Using his bare hands to twist off the iron lock of the rooftop door, Lin An cautiously led Wen Ya down the fire escape into the hotel.
It was already afternoon, and the windows of the privacy-conscious hotel were tightly closed. Without electricity, the interior was quite dim.
On the ninth-floor corridor, a few zombies wandered aimlessly. There were dark red stains on the red carpet, and the walls, covered in elegant wallpaper, were splattered with blood patterns. A female zombie with only her upper body was crawling back and forth with one hand. Behind her, a zombie that looked like a male student was following closely, holding a severed leg and gnawing on it. It seemed like he was her boyfriend.
What a heartwarming scene.
Most likely, they were a young couple from school who had come here to get a room.
Lin An quickly identified his targets and prepared to clear the entire floor.
Zombies wandering outside and exposing themselves were not dangerous. The real danger came from those hidden in rooms.
"Forward lunge."
Lin An darted out from the stairwell corner, and the blade in his hand pierced the male student's head like a sharp sword.
One strike, one kill.
The zombie, whose brain tissue had been destroyed, wobbled and fell. The female zombie crawling at his feet hadn't reacted yet, and Lin An stomped on her head, crushing it.
"Roar!"
The zombies down the corridor heard the noise and turned around, growling. Unlike the slow-moving zombies in movies, the zombies in the apocalypse game moved extremely fast.
The remaining zombies charged at Lin An frantically.
"Upward diagonal slash."
Swinging his blade, Lin An killed one and stepped forward again.
"Reverse downward cut."
With a sidestep, two more flashes of the blade severed the remaining zombies in half.
With combat skills honed over three years of apocalypse and his powerful physical attributes, Lin An fought like an efficient and ruthless killing machine.
In less than three seconds, the zombies in the corridor were cleared.
Wen Ya, holding a fire axe, followed Lin An. She had originally planned to help Lin An finish off any zombies that might be missed. But seeing the bisected corpses, she reluctantly lowered her axe.
It seemed she wasn't much help after all.
"I'll look for the room card."
Trying to prove her usefulness, Wen Ya forced herself to rummage through the corpses despite her discomfort.
Lin An tilted his head slightly, staring at her with a strange look.
"There's no electricity. What's the use of a room card?"
Ignoring Wen Ya's embarrassment, Lin An directly yanked at the door lock with his bare hands. The metal deformed, and the doorknob was easily pulled out.
Nothing was simpler and more convenient than brute force.
"Room 909."
Entering the room, Lin An found a small space with a waterbed in the center. The walls were adorned with erotic paintings. There were swings, yoga balls, and even a few black straps hanging from the ceiling at the head of the bed.
Blushing, Wen Ya followed Lin An with her head down. She didn't quite understand the purpose of these items, but they looked impressive.
"You stay here and rest. I have some things to take care of."
After confirming there were no hidden zombies in the room, Lin An planned to leave Wen Ya here to rest. The ninth-floor zombies had been cleared, making this place temporarily safe.
"Where are you going?"
"Don't I..."
Wen Ya instinctively wanted to ask where Lin An was going and why he didn't want her to follow.
"I have things to do."
"This space is too small. It's not safe for you to follow me."
Lin An didn't come to the Dream Prtay Hotel just to find a place near the hospital. If he remembered correctly, there was a mutant zombie here.
His current awakening stage and player level were just one mutant away from leveling up. Once he reached level 1, his strength would undergo a significant transformation.
When he fought the mutant, Wen Ya would only be a burden. Her real value would be in a few days when she awakened, and Lin An would take her to fight the Stitched.
Or later, when they formed a group, she could serve as support and provide mental power.
Wen Ya didn't argue further. She wasn't stupid enough to act recklessly like a typical movie supporting actress.
Lin An left some food for her. Along the way, he had often heard her stomach growling, but she hadn't said a word.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Lin An was about to go downstairs when he heard a noise.
"Click."
The door to room 901 suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man emerged with a young woman.
"Hello, comrade!"
The middle-aged man seemed excited, his face unkempt with a stubble. He habitually tried to shake Lin An's hand, looking like someone who worked in a government office.
Lin An stepped back, his eyes cold.
The man's outstretched hand hung awkwardly in the air.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
The middle-aged man cleared his throat habitually, while the young woman beside him sneaked glances at Lin An.
"I am the head of the Forestry Department. My name is Wang Jianguo."
"Brother, my name is Xiuxiu."
The woman spoke coquettishly, batting her eyes at Lin An and pulling down her top slightly.
Lin An remained unmoved, understanding the relationship between the two.
"First of all, I must thank you, comrade, for rescuing us. I am extremely grateful for your help..."
"Swish."
Lin An's blade pointed at the middle-aged man's throat, cutting off his endless bureaucratic speech.
