Infection

On the third day of coming to the Apocalypse World, which was also the sixth day of the RT virus outbreak, adaptable survivors had just managed to resist the fear in their hearts. They were far from accustomed to the cruel apocalypse, and precisely because of this, a shred of conscience was able to be preserved in people's hearts. At least they still regarded themselves as human beings, and at least some people still had hope in their hearts.

Liu Chengjun seemed to recognize his strength and came once again to persuade him to go to Pingnan City together, listing various reasons, but he was still refused by An Yang.

After simply eating breakfast, An Yang glanced over the room and finally uninstalled a metal table leg. It resembled a thin steel pipe, about a meter long, and he tossed it to Chen Yafei.

"We're going to clear the rooms on the twelfth floor. This steel pipe is for you to protect yourself. Right, remember what your task is."

Chen Yafei caught the steel pipe, his face pale, and he gritted his teeth. He then pulled two kitchen knives from the kitchen to tuck into his waist and followed An Yang outside.

When they reached the twelfth floor, Liu Chengjun's survivor team was clearing rooms and attempting to obtain necessities such as food and fresh water from them, along with weapons like table legs and kitchen knives, of course.

Their tactics were quite interesting. Two people hoisted a tempered glass table to block the doorway while prying open the room's door. When a zombie emerged, it would be blocked by the tempered glass table, and the remaining person would take a sharpened steel pipe and ruthlessly smash the zombie's head.

Overall, their coordination was very good!

Liu Chengjun wrapped himself tightly in a thick down jacket. Two tattooed youths gripped the table legs, pressing the tempered glass table against the doorway. A zombie caught sight of them and immediately rushed over, only to be firmly blocked by the transparent glass table. With its intelligence, it could only wave its claws constantly, but its hands were simply not as long as the table legs.

It was evident that Liu Chengjun had received a certain amount of combat training, and his force-exerting technique was very precise. He abruptly raised the steel pipe and thrust it diagonally downward into the zombie's face, splashing a puddle of fishy, foul-smelling blood.

"Ah... Pfft!"

The zombie collapsed, and Liu Chengjun also let out a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his face, and upon turning his head, he caught sight of An Yang at the stairwell. His eyes widened as he said, "An Yang, Chen Yafei, you guys are—?"

An Yang withdrew his gaze and said with a smile, "Since we're idling about, I brought Yafei out to gain some experience."

Liu Chengjun was stunned. From An Yang's tone, he could not detect any sense of tension regarding being in the apocalyptic era, and he couldn't help but wryly smile as he said, "You guys really are idle."

An Yang gave a nod. "You guys get back to work. We're heading to the eleventh floor to see if we can find anything to eat."

Liu Chengjun looked at the polished combat saber gleaming in his hand, then glanced at Chen Yafei, who exuded an utter lack of presence, and couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath. For a moment, he was utterly at a loss for words.

Judging by An Yang's posture, he intended to clear an entire floor alone with a single saber. This kind of confidence and strength was truly astonishing!

Descending to the eleventh floor, the hallway lights had lost power, and only the emergency safety lights still cast a greenish glow, making it look exceptionally eerie.

An Yang handed the Master Key Card to Chen Yafei and said, "The room corridors are too narrow, so I can't maneuver. You take this to open the door. If there's a zombie in the living room, lure it out, and leave the rest to me!"

Chen Yafei took a deep breath, countless scenarios of what would happen shortly flashing through his mind in an instant, including how he should dodge and how to resist zombies. He accepted the room card and nodded solemnly.

An Yang suddenly smiled, raising his combat saber to say, "Don't put on such a battle-bound posture. If you run into a zombie, just run. Remember not to run toward my side. If there's only one zombie, it's fine, but if you encounter two or three, you'd better lead it to the other side so I can launch a sneak attack from behind."

Chen Yafei's lips were somewhat dry as he asked, "Then what if I run into four or five?"

An Yang was very calm. "Then close the door."

Chen Yafei nodded solemnly, walked outside the first room door, cast a look at him, and gradually pressed the room card against the sensor area.

An Yang raised his combat saber and stood against the wall on the other side.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

The door suddenly opened.

Chen Yafei stared into the room with a nervous expression, the calves of his legs already starting to tremble, yet he saw nothing. Not daring to confirm whether any zombies were lurking, he swallowed hard and shouted inside once more.

"Um... Open sesame."

There was still no movement inside, but a few low roars came from a room next door, as if some zombies had heard the commotion outside.

A few black lines appeared on An Yang's forehead, but he also knew there were no zombies in the room. He lowered his combat saber and nodded at him.

Although this kid was a bit timid, his personality was quite good; he was neither pampered nor arrogant, and mainly, he was smart. His ability to adapt to changing circumstances was decent, and up until now, he hadn't dropped the ball.

Chen Yafei instantly let out a sigh of relief, his face already covered in sweat. He supported himself on the doorknob and nearly collapsed weakly to the ground.

An Yang walked into the room. The rooms on this floor were also suites, but they lacked independent kitchens, and other facilities were not as luxurious as the suite on the thirteenth floor, though they were much better than ordinary hotels.

"Scavenge through it, take away anything edible, and take away anything useful."

"Okay!"

