While they were discussing,
there was a creaking sound.
The sound of a door opening.
"Old man, you're asking for death."
Xiao Bin saw that Wang Zhongguo had opened the iron door while they were not paying attention and immediately became furiously embarrassed. If the other party was bitten by a zombie, they would all be doomed.
He was about to kick Wang Zhongguo to the ground.
"What are you doing? How can you hit someone?" Lin Fan saw at first glance a young man about to hit an old man and immediately scolded angrily.
As the successor of the new era.
How could he not respect the elderly and love the young.
Xiao Bin and the others stepped back, warily sizing up Lin Fan to see if he had any injuries. If he was bitten by zombies, they would definitely kill him on the spot.
Lin Fan was very pleased. It seemed his scolding was effective, successfully preventing an incident where an old man was being beaten.
The four old men's idea of opening the door was simple.
It was to give the chance of life to you young people; we would rather go back home and wait for death with dignity.
"Don't be nervous, everyone. I mean no harm. May I ask which of you is Mr. Chen?" Lin Fan looked at the group who seemed very exhausted, appearing extremely tense as if they were having a hard time in this apocalypse.
But he felt helpless. I'm just an ordinary person, occasionally doing little favors for others.
"That would be me." Chen Gang eyed Lin Fan, feeling that this young man was somewhat odd. The sword he carried on his back seemed to be, if he wasn't mistaken, the Divine Artifact from the game.
"Hello, Mr. Chen, I just want to rent a room."
"Fine, the room is yours. You can go now."
"Thank you."
Lin Fan didn't expect it to go so smoothly. He then pulled out a stack of cash from his pocket, his salary from a while back that he hadn't deposited in the bank. He hadn't expected to spend it so soon, truly what came quickly went quickly too.
"Mr. Chen, this is a total of five thousand, which is a bit short, but it's all I have for now. I will transfer the rest to you later."
The people around looked at the situation, somewhat dazed. Were these formalities really necessary?
This guy couldn't be a fool, could he?
"Alright, that's fine. You can stay as long as you like, just hurry up and go," Chen Gang urged.
He suspected the other guy had lost his mind.
Now was the apocalypse, money was useless, and even a roomful of money laid out before him was nothing but waste paper.
"Thank you." Lin Fan was very polite. He could tell that this easy-to-talk-to landlord didn't want him to stay long, so he wouldn't disturb them any further.
Having said this, he turned and left.
He politely closed the iron gate behind them.
At this moment.
Lin Fan looked at the four elderly people in front of him and greeted them politely, "Hello, are you not going back to the rooftop? The apocalypse is outside, it's a bit dangerous. Given your ages, if you encounter zombies, you might not be able to run away."
Suddenly.
Lin Fan looked at Zhou Aijun, as if pondering, and then suddenly exclaimed, "You must be Grandpa Zhou Aijun!"
Zhou Aijun, who had been prepared to go home and wait for death, calmly looked at the curious young man in front of him.
"Yes, young man, do you know me?"
The arrival of the apocalypse didn't scare them, but what they truly feared was the eradication of humanity. When a person's humanity is completely lost, that would be a disaster, an unprecedented cataclysmic disaster.
"I know you, I used to see you on the military channel on TV. You are a very formidable military industrial expert. When foreign countries blocked weapon technologies, it was you who led the team to overcome various technical difficulties, enabling our country to have its own weapons to be proud of."
"I particularly admire you. I have also seen others' opinions about you on forums. They say your existence has elevated our country's military level to be on par with those major powers within just twenty years."
Lin Fan did not expect to see this living legend, feeling that coming out to rent a house was indeed very rewarding.
Wang Zhongguo laughed and said, "Brother Zhou, I didn't expect to find fans even in the apocalypse."
"Brother Wang, don't make fun of me," Zhou Aijun responded with a satisfied heart. Although he didn't say it aloud, he was happy inside. After a lifetime of hard work, it wasn't for the purpose of being remembered by the world, but if a young man could remember him, he felt content. "Young man, what is your name?"
"My name is Lin Fan. I'm a local from Huang City, living in the Sunshine District. I am here to help people rent houses," Lin Fan quickly said. To him, the elderly man in front of him was a hero. He wasn't much into chasing celebrities, but he preferred the stories of heroes who made contributions to the country.
Then, Lin Fan turned to Wang Zhongguo, "This grandpa here, one can tell at a glance that you are extraordinary, you must have been a soldier before."
"Haha..." Zhou Aijun patted Lin Fan's shoulder lightly, "You have a keen eye, young man. You spotted it right away. This Mr. Wang was indeed a soldier. In his youth, he was ferocious, capturing enemy positions alone with a single gun. He managed to overturn dozens of people, a true hero. Don't be fooled by his age now; just a few years ago, he saw traffickers on the streets and fought them without a word, sending them all to the hospital."
Wang Zhongguo laughed heartily at Zhou Aijun's praise, momentarily forgetting the apocalyptic situation of today.
Being reminded of past events naturally made him very happy; in his old age, these were his most cherished memories.
