At the entrance of the community.
The iron gate was locked, keeping out the zombies that sought entry.
When he was the only person living in the community, he didn't really like to lock the gates. After all, there were zombies outside, but also survivors who used to live here—what if they wanted to return?
A zombie banged against the iron gate, clumsily ramming its body against it, creating loud thuds.
Lin Fan watched, trying to make out whether he could recognize the person from their rotting face, but it was truly difficult, practically asking the impossible.
"Are you lost?" Lin Fan asked softly through the gate, pointing somewhere else, "Perhaps you should go over there. This is the Sunshine District, and I don't recognize you. You probably aren't one of our residents."
The zombie's dull, slow, awkward actions were a deceit, as it interacted with Lin Fan who had appeared.
The zombie roared in excitement, its face contorted in ferocity, its hands reaching through the gate's gaps, wildly grasping at the human before it, who seemed irresistibly alluring to the creature.
Bang!
Bang!
The force of its pounding on the iron door grew stronger and louder.
"Ah."
Lin Fan deeply sighed, wondering why everyone became so unfriendly after turning into zombies, necessitating him to defend himself each time.
The zombie had not harmed him.
Perhaps it was just looking to mess around.
After thinking it over.
Lin Fan, holding Frostmourne, unlocked the iron door, wanting to give the zombie a chance. "You might have your reasons for being alive, and no one can take away your freedom to live, but if you harm others, that's where you're wrong."
As he opened the gate, the zombie lunged at him.
Schlik!
With one swing of his sword, he beheaded the zombie.
[Zombie Killed]
[Points Gained +1]
He thought about the trash bins in the community that had not been taken away, along with the corpses of the zombies. Such an environment was far from ideal; before, it didn't bother him much.
But now there were elderly and children around, especially the kids—it was even worse for them. Being constantly exposed to such gore could adversely affect their tender hearts.
In the past, the state had implemented protection policies, forbidding the exposure to lewd and gory content, but the measures were ineffective. Promotional materials for many games and videos flooding websites presented a surge of shocking visuals.
He couldn't control the internet, but he could start with his surroundings.
"Elders, there are zombie corpses in the community. It's not good if they're left out for too long. I intend to transport them to the dump, not so far away from here. When I leave, please lock the door and just wait for my return," Lin Fan advised, before getting busy with the task. The two elder gentlemen wanted to help but he declined their offer. They were only small tasks, but they required strength; it was better for the elderly to rest.
Soon, the community's entrance was stacked with trash bins, some with zombies that had been dead for several days, emitting a foul stench that was incredibly overpowering.
But thinking of the sanitation workers who often endured such smells while cleaning up the dump, he couldn't justify not coping with it occasionally.
"Elders, make sure you lock the door securely. Nowadays, many people outside are not good, and you shouldn't open the door to just anyone," he said before pushing the garbage bins towards the dump.
"Brother Wang, with Lin Fan gone, I want to ask if his behavior is normal," Zhou Aijun inquired. It was just a simple question without any other implication.
"Normal? Of course, it's normal. Don't overthink things. The kid is great: polite, compassionate, respects the old and cherishes the young. He's good to us. He even reminds us not to go outside arbitrarily. He even knows how to grow vegetables to reduce living pressures. How could there be any problem?" Wang Zhongguo looked at his younger brother with a feeling that his thoughts were misguided.
"Brother, it just feels odd to me."
"I think you've read yourself silly. What could possibly be odd? If I had a granddaughter, I'd definitely introduce her to him," said Wang Zhongguo.
Zhou Aijun didn't continue arguing with his brother, who seemed ready to retort aggressively. He was somewhat doubtful, wondering if his extensive reading had made him foolish, clouding his thinking.
"Brother, what you say makes sense."
Watching the iron door, Elder Wang commented, "This door isn't great; it easily attracts the attention of zombies. I plan to find some tools to create a cover and reinforce it a bit.
Could you go check the security room to see if the surveillance cameras are working? If there's an issue, fix it. If there isn't, run a cable to my place.
Back in my youth, I always liked to monitor the enemy situation. Now, we live here protected by the young man. We should contribute too, instead of just eating and sleeping. We can't just act as if it's peacetime. We must be energetic and partake in the fight."
"Sure thing."
...
On the streets.
Lin Fan was pushing the trash bins, all interconnected to form a long chain. Soon, he arrived at the dump, which hadn't been cleaned in a long while and exuded an unbearable stench.
Enduring the foul odor, he lifted the bins and dumped the zombie corpses inside.
Next to the dump was a water tap for cleaning bins. He washed the filthy containers until they were clean; the dirty water that poured out was murky and thick, enough to turn one's stomach.
He had grand ambitions, like cleaning the storefronts by the community entrance that were dirty and messy. After all, he had no job at the moment.
Cleaning the shops for the owners, charging fifty bucks for the hard work, shouldn't be a problem, right?
Of course, such a task required the consent of the owners.
When it came to doing it,
He would just ask for their approval.
At that moment, looking at the clean trash bins, he smiled.
