Shen Chen didn't answer Old Gui's question. He just looked at the knife on the table and said coolly, "I need a machete."
Old Gui smiled. "All sorts of machetes. American. German. We have everything. Which one do you want?"
"No, the ones on the market don't meet my standards, only this one…" Shen Chen raised the Black-Bladed Jungle Machete toy in his hands. "But I need you to make adjustments."
Old Gui knew this young man was very knowledgeable about knives. He nodded. "That's fine. Go on."
"58 cm in length. The blade needs to be 45 cm long, 0.56 cm thick, 5.1 cm wide. Hardness should be 70–75 HRC. As for weight... can you manage it?"
After spouting out a string of stats, Old Gui carefully observed Shen Chen again, looking rather surprised. A machete like that was for professionals. Aside from fierce old hunters, special forces, and mercenaries, there was probably no one else who could use it. Even the most professional mercenaries would find such a heavy machete difficult to use, not to mention ordinary people. Knives like machetes nearly completely lost their chopping function unless the user had gone through extensive practice. Even with practice, they would only be effective for a short amount of time. It was very hard to use. Could the thin and weak looking man before him really swing such a heavy machete?
Shen Chen saw Old Gui's expression. He didn't say anything, but just took out a thick wad of cash from his wallet and tossed it at him.
Old Gui smiled. He didn't ask any questions. He took a long, profound look at Shen Chen, then turned and went inside his room.
...
Old Gui was indeed a hidden forging master. A mere eight hours later, holding the familiar Black-Bladed Jungle Machete in his hands, Shen Chen left the shop satisfied. At that moment, there was only two hours left before the apocalypse! Shen Chen looked at the time, then raced to the pharmacy.
During the apocalypse, medicines become in great shortage. It was just that Shen Chen didn't have enough money, so he could only buy some drugs for wounds and antibiotics that they could use during the preliminary period.
Then, Shen Chen started sweeping through the supermarket. He bought rice, brined meat, salted fish, dried sausages, and meat like such that were easy to preserve. Of course, he also got as much as he could of cans and fresh water.
His hoarding shocked everyone around him. They all stared at Shen Chen as if he were an idiot. Shen Chen only shook his head. If he weren't reborn, he would probably think the same thing they did, but now...
Despite all the disdainful gazes, he did what he had to do. Shen Chen saw that it was about time. He immediately called a taxi and stuffed the goods into every crevice of the car, then headed straight for the hotel. It was Valentine's Day. The streets were decorated with lanterns and streamers. Couples holding flowers were everywhere.
The taxi raced through the streets. Looking at the couples flying past outside the car, Shen Chen couldn't help a sigh. The revelry now was like the final struggle before the darkness. Very soon, everyone would fall into the swamp of Hell and never be able to get out.
The masses moving in the streets turned into terrifying corpses in Shen Chen's mind. Lovers waving to each other seemed to Shen Chen like the countless waving zombie arms that would arise in only a few more hours.
There was a red light ahead. The car slowed down. Shen Chen looked at his watch somewhat anxiously, then at the endless line of cars before him. A red light. There was still fifty-six seconds left.
Suddenly, a purple face appeared before him. In the darkness, it stared at him with wide white eyes. If not for the fact that there was a car window between them, it would have been up against his face!
Instantly, Shen Chen felt like his heart had been beaten by something. He was nearly scared to death by the unexpected sight. Shen Chen shot up uncontrollably, and with a thump, pressed himself against the other side of the car. 'Zom.. Zombie?'
Shen Chen's first reaction was to take his Black Blade and chop it toward the zombie's head. He had just grabbed the hilt when he heard a curse outside the window. "D*mn it." The man left the car window and said to his friends waiting on the side of the street, "It's not an empty car. There's someone inside."
Shen Chen's tightened heart relaxed. He slowly released his hands around the hilt. He was already unnerved. That person clearly appeared to have signs of zombifying. Evidently, the virus outbreak was about to start! He must rush back to the hotel immediately! Luckily, the car started very soon. At this speed, he could reach the hotel in half an hour.
When Shen Chen arrived at his reserved room on the sixteenth floor of the hotel, he quickly called his roommates. Aside from Fourth Guo Yuan, everyone else had their phones turned off. Shen Chen was extremely helpless. He could only text them and tell them where he was. He wrote that if they encountered any danger, they could come there to find him.
