A group of people anxiously waited until noon, only to find that the loud noise earlier had attracted only a few dozen walkers from the vicinity, and finally, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Wang Jun and his wife had been hiding in a warehouse at the mall and had never actually seen so many walkers, which frightened them terribly.
Especially Lili.
When we went upstairs to inform them to stay quiet, she was slumped on the sofa, hands covering her belly, her face completely pale.
Wang Jun sat beside her, constantly whispering words of comfort.
It was hard not to comfort her, but the more he did, the worse it got.
Eventually, Lili collapsed into his arms and started crying quietly.
Seeing their condition, there was nothing else to do but let them temporarily stay on the fourth floor.
The first reason was that there were more people, which could offer Lili some psychological comfort.
The second reason was that Wang Jun and his wife didn't understand the current situation or how to handle things, and if they made noise on the third floor, it might attract more walkers and trap us.
That would not be a joke.
Originally, we planned for Lili and me to share a room, and Wang Jun could squeeze in with Suo Tian and the others.
But that night... after Rongrong's antics, and with the constant comforting from Shen Xue and Mei Jing, Lili calmed down a lot.
She ate a little more and fell asleep early.
But I wasn't as eager as she was…
Even after several hours of darkness, I still hadn't fallen asleep.
I wonder if it's something that pregnant people experience, but Lili's snoring was deafening.
Unless I'm exhausted, I usually sleep pretty deeply; even the slightest sound can wake me up.
And now, with the noise in my ears like a gong ringing, it was impossible to ignore.
After tossing and turning for a while, I finally couldn't bear to wake Lili up.
Sighing, I got out of bed, grabbed my pillow, and walked to the living room.
The moonlight was bright, shining into the living room.
Many people used to work hard to get into big cities, hoping to enjoy the so-called modern, bourgeois lifestyle.
I never really understood them.
Is it really worth living in a big house, bought with half a lifetime's effort, surrounded by tall buildings, where not even a bit of moonlight or sunlight can get through?
Isn't it better to live in a small town, where there are no high property prices, and you can buy a large house and actually enjoy living in it?
I lay down on the couch.
Without a blanket, it was a bit chilly.
Forget it, why am I even thinking about that right now?
What I really need to focus on is how to survive.
With the snoring gone, I quickly fell asleep.
I had a dream.
In it, I was walking down the street with Yangyang, Suo Tian, Shen Xue, and Shen Feng.
We were carrying shopping bags, heading to the mall, to watch a movie, and to eat hot pot.
The crowd around us was bustling, and occasionally, a couple of people were talking loudly, but they gradually lowered their voices under the disapproving gazes of those around them.
When I woke up from the dream, it was still dark outside, and the house was very quiet.
Everyone was still asleep.
Lying on the couch, a strong sense of loss welled up in my heart.
Since the outbreak, I had been holding myself together with a strength I didn't fully understand.
Gradually, I thought I had overcome the fear, but deep down, I was constantly longing for life to return to normal.
I don't know how much longer that strength will support me.
In fact… I always felt that, maybe soon, the world outside would return to how it once was, perhaps just after waking up from another sleep.
It felt as if the world had fallen into hell right after I woke up from my sleep not long ago.
I shook my head, got up, walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, and sat down on the floor.
My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts.
What caused this chaos? How could the world change so drastically overnight?
What is the source of it? Are the cities and other countries outside like this as well?
What about the police in the county? Since Suo Tian is still alive, did all the police…?
Or did they hide away in advance? Did they abandon all of us, who were completely unaware?
The answers to all these questions, of course, remain unknown.
At least, no one in this house can answer them right now.
Lili is pregnant, so I made a very hearty breakfast to help her regain her strength, and everyone else got to enjoy it too.
Shen Xue was holding Rongrong, and the two of them were sipping on fried eggs, laughing so much that their eyes disappeared.
After breakfast, they cheerfully cleaned up the dishes.
Suo Tian went to the balcony to check again, and the walkers had mostly dispersed.
Lili's mental state has improved quite a bit, and she immediately requested to move back to the third floor.
Seeing her apologetic expression, I guessed she knew she had disturbed me last night.
After the Wang Jun couple left, Suo Tian resumed overseeing the training for Yangyang, Shen Xue, and Mei Jing.
Feeling bored, I decided to join the workout as well.
My physical strength is actually pretty good.
I inherited my father's strength, naturally big, and I've always paid attention to exercising, so Suo Tian's training methods weren't as difficult for me.
