032 The Lifetime of an Old Couple

After Zhang Su and his two companions were fully prepared and protected, they each strapped on an empty backpack and headed up to the ninth floor.

Knock, knock, knock.

Zhang Su tapped on the door of 901 with his hand axe, then pressed his ear against the surface. After listening intently for a moment, he shook his head. "No movement. I never heard footsteps from upstairs when I was at home, either. It seems no one lives here."

They continued upward. There was no information about the residents of the tenth floor of Building 3, Unit 1 in the owners' group chat, and the condition of the floor outside the apartments and the doors themselves confirmed that there were indeed no signs of occupancy.

As they reached the eleventh floor and pulled open the safety door, the hand gripping the axe handle tightened slightly.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan both swallowed hard.

The door to 1101 was tightly shut, but a pool of dark, congealed blood stained the threshold. It was clear the blood had seeped out from under the door. The welcome mat, inscribed with "Safe Arrivals," was soaked in the gore, exuding a ghastly hue. A faint, sickening scent of blood drifted through the corridor, unsettling the heart.

Zhang Su turned and gestured for silence. Ignoring 1101, he pointed toward 1102. According to the information gathered from the group chat, 1101 should have been empty, while 1102 was occupied. Yet, it was 1101 that was clearly in trouble.

When Zhang Su carefully rounded the corner and saw 1102, his heart skipped a beat.

The front door of 1102 was wide open. A small electric scooter sat in the entryway, and two pairs of shoes were neatly placed on the floor. Everything looked perfectly normal. Yet, that very normalcy filled Zhang Su with a sense of dread.

Creak.

The sound of knuckles tightening echoed. Behind Zhang Su, Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan gripped their weapons with white-knuckled force.

"Same rule as always: no matter what happens, do not make a sound. If anyone screams, I will knock them out," Zhang Su whispered, his eyes fixed on 1102.

The two women gave a soft nod, their grips tightening further.

Step by step, the three advanced toward 1102. The hallway was deathly silent, a quiet so profound it was suffocating. Finally, Zhang Su’s boot touched the floor mat inside the doorway. He sniffed the air; there was a strange odor.

Passing the entryway, they reached the living room. Zhang Su moved slowly, his line of sight shifting incrementally. The first thing he saw was a pair of socks—the shoes were nowhere to be found.

His heart sank. He signaled for the others to wait, then used his axe to tap against the shoe cabinet.

Thud, thud.

The dull sound reverberated through the room, striking their eardrums. Still, there was no movement. This provided a small measure of relief; if a zombie were lurking, it would surely have reacted to the noise.

As they stepped further inside and took in the entire living room, they froze.

In the center of the room lay a mangled corpse. The upper body had been chewed beyond recognition, the skin and flesh of the abdomen peeled back to expose the viscera, leaving the internal organs a chaotic, bloody mess. From the relatively intact skull and the blood-stained silver hair, one could tell it had been an elderly woman.

Most bizarrely, there were no signs of a struggle in the room, as if the old woman had willingly allowed herself to be devoured while still alive.

Zhong Xiaoshan looked away, her expression sorrowful. Zheng Xinyu’s reaction was more intense; a wave of nausea surged within her, though she managed to suppress it.

"Where did the zombie go?" Zheng Xinyu asked cautiously, swallowing the saliva that kept pooling in her mouth. She scanned the various doors in the apartment. Logic suggested a zombie would be drawn out by the noise, but she couldn't rule out an anomaly—she was terrified of something large suddenly leaping out from a corner.

Zhong Xiaoshan remained silent, her hands gripping her large wrench so tightly that the cold metal grew warm. She was ready to strike at any moment.

Zhang Su was certain the zombie was not in the room. A quick observation led him to the wide-open bay window. "The zombie must have gone over the edge."

"What?" Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan were stunned by this conclusion.

"Remember the loudspeaker yesterday? That was probably when it happened. It seems zombies truly lack intelligence; they have only the most primitive instincts—to chase prey, regardless of the cost."

Zhang Su walked to the bay window and looked. The viscous blood smeared on the window frame confirmed his theory. He leaned out and looked down; a twisted corpse lay by the flower bed at the foot of the building. Without a doubt, it was the zombie that had tumbled from the window.

"Close the front door, and let's check the other rooms," Zhang Su commanded.

The apartment had three bedrooms and two living rooms. Only one bedroom door was closed. They finished their search quickly; aside from the corpse in the living room, there were no others.

Zhang Su pulled the curtains shut and took a quilt from the bedroom to cover the body in the living room. He turned to the others and said, "Hurry and gather supplies. Xinyu, you take the kitchen and the guest room. Zhong Xiaoshan, you check the master bedroom and the small bedroom. Food, water, useful tools—take anything that looks valuable."

"Understood."

"Got it!"

Less than ten minutes later, the three regrouped in the living room.

"Brother Su, it seems only an elderly couple lived here. There... there’s really not much," Zheng Xinyu said, helplessly patting her backpack. She had expected a household with seniors to have plenty of supplies, but she discovered that wasn't the case.

The kitchen was clean and tidy. A bag of millet had about two pounds left, half a bag of flour contained four or five pounds, and a bag of dried noodles remained unopened. The refrigerator held oil, eggs, and a few jars of pickles. The most convenient item was a bag of black sesame cereal.

"Judging by the bedrooms, besides the master bedroom used by the couple, the other two rooms haven't been lived in for a long time," Zhong Xiaoshan added, spreading her hands. She had only found a few daily tools like a screwdriver and scissors, along with a few boxes of medication for chronic illnesses.

Zhang Su powered off the two senior-friendly mobile phones he had found in the living room and tucked them into his bag. He shook the bank passbook he had retrieved and said to them, "The old couple's life savings are right here."

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan curiously took the passbook. It was filled with dense lines of deposit records. The last entry was from the beginning of this month. Like clockwork, they had deposited five thousand yuan every month, and the balance had reached over three hundred thousand yuan.

"This was the money they saved for their grandson's wedding..." Zhang Su signaled for them to flip the passbook over. On the back, it was clearly written: *To Grandpa and Grandma's grandson, Haotian, wishing you a happy marriage.*

"The two of them must have intended to give this as a gift when their grandson got engaged. Such is the heart of... the elders." Zhong Xiaoshan’s eyes reddened, and she couldn't help but glance at the lump under the quilt on the floor.

"The old folks scrimped and saved their whole lives, and then it all ended like this. What a messed-up world," Zheng Xinyu muttered, her mouth drooping. She looked at Zhang Su, forlornly, "Brother Su, I miss my parents, my grandparents, and my maternal grandparents."

"At least your elders are all still around," Zhang Su said, shaking his head. He offered a word of comfort, "For now, focus on how you're going to survive."