Seeing Li Xuyang falling behind, Zhao Tianlei stopped and said to him, "What? Can't carry it anymore? How about we switch? You carry the backpack, and I'll carry your sister."
However, Li Xuyang stubbornly said, "I... I'm fine. I can still keep going."
Zhao Tianlei curled his lips. "Keep pretending. If you're not tired, then we'll walk for another hour. After that, we'll look for somewhere to stay. In the meantime, be careful not to fall behind. Otherwise, once those zombies surround you, they'll chew you up until not even your bones are left."
"..."
After hearing Zhao Tianlei's words, the corner of Li Xuyang's mouth twitched. He immediately said, "I think it's getting late anyway. There's no point in walking much farther. Why don't we find somewhere nearby to rest?"
Seeing him still trying to act tough, Zhao Tianlei said irritably, "Keep pretending, you 2B pencil. If you can't go on, say so ahead of time instead of forcing yourself. Things aren't like they used to be. Walking until you collapse from exhaustion now is just asking to die. If you want to survive in this apocalypse, you have to preserve enough stamina. Otherwise, if you run out of strength and happen to be surrounded by zombies, forget killing them—you won't even have the strength to run. Wouldn't that just be throwing your life away?"
At first, Li Xuyang had indeed been somewhat unwilling to admit defeat. Although carrying his sister's corpse was heavy, in his eyes, Zhao Tianlei was also carrying such a large backpack. Later, when he saw Cheng Yao getting tired, Zhao Tianlei had carried her backpack as well, while also holding a heavy fire axe in one hand.
Yet after walking all this way, Zhao Tianlei did not seem tired in the slightest. Seeing this, Li Xuyang refused to lose and kept gritting his teeth, forcing himself onward. What he did not know was that Zhao Tianlei was no longer an ordinary human. He was now an evolver. After evolving, not only had his strength, defense, and agility improved, but even his stamina was much greater than before.
Actually, Li Xuyang was not unwilling to admit defeat. He had only just begun following Zhao Tianlei and did not want to hold him back. However, after Zhao Tianlei's lecture, Li Xuyang was still deeply grateful. After all, every word Zhao Tianlei had told him was a lesson in surviving the apocalypse.
"Thank you." After digesting Zhao Tianlei's words, Li Xuyang spoke in a low voice.
"Thank me for what? We're teammates, so there's no need to be polite." After saying this, Zhao Tianlei gave Li Xuyang a faint smile. He then stood in the middle of the road and began observing the nearby buildings.
As Zhao Tianlei watched, Cheng Yao pointed at a luxurious office building across the street, located at an intersection, and said, "Tianlei, look at that building across the street. It should be an office building for a company. Such a luxurious office building must have some executives' offices inside. Those offices all have luxurious facilities, so it should be very safe to stay there."
Zhao Tianlei smiled and said, "The offices of executives at a major company are certainly luxurious, and the doors are sturdy too. Even if zombies showed up, they should be able to withstand their attacks. But don't forget, that office building is so tall and located in such a prime area. How many employees must be inside? If the apocalypse broke out and those people were fine, that would be one thing. But if they were all infected when it began, then it would be a classic zombie nest. By then, instead of saying you're going there to sleep in the boss's bed, you might as well say you're going there to feed the zombies."
After he finished speaking, Cheng Yao made a face and stuck out her tongue.
Then Zhao Tianlei pointed at a budget hotel in front of them and said, "Look. Compared with that, a budget hotel like this is much more suitable. Normally, if there aren't many guests, there will only be the receptionist at the front desk and one cleaner on each floor. Even during peak periods, there will be at most one or two guests in each room. As long as we're lucky enough not to pick a room with a zombie inside, staying there for one night won't be a problem. Besides, these budget hotels have all the necessary facilities—plenty of hot water and electricity. We can eat some instant noodles and take hot showers tonight. It'll be perfectly fine."
Neither of them could disagree with Zhao Tianlei, so they followed him inside at once. Zhao Tianlei walked in front with the fire axe, Cheng Yao walked in the middle, and the watermelon knife had already been handed to Li Xuyang, who brought up the rear. In Zhao Tianlei's view, asking a weak woman like Cheng Yao to face a zombie was too much. Forget giving her a watermelon knife—even if she had Guan Yu's massive blade, she might not be able to hack a zombie to death. If she panicked and accidentally injured one of their own, that would be disastrous. It was better to give the knife to Li Xuyang.
After the three entered the lobby, the entire place was silent. Yet within that silence was a faint sound. It seemed to be chewing. Cheng Yao and Li Xuyang could not help getting goosebumps, clearly realizing that a zombie was hiding somewhere in the darkness and gnawing on something.
Timid by nature, Cheng Yao immediately grabbed the corner of Zhao Tianlei's clothes and said nervously, "Tianlei, what do we do? There are zombies here. Should we leave quickly while they haven't noticed us?"
"What's there to be afraid of? It's just a lone zombie. We'll kill it if there's one."
After saying this, Zhao Tianlei glanced at Li Xuyang. "Hey, Little Chestnut, if you're scared, stay here and look after the girl for me. I'll clear out the zombies here."
The moment he finished speaking, before Li Xuyang could react, Zhao Tianlei walked over to an iron trash bin. He grabbed it with one hand and hurled it forcefully at the opposite wall. The trash bin struck the wall with a tremendous crash. In the empty, silent lobby, the sound was especially terrifying.
Faced with Zhao Tianlei's abnormal behavior, Cheng Yao and Li Xuyang both froze, clearly unable to understand what he was up to. Anyone else would have been eager to stay quiet and avoid making any noise, but this man had brazenly created a disturbance. Was he not afraid of attracting zombies?
"Ugh..." Perhaps to prove their worries justified, a terrifying sound rang out. A swaying figure appeared at one side of the corridor and staggered into the lobby. It was clearly an adult zombie. Judging from its clothes, it was obviously the security guard of this budget hotel. After hearing someone making trouble, the security guard zombie had been drawn over.
"Good grief. Don't tell me you're unhappy because you saw me causing trouble." Seeing the security guard zombie enter, Zhao Tianlei rolled up his sleeves, gripped the fire axe, and prepared to step forward.
"Ugh, ugh..."
However, before Zhao Tianlei could attack and eliminate the security guard zombie, two more sounds suddenly rang out and attracted the three people's attention. Two female zombies emerged from beneath the counter at the front desk. Their mouths were stained bright red with blood. Clearly, they had been hiding beneath the counter and feeding just now. After Zhao Tianlei interrupted them, they had come out in displeasure.
Before you continue