What a Coincidence, Huh?

Wanyu Group, third floor.

Balding Director Wang looked at the last French bread roll and half a bottle of Bottled Water on the table.

He touched his cracked lips, poured out a capful of water, and drank it in one gulp.

"Everyone, we're about to run out of food today. We can't wait for government rescue anymore. The only ones who can save us are ourselves!"

Director Wang's voice was hoarse, but his words carried great force.

"The entire company has reached a matter of life and death!"

The twenty-four people below had gathered together, and the atmosphere was grave.

This day had finally come.

"Um, let me say something. The one who can save us also includes that mysterious guy who could shoot fire that day! He took Shang Qian and Shen Jin away," Zhao Mingkai said, raising his hand.

Director Wang's momentum faltered.

"Throw Zhao Mingkai out first, then we'll talk."

"Hey? Hey! Hey!! Don't touch me, I'll leave on my own!"

Balding Director Wang continued, "Everyone, we're now facing a choice that concerns every single person's fate!"

"Will we live on our feet, or lie here waiting to rot? I believe everyone can make the right choice. It's time to risk our lives for ourselves!"

"I hope everyone will pick up a weapon and fight our way down with me! Kill our way to the first floor and get food!"

Everyone's expressions shifted. Some were sorrowful, some resolute, some frightened, and some excited.

In the end, it had come to this.

A forty-year-old man suddenly burst into tears. "I don't want to! I'm not going downstairs! There are man-eating monsters down there! They'll eat all of us!"

"Old Liu, don't panic!" Though Balding Director Wang was known as a vampire, he had still built up considerable authority after so many years at the company.

Moreover, after the apocalypse, he had restrained his temper and proposed many constructive measures. After Shang Qian left, he naturally took over as the leader of this small Gathering Place.

As Old Liu cried, he suddenly became hysterical. "Fuck you, Old Wang! All you do is hide in the back and spout bullshit! Back at the company, it was you who came up with all those shitty ideas to dock our employees' pay! And now you want us to go die! Are you waiting for us all to die so you can take that little bitch Liu Jie and swallow all the food for yourselves?"

"Ah!? Say something!!"

The others fell silent. Old Liu had already broken down.

Before the apocalypse, Old Liu had always been the company's workhorse. His work ability was average, and he had never been popular. His wife despised him for remaining a low-level employee after all those years. After several huge fights, she divorced him.

Ever since then, Old Liu had been mentally unstable. Now, he had finally exploded completely.

"Forget Old Liu. Let him stay in the dormitory by himself. If this keeps up, he'll get eaten by Zombies and then turn around and bite us,"

Qi Tong had long seen through people like Old Liu. Usually, he was gloomy as hell, but whenever something went wrong, he loved to obsess over it. If he couldn't handle something himself, he complained about this and that all day. But the moment he was given an important responsibility, his true nature was immediately exposed.

In the end, he was just a hopeless failure.

Seeing that no one listened to him, Old Liu shouted, "Fuck you! Every last one of you looks down on me!"

He ran to the stairwell and blocked the way down with his body. "As long as I'm here today, none of you motherfuckers are going downstairs!"

Almost everyone showed disgust. Once people like him went crazy, they started throwing tantrums and acting shamelessly.

"Leave Old Liu alone for now. Later, carry him into a dorm room and lock him up. If he doesn't want to go down, he can starve to death here," Liu Jie said viciously.

Balding Director Wang pressed his hand down slightly.

"Now then, is there anyone else who wants to stay upstairs?"

The others shook their heads.

"Good! Go eat whatever you have left, wrap yourselves in your thickest clothes, and take your hardest weapons. In half an hour, we'll kill Zombies and seize food together!"

After Old Wang finished speaking, he stuffed the French bread roll on the table into his mouth in one bite and washed it down with the last fifty milliliters of Bottled Water.

"Fuck those Zombies!"

"I'm going down there and drinking my fill!"

"I want mooncakes! I want roast chicken!"

The others encouraged themselves with their words, raising the morale of their small group.

Half an hour later, everyone was fully armed. They had wrapped themselves in layer after layer of clothes and bedsheets to prevent Zombie bites.

Wanyu Group, underground.

"Brother Jin, I have another request. Can you give me some face out there and let me look good too?"

Yang Ao pleaded with Shen Jin shamelessly.

Perfect. It'd be best if you handled them the whole time and acted like I didn't exist.

If Shen Jin showed himself, what if these old coworkers clung to him after seven days?

