Chapter 34

Clearing out the garage wasn’t about charging in blindly. In fact, after the past two days, the young residents of the apartment complex had basically figured out the traits of both the original zombies and the second-generation infected ones, so they had a battle plan.

Master Luo grabbed two rolls of barrier tape from the property storage room.

Everyone stretched the tape across the downward ramp entrance of the underground garage, two strips spaced about four or five meters apart, positioned at shin height.

Both ends were held firmly by people, using the tape as trip ropes.

Once ready, someone tossed a cooking pot down the ramp.

The pot clattered and banged its way down, rousing the zombies inside the garage.

Because there were no living people in the garage and it was fairly soundproofed from the outside, these zombies had been drifting around slowly, some even standing almost still in place. They looked like NPCs in a game that hadn’t been triggered yet.

But with all that racket, the zombies stirred and moved toward the source of the noise.

The people outside the entrance watched as the zombies gradually gathered along the path the pot had rolled, and then they started banging on the pot lid with a loud clang.

The zombies turned toward the ramp entrance and came shambling up.

This was when the difference between the second-generation infected zombies and the original ones became crystal clear — the ones leading the charge were all second-generation zombies.

The second-generation ones moved way faster than the original zombies, who stumbled and lurched with uncoordinated limbs!

They watched as those few pulled further and further ahead of the rest, getting closer and closer.

The young people tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly. “Here they come, here they come!”

“Hold the ropes!”

At that, everyone pulling the trip ropes clenched the barrier tape even harder to keep from letting go.

The next second, a massive force yanked at the ropes!

The plan worked. The leading second-generation zombie was tripped and sent flying. It was moving so fast that it even soared over the second trip rope before hitting the ground.

The moment it landed, a barrage of assorted weapons smashed its skull in.

Second-generation zombies had coordinated limbs and quick agility, but their vision was poor in dim light. They were also completely driven by instinct — their craving for flesh and blood being their only motivation — and they lacked any ability to think.

For them, if there was an obstacle on the direct path toward flesh, they would rely on their jumping ability to leap over it.

Last night, the reason the team clearing the fifth floor of Building Two got hurt was that a second-generation zombie in that room had stepped directly on an original zombie in front of it and jumped out.

But at dusk like this, trying to spot trip ropes at their feet was too much to ask of them.

The two trip ropes ensured that even if a zombie happened to avoid the first one, it couldn’t avoid the second. As long as they tripped and hit the ground, they were either bashed in the skull with a hammer or had their necks chopped by a cleaver.

There weren’t many second-generation zombies — only eight came charging out, and they were all dealt with quickly.

What followed were the original zombies. Because of their poor coordination, the steep ramp slowed them down, and many fell and ended up crawling.

They had already been left behind by the second-generation ones, and now the gap only widened. That gave the suicide squad more time to adjust and prepare.

It almost got a bit leisurely.

They just waited for the rest of the zombies to stagger up or crawl up, then took them out one by one.

After smashing one with a hammer, someone said, “This is kind of like whack-a-mole.”

Was that finding humor in misery? It was a disgusting, terrifying scene, after all.

But somehow, cracking jokes like that made it less disgusting, less terrifying, and less oppressive.

Everyone cheered in response. “One comes, one dies!”

A lot of volunteers had signed up for this mission. The apartment complex was just stacked with manpower. Whether it was fighting or doing work, there was no shortage of people.

Of course, with a few thousand people in the neighborhood, there were bound to be the self-serving types who never lifted a finger. But those people hid in their rooms or buried themselves deep in the crowd, so no one really knew them.

The people everyone recognized were the ones who had been fighting side by side over the last two days.

Because there were so many people, Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo, along with the other core members, didn’t even need to push to the front — not even Li Jiangbing.

But Su Yu was right up at the front.

Her frying pan was good quality — not one of those thin, cheap ones. It was thick and heavy, a bit of a weight to swing.

But its striking power was excellent. Perfect for smashing the back of a skull.

She got the hang of it and found her rhythm. One zombie that got tripped had its head completely crushed after just two hits from her, drawing a round of cheers.

Su Yu wiped the sweat off her forehead.

She had a lot of fashion and film magazines at home, and she had wrapped them around her arms as makeshift armor. It was a sweltering summer evening, and after all that heavy physical exertion, sweat was beading on her forehead.

She couldn’t help glancing back.

Jiang Cheng was standing further back, holding an axe, talking to that Song Jingshuo guy. He wasn’t looking at her.

The girl next to her nudged her with an elbow and praised, “You’re pretty impressive.”

Su Yu turned and smiled at her.

This was the girl who had chatted with her on the app after the supermarket run. Like Su Yu, she was one of the brave girls who stood out during group operations.

