Shen Jin took advantage of everyone hiding in their rooms to drag Sun Can into Lu Qiang's room.
It was time to leave. This place was not safe to stay in for long; someone would soon notice that the stairs had been repaired.
"Brother, why aren't you awake yet? Someone as strong as you just passed out like that?"
As Shen Jin muttered to himself, he observed the street outside through the window. The fighting earlier had made too much noise and left too strong a scent; Zombies had already surrounded Wanyu Group.
Not only was the second floor surrounded—there were several rings of Zombies around the first floor and outside the group building too. At a glance, there had to be over a hundred!
The earthen pillars stacked outside the window had Zombies all beneath them. There was no way to return the way he had come.
Shen Jin frowned as he looked at Lu Qiang's corpse.
"The smell of blood is too strong. The Zombies caught wind of it. It won't be easy to get out this time."
Shen Jin considered tossing Lu Qiang out the window, but ultimately decided against it.
Lu Qiang had been human, after all, and a powerful person who had unlocked his Gene Lock. If he was thrown down and not completely eaten, then transformed into a Zombie... he would probably become some kind of super-evolved type.
Besides, although Shen Jin had no proof, he always felt that if Zombies kept eating human flesh, something uncontrollable would happen.
He casually pulled over a bedsheet and covered Lu Qiang with it.
(∩ω)--*
biubiu~
He sealed the window with glass to keep the scent from drifting out any further.
The roars of the Zombies outside shook the heavens and earth. A whole group of Zombies wandered around the Wanyu Group building, scratching at the walls from time to time, making Shen Jin's scalp tingle.
"Fine. We'll wait."
To prevent Zombies from breaking through the stairs on the other side, Shen Jin sealed them off completely with stone.
There were two beds in Shang Qian's room. Sun Can lay on a crude bed by the window, while Shen Jin lay on the bed Shang Qian usually slept in.
Sniff, sniff~
(′▽`〃)
"Smells pretty nice."
There was a pleasant fragrance unlike that of a man's room.
Shen Jin locked the door, ate some Compressed Biscuits and jerky, then lay in bed and let his thoughts wander.
He thought about Earth, thought about Zombies, thought about humanity, thought about...
(._.)
Tsk, tsk. Shang Qian seemed to have had the nickname "Da Qian Qian" before?
Did this count as sleeping together indirectly?
Six in the evening.
Knock, knock, knock.
Although there had been no sounds of Zombies outside that afternoon, no one else dared to come out, afraid of being killed the moment they opened the door.
Who could it be at a time like this?
Shen Jin: (3[▓▓]
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Shang Qian."
Shen Jin was lying comfortably beneath the covers, especially with that warm feminine fragrance—it was simply the ultimate sleep aid.
"No visitors!"
With that, he pulled the corner of the blanket higher.
Sigh, when would he have a woman to warm his bed for real?
Why had he been single all these years?
Outside the door, Shang Qian froze. This man had occupied her room and would not even let her enter???
Back when they had been in the room, everyone else had thought Shen Jin was joking when he said he would deal with the Zombies.
Only she knew Shen Jin might truly have a way, because he... was very mysterious!
When Lu Qiang had humiliated her that morning, when had Shen Jin come in? Where had he come in from?
She recalled it afterward. Lu Qiang had locked the door from the inside after entering. Unless someone broke the door down, it would have been impossible to get in.
Just like Comic Book Man later, who had barged in through sheer force.
But what about Shen Jin?
After ruling out every possibility, Shang Qian arrived at a conclusion she herself could barely believe:
Shen Jin had entered from outside the window!
What kind of skill would let someone enter from outside a third-floor window without making a sound?
And how had he known Lu Qiang had malicious intentions?
It was all a mystery.
Especially when she came out just now and saw both staircases neatly sealed shut with stone, she became completely convinced that Shen Jin was a Special Ability User!
The earlier broadcast had said that a very small number of humans were eroded by the Zombie virus without undergoing mutation. Instead, they gained some kind of special ability.
Though such cases were exceedingly rare, the broadcast had only mentioned them once.
But!
They had seen a Special Ability User who could conjure flames from his hands today. Wasn't an Earth-based Special Ability User perfectly reasonable too?
Shang Qian was twenty-nine this year. Though she was past the age of a young girl's curiosity, she was no stranger to movies about superpowered people.
Shen Jin had to be an Earth-based Ability User!
Like Magneto, capable of wielding the power of earth!
"Shang Qian, take a gamble! If you stay here, sooner or later you'll be humiliated again by your former colleagues. You might as well attach yourself to him. At least you'll have a better chance of surviving in this apocalypse."
Before Lu Qiang went mad today, Shang Qian had still maintained the dignity and pride of an urban white-collar elite woman.
But today's events had completely shattered her illusions.
This was only the beginning. Without Lu Qiang, there would still be Zhang Qiang, Li Qiang, and Wang Baoqiang.
Once Pandora's box of "evil" was opened, it could no longer be controlled.
She had no one to rely on. When the time came, she feared she would be unable to live or die.
She had a feeling Shen Jin would leave today, just as he had come—silently and without a trace.
She had to follow Shen Jin today, even if it meant sacrificing the dignity she had always maintained.
Taking a deep breath, Shang Qian knocked softly again. "Shen Jin, can you let me in so I can say a few words? It's dark, and I'm a little scared by myself."
"Hiss, that voice..."
In Shen Jin's impression, Shang Qian had always been a cold, principled career woman. Her voice was always cool and commanding.
It was not unpleasant, but it never felt intimate.
Now, that soft and helpless voice instantly stirred Shen Jin's protective instincts.
The contrast before and after... tsk, tsk. He loved it.
But Shen Jin remembered the third rule of the Apocalypse Rulebook: avoid getting entangled in cause and effect, avoid attachments, and only then could one live freely.
(3[▓▓]: "You should leave. Saving you today already repaid the kindness you showed when you argued with the chairman for me. I'll open the door when I leave."
Huh?
Shang Qian suddenly understood: So he had come specifically to save me, just because of that vote back then?
But she had merely disagreed with the company's hiring policy at the time. It had not had anything to do with him personally.
And the outcome had not changed because of her objection.
Yet he had... risked himself to save her over that, nearly dying.
Shang Qian became even more determined.
"Ability, familiarity, kindness."
This would be the turning point of her life. She had to seize it!
"Shen Jin, take me with you. I want to go with you. I'm willing to pay any price."
Any price?
Shen Jin suddenly remembered a buddy who drove a BMW. Back when they had just graduated from college, everyone had still been struggling for a monthly salary of a few thousand.
That buddy, whose family background was ordinary, had somehow started driving a BMW. Everyone had been curious and asked how he had done it.
He took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly said:
"That day, I met a beautiful woman at a bar. That night, she drove her BMW and took me to the top of a mountain. Then she took off her clothes and told me, 'You can take what you want.' So I drove off in her BMW."
Shen Jin smiled. "Can you really accept any price?"
Shang Qian's face immediately reddened. Men really were all the same!
But as long as he was willing, she could escape this place. Compared to the misfortune that might happen later, being fucked by one person was still better than being fucked by a whole group.
She said quietly, "Mm, as long as you take me with you."
Shen Jin opened the door, his expression teasing as he said:
"Then... could you keep acting cold and aloof? I still like your original unruly look best. Go back to how you were."
(*)
Shang Qian, who had thought something was about to happen, froze.
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