Chen Yafei

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

"Ah...!"

A young man in casual clothes was hiding in the corner, a kitchen knife in his hand, staring at him with full vigilance. Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"Ca... Camouflage uniform, the military!"

An Yang silently sized him up. He looked to be in his early twenties, wearing jeans, a black T-shirt, and running shoes, with dyed yellow hair. He was fairly handsome, but didn't seem like much of a threat.

"Finally, the military is here!"

His taut nerves instantly relaxed. He tossed the kitchen knife aside, on the verge of tears from excitement.

"You're finally here. I've been waiting for you for so long. I knew it—when it really counts, the military is the most reliable."

An Yang paused for a moment, then immediately shook his head. "No."

The young man froze. "What?"

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

Only then did the young man notice the combat blade in his hand, stained with dark red, foul-smelling blood. His heart jolted, and he hurriedly picked up the kitchen knife from the floor. "Then who are you, and why are you here!"

"This is a hotel. I opened a room here. Why can't I be here?"

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

An Yang let out a sarcastic laugh. He didn't want to waste more time arguing with him and turned to leave. "First, you need to understand—does this world even have laws anymore!"

The young man was stunned. Watching his retreating figure, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Finally, he reached out and shouted—

"Wait!"

An Yang turned around, frowning. "What is it now? You're not going to call the police, are you?"

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

An Yang said calmly, "That's only natural. But it has nothing to do with me."

The young man was taken aback again. "Uh... I've thought it over. We're both survivors. In this chaotic world, we have to help each other to survive!"

An Yang swept his gaze across the room. The shelf for extra-charge items was completely empty, and the floor was littered with snack wrappers. From that, he could tell that even if the food wasn't all gone, there was hardly any left.

But what did that have to do with him? This was the apocalypse, not a world where sympathy ran rampant.

"No need. Just take care of yourself."

The young man looked at his composed demeanor, and his face fell. "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. I can't handle them all. But I can give you a tip—every room in this hotel has food. There's also a restaurant and a tea house further back. If you're hungry, you can go get it yourself."

An Yang pulled the door open and walked out, then slammed it shut again. But just as he reached his own door, he found the young man had followed him again, his face full of pleading.

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

An Yang was about to refuse, but then he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Really, anything?"

The young man froze, his face twisting with difficulty. Then he gritted his teeth and said, "Really. Anything."

An Yang narrowed his eyes. "Even if I told you to go lure the zombies?"

The young man was stunned. "That... that..."

"Think it over. I don't need dead weight, and I don't have any goodwill to spare for keeping someone alive." An Yang lowered his head, swiped his key card to open his own door, stepped inside, and slammed it shut with a bang.

He felt a bit conflicted, a bit hesitant.

He should have been focused on the mission, not getting too involved with the survivors of this world. Two months ago, he had already thought: if the apocalypse truly came, the most dangerous thing would be human hearts, and the last thing you should have was sympathy.

But this world wasn't just about the mission. There was also the Second System. No matter how strong he was alone, crossing a zombie-infested world to reach a city over seven hundred kilometers away would require a team.

And what he was thinking about even more deeply was the value of conquering this world. If he wanted to conquer, he would need an army. In the end, it all came down to people.

Not long after, a knock interrupted his thoughts.

An Yang picked up his combat blade and walked toward the door. Through the peephole, he saw the young man from earlier standing outside with a kitchen knife, nervously glancing left and right, unable to help staring at the headless corpse lying at the corner of the hallway.

The young man was terrified. Suddenly, the door in front of him opened. He was about to step inside, but what met his eyes was a bloodstained combat blade!

"B-big brother, it's me, it's me..."

"Drop your weapon."

"Y-yes, yes..."

The young man hurriedly threw down the kitchen knife.

Only then did An Yang lower the blade and walk toward the living room without looking back. "Close the door."

The young man obediently shut the door and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Whether it was because of the apocalypse or something else, he always felt that An Yang carried a very strong presence.

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, gazing out at the apocalyptic ruins beyond the glass.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"I have." The young man nodded firmly, as if afraid An Yang wouldn't believe him, and added, "I can't survive on my own anyway. If big brother can give me a way to live, it's only right that I risk my life for you. One more day alive is one more day gained."

