Eight new zombies under the tree, and one new classmate up in the tree. ( )
But the chilling aura brought by this new classmate could instantly wipe out a horde of zombies under the tree—not just the eight newcomers, but also the five remaining from before.
Fate?
If we have to put it that way, it's a karmic entanglement.
No one responded. The subtle silence was like a light slap across Yu Zisheng's face. He understood, but didn't care: "What's wrong? You look like you want to eat me alive. I just thought the same thing as you guys, hoping to find food at the courier point. There are eight of you, and I'm the only one. Are you worried I'll take more than I need?"
"Stop fucking pretending," Zhao He couldn't stand this shameless act of feigning ignorance. "You should have known this day would come when you were stubbornly refusing to open the supermarket door. Now you're trying to play the victim and gain sympathy?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Zisheng paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "It really is you! I knew the voice sounded similar."
"You're kidding me," Wu Zhou couldn't stand it anymore. "You two are in the same class, you should be able to tell just by yelling. There are no outsiders here, everyone knows each other, so don't bother trying to clear your name."
"You really wronged me," Yu Zisheng said surprisingly frankly. "If it were just that the door hadn't been opened for you two, I could have washed up, but with all these people watching, I really couldn't bring myself to speak."
Song Fei, Zhou Yilu, and Qiao Siqi all frowned without exception. It was an extremely frustrating experience, like someone you were ready to fight suddenly opening their arms and saying, "Yes, I'm the bad guy, so feel free to curse me." If you curse, it feels like you're lowering yourself along with them; if you don't, a burning anger makes you feel uncomfortable.
"Where are the others?" Qi Yan suddenly asked.
Song Fei and Lin Dilei not only told Class 2 about what happened at the supermarket, but also briefly recounted it to their comrades after returning to the first floor. Everyone's reaction was invariably mixed; they all felt conflicted. At the time, everyone thought no one had survived in the supermarket, and now that a survivor had suddenly appeared, it was impossible not to have some doubts.
The others were also taken aback, their narrowed eyes all focusing on Yu Zisheng.
The latter gave a wry smile and explained quite naturally: "The supermarket door was smashed down, and we were scattered by the crowd. I was the only one who escaped to the roof and managed to save my life."
Song Fei's heart sank: "You're lying."
Yu Zisheng was stunned. Although he tried his best to hide it, a hint of surprise still showed in his eyes.
"I was standing on the roof of the cafeteria at the time. When the supermarket was breached, there was no one on the roof."
"There are two possibilities: either you weren't on the roof when I climbed out, or it was too far away and dark, and you didn't see clearly." Yu Zisheng's expression was very natural, as if this was the truth, and there was nothing he could do if you didn't believe him.
Although Song Fei was usually incredibly sarcastic, when he really wanted to argue, he felt his words were utterly inadequate. Besides, arguing about whether the other person escaped on their own or by using their brothers as scapegoats was pointless. Even if it was the latter, could they really launch a people's trial and stab this bastard to death?
"I was just asking casually," Qi Yan said, noticing Song Fei's hesitation. "Actually, you have no obligation to explain to us."
Qi Yan never expected that a single question would render Yu Zisheng defenseless. The reason he asked the question was more to remind his comrade-in-arms what kind of person this was, or at least someone with a certain potential for danger, because, judging from the looks of it, they couldn't shake this person off.
He might not have even run into them by chance on his way to the courier point; on the contrary, it's more likely that he heard their voices and came to them.
Yu Zisheng was surprised by Qi Yan's tolerance and said half-seriously and half-jokingly, "I thought that at least kneeling and kowtowing would be enough to achieve our peaceful coexistence."
"You think I don't want to beat you up?" Zhao He sneered. "The zombies saved you."
If it weren't for the current situation of zombies surrounding the tree, Zhao He would have already made Yu Zisheng look for his teeth on the ground.
Yu Zisheng gave Zhao He a sincere smile.
Zhao He looked up at the sky, at the stars, at the moon, but couldn't be bothered to look at Yu Zisheng. Complete forgiveness was impossible, but yelling and threatening at someone with that attitude was like punching cotton – utterly pointless. So he simply rolled his eyes; this scumbag had nothing to do with him.
Seeing that Zhao had resorted to passive-aggressive tactics, Yu Zisheng smiled helplessly and turned to Qi Yan. His attitude towards Zhao He was naturally casual and affectionate, a normal atmosphere between classmates, but towards Qi Yan, all of these traits vanished, leaving only a serious expression and a slightly submissive demeanor: "Actually, forcing you all to leave was out of necessity. We were all quite frightened in that situation. After a couple of days, we recovered and realized how awful we had been."
"You've recovered, so why haven't you opened the door for Zhao He and the others yet? This incident only happened three days ago." Qiao Siqi scoffed. "If you ask me, you shouldn't bother explaining. No matter how you explain, you'll just be ridiculed by everyone. You might as well be a hero and fight back. If you kill someone, you'll be punished by heaven and earth."
