The English teacher, whose full name was Chen Pi, switched on his small flashlight, casting its beam briefly around the warehouse. Inside lay several boxes of instant noodles, a substantial stack of bottled water, an assortment of snacks, salt, MSG, and even alcohol.
Yet, these provisions were not their primary concern. In one corner of the room, several white plastic bags held an extensive collection of various medications.
Beyond common cold and anti-inflammatory drugs, there were also pharmaceuticals whose very names sounded obscure and precious.
It seemed these had been specifically gathered, likely for patients in need.
Furthermore, a plastic-cased box shimmered faintly in the dim light.
“What is this?” Teacher Chen inquired, curiosity piqued as he leaned closer.
“A medical cooler,” Little Sun’s voice, tinged with a slight tremor, echoed from behind Teacher Chen.
Teacher Chen opened the plastic box, and a blast of cold air enveloped him. Inside were vials of insulin.
Little Sun paced the room, perhaps feeling a pang of reluctance about taking the supplies.
“The insulin is for Old Wu,” Little Sun murmured, referring to the elderly man who sold lollipops. “We should leave it. Without it, he’s done for.”
Teacher Chen closed the box and picked it up.
“No. This, above all, must come with us. The Cult Leader is sure to have many elderly followers, and this will make an excellent gift.”
The two men began moving items from the warehouse to the nearby parked van.
Their main focus was on provisions like instant noodles, canned goods, and biscuits, which could serve as food. All the medications were also meticulously packed away.
“I never would have thought a teacher like you could be so ruthless,” Little Sun remarked, shoving a box of instant noodles onto the back seat of the van.
Teacher Chen let out a bitter chuckle. “Look who’s talking. You’re the one who knocked your superior unconscious with a hammer. I, on the other hand, haven’t laid a finger on anyone.”
“Officer Niu and I had a personal grudge…”
“A personal grudge? Nonsense. He reported you for drinking on duty because it was his job. Your disciplinary action was entirely your own doing.”
Little Sun glanced at the unconscious Officer Niu, slumped against the wall where he had pushed him, and fell silent.
“What’s wrong? Feeling guilty? You seemed quite pleased with that hammer blow just now. If Jing Ke had been as decisive when he drew his dagger, our nation’s history would have been rewritten ages ago.”
After loading all the medicine into the van, Teacher Chen gazed at Little Sun with a smile. “If someone displeases you, you deal with them.”
“Once it’s done, you’ll feel better. Don’t overthink it.”
As if suddenly activated, Little Sun resumed his work.
The van couldn’t hold an excessive amount of supplies, so the loading was quickly finished.
Teacher Chen tugged at his belt. “All right, let’s go. Just ram the gate open and don’t worry about anything else. You remember where that place is, don’t you? Your son is there; you’ve been before. It’s right next to Unity Park, a bit far, but the road is straightforward.”
Little Sun remained silent, opening the driver’s side door.
“Stop.”
A cold, harsh voice cut through the air.
From the shadows beneath the office building, Zhao Long emerged, a Type 92 pistol clutched in his hand, his eyes icy. The weapon was aimed directly at the two men beside the van.
“Raise your hands and squat down in the open.”
Teacher Chen glanced at Little Sun, gave a subtle wink, and then raised his hands.
Under Zhao Long’s watchful eye, the two men squatted in the empty expanse of the parking lot.
Zhao Long’s gaze fell upon Officer Niu, sprawled on the ground near the warehouse door, and he grimaced in pain.
“We were just drinking and playing cards… Did you two plan this all along?”
As a police officer, he had witnessed countless breakdowns of order and morality in society.
However, a fellow officer stabbing another in the back was something Zhao Long had never anticipated.
“What did Officer Niu ever do to you? He reported you for drinking? Wasn’t that your own fault?”
“To retaliate against him for such a minor thing, don’t you feel utterly despicable?!”
Little Sun’s flashlight, placed on the ground, shone brightly on Zhao Long, far outshining the miniature one in Zhao Long’s hand.
The word “despicable” from Zhao Long’s mouth struck Little Sun as particularly grating, leaving him deeply displeased.
A more satisfying option, it seemed, was readily available.
The stark white beam of the flashlight on the ground seemed to illuminate Zhao Long as if he were a button to be pressed.
