The lights in the corridor were either broken or naturally dim.

Moments ago, the stairwell had been shrouded in darkness, leaving Yang Mu unable to see a thing.

Now, as the sensor lights flickered on, he was shocked to discover a horde of zombies filling the hallway beyond the stairwell door.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The pack of zombies howled, surging through the doorway.

Yang Mu sprinted up the stairs but hesitated on the eighth floor, unsure whether to continue upwards.

He dashed through the corridor, bypassing two zombies with swift kicks as he kept running.

The hallway stretched on, doors on either side mostly shut.

Reaching the end, he found an open door. Glancing back, he saw zombies in pursuit, so he quickly darted inside, slamming and locking the door. He leaned against it, breathless.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the terrifying howls grew louder.

Where did all these zombies come from?

Had the people who entered earlier all turned into zombies already?

The speed at which the virus spread was horrifying. Likely trapped in the narrow hallway, they had been rapidly infected.

How was Chu Hong doing now?

For the first time, Yang Mu found himself genuinely concerned for her.

After all, despite their constant bickering over the past two years, she wasn’t entirely bad. Though she seemed arrogant and disdainful, deep down, she was probably just a mischievous girl with little malice.

There was also the important task entrusted to him by the White Swan.

Yang Mu's eyes scanned the room. It appeared to be an office—there was a desk, a computer. Was there a rope?

He searched quickly, luck finally on his side. Not only was there a rope, but also several green fire extinguishers.

Turning on the light for a better look, Yang Mu realized this was a company selling firefighting equipment. The green extinguishers were water-based, supposedly highly eco-friendly.

Yang Mu glanced at the red fire extinguisher he'd been carrying and opted to keep the red one. After all, against zombies, environmental friendliness was not a priority—what mattered was firepower.

The ropes were professional-grade safety ropes, varying in length.

Yang Mu grabbed a four-meter rope and stashed it in his backpack.

The bag was getting heavier, but he made sure to bring the rope. It was a lifeline.

He picked up a longer rope, about six meters, and headed to the balcony.

A drainage pipe ran down the side of the building, about ten centimeters wide. Yang Mu looped the rope around the pipe, tied it around his waist, and began to climb down.

Though he could have descended without the rope, he had every intention of bringing Chu Hong with him.

As he climbed, Yang Mu reflected.

They had been through so much together. As a man, he couldn’t be that petty, could he?

The human heart is a complicated thing. Yang Mu hadn’t realized how many excuses he'd made for himself, how much mental preparation he’d undergone just to justify going after Chu Hong.

He climbed down from the eighth floor to the sixth. On either side were balconies. Yang Mu swung his leg over one and peered inside, but saw nothing but darkness.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on in the opposite balcony, startling him. Regaining his composure, he crept over slowly.

The balcony was spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a door that allowed access inside.

The curtains were drawn, but a gap allowed light to stream through. Yang Mu cautiously peered inside.

There, in the room, were a dozen people. And there was Chu Hong!

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

...

Chu Hong, Liu Dongfeng, Wang Yunzhi, Wang Liang, Gu Dasen, Hu Die, and the others rushed into the room first, followed by more than a dozen people who quickly locked the door behind them.

Originally, everyone was gathered in the corridors of the sixth and seventh floors, where special forces from the Kamikaze unit had blocked off several stairways, setting up guns to prevent the zombies from breaking in.

Just then, someone turned into a zombie, causing panic and chaos. Some could have escaped, but the crowd was too dense, everyone pushing towards the stairwell door, which became impossible to open.

The zombies closed in, biting one person after another. Within two minutes, everyone who hadn't left the corridor was transformed.

Chu Hong and her group had stayed together and naturally hid in a room.

At first, everyone was terrified, too afraid to speak, and not daring to turn on the lights.

Time passed slowly, and suddenly the room lights flickered on.

"Damn it! Those soldiers, they’ve led all these zombies here!"

A fierce-looking man growled. He was the one who had turned on the lights.

"Honey, what do we do now? We didn’t even get the money, and now we're trapped with no food. How are we supposed to survive? These zombies aren’t going anywhere soon."

The woman speaking was Liu Dan, a waitress who had planned to con the hotel manager.

Another man nearby chuckled, "What’s there to worry about, sister-in-law? Things will sort themselves out. It's the apocalypse, you think food’s the issue? Look at all the people here. We’ll just burn those office desks on the balcony and roast some meat! What are you all looking at? It’s survival of the fittest. Nature’s law, clear as day."

Liu Dan’s face changed. She frowned, "Eating people? I could never."

