At 7:38 in the morning!
On the seventeenth floor of the Hilton Hotel, Ray and two others had finished washing up and were now sitting around a tea table by the window, drinking tea and eating breakfast.
"It seems like there are fewer people than last night."
While eating breakfast, Liu Yuqing was observing the chaotic cross-river bridge in the distance through a pair of binoculars.
"The noise caused by those videos last night must have been significant, and it's the same over at the cross-river bridge."
Ray was also watching the situation on the bridge.
"The outside world is almost exactly as you planned; people living in safe cities are preparing for the impending apocalypse after learning the truth..."
Zhao Zhirou was holding a laptop, browsing through a flurry of news and videos that had exploded online.
"After a night of fermentation, I think everyone around the world has gone into an armed state."
"As a result, many people have survived, and countless individual forces have emerged. Some have even taken advantage of the still-functioning internet to publicly recruit members online."
Hearing this, Liu Yuqing put down the binoculars and turned around with confusion, "Public recruitment? Won't the civil and military departments trouble them?"
"They are too busy to care about that," Zhao Zhirou shook her head and continued, "Even if they had the resources, they would rather use them to save civilians and fight against zombies, not waste them on these groups."
"That makes sense." Liu Yuqing nodded in understanding.
Ray put down his tea cup and turned his gaze away from the cross-river bridge, "Alright, it's time for us to set off."
"Okay!"
The two women were slightly surprised but didn't ask any questions, agreeing immediately and quickly started to pack their things.
"Yuqing, Zhirou, come here for a moment."
A few minutes later, as the two women were packing, Ray suddenly called them, prompting a curious exchange of glances before they turned and left the room.
It was then that they realized Ray was waiting for them, holding a weapon bag in one hand.
Liu Yuqing spoke first, "What's up? We haven't finished packing yet."
"Leave the packing for later; take a look at this first."
Saying that, Ray handed each of them a weapon bag.
"This is..."
Both women were more puzzled, took the weapon bags, placed them on the ground, unzipped them, and were instantly stunned when they saw the weapons inside, especially Zhao Zhirou, who immediately noticed something unique about these firearms.
"Are these all for us?" Zhao Zhirou looked up at Ray, surprised.
"Yes, there's a dagger, a Type 92 pistol, an M4A1 carbine, and a Type 85 sniper rifle inside," Ray nodded.
"A sniper rifle, I've never used one before..." Liu Yuqing was astonished.
"That's why there's no sniper rifle in your bag; giving you one now would just be a burden." Ray smiled.
"Feels like you're considering me, but why does it sound a bit off?" Liu Yuqing breathed a sigh of relief, but then gave Ray a sideways glance.
Ray shrugged, "Can't help it, right now, you indeed are a rookie!"
"These guns... why do they feel different from what I know?"
Ignoring the banter between them, Zhao Zhirou took out the M4A1, voicing her inner doubts.
"I've modified these guns a bit; their performance has been significantly improved in many aspects. As for how exactly, you'll know once you've used them."
Ray explained casually.
"Okay then!"
Zhao Zhirou nodded, her curiosity about Ray growing even more.
"Alright, go back and continue packing, but make it quick."
Two minutes later!
The two women, having finished packing, appeared before him, each carrying a backpack.
Ray nodded, extinguished the cigarette in his hand, picked up his backpack, and headed towards the door.
"Let's go!"
...
Seventeen levels down, Ray and his two companions, just like yesterday, formed a triangular formation and walked downstairs.
Thanks to their coordination from the previous day, their teamwork had significantly improved today, and since they had almost cleared out all the zombies yesterday, they encountered few difficulties.
Within a few minutes, the trio smoothly made their way downstairs.
Of course, there were some zombies that ran out from the rooms, but they were easily dealt with.
When they reached the third floor, the three of them stopped.
The space inside the armored vehicle had been increased, allowing for more storage, and Ray naturally wouldn't waste this opportunity.
This level housed the hotel's dining area, so naturally, they decided to take some food with them.
Ten minutes later!
Ray and Zhao Zhirou packed two large bags full of various meat and vegetarian ingredients, and returned to Liu Yuqing, who had been keeping watch for them. Together, they moved to the second floor.
"Jarvis, bring the car over!"
Standing in the storage room they had entered earlier, Ray looked out the window at what seemed to be over a hundred zombies wandering around and instructed through his Bluetooth headset.
"Right away, sir!"
Jarvis responded, and soon, the roar of an engine could be heard from afar.
However, the armored vehicle didn't come straight to them; it circled around the area a few times, drawing the wandering zombies away before coming over.
Taking advantage of this moment, Liu Yuqing and Zhao Zhirou gave Ray a quick nod and hurried towards the second floor's clothing section.
This level was a shopping center, including all kinds of daily necessities, clothing, and accessories. The two women had discussed this with Ray earlier.
So, after giving him a nod, they rushed towards their target with weapons in hand.
Ray naturally didn't mind. After all, girls will be girls. In desperate times, they had to make do with what they had, but now with new clothes right in front of them, they naturally wanted to take more for changing.
Of course, they were still very conscious of time and knew to keep it within limits.
Less than five minutes after they left, they all returned just as the armored vehicle was arriving.
Ray glanced at the large bags in the hands of the two women, "Zhirou will go down first to load the supplies and our backpacks onto the vehicle, followed by Yuqing, and I'll cover."
"Okay!"
Both women nodded.
Hum—
With a roar, the armored vehicle came to a steady stop below the window.
Ray checked the surroundings of the armored vehicle, and seeing that most of the zombies downstairs had been drawn away, he immediately opened the window.
Zhao Zhirou, agile and swift, flipped out of the window the moment it opened and, with a release of her hands, landed steadily on the roof of the vehicle.
"Roar...roar..."
"Heh...heh..."
The dozen or so scattered zombies wandering downstairs, attracted by the armored vehicle, immediately roared and pounced towards it.
"Yuqing, pass the supplies to Zhirou."
With that command, Ray pulled out his handgun and pulled the trigger on the approaching zombies.
Bang bang—