As soon as he stepped into the room, a nauseating stench of blood and decay wormed into Leon's nose.
He swept his eyes across the room but found no moving figures. Most of the furniture had been tidied up fairly neatly. Across the floor, from the living room to the bedroom, stretched a large patch of black drag marks, with several flies buzzing chaotically around it.
Damn, it stinks like hell. It's almost as bad as a can of pickled herring.
Leon's brow tightened. As a doctor, he knew that these were traces left behind by a large amount of dried blood. Something terrible had clearly happened here.
Gripping the weapon in his hand, Leon did not continue forward. Instead, he turned around, grabbed the handle of the front door, and gently pulled it shut. Caution never hurt. This would prevent a Zombie from sneaking up on him from behind.
It was early summer in June, and the outdoor temperature was generally above 26 degrees Celsius. The slightly elevated temperature carried wave after wave of rotting-flesh stench from the direction of the bedroom.
Leon did not hurry into the bedroom. He rose silently and checked the living room and kitchen first. Only after confirming that there was no danger did he press himself against the wall and make his way to the bedroom door.
Following the blood trail, he peered inside.
The bedroom was not large. A white dressing table stood beneath the window, while two single beds, one large and one small, rested against either side of it. The walls had been painted pink and covered with all kinds of popular cartoon pictures, giving the room a warm and adorable atmosphere.
A slender figure in a red dress sat motionless before the dressing table, as still as a statue.
Leon could not see her face. Her long, pale-golden hair was dotted with numerous black clumps, while the smooth skin exposed on her back had an unhealthy pallor.
Damn, her back looks pretty good. There's a kind of incomplete beauty to it.
Leon did not allow himself to hope for the best. Holding his breath, he quietly walked behind the figure and raised the Wolf Tooth Club high.
As if sensing the movement behind her, the slender figure shifted her shoulders and slowly turned her face around.
Crack, crack, crack!
After the sound of bones grinding together, a horrifying half-rotted woman's face appeared before Leon's eyes. On the white dressing table in front of her lay a child's skeleton, gnawed completely clean.
Leon's heartbeat stopped for a beat from fright. Without time to think, he summoned all the strength in his body and brought the Wolf Tooth Club crashing down onto the woman's head.
Thud!
The sensation was like striking thick leather. The spikes on the Wolf Tooth Club pierced through her skull, and a small amount of foul-smelling pus splashed from her rotten scalp.
Leon gritted his teeth, wrenched the Wolf Tooth Club free, and smashed it down again onto the sunken part of the woman's skull.
Squish!
The female Zombie's entire body jolted before she collapsed into the chair and fell still.
After killing the enemy, Leon still did not let down his guard. He retreated two steps and stared at the miserable scene before him, something that absolutely could not have existed in peaceful times. His heartbeat grew faster and faster.
Damn, this is terrifying. The difference between reality and a game really is huge.
However, after getting past this hurdle, his fear of Zombies suddenly faded considerably.
Next time, I'll definitely do better.
After resting for a few minutes, Leon closed the bedroom door and began collecting the supplies inside. He was extremely hungry and urgently needed to replenish his energy.
Perhaps the mother and daughter had died earlier. Perhaps the single mother had simply been better at managing her household. Leon found quite a bit of food here: some Canned Meat, some flour, and several packages of Cup Noodles.
Unfortunately, the water and electricity had long since been cut off. Aside from the canned goods and flour, many of the vegetables and meats had already rotted and were no longer edible.
Carrying the food he had found, Leon chose not to stay. He quietly sneaked back to his own apartment, changed out of the clothes stained with rotten blood, and began preparing dinner.
Heh heh, luckily, yours truly has a strong enough mental constitution. Otherwise, how could I possibly eat after that?
Like any other bachelor, Leon now possessed fairly decent cooking skills.
He had no intention of saving ingredients. Instead, he used whatever was available and spent more than half an hour preparing a table laden with food.
Beef Soup, Fried Meat Patty, and Braised Beef Noodles—altogether, there were more than four pounds of food.
Who would've thought that on the first day after crossing over, I'd become a competitive eater?
Sipping a little liquor and wolfing down his food, Leon felt his body send out signals of satisfaction. At last, he had time to think about his plans for the future.
How was he supposed to survive in this world?
What should he do?
As a longtime fan of The Walking Dead, he remembered many of the plotlines. However, many events only happened through a combination of coincidence and circumstance. If he rashly interfered, he would certainly cause countless unforeseen consequences.
But if he did nothing, Leon's advantage of foresight would become useless.
The matter was deeply contradictory, and it troubled him.
It was June 9. The disaster had already begun a month ago. According to the timeline, the protagonist, Rick, would probably not wake up for another month or so.
Wasting an entire month of advantage would be a terrible shame.
Leon ran through the early plot of The Walking Dead in his mind several times.
What was the most important thing right now? What could he do that would give him a tremendous advantage in the future?
After considering it for more than ten minutes, a place name gradually surfaced in Leon's mind.
Atlanta CDC.
