At the critical moment, two voices argued in Lin Yuan's mind. The black devil constantly tempted him, urging him to flee, while the white angel continuously encouraged him to save the person.
His mind clouded, he paid no heed to angels or devils and charged forward with his motorcycle helmet. The zombie was sent flying, and Lin Yuan was shaken, his head buzzing.
Seeing its prey escape, the zombie turned and crawled towards Lin Yuan.
There's still a "duck" here!
But before it could open its mouth, its skull was smashed by a fire extinguisher. It lay on the ground, unmoving.
The world finally fell silent.
The two humans, exhausted, leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. Two zombie corpses were piled together, their insides – red, white, and black – spilled everywhere, looking utterly disgusting.
After catching their breath, Wu Tian was the first to stand, offering a hand to Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan, still clutching his head, swayed before clearing his head and taking Wu Tian's hand to stand up.
They patted the dust off, but both were already blood-stained, making the gesture futile.
"Are you okay?" Wu Tian asked with concern.
"I'm fine, just a bit dazed. Weren't you going to get medicine? Hurry up!"
Lin Yuan said, catching his breath.
They walked in slowly. The room was devoid of any living things. Apart from the stains on the floor, everything else was as usual.
It seemed this family had been infected in the first wave.
In the room, Wu Tian found the asthma medicine as hoped. Lin Yuan, on the other hand, discovered a bamboo pole used for drying clothes, the kind that could be taken down. It was perfect for drying meat. He also found a small bag of thin iron hooks for hanging cured meat, something most households would have if they ate sausages or cured meat.
With these items in hand, they checked the time. It was already 8 o'clock. The sun outside had grown stronger, and they needed to go home to sun-dry the meat.
As for other things, they would come back for them after the meat was dried.
Returning to the living room, Wu Tian was waiting. She held a spray bottle and a bag of medicine in her hands, though it was unclear what kind.
Noticing Lin Yuan looking at the medicine she carried, Wu Tian quickly explained, "These are all for asthma. You can check if you don't believe me!"
He waved his hand, not having that intention, and said nonchalantly, "It's fine, I believe you."
Hearing this, Wu Tian smiled. Her gamble had paid off!
"Then follow me. I'll take the medicine back."
Lin Yuan followed Wu Tian to her doorstep and stopped. Before Wu Tian could get her keys, the door opened by itself.
"Wuwuwu, sister!"
A little girl with swollen eyes from crying ran out, wanting to hug Wu Tian. She was only about 12 years old, but Wu Tian quickly held her back. She was covered in zombie blood, and what if she got infected?
She could only comfort her verbally, "Little sister, don't cry. Sister is back. If you keep crying, the monsters downstairs will rush up and eat you. Aren't you scared?"
The little girl, completely subdued by Wu Tian's words, stopped crying and looked at her tearfully, her expression full of grievance.
Then she saw Lin Yuan behind Wu Tian, still wearing his helmet, and pointed at him, asking, "Sister, did you find this Kamen Rider? I saw him save you through the peephole just now!"
Lin Yuan was amused and exasperated. He quickly took off his helmet. "I'm not Kamen Rider. I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, who rides on seven-colored clouds with auspicious radiance behind me!"
It was meant as a joke, but the little girl took it seriously. She tilted her head, looked at Lin Yuan's knife, and then at Lin Yuan, asking doubtfully, "But the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is a monkey. You don't have a lot of fur, and your hands aren't holding the Ruyi Jingu Bang. How are you Sun Wukong?"
Ha, ha, Lin Yuan chuckled awkwardly. Wu Tian came to his rescue, spewing nonsense, "Because when the Great Sage wears a helmet, he becomes Kamen Rider with a knife! Don't you agree, Lin Yuan?"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!"
Wu Tian, having changed her shoes, saw Lin Yuan still standing outside. "Why are you still standing there? Come in! Do you want to do that outside?"
"Sister, what are you going to do with this Kamen Rider Monkey King named Lin Yuan?" the little girl asked, her eyes wide, full of curiosity.
"Children shouldn't interfere in adult matters!" Wu Tian gently patted the little girl.
"Oh~" Her voice was full of grievance.
Lin Yuan was also speechless. "Big sister, can you please be more sensible!"
"If you're truly interested in that state while covered in filth, then even Satan would have to call you 'sister'."
Seeing Wu Tian about to say more, Lin Yuan waved his hand. "Alright, I'll mark this down. When I'm desperate later, I'll come asking for repayment. I need to go back and dry the meat and wash myself. Remember to dispose of the zombie bodies later. It's hot, and if a plague breaks out, it'll be troublesome."
