Chapter 41: Tricking a Kid into Climbing a Rope!
The two of them raised their heads.
The several thick expansion screws on the wall-facing side of the fire escape had been forcibly pulled out of the concrete wall by more than half an inch.
Large chunks of cement dust and rust fell rustling down the wall, hitting the faces of several people.
The entire ladder was noticeably tilted outward at an extremely dangerous angle.
This thing had been exposed to the wind and sun for decades, and its load-bearing structure was long rotted through.
Ling Feng immediately let go to relieve the force.
Shane also let go, taking several steps back in succession, fearing that the iron frame would directly smash onto his head.
A dead end.
Even if the rope was hung up, that broken iron frame above could simply not bear the weight of an adult man.
As long as someone grabbed the rope and climbed up, before reaching halfway, this several-hundred-pound scrap iron would pull down both the person and the ladder together.
The crashing sounds of zombies at both ends of the alley were growing louder, and an obvious bend and deformation had already appeared in the lower right corner of the outermost wire-mesh door.
Time was running out.
Ling Feng looked at the loose rope on the ground and converted the weight.
Two 180-pound men couldn't pull it, which didn't mean a lighter person couldn't go up.
As long as it didn't exceed a certain weight critical point, these few loose expansion screws could completely hold out for another few minutes.
Ling Feng slowly turned his head, looking neither at Shane nor at Merle.
His gaze crossed over several people and locked directly onto the Asian youth cowering right next to the innermost trash can.
At this moment, Glenn was hugging his knees with both hands, gasping for breath in large gulps.
Sensing this highly piercing gaze, Glenn raised his head, his face full of bewilderment.
Following Ling Feng's action, Shane, Merle, and T-Dog, these several robust big men, turned their heads in unison.
The gazes of the four burly men all concentrated on Glenn, the delivery worker with the leanest build and lightest weight.
Merle was the first to grin and chuckle.
He wiped his hand across his sweat-covered bald head and laughed out viciously.
"Don't blame me for not reminding you, your scrawny build is just a little over a hundred pounds."
Merle pointed his chin at the suspended rope.
Glenn looked at the rope, then looked at the tottering broken ladder above his head, the color on his face draining completely clean at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"No... No way!"
Glenn shook his head frantically, scrambling and rolling to shrink back into the corner of the wall. "That thing will break! I can't even do a few pull-ups; if I climb this high and fall straight down, breaking both my legs, that group of monsters outside will skin me alive!"
"Either you go climb up, find another escape exit up there, and get us up."
Ling Feng let go of the rope end in his hand and pointed at the deformed iron door, his voice without the slightest fluctuation.
"Or you wait down here for five minutes."
Ling Feng stepped forward, picked up the machete short blade that had fallen on the ground and plugged it back into the scabbard. "Once the door is broken, everyone relies on their own abilities to fight their way out. By then, whether you live or die, you're responsible for yourself."
In the narrow alley, the atmosphere was depressed to the extreme.
After dropping those words, Ling Feng directly leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, making it clear he had the posture of watching a show.
Everyone's gaze pressed entirely on Glenn alone.
At this time, the former delivery worker had weak legs, and his entire body trembled like a sieve.
He looked at the mountaineering rope suspended mid-air, then looked at the tottering iron frame above, unable to move his feet no matter what.
"No... I can't! This will cost me my life!"
Glenn shook his head frantically, desperately shrinking into the corner of the wall.
Shane was getting anxious.
The wire meshes at both ends of the alley were clanging loudly as zombies crashed against them; every second that passed, the Grim Reaper crept one step closer.
He simply had no patience to comfort a greenhorn's psychological trauma.
"Are you fucking going or not?"
Shane strode over, directly pulling out the glock pistol at his waist with his right hand, his thumb naturally flicking open the safety.
The crisp sound of the metal mechanism was extremely grating in the passage.
Shane pushed the muzzle downward, poking it directly against Glenn's kneecap. That face was distorted together due to extreme anxiety and fear, looking even scarier than the monsters outside.
"Listen up well."
Shane gritted his teeth and threatened fiercely, "Those two doors outside can barely hold on much longer. If you don't go up, once the door breaks, everyone will have to give their lives here."
Glenn swallowed hard with fright, his palms grabbing the gravel on the ground, clenching tightly, then loosening, over and over again.
"The few of us grown men have pieces in our hands. Even if we die charging out, we can take down a few."
Shane pushed his wrist forward, the barrel heavily knocking against Glenn's bone, "Before that, though, I guarantee I'll shoot and break both your legs first!"
"And let a coward like you safely stay here as an appetizer for those man-eating things!"
Shane completely vented the ferocity from the desperate situation onto Glenn; this was a bare-faced multiple-choice question of death.
If he didn't climb, he would immediately be crippled and fed to the zombies; if he climbed, he might still fall to his death, but he might also survive.
With the gun pointed at him, Glenn moved his gaze away from Shane's frantic face and looked at the others nearby with the expectation of seeking help.
Morales turned his head, pretending to look at the iron door in the rear.
T-Dog gripped the fire axe tightly, lowering his head to stare at his own toes.
No one was willing to step forward and speak for him.
At a time like this, sacrificing others to save oneself was the truth of the apocalyptic world.
Just on the verge of Glenn's psychological defense line completely collapsing.
"Rip—"
An extremely harsh sound of tearing fabric rang out nearby.
Ling Feng strode over to the huge green trash can nearby, using both hands to grab a large piece of plastic waterproof tarp printed with a beer advertisement covering it.
He yanked it downwards hard.
Accompanied by a choking cloud of dust, the thick plastic tarp measuring two to three meters square was forcibly pulled down by him.
