You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

The crowd suddenly froze, their faces turning an even deeper shade of fear.

"They, they can talk!"

"Have they become spirits?"

Hou Daping's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

If it weren't for his naturally timid nature, he probably would have had an emotional breakdown and jumped out of the window behind him.

The others weren't faring much better than he was, their hands trembling visibly, their throats inexplicably dry.

Du Chao quickly turned around and glared fiercely at Hou Daping.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Clearly there are people inside!"

His words instantly calmed everyone down.

Yeah, how could zombies talk?

But to say there are people inside—

Dammit!

Isn't that even more terrifying!

Could the person hiding among the zombies still be human?

Could it be some kind of zombie that retained its consciousness from before death? That would be far more dangerous than any demons or ghosts on TV!

The fear within the crowd had only dissipated for a moment before it came surging back, overwhelming everyone's minds, their feet involuntarily retreating.

Until the man at the very back bumped into the window.

The cardboard above had somehow opened, a strong beam of light shooting through the gap and falling directly onto those approaching figures.

They were pale, yellowish faces.

Blood was still flowing.

Disgusting mucus, along with a choking stench, oozed out from their constantly opening and closing mouths.

The zombies climbing up from the stairwells on both sides had now fully converged, a few dozen ragged figures wearing yellow caps almost filling the entire corridor.

"Cough, cough."

Tiger's eyelids twitched as he instantly doubted his own ears.

Did he just hear a cough?

Could it be—

"Old Tian, your mask doesn't seem to be very tight."

"It's leaking air."

The crowded mass of zombies suddenly surged into the rooms on either side.

The corridor was quickly vacated.

A man wearing a gas mask coughed as he took a few steps forward, then ripped the mask off his face and tossed it to the ground.

Several more figures emerged behind him, each one donning the same gas masks.

There seemed to be a tall woman among them.

Zhang Ye looked at Tian Gou with dissatisfaction.

"Next time you do this, I'm docking your pay, you know!"

"You didn't even know there were people in the building, and the damn mask you prepared is leaky!"

"You're not trying to assassinate me, are you?"

Tian Gou nodded repeatedly, but his fierce gaze stayed fixed on the crowd in the corner.

These people did not seem easy to deal with.

It was best to be cautious.

"Zhang Ye, they seem to be the workers here."

Ai Bing finally made out the survivors' attire under the light leaking from the cardboard, noting several of them wore the sort of vests and shorts most common on construction sites in the summer.

But the two leading them were clearly not to be trifled with.

Especially the one at the forefront.

Quite a sturdy fellow.

After disciplining Tian Gou, Zhang Ye immediately turned his gaze, full of delight, toward the survivors in the corner.

He had not intended to come in here.

But just as he arrived downstairs, the system had pinged a notification, and the employee cap increased by ten.

What did that mean, if not that there were people upstairs?

So, he decisively picked a dozen or so cannon fodder from the surrounding zombies to come up with him.

Having gone through the ordeal at the hotel, Zhang Ye had realized the importance of safety; risking himself once was enough; any more would be playing with his life.

After all, there were plenty of these cannon fodder to go around, and if they died, he could always recruit more.

If the people upstairs were troublemakers—

Heh.

"Tiger."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"This kid couldn't possibly be—"

Du Chao's heart had already risen to his throat. As he spoke, his eyes were still fixed on the few unfamiliar figures a few steps away.

Brother Hu's heart had also sunk to the bottom of the valley.

Monkey was right.

That kid had indeed noticed them.

And judging by the present situation, the zombies in the room probably really did have something to do with these few people.

He quietly measured the distance between the two sides in his heart, but the leader on the opposite side unexpectedly stepped back a few steps, then saw several zombies walk out from the rooms on both sides.

This eerie scene once again startled everyone.

Including Brother Hu.

Hou Daping, sandwiched in the middle, was close to bursting into tears.

"See that?"

"I told you I wasn't seeing things!"

"These zombies really are listening to their commands!"

Upon hearing this sentence, Zhang Ye suddenly laughed. No wonder he had felt like someone was observing him in secret.

So, it was this person?

He shook his head helplessly.

"It has come to this."

"You no longer have any other choices."

"Sorry, but everyone who knows my secret must—"

The survivors in the corner suddenly had their pupils constrict, and immediately after, a glimmer of despair flashed in everyone's eyes.

"—die."

It was over.

It was indeed that outcome.

Just as their faces turned ashen, they suddenly heard another sentence:

"Or—"

"Can any of you drive?"

The hearts that seemed about to leap out suddenly retracted quite a bit.

The men looked at each other.

Had they heard wrong?

Drive?

"What do you mean?"

Brother Hu was the first to calm down and asked in a deep voice.

He looked at Zhang Ye's smiling face and felt strangely anxious, especially when watching him remain unfazed in the midst of zombies.

He could almost be certain that it was this young man who could control the zombies.

Their lives were in his hands.

"Drive."

"You don't know what driving is?"

Zhang Ye seemed a bit puzzled and quickly made a steering wheel-holding motion with his hands.

Could it be that construction site workers couldn't drive?

"How about excavators?"

"If not excavators, trucks will do!"

"Or lorries; honestly, even being able to drive a pickup will suffice!"

Brother Hu suddenly fell silent.

He subconsciously felt that the other party was making fun of him.

But watching Zhang Ye gesticulate, he didn't seem to be joking with him.

And the men behind him also had strange expressions, with some even pinching the person next to them subconsciously. Only when they heard their companion's yelp of pain did they confirm that the absurd scene and conversation before them were not a dream.

"I can!"

"I can, Brother!"

"It's just driving; we used to run transportation with trucks!"

Hou Daping suddenly yelled out, even jumped up a few times with all his might as if afraid Zhang Ye wouldn't notice him.

No one expected him to be the first to react.

Brother Hu was also taken aback.

Then, he turned his head to look at Du Chao beside him.

The two nodded at each other, and their eyes suddenly filled with an inexplicable hope as they looked at Zhang Ye.

The breaths behind them also quickly grew heavy.

They were clearly waiting for their decision.

Brother Hu's gaze sharpened, licked his chapped lips, and asked a question that he would still regret for years to come:

"Does it include meals?"