Especially in this peculiar environment, the series of words spoken by Liu Zi just now were like holding a Gatling gun in one hand and completely shredding Fang Lan's heart.
If, half an hour ago, Fang Lan thought Liu Zi was just a somewhat fierce but not ill-intentioned stranger.
But now, after learning about the man's plight, Fang Lan found herself feeling a sense of pity for him, as if they were in the same boat.
Fang Lan spoke to herself, "Do you think we can get out of here alive?"
As she finished speaking, she didn't even notice that her body had unconsciously moved closer to the man.
Liu Zi looked at the woman before him. To be honest, this woman named Fang Lan wasn't exactly beautiful.
She wasn't even as pretty as the old woman holding a child in the distance.
However, the pure reliance in her eyes was something he had never seen before.
Liu Zi had been with many women, but those women had approached him with ulterior motives.
They all wanted something from him. This woman seemed to want something from him too, asking him to take her out?
But it seemed like more than that. There also seemed to be concern in this woman's eyes.
This point made Liu Zi find it somewhat interesting.
He had originally planned to abduct this girl if she was in the same profession as that Liu Liu from earlier.
Compared to Liu Liu, this girl in front of him was much easier to handle.
But he hadn't expected that not only were they not in the same profession, but they didn't even know each other well.
Liu Zi's plan to find Liu Liu through Fang Lan fell through.
He had intended to leave, but upon sensing her pity for him, Liu Zi decided to stay.
He never believed in love, let alone love at first sight in such a perilous situation.
Liu Zi's thinking was simple: with this foolish woman around, he might be able to push her out as a human shield at a critical moment.
Few people could truly sleep that night.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Among that bizarre mother and son pair, the older mother was diligently keeping watch, while her overweight son was sound asleep.
He even snored incessantly. If it weren't for the fact that most of the zombies had been drawn away by the explosion, that sound alone could have attracted quite a few zombies.
It wasn't that no one had an opinion, but the old woman looked as if she was ready to roll up her sleeves and fight anyone.
This discouraged everyone from voicing their objections.
After all, after a day of desperate escape, no one wanted to argue endlessly with this woman during their rest.
Everyone thought Liu Zi would intervene to stop the man's snoring.
To their surprise, Liu Zi was completely unaffected. He fell asleep almost the moment he lay down.
Even Fang Lan suspected Liu Zi was faking it. She went over to check and found that Liu Zi was indeed breathing evenly, though not as loudly as the mother and son's snoring.
This left Fang Lan speechless.
She truly couldn't fall asleep in such a noisy environment.
Xu Yan looked at Yue Yue in her arms. The child, perhaps due to her weaker stamina, had long since succumbed to exhaustion and fallen asleep.
Even the deafening snores did not affect the child's sleep in the slightest.
Several elderly people were sitting beside Xu Yan, and looking at the sleeping child's face, they couldn't help but feel relieved.
They also lamented that they were indeed getting old, unable to sleep even with a little noise.
Xu Yan, however, was not affected. She leaned against a pillar and pretended to doze.
If that commotion over there was indeed Xu An, then her daughter would definitely come looking for her.
Xu Yan had to conserve her energy.
Since Xu An could find her way here, then the other party must have a way to get out.
Xu Yan knew her daughter well and knew that Xu An would not rashly come to her death.
This way, they would have a reason to continue living.
Now that there was hope, Xu Yan felt as if all the energy had drained from her body, and she was instantly tired.
Before long, she drifted off into a hazy sleep.
The night passed just like that.
By the time the sky began to show a hint of dawn, those who hadn't slept all day were utterly exhausted.
Their eyelids drooped, and dark circles were prominent beneath their eyes.
Some could no longer hold on. A few people banded together to form a small circle, preparing to take turns sleeping.
However, at least the night had passed peacefully.
Things were much less eventful on Xu An's side.
After detonating the bomb yesterday, as Zhou Haimei had calculated, the stairs were completely destroyed, but the structure of the two floors above and below was not affected.
The loud noise attracted a large number of zombies.
However, those zombies could not climb up, so they could only stand densely below, baring their teeth and claws, roaring loudly at Xu An and the other person above.
It was as if they were cursing Xu An and the others for not fighting fair.
Even for people like Xu An and Zhou Haimei, who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of fire, the sheer number of zombies before them made their scalps tingle.
Zhou Haimei quietly complained, "There must be at least five hundred zombies here, right?"
Xu An nodded, "Probably more."
"That sound you made was too loud. I estimate all the zombies in this area are here."
Xu An did not refute, instead continuing along with Zhou Haimei's words.
"That's exactly the effect I wanted."
Zhou Haimei gradually understood.
"So, blowing up the stairs wasn't just for safety. Your real goal was to attract all the zombies here, wasn't it?"
Xu An did not deny it.
"This is the fastest method I could think of right now."
Zhou Haimei thought about it and agreed.
If Xu An's mother had turned into a zombie, then by attracting all the zombies, they could also search among the zombie horde for any sign of Xu Yan.
Perhaps they could still save her.
If Xu Yan was not among the zombies, that would be even better, proving that Xu Yan was still safe.
This way, by using themselves as bait to attract so many zombies, they had indirectly eased the pressure on Xu Yan's side.
Furthermore, if Xu Yan happened to be curious and wanted to come out and see, perhaps she could find her way here on her own.
This way, they wouldn't have to search for each other like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Then should we look for the zombie horde now?"
Xu An was speechless, "Sister, it's so late, and it's so dark. Let's look tomorrow during the day."
Zhou Haimei glanced at it, then took out the flashlight in her arms and shone it down.
Besides the ferocious mouths of the zombies, the facial features were indeed indistinguishable.
Zhou Haimei had no choice but to give up on the idea.
"Alright, then let's go to sleep."
The two walked into the temporarily erected tent, took out the food they had prepared, ate a quick meal, and then crawled into their sleeping bags to prepare for sleep.
Despite the cold wind blowing, the tent was remarkably warm.