Ling Feng carried the cloth over to Glenn, his hands fluttering rapidly as he very neatly folded the plastic tarp in half once, and then folded it a second time right after.
The originally wide single-layer fabric instantly turned into a square pad stacked in four layers.
"Stop scaring him with the gun. Once he's scared out of his wits, even if he goes up, he won't be able to hold onto the rope and will fall."
Ling Feng reached out and pushed away Shane's wrist holding the gun.
Shane snorted coldly, taking the opportunity to put away his gun and taking half a step back.
Ling Feng squatted down and shoved a corner of the folded plastic tarp into Glenn's hand.
"This ladder hasn't been maintained for years, and the screws are indeed loose."
Ling Feng pointed at the rusty fire escape suspended mid-air above his head, "But look closely, those screws are as thick as a thumb. Even if they can't handle the weight of the few of us, bearing your hundred-plus pounds, as long as you keep your movements light, there won't be much of a problem."
Glenn pinched the grease-stained plastic tarp in his hand, still shaking his head incessantly.
"Look at this thing."
Ling Feng pulled both sides of the fabric with his hands, straining it outward forcefully, "High-grade waterproof material of the advertising outer film, with excellent toughness."
"You just go on up."
Ling Feng reached out and heavily patted Glenn's thin shoulders, "The four of us grown men will be down here, each pulling a corner of this cloth and holding it wide open tightly."
"In case something really goes wrong, the rope breaks or the ladder collapses, as long as you shout, we'll immediately act as a buffer air cushion for you right down here!"
"The strength of four people plus this four-layer-stacked cloth will have no problem catching you at all. Your life, we've got you covered!"
Ling Feng's words were resonant and forceful, his tone exuding a strong sense of responsibility and security, practically like an older brother to whom one could entrust life and death.
In this nearly desperate environment.
Ling Feng's pie-in-the-sky-like guarantee, coupled with the plastic tarp in his hand that indeed looked quite thick, became the last straw that crushed Glenn's sanity, and his only hope for survival.
"Fine... I'll go..."
Glenn's eye sockets were red, and he gritted his teeth as he climbed up from the ground.
He walked over to the hanging mountaineering rope, grasping the rough knot tightly with both hands.
He turned his head and looked at the four men pulling open the four corners of the plastic tarp below.
"Guys... You must, absolutely must catch me!"
Glenn's voice was full of a crying tone, instructing extremely uneasily.
"Go ahead, the chassis is very stable."
Ling Feng pulled one corner, nodding with a dead-serious face.
Glenn took a deep breath, exerted force with both hands, and kicked fiercely against the moss-covered brick wall with both feet, beginning to climb upward along the rope like an extremely agile skinny monkey.
At the alley entrance twenty meters away, the howling of zombies shook the heavens, sounding like death-summoning notes that forced Glenn to use even the strength he had since he was nursing.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Glenn climbed to about the second-floor position, his palms rubbed red by the rough nylon rope, but he didn't dare stop at all.
Chapter 42: The iron gate is about to give out!
Below.
Merle was stripped to the waist, clutching the bottom-right corner of the plastic sheet.
The punk, feeling bored, extended his thumb and index finger, rubbing the edge of the stack of fabric in his palm.
It didn't matter if he didn't rub it, but once he did, the expression on Merle's face became extremely colorful.
He used his fingernail to scratch it slightly.
"Rip—"
A tiny tearing sound.
That so-called "high-end waterproof material" had long since embrittled under years of wind and sun exposure, and with just this casual scratch of his, it tore open a two-finger-wide gap.
Let alone bearing weight, if someone pulled it with a bit of strength, it would instantly shatter into a pile of broken plastic scraps.
The corners of Merle's eyes twitched continuously, and unable to hold it back, he grinned and let out a laugh.
Lowering his voice, he leaned over toward Ling Feng.
"Your heart is truly pitch-black, kid."
Merle shook the plastic sheet in his hand that was as brittle as potato chips, "Just this piece of junk? Let alone catching a living person weighing over a hundred pounds, I could blow a huge hole in it with a muffled fart."
"You're only using this excuse to fool that naive, clueless idiot kid."
Hearing this, Shane and T-Dog, who were holding the other two corners nearby, all stiffened in the face, and their movements of pulling the cloth suddenly stopped.
They actually thought this thing was useful; it turned out to be a motherfucking empty promise.
Ling Feng didn't even turn his head, his hands still putting on a show of pulling the corner of the cloth.
"Why do you talk so much nonsense?"
Ling Feng turned his head and glared at Merle with extreme impatience, "Think this thing is too brittle and useless? Fine, throw the cloth away right now, go call that kid down, and go grab that rope to climb up yourself."
A single sentence.
Directly blasted Merle to the point where he couldn't even let out a fart.
He rubbed his bald head, sheepishly pulled back his hand, and obediently resumed pulling that torn plastic sheet that couldn't catch anything, just putting on an act.
Since he could let someone else go die, he couldn't care less whether that rag was sturdy or not.
Just as the few people below were each harboring their own ulterior motives,
suddenly an unexpected situation came from above.
Glenn had climbed to a height close to the third floor by this time, and the base of that broken fire escape ladder was less than half a meter above his head.
He released one hand, groped around, and grabbed the bottom-most rusted iron railing.
Then, he transferred his entire body's weight onto it.
The weight of over a hundred and thirty pounds instantly fell upon this long-rotted load-bearing structure.
"Creak——!!"
A metal deformation sound that set one's teeth on edge to the extreme exploded over the narrow alley.
The three thick expansion bolts on the side closest to the wall were forcibly pulled out of the concrete holes by more than two inches!
Large chunks of concrete debris and iron sheet fragments smashed onto Glenn's face like rain.
