Chapter Twenty-One: A Madman

After dismissing Shi Kai, Lin Qingqing returned to her room. It was quite small, having served merely as a tea pantry before the apocalypse. Inside, there was a long wooden sofa topped with a soft cushion, a small glass coffee table in front of it, and a row of water heaters against the wall. Lin Qingqing ate a little something, then lay down on the long sofa, clothes and all.

It was a bit stiff, but she knew she wouldn't get much sleep tonight. Wondering when Zhou Mang and his group would make their move, she dozed off for a while. When the night grew deep and silent outside and still nothing happened, she simply sat up to meditate.

Outside, Xiao Pengfei had arranged for his team to stand guard in groups of three. It was currently the third group's shift, with Xiao Lu on duty, having just relieved the previous watch. The three of them patrolled the courtyard downstairs but found nothing suspicious. In terms of location, this farmhouse was quite safe—built alongside a national highway, backed by a small hill, with the nearest neighbor being a hot spring hotel five kilometers away. Usually, the only people passing through were customers coming for a meal, while the permanent residents were just the owner's family and a few hired servers. Under normal circumstances, there was no danger here at night.

"Sigh, Brother Lin, since our Captain thinks so highly of Miss Lin, why not just lock that gang up?" a young soldier asked, poking the youth who carried a blade, his face full of curiosity.

Lin Fei raised his eyelids. "We are soldiers; how can we detain civilians at will? Besides, that bunch isn't easy to deal with—why would they just surrender?" He left unsaid the thought that instead of issuing a warning without proper justification, it was better to give them a chance to reveal their true colors, giving the team sufficient grounds to execute them on the spot. He suspected that both the Captain and Miss Lin were planning exactly that.

The young soldier, still a green recruit before the end of the world, was simple-minded and easily convinced by the half-truth Lin Fei provided. As they chatted, Xiao Lu, who was on lookout, suddenly let out an exclamation: "There’s movement!"

There was no moon tonight; the surroundings were pitch black, with only a few stars casting a faint light. As soldiers, they all had keen eyes. Following the direction Xiao Lu pointed, Lin Fei and the others indeed saw the grass in the distance swaying violently. Lin Fei, the oldest and the leader of the trio, waved for the young soldier to head upstairs to notify the others, then turned on a high-intensity flashlight and swept it toward the swaying grass.

"Who's there? Come out!" he shouted. But after a moment, the grass swayed even more fiercely, and no one answered.

"It might not be human. Quick! Sound the alarm!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lu immediately drew his gun and fired a shot into the sky.

"Bang!" The massive sound of the gunshot was startling in the quiet dead of night. Lin Qingqing jumped up immediately, pulled back the curtains, and looked toward the direction of the sound, but everything outside was shrouded in darkness.

Just then, there was a rapid knocking at her door. "Miss Lin, there’s a situation outside!" It was Xiao Pengfei's voice.

Lin Qingqing opened the door immediately. "Captain Xiao, what’s happening out there?"

"Not clear yet, but it’s very likely zombies!"

Zombies? She had expected Zhou Mang, not zombies. "How could zombies come here? Where is Zhou Mang?" Lin Qingqing asked, shouldering her pack.

The hallway was already crowded; everyone had been awakened by the gunshot, and they were in chaos, not yet understanding the cause. Xiao Pengfei didn't have time to answer her question as he scrambled to organize his team to calm the panicked crowd. "Everyone, return to your rooms! Do not go outside!" With someone in charge, the crowd soon settled down.

Just then, a terrified scream came from the second floor: "Fire! Help, fire!"

"Fire?"
"What do we do?"
"Everyone, run!"

In an instant, the crowd that had just calmed down began to flee in panic again. Lin Qingqing and the others were on the third floor, but the fire had started on the second, and the room where it broke out was right beneath her. There was no need to overthink it—this was definitely Zhou Mang's doing! She had thought he would choose to assassinate her, but she hadn't expected him to create such a massive commotion. Zhou Mang clearly held human life in total contempt.

"What a lunatic!"

He must still be watching from the shadows. Lin Qingqing tensed, following the crowd closely, intending to get out first. If it were just a fire, it would be simple—everyone just needed to leave quickly. But misfortune rarely travels alone. When they finally reached the ground floor, they were greeted by a large group of zombies!

This wave of zombies arrived with shocking suddenness. Aside from Xiao Pengfei and his men, no one had expected so many zombies to be waiting for them outside. Screams and cries rose and fell; everyone was fleeing in a panic. Some managed to find cover, while others fainted from extreme terror. None of them had expected to encounter such danger on the way to the survivor base; the smooth journey and the reliable military squad had made them forget the cruelty of the apocalypse.

In the panicked rush, some lost their companions, some lost their children, and some even drove their cars directly into the horde of zombies. Those bitten turned into zombies themselves and attacked others. The crowd was too large and the scene too chaotic; even if Xiao Pengfei and his men had three heads and six arms, it would be of no use.

Lin Qingqing finally realized that Zhou Mang’s real goal in starting the fire wasn't to burn her to death, but to force them all downstairs. The zombies were his ultimate weapon. She didn't know where this madman had gathered so many zombies, nor where he was hiding now.

But at this moment, Lin Qingqing couldn't afford to worry about that. She condensed an ice blade and joined the others in fighting their way out. Zombies were slow; as long as they could break through, there was hope. Xiao Pengfei led his team at the front to clear the path; with their guns, they quickly repelled the first wave. In truth, these few hundred zombies were not a threat to the safety of Xiao Pengfei’s squad. They were seasoned warriors, more than capable of breaking out of a small siege like this.

The problem was that there were over a hundred civilians behind them. They were weak, possessed no supernatural abilities, and their sheer fear of the zombies was enough to throw them into complete disarray. Yet, Xiao Pengfei could not simply abandon them. This was the brilliance of Zhou Mang’s plan: he was a despicable maniac, but the others were not, and these many civilians were enough to pin down Xiao Pengfei’s twelve men.

Watching the crowd scream amidst the raging fire and the zombie horde, Zhou Mang’s face was twisted in excitement. "Die, all of you, die!" He viewed the residents of the housing complex as his private property. From the moment they chose to follow Xiao Pengfei and leave yesterday, Zhou Mang had branded them as traitors. Originally, he had only intended to kill Lin Qingqing, but now, he didn't want to let a single one of them go.

"That goddamn bitch!" he muttered, glancing at Lin Qingqing.

"And that little bastard!" He looked at Shi Kai. "None of you will escape!"