After seeing Shi Kai off, Lin Qingqing returned to her room. This room was actually quite small. Before the apocalypse, it had just been a tea - making room.
There was a long wooden sofa in the room, covered with cushions. In front of it was a small glass coffee table, and against the wall was a row of water heaters.
Lin Qingqing casually ate something, then lay down on the long sofa fully clothed.
It was a bit hard, but she probably wouldn't be able to sleep much tonight anyway. She didn't know when Zhou Mang and the others would act. Lin Qingqing squinted for a while. When it was quiet outside at night and there was still no movement, she simply got up to meditate.
Outside, Xiao Pengfei arranged for the team members to keep watch in groups of three. At this moment, it happened to be the third group where Xiao Lu was. They had just taken over from the previous group.
The three of them first made a round of inspections in the yard downstairs and found no suspicious movements.
In fact, in terms of location, this farmhouse was quite safe. It was built next to the national highway and backed by a small hillside. The nearest neighbor was a hot - spring hotel five kilometers away.
Normally, the people who came and went here were just guests who came specifically for meals. The permanent residents were just the boss's family and a few serving staff.
Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be any danger here at night.
"Alas, Brother Lin, since our captain thinks so highly of Miss Lin, why doesn't he just lock up those people?"
A young soldier reached out and poked the young man with the sword, asking curiously.
Lin Fei raised his eyelids. "We're soldiers. How can we detain civilians casually? Besides, those people are not easy to deal with. How could they just give in without a fight?"
What he didn't say was: Instead of giving a warning without proper justification, it's better to give them a chance to expose themselves, and then they would have sufficient reason to execute these people on the spot.Presumably, both the captain and Miss Lin had this in mind.
The young soldier was young and had a simple mind. Before the apocalypse, he was just a raw recruit. The half - explanation given by Lin Fei easily convinced him.
The two were chatting when suddenly, Xiao Lu, who was on the lookout, let out an exclamation: "Something's up!"
There was no moon tonight, and it was pitch - black all around. Only a few stars were shining faintly in the sky.
The soldiers had sharp eyes. Following the direction Xiao Lu pointed, Lin Fei and the other soldier indeed saw the grass in the distance shaking violently.
Lin Fei, the eldest among them and the group leader, waved his hand, telling the young soldier to go upstairs and inform the other team members. Then he turned on a powerful flashlight and shone it in the direction where the grass was shaking.
"Who is it? Come out!"
He shouted, but after waiting for a while, the grass shook even more violently, yet no one answered!
"It might not be human. Quick! Sound the alarm!"
Hearing this, Xiao Lu immediately took out his gun and fired a shot into the sky.
"Bang!"
The loud gunshot was particularly startling in the quiet night. Lin Qingqing immediately jumped up, pulled open the curtain, and looked in the direction where the gunshot came from. It was so dark outside that she couldn't see anything clearly.
At this moment, there came a series of "bang - bang - bang" knocks on the door.
"Miss Lin, there's something going on outside!"
It was Xiao Pengfei's voice. Lin Qingqing immediately opened the door. "Captain Xiao, what's going on outside?"
"We're not sure yet. It's very likely to be zombies!"
Zombies? She had thought it was Zhou Mang. She didn't expect it to be zombies.
"Why are there zombies coming? Where's Zhou Mang?" Lin Qingqing said as she put on her backpack.
By this time, the corridor was already full of people. Everyone had been awakened by the gunshot. Before they could figure out the reason, they were in a complete mess.Xiao Pengfei didn't have time to answer Lin Qingqing's questions. He quickly arranged for the team members to organize and calm the panicked crowd.
"Everyone, go back to your rooms and don't go out!"
With someone taking charge, the crowd quickly settled down.
Just then, a terrified scream came from the second floor: "Fire! Help!"
"Fire?"
"What should we do?"
"Run, everyone!"
...
In an instant, the crowd that had just calmed down started to flee in a panic again.
Lin Qingqing and the others were on the third floor, and the fire started on the second floor. The room where the fire broke out was right below her. Without thinking, this was definitely Zhou Mang's doing!
She had thought that the other party would choose to assassinate her. She didn't expect such a big commotion. Zhou Mang clearly didn't care about human lives at all.
"He's really a madman!"
He must still be watching her from the shadows. Lin Qingqing tensed up all over. She closely followed the crowd, planning to get out first.
If it was just a fire, it would be simple. As long as everyone left quickly, it would be okay. But misfortunes never come alone. When they finally got downstairs, what greeted them was a large group of zombies!
This wave of zombies came extremely suddenly. Except for Xiao Pengfei and a few others, no one expected there to be so many zombies waiting for them outside.
For a moment, screams and cries filled the air. Everyone was fleeing in all directions in a panic. Some people managed to find cover, while others fainted from extreme fright.
No one expected to encounter such danger on the way to the survivor base. The smooth journey along the way and the reliable military team had long made them forget the cruelty of the apocalypse.In their panic, some people got separated from their companions, some lost their children, and some even drove directly into the zombie horde.
Those who were bitten turned into zombies and attacked others. There were so many people and the scene was so chaotic that even if Xiao Pengfei and the others had three heads and six arms, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Only then did Lin Qingqing realize that the real purpose of Zhou Mang setting this 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 gotten so many zombies from, nor did she know where he was hiding at the moment.
But at this moment, Lin Qingqing didn't have time to think about all that. She condensed her ice - knife and joined the others in fighting their way out.
Zombies were slow. As long as they could break through, there was still hope. Xiao Pengfei led several team members to open the way ahead. They had guns and quickly repelled the first wave of zombies.
In fact, these few hundred zombies couldn't pose a threat to the safety of the members of Xiao Pengfei's team. They were all battle - experienced soldiers and were capable of breaking through the siege of this small group of zombies.
However, the problem was that there were more than a hundred ordinary people behind them. They were the weak ones, without superpowers. The mere fear of zombies could make them panic beyond measure.
And Xiao Pengfei simply couldn't abandon them.
This was precisely Zhou Mang's cleverness. He was a despicable madman, but others weren't. These many ordinary people were enough to hold back the twelve - member team of Xiao Pengfei.Watching the people screaming in the fire and among the zombie horde, Zhou Mang's face was twisted with excitement.
"Die, all of you die!"
He regarded the residents of the community as his private property. From the moment everyone chose to leave with Xiao Pengfei yesterday, Zhou Mang had regarded them as traitors.
At first, he had only planned to kill Lin Qingqing. But now he didn't want to spare any of them.
"This damned bitch!" He glanced at Lin Qingqing.
"And this little brat!" Then he looked at Shi Kai.
"None of you will escape!"