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Julian turned to Shiro, "Let's hurry to the villa where the guards were bitten. If we're lucky, we can stop the infection before it spreads to the rest the villa's area."
When they arrived at the villa 18, the front door was hanging wide open. Julian stepped out of the car. He didn't wait for Shiro. Gripping his Tang saber, he moved into the dimly lit foyer.
A shadow lunged from the kitchen—a woman in a torn nightgown, her eyes clouded and her jaw snapping rhythmically. Julian reacted instinctively. He stepped into the strike, driving his blade downward with enough force to crack the bone.
"Damn it…"
Julian's blade was still stuck in the female zombie's skull. For the moment, he couldn't pull it out.
Meanwhile, the noise coming from the darkness was getting closer.
No time to think.
Julian immediately retreated.
He jumped back in one clean motion, landing in the courtyard.
"Turn on the high beams!" he shouted to Shiro, the young security guard sitting in the Porsche.
Shiro fumbled around for a moment before finally finding the headlight switch.
The entire courtyard lit up instantly.
"Hell yeah… being able to see feels a lot better."
Julian casually ripped a plank off the wooden fence.
A moment later, two zombies rushed out of the house—one big, one small.
Judging by their appearance, they were probably father and son.
Both of their hands were missing.
Looks like that middle-aged woman had chained their wrists earlier. When their hands snapped off, they must've broken free.
"Man… zero experience," Julian muttered, shaking his head. "If you're gonna chain zombies, chain their necks."
At that moment, the father zombie had already rushed up to him.
Julian swung the wooden plank sideways with all his strength, smashing straight into its jaw.
The lower jaw flew off.
No more mindless groaning from this one.
The son zombie lunged next.
Julian kicked the father zombie to the ground, then smacked the kid zombie flat with the plank.
The wood was too light. After just two swings it already felt like it might snap.
Nothing like the Tang saber.
Julian glanced down at his AJ1 sneakers and sighed.
Then stomped.
With a single step, he crushed the father zombie's head.
Brains splattered everywhere.
The son zombie tried to get up, but Julian was faster. One kick sent the little zombie's head flying.
"Phew…"
"Not bad, fighting without a weapon."
"I can kinda see why Mafuyu enjoys this."
He wiped the black zombie blood off his shoes on the grass.
The nice red-and-black color scheme was completely ruined now—basically a banned colorway.
Just as Julian was about to head to the entryway to retrieve his Tang saber, a rustling sound came from the side.
"Bro! Watch out!"
Shiro immediately jumped out of the car and charged over, swinging his baton.
But Julian had already sensed the danger. He sidestepped easily, dodging the shadow that lunged at him.
Another zombie.
This one was wearing a security uniform.
Shiro charged too hard and tripped over a corpse on the ground, falling flat on his face.
When he looked up—
The severed head of the little zombie was right in front of him.
The smell…
It was overwhelming.
Shiro immediately started vomiting.
Meanwhile, Julian grabbed the baton from Shiro's hand and began smashing the security zombie repeatedly.
The baton felt way better than that flimsy fence plank.
"After a few brutal hits, the zombie collapsed and stopped moving. Its face was now nothing more than a jagged abstract of bone and shadow. Half its skull had been caved in."
"Bro… you're brutal," Shiro said weakly after finishing vomiting.
"With zombies, if you don't go all out, they'll turn you into one of them," Julian replied.
He tossed the blood-covered baton back.
The kid hadn't really helped earlier, but at least he'd tried.
Maybe he'd give him a few more cucumbers later. The guy seemed to love eating them.
Shiro pinched the baton between two fingers, wiped it on the ground a few times, then clipped it back onto his belt.
"So… is that everything?" he asked.
"I remember you guys said two guards came to check this place, right?"
"There's only one here."
"No idea where the other one went."
"You stay in the car. I'll check the villa and see if anything else slipped through."
With that, Julian walked back inside.
Stepping on the middle-aged female zombie's head, he finally pulled the Tang saber free.
"Looks like I need some shorter weapons… maybe a dagger."
"In tight spaces like this, a long blade isn't that useful."
He wiped the blood off the saber with the zombie woman's nightgown.
Soon, he found the light switch.
After searching around for a while, he discovered a basement.
Originally it was probably the villa's home theater, but the middle-aged woman had converted it into a holding room to lock up the zombie father and son.
Two sets of chains.
Didn't look like there were any other zombies.
Julian continued searching and eventually found a safe on the second floor.
"I freaking knew it…"
Even after trying for a while, he still couldn't open it.
Figures.
Rich people always buy the good brands when it comes to safes.
The thing was solid.
Without proper tools, there was no way he'd crack it open.
Forget it.
Julian gave up on the safe entirely.
Better to just trade those almost-expired foods instead. Much faster and easier.
Which meant he still needed to find the other security zombie wandering around the villa district.
If that thing ended up infecting the whole neighborhood, who the hell was going to trade food with him?
Carrying his saber, Julian walked back outside.
"Bro!"
"The surveillance room just sent word!" Shiro said.
"They saw a figure heading toward the villas numbered 1 through 10!"
"From the way it was walking, it's probably the other bitten guard."
"Damn it… there's a big customer over there."
Julian immediately got in the car and drove deeper into the villa district.
That little girl might be cautious as hell, but she paid generously.
A rare premium customer.
If she died, that would be a huge loss.
After all, she lived in Villa No. 2.
Way richer than the others, for sure.
Soon, Julian drove straight into the courtyard of Villa No. 2.
"Bro, do you have some kind of intuition or something?" Shiro asked. "Why did you drive straight here?"
"Oh! Wait, I remember now," he added.
"You delivered stuff here today, right?"
"Do these people owe you a lot of money too?"
"I bet you're great at collecting property fees," Julian said dryly.
"Anyway, stay in the car."
He then turned on the car stereo.
If the zombie was nearby, the music would definitely lure it out.
Before long, a light came on in the second-floor window.
The window opened.
A head with twin ponytails poked out.
"You sick or something?!"
"Why are you blasting DJ music outside my house in the middle of the night?!"
It was the same little girl from earlier that day.
Seeing she was fine, Julian felt a bit relieved.
"There's a zombie around!" he shouted up.
"Make sure your doors are locked!"
The girl froze for a moment, then disappeared from the window.
Not long after, she reappeared.
Crossbow in hand.
The direction she was aiming…
Seemed to be right at Julian.
Whoosh.
A soft slicing sound cut through the air as the bolt shot forward.
Julian didn't move at all.
Because he'd already heard movement beside him.
The zombie must have been drawn in by the music.
Thud.
Sure enough, the bolt flew past Julian and pierced straight through the security zombie's head.
The zombie staggered for a second before collapsing to the ground.
"Nice aim, kid," Julian said approvingly.
These days, crossbows were honestly more practical than guns.
At close range, they were deadly—and quiet.
Unlike guns.
Fire one shot, kill one zombie…
And attract a hundred more.
"....."