After Fourth Guo Yuan arrived at the hotel, the sky started to darken. Guo Yuan was an H City resident too. Since the two of them were from the same place, they were more casual around each other. The moment he saw Shen Chen, he said loudly, "Second, did you become rich or something? You reserved such a good room to host a party! Huh, where's Fang Yi? Is she not with you?"
Seeing Shen Chen wasn't speaking, Guo Yuan looked all around. "Where are the girls? Where are the girls?"
"Girls my a**!" Shen Chen said with contempt.
"No girls? Then why did you tell me to come…? I have no interest in men!" Guo Yuan flopped on the sofa chair.
"I called you over to enjoy life…" Shen Chen said randomly, then walked before the window. Right then, the street lamps were just lighting up outside the window. There was a great commotion outside. Shen Chen silently checked his watch.
The hand was right at eight o'clock… A shrill cry pierced the night sky, immediately disrupting the tranquil holiday atmosphere.
'The apocalypse! It's here!'
...
Shen Chen quickly looked outside. Through the window, he saw that the glass on the seventeenth floor restaurant was already stained with blood.
A woman dressed luxuriously was pounced onto the table by a friend she had just been whispering with. What aroused her friend's appetite was no longer the delicious food on the table but the aromatic human atop it. With a swing of its head, it tore a large chunk of meat off the woman's body. It instantly turned the woman into a bloody person! Fresh blood streamed endlessly from her face. The woman let out a scream that didn't sound human. She kicked roughly with her feet, trying to escape the terrifying hold, but no one came to her rescue. Death was happening all over the restaurant.
Horror! Gore!
People wailed as they got pounced on by zombies. Before the massive numbers of zombies, humans were as helpless as harvested wheat.
A few people got grabbed by the ankle. They tried to crawl forward while crying, but the pain from their feet told them that the zombies were eating them from the bottom up. They didn't have time to do anything before they realized that more and more zombies were gathering around them, about to join the feast.
Those who weren't bitten at first didn't have time to rejoice in their fortune. They realized with horror that the people who were bitten to death by zombies stood up after a few minutes. The resurrected people became the terrifying monsters and joined the army of zombies that were eating humans.
The people that were killed and then revived were even more scary! Their intestines dragged on the ground, and they waved their broken limbs, attacking the other living humans with bared fangs and open claws!
Everything fell apart. Blood sprayed everywhere. Broken limbs flew in the air. Cries of pain were heard without end. The entire restaurant had turned into mortal hell.
Suddenly, a certain window in the restaurant opened. A middle-aged man bent over on the window, panting. He had just dodged a zombie's attack, and had even cracked a zombie's head with a bottle, but it was completely useless!
The middle-aged man desolately looked back at the crowd of zombies slowly approaching him. He let out a painful wail, then his will to live made him jump down from the window! It was the seventeenth floor!
Thump…
The loud sound of a heavy object hitting the ground sounded. It was especially jarring against the melodious hotel music. Through the glass, he could see the man lying on the floor like a thin piece of paper, blood slowly seeping out of his shattered head... The scent of blood attracted the few zombies lingering around the hotel door. Then, blood spewed everywhere.
Guo Yuan let out a sharp exhale. His eyes had widened to their max. "Second! What is going on here?!" Guo Yuan's jaw dropped, and his expression changed. As someone who had been bathed in the radiance of the civil world just a moment ago, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was more terrifying than a horror movie!
The veins on his hands stood out, and Shen Chen's eyes dimmed... He could save one person, two people…but even if he were reborn, he couldn't save many more, because this was the apocalypse... a grotesque, horrible, death-around-every-corner... future...
Suddenly, his expression changed! Perhaps it was the atmosphere in the room, or a slight noise, but a strange sixth sense told him, 'There's someone behind you!'
He immediately turned over, rolling off the chair next to the bed, his hand rapidly reaching for Black Blade in his traveling bag. In an offensive stance, he fiercely stared at the person who had come in. It was an attendant! She walked in swaying!
The room card in her hand made Shen Chen quickly realize how she had gotten into the room. The attendant had clearly been attacked by the zombies outside. She was still at the stage of transforming from a human into a zombie. She still had a human consciousness and probably wanted to seek help from Shen Chen, which was why she had opened the door.
Her body shook uncontrollably, and blood clots spewed out of the corners of her mouth. "Help me... There are monsters outside... I... roar... roar…"
The attendant's face looked panicked for a second, then grim the next. Soon, her soft voice became the same as the zombies. Her red lips cracked wider and wider, then she bared her sharp teeth and a scary "hehe" sound came out of her throat. She pounced toward Shen Chen with staggering steps.