Suddenly, Little Sun drew the pistol he had just confiscated from Officer Niu’s pocket, aimed it at Zhao Long, and pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.
A deafening gunshot ripped through the air, and Zhao Long, eyes wide with shock, collapsed into a pool of his own blood.
“Nice shot!” Teacher Chen exclaimed with a delighted clap. “Alright, alright, get in the car. I enjoy making friends with decisive people like you.”
Teacher Chen picked up the flashlight from the ground. Its beam cut through the darkness, illuminating a young man and a white-haired girl standing about ten meters in front of the car.
“What a nuisance. Brother Sun, kill them.”
Little Sun drew his pistol again, but then he saw the young man’s hand move. A cold glint flashed forward, and he instinctively swung his arm to block. A searing pain shot through his right forearm, his fingers twitched erratically as if shocked, and the pistol clattered to the ground.
A dagger was now embedded in his right forearm.
“Son of a b*tch!” Little Sun cursed vehemently, while Teacher Chen, from the passenger seat, bellowed, “Get in the car!”
Little Sun scrambled into the van, starting the engine with his left hand. Teacher Chen helped shift gears, and the van swiftly roared to life, speeding forward.
“We’re a step too late!” Jing Lan slammed his fist against his leg in frustration. “We should have suspected something earlier. That high school teacher wasn’t questioned by Officer Niu with the rest of us because he had an acquaintance in this camp!”
“An acquaintance isn’t necessarily a bad person. No one could have foreseen this,” Little Ye responded, watching the departing van accelerate towards the parking lot gate. He suddenly realized what the two traitors intended to do.
“They’re going to ram the iron gate open! Quickly, notify everyone else!”
In truth, no notification was needed. Those on duty in the office building had already heard the gunshots and were rushing downstairs.
Zhao Long, still clinging to a thread of consciousness in the pool of blood downstairs, struggled to shout, “Little Sun, Teacher Chen have defected! Go check on Officer Niu!”
The young people immediately spotted Officer Niu collapsed on the ground, a sight that startled them. Moments later, a terrifying crash echoed from the direction of the parking lot entrance.
Jing Lan rushed to the group. “They rammed through the iron gate and escaped! Quickly, get the injured upstairs! Zombies will be flooding into the parking lot!”
The group stood dumbfounded, but the howls of zombies emanating from the parking lot entrance served as a stark reminder that there was no time for hesitation.
They carried Zhao Long and Officer Niu up to the office building. In the upstairs hallway, several survivors lay sprawled, still asleep.
Little Ye glanced at the staircase, noting that no lock had been installed on the office building’s main entrance.
“This place isn’t safe either! Everyone, find a way into a private room!”
As he uttered these words, Little Ye suddenly grasped the obvious truth.
If private rooms were accessible, why would everyone be sleeping in the hallway?
In reality, the doors to all the rooms in the dilapidated office building had been removed, and the rooms themselves were filled with various discarded items.
The people sleeping in the hallway awoke one by one, grumbling angrily.
It wasn’t until they heard someone mention, “The iron gate has been rammed open,” that they fully jolted awake. “What? The parking lot gate? Where’s Officer Niu?”
Then, their eyes fell upon Officer Niu, lying on the ground with blood already staining his neck, and Zhao Long, whose abdomen was soaked red with blood. Terror flickered in their eyes.
Jing Lan quickly searched the various rooms for any tools that could be used to construct a barricade, but found nothing. Broken wood, shattered bricks—it was all unusable debris.
At that moment, Niu Xiaoma, who had just confirmed his father still had vital signs, emerged from the crowd. Carrying a powerful “wolf-eye” flashlight, he opened it at a second-story window and shone its beam down onto the parking lot.
Already, forty or fifty zombies were pouring in through the parking lot entrance.
“How can there be so many?”
Niu Xiaoma was utterly astonished. Although he had never been on a mission himself, he frequently observed the patterns of zombie activity from the office building’s rooftop. In his memory, usually only seven or eight zombies roamed near the gate.
Shining the light further, he saw the iron gate, now completely breached.
Niu Xiaoma squinted slightly. “The gate’s frame is intact, but the chain is broken.”
He turned and called out to Jing Lan and Little Ye, who were still searching for barricade materials. “Friends, I have a proposal, and I’ll need your help.”