Chương 90: The Lone Wanderer

Feeling the dampening sensation from his leg muscles, it was just like stepping down a normal stair. The height of four or five meters placed absolutely no burden on Vince's knees. Many of his daily habits were carryovers from his time as an ordinary human. It wasn't until just now, fighting alongside the people he spent day and night with to kill a zombie, that he truly realized his own cognitive inertia. A security door that required the combined effort of two men to pry open, he could force apart with ease.

A zombie that others struggled desperately to hold back with spears, he could kill effortlessly. Without realizing it, Vince had already walked too far ahead of them. So far ahead that ordinary people couldn't even hope to catch up. That was why he chose to leap directly from the second floor. In that brief instant, the wind rushing past his ears dispelled a lot of the inexplicable gloom that had surfaced in his heart.

While a five-person team was certainly stable and effective for killing regular zombies, those mutated zombies... ultimately, they weren't something a few people with a few spears could easily take down... Fortunately, Claire's situation had occurred, revealing the first clues to an extraordinary path for ordinary people, and allowing Vince to see a glimmer of hope for the future.

"Vince! Over here..." Vince hadn't walked far before Ben came down to meet him.

"Ben, how is it? How many problematic apartments are there in total?" Seeing Ben, Vince asked directly.

"Building 23 originally had a few, but after that massive fire, we don't dare go in now. Building 24 has 7, and Building 25 currently has 5..." Ben pulled a notebook from his pocket, counting them line by line. The original sweeping operation had started from Building 23, the furthest away. After skipping a few potentially problematic rooms, they encountered the Giant-Armed Zombie, and the fire had even smoked out a Banshee Zombie.

Although only a few apartments had caught fire, the exterior walls of Building 23 had already cracked from the heat, so Ben and his men hadn't dared to re-enter. Vince wasn't desperate enough to take the risk either. If another strength-based zombie popped out and brought the whole building down on him, it would be an incredibly stupid way to die.

"Give me that page..." Vince took the paper listing the suspicious apartments from Ben's hands, then headed toward Building 24.

"You guys keep clearing the regular ones. No need to follow me."

"Alright, Vince, please stay safe..." Ben had originally wanted to tag along, but hearing Vince's order, he stopped in his tracks. He chuckled and pointed toward the supermarket in the distance.

"Since the gas got cut off, we're making flatbreads over here. From now on, we'll be eating from a communal pot. Grab some to take back with you later, save Claire the trouble of cooking..." No wonder Vince had seen a few women bustling in and out in the distance when he first came down, unsure of what they were doing. It turned out they were building fires in the supermarket's backyard to cook after the gas outage. This Ben wasn't great at fighting, but his organizational skills were genuinely impressive.

After these two days of adjustment, their execution capability was getting stronger and stronger... The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. All 51 remaining survivors had been fully mobilized. They had organized four seven-person sweeping teams. A dozen or so people stayed behind to cook, while everyone else formed transport teams, responsible for hauling supplies out of the cleared apartments and stockpiling them in the supermarket.

Even during this brief pause, a few people were climbing out of the first-floor windows of Unit 5, some carrying cardboard boxes, others hugging cloth sacks. Although there were still bloodstains and the black ash from the burnt vehicles on the ground, these people all wore relatively peaceful expressions on their faces. Passing by the supermarket entrance, several women kneading dough in the lobby saw Vince and cast curious glances his way, whispering amongst themselves.

Two men were also helping in the lobby, but they clearly had more situational awareness than the women. They quickly stepped out of the supermarket and greeted Vince with a hint of nervous respect.

"Doc. Lin..."

"Doc..." Seeing this, Vince didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It felt as if he had suddenly become some sort of celebrity, making him feel a bit awkward. He nodded stiffly in response and sent the two men back inside. He quickened his pace, leaving the crowd's mixed gazes of awe, curiosity, and fear behind him. Alone, holding his crowbar and heavy spear, Vince vaulted over the railing and slipped into the first-floor balcony of Unit 5, Building 24.

The sunlight and the sounds of human activity were cut off behind him, replaced by a deathly silence and a faint, lingering scent of blood.

"Unit 5, Room 302... reason for abandonment: smell of blood..." This building was the earliest one Ben's crew had started clearing, so all the useful items on the first floor had already been emptied out, leaving messy everyday clutter scattered across the floor. Vince passed through the apartment, followed the stairwell up to the third floor, and knocked lightly on the door of 302.

"Sure enough, no movement..." He leaned close to the door and sniffed. There was indeed a distinct smell of blood. The presence of a bloody stench combined with the absence of zombie noises was highly suspicious. However, what was an insurmountable death trap for Ben and his men was the exact soil Vince needed to grow stronger. Leaning his heavy spear against the wall beside the door, Vince gripped his crowbar tightly and jammed it into the door gap with a loud clack.

After helping Claire's group pry doors earlier, Vince had gained some experience: as long as he stood on the hinge side, the security door would naturally act as a shield for him when it popped outward. This way, if something charged out, it wouldn't hit him directly in the face right off the bat. With this in mind, Vince confidently applied force to the crowbar.

The iron door constantly emitted teeth-grinding creaks under his monstrous strength until it passed a certain threshold and popped completely open with a loud bang. Gripping the crowbar, Vince waited behind the door for a few seconds. Only after confirming there were absolutely no footsteps inside did he toss the crowbar aside, pick up his heavy spear, and walk into the apartment.

"Ah... this familiar, disgusting smell." A bizarrely sweet, bloody stench, mixed with the heavy scent of rust and a faint hint of sewage, forced Vince to cover his nose and mouth. It seemed Ben and his crew had pretty sharp noses. He had to admit, people's sixth sense became incredibly sharp when facing the threat of death. He had heard that Ben was the one who made the call to abandon several of the initial apartments. Vince silently equipped the [Armor Crystal].

This smell practically guaranteed there was a mutated zombie inside, so he raised his heavy spear and slowly pushed further in to explore. Kitchen. Opened the door. Nothing. Bathroom. Opened the door. Nothing. Master bedroom. Opened the door. Nothing. Guest bedroom... He wasn't going to bother opening the door this time. He'd just take a gamble! Vince took two steps back. With a mental command, a piece of scrap metal appeared in his hand. He raised his arm and hurled it violently at the bedroom doorknob! Smash!

Wood splinters flew everywhere! The entire door was blown open by the cannonball-like strike, and the doorknob was completely blasted into the bedroom! Thwack! Thwack! Two bone spikes, a full seventy to eighty centimeters long, violently pierced straight through the partially opened wooden door! They produced two deadly, heavy thuds! The tips of the bone spikes were like white jade, with a bizarre, ethereal halo flowing across their surface. Shhh... Shhh...

Having missed its target, the bone spikes were slowly withdrawn from the door panel, leaving two fist-sized holes. A dark shadow passed behind the holes, and a pale eyeball, densely veined with dark brown blood vessels, appeared in one of the gaps, flashing with a vicious, savage glint...