Chen Yafei

As soon as the door opened, An Yang heard a scream.

"Ah...!"

A young man in casual clothes was cowering in the corner with a kitchen knife in his hand, watching him with extreme vigilance before his eyes suddenly widened.

"Ca... Camouflage, the military!"

An Yang silently looked him over. He was only in his early twenties, dressed in jeans, a black T-shirt, and running shoes. He had dyed yellow hair and was quite handsome, but didn't look very threatening.

"The military is finally here!"

His tense nerves suddenly relaxed as he dropped the kitchen knife and nearly cried with excitement.

"You're finally here. I've been waiting for you for a long time. I just knew the military would be the most reliable at a time like this."

An Yang paused, then immediately shook his head and said, "No."

The young man was stunned. "What?"

An Yang glanced down at his camouflage uniform and repeated, "I'm not the military."

Only then did the young man notice the tactical blade in An Yang's hand, which was stained with dark red, foul-smelling blood. A jolt of panic hit him, and he quickly picked up the kitchen knife from the floor. "Then who are you, and why are you here!"

"This is a hotel. I rented a room here, so why can't I be here?"

The young man said, "But this is my room! You came in without knocking, and this... this kind of behavior is illegal!"

An Yang gave a sarcastic laugh, unwilling to drag the conversation out any further, and turned to walk away. "First you need to realize whether there's even any law left in this world!"

The young man froze. Watching An Yang's retreating back with a flurry of thoughts flashing through his mind, he finally reached out and shouted—

"Wait!"

An Yang turned around, frowning as he asked, "What is it now? You don't still want to call the police, do you?"

The young man waved his hands repeatedly. "No... no, I'm sorry, I'm just very nervous."

An Yang said calmly, "Understandable, but it has nothing to do with me."

The young man froze again. "Uh... I've been thinking about it. We're both survivors; only by helping each other can we survive in this chaotic world!"

An Yang glanced around the room. The shelves meant for minibar purchases were completely empty, and the floor was littered with snack wrappers, making it safe to assume that the food was mostly, if not entirely, gone.

Yet what did that have to do with him? This was the apocalypse, not a world overflowing with sympathy.

"There's no need. Just looking after yourself is enough."

Seeing An Yang's composure, the young man's expression turned bitter. "Big Brother, I'm begging you, please help me! Do you have any food? Otherwise I'm going to starve to death."

"There are too many people in this world who need help right now, and I can't look after them all. But I can give you a hint: there's food in every room of this hotel, and further down there's a restaurant and a teahouse. If you're hungry, you can go get it yourself."

An Yang pulled open the door and stepped out, slamming it shut behind him. But just as he reached his own door, he found the young man following right behind him, a pleading look on his face.

"Big Brother, save me! If I step out that door, I'll definitely die. As long as you save me, I'll be your underling. I'll do whatever you want."

An Yang was about to refuse, but he suddenly hesitated and asked, "Anything?"

The young man was stunned, a conflicted expression on his face, before he gritted his teeth and said, "Really. Anything."

An Yang narrowed his eyes and asked, "Even if I sent you out to lure zombies?"

The young man froze. "Th... this..."

"Think it over. I don't need dead weight, and I don't have any kindness to spare to feed a freeloading person." An Yang lowered his head, swiped open his door, stepped inside, and slammed it shut.

He felt somewhat conflicted and hesitant.

He should have focused on his mission and avoided interacting too much with the survivors of this world. He had realized two months ago that if the end of the world truly arrived, human nature would be the most dangerous thing, and sympathy was the last thing one should have.

Yet this world was about more than just the mission; it also had the Second System. No matter how strong he was alone, it would be difficult to cross the zombie-infested world to reach a city over seven hundred kilometers away. That would require a team.

What he was considering on a deeper level, however, was the world's value for conquest. To conquer it, he would need an army—which ultimately meant people.

Before long, a round of knocking interrupted his thoughts.

An Yang hoisted his tactical blade and walked toward the door. Through the peephole, he saw the young man from earlier standing outside with a kitchen knife, nervously looking left and right, occasionally casting fearful glances at the headless corpse lying around the corner.

The young man was scared out of his wits, but suddenly the door in front of him opened. He was about to rush inside when a blood-stained tactical blade came into view!

"Bro... Big Brother, it's me, it's me..."

"Drop your weapon."

"Ye-yes, yes..."

The young man quickly dropped the kitchen knife.

Only then did An Yang lower his tactical blade and walk back into the living room, saying without looking back, "Close the door."

Obediently, the young man shut the door and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Whether due to the apocalypse or something else, he always felt that An Yang's aura was intensely intimidating.

The sofa in the living room had already been moved in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. An Yang walked over and sat down on it, looking out through the glass at the ruined, apocalyptic landscape.

"Have you thought it through?"

