013 First Blood (Please continue reading, please vote)

“Opportunity fleeting, get ready!”

Zhang Su peered through the peephole, hand gripping the doorknob, poised to strike.

“Wait, wait…”

Zheng Xinyu’s lips trembled as she saw Zhang Su preparing to open the door after just one command. Though she only said “wait” twice, her nervousness stretched it into six or seven times.

“What now?” Zhang Su asked impatiently, glancing at Zheng Xinyu.

Clenching her fists against her pounding heart, Zheng Xinyu said, “Prepare yourself mentally!”

“Come on, we can do this!” Zhang Su encouraged her, silently bolstering his own courage as well.

Having fought many brawls—once even agreeing to a cage match—facing zombies was a different matter.

For the first time in his life, failure meant death. Though unlikely, the possibility filled him with dread and anxiety.

His mouth felt dry; despite the cold air, sweat beaded on his back and dampened his grip on the axe handle. Fortunately, the handle’s anti-slip design prevented it from slipping.

Taking a deep breath, he signaled “three,” then “two,” then “one” to Zheng Xinyu.

Click.

Accompanied by the thuds of the zombie pounding, Zhang Su quietly unlocked the door, pressed down the handle, and pushed it open.

Behind him, Zheng Xinyu gripped her baseball bat tightly, her heart in her throat.

“Oh my God, I’m scared of cockroaches, and now I have to kill zombies? This is insane, completely insane!” she thought, watching the door slowly open as the relentless thudding echoed inside, shaking her resolve. Her knuckles whitened around the bat.

A strong stench of blood seeped into the room, unsettling her deeply—as if sensitivity to such a scent were encoded in human DNA, signaling injury or death nearby.

Zhang Su’s expression turned grim beyond anything before. He crouched low, bent forward, and gestured for Zheng Xinyu to follow as he stepped toward the zombie.

The cries for help from room 802 had ceased, but the pounding on the door persisted relentlessly. The rhythmic thumping felt like war drums beating in their chests.

The distance from 801 to 802 was only five or six meters, yet Zhang Su felt as if he had been walking for an eternity. Approaching to within about a meter of the zombie, his heartbeat likely soared to 150 beats per minute.

Howl. Ahh.

The zombie slammed against the metal door like a wild beast, its right arm moving with unnatural force. The left hand dangled a severed arm, bones white and exposed—ghastly and bloody.

Zhang Su didn’t look back at Zheng Xinyu. He couldn’t take his eyes off the monster. With his left hand, he made a chopping motion before raising his short axe high.

The black blade glistened coldly, sharp enough to split hair.

He envisioned the zombie’s skull splitting open with that strike—fear mingled with determination.

Clang.

Just as Zhang Su lifted his arm, a crisp metallic clang rang out.

The axe collided with the baseball bat…

Howl…

The zombie stopped pounding, its stiff arm freezing mid-air. Though stiff, it turned its head swiftly.

Their six eyes locked.

Perhaps the zombie hadn’t expected two intruders to suddenly appear behind it. It hesitated briefly, its mutated nostrils flaring as if sniffing the air.

Time seemed to freeze.

Eyes are the windows to the soul. Zhang Su stared into the zombie’s blood-red eyes, which revealed nothing but savage bloodlust—no trace of reason or consciousness.

“Take it down!”

Zhang Su forced the words from his throat, muscles bulging in his right arm as the axe blade sliced through the air, devoid of mercy despite the fact that just hours ago, this creature had been human.

He was no saint filled with compassion. He clearly understood the stakes—this was no game. No time for hesitation or regret.

Thunk!

A chilling sound echoed.

The sharp axe struck the zombie’s skull with unerring precision. Even the hard bone split beneath Zhang Su’s powerful blow and the axe’s keen edge.

The axe blade lodged in the zombie’s face, from its brow to the left corner of its mouth. The skin was torn apart, white bone jutting out, dark blood splattering thickly on the wooden door—disgustingly viscous.

“Damn, it’s stuck! Gotta use the other side to smash!”

Zhang Su had prepared for multiple strikes if one wasn’t enough to finish it. Unexpectedly, the axe stuck fast in the zombie’s skull. When he pulled hard, it dragged the zombie forward, lunging toward him.

“Get off me…”

Howl!

Though zombies presumably feel no pain, it let out a furious roar when attacked. As it raised its arm to strike back, it was hit again.

Thud!

A heavy baseball bat slammed into the zombie’s right temple.

Thanks to clever ergonomic design, the bat wasn’t difficult to wield. Zheng Xinyu hadn’t expected to land the blow in such a tense moment, unaware that Zhang Su had subtly pulled the zombie forward—otherwise, she would have missed.

Howl.

Reeling from the heavy hit, the zombie lost balance and fell backward, clearly shaken by Zheng Xinyu’s full strength strike.

“Nice one!” Zhang Su praised, pushing off with his foot as he unleashed a powerful kick.

“Damn you!”

The opposing force finally freed the axe, pulling out a string of sticky fluids with it.

Thud.

The zombie, not a toy, staggered and leaned heavily against the door of room 802. It sat there awkwardly, mouth torn wide open, howling mindlessly as if venting its frustration.

Sneaking up on it was already dishonorable; now they were ganging up on it as well!

The zombie’s terrifying face, now split open, looked even more horrifying—like a grotesque bloom.

Thud!

Without giving the zombie a moment to recover, Zhang Su flipped the axe to use its hammer side, raised it high, and brought it crashing down with full force on the zombie’s skull.

The heavy axe hammer struck solidly.

Howl.

Thud, thud, thud!

“Take this, take this! Damn it!”

Zhang Su cursed lowly, veins bulging on his forehead, muscles rippling as he swung the axe-hammer relentlessly. Flesh, tissue, and bone fragments splattered across the wall and ceiling, even the lampshade wasn’t spared.

“Huff, huff… Is it dead yet?”

After more than ten strikes, Zhang Su stopped and stepped back, leaning against the wall with wary eyes on the mangled zombie.

“Ugh!”

The answer came as a retch. Zheng Xinyu’s abdomen churned violently, and a spray of vomit—a mix of rice, spicy cured meat, and peas—erupted from her mouth, drenching the zombie.

Under Zhang Su’s furious blows, the zombie’s skull was utterly deformed, resembling a bowl with a mouth at its neck. The internal structure was fully exposed, edges ragged and bloody—an overwhelming sight.

Receiving no response from Zheng Xinyu, Zhang Su kicked the zombie’s limp ankle. Seeing no reaction at all, he finally exhaled in relief.