The entire iron frame suddenly sank down by a large chunk.
The huge sensation of weightlessness instantly scared the wits out of Glenn, who was suspended in mid-air.
"Ah——! It's going to collapse! This ladder is going to collapse!"
Glenn looked down at the empty several-meter-high space beneath his feet, completely losing control of his emotions, and screamed frantically at the top of his lungs.
"Catch me! Quick! Spread the cloth wider! I'm going to fall!!"
That pig-slaughtering scream bounced back and forth between the narrow walls, directly carrying out to the main street outside.
The few zombies that were still wandering outside heard this highly penetrating cry and instantly became completely manic, as if injected with stimulants.
The wire mesh gates at both ends, which were already tottering, suffered unprecedented fierce impacts.
Ling Feng's face directly darkened like the bottom of a pot.
"Shut your fucking stinking mouth!"
Ling Feng tilted his head back and roared at the top of his lungs, "Do you want to call hundreds of monsters from the whole street over for dinner?!"
The dirt falling from above landed on Ling Feng's face, but he didn't even wipe it off, pointing upwards and continuing to curse.
"Hold tightly onto that pole! Climb up! As long as this broken iron frame hasn't completely fallen off, you just close your eyes and rush up for me!"
"What living target are you stopping there to be? Stopping means death!"
Ling Feng's words were like a heavy hammer, smashing onto Glenn's dazed head.
Desperation stimulated the human's hidden survival instinct.
Glenn gritted his teeth to the limit, tears mixing with dust to carve two muddy tracks on his face.
He didn't dare look down at all, using both hands and feet, crawling frantically upward on this creaking iron frame.
His movements grew faster and faster, almost tumbling and crawling onto the first layer of fire escape platform overhead.
"Quick! Hurry! The lock catch on the front door is bent!"
Morales shouted loudly at the alley entrance, his voice full of complete despair.
Shane turned his head to look.
The wire mesh gate at the very front blocking the horde of corpses on the main road had its bottom-right corner forcibly smashed open into a big gap.
A few hands covered in black blood reached in from underneath, their sharp black fingernails scratching frantically on the ground.
The iron ring stuck with the latch above made a teeth-setting twisting sound, ready to snap completely at any moment.
The stench of rotting flesh rushed straight into everyone's faces with the draft blowing through the alley.
Above!
Glenn's palms dug into the edge of the broken ladder, and with a sudden burst of effort, more than half of his body finally hung onto the ladder.
Heavy panting with a crying tone came from Glenn above.
His whole body lay flat on that slightly sturdier fire escape platform, his hands and limbs trembling uncontrollably, not moving for a long time.
"What are you panting for? Climb up quickly! Untie that rope, wrap it around the thickest railing at the very top, and tie a dead knot again!"
Ling Feng roared at the top of his lungs from below.
This sound reverberated back and forth in the long, narrow alley.
Glenn gave a start, scrambled to his feet, and tremblingly went to untie the nylon rope tied with the wrench.
The situation below was already terrible.
The wire security doors at both ends of the alley made teeth-setting twisting creaks.
Dozens to a hundred zombies pressed their mangled faces tightly against the diamond-shaped grids of the wire mesh, their flesh turned inside out by the rough iron wire, and dark red blood dripped down drop by drop along the rust.
The weight of the monsters frantically squeezing forward made the hinge screws on the outermost door begin to pop out one by one.
Ling Feng didn't just stand around waiting at all.
He backhanded and drew the machete strapped to the outside of his thigh, and strode over to Morales's side closest to him.
Morales was pressing his hands tightly against the frame of the iron gate, his fat face completely turning the color of pork liver, and his calves were trembling all over.
"Step back!"
Ling Feng kicked heavily on the edge of the door frame.
Unable to withstand the force, Morales rolled backward twice in succession.
Ling Feng exerted force with his right arm, holding the machete directly through the diamond-shaped gaps of the wire mesh, and fiercely stabbed a knife straight into the eye socket of the frontmost zombie.
His wrist neatly turned half a circle inside, the tip of the blade directly smashing the central nervous system, and then he pulled it out fiercely.
Stinking black blood splattered all over the wire mesh.
That zombie collapsed limply to the ground, but more monsters behind stepped directly on its corpse and continued to push inward madly.
"Did you understand?!"
Ling Feng turned his head and roared at these dazed men, "As long as this broken door hasn't collapsed yet, across this layer of wire mesh, they are dead targets that won't fight back! Everyone come over and get to work! The more you kill, the longer the door will hold out! Buy me the time for Glenn to tie the rope up there!"
As soon as his voice fell, his left hand pressed against the deformed wire mesh frame, and his right hand rose and fell with the knife.
Without any unnecessary movements.
Every thrust was extremely precise, the blade piercing through the gaps in the wire mesh, directly wiping out the circle of monsters clinging to the outermost layer.
Merle was the first to react.
He immediately picked up the half-section solid iron pipe used to pad his hand earlier, rushed to Ling Feng's side in a few steps, and fiercely stabbed outward along the mesh openings.
A pipe thrust through directly pierced a zombie's throat.
"Damn things! Take my rod!"
Merle cursed wildly in his mouth, but his actions under hand were not ambiguous at all.
Shane and T-Dog exchanged glances and quickly split up to prop up the security door at the other end of the alley.
The fire axe in T-Dog's hand was too large to pass through the mesh at all, so he could only hold the back of the axe horizontally and frantically smash those withered fingers trying to reach in through the gaps.
Black severed fingers fell to the ground one after another.
The stench of rotting flesh in the alley became extremely pungent.
For a time, both ends of the alley were filled with the muffled sounds of metal collisions and flesh being pierced.
