Cleaning Up the Environment

The residential complex, at the entrance.

The iron gate was locked, keeping the zombies out.

When he had been the only one living in the complex, he hadn't wanted to lock the gate. There were zombies outside, but there were also survivors who lived here. What if they came back?

A zombie slapped at the iron gate, sluggishly ramming its body against it with a rumbling crash.

Lin Fan looked at it, trying to recognize who it was from its rotting face, but it was genuinely difficult. That was asking a lot.

"Did you get lost?" Lin Fan asked softly through the gate, then pointed elsewhere. "Maybe you should try over there. This is Sunshine Residential Complex. I don't know you, so you probably don't live here."

The zombie's sluggish, slow, clumsy behavior had all been an act to deceive people. The moment Lin Fan appeared and spoke to it,

the zombie roared, its face contorted as it reached through the bars and clawed wildly at him. The human in front of it had an irresistible allure.

Bang!

Bang!

It slammed into the gate with increasing force, each impact louder than the last.

"Ah."

Lin Fan let out a deep sigh. Why did everyone become so unfriendly after turning into zombies? Every time, he had to defend himself.

The zombie in front of him hadn't hurt him.

Maybe it had just wanted to play.

After thinking it over,

Lin Fan took Frostmourne and opened the gate. He wanted to give the zombie a chance. Maybe you had your reasons for being alive; no one could take away your freedom to live. But if you hurt someone else, then you were in the wrong.

As soon as the gate opened, the zombie lunged at him.

Squish!

He swung his sword and chopped off the zombie's head.

[Zombie killed]

[Points obtained +1]

He thought of the garbage bins that hadn't been taken away and the zombie corpses in the residential complex. The place would become unpleasant if they stayed there too long. Before, he hadn't cared.

But now there were old people and children here. It was especially bad for the children. Seeing bloody things all the time would have a negative impact on their young minds.

Earlier, the country had even introduced protective policies that prohibited pornographic and gory content, but they hadn't worked very well. Games were promoted everywhere, and the moment you clicked on a video or website, a huge wave of content came rushing out, a feast for the eyes.

He couldn't do anything about the internet, but he could start with the people around him.

"Elders, there are zombie corpses in the complex. It won't be good if they're left for too long. I'm going to take them to the garbage station. It's not too far from here. Lock the gate after I leave, and just wait for me to come back."

Lin Fan reminded them, then got to work. The two elders wanted to help, but he refused. It was a small job, but it required strength. The old men were better off getting some rest.

Before long, several garbage bins had piled up by the entrance. Some of the zombies had been dead for several days and gave off a foul stench. The smell really packed a punch.

But when he thought of the sanitation workers at the garbage station, who had to endure that smell all the time, what was there to complain about if he only had to do it once in a while?

"Elders, lock the gate. A lot of people outside are bad these days, so don't open it for just anyone."

With that, he pushed the garbage bins toward the garbage station.

"Old Wang, with Xiaofan gone, I wanted to ask you something. Is this kind of behavior normal?" Zhou Aijun asked. He was only asking; he didn't mean anything by it.

"Normal? Of course it's normal. Don't overthink it. This young man is so kind and polite, and he cares about other people. He treats us so well and even reminds us not to go outside for no reason. He knows to grow vegetables to ease the strain on our lives, too. What could possibly be wrong with him?" Wang Zhongguo looked at his younger friend, feeling that his thinking was a little off.

"Old Wang, I just feel like something's strange."

"I think you've read so much you've gone soft in the head. What's strange about it? If I had a granddaughter, I'd introduce her to him in a heartbeat."

Zhou Aijun didn't continue, unwilling to be scolded by his elder friend again. He was starting to wonder if he really had read himself stupid and lost his wits.

"You've got a point, Old Wang."

Old Man Wang looked at the iron gate. "This gate isn't very good. It'll easily attract zombies. I want to find some tools, put up a cover, and reinforce it while I'm at it.

"Go check the Security Room and see if the cameras are working. If they aren't, fix them. If they are, run a cable to my room.

"When I was young, I liked keeping an eye on the enemy. We're living here, protected by that young man, so we should be doing something, too. We can't just eat, drink, sleep, and pretend we're still in peaceful times. We have to stay alert and get ready to fight."

"Sure thing."

On the street.

Lin Fan pushed the garbage bins along. They were linked together, so he could pull a long line of them. It didn't take long to reach the garbage station, which hadn't been cleaned in ages and reeked to high heaven.

He endured the stench, lifted the bins, and dumped the zombies inside.

There was a faucet beside the garbage station for washing the bins. He rinsed the filthy bins until they were clean. The dirty water that poured out was murky and viscous, disgusting just to look at.

He had lofty ambitions: he wanted to clean up the shops near the entrance to the residential complex, too. They were all filthy and messy. Besides, he didn't have a job now.

He could clean up the shops for their owners and charge fifty yuan per shop for his trouble. That should be reasonable, right?

Of course, he'd need to ask the owners if they agreed.

When he got around to doing it,

he could just ask them.

Now, with the cleaning done, he looked at the clean garbage bins and smiled.

Hardworking people felt much happier after finishing a job and looking at the results of their efforts.

He pushed the clean bins along and looked around. There were no sanitation workers sweeping the ground. It was so dirty, with garbage everywhere.

