Chapter 51

As he forcefully stepped on the brake, Su Hao clearly felt the shock of the wheels rolling over the zombie's body and heard the sound of bones being crushed.

He suddenly pushed open the car door, forcefully pushing away a zombie that was trying to gnaw through the window. Two other zombies immediately pounced, their outstretched hands grabbing straight for Su Hao's chest. He dodged like a lithe cat, grabbing the back of one zombie's neck with his left hand and viciously pulling out the entire spine from the decaying body. With his right hand, he grabbed the back of another zombie's head, slightly altering its forward momentum and using inertia to slam it heavily into the wall, turning its head into a flat, bloody mass.

The zombies surrounding the electrical room changed direction, surging over like ravenous ghosts, numbering about twenty.

Xin Yan had already jumped out of the car. She wielded a thick rebar, sweeping it forward like a tennis racket. The two zombies at the front instantly had their nasal bones caved in, with bloodied, shattered teeth flying through the air. The girl, full of murderous intent, roared and swung the rebar diagonally down at another zombie's neck. The immense force tore through flesh and bone, causing the grotesque head to fall from the shoulders and roll into the dense crowd of zombies, knocking over several that had no sense of balance.

Su Hao and Xin Yan were already accustomed to the brutal close-quarters combat style.

Level “-1” zombies were no match for enhanced humans. Unless absolutely necessary, it wasn't worth wasting bullets on them.

In a few minutes, the alley was filled with zombie corpses. Rotten, foul-smelling flesh was piled in front of the SUV, with occasional twitches from limbs and bodies that hadn't fully died.

Xin Yan walked to the front of the car, opened the door, and tied her hair into a neat ponytail with a ribbon. She then put the rebar in the car, took out a fire axe, and heavily chopped down on the nearest zombie corpse.

The old man slowly climbed down from the top of the electrical room.

His face was pale, looking very weak. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he collapsed, curling up against the concrete wall. He glared at Su Hao, struggling to stand up, his face covered in blood, trying to speak but only managing to pant heavily.

"Phew... Phew... I, I almost got bitten to death by these monsters."

After a few seconds of panting, he slowly straightened up, leaning against the wall, scrutinizing Su Hao with a wary gaze. His eyes flicked over to the M500 revolver on Su Hao's waist, revealing an intense greed.

"Hey! Where did you get those guns?"

The old man blinked, his wrinkled and dirty face forcing a very unpleasant smile. "This thing is very useful, I want one too. Hmm... Can you tell me where you got them?"

Su Hao bent down and tore a relatively clean piece of cloth from a zombie, slowly wiping the blood off his hands, without saying a word.

He didn't like this man.

Of course, disliking someone didn't mean he would kill them like zombies.

Su Hao just felt uncomfortable—had he known the situation, he wouldn't have helped at all.

After all, no one could predict the future.

The old man didn't notice Su Hao's change in mood. He didn't hide the greed and jealousy in his eyes, his gaze constantly shifting between the SUV and the two young people. Especially Xin Yan, her large movements with the axe made her chest and hips appear even more curvaceous. The old man stared at the most tempting parts of her body, his throat constantly moving as he swallowed saliva.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

He was very shrewd, immediately seeing the special significance in Xin Yan's actions. "Are you digging out the bones of these monsters? What for?"

The silver bone particles were very small, and from the old man's position, he couldn't see the details. He only saw Xin Yan swinging the axe forcefully and then bending down to retrieve something from the cut-open zombie. But he didn't know exactly what it was.

The old man immediately realized this was an opportunity to gain something.

He took a step forward, wanting to get closer to see more clearly. Su Hao immediately moved to block him, looking down at him coldly.

"This is none of your business—"

His voice was icy, and his expression showed no hint of friendliness.

The old man's face immediately showed anger. His wrinkled face pulled down, forming angry creases. His lipless mouth was tightly pursed, and the steel pipe in his hand tilted forward, ready to strike.

Su Hao stood there calmly, head held high, vigilantly eyeing the hunched, small, monkey-like old man.

He was just an ordinary person, no threat to Su Hao.

The standoff in silence lasted nearly five minutes. The old man's fierce demeanor gradually diminished, and the ferocity in his eyes wasn't as strong as before. He put away the steel pipe, his eyes darting around cunningly, and he let out a dry, hoarse laugh. "This isn't fair— I also killed a few of these monsters. The treasures from their bodies should, should be mine too!"

Su Hao walked a few steps forward, his body almost touching the old man's forehead.

The distance and height difference created a strong sense of pressure and danger. The old man involuntarily stepped back, and Su Hao continued to advance, pushing him into the corner.

"You, what do you want to do?"