Ling Feng alone bore most of the pressure of one door.
The zombie corpses in front of him quickly piled up nearly half a meter high, and this pile of rotten meat instead became an excellent obstacle to the zombies behind pushing inward.
Just as the defense was barely stabilized,
"The door frame on this side is broken!"
T-Dog shouted at the top of his lungs from the back.
Ling Feng glanced back.
The load-bearing hinge on the upper part of the old iron gate snapped completely, and the entire door tilted downward by more than thirty degrees.
The crack at the door hinge was getting bigger and bigger, and it would completely collapse at any moment.
He tilted his head up, looking at the Asian youth fighting with the dead knot a dozen meters high in the air.
"Glenn! What are you dawdling for? Is it ready yet?!"
Ling Feng's voice directly drowned out the surrounding zombie screeches.
Glenn was covered in sweat, his hands tightly gripping the last rope loop to tighten it.
He leaned out half his body and shouted, "It's tied! I wrapped it three times with a load-bearing dead knot! It's absolutely sturdy!"
Ling Feng shoved the machete back into its scabbard, the blood on the blade dripping down his trouser legs.
"T-Dog, throw that broken axe away and go up first!"
Ling Feng arranged the order of retreat at an extremely fast pace.
Shane was originally preparing to drop his baseball bat and grab the hanging rope, but hearing this arrangement, his outstretched hand stopped stiffly in mid-air.
Ling Feng swept his gaze over and spoke extremely toughly, "Morales is second, Merle is third, Shane, you are fourth."
Chapter 43 A Knife From Behind!
T-Dog, being the heaviest and the one most prone to weak limbs when encountering zombies, had to go first.
Even if he couldn't climb halfway through, Glenn was up there to help pull him up.
Leaving people with high combat capability and psychological resilience to cover the rear was the only way out in this desperate situation.
Shane understood this logic clearly, but being forced to wait in the back still made him feel extremely pissed off.
T-Dog didn't decline at all, dropped his heavy firepower, grabbed the rope tightly with both hands, and began to climb upward with all his might.
Although the rusty fire escape grating above still made a teeth-gritting creaking sound, with the main railing at the very top sharing the weight, the overall load-bearing structure managed to hold steady.
Two minutes later, T-Dog climbed over onto the wire mesh platform, covered in sweat.
"Morales, get up there!"
Ling Feng urged sternly.
The defense line on the other side of the iron door had completely reached its limit.
The iron pipe in Merle's hand had been crushed and bent at a ninety-degree angle.
Morales scrambled over clumsily, using both hands and feet, and climbed extremely fast.
Next was Merle.
This bald punk had been hanging around outside all year round and had excellent physical coordination; his speed at climbing the rope was astonishing, and within a few strokes, he dashed up to the second-floor position.
Now, only Ling Feng and Shane were left in the alley below.
The iron door at the back finally let out a muffled roar and completely collapsed to the ground.
Countless hordes of zombies stepped directly on the metal door panels, opening their bleeding mouths as they surged into the narrow alley.
"Get up!"
Ling Feng turned around, kicked away the foremost zombie in a suit, and shouted at Shane.
Shane didn't dare to delay for even a second, grabbed the rope, and climbed upward quickly.
He had received extremely strict physical training at the police academy, and in less than half a minute, he climbed to a safe height, rolling onto the platform with the help of the people above.
At this moment, the zombies pouring in from both ends completely filled this dead-end alley that was only a little over twenty meters long.
The monsters at the very front were already less than three meters away from Ling Feng.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
Ling Feng retreated all the way to the base of the wall, the muscles in his legs suddenly tensing up.
The extraordinary explosive power granted by the Intermediate Combat Skill was fully revealed at this moment.
His knees bent slightly, he sprang up from the ground, and his hands grabbed the tail end of the rope suspended in mid-air with absolute precision.
Several of the fastest zombies pounced right below, stretching out their withered, blackened arms to reach upward desperately.
Ling Feng's heavy military boots brushed right past the fingertips of one of the zombies.
It was less than five centimeters short.
Utilizing the momentum of climbing upward, Ling Fengbraced his feet against the moss-covered wall, rapidly drawing his body upward.
Below were densely packed, mutilated faces roaring with their heads tilted up; the rotten flesh on the zombies and the sludge on the ground were trampled into a pool of foul-smelling mud.
Alternating his hands, he climbed upward at a steady speed.
As he was about to approach the edge of the platform.
Ling Feng habitually raised his head to observe the specific footing above.
It was this very glance that caused his breathing rhythm to stall for a split second.
On the large wire mesh platform at the top floor.
Glenn sat paralyzed in the innermost corner, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.
T-Dog and Morales were lying on the other side of the railing, nervously observing the distribution of zombies on the street below.
And Shane.
He was squatting less than half a meter away from the nylon rope's tying point.
With his back to the rest of them.
Shane's right hand was tightly gripping a black tactical folding knife, its blade fully popped out.
At this moment, the extremely sharp, serrated blade was inching closer and closer to the main load-bearing section of the nylon rope where the tension was greatest.
At this height, as long as Shane applied a little downward force with his wrist, the sharp serrations could directly slice open the tightened nylon fibers.
Coupled with Ling Feng's own downward weight of over a hundred pounds, the rope would snap right down the middle in an instant.
From a height of seven or eight meters, once he fell down into a pile of hundreds of zombies, not even a complete piece of bone slag would be left.
In Shane's calculations, that powerful firepower weapon, the sturdy SUV, and Lori would all belong to him very soon.
Ling Feng was suspended entirely in mid-air, with only one hand gripping the main rope, making it completely impossible for him to draw his gun and counterattack in these few short seconds.
