The sense of superiority derived from wielding violence proved fleeting.
Catching sight of the detestable girl in her current disheveled state, Little Ye suppressed a brief, silent sneer, deciding she had no further desire to see her.
“Nurse your wounds well. Don’t cause any more trouble.” Having delivered these two terse sentences, Little Ye then called out to the others who held weapons, “No more casualties.”
A collective sigh of relief slowly escaped everyone in the hushed corridor.
Old Cao, meanwhile, turned his gaze to the woman who had been bitten earlier, though her wound was not deep. “How are you feeling?”
From within the crowd, a voice suddenly cried out, “Since we’ve already started killing! To be safe, let’s kill her too!”
Old Cao looked closer, recognizing the driver who had previously snatched a gun but hadn’t disengaged the safety.
This fellow, having cowered within the crowd, had inexplicably survived.
A glance at Niu Xiaoma’s body on the ground ignited a furious blaze in Old Cao’s heart.
Over the past few days, he and the boy had become something akin to friends; moments ago, when the incident erupted, the child had displayed remarkable composure and even proposed a strategy.
Tragically, he had perished in the ensuing chaos.
Yet, the driver, who had nearly jeopardized everything, now stood here perfectly alive.
“You damn good-for-nothing, shut your mouth! If we’d let you go downstairs to drive the car away just now, all of us would be dead here!”
After his tirade, Old Cao instructed Old Li, who was in charge of the weapons, to remove a strap from a nylon bag.
He then led the bitten woman to a secluded compartment and secured one of her hands to the anti-theft bars of a window.
This was a makeshift solution.
Should a minor injury lead to a delayed transformation, at least she wouldn’t be able to run rampant.
Downstairs, the sound of a car grew from distant to near, suggesting the siblings had completed their mission.
The car crashed a few more times below, likely crushing the remaining zombies.
****
Arriving upstairs, Keke still couldn’t help but let out a sharp, hissing gasp at the bloody scene before her.
Nevertheless, the situation was far from dire.
Three individuals, bitten and transformed on the spot, had been eliminated.
Four others, bitten but either not yet transformed or killed the instant they turned, had also been dealt with: Old Cao had shot one, and Little Ye had dispatched three.
The camp’s population had been instantly reduced by a third.
Yet Keke and Jing Lan had long since mentally prepared for the possibility of everyone perishing.
The weaponry and terrain conditions were, indeed, severely disadvantageous.
For so many to have survived was already a favorable outcome.
Jing Lan, in particular, dreaded the thought of ever seeing Little Ye (or ‘Xiao Ye’ as he privately thought of her—for convenience, he no longer distinguished between the two) die again.
Imagining her death seemed to conjure a familiar ache from his past.
Now, however, the white-haired girl, covered in gore, stood before him.
Noticing his gaze, she self-consciously took a small step back.
‘Will he think I’m a monster? Will he, like Officer Niu, believe I’ve killed people and am a bad child?’
As Little Ye’s thoughts tumbled chaotically, Old Cao had already stepped forward, bumping fists with the two siblings.
“How did the cleanup go?”
“The door’s locked. We ran over the remaining zombies, and shot the ones cowering in corners.”
Old Cao turned to face the people in the corridor. “Comrades, we’ve survived.”
Something taut trembled within the crowd’s silence.
“This was Niu Xiaoma’s idea… or at least, he was the quickest to propose it.” Jing Lan gazed at Niu Xiaoma’s body on the floor.
He then noticed the cowardly driver huddled in the corner.
The driver pouted listlessly, his jaw protruding, strangely forming a face that was both obnoxious and arrogant.
Clearing his throat, Old Cao announced loudly, “During this sudden incident, everyone remained calm and fought valiantly.
Comrades like Niu Xiaoma sacrificed their lives.
I propose we all salute the fallen and observe a half-minute of silence.”
As Old Cao spoke, he extended his left hand, made a fist, and placed it flat against his chest.
“I suggest we use this form of salute. It’s called the ‘United Heart Salute,’ symbolizing everyone working together.
The motion is also relatively simple and easy.
Let us now observe our moment of silence.”
In times like these, having someone direct everyone was, paradoxically, a source of reassurance.
Everyone yearned for a voice to tell them what to do.
Jing Lan and Keke immediately followed suit, making a fist with their left hand and placing it on their chest.
Upon doing so, they found the gesture oddly familiar.
The others, one after another, began to imitate them.
The half-minute passed swiftly.
“Thank you all for your hard work.
Comrades willing to assist with the cleanup, please step forward.
Those who wish to rest further, please remain where you are.
Old Li, you’ll be responsible for maintaining vigilance here.”
“Understood.”
The air in the corridor finally relaxed completely.
Some began to sob, weeping to those beside them—”I don’t want to live anymore!” one wailed.
“I… I don’t either…” another echoed.
After several such exchanges, an elderly person spoke up, “Alright, alright, let’s just sleep for now.
We’ve survived, after all.
One day at a time…”
The voice of reason could not dispel the tears, but it could gradually dismantle the words of despair.
Eventually, only the sound of weeping remained in the space, and even that would slowly fade.
Only the light of the slowly rising moon filtered through the windows.
“Sleep now, everyone, sleep. Everything will be alright.”
Old Wu, the candy vendor, muttered to himself as if in a daze, before finally succumbing to sleep.
Having summoned the four other individuals from the convenience store, they expended considerable effort to drag the piles of bodies into a corner.
