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After finishing his inspection of what would one day be his base, Julian got back into his van, blasted some energetic music, and drove around nearby to lure a few dozen zombies over.
It wasn't that he didn't want to attract more.
There just weren't that many zombies around here.
If this were downtown, the moment the music started blasting, hundreds of "street-dancing youths" would already be trailing behind his car.
After leading the zombies onto the bridge, Julian hummed a tune and headed home.
After a full day of work, he'd earned about fifty kilograms of gold.
Not as profitable as raiding the vault that time, but still decent income.
After a while, the value of gold would start to show.
By then, all the major survivor camps would begin accepting gold again.
Want to join the camp?
Hand over some gold first.
Want to trade for food?
Sure. Bring gold.
Looking for a little fun? We've even got B-list actresses here!
Got gold or not?
Julian had no idea what they actually needed gold for, but he figured the more he could stockpile now, the better. It definitely wouldn't hurt.
Anyway, he was trading away food he couldn't possibly finish before it expired. No reason to feel bad about it.
As he passed through an intersection, a Lamborghini suddenly slammed into him from the side at well over a hundred kilometers per hour.
Julian reacted fast, but cars aren't nearly as nimble as people.
The two vehicles crashed together with a deafening bang.
His van flipped over from the impact, rolling onto its side.
Luckily, Julian had good driving habits. Even in the apocalypse he still wore his seatbelt, otherwise he'd have been thrown out of the car.
"Damn it…"
"How the hell are you driving?!"
Julian crawled out of the wreck.
Just some superficial cuts and bruises. They'd heal soon enough.
The Lamborghini that had hit him wasn't doing much better. The entire front end was crushed flat.
Inside, the driver slumped in his seat, barely moving. Hard to tell if he was dead or alive.
Julian grabbed his knife and walked over.
"Help me!"
The man in the driver's seat shouted weakly at him, his face twisted in pain.
Julian glanced down. Everything below the man's waist was soaked in blood.
And the woman sitting beside him…
Her mouth was full of blood.
Looks like she'd already died.
In an instant, Julian's mind filled in the missing details.
Yeah… that must be what happened.
The massive impact had created a pretty gruesome scene.
Tsk. In this state, there was no saving him.
"Please… help me…"
"I'm rich. My family's really rich!"
"Take me to a hospital!"
The man's face had gone pale. He was losing blood fast.
"Help my ass!"
"You were the one driving distracted and crashing into me!"
"If the traffic cops showed up, you'd be 100% at fault!"
"Pay me for my van!"
Julian cursed a few more times.
He'd only been driving that van for a day, but he'd already grown attached to it.
He'd planned to take good care of it.
Now it was totaled.
"Brother! There's a suitcase full of cash in my trunk!"
"Millions!"
"There's also a box of diamonds—worth a lot too!"
"If you save me, it's all yours!"
The man could clearly feel the blood draining from his body. He was starting to tremble.
"Diamonds? Cash?"
Julian sighed.
Completely useless.
If it were gold, he might've felt generous enough to help.
But the guy didn't have any.
"Good luck," Julian said.
"At your rate of bleeding, you'll probably go into shock in about three minutes."
"Don't worry, it won't hurt much."
"Way better than getting bitten to death by zombies."
He offered a few casual words of comfort.
"Don't go, brother!"
"I also own a factory!"
"It produces solar panels!"
"If you want it, the factory's yours!"
The man blurted out between sobs.
Julian wasn't interested in a factory.
It was the apocalypse. Who was going to run a factory now?
Where would he even find workers? Hire zombies?
Still…
The mention of solar panels caught his attention.
After all, diesel generators had plenty of problems.
They were loud, required a constant supply of diesel fuel, and the machines themselves wore down over time.
If he relied entirely on generators, they probably wouldn't last long.
Solar panels were different.
He could cover all of East Lake Island with them.
Clean energy. Quiet. Environmentally friendly.
As long as he had enough panels, they could power every piece of equipment on the island.
"Is your family the only one in the city making these solar panels?" Julian asked.
"Yeah. We're the only ones in the whole province."
"My dad got rich because of this business."
"In the warehouse at our factory, we've got thousands of panels already produced and ready to ship."
"They're easy to install and generate a lot of power."
"Five panels are enough for a normal household."
"A hundred panels can supply electricity for an entire building."
Seeing that Julian was interested, the man clung to the topic like it was a lifeline, explaining everything in detail.
"That actually sounds pretty good."
Julian nodded.
Too bad the guy was beyond saving. Otherwise he could've shown him how to install the panels.
"Where's your factory?" Julian asked.
"It's located at—"
"ROOOAR!!!"
Just as the man was about to give the address, the woman in the passenger seat suddenly let out a low growl.
"Gulp."
She seemed to swallow something before turning toward the man beside her.
Her eyes were white.
No pupils.
Clearly, she'd turned into a zombie.
"Raaah!"
The female zombie lunged straight at the man.
"Brother! Save me!"
The man jerked in terror. If he'd still had the strength, he probably would've pissed himself.
Julian calmly drew his knife and thrust forward.
The blade pierced straight through the zombie's temple.
Blood splattered across the man's face.
"Brother…"
"Am I really beyond saving?"
"After I die… will I turn into one of those things too?"
The man asked in despair.
Julian nodded. No point lying at a time like this.
People bitten by zombies turned very quickly.
Even those who weren't bitten would still become zombies not long after dying.
Julian didn't know the exact reason, but he had a rough guess.
Maybe everyone already carried a dormant virus.
The man sighed.
Then, surprisingly, he seemed to accept it.
Well… at least he'd had some fun before dying. No regrets.
"Brother, I'll tell you the factory's address."
"But you have to promise me one thing."
"Give me a quick death. I don't want to become… that."
He pointed weakly at the corpse beside him.
"Alright. I can do that."
Julian nodded.
The man wiped his tears and told him the address of the solar panel factory.
It was in the suburbs, more than twenty kilometers from the supermarket.
No matter what, Julian was going there.
Once he got those panels, he could retire the diesel generators for good.
The man's breathing grew weaker and weaker. He'd lost too much blood.
Soon, he would slip into shock.
He seemed to have accepted it. Slowly, he closed his eyes and waited.
Julian drove the knife forward in a single thrust, piercing straight through the center of the man's forehead.
"Man… now I've gotta find another car."
He walked back to the van, hoisted the black duffel bag stuffed with gold onto his shoulder, and headed toward the nearby intersection.
There were still a few cars around the crossroads.
Most of them had clearly been in collisions.
After looking around for a while, Julian picked a red Porsche 911.
Probably belonged to some young woman before the apocalypse. The inside still carried a faint, lingering perfume.
He slammed the gas pedal.
The speed…
Damn, this felt amazing.
The van was instantly left far behind.
"...."