But the expression on his face didn't fluctuate in the slightest; he didn't voice any stop, nor did he panic.
The muscles on his arms were completely tensed; he had already prepared himself to abandon his footing and forcefully grab onto the old, rusty water pipe on the side the moment the rope snapped.
Just at the split second when Shane's face was distorted from excessive exertion, preparing to cut down fiercely.
"Click."
An extremely crisp metallic impact echoed across the iron plate.
The decibel of this sound wasn't loud, but amidst everyone's strained nerves, it sounded extremely abrupt and grating.
That was the signature sound of a revolver's external hammer being cocked down with one hand.
A pitch-black, thick gun barrel extended directly from the rear side, pressing firmly against the right temple of Shane's head.
The barrel pressed downward ruthlessly by an inch, forcing Shane's head to tilt to the left.
Following that calloused hand upward.
Merle was squatting beside Shane before anyone knew it.
A malicious sneer hung on the bald punk's face, and the extremely lethal revolver was jammed steadily like a rock against Shane's vital spot.
"You'd better slow down your hand movements, pal."
Merle's rough and hoarse voice traveled into Ling Feng's ears along the cold wind, "Put away that piece-of-junk shaving knife, and stop waving it around here."
Shane froze completely in place.
The hand holding the folding knife stopped abruptly in mid-air, the muscles around the corners of his eyes twitching violently.
"Merle!"
Shane clenched his teeth tightly, his intentionally lowered voice full of shock and anger at being caught on the spot, "You fucking crazy! Get this damn gun away! This guy is just a lunatic. If he doesn't die, neither of us will have a say in this Camp!"
Shane completely failed to understand the situation.
He thought Merle was the one in the entire Camp who hated Ling Feng to the bone.
That aerial flying kick had trampled and shattered all of Merle's face and dignity.
This was clearly an excellent opportunity to kill with a borrowed knife and get rid of a common enemy.
Merle exerted force with his wrist, striking Shane's head heavily twice with the gun barrel, and let out an unceremonious sneer.
"I really do hate him and can't wait for him to die."
Merle curled his scarred, fleshy mouth, "But my eyes aren't blind yet. In this world full of man-eating monsters, following this Asian kid at least gives a chance to walk out alive from the zombie piles. Follow you?"
Merle turned his head and spat a thick gob of phlegm fiercely onto the iron plate.
"When encountering such deadly matters, you're just a coward who only knows how to point a gun at his own people. I'm afraid that one day you'll sell me out, and I'll still have to squat in the back and count US dollars for you."
Merle stared into Shane's eyes, his tone extremely arrogant, "If I were you, I'd honestly act like a turtle hiding its head right now and stop bringing trouble upon myself."
A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on Shane's back.
He could clearly feel the solid killing intent emanating from that gun barrel.
This street punk with a tainted record would definitely not hesitate for a second to shoot and kill someone.
"Wanna place a bet?"
Merle's thumb slowly brushed against the edge of the hammer, "Let's see whether your knife cuts faster, or my 7.62mm bullet runs faster."
Ling Feng, holding the rope with one hand below, heard this wonderful show of dogs biting dogs clearly from above.
He raised his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curving into an extremely mocking, cold, and rigid arc.
Shane's expression changed several times within a few short seconds.
In the end, he gritted his back teeth with extreme reluctance, slowly loosened his fingers, folded the folding knife, and put it back into his pants pocket.
Then he raised both hands over his head and slowly retreated two steps back.
Crisis averted.
Ling Feng exerted a sudden burst of force with his right hand, grabbing the thickest iron railing on the edge of the platform.
The muscle bulges on his arms bulged one by one through his clothes, bursting with astonishing power.
With an extremely deft leverage flip, his feet landed steadily on the rusty iron plate of the top floor.
Ling Feng casually patted the dust off his palms and stood straight up.
That immensely oppressive gaze locked directly onto Shane's extremely pale face.
Chapter 44: Shoulder Pat Warning!
(Shane will kill, don't rush)
(Regarding the speed of the zombies, the first season already showed that they can run—not a sprint, but a jog, an endless jog. Can you still run away from that? After all, you have limited stamina!)
Glenn, T-Dog, and Morales collapsed at the edge of the rooftop, panting heavily.
That life-risking climb just now had completely squeezed the oxygen out of their lungs.
Those three people completely missed the scene below where Shane pulled out his pocket knife and attempted to cut the rope.
But the atmosphere all around was simply too abnormal.
After Ling Feng vaulted onto the platform, his feet landed steadily on the sheet metal.
He didn't bother with the dust smudged on his clothes, walking straight up to Shane.
The distance between the two of them was less than half a meter.
That intangible sense of oppression instantly froze the surrounding air.
Shane's entire body was as stiff as raw iron, and even his breathing rhythm was completely disrupted.
Just moments ago, that cold revolver of Merle's had been solidly pressed against his temple; as long as that bald scumbag's hand shook, his head could have burst open right on the spot.
Ling Feng looked down condescendingly at that pale face, suddenly letting out a soft chuckle from his throat.
Immediately afterward, Ling Feng raised his right hand.
This extremely ordinary movement made Shane recoil half a step like a conditioned reflex, the veins on both sides of his neck bulging, looking ready to fight for his life at any moment.
"Pa, pa."
Ling Feng's large palm patted Shane's shoulder very casually, and he also conveniently helped brush off a few pieces of drywall debris stuck to his police uniform.
"You climbed fast enough just now, Officer Shane."
Ling Feng's tone was as steady as if he were just making casual conversation, "If it weren't for Merle keeping an eye on you from above, that pocket knife in your pocket probably wouldn't even have had a chance to be of use."