Afterwards, the group convened a meeting in the moonlit parking lot.
Keke was, in fact, the one who proposed the meeting.
As a former vice-captain of a wilderness hiking team, she possessed a strong awareness of how to manage a group.
After all, a vice-captain was the one who brought up the rear of the team, overseeing the entire situation.
However, as the group stood still under the moonlight, Keke spoke first, her words unexpected:
“I propose that Teacher Cao Renshuang serve as our captain.
What are everyone’s thoughts?”
Old Cao tilted his head, reminiscent of a Stephen Hawking who had regained the ability to stand.
“If it weren’t for you, I might reluctantly take on the task myself.
But the person who knows the most about extreme survival is right here.
Even if I played some part just now, I still don’t think I can be a good team leader.”
The old man extended three fingers and poked his own chest.
“I’m not ruthless enough.”
“But just now, Teacher Cao, you shot and killed someone bitten by a zombie with a single shot,” Little Ye interjected.
“There was such a thing!” Xia Lang exclaimed, surprised.
“I’ll have to look at Teacher differently now.
I used to think painters preferred to shoot themselves in the stomach.”
“Firstly, I forbid you from making Van Gogh jokes,” Old Cao retorted, annoyed.
“Secondly, that was a situation forced upon me.
If any of you were in that position, you would have pulled the trigger too.”
A hush fell over the small group.
This was somewhat unusual.
The discussion was far from reaching an impasse; for instance, it was an obvious fact that, given Old Cao’s performance in front of the survivors just now, he had undoubtedly gained immense prestige in their hearts.
In fact, even before the two siblings and Little Ye arrived, he had already been a figure of authority within the group.
With Officer Niu and Zhao Long severely injured, he was naturally the most suitable person to assume leadership.
He logically understood this himself.
So…
“Dad, don’t be afraid.” Cao Hongrui, who had been lingering at the back of the crowd, somehow pushed his way forward.
The tall, yet seemingly shy and awkward boy, stared intently at his father.
“You can definitely do it.” Having spoken, the boy turned squarely and walked back to the rear of the crowd.
As if receiving a direct order from a superior, Cao Renshuang ceased his prevarication.
“Then, Keke, will you be the vice-captain?”
Keke replied, “This isn’t the time for us to privately appoint positions.
These matters require democratic evaluation.
I wasn’t clear just now; I merely wanted to establish who the fundamental leader would be.
Given your established reputation, it’s largely guaranteed to align with the democratic consensus, which is why I made this suggestion.”
Teacher Cao’s shoulders slumped despondently. “You see, I have absolutely no experience.
I’m just a lousy painter, that’s all.”
“Teacher Cao, put a lid on that Jonah complex.
If you truly believed you were incapable, you should have cowered upstairs earlier, instead of stepping forward.”
Old Cao turned around, his gaze falling upon the white-haired girl speaking from behind him.
With long white hair and deep blue eyes, she possessed an almost ethereal quality, yet in all fairness, she was a girl who embodied both beauty and cuteness.
The very girl who had protected everyone upstairs.
“Actually, I think the white-haired student is also quite suitable to be a leader…” Old Cao’s eyes darted, and he blurted out, a playful glint in his eyes.
Everyone: “Huh?”
“Ah, just kidding,” Old Cao chuckled, then met Little Ye’s gaze with genuine seriousness.
“Alright, I suppose you’ve seen through me.
I’ll temporarily take on this role, be it captain or leader.
Just don’t blame me if things go wrong later.”
The matter was settled.
The next task was to assess their losses.
All medicine was lost, which presented a significant problem.
“Old Wu has diabetes; he needs insulin.” Old Cao repeatedly searched the room, confirming that all medications had indeed been taken by those two scoundrels.
Xia Lang leaned against the warehouse doorframe, sighing, “Is the Warfarin gone too?”
“Warfarin? The five-star medic operator from ‘Arknights’?” a girl with a ponytail, who had escaped the teaching building with Keke, asked curiously.
Keke, busy inventorying the remaining food, replied without turning her head, “It’s an anticoagulant.
Xia Lang has a congenital heart valve condition and needs to take Warfarin long-term.”
“Are there any others here who need long-term medication?” Jing Lan inquired.
“No one else.
But we still need emergency medicine.
Officer Niu and Zhao Long are still upstairs, waiting for their lives to be saved,” Old Cao grumbled.
The group exchanged weary, bitter smiles.
“I really want to go kill those two bastards,” Keke huffed, plopping onto the ground and pouting in frustration.
“The only edible things left are a few packs of ‘spicy strips.’
And these are called ‘Shoe Sole Spicy Strips’? Like they greased the soles and ran away?
Just trying to piss us off!”
As Keke spoke, she tore open a pack and began to eat, but after only two chews, she nearly spat it out. “Holy crap! Why is it so spicy!”
“Those must be the spicy strips from Jiang Qi, the old man,” Jing Lan said, taking a look.
“That high school teacher probably confiscated a lot of student snacks; he’d know good stuff.
Oh, speaking of that high school teacher—”
“Does anyone know anything about him?”
Little Ye had already considered this question. “He and the driver, Little Sun, should be quite close.”
Old Cao chimed in, “They’re very close.
Gao Fei told me they were talking during a card game, and that Teacher Chen is Little Sun’s child’s teacher—”
As Old Cao spoke, his gaze drifted to his son, who was lost in thought in the corner of the warehouse.
“Everyone, I think I might have figured out where those two sons of bitches ran off to.”