Although Lin Yuan's building and the one next door were V-shaped connected buildings, the stairwells were at least 25 meters apart.
Could a moving target be shot so accurately?
He pulled out an arrow from a zombie's corpse and examined it. The arrow was slender, with a sharp, pointed head, resembling a specialized shooting arrow from an archery club. He was impressed. When did a skilled archer girl arrive in their neighborhood?
Without overthinking, the rooftops of the two buildings were interconnected, forming a V with a large angle. Survivors in the high-rise buildings would surely come to the rooftop to look for opportunities to survive. They would meet when the time came.
Furthermore, from the recent combat, Lin Yuan understood that striking the zombie's head could affect its movements, which provided a bit more breathing room for future battles.
Arriving on the 12th floor, the stairwell was already covered in blood, which had clotted, resembling a horrifying abstract painting.
The two zombies in the stairwell had been dealt with earlier. However, curiously, one family's door was ajar. Lin Yuan slowly walked over to open it, but the handle of his riot shield accidentally bumped into the fire extinguisher box, emitting a dull thud.
In an instant, the world seemed to fall silent, only to be shattered by roars in the next second. The half-open door in front was violently kicked open, and a female zombie with only half a neck rushed out. Her back was hunched, as if something had grown on it, but this did not affect her speed or strength. Lin Yuan only had time to raise his riot shield before being pounced upon and knocked to the ground.
Lin Yuan, who had closed his eyes in fear, quickly opened them. A terrifying face was about 40 cm from his helmet.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan seemed to catch a glimpse of something and froze.
On the back of the female zombie's corpse lying in front of him, there was a winding, twisted "wound." The wound looked as if it had festered, with a faint green glow emanating from it. A transparent membrane sealed the surging yellow fluid within. However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that this was not pus at all. What surged within was not pus, but something akin to slime mold constantly writhing at the wound, mixed with a lot of yellow liquid, spreading outwards. The color was slowly turning black, as if heading towards death.
Slime mold?
The broadcast had indeed mentioned that the current viral infection was caused by a combination of fungal spores and a virus, which was still undergoing continuous mutation.
Lin Yuan looked at the dying slime mold on the zombie's body and was momentarily unsure. Should he continue? Was this kind of zombie a new species? Had the infection method changed?
After much thought, he couldn't come up with a solution. So, steeling his resolve, he headed upstairs with his weapon. They would mutate sooner or later anyway, so it was better to clear a safe zone now.
The 13th floor was very quiet. There was only some dust on the ground, and the doors were all tightly shut. Lin Yuan did not knock but continued upwards.
The 14th floor was the same. No zombies were wandering in the stairwell, and the residents' doors were closed. He continued upwards.
As he reached the entrance to the 15th floor, Lin Yuan stopped. A large pool of blood on the ground was eye-catching, along with drag marks.
He poked his head out and looked left and right, only to find no zombies in the stairwell. The drag marks led to the doorway of a unit on the right and then disappeared. There were also some bloody handprints on the walls on both sides of the stairwell.
What was going on?
Could zombies open doors?
Lin Yuan now had two hypotheses. The first, and most likely, was that the owner of the bloodstain had initially gone out, was bitten by a zombie on the way, and then ran back. But this was the 15th floor. Who would use the stairs when the elevator was working? The other possibility, and the most terrifying one, was that a real murderer was hiding in this room. With the apocalypse and the absence of law, the grievances suffered at home or work might have suddenly erupted at some point. Someone wanted to escape but failed and was dragged back.
He took a deep look at the room, did not knock, did not even get close, and turned to go upstairs.
The 16th floor was like the 13th and 14th floors, with only some dust and miscellaneous items. Lin Yuan looked up; the rooftop was open. He didn't know what was up there, only that people grew vegetables, but he didn't know the layout.
Without rashly going up, he looked towards the building next door. The woman wearing the white baseball cap had disappeared. From his vantage point, he could see the stairwell of the opposite building quite clearly. There were two zombies lying on the 14th floor, and one on the 13th. Below the 13th floor, he couldn't see clearly.
Looking at the rooftop just within reach, Lin Yuan glanced at his watch. It was only 7:32.
Damn it, how had so little time passed!
His whole body was drenched in sweat!
Indeed, between life and death, every second felt like a year.
He continued to advance cautiously, his homemade riot shield held forward with his left hand to prevent any zombies from suddenly rushing out.
As soon as he entered the rooftop, the sunlight did not shine directly on his face. Looking up, he saw an aluminum alloy shed that covered half of the rooftop. Lin Yuan immediately tensed up.
With a shed for shade, there should be people enjoying the cool breeze. The wind on the rooftop was constant and pleasant. Although it was only 7:30, it couldn't stop the early rising old men from playing chess, and it was common for old ladies to water their vegetable gardens when the weather wasn't too hot.
The rooftop entrance directly faced a vegetable patch, with very little space to move, only a small path that ran through the entire vegetable field. To the left was a small path, sandwiched between a wall and the rooftop structure. To the right, against the rooftop wall, was a chess table with a few small stools nearby, but no one was in sight. The people should be behind. Lin Yuan, remembering the guerrilla tactics of surprise attacks from behind, moved stealthily down the small path on the left.
As expected, behind the rooftop structure, three elderly zombies were looking around confusedly. They were wearing white tank tops, their palm-leaf fans were nowhere to be found, their mouths and eyes were askew, and with sparse teeth, they were constantly gnawing at the air.
Suddenly, the zombie closest to Lin Yuan seemed to sense something and abruptly turned its head to stare in Lin Yuan's direction. Immediately after, the other two zombies, as if receiving some signal, also turned their heads.
"Oh, wow."
The zombies didn't care about his inner thoughts and charged forward. Startled, Lin Yuan turned and ran. Their explosive speed was nothing like elderly zombies; even Bolt would have to kneel and call them grandpa!
But zombies were ultimately brainless creatures. When they ran, they didn't look at what was on the ground, nor did they discern how many people could fit on this narrow path.
They rushed forward in a swarm, and the fastest charging zombie tripped over the vegetable patch enclosed by bricks on the ground, falling face first. The other two trampled over the fallen one and charged forward, getting stuck in the narrow path.
Both zombies wanted to get their hands on the fresh flesh in front of them, reaching out, but because this path could only accommodate one person at most, they were blocked from their delicious meal.
Lin Yuan smiled. Why would he refuse such readily available experience? He stepped forward, used his riot shield to push away the obstructing hands, and performed cranial surgery on each of them, checking for osteoporosis at the same time.
The result was obvious. The two zombies didn't like to eat elderly calcium supplements in life. Their sharp dining knives easily brought eternal peace to the two frenzied corpses.