An Yang turned his head. "You're pretty clear-headed. Don't worry, as long as you listen, I won't let you die. What's your name?"

"My name is Chen Yafei."

"What did you do before?"

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

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

The expression on Chen Yafei's face turned a bit awkward. "I'm the eldest young master of Thunderstorm Group..."

An Yang showed a look of understanding. "Oh... a rich second generation, huh. By the way, I'm An Yang."

Perhaps due to cultural differences between worlds, Chen Yafei didn't have any particular reaction to the term "rich second generation." He said, "Hello, Brother An. Whatever you need, just say the word. From now on, you're my big brother, and I'm your little brother."

An Yang gave a noncommittal smile. "Good timing, actually. Go drag that zombie around the corner out of the hallway and toss it into another room. It's disgusting having it sit there."

"Ah...?" Chen Yafei froze, then swallowed hard. "There won't be any more zombies popping out, will there?"

"Don't worry, I've already cleared this floor."

Chen Yafei's heart trembled, but he had just made his promise, so he had no choice but to steel himself and agree.

An Yang continued to look down at the hotel below. The zombies wandering on the road seemed fewer, but that didn't mean it was safe here. They were hiding in the dark corners, waiting for a chance to devour everything.

Not long after, Chen Yafei came back. His face was pale, and there was a bit of yellow liquid at the corner of his mouth, as if he had just vomited. He said weakly, "Brother An, I didn't let you down."

An Yang nodded. "There's food on the couch. You can eat as you like, but once it's gone, we'll have to go out and find more. Understand?"

The thought of the ferocious zombies outside made Chen Yafei shiver. In the past few days, he had seen plenty of people surrounded and torn apart by zombies, presumably because they were out searching for food. He quickly said, "Understood. I'll ration the food. I'm not... not really hungry right now."

An Yang nodded, then took out a crystal-clear gem from his hand and said to him, "This is taken from a zombie's brain. Your main job from now on will be to retrieve these. Understand?"

Chen Yafei stared at the crystal in his hand in disbelief. "How is that possible? Zombies used to be people, didn't they? How could there be something like this in their brains?"

An Yang's expression darkened slightly. "You don't need to worry about that. All you need to know is that zombies have these in their brains, and you need to take them out and give them to me."

Chen Yafei shuddered again. Forgetting the disgust of handling the things, he quickly said, "No problem. I'll do it."

An Yang nodded and then ignored him.

But Chen Yafei wasn't the type to stay idle, especially in this tense apocalypse. He hadn't seen a living person in days and desperately needed to take his mind off things.

"By the way, Brother An, what did you do before?"

"Killed people."

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

"Brother An, what's the deal with these zombies? Was it that RT virus the news was talking about a while back? Is the whole world like this, or just Jianghai City?"

A faint light flickered in An Yang's eyes as he mentally noted the name Jianghai City. "I don't know anything about it either, but I think it's probably like this everywhere. The apocalypse has arrived."

Chen Yafei's face went pale as he slumped down. "The whole world! Then my parents..."

An Yang glanced at him. So he was a filial son after all. "My condolences. The world has changed. Your only job is to survive."

Suddenly, faint roars and human shouts rose from below. An Yang leaned out to look and saw a group of dozens of people charging across the street in a mighty wave, heading straight for the supermarket next to the hotel.

The group had both men and women, each carrying weapons. At the front were a middle-aged man in a police uniform and a sturdy young man in a vest, clearly the leaders.

An Yang judged at a glance: being able to rally a group in this panic-stricken apocalypse and convince them to charge at zombies meant these two must be very capable!

The zombies on the street rushed at them like they'd been injected with adrenaline, but they were quickly cut down by the larger group of survivors. However, these survivors overlooked the zombies hiding in the buildings.

From An Yang's vantage point, he could see clearly: hunched figures emerged one by one from the shops lining both sides of the street, their eyes bloodshot, roaring as they charged at the group.

The group was soon trapped, surrounded by zombies on the street, unable to advance or retreat. People were constantly being scratched, and others were dragged into the zombie horde, followed by piercing screams.

Chen Yafei swallowed hard, leaned over to take a look, then immediately averted his gaze.

PS: I'm also asking for recommendation votes.