"Don’t worry, sister-in-law. We’ll kill them first, roast them, and you won’t know the difference. Just like pork."

"Xiao De, you talk like you’ve eaten human flesh before."

"I haven't, but I read a lot of apocalypse novels. Human flesh should taste pretty much like pork. I'm no saint. If there’s meat to eat, I’ll eat it. You want to starve to death instead?"

As Xiao De finished speaking, another man added with a sly grin, "Heh, before we eat, we can have some fun with these girls. Just look at how pretty they are, especially that one."

"Yeah, she’s gorgeous. I can barely hold myself back. Let’s grab her."

With that, the man moved toward Chu Hong.

There were others in the room. A man stood up and shouted, "Are you insane? What do you think you're doing?"

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out, and the man collapsed, blood staining his chest.

"See that? That’s what happens to saints!"

One of the thugs grabbed Chu Hong, pulling her onto the office desk.

"No! Let me go! Help! Someone, help me!"

"I’m the daughter of the Chu Corporation! Are you all looking for death?"

"Don’t! I’ll give you money! A lot of money!"

"Please, someone save me! Help!"

Chu Hong’s cries grew more desperate.

Liu Dongfeng frowned. He was leaning against the corner, wanting to step forward, but Wang Yunzhi held his hand, stopping him.

Everyone else huddled in the corner, feeling sorry for Chu Hong but too terrified to move, glancing at the four men armed with guns and the corpse on the floor.

Outside, Yang Mu watched the scene unfold.

The thugs—five men and one woman—had four guns between them.

One man, who wasn’t holding a gun, was pulling at Chu Hong’s pants. Liu Dan and her husband stood by the door. A bearded man loomed near Liu Dongfeng, while a short man with triangular eyes held a shotgun against the wall.

This was tricky. Could he take out four armed men in one go?

But could he stand by and watch Chu Hong, this beautiful, innocent woman, be violated?

No matter how he looked at it, she was as lovely as a swan.

Yang Mu's heart raced as his mind worked rapidly, calculating his chances of success.

He estimated a 60% chance. It was a risk.

Logic told him there was no need to risk his life for Chu Hong.

But his blood boiled at the thought of another man laying hands on the woman who had been around him for two years.

When blood overpowers reason, it becomes a man's moment of reckoning.

A man must be wild to become a wolf!

A man must be brave to become a king!

Wisdom is something to discard at critical moments. Otherwise, you'll always be nothing more than a strategist, never a ruler.

Yang Mu stopped hesitating. He set down his backpack, picked up a fire extinguisher in one hand and an axe in the other.

He raised the axe and shattered the glass, leaping into the room, landing right between the bearded man and the short one with the triangular eyes.

The adrenaline surge triggered a reaction, but Yang Mu had only a second to act.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Three gunshots echoed as the bearded man was shot dead by the short man, while the bearded man managed to fire two shots, killing the short man in return.

Yang Mu had predicted their response and timed his actions precisely, standing in the middle for just a second before moving.

By then, both men had already reacted, but unable to turn their guns, they accidentally killed each other.

Yang Mu reached Liu Dan’s husband and sprayed the fire extinguisher into his eyes.

"Ah, my eyes!"

Liu Dan’s husband screamed, and Yang Mu swung the axe, chopping into his hand. The gun fell as Yang Mu quickly spun around, hurling the fire extinguisher at the man with the triangular eyes, striking him squarely on the forehead.

The impact was strong enough. The triangular-eyed man, backed against the wall, was knocked unconscious as the extinguisher, weighing about four kilos, did its job.

The fight was over in just ten seconds.

Yang Mu calmly picked up the pistols from Liu Dan’s husband and the bearded man, tucked them into his backpack, and ignored the homemade shotguns.

He sheathed his axe and returned to the bedroom. Using rope he always carried, he tied up the unconscious man, Liu Dan, and her husband.

Looking around, he saw everyone staring at him in disbelief. Yang Mu smiled faintly and said:

"You all saw it. I didn’t kill anyone. They killed their own. Now, you all do as you please. They were planning to eat you. If you want revenge, now’s your chance."

At his words, a few men snapped out of their daze and rushed to beat the three tied-up individuals.

No one showed mercy, not even to Liu Dan, whose screams only made the beatings worse, as they roused the others' violent impulses.

Yang Mu paid them no mind. He walked over to the office desk.

Chu Hong was still sitting there, clutching her pants, which hadn’t been fully pulled off.

"You stupid woman. What are you staring at? Get on your knees and arch your back. Didn’t I say I’d carve you like a flower the next time I saw you?"