Shane's scalp tingled, and his throat felt as dry as if he had swallowed a handful of sand.
He forced himself to squeeze out a dry, fabricated lie: "That was to keep the monsters below from grabbing my legs..."
Ling Feng didn't bother to expose this full-of-loopholes excuse at all; he simply withdrew his hand and turned to walk toward Glenn, who was collapsed in the corner panting heavily.
This completely unconventional move left Shane's heart, which had leaped to his throat, suspended directly in mid-air—neither able to go up nor down, extremely agonizing.
"Glenn."
Ling Feng walked over, using the tip of his shoe to kick the side of the Asian kid's shoe, "Stop lying there playing dead, where is the nearest pharmacy around here?"
Hearing someone calling him, Glenn gave a start and quickly scrambled to his feet.
He ran to the circle of rusted iron railings on the rooftop, sticking most of his body out and pointing towards the direction diagonally across the street.
"Over there! Cross this street and make a turn and it's right there! That CVS chain drugstore with half its red sign smashed!"
Glenn swallowed hard, speaking at an extremely fast pace, "The first floor sells all kinds of everyday prescription drugs and medical bandages. I saw earlier down below that the two floor-to-ceiling glass doors at the main entrance are completely shattered, so we can crawl right in!"
Ling Feng glanced over in the direction Glenn pointed.
That pharmacy's location was chosen exceptionally well, perfectly avoiding the hundreds and thousands of clustered corpses on the main road.
On this zero-dollar shopping trip into the city, besides food and drink, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs were definitely the top-tier hard currency of the apocalyptic era.
Having confirmed the retreat target, Ling Feng turned his head, the smile on his face completely and utterly vanished.
Did someone really think this matter could just be brushed aside so lightly?
Did this grandson Shane think he was a pushover, easily fooled by a couple of pinches and a fabricated lie?
According to the original trajectory, this selfish former police officer would completely fall out with the true protagonist Rick in the later stages, and ultimately be dealt with by a single gunshot.
Ling Feng had originally been too lazy to intervene in advance, treating it as keeping this guy around to do heavy labor and hunting for Quarry Camp.
But now the situation had changed.
Since this grandson had set his sights on him, Ling Feng, and even wanted to stab him in the back to take his life.
He, Ling Feng, had always been a living Yama who repaid every grievance.
Since he dared to wield a knife, this debt had to be paid with his life!
Merle leaned against the side ventilation metal pipe, this bald scumbag remaining entirely silent the whole time.
His two rough fingers flexibly played with that large wrench, his mouth splitting open to reveal two rows of yellowed teeth, smiling extremely nastily.
He understood the survival rules of the street-hustling society all too well.
A barking dog doesn't bite, and a biting dog doesn't bare its teeth.
Ling Feng looked like he wasn't holding it against him right now, not even scolding him a single word, but once he really started dealing fatal blows later on, Shane would definitely die without even leaving ashes behind.
"Let's go, find the entrance to go downstairs."
Ling Feng couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense, directly striding toward the fire exit door on the rooftop.
The team started moving again.
Shane deliberately slowed his pace, lagging behind alone at the very end of the team.
The backs of those four people ahead had already stretched out a distance of four or five meters.
Shane stared fiercely at Ling Feng's broad and sturdy back, his five fingers digging tightly into his palms, his nails almost piercing his own flesh.
He knew that he had thoroughly offended this Asian man.
As long as he returned to Camp alive today, there would definitely be no good fruit for him to eat in the future.
Shane's right hand instinctively felt toward his back.
Slung diagonally across there was a Remington pump-action shotgun with terrifying firepower.
The moment his palm touched the rough stock, the icy metal texture directly stimulated his nerves.
There was a crazy voice roaring constantly in his head: Draw the gun!
Pump the action!
As long as he pulled the trigger hard against that Asian kid's back, at such close range, a blast of buckshot would definitely blow him into a pile of mush!
As long as Ling Feng died, all problems would be readily solved!
That bulletproof SUV as sturdy as a Tank, the endless jerky supplies in the trunk, and that sultry, alluring Lori would logically fall into his hands as the police leader!
Take him out!
Right now!
Shane's finger was already hooked on the edge of the trigger guard.
But the next second, a basin of cold water was poured directly over his crown, instantly chilling his feverish blood.
Shooting and killing someone was extremely simple.
But once the gunshot rang out, that bald mad dog Merlewalking in front would definitely turn hostile on the spot.
Outsiders like T-Dog and Glenn would also watch with their own eyes as he murdered a companion.
To cover up the truth, he had to kill all four people on the rooftop without leaving a single one alive!
Relying on his shotgun with its pathetically low ammo capacity, he couldn't possibly deal with Merle's revolver and Ling Feng's freakish counterattack speed.
To take a step back, even if he really had incredible dumb luck and butchered all these people.
Then what?
Sneak back to Quarry empty-handed all by himself?
How to explain it?
How to face Lori?
Tell them that several people were surrounded by monsters and eaten until not even bones were left, and only he, Shane, fought his way out and survived?
This excuse couldn't even fool a three-year-old child!
Lori would definitely harbor extreme doubts about his survival, and the authority he had worked so hard to establish in Camp would completely collapse.
Can't shoot.
Today was definitely not the time to make a move!
Shane took a deep breath, forcibly swallowing that grievance-filled nameless fire into his stomach, and moved his fingers extremely stiffly away from the gun stock.
Wait a little longer.
He had to wait for an excellent opportunity, preferably using these zombies in the city to kill him by proxy!
Ling Feng, walking right in the middle of the team, hadn't turned his head back even once from start to finish.
Out of the corner of his eye, seeing Shane's constantly changing expression, he didn't even need to think to know what kind of intense psychological struggle Shane had just been experiencing.
