Survivor Squad

"Damn it, why aren't they leaving? Waiting to be eaten alive?"

An Yang muttered under his breath.

His heart was tangled with hesitation, torn over whether he should step in to save them.

After all, he wasn't a warrior hardened by long struggles in the apocalypse, nor a cold-blooded killer. Watching so many survivors being torn apart and devoured by zombies—anyone would feel a pang of conscience.

Even though he'd told himself time and again not to go soft, when it came down to it, he found he couldn't detach himself, especially since this was a Natural World, not an Origin World!

"Sigh, I'll just treat it like a mission."

An Yang made up his mind, glanced at Chen Yafei, then retreated into the bedroom. When he came back out, he was carrying a long black case.

Chen Yafei's eyes went wide. "Brother An, what's that?"

An Yang ignored him, tossed the case onto the sofa, and swiftly pulled out the components of a Sniper Rifle, assembling them with practiced ease. He slid the window open, propped the rifle up, and yanked the bolt back with a sharp motion.

Click!

Chen Yafei's jaw dropped, completely stunned.

A zombie roared as it charged at the leading Vest Youth, its hooked claws swinging down, only to be knocked aside by a police officer's baton. Unfazed by the pain, it lunged again.

Suddenly—

Bang!

Its head burst open like a watermelon, white and yellow splattering all over the ground.

24/5000.

On the rooftop, An Yang worked the bolt again, training the scope on another zombie's head. With 2.0 mental power and Intermediate Firearms Mastery, he locked on instantly and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Pew!

27/5000.

He took down four zombies in a row, each time just as they were about to strike the survivors. The group finally caught on, and the Vest Youth looked up toward the hotel, spotting a glint of light from a window on the 13th floor. He froze for a moment.

"Quick! There's a hotel nearby with an iron gate—let's get inside!"

The Vest Youth shouted, thrusting his sharpened steel pipe forward with force, piercing straight through a zombie's head. He yanked it out and sprinted toward the hotel entrance.

A zombie was less than two meters away from him when its head exploded with a bang, brain matter and blood splattering all over him.

28/5000.

An Yang's brow furrowed. Through the sniper scope, he could see the survivors all flooding toward the hotel, dragging even more zombies along with them.

"Damn it!"

He cursed under his breath and pulled the trigger again.

Pew!

29/5000.

The survivors shoved and jostled their way into the hotel, scrambling over the retractable iron gate toward the lodging building. At least a hundred zombies piled up outside the gate, starting to climb over it.

At least half of them died in the process, especially while scaling the gate—over a dozen were dragged down by the pursuing zombies and devoured. There were too many zombies, and eventually, An Yang gave up on sniper support.

Ammunition was limited!

By the time zombies started trickling over the gate, the survivors had already entered the lodging building. Due to the angle, An Yang could no longer see them.

Soon, a knock came at the door.

An Yang had already stashed the sniper rifle in the bedroom and picked up his long blade, heading for the door. To his surprise, Chen Yafei grabbed a kitchen knife and followed behind him, shooting him a wary look.

Through the peephole, he saw two young thugs with tattoos. They had dyed hair too, but looked even more repulsive than Chen Yafei.

An Yang hesitated, then stood behind the door and said, "You open it."

Chen Yafei paused, then gripped the kitchen knife in one hand and the doorknob in the other, yanking it open.

A shout rang out from outside.

"Officer Liu, Brother Chang, over here!"

Chen Yafei shot a glance at An Yang and steeled himself. "Who are you people? What do you want?"

No one outside answered.

Footsteps approached, and a steady voice rang out: "Don't be nervous, little brother. You just saved us—we're here to thank you."

Chen Yafei glanced at An Yang again. "Is this how you say thanks? I've never seen such a crowd for gratitude, all armed with knives and clubs. If you weren't a cop, I'd have slammed the door shut."

An Yang's eyes narrowed.

This kid was sharp—one sentence packed a lot of info.

"Ah... sorry about that. As you probably know, we just came up from downstairs. We fought off some zombies looking for food, took heavy losses, so we're still carrying weapons. Please forgive us!"

"Come on, everyone, put your stuff down."

An Yang looked at Chen Yafei, and when he saw the kid's confirming nod, he pulled the door open with his blade in hand. The first things he saw were the Middle-aged Police Officer and the Vest Youth, with two sharpened steel pipes lying at their feet.

The Vest Youth immediately spotted the long blade in An Yang's hand, his pupils contracting sharply. The dark red bloodstains near the hilt only added to the sense of pressure.

An Yang swept a glance past the door and asked, "You didn't let any zombies in, did you?"

The Middle-aged Police Officer quickly replied, "Absolutely not. We've blocked the door completely."

An Yang nodded. "You two come in. The rest can stay out—the room's too small."