Lin Fan gaped in admiration, never expecting the man before him to be a hero who had risked his life and shed blood for the country, a hero deserving everyone's respect.
"Both grandpas and both grandmas, aren't you going to the rooftop? It's very dangerous outside now."
He wanted to get it clear.
"We won't go back. There's not much resources, better to leave the hope to the younger generation. We are already old and not much use anymore, no need to waste resources," they replied.
Hearing this, Lin Fan fell silent.
He wasn't a fool. He had already thought of many scenarios. Those people on the rooftop probably didn't want to share resources with the respectable elders and might even intend to harm them.
He found that since the apocalypse had begun, many people had become irritable, perverse, and dark.
Now, these two grandpas before him were people worthy of admiration, having made tremendous contributions to the country. Anyone seeing their current plight would extend a helping hand, our current lives were fought for with their very lives.
Old age shouldn't be like this.
If he knew that the resources those guys had were mostly provided by these four elders, he would definitely grab a knife and scold them well, how could they be so heartless.
Lin Fan felt he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"Come with me to my place in Sunshine District, it's quite safe there, and I have the ability to protect you all," Lin Fan said.
This was the first time he had taken the initiative to invite others to follow him back to Sunshine District.
"You can stay at my place first; I'll rent houses to you."
Four elders looked at the young man standing before them, his face earnest.
They fell into a kind of contemplation for a moment.
Wang Zhongguo: ...
Zhou Aijun: ...
Xu Guifen: ...
Liang Yan: ...
Wang Zhongguo said, "Young man, thank you for your kindness, but let's forget it. We'd only hold you back since we're no longer useful. It's comforting to know that you think like this, and all we hope is that you can live well. The future will depend on young people like you."
"Hey, don't talk like that, I'm quite capable, all of you come with me." Lin Fan felt that the elderly people were being too modest, and he knew they meant well. After all, as people age, they indeed can't keep up with the young in many aspects and become a burden. Lin Fan, who had received an excellent education, couldn't just watch these admirable heroes suffer.
Once, you protected us, now it's time for the young to protect you.
This kind of protection shouldn't end here.
It should be continued and promoted.
...
"Happy."
Lin Fan was delighted inside; he had successfully negotiated for the houses and even met heroes willing to follow him and leave.
Although it was said online that in the post-apocalypse, nothing would cost money, he didn't see it that way.
These things were created by people through hard work; how could they become ownerless just because people disappeared or died?
No... they were definitely not ownerless. Regardless of whether the owners were still around, they belonged to someone.
They definitely shouldn't be taken or seized for free.
After all, he was a future successor of the nation, cultivated through nine years of compulsory education; that status alone prevented him from acting in such a way.
...
The rooftop.
"Is he out yet?" Chen Gang asked.
"Not yet, he should be coming down, should be soon," Xiao Bin said as he leaned against the railing, looking down but not yet seeing Lin Fan.
Various items were piled around him.
These were what they were preparing to throw downstairs.
"He's out!"
Xiao Bin shouted and then with a fierce expression said, "Smash it, smash it hard downwards, draw out the zombies around here."
The survivors, without thinking, started hurling various things downwards.
In this situation, they just wanted to survive.
Whoever died was of no concern to them anymore.
Xiao Bin took a flower pot, chose the right angle, and threw it forward, making sure not to hit anyone, but rather to use the noise to attract nearby zombies.
"As long as the noise attracts the zombies, they will run toward the outside of the district, and then the district will be temporarily safe, and we can also look for supplies," Xiao Bin sneered.
How many zombies were still inside the district, he didn't know, but with these people here, he was confident that they could serve as bait to carve out a path to survival for them.
Bang!
A loud noise rang out.
Lin Fan turned to look; about five or six meters away from them, a shattered flowerpot lay on the ground.
"Where did this flowerpot come from?"
As he pondered, another object fell from the sky, made contact with the ground, and produced a noise.
He looked up and saw people on the rooftop, all hurling objects downward.
At that moment, Xiao Bin looked around in confusion—where were the zombies? How could there be no zombies? He wanted to continue smashing, but found there was nothing left to throw.
No, this absolutely couldn't be allowed.
All of a sudden, Xiao Bin spotted a corpulent survivor lying there, a wicked idea took root in his mind, turning him mad and cruel.
He growled lowly, rushed behind the survivor, fiercely grabbed the person's legs, and flipped him off the rooftop.
"Ah…"
A scream came.
The surrounding survivors were stunned by Xiao Bin's action.
They had not expected Xiao Bin to actually throw someone down.
"What are you looking at? The stuff we've been throwing doesn't attract zombies at all. Only this way can we draw the zombies inside the district," Xiao Bin roared.
The apocalypse wasn't scary; what was terrifying was the dark side of human nature, completely unleashed without any restraints.
And he felt that now was the real life.
No one could punish him; he could do whatever he wanted.
The brutality of his actions left the surrounding survivors trembling.
They were anxious, afraid.
Even Chen Gang stared, shocked at how ruthless the man was.