"Roar!"
One zombie, determined, sprang from behind, aiming to tackle them.
The seemingly delicate girl was startled and about to fall.
A bespectacled young man beside her frowned but immediately reached out to steady her.
The chubby kid with a "Fu Wa" hairstyle in front turned back, unhesitatingly stepped back a few paces, and helped the girl up.
The two of them supported her and continued their dishevelled escape.
Luo Xiaole's almond-shaped eyes widened slightly, a bit surprised. In the face of danger, they hadn't abandoned their companion but chose to help without hesitation.
It seemed they had decent character.
However, the strength of the three was almost depleted.
The zombies, with bared fangs, were chasing madly!
Despair filled the eyes of the three.
Just then, they heard a "whoosh," something flying from an unknown direction, like an arrow, piercing the air at extreme speed, and with a "clang," it impaled the zombie's head, splattering black blood all over the three!
"Ugh!" The foul stench almost made them vomit.
What had just flown over seemed to be just a… clothes hanger?
The chubby kid wiped his eyes in disbelief, trying to see more clearly.
He looked up and saw, through a half-open door not far away, standing a… sack?
No, it was an extremely slender girl. A baggy hoodie was draped over her, making her look like a wind-blown sack.
But for some reason, the girl stopped abruptly at the doorway.
"My little ancestor, now is not the time to freeze!" The chubby kid with the "Fu Wa" hairstyle patted his thigh, grabbed the two companions who hadn't recovered yet with his left hand, and ran directly towards the "sack girl."
Finally, someone opened the door, so why wait to die!
The "sack" Luo Xiaole watched as the chubby kid with the "Fu Wa" hairstyle and the other two ran towards her. But once again, since the beginning, she had suddenly felt as if she had been frozen, completely unable to move, losing control.
Now it was Luo Xiaole's turn to despair.
She had just thought these people were decent and intended to toss a clothes hanger to help and then slip away.
She never expected to experience this again.
Her heart instantly turned cold.
She was about to experience the same death as her aunt yesterday.
Fortunately, as the chubby kid dragged the two companions into the house, he conveniently scooped her up and pulled her inside.
With the door slamming shut.
The zombies outside were a step too late. With a bang, they crashed against the door, raged ineffectively for a while, and finally, unwillingly, walked away.
...
The few people finally managed to catch their breath.
They all looked at Luo Xiaole, who was still motionless, not even blinking, with confused expressions.
Perhaps two minutes later.
The "sack" finally blinked for the first time. Her clear, large eyes instantly gained a glimmer of life.
"Classmate, you..." The chubby kid fiddled with his hands and tentatively spoke.
"Were you scared by the zombies just now? A stress response?"
"Yes... I've heard that some people become rigid and unable to move due to extreme fear," the glasses-wearing guy also adjusted his glasses and began to analyze.
Luo Xiaole was also very confused, so she simply defaulted and nodded timidly.
The chubby kid immediately perked up. "My name is Luo Shu. We asked everyone along the way, and you're the only one who opened the door for us. Thank you so much!"
"Just for your warm heart, I'll be your friend. Although I, Luo Shu, can't beat zombies, I'll definitely try to protect you afterwards. Don't be scared." The chubby kid patted his chest.
"Hello, my name is Wang Hao," the glasses-wearing guy also introduced himself. "Thank you for today."
"I... I'm Zhu Hui," the frail girl also spoke.
Luo Xiaole nodded distractedly and gave her name.
Besides that, she couldn't utter a single word, her mind filled with the terrifying ordeal of escaping death.
There must be a reason why her body turned like this.
Luo Xiaole lowered her head, carefully recalling the last time her body lost control...
It was when she faced her sister's monstrous appearance...
And this time, upon seeing the zombies outside the door, she instantly became immobile, coupled with pain spreading through her body...
A terrifying conjecture suddenly formed in her mind.
Could it be that whenever she faced zombies, her body would become stiff and unable to move?
This happened after the system appeared. Could it be the system's doing?
This was truly the worst possible scenario she could imagine in the apocalypse.
The chubby kid beside her and the others started chatting.
"Damn, these zombies aren't like in the novels! Their shells are so hard! Look at my cleaver, it got bent directly! And I still can't kill them..."
The chubby kid sighed, his words filled with grievance.
However, a huge storm was brewing in Luo Xiaole's heart.
Zombies can't be cut?
But her clothes hanger cut through them so smoothly...
This system made her this way, yet gave her invincible weapons. Was it trying to keep her alive or kill her?
Unfortunately, no matter how she inquired in her mind, the prompt was that the system was charging and could not respond.
She would have to investigate later.
"By the way, classmate Luo, what are your plans? Let's go together, we can look out for each other," Luo Shu saw Luo Xiaole spacing out again and asked.
Luo Xiaole looked at the chubby kid gratefully.
She had just been thinking that if she encountered zombies and became stiff, acting alone would be suicide.
She really, truly needed teammates now.
This time, without hesitation, she nodded.
The four of them temporarily formed an alliance.
However, supplies became a major problem.
After making that bowl of porridge, only two potatoes were left from the food at home, which was not enough to eat. Fortunately, there were still two large boxes of water.
And two boxes of medicine remained.
"There's not much food left at home," Luo Xiaole said truthfully, her big eyes wide open.
"We just ran over from the other side and saw that the large supermarket downstairs seemed to be packed with zombies," Zhu Hui said, looking on the verge of tears.
"Your neighbors surely won't share their food, after all, they were unwilling to open the door earlier," Wang Hao's tone carried a hint of complaint.
"Right, since the internet is still working, why don't we see what's being said in the community group?" The chubby kid's mind was quite agile.
Luo Xiaole fumbled to open the resident group chat. Only a few people were still chatting; the fate of the others was imaginable.
"Don't go downstairs, everyone! Don't go out! The stairwell is full of zombies now!"
"How are we supposed to live like this... I'm numb... I might as well just die myself..."
A gloomy atmosphere filled the entire chat group.
Suddenly, a new message popped up.
"Anyone want to trade supplies?"
"Excuse me, is anyone on the 6th floor? Do you have any medicine? My child suddenly has severe diarrhea and is about to collapse from dehydration. I can exchange food for it."
Luo Xiaole's eyes lit up when she saw this. She recognized this neighbor; he was always honest, liked to hoard food, and doted on his son. The situation matched.
Luo Xiaole showed the message to everyone.
After discussing with the chubby kid and the others, they decided that since none of them were sick or injured, they could keep some of the medicine and use the rest to exchange for food to solve their immediate needs.
All four agreed.
Luo Xiaole sent a private message to her neighbor on the 6th floor.
But the other party said he couldn't leave to take care of his child and asked Luo Xiaole to find a way to go up to the 6th floor. He had a lot of food at his home and could give them more to eat.
Luo Xiaole swallowed nervously, looking troubled.
Different zombies were pacing back and forth outside the door, their menacing roars audible even through the door.
Several of them scratched the walls from time to time, making jarring and hair-raising scraping sounds.
Luo Xiaole swallowed again, thinking that going out now was not a wise choice.
The other three also shook their heads like rattles.
Having just escaped from the jaws of zombies, they didn't want to go and die again.
Luo Xiaole sighed inwardly and reluctantly sent a message to the other party.
"Unable to go upstairs at the moment, apologies." She then put down her phone with a distressed expression.
A stifling silence instantly filled the room.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, a loud clang of a steel pipe echoed from the end of the stairwell outside.