Cleanup

Zhao Yuan had thought of a solution—he called Wang Tao and had Ding Yuqin listen for any sounds coming from Wang Tao's apartment.

Zombies were highly sensitive to sound. If there had been a zombie in Wang Tao's room, it would definitely have made a huge commotion! Even if Wang Tao's phone had been on vibrate, at such close range, it still could not have escaped a zombie's hearing.

At the time, the zombie in Room 602 had not yet come out, and Ding Yuqin had no idea there was a zombie in the hallway. Still, she did not dare go outside. She merely cracked open her door and listened, hearing that there truly was no movement at all from Wang Tao's home.

This indirectly confirmed Zhao Yuan's suspicion—Wang Tao truly had been unwilling to help her.

Ding Yuqin's previous impression of Wang Tao had not been bad, but it had not been particularly good either. They had not interacted much, at most exchanging polite greetings when they met.

But with that "reality" and Zhao Yuan's embellishments, her opinion of Wang Tao became very poor...

So, she had immediately abandoned the idea of asking Wang Tao for help.

Still, it was hard to say whether Ding Yuqin had been lucky or whether Zhao Yuan had saved her life. If Ding Yuqin had truly gone to find Wang Tao then, and Wang Tao had been unconscious and unable to open the door, she likely would have drawn the zombies from upstairs over. With her slender arms and legs, her chances of survival would have been slim...

A few more days passed, and her hunger became unbearable. By chance, she personally saw Wang Tao leave his apartment and kill a zombie... She decided to give it a try and see if she could borrow some food from him.

The facts proved that Wang Tao was not as bad as her husband had made him out to be...

After waiting a while, the water had more or less finished filling up, and Ding Yuqin came out of the bathroom.

"Wang Tao, the water in my home is full. Oh, right, see if there's anything here you can use. If it's useful to you, just take it..."

Help went both ways. She could not always count on others to give.

Ding Yuqin knew she could not offer Wang Tao much help, so she could only let him see whether there was anything in her home that he could use.

Wang Tao did not stand on ceremony. Zhao Yuan had quite a few little gadgets, and if he searched carefully, he might find something useful.

"Hm?"

After looking around, he really did find something good.

"Binoculars!"

They were a pair of binoculars marked 10×50, meaning they had a 50-millimeter objective lens and ten-times magnification.

Ten-power binoculars—good stuff! He might not need them for now, but they could be very useful later.

"I hadn't noticed his binoculars were here. If they're useful to you, take them. I can't use them anyway..."

Seeing Wang Tao hold the binoculars as if he could not put them down, Ding Yuqin immediately showed a hint of delight.

She was not afraid that Wang Tao would take her things. She was afraid that he would not want anything at all! "All right, then I won't be polite."

Wang Tao accepted them outright.

After that, they found nothing else useful, so the two returned to Wang Tao's home. Ding Yuqin began cooking, while Wang Tao pulled back the curtain and used his newly acquired binoculars to observe the outside.

His was an Old Residential Area, with buildings no higher than six stories. Fortunately, there were no tall buildings nearby either, so the binoculars could still see quite far.

After looking around, Wang Tao's expression turned grave.

He suddenly realized that his Happiness District seemed to be relatively fortunate?

In other residential compounds, either groups of zombies gathered downstairs, with zombies constantly entering and leaving the buildings, even filling the rooftops; or small-scale explosions had occurred, leaving behind scenes of ruin...

But Wang Tao also noticed a pattern: the places that looked more serious were all places with more people. Especially a plaza in the distance—the dense sea of heads there made his scalp tingle...

The reason Happiness District was not as bad as other compounds was perhaps because there were fewer people here, and many residents had gone to work at the time.

In the apocalypse, luck was important too.

The scenes outside also made Wang Tao feel an even greater sense of urgency.

Judging from the zombie he had killed in Room 201, zombies could grow stronger too! The Female Zombie that had eaten someone had gained 10 points on her Health Bar! And since he himself could become stronger through exercise, it was not impossible that zombies had other ways to grow stronger as well...

"I need to clear out all the zombies in this building as soon as possible!"

Wang Tao planned to go to Room 601 in the afternoon and clear out the two zombies there.

Tomorrow, he would clear out the zombies in 101 and 102 as well. Then the entire building would be completely safe, and he could figure out a way to go to the little restaurant outside the compound to find diesel! Lunch today was not as lavish as yesterday's, but there was still plenty of it.

After eating, they rested for a while. Once Ding Yuqin had washed the dishes and finished cleaning the house, Wang Tao asked her to come help him put on his equipment.

"Wang Tao, you're..."

"I'm going upstairs. After you go back, lock your door."

"You're going to Room 601?"

A trace of worry appeared on Ding Yuqin's face. There were two zombies inside Room 601!

"Yeah. I'm going to clear out Room 601. Don't come out."

Wang Tao felt that he would most likely be able to deal with the two zombies upstairs, but he could not rule out the possibility that one might escape. After all, accidents could happen.

"I understand! Y-you have to be careful!"

Ding Yuqin was truly worried about Wang Tao. After all, he was the only person she could rely on now.

"I will."

Wang Tao nodded.

With Ding Yuqin's help, he quickly finished putting on his equipment.

He picked up his homemade steel-pipe-handled claw hammer and left with Ding Yuqin.

Ding Yuqin returned to her room. After watching her lock the door, Wang Tao strode over to Room 601.

A middle-aged couple had lived in Room 601, and they had definitely both turned. When Wang Tao had gone upstairs earlier, he had heard two roars coming from inside.

Though there were two zombies inside, Wang Tao was no longer the same as before. His increase in strength was secondary; experience was what mattered most. After killing several zombies head-on, he had gained experience.

Wang Tao fiddled with his lockpicking tools for a while. With a click, the security door opened. He took a deep breath, raised the claw hammer slightly in his right hand, then suddenly pulled with his left.

Crash—

The security door opened.

A twisted figure stood right at the entrance.

Wang Tao had not expected a zombie to be right by the door, and perhaps the zombie had not expected a person to suddenly come in either.

Both of them froze for an instant.

But Wang Tao reacted faster.

He gripped the long-handled claw hammer in one hand, exerting force with his arm, waist, and thigh at the same time as he viciously swung at the zombie's head! Bang! A crisp impact rang out.

The zombie's head snapped back as it staggered two steps backward, and a -136 floated above its head.

364/500

Wang Tao pressed his advantage, stepped forward, and swung the long hammer again.

**Bang!** -127

237/500

That blow twisted its face out of shape, sending it back another step.

Then Wang Tao gripped the hammer with both hands, raised it high overhead, and smashed the "claw" of the hammer down onto the zombie's crown.

Splat!

Black Blood splattered everywhere.

Wang Tao felt as though he had smashed a jar full of soft mud.

-237

0/500

Three hammer strikes, instant kill!