was no water, he shook his head helplessly and walked toward the bedroom, waving his hand at Zheng Xin behind him.

"Dirty your grandfather. It was clearly you who said you wanted to go over, damn it." Zheng Xin, refusing to be outdone, followed behind Zhang Su, grumbling. Since she couldn't speak loudly, she had to get right in his face to "unleash her ultimate," otherwise the attack range wasn't enough...

A gentleman like Zhang Su kept his word; he really didn't do anything all night, conserving his energy and getting a good night's sleep.

"That feels so damn good!"

The next morning, Zhang Su opened the room window to breathe in the cold air and gave a big stretch.

Before, he couldn't fall asleep until two or three in the morning. Now, being tired like a dog during the day, plus the lack of mental stimulation, he could actually fall asleep by ten, and his wake-up time had shifted from the original eleven or twelve noon to seven or eight in the morning.

At nine in the morning, Zhong Xiaoshan dragged her sore body to 801. She had originally thought the workload at the hospital was quite high, but it turned out to be nothing compared to physical exercise.

Fortunately, it was still within an acceptable range, and she didn't reach the point of total exhaustion and loss of control.

Zhang Su knew that Zheng Xin and Zhong Xiaoshan were under a heavy physical burden, but the pressure to survive was even greater, so there wasn't much time for rest.

"I thought about it carefully last night. We'll start sweeping the floors from the top down. To ensure safety, we need to block the safety stairwell on the seventh floor with something!"

"Block the place where we go downstairs? Why? Zombies aren't agile at climbing stairs."

Zheng Xin asked, a bit puzzled. Yesterday, she had seen zombies chasing those fleeing the residential complex, stumbling even when trying to climb over rubble.

"Zombies are just slow at climbing stairs, not completely incapable! And defending against zombies is only one aspect; it can also prevent others from taking advantage of the situation. Who knows if there are other survivors in our unit!"

A strange look flashed in Zhang Su's eyes.

Zhong Xiaoshan massaged her arm and said, "It would be great if there were other survivors; we could have one more person to help."

"Heh..." Zhang Su sneered and shook his head: "In times of minor disasters, I'm willing to believe in the beauty of the world and the kindness of human nature, but in this current state, it's better not to trust strangers than to trust them!"

"I'm just lucky to have met two kind people like Brother Su and Sister Xinyu."

Zhong Xiaoshan appropriately offered a rainbow-colored flattery.

"Don't say useless things. That's the plan. Let's go, block the passage first!"

Having said that, Zhang Su stood up and called the two of them to get to work.

The three of them first tried to stuff a sofa ottoman into the stairwell, but unfortunately, it was too big to pass through the safety door, and the small one wouldn't stay wedged. They had no choice but to move the vanity from Zhong Xiaoshan's place and stack it on the sofa to basically block the stairs.

Zhang Su tied two iron spoons to the vanity; they jingled at the slightest shake. The group was very satisfied with this simple alarm device.

With the obstacle in place, it would be very difficult to get to the eighth floor. Not to mention zombies, even if someone else came, clearing the stairwell would inevitably make noise, which was more than enough for them to react.

As for the elevator...

Ever since it stopped on the sixth floor that day, it hadn't moved. No one knew if it was broken or if there was some other situation.

Recently, many readers have left comments, which makes me very happy. I've discovered some points I hadn't considered, and there are some aspects that need explanation.

How should I put it? We can't assume all survivors have extremely strong adaptability. Changing one's cognition and mindset takes time; there are individual differences—some are fast, some are slow. The apocalypse has only just begun; let's explore it slowly.

(End of chapter)