This person was likely an official, and he talked too much.
"If you have something to say, say it."
A hint of killing intent made the two of them step back, almost losing their balance.
The middle-aged man felt a flash of displeasure. As a high-ranking official, he was usually treated with respect. Everyone he met would flatter him. But having been trapped in the room for days, he had no idea what the outside world had become.
Despite his long tenure in officialdom, he could still assess the situation. Just now, he had watched Lin An effortlessly dispatch the zombies surrounding them through the peephole. He had hoped to have Lin An protect him, thinking that if there were many more monsters outside, Lin An was their only hope of getting out.
"Comrade, if you escort me to the government office, I will surely recommend you for a commendation to my superiors. This could greatly benefit your future development, and securing a government position wouldn't be difficult."
Suppressing his displeasure, Wang Jianguo spoke in a fawning tone to Lin An.
Lin An sneered, sheathed his knife, and turned to leave, not bothering to respond.
Seeing that Lin An was unmoved, Wang Jianguo's heart filled with sudden anger. As a leader, he was unaccustomed to being treated this way.
"Young man, think carefully. I hold a significant position in the Forestry Department. I only need your help now because I can't reach anyone by phone. This is a rare opportunity for you; don't waste it."
Beside him, Xiuxiu leaned on Wang Jianguo, chiming in.
"Big brother, Director Wang holds an important position. If you take us with you, you can make any request you want later."
Director Wang nodded in satisfaction at Xiuxiu's words.
Lin An sneered coldly.
Idiots.
Government officials? If his memory served him right, the government building had already become a zombie lair. According to his past life's knowledge, there were at least ten mutants inside.
Seeing that Lin An didn't stop, Xiuxiu's face turned anxious.
The corpses of the zombies in the corridor were terrifying.
"Director Wang, should we follow him for now?"
Wang Jianguo's face darkened, but he nodded. He had seen the terrifying scenes of zombies eating people in the past few days. If Lin An hadn't cleared the corridor, he wouldn't have dared to step out.
Seeing Lin An walking further away, the two hurriedly followed behind him at a trot.
...
On the eighth floor, Lin An pushed open the heavy fire door and his eyes narrowed.
In the center of the corridor, a dozen zombies were relentlessly banging on a door. It seemed someone inside had made a noise.
Inside, a couple huddled in the corner, their faces filled with terror.
The doorframe was coming loose under the relentless pounding, and the zombies were about to break in.
The cheap wooden door already had a hole the size of a fist.
"Yu Shihao, what should we do?!"
The girl asked the boy beside her, trembling with a sob.
Yu Shihao turned to look at her, his face filled with hatred.
"You're asking me what to do?!"
"You stupid bitch, you came here on your period and still got a room with me. Are you out of your mind?!"
In a fit of rage, Yu Shihao slapped the girl across the face, full of resentment, and followed it with a kick.
When the outbreak began, he, a regular moviegoer, had immediately locked the door and hid. He had observed that there were still many living guests on this floor.
Now, the zombies had been banging on their door since yesterday, ignoring everyone else. It was clearly because the girl's scent was too strong!
"Yu Shihao, you're not like this, right? You said you would love me and protect me."
The girl, holding onto a last shred of hope, cried, tears streaming down her face.
She instinctively made excuses for Yu Shihao, thinking maybe he was just too scared.
"Fuck you. If it weren't for the fact that you're a virgin, would I even look at you?"
Her heart turned to ashes.
Yu Shihao impatiently fumbled with his new phone, trying to make a call. It was useless.
A phone with no signal was no better than a brick.
In a fit of rage, he smashed the phone to the ground.
The phone was something the girl had bought with her hard-earned money from part-time jobs.
Yu Shihao had told her his phone was no good, and if she wanted him to keep in touch, she should buy him a new one.
Pieces scattered across the floor.
The girl, incredulous, clutched her face and sobbed quietly, her hand slowly loosening from the boy's arm.
The girl, named Zhou Fang, was a university classmate of the boy. He had pursued her for a long time, always treating her with kindness and care. Not very attractive, she had always felt a bit inferior, but it was the first time someone had treated her so well. Touched, she had agreed to Yu Shihao's pursuit.
Before the apocalypse, the boy had coaxed her into coming out, saying this place had a private cinema.
Naively, she had agreed, not expecting Yu Shihao to reveal his true colors in the face of danger.
"Roar!"
A zombie roared, thrusting a rotten arm through the hole in the door.
The boy, terrified, stared at the arm.
No more waiting!
The girl, still crying, didn't notice the boy beside her standing up suddenly, a vicious glint in his eye.
He pulled a small knife from his keychain and stabbed at Zhou Fang's ankle!
"You bitch, didn't you say you love me?"
With a grim smile, he stepped on her other leg and repeated the process.
"If you love me, then die for me."