Chapter 8

At the gas station, almost at the same time as the scream, the crowd that had been bickering and crowding together suddenly dispersed. Then, a middle-aged man, probably in his fifties, clutched his chest in pain and knelt to the ground. Blood was seeping through his fingers, staining his white T-shirt and dripping onto the ground, quickly forming a pool.

Beside the middle-aged man, a young man in his twenties with dyed yellow hair looked at him helplessly, holding a blood-stained dagger in his hand.

"I... I didn't mean to. I didn't know he would really charge at me..."

The blood gushing from the middle-aged man's chest had already extinguished the young man's anger. As he calmed down, he fell into a state of panic, even trembling: "I just wanted to scare him!"

Clearly, the two had argued over buying gasoline, and in a moment of冲动, the young man had stabbed the middle-aged man.

"Stop standing there, take him to the hospital!"

"Yeah, look at all the blood he's losing. If you don't get him to the hospital for emergency treatment, he'll die!"

"You're so young, why are you so violent, using a knife?"

"Someone like you is clearly no good, with that yellow hair. Now you've caused trouble!"

...

The bloodshed indeed frightened many people, but soon the inherent baseness of human nature began to show. The crowd that had dispersed started to gather again, and some even began to point and mock.

"Right, right, take him to the hospital!"

The young man, though a bit of a thug, usually only bullied students from nearby schools. He had never experienced such a life-threatening situation. Hearing the comments from the crowd, he finally reacted, immediately dropped the dagger, and tried to help the middle-aged man up to take him to the hospital for emergency treatment.

This was his second mistake!

His first mistake was using the knife and stabbing the middle-aged man in the chest, and his second mistake was trying to help the fatally wounded man.

"Ugh!"

Just as the young man was trying to help the middle-aged man into his car to take him to the hospital, the middle-aged man suddenly trembled violently and vomited a large amount of blood, collapsing to the ground.

"Don't, don't die!"

Seeing the middle-aged man vomit blood and fall, the young man panicked, grabbing the man's right hand and trying to pull him up.

If this man died, his life would be over!

But at that moment, the middle-aged man, who had seemed on the verge of death, suddenly stopped trembling and, with a sudden burst of strength, pulled the young man to the ground!

Before the young man could react, a pair of blood-red, beast-like eyes appeared before him!

Then, the middle-aged man opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on the young man's neck, tearing it with a violent pull!

Pfft!

In an instant, with a dull tearing sound, the young man's throat was severed, and a large amount of blood mixed with bubbles spurted out, splattering the ground!

The young man tried to scream, but with his trachea torn, he could only convulse and struggle helplessly. At the same time, the middle-aged man opened his mouth again and bit into the young man's terrified face, tearing off a chunk of flesh and exposing his teeth!

"Aaaaaah!"

"Secondary infection, secondary infection!"

"Zombies, run!"

...

Only at this moment did the onlookers react, screaming and running in all directions as if they had seen a ghost!

Perhaps out of fear, some of the strong and young people, in their rush to escape the zombies, pushed aside the elderly, weak, and women, and even a few were pushed to the ground.

Even more despairing for those who had fallen, no one came to their aid, and some were even trampled, causing them to scream in agony.

After a moment, the crowd had dispersed, leaving those who had fallen battered and bruised.

Meanwhile, the zombie that the middle-aged man had become had abandoned the young man, who was now unrecognizable, and leaped onto the nearest middle-aged woman, tearing into her flesh again!

Not only that, but the young man, who had already died, also staggered to his feet, grabbed a woman whose leg had been crushed and was moaning, and bit into her thigh through her stockings!

For a moment, the air was filled with the screams of the victims and the grotesque sounds of flesh being torn and swallowed, like a symphony of the apocalypse, echoing in the small gas station.

Bang!

Just as the zombie young man was tearing a large chunk of flesh from the woman's broken leg and preparing to bite again, a blood-stained crowbar suddenly flew through the air and struck the zombie's already bloodied face.

In an instant, with a dull thud, the zombie's head exploded like a watermelon hit by a hammer, spraying blood and brain matter everywhere, covering the screaming woman in blood.

"I'm too late!"

Looking at the woman who had screamed herself hoarse and the middle-aged woman who had been bitten to death, Huang Shang's eyes flashed with a complex expression.

Although he had rushed over as soon as he heard the screams, he was still too late.

But now was not the time to dwell on that. Huang Shang gripped the crowbar tightly and smashed it into the head of the middle-aged zombie who was still gnawing on the woman's flesh.

With a dull thud, the middle-aged zombie's head exploded, brain matter splattering everywhere.

However, after killing the zombie, Huang Shang did not stop. He glanced at the woman who was already convulsing, her wound turning black and purple, clearly beginning to turn into a zombie, took a deep breath, and thrust the crowbar into her already torn face.

Pfft!

With a soft sound, the woman stopped convulsing, and a mixture of blood and brain matter gushed from her head, flowing along the ground.

After killing the woman who had already turned into a zombie, Huang Shang turned to look at the woman with a relatively pretty face, but whose face was filled with fear and panic, and sighed.

"Thank you... thank you for saving me!"

At that moment, the woman seemed to come to her senses, looking at Huang Shang, who was covered in zombie blood and holding a crowbar, and thanked him with a trembling voice.

"No, I couldn't save you."

Hearing the woman's words, Huang Shang felt a mix of guilt and pity, then shook his head and said with a melancholy voice, "You're infected!"

"Infected... infected?"

Huang Shang's words finally made the woman realize the truth, but she clearly did not want to accept it. After a moment of shock, she began to cry hysterically: "No, no, how could I be infected, no... no..."

However, no matter how much the woman refused to accept the truth, the purple-black color of her leg already told the whole story. Her cries soon turned into venomous screams: "Bastard, Zhao Xu, you bastard, you said you loved me, but why didn't you help me just now? You're a bastard, wailing..."

Clearly, the man who had said he loved her had not protected her in the critical moment and had escaped on his own.

Otherwise, things might not have escalated to this point.

But now, it was too late to think about that...

After a few more screams and curses, the woman began to tremble slightly, and the purple-black color on her leg started to spread through her veins. Her voice became increasingly muffled and low...

Finally, after a moment, the woman stopped cursing, lifted her head, and looked at Huang Shang with her blood-red eyes. Then, she leaped at him.

But before she could reach him, Huang Shang's crowbar struck her head with a dull thud, piercing it.

The woman's body then went limp, but her face still bore a look of intense resentment and hatred, whether it was directed at the person who had crushed her leg or the man who had failed to help her in her time of need.

"Phew..."

After killing the woman who had turned into a zombie, Huang Shang let out a long breath.

Although he had come to kill zombies and had indeed gained strength from killing these few, he felt no joy, only a heavy weight in his chest, as if he couldn't breathe.

A minor incident had resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. If he hadn't arrived in time to deal with these zombies, even more people would have died or turned into zombies!

If the situation had been worse, it could have led to a complete loss of control and a zombie outbreak!

It was only then that Huang Shang truly realized something.

Human nature is inherently evil. In this apocalypse, what might truly bring about the destruction of humanity might not be the zombies and monsters, but humanity itself!

At the same time, Huang Shang, who had still held out some hope for the government, finally gave up that thought.

The incident at the gas station was just a microcosm of what was happening in City C and across the country. In places he couldn't see, there were likely many more such tragedies. In such a situation, the government's efforts alone were not enough to control the situation.

If that was the case, then everything depended on himself!

With this thought, Huang Shang glanced at the woman who had died with her eyes open, bit his lip, gripped the crowbar tightly, and rode his electric scooter back into the fog.