Wu Tian, who was in the process of taking off her shoes, stopped. "Oh, right! How did I not think of that? We need to dispose of the bodies. Not this afternoon, but now. At this temperature, it'll only take a few hours for the bodies to start rotting."
She put her shoes back on and asked the little girl to fetch two pairs of thick gloves from the kitchen.
"What do you need gloves for?"
Wu Tian gave him a sideways glance. "What if you cut your hand while moving the bodies? That would be an unnecessary disaster."
That made sense.
Soon, the little girl brought the gloves, the kind used for washing dishes, with a layer of soft rubber on the outside. Wearing the gloves, Lin Yuan and Wu Tian began to throw the bodies down together.
"Damn, that's heavy!"
"Lin Yuan, can you handle it!"
"The radio said our strength had increased! Why does it still feel so heavy!"
After throwing down the bodies from both buildings, Lin Yuan and Wu Tian were both panting from exhaustion. This was purely manual labor. Pushing the bodies up to hang on the corridor railings and then throwing them down sounded simple, but with a total of 11 zombies from two buildings, searching them one by one and then pushing them down was pure physical exertion with no skill involved.
After a few minutes of rest, the two stood up again. They looked at themselves, covered in bloodstains and gelatinous blood, along with dripping yellow liquid. It was disgusting. For some reason, the zombies' blood had basically stopped circulating and had turned into a gel-like substance, but there was also a lot of yellow liquid.
It was as if new blood vessels had grown in their bodies, but instead of carrying blood, they carried this yellow, unknown liquid. As for why, that wasn't Lin Yuan's concern. The national virus research group would provide the answers.
"Let's go to the rooftop to wash up. I saw a faucet earlier." It wouldn't do to dry meat dressed like this.
"Okay, that's good. We don't have to wash clothes at home, which would likely spread bloodstains everywhere."
He went home to get the washing brush. Wu Tian sensibly didn't follow. She knew it was impolite to intrude into someone's house without invitation, especially in this apocalypse.
They walked one after another, to prevent any unexpected situations without warning.
Before reaching the staircase to the 15th floor, Lin Yuan sensed something was wrong and quickly signaled Wu Tian to stop. Wu Tian, who was scanning the rear, was confused by the stop but didn't question loudly. She also lowered her voice and asked,
"What is it?"
Lin Yuan didn't reply. He pointed to the staircase ahead. The sun was now shining on the stairs, and a shadow was cast diagonally on the hallway floor. He was in a position to see it clearly.
All the zombies had been killed by them. Although they hadn't checked the doors on the 15th floor, with such a short distance, they could see if the doors were locked. It was basically impossible for zombies from the rooms to have come out, as there was no sound, and zombies wouldn't stand still.
Exchanging a glance with Wu Tian, Lin Yuan sheathed his knife and slowly moved to the right with the riot control shield, trying to stay away from the person hiding against the left wall. Wu Tian also drew her bow and arrow, following Lin Yuan's steps upwards, ready to shoot at any moment.
As soon as the riot control shield was extended, it was grabbed by a bloody hand, followed by a woman with a sharp knife, her face covered in bloodstains, rushing out. She mumbled unintelligible words,
"My son has food, he has food!"
She lunged directly at Lin Yuan.
Caught off guard, Lin Yuan was knocked down. Fortunately, one hand gripped the stair railing, preventing him from rolling down.
However, the riot control shield was thrown away, and the blood-stained sharp knife loomed larger in his eyes.
There was no time to dodge. Was he going to die?
Resigned, he closed his eyes, but the expected pain did not come.
He only heard Wu Tian's roar, followed by the sound of bodies colliding and blades tearing through clothes.
Lin Yuan quickly opened his eyes. Wu Tian was already on top of the crazy woman, an arrow plunged into her eye socket.
The woman, in agony, kept stabbing Wu Tian with her knife.
Lin Yuan was stunned. A surge of anger welled up in his chest. He drew his kitchen knife and plunged it forward. Humans, unlike zombies, were fragile. A stab through the heart meant no survival.
Perhaps feeling one stab was not enough, he added a few more. When the woman finally lay still, Lin Yuan suddenly came to his senses, instantly enveloped by a chill.
He had killed someone.
In peacetime, killing was always the most unacceptable act, and it was an act that carried the most severe punishment. Even in self-defense, it would involve a lengthy period of evidence gathering and judgment before one could be acquitted.