"I have." The young man nodded firmly. Seeming afraid that An Yang wouldn't believe him, he added, "I wouldn't survive out there anyway. Big Brother, if you give me a way to live, it's only natural for me to risk my life for you. Living one extra day counts as one."

An Yang turned his head. "You've got some sense, at least. Don't worry, as long as you obey, I won't let you die. What's your name?"

"My name is Chen Yafei."

"What did you do originally?"

Chen Yafei paused. "Uh... my dad is the CEO of the Thunderstorm Group."

An Yang frowned. "I asked what you did."

The expression on Chen Yafei's face became somewhat awkward as he said, "I'm the young master of the Thunderstorm Group..."

An Yang wore a knowing expression. "Oh... a rich second-generation heir, huh? By the way, my name is An Yang."

Perhaps due to cultural differences between worlds, Chen Yafei didn't seem to feel any particular way about the term "rich second-generation heir," instead saying, "Hello, Brother An. Just give the orders whenever you need anything. From now on, you're my big brother, and I'm your underling."

An Yang smiled noncommittally and said, "As it happens, I do have something for you. Go throw the zombie around the corner into one of the other rooms. Leaving it in the hallway is disgusting."

"Ah...?" Chen Yafei froze, then swallowed hard. "Won't there be more zombies popping out?"

"Rest assured, I've already cleared this floor."

Though panic gripped his heart, Chen Yafei had just made a guarantee moments ago, leaving him with no choice but to bite the bullet and accept.

An Yang turned his gaze back down to the area below the hotel. The zombies roaming the highway seemed fewer in number, but that didn't mean it was safe here; they were simply hiding in dark corners, waiting for the right moment to devour everything.

Shortly afterward, Chen Yafei returned. His face was pale, and the corners of his mouth were stained with some yellow liquid—he seemed to have just vomited. He said weakly, "Brother An, I have successfully fulfilled the mission."

An Yang nodded. "There's food on the sofa. Help yourself, but as soon as you're done eating, we have to head out and search. Do you understand?"

At the mere thought of the ferocious zombies outside, Chen Yafei shuddered. Over the past few days, he had seen quite a few people surrounded and torn apart by zombies—presumably most of them had been out looking for food. He quickly said, "Understood. I'll ration the food; I'm... I'm not very hungry right now."

An Yang nodded and produced a crystal-clear crystal from his hand, saying to him, "This is taken from the brains of zombies. Your main task from now on will be to harvest these. Do you understand?"

Staring at the crystal in his hand, Chen Yafei said in disbelief, "How is that possible? Aren't zombies people who mutated? How could there be such a thing in their brains?"

An Yang's expression darkened slightly. "You don't need to worry about that. You just need to know that these exist inside the zombies' brains, and your job is to extract them and give them to me."

Chen Yafei shuddered again, and pushing aside the disgust of harvesting such an item, he quickly said, "No problem, I'll definitely do it."

An Yang nodded and left him alone.

Chen Yafei, however, had a restless personality, especially in this stressful apocalypse. Having gone several days without seeing a living person, he desperately needed a distraction.

"Right, Brother An, what line of work are you in?"

"I kill people."

"Ah... an assassin? No wonder you're so strong!"

"Brother An, what do you think is going on with these zombies? Could it be the RT virus outbreak reported in the news a while ago? Has the whole world turned out like this, or is it just Jianghai City?"

A faint glint flickered in An Yang's eyes as he mentally noted the name Jianghai City. He said, "I know nothing about these matters either, but I assume the whole world is like this. The apocalypse has arrived."

Chen Yafei collapsed onto his seat with a pale face. "The whole world is like this?! Then my parents..."

An Yang glanced at him, surprised to find that he was actually a filial son. "Condolences. The times have changed; what you need to do now is survive."

Suddenly, a faint roar echoed from below, accompanied by shouts from humans. An Yang leaned forward to look and saw a team of several dozen people charging valiantly across the street, heading straight for the supermarket next to the hotel.

The group consisted of both men and women, all armed. At the very front were a middle-aged man in police uniform and a muscular young man wearing a tank top, clearly the leaders.

An Yang deduced at a glance that anyone who could rally a crowd in this panic-stricken apocalypse and persuade them to charge at zombies must possess formidable capabilities!

The zombies on the street lunged at them like they had been pumped full of adrenaline, only to be quickly cut down by the numerically superior survivors. However, those survivors overlooked the zombies hiding within the buildings.

From An Yang's angle, the view was crystal clear: hunchbacked figures were emerging from various shops on both sides of the street, their eyes glowing red as they roared and charged toward the crowd.

The group quickly fell into a passive position, trapped by zombies on the street with no way forward or back. People were constantly being clawed, and one after another was dragged into the zombie horde amidst shrill, piercing screams.

Chen Yafei swallowed hard, peeked over to take a look, and immediately pulled his gaze back.

PS: I'm also asking for recommendation votes.