A coward who wanted to shoot but didn't have the guts to bear the consequences.
Ling Feng could certainly turn around and draw his blade directly, hacking this grandson to death in one stroke to eliminate future troubles once and for all.
But he didn't do that.
T-Dog and Glenn, walking at the very front, had hands trembling even as they gripped their wooden sticks right now.
But in the later stages of the apocalypse, these two were solid backbone loyalists—the most hardworking, least needing-to-be-guarded-against perfect utility men.
If he wanted to live comfortably in this collapsed world, he had to completely win these two people over.
If he were to butcher the team leader with a single slash right in front of these two honest guys now, these two would definitely develop extreme fear and wariness toward him, and might even split up on the spot.
Subordinates had to be trained bit by bit; he had to make them willingly follow and hang out with him.
As for Shane's life.
In this dead city of Atlanta, there were free laborers wandering everywhere; arranging an "accidental death" that made complete sense and wouldn't arouse anyone's suspicion was simply too easy.
Chapter 45: These three are left for you to practice on!
Pushing open the rusty fire door on the rooftop, a muggy, moldy stench hit them in the face.
The lighting in the stairwell was extremely dim, and they could only see by relying on the few beams of light filtering in from the high windows above the wall.
Ling Feng held a short machete in his right hand as he walked at the very front, his boots stepping on the dusty concrete stairs and making a dull stomping sound.
The team headed all the way down.
The fifth floor, the fourth floor, the third floor.
Surprisingly smooth, not even half the shadow of a zombie could be seen in this narrow escape passage.
This abnormal safety instead made the few people following behind feel anxious and terrified.
Morales pressed closely against T-Dog, his heavy breathing echoing back and forth in the stairwell, terrified that a man-eating monster would suddenly pounce out from behind some door.
"What the hell, why is it so clean in here?"
Glenn lowered his voice and muttered softly.
Ling Feng didn't even turn his head, continuing to walk down the stairs.
"The commotion outside is too big, everyone in the building has been attracted to the street level."
Ling Feng casually threw out an extremely reasonable judgment.
Shane walked at the very back.
He stared at Ling Feng's broad back, his expression extremely ugly.
That stunt on the rooftop just now had completely driven him to the edge of a cliff, but right now he didn't dare to flip out at all, having to swallow all his grievances back into his stomach.
The team descended to the first-floor lobby.
This was a spacious commercial reception area, with scattered documents and knocked-over potted plants all over the floor.
The two double glass automatic doors directly facing the road had long since shattered into fragments all over the floor.
As a hot wind blew, the shredded paper on the ground rustled.
Ling Feng walked to the door, hiding half his body behind a load-bearing pillar as he swept his gaze across the street.
This place was chosen well, belonging to the side street at the back of the building.
The huge noise made in the alley just now had attracted the vast majority of the monsters to the main thoroughfare.
On this street now, there were only five or six missing-limbed zombies wandering aimlessly under the scorching sun.
Diagonally opposite, more than thirty meters away, was the CVS chain drugstore with its red light box glowing.
The roller shutter of the drugstore was pulled up halfway, and the glass door was wide open.
"Five stragglers."
Ling Feng turned his head and looked at the few people behind, "Less than forty meters away, sprint across at full speed."
Merle tapped his left palm with a large wrench, his face full of indifference.
"Just a few rotten tomatoes like this, I can smash all their heads to pieces in one breath."
Shane didn't refute.
Under the current situation, sprinting was indeed the safest choice.
After the tossing around just now, these few people had consumed a tremendous amount of physical strength, and they were really unsuited for hand-to-hand combat with zombies on this unshielded street.
"Don't get entangled on the street."
Ling Feng gave clear arrangements, "Run out in a moment and go straight into the drugstore. Whoever stops halfway and gets surrounded will be responsible for themselves."
T-Dog gripped the fire axe in his hands tightly and nodded repeatedly.
Glenn wiped the cold sweat from his palms and switched the baseball bat to his right hand.
Ling Feng locked his vision onto the opposite store door, his muscles completely tensed.
"Run!"
As soon as his voice fell, Ling Feng's right leg suddenly exerted force, and his whole body lunged straight out.
His military boots crushed the glass fragments on the ground, making an extremely crisp shattering sound.
The remaining four closely followed behind.
Five living people were exposed in broad daylight, and the sound of their running immediately alerted a few zombies wandering on the street.
They turned their half-rotted heads, making ugly noises in their throats, and dragged their dilapidated bodies to chase this way.
The distance was short.
Ling Feng was the first to rush to the entrance of the drugstore, propping himself up with one hand on the lower edge of the roller shutter and ducking inside.
Merle and Shane moved extremely fast, vaulting into the house right behind him.
Because of his heavy weight, T-Dog ran panting heavily.
When he reached the door, his footing was unsteady, and he fell forward onto the ground.
Glenn grabbed the clothes on his back and yanked him inward with all his might.
The two tumbled into a mess, scrambling into the interior of the drugstore.
The zombies outside had chased to within less than two meters of the door, and the strong stench of decay drifted right in.
The drugstore didn't have the lights on, and the lighting was dim.
More than half of the shelves had collapsed, and scattered medicine boxes were everywhere.
Shane crawled up from the ground, instinctively raising the baseball bat in his hand to go to the door and block-fight.
"Fall back!"
Ling Feng barked a stern command to stop him.
Shane's movement paused, and he stopped his steps extremely reluctantly.
"Let them in to fight."
Ling Feng flipped his wrist, gripping the short machete tightly, "If we do it outside and the commotion is too big, attracting other zombies' attention, it'll be troublesome."
