**Twenty minutes ago**
"F*ck!" Pan Di swore as he raised the fire axe and chopped off the zombie's head. As the zombie's head fell off, its arms started flailing about in response.
"Not bad, Fourth!" Guo Yuan patted Pan Di on his shoulder.
Pan Di was all smiles. "Bro, this is my tenth kill! How about you?"
Guo Yuan was not to be outdone. "Nine, but I did it in less time!"
"Both of you are doing well. I think it won't be long before we wipe out all the zombies in the hotel," Li Qi said cheerily. With the two of them around, there was no need for him to lift a single finger. All he had to do was watch out for the zombies. He felt absolutely safe.
To survive the apocalypse, one had to stick with people like this, unlike that stupid Zhao Ze, who resisted for the sake of resisting. He hadn't realized that money and power meant jack sh*t if one couldn't survive.
It had to be said, however, that Li Qi was indeed a smart person. He knew how to say all the right words, and those words worked really well on Pan Di.
Pan Di also said cheerily, "Bro, don't worry. Stick with our boss, and everything will be all right!"
"Aye, aye! I'll count on you then, bro!" Li Qi responded.
The cheerful atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Guo Yuan immediately said to everyone, "Hide!"
The three of them quickly hid in a corner. After a few seconds, they saw Zhao Ze running toward them like a madman.
"Zhao Ze!"
Guo Yuan was surprised to see him alone, and promptly went up to him, asking, "Why are you alone? Where's boss?"
"Fourth floor! Fourth floor!" Zhao Ze appeared to be really jumpy, as if there were fleas on him.
"What's wrong with the fourth floor?"
"There were so many zombies on the fourth floor! Boss got stuck!" He wrung his hands and paced about, as if he were walking on hot coals. "I managed to get out, but they're still up there!"
"F*ck!" Pan Di spat. Worried, he said anxiously, "Let's go, Guo Yuan!"
Guo Yuan asked somewhat tentatively, "Where?"
"To save boss!" Pan Di dragged Guo Yuan along. "Let's move it!"
Guo Yuan was indeed hesitant. His gut told him that something wasn't quite right. "Don't be rash. Boss said to rendezvous on the third floor."
"What do you mean by this, Guo Yuan? Are you suggesting that I'm lying to you?" Zhao Ze said indignantly. "Boss is in imminent danger. What are you trying to do?"
Guo Yuan suppressed his anger and held on to Pan Di. "Fourth, boss can take on three of us at once. If he can't handle those zombies, no one else can. We'll just be putting ourselves in mortal danger. Even if boss can't handle all of them on his own, he'll still be able to run away from them. So we shouldn't go up."
At his words, Pan Di also started wavering. There was a sinister glint in Zhao Ze's eyes as he snatched Li Qi's fire axe. "D*mn it. Why do you keep trying to stop us, Guo Yuan? Are you trying to replace Boss?"
"Bullsh*t!" Guo Yuan was infuriated by his suggestion.
"Guo Yuan and Pan Di, Boss thought too highly of you guys," sneered Zhao Ze. "If you guys won't go, I will!"
He then rushed toward the fire exit on the east side. Upon seeing this, Pan Di said angrily, "Guo Yuan, Boss was wrong about you! Coward! Let's go, Li Qi!"
He then pulled Li Qi along and ran after Zhao Ze. The three of them walked down the meandering hallway and soon disappeared out of sight.
Guo Yuan heaved a deep sigh. Why wouldn't he be worried about Boss? But to rush up without first finding out the current situation would be risky; they'd be walking into certain death.
He gritted his teeth and was about to run after them, but a terrible thought suddenly occurred to him. Something was fishy. Zhao Ze had come in from the left, the west, but he led the others toward the right. Unless the hotel's structure was circular (it wasn't), the route that Zhao Ze took was obviously wrong! Had this wicked guy deliberately lead Pan Di in the wrong direction so as to delay the rescue time?
The more Guo Yuan thought about it, the more worried he got. Looking in the direction Zhao Ze had come in from, he sprinted toward it, shouting, "Boss! Hang in there!"
…
"Bang!" Shen Chen leapt up from the ground in a fit of fury. "Zhao Ze! This b*stard!"
Guo Yuan, however, heaved a sigh of relief. "Boss, it's good that you're safe… I knew…"
Before he could finish speaking, Shen Chen suddenly said angrily, "Pan Di is in danger!"
" What?" Their jaws dropped open, and their eyes widened.
"I suspect that Zhao Ze is deliberately leading them to their death!" Shen Chen's eyes burned with hatred. "This guy is sly! Just now, he locked the fire door so that me and Zhao Zhen would be locked in. He must have planned to bring Pan Di and Li Qi to the fourth floor, where there are hundreds of zombies, so that he could use the same ruse…"
Zhao Zhen's hair stood on end. "Pan Di's in danger!"
Guo Yuan recalled what a close shave it had been. If Pan Di really had gone up with Zhao Ze, he'd be dead for sure!
Zhao Zhen was on the verge of a mental breakdown. "F*ck. What do we do now, boss!"
Shen Chen hurriedly opened the door and ordered, "You and Guo Yuan, try stopping them! Remember not to go up to the fourth level. Just look for them on the third level!"
Guo Yuan then asked, "How about you, boss?"
"I'll go up to the fourth level through the fire door!"
Zhao Zhen gasped in surprise. "That's too dangerous, boss!"
"I can take care of myself. Your priority is to stop them from going further if you manage to find them."
"Got it!"
They parted ways. Shen Chen traced the route that Zhao Ze had taken with Pan Di. Despite his incredible speed, he didn't manage to find any of them. Shen Chen was both angry and anxious. As the fire exit at the end of the hallway came into sight, his heart sank. Had Pan Di really been brought up there?
Fury flared in his eyes. He swore that if Zhao Ze had brought Pan Di to the fourth level, he would throw him into the swamp of zombies!
The Black Blade in his hand glistened in the darkness. Wielding the Black Blade, he strode purposefully toward the staircase. As he walked through the same fire door and faced the eerily quiet hallway, his steps became increasingly cautious.