Hardworking people feel much pleasure when they look at the fruits of their labor.
Pushing the cleaned bins, he noticed that without the sanitation workers to clean the streets, it was really dirty, littered with garbage everywhere.
On his way back,
Suddenly,
A can was thrown in front of him, clinking crisply as it collided with the ground.
Laughter came from above.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lin Fan looked up towards the sound. It was coming from Old Qiu's supermarket, which in reality was a store but called a supermarket, implying a wide variety of goods inside.
On the rooftop terrace of a two-story shop, there were four young people, all appearing to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. Observing their expressions, they all seemed to be in good spirits, not driven mad or exhausted by the coming of the apocalypse.
Lin Fan said, "The neighborhood's trash bins are full. I was going to the dump to dispose of it. Do you guys need anything?"
He asked amiably.
Seeing other living survivors made him feel very good.
"Damn, listen to this guy, he's actually talking about taking out the trash. What a talent, man, this is truly unique in the apocalypse," said one of the young men with dyed yellow hair, laughing heartily.
From the outbreak of the apocalypse until now.
The four of them had been living comfortably at 'Old Man Qiu's Supermarket'.
They took over the place.
They had food and drinks, and in the early days, they could watch other survivors running through the streets, watching them like they were watching monkeys being chased by zombies.
You couldn't ask for more thrill.
"Taking out the trash, isn't that normal?" Lin Fan looked at them. "Do you guys need help with anything? If you need assistance, just let me know."
The yellow-haired youth, smoking a cigarette, didn't speak but looked at Lin Fan as if seeing someone foolish.
Another bald young man, baring his teeth in a grin, said, "Are you stupid or something? We eat well, live well, sleep well here, and you're asking if we need help? You must be out of your mind."
"Do you believe that I can just shout and you'll be chased by zombies?"
Although there was no lack of anything here, what they did lack was entertainment. Four men staying together all day long could get truly boring; an empty and lonely feeling inside. It would be great if there were girls around.
Unfortunately... until now, they had only encountered one girl.
The girl was being chased by zombies. Even though they wanted to bring the girl inside, there was no way; there was a horde of zombies, and who could stop that?
"Oh..."
Lin Fan waved his hand and said goodbye to them; better to avoid chatting if there wasn't anything important.
Watching Lin Fan getting ready to leave.
The four survivors looked at each other. They were truly bored and really wanted to watch someone being chased by zombies. They knew the zombies' situation; they ran fast and were strong.
But they were on the second-floor terrace, and unless zombies could fly, they wouldn't be able to get up there.
Just as Lin Fan was about to leave.
Schadenfreude shrieking came through.
The four survivors cupped their hands around their mouths as if they were megaphones and let out a loud 'oh' yell, hoping to attract the zombies and watch the guy's desperate escape.
Hearing the noise, Lin Fan shook his head.
The survivors were indeed malicious.
How could the survivors nowadays do such a thing?
Noise could attract zombies.
Gradually, Lin Fan's silhouette began to fade, but not a single shadow of a zombie was seen.
"Damn, there might be no zombies around us."
"Impossible... There aren't that few zombies."
"Where the hell are the zombies then?"
"Hey, look, a zombie came out," said the yellow-haired youth, pointing at the alleyway, regretting the timing of the zombie. Why show up now? Isn't that just stupid?
The zombie that heard the sound looked around in confusion, giving off a vacant and strange impression. But when it saw survivors on the second-floor terrace and fresh flesh, it ran over, roaring and banging against the shutter door.
"Haha... What a dumb zombie, is this all?"
"You could bang on it till next year, and you won't break it open."
The utterly bored quartet picked up flowerpots nearby, aiming them at the zombie's head below, getting ready for a flowerpot headshot. It was the only entertainment they had.
Crack!
The flowerpot shattered on the zombie's head, but unfortunately, it wasn't very effective; it was more amusing to watch than anything else.
And such behavior only further enraged the zombie, but as they said, what could a single weak zombie do?
At this moment.
Right where the first zombie appeared, another dozen zombies madly surged out, as if they had rushed over from afar, following the lone zombie, banging furiously against the shutter door.
"Shit! There are quite a few zombies now."
"No worries, the more, the merrier, they all end up the same."
The four young men, unfazed, continued to recline casually, drinking beer and watching the show below. When they grew tired, they'd just go back to rest. Without any people around, the group of gathered zombies would disperse.
For them.
The apocalypse had its advantages.
Peace had its benefits too.
But in the apocalypse, being able to do as one pleases was what they liked best.
"You guys see that zombie, what's up with that? It's so tall and muscular. That doesn't look like any ordinary zombie. Shit, it's coming this way. Holy crap, it better not smash our shutter door."
"That's impossible, relax."
"That's right, they're all small zombies. As if being big means you can do whatever you want; I don't buy it."
Roar!
The giant zombie roared, running ferociously, sweeping aside the zombies in its path, and with a loud bang, like an earthquake, the shutter door collapsed instantly.
Yellow-haired kid: ...
Bald kid: ...
Blue-haired kid: ...
Green-haired kid: ...