"What the hell happened to that damn cook? Is he afraid of heights or something?" As soon as Gao Hai entered, Zhang Xu hurriedly shut the iron door and looked at him, visibly frustrated. Gao Hai shook his head, equally clueless. Before Zhang Xu could bolt the door shut, they both heard a dull thud from outside. At first, they thought it was a zombie, but immediately followed by a blood-curdling scream.

  "Ah... Help! Somebody open the door!"

  "Damn it! Is this idiot brain-dead? Why did he jump again?" Zhang Xu stared at Gao Hai in shock. The anguished cry was unmistakably the cook's, and with the horde outside, he was the only one who could be making such a racket.

  "Quick, open the door!" Gao Hai didn't have time to think. He urged Zhang Xu to open the door, and as it creaked open, he immediately saw Wang Peng lying on the ground in agony, clutching his right leg and rolling around. Beads of sweat the size of beans dripped down his forehead. To make matters worse, two zombies had already climbed onto the stove, their eyes gleaming with excitement at the sight of a live human. With a ferocious roar, they pounced toward him.

  "Damn it!" Without hesitation, Gao Hai charged out, delivering a flying kick that sent one of the zombies flying. But before he could deal with the second, it lunged at Wang Peng with a deafening roar. Panicked and paralyzed with fear, Wang Peng couldn't even muster the courage to push the zombie away. He simply covered his head and screamed as the zombie sank its teeth into the back of his neck.

  In a critical moment, Gao Hai, frustrated by his missed punch, threw caution to the wind. Ignoring his own peril, he dove forward and shoved the ferocious zombie off Wang Peng. However, the limited space between the stainless steel stove and the wall restricted their movement. The force of the push sent both the zombie and Gao Hai crashing onto the stove with a heavy thud. Unfortunately, Gao Hai's head struck a protruding edge on the stove, knocking him out cold. Although he didn't lose consciousness, the pain was excruciating. The zombie, oblivious to pain, let out another roar and lunged at him again.

  "Bang..."

  Just as the zombie's gaping maw was about to tch onto Gao Hai's pulsating artery, a 7.62mm bullet pierced through its brain. Carrying immense momentum and the acrid stench of burning flesh, the zombie's shattered head smmed once more onto the stainless steel stove.

  "Gao Hai, get in here!" Zhang Xu, leaning against the door and firing his gun outward, shouted at Gao Hai. Gao Hai shook his head violently to clear his daze and, without a moment's hesitation, sprang to his feet. Dragging the still-screaming Wang Peng, he stumbled back into the basement.

  "Cng~"

  The heavy brown iron door smmed shut, plunging the basement into near darkness. Only a few fshlight beams moved slowly, illuminating the surroundings. The space was cluttered with headless corpses, creating an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

  "Honey, are you okay?" Gao Hai's wife rushed to his side and helped him up from the ground. Tears glistened in her eyes.

  "Don't cry, silly. Do you think your strong husband can be seriously hurt?" Gao Hai, though pale from the skirmish, forced a smile and gently stroked his wife's long hair.

  "Damn it! This useless kid. I thought that skinny monkey was pathetic, but this one takes the cake!" Zhang Xu gred at Wang Peng, who was hugging his leg and moaning in pain. Without hesitation, he kicked Wang Peng's head. "Stop crying! If you keep this up, I swear I'll kick you to death!"

  "Ah... my leg is broken! My leg is broken!" Wang Peng wailed, rolling on the ground and crying hysterically. The group then noticed that his right ankle had swollen into a rge purple-bck hematoma, likely caused by the impact when he jumped down.

  "Look at this. Why did we even bother saving this piece of trash? He's the only one here who managed to break his own leg. Now that it's broken, he's as good as dead!" Zhang Xu shook his head in disgust. Suddenly, he grabbed his rifle, aimed it at Wang Peng's head, and said coldly, "Useless bastard. You know if your leg doesn't heal, you'll starve to death. Better to end it quickly. How about I give you a helping hand?"

  "No... no, I don't want to die!" Wang Peng froze, too terrified to cry. His face, a grown man's, was streaked with tears as he stared at the bck muzzle of the gun.

  "Heh~ You don't have a choice!" Zhang Xu sneered. With a metallic click, he racked the slide, chambering a round. He was about to pull the trigger when—

  "Gao Hai, stop scaring him. He's just scared," Gao Hai said, pushing Zhang Xu's gun hand away. He turned to Wang Peng, helpless, and said, "Old Wang, if you don't want to die, you need to toughen up. Come on, sit up. I'll carry you for now. We'll figure things out once we're out of here."

  "Gao Hai, with a personality like his, he's just a liability even if we make it to the safe zone. Are you pnning to carry him all the way there?" Zhang Xu frowned deeply, his rifle still firmly in hand as he looked at Gao Hai seriously.

  "Sigh~ What else can I do? I can't just watch Old Wang die. He didn't abandon us when we were in trouble. We'll just have to take it one step at a time," Gao Hai sighed, then slowly crouched down and hoisted Wang Peng onto his back. Wang Peng clung to him like a weak woman, shrinking behind Gao Hai and refusing to meet Zhang Xu's icy gaze.

  "Sigh~ I don't understand you," Zhang Xu muttered, shaking his head heavily. Frustrated, he walked past Gao Hai and joined Lin Tao.

  "Alright, we can't stay here much longer. Follow my lead—breathe slowly, don't look at the bodies, and stick close to me. Let's move!" Lin Tao, seeing everyone had descended from the stairs, gave a few instructions. He cautiously shone his fshlight around and then quickly headed down the tunnel they had come from.

  "Wait..."

  Zhang Xu, walking beside Lin Tao, suddenly stopped and grabbed his arm. His face was grim as he stared at the double gray iron doors about fifteen meters away. Lowering his voice, he said, "Lin Ge, something's off. It looks like someone's been here. Don't you remember st night when I specifically closed one of the doors? But now they're both open!"

  "You closed the door st night?" Lin Tao turned sharply, his eyes filled with disbelief.

  "I... I did!" Zhang Xu's heart skipped a beat at Lin Tao's reaction. He stammered, "I even told you that if anything happened, we could use the door as a barrier. Don't you remember?"

  "Michael... do you remember?" Lin Tao frowned and looked down at Michael at his feet. Michael, of course, had overheard their conversation. Without any of his usual flippancy, he shook his head solemnly. As he did, Lin Tao's expression darkened. He quickly said to Zhang Xu, "Forget whether you closed the door or not. Getting out of here is the priority now!"

  "..."

  A chill ran down Zhang Xu's spine. As a trained bodyguard, even if not world-css, he couldn't possibly misremember something as simple as closing a door. He stared at Lin Tao in horror and asked in a low voice, almost stuttering, "Then why did you tell me yesterday that we couldn't take everyone with us? You said we had to leave one or two people behind in the basement, or else some terrifying monster would stop us from leaving. That's why... that's why I wanted to kill that cook!"

  "Click click..."

  Lin Tao answered Zhang Xu's question by pulling out his weapon and loading a special round. Looking into Lin Tao's grave eyes, Zhang Xu swallowed hard. He knew exactly what Lin Tao meant—there was no way that had happened.

  "Stop dawdling. Let's go!" Lin Tao racked the slide, chambering the bullet. A bad feeling settled over him—a sense of being trapped in someone else's eborate scheme. But there was no time to dwell on it. They were like turtles trapped in a jar, with no choice but to charge forward into the uncertain tunnel. There was no other way out.