He had no interest in managing these people. Getting to know them one by one would be too troublesome.

Besides, none of the remaining coworkers were his friends. He couldn't just keep them around to eat and drink for free.

Wouldn't that make him some kind of saint?

How much food would it take to feed them all?

His little stockpile still had to be passed down through the generations!

"Sure! We're partners, after all."

Partners?

Yang Ao's heart trembled, as if he had been struck.

He had finally gained Shen Jin's approval.

A super-strong expert who controlled an Earth-based Ability actually considered him a partner!

As for swaggering around outside, he had only said it casually to liven up the mood.

He had never expected Shen Jin to actually agree and give him face in front of outsiders.

At that moment, he felt that choosing to follow Shen Jin had been the most correct decision he had made since the apocalypse began.

He wasn't afraid of hardship or exhaustion!

What he feared was being treated like a tool forever.

While Shen Jin was secretly delighted with his own cleverness, Yang Ao had already decided to become his most steadfast partner.

"This time, you'll take the lead. I'll support you and provide long-range backup."

"Understood!"

Yang Ao felt that Shen Jin had been constantly tempering him. To give him a better chance of surviving in the apocalypse, Shen Jin was willing to play a supporting role and let him shine.

Sure enough, was this the bearing and magnanimity of a strong man?

Shen Jin and Yang Ao put on full suits of iron armor and donned helmets.

They dug out a hole and checked their surroundings.

"Go!"

Yang Ao climbed up first, gripping the Iron Sword in his hand as he kept watch.

Before the apocalypse, Wanyu Group's main doors had been shut, so the Zombies inside were basically still the same ones. The disturbance Sun Can had caused last time had drawn them all to the second floor.

There were only five scattered Zombies on the first floor now.

"Roar!"

Yang Ao's iron armor clattered loudly, instantly drawing the attention of all five Zombies.

The Zombies, covered in green moss and evolving toward green fur, lunged at them. Pus dripped everywhere from their mouths.

If Shen Jin looked up, he might drink some of it.

And turn into a Zombie on the spot!

"Ahem. That's also why you have to wear a helmet when going out."

Yang Ao was completely unfazed by the five Zombies. He could tell they were all ordinary Zombies, moving only about as fast as a normal person running.

After getting used to fighting Zombies, he could kill them one by one without difficulty.

He stepped back, thrust his sword diagonally, and drove it straight into the nearest Zombie's head.

The Iron Sword twisted and pulled free in one smooth motion.

Filth poured from the Zombie's brain, and it fell straight to the ground!

Shen Jin's physical condition no longer required him to slowly climb up. He simply leaped out.

He landed with both hands gripping his sword.

Then he swung the Iron Sword with all his strength.

"Hah!"

The downward slash cut straight through the Zombie's neck.

The Zombie's head was forcibly severed!

One second, its body was still reaching forward with both hands.

The next second, it crashed to the ground.

"Pathetically weak."

Yang Ao whistled and swiftly took care of the remaining three Zombies.

"Roar!"

The Zombies from the second floor were coming down!

Not knowing whether there were any Evolved Zombies among them, Shen Jin chose caution. Eight stone blocks shot out around him, forming a temporary defensive position.

They sealed off the entire second-floor stairway entrance, leaving only a narrow gap wide enough for one person to pass through.

Yang Ao raised his sword and waited.

"Splat!"

One Zombie fell.

"Splat!"

Two Zombies fell.

Yang Ao and Shen Jin guarded the exit and killed more than fifty Zombies in total!

In the end, corpses blocked the second-floor exit, preventing the Zombies from coming down. Shen Jin opened another gap before killing the rest.

All kinds of filth covered their helmets, effectively keeping Zombie virus-laden blood from entering their noses and eyes.

"When we leave later, we'll burn these too."

The two had long made a habit of reducing Zombies to ash. They would never leave a Zombie behind to recover from the virus and revive.

"Come on, let's go upstairs and receive our residents!"

Yang Ao had been somewhat tired, but hearing that instantly woke him up.

"Woohoo~ Let's go!"

The people on the third floor pushed aside the clutter blocking the stairs, and Director Li shouted:

"Come on, let's go down!"

"Crash!"

The piles of clutter were pulled away and collapsed.

A group of people who had worked up the courage to fight Zombies to the death saw two helmeted Iron Men standing in the empty second-floor hall.

Yang Ao grinned. "Hehe, what a coincidence, huh?"