Chen Yafei recovered slightly, sweeping the food in the living room into his backpack. An Yang began to clear the two bedrooms, having to thump the doors loudly each time to make sure there were no zombies inside before daring to open them.

Leaving this room, the backpack was already more than half full, and the two of them set their sights next door.

Chen Yafei inevitably still felt nervous, but this time was somewhat better than before. With it already confirmed that there were zombies inside, his heart had at least lost some apprehension and fear of the unknown.

The room door was pushed open once more, and two muffled low roars came from inside.

Chen Yafei's eyes widened instantly, but he hadn't reached the point of being at a loss what to do. He even stood in place and gestured the number two to An Yang before starting to run toward the other side.

And by this time, the zombies had already rushed to the doorway.

"Roar!"

Almost the second after he turned and fled, a tall male zombie and a female zombie rushed out of the room one after another. Because their line of sight had been locked onto him, they headed straight for him almost without looking aside.

Yet An Yang's speed was even faster. He chased after the female zombie in a few strides, directly decapitated her with a single slash, and continued running forward.

Chen Yafei was tall and thin, and his running speed was not slow, but the tall male zombie was even faster, and the distance between the two rapidly closed.

Until a spray of fresh blood was unleashed, the tall male zombie's head soared into the sky and crashed to the ground with a thud.

Chen Yafei finally stopped, collapsing weakly onto the ground and propping up his upper body with his hands.

"Hah..."

Just now, he could already hear the wind and low roars behind his back, feeling as though that zombie was about to catch up to him. He could only run forward for his life, his mind even going completely blank, and he still hadn't recovered from it.

"Take a rest. Once you've rested enough, get to work." An Yang flicked the blood off the blade, narrowing his eyes as he spoke.

Chen Yafei looked at him limply, then lowered his head to gaze at the headless zombie twenty-odd meters away, its carotid artery and blood vessels clearly visible. His eyes widened, and with a gag of "wa," he threw up.

When he recovered his wits, nothing remained except astonishment and worship.

These zombies did not move sluggishly, yet they were beheaded with a single slash. Such a scene was still quite impactful.

Glancing at the zombie on the ground, his face turned pale once more, but he had to bite the bullet, draw his kitchen knife, and hack toward the zombie's head with clenched teeth.

An Yang watched him with a slight frown. He couldn't completely ignore such a scene either, but he at least possessed some resilience.

"Careful, don't get scratched by their skulls; you might get infected."

"O-Okay... Ugh..."

When Chen Yafei couldn't even vomit up any more bile, he finally retrieved two crystals, wiped them clean, stuffed them into his pocket, and breathed heavily, his face resembling a sheet of blank paper.

"An... Brother An, let's continue."

By noon, aside from a suite that looked like it had been hosting a party, the two of them had cleared out the eleventh floor, and a large pile of extra food had accumulated in their room.

Chen Yafei was no longer all that afraid when facing zombies, and digging out their skulls to search for crystals no longer made him vomit. His adaptability was terrifyingly strong, which perhaps also had to do with the fact that there was nothing left in his stomach to throw up.

Returning to the room, Chen Yafei went to the washroom to wash his hands, incidentally cleaning the crystals until they gleamed, and placed them on the coffee table one by one.

"Brother An, there are seventeen in total."

An Yang nodded and took them.

Chen Yafei gazed at these sparkling and translucent objects, hesitating endlessly.

"Brother An, what's the use of you taking these crystals? Could it be that this thing is edible?"

"Do you want to taste some?"

"Uh... Will eating this turn you into a zombie, or give you super strength or something?"

"I don't know, but you can give it a try. Once you eat it, I'll know."

"Uh... I'd better pass."

"It's fine. Just tell me whenever you want to eat one. I also want to see whether eating this thing turns you into a zombie or grants any special abilities."

"Um... I've suddenly lost interest in it."

When the two of them stepped outside again, they heard sounds of weeping and crying coming from the survivor team. An Yang stood in place to listen for a moment; it seemed someone had been scratched by a zombie, yet hadn't been eaten by it.

Some advocated executing him to give him a merciful end, while others sympathized with him—or were simply his friends and relatives—and believed he might not necessarily turn into zombies, as everyone might face this day themselves, so it was better to give him a chance.

In the end, Liu Chengjun's decision was to lock him alone in a room. If he hadn't turned into a zombie by the next day, they would let him go; if he did turn into a zombie...

An Yang didn't pay excessive attention to it, merely feeling somewhat curious, and continued downstairs to clear and inspect, incidentally sweeping up supplies and acquiring crystals.

Chen Yafei's adaptability was truly strong. In less half a day, he had completely mastered the technique of luring zombies, and sometimes even dared to maneuver with zombies using the steel pipe. Although his face would still turn pale when retrieving crystals, he never vomited again.

Originally, with his presence, An Yang only had to reduce a great deal of danger when clearing zombies, but now, even his speed had increased significantly.

Less than an hour later, when the two returned carrying a backpack stuffed full of food, that unfortunate member of the survivor team had already transformed into a zombie and been executed by Liu Chengjun and the others, leaving a group of people close to him in low spirits.

Only then did An Yang truly and definitively confirm that getting scratched by a zombie really resulted in infection!

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