017 The Woman Next Door (Please Support and Vote)

“First time, huh? It’s normal to be nervous and uncertain... I’ll just practice more!”

Zheng Xinyu pouted as she walked into the living room, swinging the baseball bat according to the techniques Zhang Su had taught her earlier.

Soft knocking sounded intermittently on the door, and occasionally a woman’s voice drifted into the room.

Meanwhile, Zheng Xinyu kept vigorously swinging the bat in the living room.

After about four or five minutes, the person outside finally stopped knocking.

“They’re finally gone.”

Zheng Xinyu breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her practice.

She wasn’t naturally the type to be helpful, but she would soften when someone begged. Yet she knew such softness was meaningless now, for she lacked the ability to aid others!

Self-preservation was already a struggle. After barely over ten minutes of practice, her arms were already sore...

Zhang Su walked from the bedroom to the living room, thinking aloud, “A few vehicles are heading out to the outskirts. Also, I think the zombies might have some kind of cognition!”

“Huh? What do you mean? You’re saying zombies are intelligent?”

Zheng Xinyu was startled. From what she’d encountered, she wasn’t much stronger than the zombies. If they also had intelligence, what hope was there? Might as well just join them.

Zhang Su shook his head. “Not intelligence — more like instinctual behavior. I noticed that when zombies have no target, their movements are very mechanical. Actually, this way of moving conserves a lot of energy. In other words, their energy consumption is low.”

“I suspect that in this dormant state, they channel more energy to their sensory organs to enhance their ability to locate prey. Once they find a target, their speed suddenly spikes. Don’t you think that’s similar to the behavior of many wild carnivores?”

Zheng Xinyu nodded vaguely, still trying to grasp how such observations could help them now when suddenly, a deafening explosion tore through the air!

Boom... rumble!

The tremendous noise pierced through even the soundproof windows. Zhang Su felt his head buzz; the house shook slightly, and a souvenir basketball on the bookshelf rolled to the floor.

Frightened, Zheng Xinyu covered her ears and crouched, eyes wide with terror, staring toward the source of the sound.

“There!”

Zhang Su pointed toward Zheng Xinyu’s room, quickly walking over to pull back the curtains.

The community’s perimeter wall had been blown down like a row of dominoes. Burning vehicles lay scattered across the street. The explosion had come from a store across the road, though the cause was unknown.

---

Over a dozen shops were engulfed in roaring flames, black smoke billowing skyward. The street was utterly devastated, with rubble flying everywhere, some even reaching inside the complex.

Chillingly, flaming zombies roamed between the cars. Some were trapped inside burning vehicles, desperately flailing their arms in a hellish scene.

“Oh my God...”

Zheng Xinyu leaned close beside Zhang Su, staring at the gaping fissure torn through the concrete road, her jaw dropping in disbelief. If the zombies had shaken her soul with fear, this explosion plunged her spirit into deep dread.

“Luckily, we’re on a high floor. The lower floors probably had all their windows shattered!”

Zhang Su looked down nervously but could see little due to the angle.

“Su Ge, I... I suddenly feel like even inside the building, we’re not that safe. Look, half of Building Eight is burning. What if there’s an explosion downstairs in our building? What will we do then?” Zheng Xinyu asked anxiously.

Zhang Su’s heart skipped a beat. He slapped Zheng Xinyu’s backside and said sternly, “Say something positive!”

Her tag indicated Zheng Xinyu’s luck was good. If both good and bad things happened, that would be terrible.

“Hey, what’s with the hands-on?” she said.

Perhaps hardened by fighting zombies, Zheng Xinyu’s mindset had grown stronger. Zhang Su’s teasing eased the tension from the explosion.

Suddenly, a loud, urgent knocking came at the door—much louder than before.

“I’m from 802. Hello, what happened with the explosion just now? I’m so scared. Can you open the door and tell me what’s going on? Please...”

Due to the layout, 802 could only see a bit of the collapsed wall, not the explosion itself. The uncertainty made the woman even more anxious.

Zhang Su frowned deeply and hurried toward the door.

Perhaps frightened by the blast, the woman had come out without a mask or sunglasses. Her delicate face was distorted with fear, eyes full of panic.

“Kind person, please, I mean no harm. I’m just a woman. Please help me with a small favor. I’ll pay you. I’ll give you all the money I have, even my gold jewelry.”

Feeling the cash alone might not be enough, she added more valuables.

She wasn’t bluffing—she immediately began taking off her earrings and necklace. At that moment, the door suddenly swung open. Just as she thought she’d be pushed aside, it stopped abruptly, and a large hand grabbed her roughly.

Thud.

Her head bumped against the doorframe.

“Ah... mmm!”

Her hoarse cry was muffled by a hand pressed over her mouth.

Zheng Xinyu, who followed close behind, curiously looked at the woman dragged in by Zhang Su, who swiftly shut the door.

“Are you a horn? Why do you have to scream so much?”

Zhang Su pinned the woman against the wall, covering her mouth tightly, his eyes fierce with no mercy despite her being female.

The woman looked utterly distressed. She raised a hand to rub her aching head but froze under his harsh gaze, trembling with tears streaming down.

“Um... miss, you can’t shout like that. The noise will attract zombies. He—he means no harm. Don’t be afraid.”

Seeing the woman terrified, Zheng Xinyu couldn’t help but explain gently.

The woman, too frightened to notice Zheng Xinyu at first, looked toward her gentle gaze and felt somewhat reassured, nodding repeatedly.

“Still want to scream?”

Zhang Su demanded fiercely.

The woman had been nodding but quickly shook her head, still avoiding Zhang Su’s gaze and looking at Zheng Xinyu instead.

Zhang Su released his grip, displeased, as he wiped his hand across the woman’s chest, muttering, “You wiped snot all over me, you’re disgusting!”

The woman was too scared to resist, especially feeling the man’s strong hands on her as she was still covered in snot and tears.

“That’s enough, you’ve already taken advantage of her enough...”

Zheng Xinyu saw Zhang Su’s hands still rubbing her clothes, even though she was already clean. She leaned close, lips unmoving but voice soft, whispering into his ear.