She also glanced back at Jiang Cheng.

She wasn’t resentful that Jiang Cheng wasn’t fighting at the front. Quite the opposite — she and Su Yu exchanged a look, understanding each other perfectly. They were both glad to have Jiang Cheng on the temporary committee.

The girl said a bit regretfully, “I should have joined the temporary committee too.”

Su Yu reassured her, “It’s fine. Just actively participate when there’s something to do.”

Get closer to the core, get familiar, and you’ll naturally fit in.

“Yeah!”

They both tightened their grips on their weapons.

Jiang Cheng handled the thinking for the committee on the inside; they could fight on the front lines. Even though it drained their energy, there was a sense of security in finding their place within the organization.

Besides, Su Yu genuinely felt that facing zombies was actually easier than facing living people.

When a zombie came at you, you just hit it hard.

But the people she had run into today at Jixiang Jiayuan, the Maiduoduo Supermarket, and the pharmacy left her feeling irritated and helpless.

She would rather face zombies.

One comes, one dies.

All the zombies at the garage entrance had been killed. After banging on the pot lid for a while longer and throwing more clattering items down, no more zombies came out.

But the garage was huge, so there was no guarantee it was fully cleared.

“Let’s go down,” Jiang Cheng said. “We have to make sure not a single zombie is hiding in any corner of the neighborhood.”

Once every zombie in the area was eliminated and the main gate was locked, the apartment complex would become something like a safe zone.

Everyone had had enough of living in tension and fear for the past two days. They all wanted the neighborhood to return to a safe, relaxed state.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

The young men hollered, waving all sorts of weapons.

People with their heads, necks, arms, and legs fully armored led the way using U-shaped forks they had gotten from the property office. The rest followed behind, advancing slowly.

There was a long stretch of road ahead with no incidents at all. The zombies that had been there earlier had just been lured out of the entrance by the noise they'd made.

As they went deeper, there were indeed some that had slipped through the net. They came out and were killed on sight. Farther ahead, there were likely more, so they used the noise method again, luring out a few and dealing with them all.

But the underground parking garage was too large. They couldn't all stay bunched together the whole time—that would be too inefficient.

So everyone spread out again, forming teams in formation. Some watched the front, some watched the left, some watched the right, and some were responsible for making noise, sweeping the area like a carpet.

Overall, there weren't as many zombies in the garage as in the garden.

The incident had happened on a Saturday night. More people had been in the garden at the time. Those who happened to be in the garage at that moment were far fewer.

Cleaning it up was actually much easier than Sunday's big garden battle.

Using the noise method to lure zombies out also let them see them with the naked eye from a distance. The formations had both offense and defense, and other squads would come over to help.

A little past eight, the entire garage was cleared.

Everyone fanned out to different areas of the garage, making noise to confirm no more zombies were coming out.

Dealing with the corpses now felt routine.

They all worked together to drag them to the central plaza and stack them up. Master Luo had prepared the fuel and was squatting there, waiting for everyone to start the fire.

They'd burned a batch on Sunday at noon—that time had the most bodies and the biggest fire.

Then another batch on Monday morning, burning what they'd swept up from the building on Sunday night.

Now they were burning again.

As the flames rose, the moon had climbed higher.

The heat hit them in waves.

At this point, the Youth Apartment complex had achieved zero zombies inside the buildings, in the courtyard, and in the underground garage.

On the third night after the zombie virus outbreak, the Youth Apartment had become a sealed safe zone.

Someone suddenly lost control of their emotions and raised the hammer in their hand, letting out a fierce shout.

That shout acted like a catalyst. The pent-up emotions everyone had held back for two days finally burst loose, and they all started shouting—

"No more zombies!"

"No more zombies in the complex!"

"Everyone can come down and wander around now!"

"Aw aw aw aw aw aw aw aw!"

Many people upstairs opened their windows: "Really?"

"That's great!"

"Thank you, you've worked so hard!"

Some people upstairs also started shouting.

Cheers rose and fell, echoing through the Youth Apartment community.

Uplifting. Enough to make you cry.

Su Yu felt heat rushing through her veins, her emotions flooding.

She wiped the tears from her face and, almost instinctively, looked over at Jiang Cheng again.

She saw Song Jingshuo from Building Four also turn to look at Jiang Cheng beside him.

In the firelight, orange light flickered across Jiang Cheng's face, but her expression stayed still, calmly gazing at the burning pile of bodies.

All the pain, the urge to cry, the joy, the fierce emotions—they seemed to have nothing to do with her.

While everyone gathered around the fire, high-fiving, bumping fists, encouraging each other, celebrating passionately, she only lowered her head, gently stroking the small fuzzy head poking out of her messenger bag.