Human Nature

"Team Leader Lin!"

As Lin An fell unconscious, Zhang Tie's heart sank.

Bitterness and despair.

He could feel the faint but steady breath that had originally lingered in Lin An's body vanish in an instant.

In its place came a faint Death Intent and a sense of decay.

Team Leader Lin probably couldn't hold on any longer.

As far as he could tell, Lin An no longer had the strength to suppress the Zombie Virus.

If he hadn't still been able to sense the faint breathing behind him, he would have thought Lin An was already dead.

What should he do?

What should I do!?

Zhang Tie's eyes were bloodshot, his teeth clenched tightly. The Bandaged Girl hanging in front of him and the bag packed with medicine swayed.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something.

The scene he had witnessed when he found the unconscious Bandaged Girl appeared before his eyes.

Beside the dim medicine cabinet, various empty medicine packets were scattered all over the floor around the girl.

The girl might have been infected with the virus as well, yet she had remained conscious until she passed out.

Medicine?

He hurriedly glanced at the bag of medicine in front of him.

Perhaps Team Leader Lin could also rely on medicine to hold on, and avoid becoming a Zombie?!

Then.

Faster, faster!

Perhaps there was still a way to save Team Leader Lin if he took him back to the hotel for treatment!?

The hospital entrance.

The Corpse Snake spine in Zhang Tie's hands moved more and more slowly, and his footsteps dragged.

The Bear Transformation state had already ended. Forcing the skill open had completely exhausted his Mental Strength, and extreme weakness filled his limbs.

The effect of the Potion had also ended. After fighting one battle after another without rest, his stamina had likewise reached its limit.

No matter how strong he was, he was ultimately only a Tier 0 Awakened.

At his core, he was still human.

Zhang Tie's trembling wrist swung the Bone Whip as if he were shooing away flies.

With his strength greatly reduced, he could now only barely keep the Zombie Crowd from surging up to him.

He was soaked through.

Lin An and the Bandaged Girl, who had originally felt as light as feathers, now weighed a thousand pounds under his exhausted body.

Clenching his teeth, Zhang Tie could only charge toward the hotel.

Once he got inside, he would be safe.

The first floor of the hotel had already been completely blocked off, and Zombies couldn't get in.

"Old Huang!"

"Uncle!"

"Throw down the rope!"

He tore at his throat and shouted from afar toward the damaged windowsill on the hotel's second floor, signaling the people hiding inside to lower a rope and pull him up.

The second floor, which he could have easily jumped onto before, was now completely beyond his ability.

"Brother Zhang!"

On the second floor, the crowd panicked as they looked at the Zombie Crowd behind Zhang Tie.

"What happened to them?"

"Brother Lin seems to be injured!"

"He's carrying something too. It's wrapped head to toe in bandages. It looks like a person!"

"Blood, so much blood! Brother Lin seems seriously hurt!"

"Stop yelling! Hurry and help me lower the rope to pull them up!"

Beside the collapsed window.

The middle-aged man called Uncle looked anxious. He was one of Zhang Tie's relatives.

He was getting on in years, and his wrinkled face and trembling hands gripped a hemp rope.

There was no way he could pull up the weight of three people by himself.

"Hurry! Give me a hand!"

He repeatedly urged several young men on the second floor to help.

Not far away, Zhang Tie was surrounded by a sea of black Zombies, like a small boat in the ocean that could be swallowed up at any moment.

However, the crowd suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

After a while.

A bespectacled, middle-aged man who looked like an office worker spoke softly:

"Look at their clothes. They're torn, and they're covered in blood."

"Brother Zhang and Brother Lin may have been infected."

His eyes flickered, and his expression was somewhat uneasy.

"That's true. I noticed that too."

Director Wang suddenly stepped out from the ninth floor and habitually cleared his throat.

"Everyone, surely you've all seen or heard that infected people will turn into Zombies."

"Right now."

"These two people—no, all three of them—look injured. So who can guarantee they haven't been infected?"

"There are so many of us here. If they come up and suddenly turn into Zombies, who will take responsibility?"

"We mustn't sacrifice everything for a small gain and invite a wolf into the house!"

Wang Jianguo remained composed. Over the past two days, he had made his identity known to all the survivors.

As the person with the highest social "status" in the entire group, many of the office workers and students who hadn't changed their way of thinking yet followed his lead.

When the crowd saw someone voice what they had been thinking, many of them began agreeing.

Selfishness and self-interest—human nature on display.

Wang Jianguo looked at Lin An, who was unconscious and whose life or death was unknown behind Zhang Tie, and a twisted sense of delight rose in his heart.

Heh, idiot.

Did you really think being strong made you invincible? You went out once and still ended up becoming a Zombie.

