When the fourth knock sounded, Little Knife bravely pushed the door open again. Expecting to face an empty room, she instead saw a person and instantly leaped in fright. Mid-jump, she realized it was Lin Wu and stuffed her left hand into her mouth to stop herself from screaming aloud.
"Why did you knock and scare me?" Little Knife demanded.
Lin Wu looked innocent, "I didn't knock. I came around after hearing the knocking sound and saw nothing."
Little Knife immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "You heard it too?" That's good, that's good.
Then Little Knife saw a zombie appear beside Lin Wu. As Lin Wu was about to step inside, the zombie was about to grab Lin Wu's shoulder and bite down. Instinctively, Little Knife kicked Lin Wu in the abdomen, causing him to step back and knock down the crumbling zombie. Only then did Lin Wu come to his senses and quickly knifed the zombie dead.
Little Knife also understood the situation.
Zombies were drawn to the sound of boards being pried open, their logic leading them to investigate the source of the noise. This somewhat intelligent zombie knew that knocking on the wall was futile, so it started knocking on the door instead. When Little Knife opened the door, she pushed it behind the door without noticing due to her blocked view by the door. Back and forth they went until Lin Wu, alerted by the noise, came to check and also failed to see the zombie on the ground behind the door.
"Nice kick." Lin Wu gave a thumbs-up, feeling a shiver of fear—he had been so serious, so meticulous, so vigilant, and yet had almost been caught off guard. The main reason was that human settlements were crowded with obstacles: low walls, bushes, greenery trees, discarded trucks, and so on, all good hiding places for corpses.
Little Knife opened the lid of a crate and found the first material package, "Got it." Afterward, she put the material package into her backpack.
Lin Wu continued to be on guard, while Little Knife kept prying open the mystery boxes.
An electrical cable, take it.
Plastic water pipes, take it.
Wow, car repair tools, good stuff, take it.
The more Little Knife unpacked, the more excited she became, gradually losing her initial caution. She wasn't worried about the noise made by yanking nails out anymore, even using her feet.
Lin Wu, uneasy with the thunderous noises inside the warehouse, returned and approached Little Knife, "Keep it down."
"Material packages." Little Knife said excitedly.
A person could only carry one backpack, and each backpack could only contain one material package. Lin Wu put the material package into his own backpack, saying, "Let's deliver these goods back first."
"Yeah."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sound of shattering glass came from five meters away: a zombie had broken through the glass and crawled inside. Lin Wu's heart sank, knowing trouble was imminent. Sure enough, the sound of the breaking glass immediately attracted more knocking on the door, followed by more shattering glass as zombies began to clamber into the warehouse from outside.
"Run."
The two ran towards the main entrance, with two zombies already entering and approaching them. Little Knife took the lead, kicking down the zombie pouncing on her, then picked up a Nail-Pulling Hammer and smashed it onto the head of the second zombie, toppling it to the ground. After they rushed outside, Little Knife embraced the waist of a third zombie that suddenly appeared, flipped backward, and with sheer force, broke the zombie's neck.
Zombies were closing in from both sides, but Little Knife didn't need to use the Nail-Pulling Hammer. She kicked a zombie in the knee, bringing it down, and elbowed another in the head that had grabbed her shoulder. It was a display of brute force overpowering numbers, the luxury of strength in action.
Disregarding the silence rule, Little Knife shouted, "Where are you? You go first, I'll cover our retreat."
Lin Wu had already climbed out through the broken window. He crouched to avoid an attack and, hearing Little Knife's voice, shouted urgently, "You go first, don't cover for me."
Little Knife: "Just go, I'll cover."
How did this turn into a melodrama? Lin Wu jumped over a low wall, luring the zombies to follow suit, then hopped back, successfully shaking off a couple of them. He yelled back, "I have skills, you need to go first so I can survive."
Little Knife hesitated and jogged back, asking over her shoulder, "What skills? Hey, what skills are you talking about?"
Lin Wu didn't have time to explain to Little Knife. Upon returning to the street, she saw Lin Wu running towards the depths of the commercial area, followed by no fewer than thirty zombies. Just when Little Knife hesitated, wondering whether to follow and help out, she spotted a shrieking zombie among the horde.
She had to trust Lin Wu. Little Knife immediately turned and ran towards the base. Upon seeing Stone, she said anxiously, "Lin Wu has attracted a huge horde of zombies."
Stone tried to calm Little Knife down, "He made it out of a city swarming with corpses; he'll be fine."
Daiyu, who was nearby, asked anxiously, "Did you bring back any construction materials? It's unlikely that Lin Wu is coming back, so you're my only hope."
"Yes, there's one."
Little Knife stored the construction material pack, and Daiyu immediately clicked to build a medical room. Three minutes later, the medical room was ready. Daiyu went straight to the first floor's left room, laid down on the only bed, and the initially red infection value turned green—indicating effective treatment and a decrease in the infection.
Stone said, "Little Knife, since Lin Wu has drawn away the zombies, that area should be relatively safe now. Hurry up and see if you can scavenge anything else."
Little Knife nodded, "Then I'm off."
Stone saw Little Knife off with several warnings, then returned inside, drawing his baseball bat as he walked towards the medical room.
...
By this time, Lin Wu had already shaken off the zombies and was hiding in a naval souvenir shop near the crossroads. He watched from the window as the zombies gathered outside the shop slowly dispersed before he began to survey the store. With the help of a flashlight, he first took care of two sleeping zombies inside the shop.
Since the horde outside had dispersed but not disappeared, Lin Wu, unable to leave the store, began to search inside. Under the cash register, he found a pack of ammunition he couldn't take with him. He also found a chip, uncertain of its use but tossed it into his backpack anyway. Lastly, he stripped a set of sailor clothes from a mannequin and looked back to see the store empty.
Unwilling to give up, Lin Wu searched each counter carefully and found four 12.7mm bullets hidden under a torn newspaper. With this newfound experience, he uncovered some 9mm pistol bullets. Just as he was about to give up after another round, he sensed something off about the showcase in front of him.
The middle board of the showcase was unusually thick. Upon closer inspection with his flashlight, Lin Wu found it was just a regular piece of wood. Reaching under the board, he felt two boxes. Inside the boxes were two P220 pistols with full magazines. The discovery greatly boosted Lin Wu's morale. He went by the motto that perseverance pays off and scoured every inch of the store assiduously. Unfortunately, aside from gathering a handful of dust, he didn't even find an empty bullet casing.
Seeing that the zombies outside had completely dispersed, Lin Wu also left the naval souvenir shop. Using agile maneuvers, he made his way safely back to Shadow Base, avoiding zombies along the path.