Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 547 537: Night of Terror (10)

The horde of zombies, under Zhang Zhicai's "summoning", rushed into the beauty salon, their attention entirely captivated by Zhang Zhicai, completely neglecting the "cunning" Xu Renjie who clung to the wall in a corner.

Even so, seeing so many varied and grotesque beasts running past at close quarters is enough to make one's heart pound and hair stand on end.

Thankfully, Xu Renjie's psychological resilience was robust enough; otherwise, anyone else might have screamed in terror long ago.

Since the distance from the front door to the stairs wasn't far, Zhang Zhicai quickly darted into the entrance of the stairwell, as per the agreement not to close the wooden door at the bottom, to draw the zombies' attention.

After getting upstairs, Wang Qiang, who had been waiting for a while, immediately stepped aside to let Zhang Zhicai pass, while he overturned a wooden bed he had prepared beforehand.

Almost simultaneously as he toppled the bed, several excited beasts appeared at the scene.

"You damn beasts, come, come! Come eat your dear grandpa!" Wang Qiang tauntingly banged on the bedboard, provoking the beasts dutifully.

Thanks to his vigorous taunting, the beasts didn't hesitate, flinging their arms and advancing fiercely upwards.

In the zombie world, there's no concept of "age rank" or "humble yielding"; driven by primal bloodlust, they fought their way toward the stairs.

The robust demolition force startled Wang Qiang, but fortunately, Hu Xiaodong timely drew an arrow to rescue, weakening the beasts' destructive intensity downstairs.

"Retreat! Retreat upstairs!" Tang Xiaoquan urgently prompted.

After all, this battle wasn't about killing as many zombies as possible, since zombies are endless.

Their goal was merely to stall the zombies, draw their attention, and create an escape opportunity for Xu Renjie at the rolling gate.

Following the order, Hu Xiaodong and Wang Qiang began to retreat slowly, topple desks, chairs, and benches that had been prepared earlier as they moved.

Quickly, the small stairway was tightly blocked, but even so, the survivors continued to shout loudly, bang, and collide, fearing the beasts wouldn't find them and lose interest.

Due to the obstruction, many zombies were tripped as they pressed forward.

However, they kept coming one after another; just as the front one fell and hadn't yet gotten back up, the rear one was already stepping on its back to advance.

They seemed to enjoy this game of iron monks; it wasn't long before the successive beasts piled up at the stairway, forming another wall of corpses, thus thoroughly sealing the stairway.

This somewhat exceeded Tang Xiaoquan's expectations; he envisioned various possible scenarios but hadn't foreseen that the zombies themselves would block the path for their succeeding army.

Looking at the remaining tables, chairs, beds, and benches placed behind him for sealing the door, Tang Xiaoquan smiled helplessly. If he'd known this could happen, he wouldn't have told his brothers to exert so much effort moving those things earlier.

But even so, they still needed to do what had to be done.

"Qiang, shout out! Weren't you always the one who could shout the most? Don't pretend to be refined now, be loud!" Tang Xiaoquan continued noisily encouraging, as Xu Renjie hadn't yet successfully started up the Jianghuai JAC, he still needed a sufficiently loud sound to attract the zombies.

And what was Xu Renjie's situation at this moment?

Due to most of the zombies pouring into the room and the obstruction ahead, although his brothers upstairs were diligently causing a stir to attract the attention of many zombies.

There were still a small number of zombies with "indomitable will", right in front of him.

Whether it was Xu Renjie's overly "handsome" appearance or his distinctive smell.

In any case, these few curious beasts gathered around him, unusually interested in him.

They each snuffed their noses around, excitedly baring their teeth and jaws close to Xu Renjie's face, ready to bite.

Such horrific actions truly instill fear.

After all, who can be sure a beast won't bite, and once bitten, even the lucky escape might lead to virus infection later on.

So, this waiting for the judgment from the god of death is simply torturous.

Is Xu Renjie afraid? Yes! Not only afraid but deadly afraid!

In such situations where death could come any time, anyone with a sane mind would be afraid.

Xu Renjie is no exception, but fear has its differences.

Some people, once afraid, shrink back forever.

Others strive harder precisely because they understand the value of life, learning to cherish instead of acting recklessly.

Old Xu maintained a relatively calm posture; while the zombies probed him, he also observed them.

First, when the beasts came face-to-face, he noticed the scent of lotion and hair gel on their heads.

Secondly, although the beasts acted aggressively several times, they only postured without much substance.

Finally, after several minutes of probing, Old Xu gradually formulated a mental blueprint.

Thus, he began to boldly take charge, lightly touching the beast's body initially, seeing no response from them, then switching to sniffing lightly near them, again seeing no reaction, he proceeded to draw closer, baring his teeth and intimidated them similarly within reach.

After this set of actions, Xu Renjie determined that his scent had been covered, so he quickly set his footsteps toward the door.

Xu Renjie walked slowly, he clearly remembered Tang Xiaoquan telling him to mimic zombie movements.

Along the way, he was frequently watched by zombies around, but the beasts mostly just sniffed, glanced over, without causing any substantial hindrance to Old Xu.

Not long after, Old Xu arrived safely by the car.

Tang Xiaoquan kept a close watch on movements in the stairway, and when he saw Xu Renjie stumbling with his back, his heart inevitably tightened.

He could imagine Old Xu's feelings at this moment; however, now, the only thing he could do was pray for him, at the same time speaking to his brothers still energetically calling out at the stairway entrance: "Old Xu has reached the car door; get ready everyone, as soon as the car sounds, we jump through the window!"

"Got it!" Wang Qiang first shouted in response, while yet below the stairway, frantically removing obstacles, the beasts no doubt heard this shout as the signal for action.

In an instant, the beasts' enthusiasm increased greatly, the sound of shattered wood and debris became ever louder.

Arriving at the car's side, Xu Renjie instinctively raised his brow to glance at the window, his eyes meeting those of Tang Xiaoquan's as they exchanged glances, Old Xu then calmly nodded twice before discreetly inserted the key into the door lock, turning it to produce a soft click.

Old Xu feigned a hand gesture of scratching the window frame, then swiftly pulled open the door handle, only avoiding making too sudden movements, hence not immediately swinging the door wide.

Instead, wait for a few zombies approaching head-on, he instinctively leaned towards them, borrowing shoulder bumps to smoothly bring the slightly ajar car door open.

By now, there was no need to hide anything further, Old Xu jumped lightly between his legs and slid into the car effortlessly. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommended tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)