The second floor of the department store was mainly a dining area—steakhouses, western restaurants, coffee shops—so naturally, it was crawling with zombies.
Faint cries for help drifted from deeper within the hall, but Tang Cheng could hear them clearly. Ever since his body had mutated into this half-human, half-zombie form, his hearing had become exceptionally sharp—especially for small sounds.
“Help… someone help me! No, please… I’m begging you!”
“Hahaha! It’s the end of the world, girl—no one’s coming to save you!”
“Hehehe, bro, who would’ve thought we’d get to see such a pretty schoolgirl right after busting out of prison?”
The voices were coming from inside a steakhouse with its doors tightly shut. Through the thick glass, Tang Cheng could clearly see two laughing men forcing a tearful girl to the ground, clearly up to no good.
The two men were both dressed in yellow prison uniforms—escaped convicts, no doubt. They were roughly tugging at the girl’s uniform, their faces twisted with lust and cruelty.
The girl sobbed and struggled, clutching tightly at her torn skirt and shirt, her back pressed into the corner of the wall. She wore the uniform of Saint Sakura Academy.
From this distance, Tang Cheng couldn’t make out her face clearly.
On the floor next to her lay a middle-aged man in a pool of blood. His leg had been shot, and the blood was flowing fast. Judging by the scene, he’d tried to save the girl—and paid the price.
In another corner of the steakhouse, four or five men and women were huddled together, trembling. After witnessing what happened to the man bleeding on the floor, they had clearly decided to ignore the girl’s desperate cries.
“Hahaha! After all those years locked up, I’m gonna explode if I don’t get some action!”
“Right, big bro! Hehehe…”
The two convicts had already ripped the outer layers of the girl’s clothing. Their gazes were full of lewd excitement as they leered at her trembling in the corner. In this lawless apocalypse, there were no longer any police or laws to restrain them.
“Please… let me go…”
“Let you go? Hahaha! Not a chance!”
Grinning, the two men advanced toward the corner—
“No… please, don’t!” Tears streamed down the girl’s face as she cowered in terror, completely hopeless.
“She’s right. Let her go.” Tang Cheng stepped onto the second floor just in time to witness the scene inside the steakhouse.
“Huh?” Hearing a voice from outside, the two convicts immediately froze, growing cautious. But when they turned and saw only a lone figure standing at the entrance, they looked surprised at first—then burst into mocking laughter.
“Well, well. Didn’t expect to find another survivor in this building!”
“Trying to play hero, are you? You wanna die that badly?”
As they spoke, both convicts grabbed shotguns they’d stashed nearby and started toward the door with murderous intent.
“…Shotguns?” Tang Cheng’s eyes narrowed as he took a cautious step back from the door.
That was bad. They weren’t just armed—they had shotguns. At this range, one shot could blow him into shreds.
“Wait a sec, bro… look at that guy’s face!”
From behind the glass, one of the convicts pointed to the mottled corpse-like blotches on the left side of Tang Cheng’s face—clear signs of a zombie bite.
“Tch. Bitten already? Don’t worry about him. He’s gonna turn soon anyway,” the older convict scoffed, giving Tang Cheng a quick glance before turning away.
“Hahaha! A zombie trying to play hero? Now that’s comedy gold,” the younger convict laughed, raising his shotgun in mock aim before putting it down again. Clearly, they didn’t see Tang Cheng as a threat at all.
“Come on, let’s get back to it.”
“Yeah, hehehe…”
The two convicts started back toward the girl, licking their lips with perverted smiles.
The moment they turned back, the girl’s body began to tremble again. “Please, save me! Please!”
Even through the thick glass door, her urgent cries reached Tang Cheng. In her eyes, the boy outside was her final hope.
“This door… doesn’t seem that sturdy,” Tang Cheng muttered as he stepped toward the wall-mounted fire hose. Reaching inside, he pulled out a heavy fire axe.
“Look at this guy! He’s practically a corpse and he’s still trying to play the hero?!” the older convict snarled, lifting his shotgun with a cold glint in his eyes.
Keeping a bit of distance, Tang Cheng raised the axe—and with a sudden swing, he smashed it hard into the glass.
CRASH!
The thick glass shattered outward with a deafening crash, shards flying in all directions.
The noise instantly drew the convicts’ wrath.
“Son of a b*tch, he’s actually breaking the door?!”
“You wanna die, huh?!”
“Let’s go. We’re taking that damn corpse out right now!”
The two convicts exploded with rage, completely baffled. They couldn’t understand it at all—this guy was clearly on the verge of turning into a zombie, so why the hell was he still sticking his nose into someone else’s business?
“Crap… they really came out!”
Seeing the two prisoners charging out with guns raised, Tang Cheng gripped the only weapon he had—a fire axe—and quickly retreated.
A fire axe against a shotgun?
No need to think. Survival came first!
“Bastard, you’ve got the nerve to meddle?”
“I’m gonna blow that damn zombie head of yours off!”
“Hahaha, bro, this reminds me of those old zombie games we used to play!”
The moment they burst through the doors, the two prisoners opened fire on the fleeing Tang Cheng. Bang! Bang! Bang!
The exploding buckshot from the shotguns tore through the walls with ease, kicking up clouds of dust.
“Hey! Is running all you can do? Come bite me! Aren’t you just a zombie? Hahaha!”
“Weren’t you trying to play the hero earlier? Pfft, what a coward!”
The prisoners kept firing and laughing loudly behind him.
Tang Cheng knew all too well the power of a shotgun—at close range, you didn’t even need to aim. Whoever it hit, went down. Ignoring their taunts, he sprinted for the hallway corner!
There were no health bars in real life. He had no intention of swinging a fire axe and pulling off some slick pro-gamer dodging move just to land an unrealistic DOUBLE KILL.
Since he was now technically a zombie, wouldn’t it make more sense to hide around a corner and then leap out to claw them and infect them? Just like in those Biohazard modes?
Heh, just kidding…
Down by the second-floor elevator, there was already a crowd of real zombies. He wondered how hungry they were.
Dodging gunfire, Tang Cheng lured the two prisoners toward the elevator hallway.
“Damn, this zombie runs pretty fast…”
“Wait, bro, weren’t there a bunch of zombies near the elevator?”
“I think so!”
The two prisoners immediately slowed down, becoming wary.
“Oh? You guys finally noticed?”
Tang Cheng came to a stop and looked calmly at the two prisoners behind him. “By the way, you two said you’ve played zombie games before, right? Then you should know—if you recklessly fire your guns in an area full of zombies, you’re just asking to get swarmed.”
Before he even finished speaking, the zombies clustered in the elevator corridor suddenly surged out from around the corner. The gunfire from earlier had already stirred them into a frenzy.
“Hope you brought enough ammo,” Tang Cheng said casually.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The two prisoners screamed in panic as they kept firing. The buckshot shredded zombie chests, but within seconds, they were completely engulfed by the tide of undead pouring in.
“Aaaahhh—my hand! My hand!”
Their screams echoed chillingly as the zombies, like ravenous beasts, tore their limbs apart.
Tang Cheng stood calmly beside the swarm, watching silently. It was then he seemed to arrive at a conclusion.
“Looks like sound really does attract them.”
“Why? Why aren’t they attacking you?” one dying prisoner yelled, glaring at Tang Cheng, who stood unharmed just a few steps away.
“You wanna know?” Tang Cheng said, picking up one of the shotguns from the floor. “Honestly? I’ve got no idea.”
“Damn you—!”
“Aaaaaahhhh—!”
The prisoners’ screams were soon swallowed by silence.