While everyone else was grimacing and doing push-ups on the ground, faint voices of conversation could be heard from downstairs.
Suo Tian was the first to notice and quickly ran to the balcony.
I immediately scrambled to get up and ran over too, signaling the others to stay and continue their exercises.
The voices were coming from Li Jianguo's place.
I peeked over and saw a white sports car parked in front of their house, with two men standing on the ground, shouting something at their upstairs window.
My brain quickly analyzed the current situation.
If I'm not mistaken, they were probably trying to temporarily hide in Li Jianguo's building.
Occasionally, a brief response could be heard from upstairs in Li Jianguo's building.
After several rounds of shouting, the walkers nearby clearly saw the two men and slowly started to move toward them.
The people in the car had no idea, still obliviously calling out with their heads tilted back.
These two idiots!
The people upstairs must have noticed the walkers too.
After our experience of being surrounded, they wisely stopped making any noise.
The two people on the sports car seemed confused by the sudden lack of response.
They kept shouting "Hey, hey, hey" toward the upstairs.
Walkers began to appear in the surrounding open area, likely having been startled by the noise and coming back.
Only then did the people in the car realize what was happening.
They turned around and saw the walkers getting closer, but instead of running, they stood there, frozen.
After a while, one of them, a man in a black top, staggered down from the car.
The two closest walkers were now only a few meters away from the car.
I watched in distress, wanting to shout and warn them to run.
But when I looked back at the few people in the room who were too scared to speak, I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
At that moment, Suo Tian suddenly turned around, ran back to the living room, grabbed a blade, and shouted at me and Shen Feng, "Quick! Save them!"
I was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and without hesitation, grabbed a dagger along with Shen Feng and rushed downstairs.
Hearing the noise, Wang Jun and his wife stood at the door on the third floor.
Seeing us run down, they asked, "What are you doing? What happened?"
Without stopping, I quickly reminded them, "We're going out to save people. You two should go back to your room and don't make any noise."
As soon as I finished speaking, I ran to the second floor and heard the sound of the door closing upstairs.
Suo Tian and Shen Feng quickly moved the furniture blocking the staircase and opened the yard gate.
From a distance, we could already see that the white sports car was surrounded by several walkers, and the people who had been standing on the car were nowhere to be seen.
I quickly scanned around the car.
There was no blood, no bodies.
Seeing the walkers constantly pawing at the tightly closed car doors, I relaxed slightly.
It seemed like they must have hidden inside the car.
After closing the door behind us, the three of us quickly ran towards the car, knowing we had to hurry before the walkers nearby got too close.
We reached the front of the car in no time.
The few walkers pawing at the windows were distracted by us, and with their tattered mouths wide open, they started to approach!
Suo Tian raised his blade and charged!
With a "thud" sound, the first walker was taken down, its head sliced off halfway, and dark, black brain matter sprayed onto the sleek white sports car, the mark a shocking sight.
Shen Feng and I exchanged a glance and rushed up from both sides of Suo Tian!
Another walker, this time wearing high heels.
I couldn't understand how they manage to walk like that, and yet the high heels haven't fallen off her feet.
I kicked at the ugly creature's stomach with all my strength.
It lost its balance and immediately fell to the ground, opening its mouth and letting out an angry hiss at me.
Tightening my grip on the dagger, I quickly rushed forward, pinning her exposed ribcage to the ground, and drove the blade deep into her skull!
Finally, she stopped screaming.
I pulled out the dagger, wiped the blood off on the ground, and got up, only to realize that the other walkers had already been taken down.
Suo Tian stood guard, keeping an eye on the approaching walkers.
Shen Feng knocked on the car door, and only then did the people inside finally open it.
I glanced at them—two young men, still relatively clean-looking.
"Get in the car! Shen Feng, drive!" Suo Tian turned around and shouted at us.
We quickly climbed into the car.
After Suo Tian chopped down two approaching walkers, he also hurriedly jumped in, and with a loud slam, the car door was shut.
The vehicle almost immediately started moving.
"Where are we going?" Shen Feng asked.
"Let's drive around the road, then stop at the alley entrance and sneak back in through the alley."
At this moment, I couldn't help but admire Suo Tian's quick thinking.
In such a chaotic situation, he was able to come up with a strategy so fast.
If we had taken these two people back to the yard, we would have definitely been spotted by the walkers and followed to the front of the yard.
Then, we would have found ourselves trapped again.
By driving the car away and taking the detour to the alley, we could not only shake off the walkers and return safely and covertly, but also keep the car, preventing it from being taken by Li Jianguo and his group.