The old man was drenched in cold sweat. Su Hao blocked his view, so he couldn't see Xin Yan's actions and had no idea about the silver bones. Besides, compared to the "benefits," he had to first deal with the threat from Su Hao.

He took a few more steps back, staring at the motionless Su Hao, as if he were a cobra ready to strike. "We shouldn't be like this. We should sit down and talk. You saved me, I'm very grateful... Yes! Thank you, thank you for everything you did just now."

Su Hao remained unmoved, and Xin Yan sped up her collection of the silver bones.

"Are you treating an old man like this?"

"You bandits, the things on those monsters are mine too, you can't keep them all to yourselves—"

"Alright! The zombies are all yours, they're yours, they're yours... Then, I have a different request— tell me, what's the most valuable thing on their bodies? Can you show me what you're looking for?"

The old man's demeanor quickly shifted from fierce and evil to conciliatory, like a character in a TV show who changes sides at the last moment.

Su Hao didn't respond, his lips curling into a mocking smile.

Xin Yan chopped the last zombie's pelvis, putting the silver bone particles into her pocket. While doing this, she was very careful, turning her body to avoid the old man's view... After finishing, she swung the axe wildly at the zombies again, hitting their chests, spines, and thighs, until the scene was a mess of blood and flesh, leaving no useful clues.

Su Hao wasn't a cold-hearted person.

If the old man had been more friendly and gentle, he would have invited him to join the team.

As for now... hahaha...

Shaking his head, Su Hao turned to leave. As he turned, he suddenly noticed the words "Liqun Store" above the closed roller shutter at the corner of the intersection.

This was a common convenience store in a residential area.

Including the search team, any team members who went out would always bring back some supplies. This had become an unwritten rule. The city still had many resources left, whether food, clothes, machinery, or parts, all of which could be useful.

Su Hao was the same, never missing an opportunity to collect resources.

He walked to the store entrance, bent down, grabbed the roller shutter handle, and pulled it up with great force. The thin alloy door, along with the lock pulled from the concrete floor, slowly rose, making a "clattering" sound at the top, revealing a room filled with various disordered goods and dim lighting.

"Stop! You can't go in—"

Suddenly, the old man lunged forward, gripping the steel pipe and screaming hoarsely, "No, you can't go in! I found this place, I got here first. Everything here is mine—"

Su Hao's face showed a look of realization.

He had always been puzzled about why the old man was forced to hide on the roof of the electrical room by the zombies.

This place wasn't on the street, and there were no noteworthy buildings nearby. It was indeed strange for a survivor to appear here.

Now, all the questions had answers.

Su Hao didn't care about the old man's threats. He calmly looked at him and walked straight into the store.

This was a blatant provocation.

The old man's face immediately turned an abnormal shade of red. He opened his mouth wide, his face contorted, and with all his strength, he swung the steel pipe, aiming to hit Su Hao's back.

"Bang—"

The steel pipe didn't hit Su Hao as expected but was caught by him, tightly held in his hand. The old man tried to pull it, but it didn't budge.

Suddenly, the old man felt a huge force travel up the steel pipe, pulling him with an unstoppable force, wrenching the pipe from his hand. He stood there in a daze, watching Su Hao easily bend the pipe, twist it, and tie it into a knot, finally turning it into a lead-gray ball.

The old man's mouth gaped open in shock.

What he saw clearly exceeded his normal understanding of such things.

He started to tremble, cold sweat soaking his clothes again. The stench of rotting flesh and blood in the air stimulated his nose, making his brain more clearly recognize the scene before him.

Thus, the old man slowly stepped back, shrinking into the corner, leaving a wide path between the SUV and the store.

Xin Yan lifted the rear door of the SUV, and together with Su Hao, they carried out several large buckets of cooking oil, several bags of five-kilogram rice, and packs of sugar. They thoroughly looted the store, not missing small items like snacks, toothbrushes, laundry detergent, and sanitary napkins. These unexpected gains quickly filled the SUV, extending from the rear compartment to the front seats, making it impossible to close the doors.

Unable to help it, Xin Yan took out a bundle of soap from inside. She was unwilling to give up, looking around, and her gaze soon fixed on the top of the SUV.

Thus, the looting continued.

Until Su Hao placed several large cardboard boxes full of supplies on the roof of the SUV and secured them with ropes, they left the now empty store, reversing out of the alley and onto the street outside.

Throughout the entire process, neither Su Hao nor Xin Yan said a word to the old man.

They didn't think their actions were particularly evil—this world was like this, and only those who got along could come together. Everyone had their own interests. The old man wasn't a good person, and Su Hao's actions weren't a robbery.

Besides, he had saved the old man from a group of zombies.

As for the things in the store... just because he found it first, does that mean it's his?

