Chapter 91 - 90: The Lone Walker
He felt the impact absorbed by his leg muscles, as if he’d just hopped off a single step. The four-to-five-meter drop hadn’t put any strain on Lin Fan’s knees at all.
Many of his habits were holdovers from his time as an ordinary human. But it wasn’t until just now, after truly fighting zombies alongside the people he lived with, that he became aware of his own ingrained mindset.
A security door that took two people to force open, he could pry open with ease. A zombie that others struggled just to hold back with a spear, he could kill without effort.
Without even realizing it, Lin Fan had already left them far behind.
So far behind, in fact, that an ordinary person could never hope to catch up.
That was why he’d chosen to leap directly from the second floor. For that brief instant, the wind whistling past his ears blew away some of the strange frustration that had been weighing on his mind.
Killing regular zombies in five-man teams was reliable and effective, but the Mutated Zombies... those weren’t something a few people with spears could ever hope to kill so easily.
Thankfully, Su Qing’s appearance had revealed the beginnings of a path for ordinary people to become superhuman, giving Lin Fan a glimpse of hope for the future.
"Brother Lin! Over here..."
Lin Fan hadn’t gone far before Liu Bin came downstairs to greet him.
"Brother Liu, what’s the situation? How many rooms have problems?"
Lin Fan asked as soon as he saw Liu Bin.
"Building 23 had a few, but a big fire broke out, so we don’t dare go in now. Building 24 has seven rooms, and Building 25 has five so far..."
Liu Bin pulled a small notebook from his pocket, counting off the lines.
Their sweep had started with the furthest building, Number 23. After skipping a few suspicious rooms, they’d run into the Giant-Armed Zombie. Then the fire had flushed out a banshee zombie.
Even though only a few apartments had caught fire, cracks had already appeared on the exterior wall of Building 23, so Liu Bin and his team hadn’t dared to go back inside.
Lin Fan had no intention of taking unnecessary risks either. It would be a pointless way to die if some new brute of a zombie appeared and brought the whole building down.
"Give me that page..."
Lin Fan took the piece of paper listing the suspicious rooms from Liu Bin and started walking toward Building 24.
"You guys keep doing your sweep. Don’t follow me."
"Alright. Be careful, Brother Lin..."
Liu Bin had been about to follow, but he stopped when he heard Lin Fan’s words. He grinned and pointed toward the supermarket in the distance.
"The gas got shut off, you know? So we’re making flatbread over here. It’s gonna be communal meals from now on. Grab some on your way back, save your wife the trouble of cooking..."
No wonder Lin Fan had seen several women bustling in and out of the supermarket when he first came down. He hadn’t known what they were up to. So, with the gas out, they were starting cook fires in the supermarket’s backyard.
’This Liu Bin isn’t much of a brawler, but his organizational skills are genuinely impressive. After just a couple of days of working together, the team’s efficiency is getting better and better...’
All 51 of the remaining survivors had been mobilized.
Four seven-person sweeper teams had been formed. Another ten or so people stayed behind to cook, and everyone else was on hauling duty, responsible for moving supplies from the cleared rooms and consolidating them in the supermarket.
Just then, a few more people climbed out of a first-floor window of Unit 5. Some were carrying cardboard boxes, others cloth sacks.
Despite the bloodstains and the black soot from the burnt-out car on the ground, the faces of these people were relatively calm.
As he passed the supermarket entrance, several women kneading dough in the main area saw him. They shot him curious glances and began whispering among themselves.
Two men were helping in the main area as well, but they were clearly more perceptive than the women. They both came out of the supermarket and greeted Lin Fan, a little stiffly.
"Brother Lin..."
"Brother Lin..."
...
Lin Fan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was like he’d suddenly become a celebrity, and it made him feel awkward.
He gave them a stiff nod in acknowledgment and sent them on their way.
He picked up his pace, leaving the crowd’s mixed stares of awe, curiosity, and fear behind him.
Alone, armed with a crowbar and spear, Lin Fan vaulted onto the first-floor balcony of Building 24’s Unit 5 and slipped inside.
The sunlight and voices of the survivors were sealed off behind him. In their place was a dead silence and the faint, almost imaginary, scent of blood.
’Unit 5, Apartment 302... Reason for skipping: smell of blood...’
This was the first building Liu Bin’s team had started to clear, so anything useful on the first floor had already been taken. Miscellaneous junk was strewn all over the floor.
Lin Fan crossed the apartment, headed up the stairwell to the third floor, and knocked lightly on the door of Apartment 302.
’Just as I thought. Not a sound...’
He leaned down to sniff at the door. There was definitely a smell of blood.
’The smell of blood but no zombies... that’s highly suspicious.’
But a place that was an impassable death trap for Liu Bin and his men was the very thing Lin Fan needed to grow stronger.
Leaning his spear against the wall beside him, Lin Fan gripped the crowbar and, with a CLANG, jammed it into the seam of the door.
After helping Su Qing’s group pry open a door earlier, Lin Fan had picked up a trick: if he stood on the hinged side, the security door would shield him as it burst outward.
That way, if something charged out, it wouldn’t be able to get right in his face.
Feeling more confident, Lin Fan put his full weight into the crowbar. The metal door let out a series of grating GROANS under his immense strength until, passing a certain point, it burst open with a loud BANG.
Lin Fan held his position behind the door for a few seconds, crowbar still in hand. When he was sure there were no footsteps from inside, he tossed the crowbar aside, picked up his spear, and stepped into the apartment.
’Ugh... that familiar, nauseating smell.’
A bizarre, sickly-sweet odor mixed with the thick scent of rust and the faintest hint of sewage forced Lin Fan to cover his mouth and nose.
’Looks like Liu Bin and his crew have sharp noses after all,’ Lin Fan thought. ’You have to admit, a person’s sixth sense gets pretty sharp when their life is on the line. I heard it was Liu Bin who decided to skip several of the first few rooms.’
Lin Fan silently equipped his armor crystal. The smell all but confirmed the presence of a Mutated Zombie in the apartment. He raised his spear and began to slowly venture inside.
The kitchen. He opened the door. Nothing.
The bathroom. He opened the door. Nothing.
The master bedroom. He opened the door. Nothing.
The second bedroom...
’This time, I’m not opening the door. Time to take a gamble!’
Lin Fan took two steps back. A metal ball materialized in his hand with a thought.
He drew back his arm and hurled it at the bedroom doorknob!
CRACK!
Splinters of wood flew everywhere!
The cannonball-like impact tore a chunk out of the door, sending the doorknob flying into the bedroom!
THUNK! THUNK!
Two bone spikes, each seventy to eighty centimeters long, burst through the wooden door!
The tips of the bone spikes were like white jade, and a strange luster shimmered across their surface.
SHHH... SHHH...
Having missed their mark, the bone spikes slowly withdrew from the door, leaving two fist-sized holes. A dark shape flickered past one of the openings. Then, a pale eyeball, webbed with black and brown veins, appeared in the hole, glinting with a savage light...