I Was Acting in Self-Defense. It Had Nothing to Do with Me.

Inside the car.

The driver looked at Lin Fan, who seemed a little dimwitted in his security guard uniform. What a damn joke. Did he think he was the Lich King just because he had Frostmourne strapped to his back?

What was he thinking?

If he wanted to stay alive, now was the best time to run. Once they found what they were looking for and spotted him, he'd be done for.

Of course,

he didn't warn him.

What did it have to do with him? Besides, he really wanted to see the look of despair on the guy's face when danger came.

For ordinary people, the apocalypse was true hell.

But for evil people, as long as they could get established early on and secure a safe base, the apocalypse would become true heaven.

They lived in Shanshui Manor, in one of its many villas. They were pretty luxurious homes by Huang City standards, and they were all hired muscle under their boss, living in the villas.

When the apocalypse first arrived, even people with strong nerves were briefly stunned. The sudden turn of events caught them off guard, but their boss reacted quickly and immediately rallied them together.

At the same time, several of the hired muscle started trembling and spitting foul, sticky fluid, their veins showing beneath their skin. They looked terrifying.

Their boss, though, was the real deal. He'd attended a martial arts school as a kid and studied martial arts for ten years. Because he was so competitive, he'd once injured someone with a machete and been sent to prison. After he got out, he started building a gang in Huang City, starting with a small crew and growing it into a major force. He'd made a name for himself and firmly established his foothold in the city.

So when this happened, their boss didn't hesitate. He killed those few men with his machete, before they could even turn into zombies.

In the end, their boss really had seen it coming.

Outside was utter chaos.

Even inside the villa, they could hear people screaming outside.

They turned on the TV, and the news was full of those things. They even watched a handsome host get tackled and torn at right on camera. His screams rang out. It was truly awful.

He'd been in the villa at the time, watching their boss, wondering what he'd do next.

But he saw their boss's eyes shift from brief astonishment to something else, growing wild and savage.

Even now,

he could still remember what their boss had said.

"The apocalypse is here. It's time for us to rise and go wild."

As he watched their boss say those words, his expression was so crazed and unhinged. Clearly, desires he'd suppressed for years had finally erupted. He no longer had to be constrained by the law or the police.

The walls around their boss's villa were high. The only way in was through a pair of iron gates, so there was basically no chance of zombies getting inside.

The first person their boss killed wasn't some high-ranking official or wealthy big shot, but a second-tier actress who lived next door. Their boss had once tried to get her contact information, but that stuck-up bitch had completely ignored him.

That was because the actress was involved with an old rich patron.

When the apocalypse arrived, no one expected that she'd survive.

Their boss sent men to grab her and had her humiliated in front of everyone. It was a chaotic scene.

She really was beautiful, no denying that.

In the end, they simply threw her outside the villa.

They watched as the horde of zombies tore her to pieces.

Just then,

footsteps sounded.

Lin Fan watched the four people who'd come out of the Police Station. What were they doing there? When he suspected someone might be a criminal but had no proof, he usually observed them first.

The burly man at the front looked around. He didn't see any zombies yet, mainly because they hadn't made much noise.

They'd found quite a haul.

They'd found two NP22 Pistols and more than thirty bullets right inside the Police Station.

If they hadn't been pressed for time and unwilling to take too many risks, they might have found other things too.

"Did you find them?"

The driver lowered the window and asked.

"Yeah, we found them."

"Great. With this stuff, things will be a lot easier."

The driver grinned, then exchanged a look with his accomplices. The meaning was clear: this guy was a total idiot, just sitting here waiting for them.

The four who'd entered the Police Station hadn't expected the guy from earlier to still be there.

Of course,

they didn't take Lin Fan seriously.

He was young and looked a little scrawny. He had a replica sword strapped to his back, which made him seem strange. Maybe he'd just been lucky. In reality, the apocalypse had already messed up his mind.

"Kid, you've got guts, surviving this long and running around the streets all by yourself. Do you know what happens when zombies spot you?" the buzz-cut man in front asked.

"I do. I usually talk things over with the zombies first and tell them not to get worked up. If they don't listen, I defend myself. I'll cut them down with my sword."

Lin Fan spoke calmly.

Right now, he just wanted to figure out what they were up to. The Police Station wasn't somewhere people could just wander into for no reason. When he'd brought the money he'd found there, he hadn't seen a single police officer.

So if no one was keeping watch and a thief came along to steal something, that would be really bad.

Everyone was left scratching their heads.

What on earth was he talking about?

Suddenly,

the buzz-cut man pointed a gun at Lin Fan's head. "Kid, do you even know what the hell this is?"

"A gun." Lin Fan frowned, as if he'd just figured something out. "You four just went into the Police Station to steal guns?"

He'd considered all sorts of possibilities.

Like stealing money.

Or filing a report.

But he'd never expected them to steal guns.

"Are you sick or something? Steal? At a time like this, what's the point of stealing? Damn, I keep running into idiots like you who still haven't changed their way of thinking, even though it's the apocalypse."

The buzz-cut man was furious. Every person they'd killed had begged before dying, saying that murder was illegal and they couldn't do this, blah blah blah.

It made his head pound.

The law was gone. Who still cared about it?

Of course, he wasn't going to shoot. A gunshot would attract zombies, and if there were too many, they'd be a pain to deal with. There was no point risking a fight with zombies over one idiot.

"You'd better not do this. Just return the guns. According to Article 127 of the Criminal Law, anyone who steals or seizes firearms belonging to military or police personnel, endangering public safety, faces at least ten years in prison, life imprisonment, or the death penalty."

He tried to talk them around.

He hoped they'd see the error of their ways.

He had to stop them. These people didn't seem like good people, and if they got their hands on guns, a lot of innocent people would suffer. So he had to stop them.

"Damn it, what a pain. Kill him," the buzz-cut man said coldly.

As soon as he finished speaking,

the thug standing behind him swung a machete at Lin Fan's head.

He was ruthless and wouldn't hesitate for a second.

"He's trying to kill me..." In that split second, the thought flashed through Lin Fan's mind. And there was only one thing he could do: defend himself.

In the blink of an eye,

a flash of swordlight.

The buzz-cut man had no idea what had happened. He slowly raised a hand to his face. It felt sticky. He looked closely and saw blood. What was going on? Where had the blood come from? The kid in front of him hadn't even fallen.

He looked down, his expression changing in shock.

The thug who'd swung the machete had been cleaved in two.

"Ah, sorry about that. I've gotten used to defending myself by chopping down zombies..."

Lin Fan sucked in a breath, feeling a little apologetic. He really hadn't meant to do that. He'd just reflexively swung his sword in self-defense, forgetting the other guy was human.

"Fuck..."

The buzz-cut man flew into a rage and pulled the trigger. There was no gunshot. He tried to pull it again, only to realize his hand was gone. The hand holding the gun had vanished. He looked down and saw his arm lying on the ground.

"Ah..."

He let out a piercing scream.

It was loud.

From all around, he could faintly hear the sounds of zombies.

"It has nothing to do with me. I was acting in self-defense..." Lin Fan realized they really weren't friendly. How had people become so irritable during the apocalypse, trying to kill someone over the slightest disagreement?

This wasn't how he'd imagined things...