The Middle-aged Police Officer caught on at once and said to the crowd behind him, "Everyone wait outside. We'll be out soon."

Once the two stepped into the room, Chen Yafei smartly closed the door and locked it behind them.

The Middle-aged Police Officer and the Vest Youth paused in their steps but said nothing. As soon as they entered the living room, they noticed the pile of food on the table. They swallowed hard—they hadn't eaten all day—but forced themselves to look away.

"Little brothers, I'm Liu Chengjun, director of the Dajie Street Police Station in Jianghai City. This is my friend and companion, Chang Hui. Thank you both for saving our lives."

"My name is An Yang. This is my companion, Chen Yafei."

An Yang sized them up. Liu Chengjun carried an air of integrity, while Chang Hui was built with solid muscle, his back ramrod straight, exuding a strong military bearing. An Yang himself had once walked a deeply ingrained path as a soldier, so he recognized that feeling well.

"So you're Little Brother An Yang and Little Brother Chen Yafei. Thank you again for saving our lives."

"No need for thanks. Your friend's got good skills—special forces, right?"

"Good eye. Chang Hui is indeed a special forces soldier. He just got leave from the army to come back and get married. Didn't expect to run into something like this. Bad luck, really."

An Yang had a favorable impression of the two, thanks to how they'd held the front line against the zombies. He nodded in agreement. "Who can you blame? The world's changed."

Liu Chengjun sighed, seeing the situation clearly. "Isn't that the truth. The world changed in an instant. Everywhere you look, there are man-eating monsters. Half the people die just trying to find food. Who knows how long we'll last."

An Yang glanced at him sideways and asked, "Director Liu, any plans?"

"The police station's gone. The common folk have turned into monsters. What director is there anymore?" Liu Chengjun sighed again. "We're planning to head to Pingnan City. There's a military base there. It should offer us shelter."

"Pingnan City? Which direction?"

"One look and I can tell Little Brother An Yang isn't a local. Pingnan City is the capital of Xuechuan Province, to the northeast. Will you come with us, Little Brother An Yang?"

"Oh... northeast. Forget it. I'm not interested."

The Second System displayed on his phone pointed southwest, the exact opposite direction. Otherwise, he might have borrowed their strength.

"I see. That's fine, then. We'll take our leave. You two saved all our lives. If you need anything, just say the word. No need to be polite."

An Yang said, "I don't have any other requests. It's fate that we've all ended up here. You can stay in this building, but you'd better keep your people in line. I'm easily spooked, I don't like strangers, and I'm quick to lose my temper."

Liu Chengjun paused for a moment, then nodded. "No problem."

Chang Hui hadn't said a word the entire time, his gaze fixed on the long blade leaning against the wall.

Only after the two had walked out the door did Chang Hui speak. "Brother Liu, this An Yang is no ordinary man."

"I can see that. Where would an ordinary person get a sniper rifle? He's probably a desperado or a professional killer. But with man-eating monsters everywhere now, dwelling on his past identity is pointless. Even if the law still existed, we couldn't do anything to him. And he did save our lives, no question."

"I didn't mean anything else. Just that we should be careful around him from now on."

"Yeah."

As they spoke, a shifty-eyed young man walked over from the side. "Director Liu, Brother Chang, the guys have already forced the door open. We're waiting for you."

Chang Hui picked up a steel pipe from the ground. "Good. All the men, follow me. Grab your weapons. There might be zombies in the room!"

Soon, a dozen young men armed with clubs and machetes gathered outside a door. One of them suddenly kicked it open, and the group braced themselves for a fight.

The door swung open. Not a sound. But everyone's eyes went wide!

Inside lay three corpses. Their skin, covered in bulging veins, marked them as zombies. But every single one had been cleanly decapitated, blackened blood splattered across the entire wall!

Liu Chengjun's heart pounded with shock!

Chang Hui was equally stunned!

These three zombies had been killed with a cold weapon. The two immediately thought of An Yang's battle blade. But how strong would someone have to be to take on three zombies with just a knife?

This wasn't a sci-fi movie or a martial arts film!

By then, someone was already vomiting uncontrollably, the air thick with the smell of stomach acid.

Liu Chengjun forced down his discomfort and said, "The zombies have been cleared. Everyone go in and look around. See if there's any food left."

The group steeled themselves and stepped into the room. All they saw were three split-open skulls, yellow-black brain matter inside, and blood everywhere. Even Liu Chengjun couldn't hold it in anymore. He leaned against the wall and started retching.

Soon after—

"Brother Liu, most of the food's been taken. Not a single bottle of water left. There's a bit of snacks, but it won't fill anyone up."

"Yeah, they must have taken it all. What do we do?"

"What else can we do? Search downstairs. Even if they hadn't taken it, there's not enough for all of us anyway!"