C5 Beauty at the Front Desk

Han Feng, having just fled the warehouse, quickly took cover behind the towering figure of General Wei.

He peered out, intently watching the warehouse's interior.

One second, two seconds... "Uh... did you come to rescue me?" A girl's voice echoed from the far end of the warehouse.

It was a human voice!

In the gloomy warehouse, beneath the faint light, a girl rose from the clutter of boxes. Her disheveled hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes, wide with panic, darted between General Wei and Han Feng.

Perhaps following Han Feng's earlier command, General Wei's AK47 remained trained on the girl.

In her hand, she clutched a box cutter, its blade glinting ominously even in the weak light.

This was bad! She had a weapon! Han Feng's heart raced at the sight of the box cutter. His fear wasn't for himself, but for General Wei...

"Don't shoot!" he cried out in alarm, lunging forward to knock General Wei's AK47 aside.

"Bang! Bang!" Two thunderous gunshots rang out, reverberating near Han Feng's ears.

"Who gave you the order to fire?! From now on, you do not shoot without my say-so! Got it?!" Han Feng roared at General Wei as he regained his composure.

The scare had been real. Had he been a second slower in deflecting the gun... the thought was chilling.

"Yes," General Wei responded without emotion, though his stance relaxed.

Han Feng turned back to the shivering girl. She was dressed smartly in a white blouse and long black trousers. A few strands of hair stuck to her pretty face, which seemed oddly familiar.

Then it clicked. She was the attractive receptionist from Han Feng's office building, likely Ms. Wei.

"Why are you here?" Han Feng inquired, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

The girl paused, took a deep breath, and her vacant eyes slowly cleared. "I stepped out to pick up a few things. Suddenly, it got really loud outside, and there was an explosion. My boss and I went out to see what was happening, but then the person who had been lying on the ground just got up and attacked my boss, who had been watching the commotion." Her voice shook as she recounted the ordeal.

The girl's voice still quivered, but it had steadied considerably since before.

"I panicked and ran behind the shelves. After a few minutes of hiding, I saw the boss—who was dead—come back to life!" she said, her eyes wide with confusion and terror. It was clear she hadn't yet grasped what was happening in the world around her.

"I asked the boss if he was okay, but to my horror... he tried to bite me. I spotted a door behind me and ducked inside. But the boss followed me in. I scrambled the neat stacks of boxes to block him and crouched on the ground, too terrified to make a sound..." She trailed off, her voice breaking into soft sobs.

Han Feng watched the girl cry, a pang of discomfort twisting in his chest.

It was almost unimaginable—a delicate girl, trapped for over an hour in a confined space with a zombie, silent and motionless. The paper cutter she clutched was probably just a tool the boss used for opening boxes in the storeroom... yet it had become her sole means of defense.

"You've been through so much, but you're safe for now. Next, we..." Han Feng's voice hitched as a chill ran down his spine.

The gunshot earlier had jolted him back to reality. That deafening blast couldn't have gone unnoticed outside, and it had been more than two minutes since their last exchange!

"Come on, we need to get out of here! It's not safe!" Han Feng urged the girl, his tone laced with urgency.

"Prepare for combat! Fire if you must!" he instructed the mobilized soldiers, after ensuring the girl was ready.

She emerged, her steps faltering, with an armed soldier in front of her, while Han Feng led the way to the door at a brisk pace.

No zombies, please, he silently pleaded.

But the situation outside was dire.

The doorway was swarming with zombies—easily a dozen or more. What now?

The mobilized soldiers were brave, but bravery was no match for the flesh and blood that they were. Facing the onslaught of so many zombies, they couldn't be sure of making it out unharmed.

Let's make a break for it! Before the zombies completely swarm us, we need to evacuate—now!

"Mobilize the troops! Kick that thing down!" Han Feng bellowed, pointing at the bar counter barricading the glass door. Internally, he chastised himself for his future self to never be this foolish again.

Locking the bathroom door the first time, using the bar counter to block the glass door the second, and sealing the warehouse door the third—Han Feng had fallen into the same trap three times in under two hours! What seemed like a safe haven had only brought trouble. Sure, the enclosed spaces offered a sense of security, but they were also a significant obstacle to escape.

The mobilized soldiers strode toward the counter and delivered a powerful kick.

"Boom! Crash!" The bar counter flew forward, shattering the glass door in the process.

The flying counter hit two zombies, pinning them underneath as they struggled futilely. The shattered glass door took down a few more. Suddenly, a five-to-six-meter clearing opened up at the storefront entrance.

"Run!" Han Feng yelled, launching himself out the door, with the mobilized soldiers on his heels. But the girl's figure was nowhere to be seen.

You couldn't blame the girl for being slow; trapped in a confined, oxygen-deprived space filled with fear, she had sat immobile for over an hour. It would be difficult for anyone to even stand, much less walk.

Han Feng was torn between frustration and urgency. In a split second, he debated whether to abandon the girl. Taking her along was a liability; she offered no help and would require his people to protect her. In a world overrun by zombies, rescuing a liability was far from wise.

Screw it! He resolved to leave the girl behind.

"Mobilize the troops! Head this way!" Han Feng glanced at the road, choosing the side with fewer zombies as he ran and called out.

But as Han Feng turned to shout to his soldiers, he caught sight of the girl emerging from the small shop.

Frowning, Han Feng weighed his options. Turning back now meant facing four or five zombies head-on. Was it worth risking their lives to save her? He hesitated, his mind racing. And in that moment of indecision, the girl began to run unsteadily toward him.

As the girl stumbled toward him, Han Feng had nearly abandoned the idea of rescuing her. But now, his resolve wavered.

"Protect her!" he barked at the mobilized soldiers.

Ultimately, Han Feng couldn't bring himself to leave her behind. Had he not seen her, he might have evacuated already, but there she was, her eyes brimming with the will to survive, compelling Han Feng to act.

His mind raced, but his body didn't miss a beat. As he ran toward the girl, he scooped up a wooden plank from the ground.

It was a plank that had been shaken loose from the bar. Han Feng gripped it, found his angle, and with a powerful swing, struck at a zombie lurking just behind the girl.

"Thank you, big brother! Thank you!" the girl blurted out, her voice tinged with frantic gratitude.

"Stop talking! Just run!" Han Feng snapped, frustration boiling within him. His full-force blow had done nothing to the zombie—it hadn't even fallen!

Yet, his strike had some effect; the hit zombie paused, halting its advance.

In that moment, the mobilized soldiers regrouped with Han Feng.

They had taken down several zombies in mere seconds. To rejoin Han Feng quickly, they hadn't bothered to finish them off.

"Run this way! My car's over there!" the girl pointed down a street.

Following her direction, Han Feng spotted a blue sedan, then his heart sank. It was swarming with zombies.

What now? After a brief hesitation, Han Feng decided to head for the car. He knew that no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't outrun a car. Escaping on foot through the horde seemed impossible.

Only about twenty zombies were on the road for now, but their numbers could swell at any moment.

"Run! Keep safe!" "Fire your gun if you have to!" Han Feng instructed the girl and the soldier, then they sprang into action.

The soldier's AK47 roared to life, spitting out a rapid burst of gunfire.