Moving

When he entered the master bedroom and saw the two skeletons that had been severely gnawed on, Wang Tao's stomach churned.

But he was also confused. Why hadn't the Naughty Child's parents turned into zombies after being bitten, even after they had been eaten clean? Unless... their luck had been truly terrible, and the Zombie Virus incubation period had been too long!

People online had previously said that the Zombie Virus incubation period ranged from one minute to twenty-four hours.

Most of the time, a longer incubation period was naturally better. If the infected body part was cut off before mutation, as long as it was not a fatal area, there was still a chance of survival.

But sometimes, a shorter incubation period meant less suffering.

For example, this family.

Perhaps before they died, they had watched their own child eat them alive...

Just imagining that scene sent chills down his spine!

"All I can say is that you were unlucky..."

Shaking his head, Wang Tao quickly searched through the master bedroom, then dragged the Little Zombie's corpse inside and placed it between the two bodies.

Then, with a bang, he shut the door.

A family should be together, nice and neat.

There was not much food in Apartment 101. Given Wang Tao's appetite, it would probably last him around ten days. But there were plenty of snacks to tide him over.

He also packed up the remaining items that he thought were useful or valuable.

After finishing the search, Wang Tao carried everything straight up to the fifth floor. Since there was not much, he did not call Ding Yuqin over.

However, he made quite a bit of noise going upstairs, and Ding Yuqin, who had been watching him, naturally noticed.

She hurriedly opened the door, first asking with concern whether Wang Tao had been hurt, then asking if he needed help with anything.

Wang Tao actually did have something for her to do. He handed Ding Yuqin a ring of keys.

"Sister-in-law, go collect all the usable glass bottles from those apartments and see how many there are. Here are the keys."

Wang Tao had kept the keys to all the rooms he had searched. Some had been left behind in the apartments, while others had been made by him. After all, he could not pick the lock every time he wanted to go inside.

"Ah? M-Me, alone..."

Ding Yuqin felt as if the keys in her hand were burning hot.

"Scared?"

Wang Tao frowned.

"Mm..."

Ding Yuqin nodded honestly.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I've already cleared out all the zombies. As long as you don't open the building's main door, this whole building is safe... Forget it, I'll ask the uncle downstairs to help."

As he spoke, Wang Tao reached to take the keys back.

"No! I'll go!"

Hearing that Wang Tao was going to ask someone else, Ding Yuqin hurriedly gripped the keys tightly.

She was a smart woman. She knew that if she could not prove her usefulness, especially in this apocalypse, there was a chance she would be abandoned.

She did not dare gamble her life on Wang Tao's kindness! Wang Tao gave her a thoughtful look.

"Fine. Go on."

Although all the zombies in Building 4 had been cleared out, the fear they had caused still lingered. Let alone Ding Yuqin, even the locksmith downstairs rarely went outside and stayed home all the time. Especially since blood and its smell still remained in many of the apartments...

Ding Yuqin had truly steeled herself.

Wang Tao, meanwhile, took his binoculars and weapons to the sixth floor, then used his lockpicking tools to open the locked door leading to the roof.

When the apocalypse broke out, no one had come up to the roof. Other than a few fixed clotheslines, there was nothing there.

"Phew—"

Having stayed inside the building for the past few days, he had felt somewhat stifled.

The moment he came out and saw the orange-red sky beneath the setting sun, an indescribable sense of relief washed over him.

But when Wang Tao walked to the edge of the roof and looked down, that relief instantly turned into urgency.

Because the street north of the building was full of zombies! From this position, he could see many things he had not been able to see before.

There were far more zombies at the base of walls and in corners than Wang Tao had imagined.

Still, although the sight was terrifying, if he could kill all those zombies... he would gain plenty of loot too!

"If I throw Molotov cocktails and burn them to death, I wonder whether the kills would count for me..."

Wang Tao then went to the south side. From this spot, he could basically take in all the zombies wandering around the Residential Area Courtyard at a glance.

"One, two, three... nineteen, twenty!"

He could see twenty zombies in total. As for those hidden inside the buildings, he had no idea. But even if there were only these twenty, they were not something he could handle.

For now, the best method seemed to be finding a way to lure these zombies somewhere and kill them one by one. Or he could start a fire and burn them all to death!

But it was too early to think about that. He had come to the roof to figure out how to break out of the residential area while surrounded by all these zombies.

Building 4 had now been cleared out. Wang Tao's next goal was to get diesel from the "Big Mouth Eats Meat" restaurant, and pick up some food while he was at it.

The residential complex's main gate was on the west side, and directly across from it stood the "Big Mouth Eats Meat" restaurant. One of the little restaurant's glass doors was open, while the other had been shattered. No Zombies were visible inside.

This street was relatively narrow and saw little foot traffic, so there were not many Zombies outside either. Wang Tao only spotted two or three.

As for how he would get out of the complex...

Wang Tao felt that using the main gate was definitely out of the question, since it would draw the attention of those twenty Zombies.

Although Zombies generally were not particularly fast runners, if he focused solely on escaping, then as long as his luck was not too terrible, he should be able to slip through the twenty Zombies in the complex... provided he did not make a single mistake!

That plan was still far too dangerous.

Besides, he was worried that if the Zombies were drawn to him and followed on his heels into the little restaurant, what then? So Wang Tao felt that climbing over the wall was more reliable.

The complex's perimeter wall was not very thick, just a plain brick wall. It looked to be a little over two meters high.

With his abilities, getting over that wall naturally would not be difficult.

"I'll rush out through Building 4's unit entrance, dash to the wall, climb over it, then sprint straight into the little restaurant! Best-case scenario, no Zombies follow me. If they do, I'll just pull down the restaurant's rolling shutter! I didn't see any Zombies inside the restaurant. Even if there are some, at most it'll be Boss Li and his wife. I can handle three Zombies or fewer..."

Wang Tao quickly formulated his plan of action.

Before that, though, he needed to move house.

His place was still too small. If everything went smoothly on this trip, he should be able to find quite a lot of supplies, and there would not be enough room at home.

Wang Tao was reluctant to throw away supplies that were not useful for the time being, so moving into a larger apartment was the best choice.

As for where to move, Wang Tao had already made his decision: Apartment 602 upstairs.

When he went downstairs, Ding Yuqin happened to arrive at Wang Tao's door, sweating profusely as she carried a box of narrow-necked glass bottles.

"Sister-in-law, wait a moment. No need to carry those inside. I'm moving upstairs."

"Ah? Moving?"

Ding Yuqin froze for a moment. Then, as if something had occurred to her, her face immediately went pale.