Chapter Eighteen: Tong Jia Loses Her Mind

I strode toward Lord Four, gripping my Tang blade, my murderous intent palpable. Inwardly, I marveled at this dog's audacity—how could he dare to doze off so openly in broad daylight? Lord Four, seeing my menacing approach, whimpered twice and shrank into the corner, head lowered in guilty submission.

Resting the Tang blade on my shoulder, I crouched down to stroke his furry head, murmuring softly, "That was dangerous just now. You must behave. Never nap on the street again. If something were to happen to you... your professional executioner would be heartbroken, you know."

"Whimper... whimper..." Lord Four's deep canine voice sounded once more, and to show his obedience, he rubbed against me affectionately.

With a strange chuckle, I turned to examine the ravaged corpse, its face unrecognizable from the mauling. Judging by the body, it clearly wasn't Huo Bing—the figure was too broad. Huo Bing, after all, had a more slender, feminine build. Though I hadn't touched a woman in years, my eye was still sharp enough to tell. This meant the body belonged to either Tong Jia or someone else entirely. But then, where had the other two gone?

I circled around the armored vehicle and, still uneasy, climbed inside to search for clues—finding none. I reached out to touch the corpse; it hadn't been dead long, the flesh still warm. The other two couldn't have gone far. Could they have fled up to the convenience store again?

Hmm? The scavenger team's handgun? That might come in handy—better tuck it into my waistband.

Rifling through the corpse's belongings, I found little of value but the pistol itself.

"Snort... snort..."

The guttural sounds of the infected echoed once more, creeping into my range of hearing—which meant they were only dozens of meters away, surely drawn by the commotion from the recent fight. I hoped there weren’t too many, or I'd find myself awkwardly trapped again, just like before.

I darted straight past the armored vehicle, up to the second floor, and tried knocking on the convenience store's door. No response.

The door was locked—probably still secured by Huo Bing from earlier.

I pulled out the silent clock from my backpack. The hands pointed to seven. In three hours, the moonlit night would descend.

There was nowhere else nearby to hide. After just surviving a third-level infected’s attack, they wouldn’t dare venture into unfamiliar territory. The convenience store seemed the safest bet. After all, it had already been cleared; they could be sure of its safety. If they ran elsewhere and were attacked again, what then?

Unwilling to give up, I kept banging on the metal door, shouting, "It's Cao Fusheng! Is anyone inside? Huo Bing? Tong Jia? That guy from before?"

"Snort..."

The infected’s groans grew closer by the second. Damn it! Where the hell were they?

If there truly was no one in the store, only two paths remained: fight my way out, or find a place to hole up and hide. The armored vehicle was out of the question—I couldn’t access its systems, so it was far from safe for me. If I couldn’t find Tong Jia’s group, his random mission would be forfeit.

Just as despair began to creep in, I finally heard sounds from inside the store—arguing, maybe even fighting, a man and a woman.

"Is that Brother Cao outside...? Ah...!"

My eyes narrowed. That was Huo Bing’s voice. She sounded as if she’d been attacked, and that abrupt cry carried a note of agony. Her voice was cut off, stifled—barely audible. If I hadn’t unlocked my enhanced hearing, I’d never have caught her muffled whimpers and gasps.

This steel door not only kept out the infected—it also kept out people.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

I slammed the iron door, making it rattle, hoping to provoke some reaction, but the infected downstairs had already heard me and were swarming up to the second floor. Luckily, the narrow stairwell prevented too many from coming at once; otherwise, I’d be scrambling again, surrounded by a horde.

Drawing the pistol from my waist, I chambered a round and fired at the lock—blasting a hole through it.

With a swift motion, I raised the rolling steel shutter. Damn it, if they wouldn’t open up for a peaceful request, I’d force my way in.

The moment the door swung open, Lord Four charged in ahead of me. Instantly, a man’s scream rang out—seems Lord Four claimed first blood.

But that voice—wasn’t that Captain Tong? That meant the poor soul sacrificed outside was the other team member. Captain Tong certainly had a knack for survival: with his entire team dead, he alone was left standing.

Well, not quite alone—Huo Bing was still alive, though I often forgot about her, as her presence was so easy to overlook. Her performance had always been unremarkable, fading into the background.

"You damn mutt! Let me go! I’ll kill you!"

Entering the convenience store, I saw Tong Jia brandishing a knife, trying to stab Lord Four. I sneered coldly. "You really think I won’t shoot you, Tong? Locking the door like that, not letting your big brother Cao in—what were you up to in here? Feeling guilty, Captain Tong?"

"Cao Fusheng! You... you madman, you actually fired a gun! We’re all going to die here today! Hahaha!" Tong Jia laughed maniacally, eyes wild.

I frowned with distaste. The man seemed unhinged, as if something had driven him to madness.

Huo Bing looked even more miserable. Her clothes had been all but stripped away, only her undergarments remaining. Yet for once, she didn’t cower or weep; instead, she glared at Tong Jia with burning hatred.

I wasn’t surprised by her condition. Truthfully, the fact that she’d only been subjected to this now was almost shocking. After everything that had happened, she must have grown stronger—no longer a delicate flower in a greenhouse. But the cost of her growth was steep.

I leveled the gun at Tong Jia, motioning for Lord Four to keep away from this lunatic. If he made a single wrong move, I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

He’d pointed a gun at me twice before. Once, I could understand; twice, perhaps still. But forgive him? Never.

"Cao Fusheng! Do you know how we ended up here? It’s all your fault, you rabid dog! If not for you... how else would we have ended up like this?" Tong Jia’s features twisted in anguish and rage, laughter and tears mingling—he was clearly losing his mind.

I kept the gun trained on him as I closed the steel door behind me. Thank goodness it was reinforced; otherwise, the infected would already be pouring in.

"Don’t bother struggling. We’re all going to die in the end, just food for the infected! This is humanity’s fate! Hahaha!"

"Earlier, we waited in the vehicle for nightfall—and for you to return—but what showed up was a third-level infected, smart as a man, pounding on the steel! I said not to shut down the fortress defenses, but Wu and Huo Bing insisted it had to be you outside, desperate to get in!"

"And I, damn fool that I am, believed them! I shut down the system—and Wu died! Served him right!"

Huo Bing screamed, "Tong Jia, you’re no man! You’re full of shit! It was you—you deliberately wounded Wu’s leg, left him unable to move, so he was eaten by the infected! You bastard! You’re not fit to lead scavengers!"