He was on his way back

when suddenly

an empty can landed right in front of him, clanging against the ground.

Laughter came from above.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Lin Fan looked toward the voice. It came from Old Man Qiu Supermarket. It was called a supermarket even though it was a shop, which meant it had lots of different things inside.

There were four young men on the roof of the two-story shop. They looked about eighteen or nineteen, and they all seemed energetic and in good spirits. The apocalypse hadn't made them go crazy or worn them down.

Lin Fan said, "The garbage bins in the residential complex were full, so I'm taking them to the garbage station. Do you need anything?"

He asked in a friendly way.

He was glad to see more survivors who were still alive.

"Oh, shit, did you hear that? This guy actually says he's taking out the trash. What a character! He's really one of a kind in the apocalypse," one of the yellow-haired young men said with a loud laugh.

Since the apocalypse began,

the four of them had been living comfortably at Old Man Qiu Supermarket.

They had simply taken over the place.

They had food and drink. A while ago, they could still watch survivors running through the streets. They'd watched that group of people being chased by zombies like they were monkeys at a show.

It had been a blast.

"Isn't taking out the trash perfectly normal?" Lin Fan looked at them. "Do you need anything? If you need help, just let me know."

The yellow-haired man smoked without saying anything. The way he looked at Lin Fan made it clear he thought he was an idiot.

Another young man, a little baldy, bared his teeth in a grin. "Are you an idiot? We're eating well, living well, and sleeping well here, and you're asking if we need help. You must have something wrong with your head."

"Do you believe I could shout once and get zombies chasing you?"

There was nothing they lacked here, except entertainment. Four men spent every day together, and it was really boring. They felt empty and lonely. If only they had a girl.

Unfortunately, they'd only encountered one girl so far.

She had been chased by zombies. Even though they'd wanted to bring her inside, they couldn't. There had been a whole horde of zombies. Who could have stopped them?

"Oh..."

Lin Fan waved goodbye to them. If there was nothing else, he'd stop chatting.

When they saw Lin Fan about to leave,

the four survivors exchanged glances. They were really bored and wanted to see someone getting chased by zombies. They knew what zombies were like: fast and strong.

But they were on the roof of the second floor. Unless zombies could fly, there was no way they could get up there.

Just as Lin Fan was about to leave,

a gloating shout rang out.

The four survivors cupped their hands around their mouths like megaphones and yelled, "Oh!" They wanted to attract zombies and watch that guy flee in a panic.

Hearing them, Lin Fan shook his head.

They were so cruel.

How could survivors these days do something like that?

Sound could attract zombies.

Lin Fan's figure gradually disappeared into the distance, but they didn't see a single zombie.

"Shit! Could there really be no zombies around us?"

"Impossible... There can't be that few zombies."

"Then where the hell are they?"

"Hey, look! A zombie's coming out of that alley."

The yellow-haired man pointed toward the alleyway. He was disappointed to see only one zombie appear. Why couldn't it have come earlier or later? Why show up now? Was something wrong with it?

The zombie heard their voices and looked around in confusion. It seemed sluggish and strange, but when it saw the survivors on the second-floor rooftop and the fresh flesh there, it came running with a roar and pounded on the rolling shutter door.

"Haha... What a stupid zombie. Is that all you've got?"

"Keep banging until next year. You still won't break through."

The four men, bored out of their minds, picked up a flowerpot nearby and aimed it at the zombie's head. They were going to smash its head with a flowerpot. It was the only thing they could do for fun.

Clatter!

The flowerpot hit the zombie's head. Unfortunately, it didn't do much. It was only fun to watch.

And the attack drove the zombie into a frenzy. But just as they'd said, what could one skinny zombie possibly do?

Just then,

more than a dozen zombies came rushing out from where the first one had appeared. It was as if they'd come from a faraway place. They followed the lone zombie and frantically pounded on the rolling shutter door.

"Shit! That's a lot of zombies."

"Doesn't matter. More or fewer, the result's the same."

The four young men weren't afraid at all. They still leaned there calmly, drinking beer and watching below. When they got tired, they could go back inside and rest. With no one around, the crowd of zombies would eventually disperse.

To them,

the apocalypse had its good points.

Peace did, too.

But they liked the apocalypse best because they could do whatever they wanted.

"Look at that zombie! What's wrong with it? Why's it so tall and muscular? It's not an ordinary zombie. This is bad—it's coming this way! Damn it, is it going to break our shutter door?"

"No way. Relax."

"Exactly. They're all just little zombies. So what if it's big? I don't believe it can do anything."

Roar!

The giant zombie roared and charged forward, knocking aside the zombies in its path. Boom! The ground shook as the rolling shutter door collapsed on the spot.

Yellow Hair: ...

Little Baldy: ...

Blue Hair: ...

Green Hair: ...

Thanks to Sadox and Bing Dong Han Xin De Lei for the ten-thousand-yuan rewards.

Thanks to Yin-Ying, Lin Xiaojin, Morning Sun Apostle, Lin Xiaojin, Cloud Pavilion of Leisure, Lin Fan is a Crossdresser, Xiao Yeye, Cowardly Dragon, Meng Ganning, Yue Xiaochou, Heaven-Defying Old Bookworm, and the other readers for your rewards. Thank you.