Chapter 63: Supermarket Warehouse
The fight was no contest.
He thrust with both hands, piercing the skulls of two zombies. A swift kick sent another to the ground, and his hands lanced out again, plunging into the eye sockets of two more.
By the time Lin Fan finished off the last one on the ground, Liu Bin and his group were still standing frozen in place.
The CLANGING of the zombies yanking on the railing and their sickening, low growls still echoed in their ears. Yet in the blink of an eye, all that remained were eight corpses lying on the ground...
Still bodies with crushed skulls.
Lin Fan saw the people behind the railing staring at him in a daze, which was to be expected. Chu Zhaozhao and her group had given him that same look at the beginning.
He felt it would be awkward not to say anything, but he didn’t know what to say.
He could only try to recall what he’d seen in TV dramas about how to act toward a righteous hero who had just offered a helping hand...
"My thanks to you all for lending a hand!"
Lin Fan switched to a reverse grip on his short spear, cupped his fists, and bowed to the group behind the railing.
"Once I’ve cleared the zombies from the street, I will have a gift to thank you..."
’He could certainly spare two cases of instant noodles and some drinking water.’
With that said, he prepared to turn and leave. The door to his building’s stairwell was still open, and just then, he saw two or three more zombies squeeze out from under the roll-up security door.
"Doctor Lin! Please wait!"
Liu Bin was completely thrown by Lin Fan’s formal bow. ’So he really is a martial arts master...’
He subconsciously found his own speech being influenced.
Observing the community’s former veterinarian from such a close distance, Liu Bin realized Lin Fan seemed a bit younger than he remembered.
But that wasn’t important. Liu Bin quickly tried to cozy up to him.
"Doctor Lin... You don’t need to thank us. We should be the ones thanking you..."
"You led the zombies away before, which is the only reason any of us dared to leave our homes. Otherwise, we’d be trapped inside, which is a path to certain death sooner or later..."
"Those damn thugs let the zombies out, and you fought tooth and nail to eliminate them. You’re the real hero of our community..."
"Yeah..."
"That’s right..."
As he spoke, the three people with him chimed in, their attitudes extremely sincere.
’It wasn’t surprising that many people in the community recognized him, but for this man to be buttering him up so much after just a few words... he definitely wanted something.’
So he turned back and said to them,
"Don’t mention it. I was just doing it so I could get out myself. No need to be so formal. In times like these, it’s a luxury to talk about ’helping’ people. This was mutually beneficial... What’s your name, brother?"
"Right... Right... Oh, ah, Doctor Lin, my name is Liu Bin..."
Liu Bin finally realized he hadn’t introduced himself and quickly did so.
"This is Zhang Ziyi, Wang Zhengyang, and Wu Haitao. The four of us are from Building 25. We came out together to find some supplies, and when things got chaotic outside, we hid in here..."
"Um, Doctor Lin, do you think we could discuss something...?"
Seeing that Liu Bin was finally getting to the point, Lin Fan thought to himself, ’Well, they did help me out. I should return the favor if I can.’ He raised an eyebrow, signaling for the man to continue.
Receiving Lin Fan’s tacit approval, Liu Bin continued,
"Those thugs... they weren’t guarding the supermarket from the very beginning. At first, everyone was going in and taking things. It should have been completely emptied..."
"But this morning, someone suddenly discovered a big room behind the supermarket!"
"It’s locked with a heavy chain and can’t be opened. It must be the supermarket’s warehouse..."
"That’s when those thugs blocked it off and stopped anyone else from getting near. But they can’t get the big chain open either. See, the power’s out, so they’re just using a hacksaw. They’ve been at it until now, but we haven’t seen them move any goods out, so they probably haven’t gotten through it yet!"
"You have that RV, right? We were wondering if we could borrow some electricity... There should be a lot of supplies inside. You’ve seen how few people are left in these buildings. It should be enough for all of us to eat..."
’He’s not wrong about that...’
Hearing his words, Lin Fan couldn’t help but think a little better of the man.
He didn’t talk about how to split the loot, but instead naturally said things like "only a handful of us left" and "enough for everyone."
Besides, his tone didn’t sound like an act. There was no need for it. If that really was the supermarket’s warehouse, then with only a few dozen people, the rice, flour, and oil inside would indeed be enough to last them for a good while.
"Alright, no problem... But you’ll have to wait until we’re settled. The door to my stairwell is still open. Once I’ve cleared out the zombies, I’ll arrange for someone to help you connect to the power."
Lin Fan thought for a moment and agreed. It was just lending some electricity, not a difficult task.
Liu Bin was very surprised inwardly that Lin Fan had agreed to his request so easily.
Although borrowing electricity wasn’t an unreasonable request, this was the supermarket warehouse they were talking about!
The stutterer and his thugs had sealed off the supermarket the moment they found out about the warehouse. Liu Bin had no doubt that even if there were enough supplies inside to feed everyone for a year, that gang wouldn’t share a single crumb!
’He never expected Lin Fan to not even mention what cut he wanted. With his strength, even if he took everything, nobody could do a thing about it. This...’
’What noble character...’
Of course, Lin Fan really wasn’t that interested in the supermarket warehouse. Even if it held ten thousand treasures, what was the use if he couldn’t take them with him?
"When the time comes to open the warehouse, I’ll leave it to you to decide how to distribute the supplies... Just don’t make a mess of it like that stutterer did..."
’This Liu Bin guy is articulate and knows his priorities. He seems like a smart person.’ So Lin Fan made it clear to him: since he said it was for everyone, he had better make good on that promise...
’In any case, Lin Fan wasn’t short on food right now. When the time came, he could just have Chu Zhaozhao and the others go pick up some more.’
"Of course, no problem. Once the zombies are gone, I’ll organize the people. We’ll distribute it per person..."
"Alright. I’m going to go back and close my door first. I’ll send someone to find you at the supermarket in a bit."
Bidding them farewell, Lin Fan turned and walked toward his storefront. On the way, he passed a few of the thug-turned-zombies, so badly mauled they could only crawl, and finished them off as he went.
A total of 33 zombies, each worth 5 points of blood volume. In less than half an hour, Lin Fan’s blood volume had reached [565]!
As he passed the vehicles, Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian were cautiously peering out through the windows. Only when they saw him did they straighten up and give him a timid wave.
Lin Fan rapped sharply on the car door, and Chu Zhaotian cautiously lowered the window.
"Is... is it over... Brother Lin..."
Chu Zhaozhao, on the other hand, simply threw open her door. Clutching the short spear Lin Fan had left for her, she jumped out of the car and ran over to him.
"Big Brother! What were those people back there shouting about? Is the fight over?"
"Not yet," Lin Fan said, tossing the van keys to Chu Zhaozhao. "Drive the vehicles up and park them in front of my roll-up door. I’m going to go close it..."
With that, he turned, gave a wave to Su Qing who was leaning halfway out her window, and then continued walking toward the three zombies that had recently squeezed out.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
’Another 15 points of blood volume. Just a few more and I’ll break 600!’