Wouldn't it have been better to honestly protect me and wait for the army to rescue us?

Young people. They have no brains and no idea how high the sky is or how deep the earth.

"Who the hell are you calling a wolf!"

One of the men from Zhang Tie's team glared furiously at Director Wang.

"Zhang Tie and Lin An are both still fine!"

"Don't forget who saved you!"

"You ungrateful bastards!"

Wang Jianguo's gaze turned cold after being cursed at, but he did not curse back.

Trading insults back and forth was something only brainless people at the bottom would do.

Having spent many years immersed in officialdom, he naturally knew what truly mattered.

The second floor was now divided into three groups. One was the office workers and students led by him, another was the team Zhang Tie had brought, and the remaining few belonged to a wavering faction.

He had thought everything through clearly during the day.

The hotel was safe now, and Lin An had cleared out all the Zombies.

There was water and food.

And the army would definitely come to rescue them!

If they wanted to live, all they had to do was stay here!

In contrast, Lin An, whom he had previously wanted to recruit and have protect him, was the truly unstable factor.

Someone capable of killing everyone yet beyond his control was simply too dangerous.

Besides, Lin An had very likely been infected with the virus. For either reason, he would never allow Lin An back into the hotel.

Lin An had to die, and Zhang Tie preferably should too!

Now Zhang Tie was about to lose his Combat Power, while Lin An was unconscious and unresponsive.

If he didn't take advantage of such a perfect opportunity, wouldn't that be a waste?

Wang Jianguo wore a grief-stricken expression, as if his heart were breaking.

"Everyone, it's not that we don't want to let them in."

"It's just, can you guarantee they won't turn into Zombies after they come in!?"

"Who will take responsibility if something goes wrong! You? Or you!"

Wang Jianguo pointed righteously at the people Zhang Tie had brought, his gaze stern.

"I'm only thinking of everyone. How could I not want to save Lin An? He saved my life too!"

Wang Jianguo sighed softly, but inwardly he sneered.

Occupying the moral high ground of supposedly thinking about everyone was far more effective at stopping Zhang Tie from entering than cursing back.

Seeing Zhang Tie's flushed Uncle at a loss for how to respond, his heart filled with delight.

For a little nobody like you, wouldn't it be easy for me to play you to death?

The crowd fell into a quandary.

People were selfish and naturally thought of themselves, so they didn't want Lin An to come in.

However, Lin An had, after all, saved their lives. If they spoke up against him, wouldn't that make them look heartless?

The apocalypse had only just begun, and many people still couldn't ignore the judgment of others.

Besides, if Lin An and Zhang Tie really were fine, they might still need the two of them to protect them later.

The Zombies were too terrifying. Not one person present had the courage to face them alone.

Arguments and shoving.

Everyone harbored their own schemes.

"Save them first! I, Old Huang, beg all of you."

"Thump."

The old man called Old Huang coughed as he shakily fell to his knees. He looked helplessly and indignantly toward the team Zhang Tie had brought.

"They won't save them, but you won't either?"

The people Zhang Tie had brought flushed, then hurriedly followed Uncle in trying to lower the rope.

"Absolutely not!"

At Director Wang's signal, the woman beside him suddenly shrieked and snatched up the rope.

"Are you trying to get us killed?"

"What is there to save! They're infected—that's a Zombie!"

"Get us killed!?"

"Use your head! Even if Brother Lin isn't saved, Brother Zhang still has to be saved, right?"

A middle-aged man who looked like an employee suddenly stepped out from the Third Party crowd. His name was Gao Peng, and he shouted back at the woman.

"Brother Zhang definitely hasn't been infected! He can still kill Zombies!"

Gao Peng was one of the people who had provided Lin An with a map during the day.

Having personally witnessed the misery caused by the Zombie outbreak, he had thought things through carefully.

Lin An could be left unsaved if he was infected.

But Zhang Tie was so strong, and he was the sort of person who would protect everyone. He had to be saved!

With such a selfless fool standing at the front, they had managed to survive all the way here.

With so many people staying in the hotel, the day they ran out of food would inevitably come.

Without Zhang Tie leading them, there was no way these useless people in front of him could survive.

Besides...

Even if Zhang Tie couldn't get inside, he might not necessarily die!

When it truly came down to life and death, as long as Zhang Tie was willing to abandon Lin An, then with his strength, he had a good chance of surviving by hiding somewhere nearby.

By then, if Zhang Tie recovered while hiding outside and held a grudge, would he let this group of people who wanted him dead off?

Of course not!

He put himself in Zhang Tie's place.

Whether out of conscience or self-interest, he had to put on an attitude of wanting to save Zhang Tie.