The six comrades, some standing on tree branches and others clinging to tree trunks, wished they could give Qiao Siqi a thumbs up—no, not even a thumbs up, they had to give him a reward—this slap in the face was so satisfying!
"Fine, the more I say, the more mistakes I'll make. I won't argue anymore. Just pretend I'm not human. But I barely escaped with my life from the supermarket, you can't force me to jump down now to pay for it. Besides, you're all lucky and still full of energy, I have no one to pay for it with my life. Can't you just take me in and give me a chance to redeem myself?" Yu Zisheng said with a bitter face, looking like he was really ready to be punished.
However, while he was saying these words, his eyes were mostly fixed on Qi Yan's face—it was obvious at a glance who was leading the charge and who was just there to chime in.
Qi Yan didn't beat around the bush with him. He couldn't shake him off, so he laid everything out on the table: "We can't recruit you. If you want to come together, it'll be a temporary arrangement. But let me make this clear: we're all together to survive. I don't care what you're thinking, but you'd better think carefully about the consequences before you do anything. In this environment, it's either we unite to live together or we fight amongst ourselves and die together. There's no way one side can die while the other survives. If that happens, you only have one life, and we have eight. You know who will be the last one standing."
Yu Zisheng listened quietly, his expression inscrutable, until Qi Yan finished speaking, at which point he gave a bitter smile: "Is this a warning or a threat?"
Qi Yan shrugged indifferently: "Take it or leave it."
The seven companions remained silent. Emotionally, they didn't want to be recruited or teamed up with him. But rationally, they understood that Qi Yan wanted a quick resolution. This man was clearly determined to stick around, and even if it dragged on for another day or two, as long as they couldn't bring themselves to kill him, they couldn't shake him off. Since the outcome was already decided, there was no point in dragging it out any longer.
The wind is getting cold.
This means that evening has passed and true night is approaching.
Yu Zisheng, who was standing on a tree branch, suddenly sat down, then wrapped his legs around the thickest part of the branch at the base, and fell down violently!
The eight people were startled, and Qiao Siqi almost shouted out loud.
However, Yu Zisheng did not fall. Instead, he was hanging upside down, his swaying body only one person's height above the ground!
His companions were confused, but in a flash, he had already grabbed the hair of a female zombie under a tree, pulled her directly below him, and plunged a knife into her skull! By the time another zombie reacted and tried to pounce, he had already climbed back up the tree branch to a safe height.
Hanging upside down.
Pulling hair.
Enter the knife.
Sheath the sword.
Return to its place.
Five movements, performed in one go, in the blink of an eye.
If anyone gets wind in their eyes at this moment, just blinking once is enough to miss most of it.
"So, you didn't lose out by taking me, did you?" Yu Zisheng shook the blood off his knife, trying his best to conceal it, but he couldn't hide his smugness.
Qi Yan didn't say anything.
Zhou Yilu felt uneasy, but he kept his eyes glued to the ground below, waiting for the right moment to fire a fatal shot. He then raised an eyebrow at Zhou Yilu and said, "You're incredibly lucky to have met us."
On the same tree, the lower branches were always at odds with people last week, while He Zhiwen on the upper branches quietly nudged Zhao He, who was hugging the trunk.
"What?" Zhao He had been staring intently at Yu Zisheng for a long time, and seemed determined to keep doing so, as if he could see through his scheme. He was quite unhappy to be disturbed.
"Nothing much, just a little strange," He Zhiwen said hesitantly.
Zhao He became wary: "Did you figure something out?"
He Zhiwen pondered for a moment, then explained in detail: "I just can't figure it out. Yu Zisheng is about the same size as you. When he was pulling the zombie's hair, the force on the branch should have changed from his weight to his weight plus the force he exerted on the zombie's hair. Yet the branch didn't break."
Zhao He: "...Can you come up with something useful?!"
Putting everything else aside, in terms of combat ability, Yu Zisheng is indeed capable. The martial arts students, if they wanted to kill zombies in the trees, could only rely on Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu, who possessed long weapons. Zhao He's military dagger could also have been helpful, but he was currently using both arms to hold onto the tree, resulting in non-combat casualties. Yet Yu Zisheng, with only a fruit knife, could inflict damage comparable to a long spear, and he moved nimbly and gracefully up and down the branches.
As Zhao He slid down the tree trunk once more, all thirteen zombies, both old and new, were cleared away.
Song Fei looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, then at the pitch-black courier station, and felt uncertain: "I wonder how many more are in there."
"We can't see them, and they can't see us either," Qi Yan pondered for a moment, then sought everyone's opinion. "The same old routine?"
Class 2 didn't understand, but the students in Class 1 all understood—it was about going up to the roof.