It was the institution in this region that had conducted the deepest research into the Zombie Virus. It possessed the most advanced equipment and the most talented researchers. They had held out for more than two months during the disaster before finally being destroyed in a self-detonation after their energy ran out.
When the main cast arrived, only one researcher named Dr. Jenner was still holding the fort. His wife, a female supervisor supposedly gifted in scientific research, had already been infected in an accident. Humanity had essentially lost all hope of cracking the virus.
At this point in time, perhaps there was still hope.
That was a pretty good destination.
With that thought, the ample time he had originally possessed suddenly became urgent.
After eating and drinking his fill, Leon rested for another hour. Energy circulated continuously through his body, restoring his weakened physique to normal.
Without bothering to clear away the dishes left on the table, Leon picked up the Wolf Tooth Club, took his car keys, and left his apartment.
After today, he estimated that he would never return here again.
After stepping out of his apartment, he walked straight toward the corridor. He had gone ten meters when he stopped before a tightly closed door.
This was also Leon's neighbor, Nick, a bank employee around thirty years old. He had been fairly familiar with the original owner. According to Leon's memories, the man was a mountaineering enthusiast, and the closet in his bedroom contained a Climbing Rope dozens of meters long.
The original Leon had once thought about taking that Climbing Rope and using it to escape, but the tightly shut door and his weak body had restricted his plans.
Drawing the Browning pistol from his belt, Leon aimed the muzzle at the lock cylinder and sighed inwardly.
Times have changed, kid. The rules of civilized society don't apply anymore.
Bang!
The enormous gunshot rang in his ears, and the brass lock cylinder was instantly punched through.
Smelling the Gunpowder in the air, Leon did not dare delay. He yanked the door open and strode inside.
The instant he entered, before he had time to observe the room, Leon saw a somewhat familiar figure wobbling as it tried to climb up from the floor.
Someone climbing up from the floor—this has definitely turned into a corpse, right?
Without thinking further, Leon hurried closer. When he was about a meter away, he raised his hand, aimed at the head of the figure whose face had already twisted into a savage expression, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The corpse crumpled to the floor, yellowish-white matter oozing from beneath its chin.
With no time to bother about it, he strode over the corpse and headed straight for the open bedroom.
Once inside, Leon yanked open the closet door. Just as he had expected, a set of red-and-yellow mountaineering equipment occupied half the wardrobe.
It was a complete set: boots, a hat, rope, and a jacket. He had even found a Climbing Pick that was eighty percent new.
Time was pressing. Leon had no time to organize anything. He had to leave before the Zombies arrived.
He scooped up the equipment and ran toward his own apartment at top speed.
Less than a minute after he shut the door, dense footsteps and roars came from the corridor outside. The Zombies seemed unable to find their target. They irritably slammed into things before gradually resuming their aimless wandering.
Leon listened for a while. After detecting nothing unusual, he quietly sat back down on the sofa, removed his jeans and boots, and changed into the Climbing Boots, Climbing Pants, and Climbing Gloves.
Compared with ordinary clothing, this mountaineering equipment was tougher and more resistant to wear. In certain situations, it could even block a Zombie's attack.
Although it would be hotter, what did that matter compared with staying alive?
After changing, everything was ready. Leon tied one end of the Climbing Rope tightly around a stone pillar in the living room and threw the other end out through the living-room window.
He lived on the sixth floor, more than twenty meters above the road below. The Climbing Rope was long enough.
There were no Zombies near the road. As long as he made it back to street level, he could drive away.
Leon sighed, walked to the window, grabbed the Climbing Rope, and climbed out through the window.
This was not easy.
Having lived two lives, he had never learned to climb or used a Climbing Rope. Of course, he had also never tried smashing a Zombie's head with a Wolf Tooth Club or shooting a target's head through with a pistol.
Everything had a first time. Today, he had done many things he had never done before.
Perhaps that was simply what life was like. Many things did not give you time to prepare.
When they happened, you had to grit your teeth, summon your courage, and face them head-on.
Leon recalled scenes from other movies. He gripped the Climbing Rope tightly with both hands and wrapped his feet around it one above the other, forming a slipknot as he tried to lower himself slowly.
After fumbling around several times, he felt that he had grasped the trick. After another two minutes of coordinating his hands and feet as he moved, he was finally able to control his descent.
Slowly, he passed the fifth floor, the fourth, the third, and the second. Then Leon's feet touched the ground, and he truly returned to street level.
Phew. Luckily, I lived in the countryside when I was little. I've stolen bird eggs and climbed trees. Otherwise, getting down wouldn't have been so easy.
Leon glanced at his apartment but did not linger. He crossed the road, found the sky-blue Chevrolet sports car, inserted the key, and climbed inside.
A dozen seconds later.
Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
Amid the roar of the sports car, Leon made a sharp U-turn and drove toward the police station.
It was already past two in the afternoon. If he did not do something before sunset, everything would become much more difficult after dark.
This little newbie begs for follows and recommendations.
Before you continue