Rotting Land: Survive

"Damn it! You bastards upstairs, let’s see where you can run to now. Once I catch you, I’m going to skin you alive!"

"Bang!"

Just as Hu Chao finished speaking, a loud bang came from behind him. He turned to look, stunned and shocked!

"B-boss, it’s zombies! Zombies have come up!" Compared to Hu Chao’s shock, his minions behind him were almost peeing their pants with fear.

"Damn it! What’s there to be afraid of!" He backhanded a slap across the cheek, leaving the thug seeing stars.

"It’s just a few zombies, kill them, that’s all. What’s there to panic about? Do you think your weapons are toys? You! You! You two, stay here and guard the stairs for me. Listen up, block the exit completely, got it?"

Pointing at his two minions at the bottom, Hu Chao then picked up his knife and gun: "The rest of you, keep chasing! Damn it, today I’m definitely going to take out those two punks upstairs."

He’s crazy! Absolutely insane! The minions he pointed to were despaired, thinking, how are we supposed to guard this against zombies? With our lives? If you want to die, go die yourself, why are you playing with our lives?

The unchosen thugs following Hu Chao upstairs weren’t much better off. Although they temporarily escaped danger, once the downstairs path is blocked, they’ll still be trapped to death inside this building.

"Boss! If we chase them now, it’ll be hard to escape once we catch them. I think we should pull back and let the zombies handle them."

In a life or death situation, one thug dared to suggest, but no sooner had he spoken than Hu Chao started beating him up.

"What did you say? Run!? Damn, have you ever seen me, Hu Chao, run? Ever since I’ve been in the game, I only chase people, no one makes me run! And now you’re telling me to run, are you looking for death?"

Raising his pistol, Hu Chao was about to pull the trigger.

However, just then, the sound of rapid footsteps suddenly rose from below, followed closely by coarse roars.

"Runner! Damn it! The Runner is here, run!"

Ignoring whether Hu Chao was threatening with a gun, under the pressure of certain death, the thugs’ minds had no time to consider hierarchy. Nothing was more important than survival now.

Hu Chao felt a shiver down his spine, then saw his thugs running upstairs like soulless maniacs.

He was about to assert his authority to control the situation, but just as his minions fled, the "Runner" came charging at him with lightning speed.

Yellow teeth, a rotting face, and those empty eyes, made Hu Chao shudder.

In an instant, thoughts of revenge and saving face were thrown out. He instinctively raised his cleaver, swinging it down in a fury at the attacking "Runner".

"Puff!"

From the high ground, combined with the brainless charge of the "Runner", Hu Chao’s swipe did not miss, accurately splitting the beast’s forehead.

But no sooner had Hu Chao been congratulating himself on his feat than a series of even more frenzied footsteps echoed from below.

Terror! Unfounded terror surged from his feet to his head!

No more thoughts of facing off now. The approaching zombies instantly cleared his feverish mind.

What the hell am I doing!? I’m pushing myself into a dead end!

Indeed, Hu Chao was driving himself into a corner.

If he had just listened to his minions for half a second earlier, he wouldn’t be in this dire situation.

Even if he manages to catch Old Xu and Lei Tong and takes them out, he himself would still be shredded by the zombies inside this building.

Realizing this, Hu Chao felt some fear, some regret, but mostly anger towards Old Xu and Lei Tong upstairs.

If not for those two showing up, how would he end up in this predicament?

Bad people always like to shift blame onto the innocent. Good people usually figure out solutions themselves.

Lei Tong and Old Xu continued climbing the stairs, the noise from below constantly reminded them to urgently find a hiding spot.

Otherwise, whether caught by Hu Chao’s gang or brainless zombies, there’s no pleasant outcome.

But it seemed like fate was testing Old Xu and Lei Tong, for even two levels up led to the same result.

"Damn it!" Looking at the closed security door in front of them, Lei Tong slammed his fist onto the door, the dull sound echoing through the building.

"Open! Open! Damn it, open for me!" Without the right tools, Lei Tong resentfully yanked at the handle.

But the solid security door was like an immovable guardian, no matter how Lei Tong struggled, it wouldn’t budge.

"Let’s go! Lei Tong, let’s go quickly!" Old Xu was also anxious at this point; all the way up they’ve found no accessible room, making their situation increasingly dangerous.

For if they don’t find a hiding place further up, they’ll truly have no retreat and be forced into a dead end.

Old Xu personally didn’t fear much, nor did Lei Tong.

After all, they’ve both lived through risky, perilous times, seen and experienced all kinds of crises.

Just their scars alone symbolized countless brushes with death.

So for them, dying wasn’t anything novel; if anything, it was just a matter of when.

But at this moment, Old Xu’s mindset was quite different. Let’s not forget, there weren’t just two in this building; he was carrying a young boy in his arms.

Old Xu had previously sworn to protect this boy’s life at all costs.

Yet things often don’t go as planned; the ongoing events were beyond Old Xu’s control.

Ironically, the boy seemed indifferent and showed no signs of panic at death’s approach. In fact, Old Xu even saw hints of schadenfreude in his eyes.

Indeed, Old Xu was convinced the boy was enjoying their ’distressed’ situation.

Connecting this to the boy’s previous reactions, Old Xu deduced he probably still saw them as the bad guys.

So the boy hoped they’d die at the zombies’ hands, thus vicariously avenging his grievances.

Sigh! Helpless! Old Xu truly felt a pang of helplessness!

If they really died this way today, it’d be utterly disgraceful.

Right? Being cursed by the ones you saved, such a death could only be depressing.

Yet, we’re not at the final step yet; there’s one more floor above.

That’s Old Xu and Lei Tong’s last hope. As long as there’s one open door up there, survival is possible.

Upon hearing this, Lei Tong let go of the handle, turned, and continued to climb.

Once Lei Tong left, Old Xu got up and closely followed.