Shane gritted his teeth and took two steps back, yielding the position at the door.
Those five zombies crawled in one after another from under the half-pulled roller shutter.
The first one just poked its head out, not yet having time to stand straight.
Ling Feng stepped forward, blade in hand.
The machete stabbed directly into the zombie's chin from bottom to top, piercing its skull.
Black blood sprayed half the wall.
Ling Feng raised a foot and kicked the corpse in the belly, kicking it aside.
The second one squeezed in from the side.
Merle swung the large wrench in his hand in a full circle, smashing it fiercely against its temple.
The sound of a watermelon bursting came out, and the zombie collapsed limply onto the ground on the spot.
There were still three left.
They opened their mouths dripping with black blood, stepping over the corpses on the ground and lunging inward.
Just as Shane was preparing to deal with the third one, Ling Feng suddenly stepped half a step forward, directly blocking in front of Shane.
He held his short machete horizontally, no longer continuing to attack.
"These three are left for you."
Ling Feng turned his head and nodded his chin toward Glenn and the other two who were still sprawled on the ground behind.
The air in the aisle suddenly congealed.
T-Dog had just crawled up from the ground, and hearing these words, his whole body froze in place.
Morales turned even paler, retreating repeatedly until his back crashed against a shelf, making a clattering commotion.
"Don't dawdle."
Ling Feng's tone was extremely tough, "If you three can't even solve such locked-in stray goods, when we encounter a horde on the way back later, you might as well just lie down and feed the monsters."
Those three zombies didn't care whether they were scared or not.
The middle monster wearing a shabby security uniform lunged straight at T-Dog, who was closest.
T-Dog let out a roar to bolster his courage, raised the fire axe with both hands, and chopped down recklessly.
This strike missed completely.
The axe blade didn't hit the head, and got stuck directly in the zombie's right collarbone.
The axe was too heavy, plus he was extremely nervous, so T-Dog pulled hard twice and actually couldn't pull it out.
The zombie had no sense of pain at all; it was pulled forward by the axe, its rotten face brought right close to T-Dog's nose, opening its mouth to bite his neck.
"Get away!"
Morales finally overcame his inner fear.
He rushed forward in large strides, the iron pipe in his hand frantically poking at the zombie's chest.
Purely a futile effort.
This kind of physical blunt strike was completely useless against the monster.
Seeing that T-Dog was about to be bitten.
A solid wood baseball bat flew over from the side.
Glenn gritted his teeth, gripped the bat tightly with both hands, and swung his arm in a full circle.
The baseball bat heavily smashed into the back of the security guard zombie's head.
With a crisp snap of "crack", the zombie's neck bent directly to one side.
Taking the opportunity, T-Dog kicked the zombie in the belly, flipping it to the ground together with the person and the axe.
He took the momentum to pull out the axe, hacking at the head seven or eight times until that thing was chopped into a puddle of mush.
The remaining two didn't meet a good end either.
The three people driven to a desperate situation completely let go of their hands and feet.
A chaotic battle without any rules whatsoever erupted in the narrow aisle.
Wild punches, random club smashes, pipe stabs.
The shelves were completely knocked over, and medicine bottles scattered all over the floor.
Two minutes later.
The three zombies were smashed to the point where their original appearance was completely unrecognizable.
Thick black blood flowed all over the floor.
The three people leaned against the wall, panting heavily, their hands shaking so much they couldn't even hold their weapons.
Ling Feng looked at those lumps of rotten meat on the ground and reluctantly nodded his head.
Giving an evaluation with utmost disrespect, "At least you dared to make a move."
This string of beating-and-slashing words left the three people without even the strength to refute.
"Practice a few more times and you'll get used to it."
Ling Feng rubbed the black blood on the machete off against his trouser leg and sheathed it back.
He pointed to the row of glass cabinets inside that were still fairly intact, "Hurry up and look for useful things. Antibiotics, ibuprofen, fever reducers, iodophor—take as much as you can. I'll say it again, these are all your private property; if you don't want to have no medicine later, you don't have to take it!"
Merle had sneered long ago and walked straight behind the counter.
He used the wrench to brutally smash open the locked glass door of the prescription drugs, blindly stuffing various medicine boxes marked with anti-inflammatory labels into his backpack.
Bringing this stuff back to Camp would definitely serve as hard currency to trade for quite a lot of good supplies.
Shane didn't utter a word, carrying the baseball bat toward the innermost health supplement area.
Right now, his head was full of how to find an opportunity to kill Ling Feng.
This trip into the city had let this Asian man hog all the spotlight completely by himself.
He, the former sheriff, instead became a lackey who could be bossed around at any time.
This disparity made him extremely unwilling and resentful.
Glenn and the other two caught their breath, quickly scrambled up, and began to sweep the shelves.
Morales specifically looked for children's fever reducers; he still had a wife and children at home waiting for these life-saving gadgets.
As for T-Dog, he was collecting medical gauze and disinfectant alcohol.
Ling Feng didn't participate in this snatching of low-level supplies.
He walked to the revolving shelf next to the cash register, casually took a few bottles of high-end multivitamin tablets and supplements, and threw them into his pocket.
Andrea and Amy, these two women following him, needed their physical constitutions well-nourished, especially after experiencing that high-intensity tossing last night.
Inside the entire drugstore, only the rustling sound of searching for things remained.
On the street outside, a few warped roars occasionally came over, but no more monsters approached this drugstore used as a cover.
Everyone tacitly accelerated their movements, stuffing their backpacks bulgingly.
"Almost done."
Ling Feng knocked on the cash register table, "Get ready to withdraw, follow the original path back to the Train Station. We can't carry too much anyway, and the problem at the Train Station hasn't been solved yet!"