Su Hao didn't think the old man could pose a threat to him.

Even with a gun, an ordinary person would find it difficult to kill a sensory-enhanced human.

...

Wei Wenyuan, the old man, stood in the corner, looking at Su Hao, who was moving between the store and the SUV, with a cold, resentful gaze.

Until they left, the car drove out of the alley, the engine sound fading into the distance, and the surroundings returned to complete silence.

Wei Wenyuan swallowed hard, crouched down, and used his wrinkled, dry fingers to search through a zombie's body.

He searched very carefully, not missing any marks left by the axe.

Chest, abdomen, arms, thighs... the zombie's body was chopped to pieces, making it impossible to find the tiny cut for the silver bone. Even if he found a suspicious wound in the pelvis, no one would associate it with something edible.

Su Hao came from the future, he was an exception.

Wei Wenyuan didn't find what he was looking for. He glared with eyes bulging like a goldfish, stood up from the pile of zombies, sighed, and hurriedly walked into the convenience store with the curtain wide open.

The moment his gaze met the shelves inside, he felt his heart tighten, and his blood completely froze, unable to flow.

It was all empty.

The shelves, once filled with food and various items, were now completely empty.

Wei Wenyuan's former home was not far from here. He knew about this convenience store and had never told anyone else.

Money was long gone. Food, water, clothes, shoes... these were the things that truly mattered.

Wei Wenyuan and Lu Tao were part of a survivor team. Most of the people in the building spent their time collecting supplies, and their only entertainment was gambling.

The day before, Wei Wenyuan lost five packs of "Hongtashan" cigarettes, half a bag of rice, and four 580 ml bottles of "Nongfu Spring" in a mahjong game.

He wanted to win back his losses, eat well, and get more things to bring back, so Li Jie, the woman, would come over to spend the night with him.

Old age hadn't diminished his physical needs, which remained the same as when he was young.

Li Jie's price for spending the night wasn't high. A pack of "Kangshifu" instant noodles or a pack of soda crackers would do.

In the past, Wei Wenyuan would have happily paid ten yuan for such a deal. Now, it was different—money was too hard to use, and women's demands for physical transactions were always tied to the economy.

"I... I f*** your mother—"

Standing at the empty convenience store entrance, Wei Wenyuan looked up at the sky, using the most vicious language to scream at the top of his lungs.

He felt all hope was lost, and Su Hao and Xin Yan had destroyed his entire life.

F***! What was so unreasonable about my request?

I just asked where you got the guns from? Because I wanted one too.

I just looked a few more times at the pretty girl chopping the zombies' bones. Because I wanted to hold a woman and sleep.

I just asked what treasures you got from the monsters? Because I was curious.

I found this place first, what right do you have to take everything that belongs to me?

As for saving my life... pfft! Who knows what you were thinking at the time?

Anger made Wei Wenyuan selectively forget that he had been saved, focusing all his attention on how to take revenge and vent his frustrations.

"I will never let you go! I, I will take revenge! I want you to die, all of you to die—"

Meaningless shouting only wasted energy. His empty stomach, which hadn't eaten since last night, reminded him to return to reality. Calming down slightly, Wei Wenyuan began to look around, searching for anything he could use.

He picked up a piece of gum from the ground, swept a handful of dusty rice from the corner of the shelf. Oh! There was a "Wang Wang Snow Cake" under the cardboard box, and a few "Dadah" bubble gums next to the cabinet.

Su Hao and Xin Yan only took the large items that were easy to carry. The store still had many scattered foods and items, such as towels, needles, and chopsticks.

Wei Wenyuan took a plastic bag from the side of the cabinet, crouched down, and searched the room. Each time he found something, his heart would involuntarily tremble, not with joy, but with endless pain and hatred.

These were mine, all mine—

Suddenly, Wei Wenyuan's pupils contracted slightly, his gaze falling on a men's bicycle leaning against the inner wall.

The bike was unlocked, the tires slightly deflated but still rideable.

This ordinary object stimulated a new idea of revenge in Wei Wenyuan's mind, quickly growing into an uncontrollable desire.

"I can't let you off so easily. I want you to die, to die..."

He muttered to himself, his eyes glowing with a fierce light.

The evil thoughts that had disappeared reappeared in his mind, driving him to quickly gather the plastic bag and push the bicycle out of the store, riding it out of the alley with a strong desire for bloody revenge.

The initial words of "revenge" were just talk.

Now, he had the real means to fulfill his desires.

Su Hao's SUV hadn't gone far. As it rolled over the zombie corpses, the tires picked up a lot of rotten flesh and blood, leaving clear blood trails on the road.

Wei Wenyuan's idea was simple—follow the tire tracks to find the damned couple.

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