C29 He Touched the Corpse of a Zombie and Saw a Zombie and a Dog in the Distance.

"Bang!" Tang Bing kicked open the last dormitory door on the floor, then swiftly raised his fire axe.

"Keke~" The unmistakable sounds of zombies echoed from within, and soon, two female zombies emerged. One charged at Tang Bing, who stood just outside the door, while the other, apparently legless, could only crawl.

Unfazed, Tang Bing swung his axe, felling the oncoming zombie with a decisive blow.

[You have killed a zombie and earned 10 experience points!]

[You have leveled up!]

Elated by his level-up, Tang Bing was about to finish off the legless zombie when Zhao Dagang beat him to it, crushing the crawler's head right before his eyes.

Sun Meng and Qin Mengli trailed behind, too squeamish to witness the gruesome sight.

"Hey!" Tang Bing called out to them, "Even if you're scared to kill zombies, you've got to start getting used to it! Scenes like this are going to be common. If you can't even muster the courage to look, how will you survive?"

"You're twisted!" Qin Mengli snapped back, convinced Tang Bing was trying to sicken her on purpose. What was there to see in a zombie with a bloodied, mangled head and a body of rotting flesh?

Sun Meng fared slightly better. Taking Tang Bing's words to heart, she braved a glance, though her expression betrayed her revulsion.

To think, a medical student and nursing intern, as fearful of corpses as any other girl. Tang Bing was disappointed in Sun Meng's reaction but gave her credit for at least trying, unlike Qin Mengli, who simply cowered with her eyes shut, refusing to look at any of the slain zombies.

Tang Bing wondered how long they could hold out with zombies all around.

"Bing, are we really staying here tonight?" Sun Meng asked tentatively after seeing the dead zombies.

"Yeah," Tang Bing confirmed with a nod, "We'll clean up a few rooms on this floor and settle in."

"But this is the women's dormitory," Qin Mengli protested immediately, "Sun Meng and I will stay here. You men should go to the floor below!"

"But Mengli, I'll be scared if Bing is too far away," Sun Meng interjected. "Let's not sweat the small stuff right now, okay? At the very least... can't we at least have Bing and the others stay across the hall?"

"That's out of the question. These are women's quarters, filled with women's belongings. They..." Qin Mengli trailed off, unable to finish her thought.

Tang Bing shot her a stern look and said coldly, "You have a dirty mind!"

"What did you say?" Qin Mengli bristled, "Am I not speaking the truth? Who's to say you guys won't grab some underwear and do unspeakable things in the middle of the night?"

"Qin Mengli, you're so full of yourself!" Tang Bing retorted angrily, "Using underwear to do bad things? How revolting! Not to mention we don't have such thoughts, but even if we did, who would mess around with a zombie's underwear? You two are alive and right here; if I really wanted to do something, do you think you could stop me? Are you out of your mind?"

Qin Mengli recoiled, startled, and clutched at her chest.

"Listen to me!" Tang Bing continued icily, "Things aren't like they used to be. Don't you dare throw a spoiled rich girl tantrum with me! I won't be as accommodating as I was before. Now that you're part of my team, you need to follow my orders. Otherwise, you're free to leave."

"Bing, Mengli, please, let's not fight," Sun Meng pleaded, seeing Tang Bing's ire rise. "We're all in this together now; we need to unite and cooperate to survive."

Qin Mengli fell silent, clearly shaken by Tang Bing's outburst.

With Qin Mengli quiet, Tang Bing turned to Sun Meng, "Dagang and I will take care of the zombies on this floor. You two are in charge of setting up the rooms for everyone to rest. In mine and Dagang's room, just leave the bed and blankets; move everything else out so no one suspects us of any indecent acts."

"Indecent acts? No way! Bing, you guys aren't like that," Sun Meng reassured him with a smile. "It's getting dark, let's hurry up! Once we've got the rooms sorted, we can cook and eat. Mengli, come on, let's get those four rooms ready. The ones right across from each other will be perfect!"

"Got it!" Qin Mengli nodded and followed Sun Meng into the room free of zombies.

"We need to move fast!" Tang Bing said to Zhao Dagang, "Find a bag or something we can use to haul these zombie corpses out of here!"

"Right away!" Zhao Dagang quickly clipped the fire axe to his belt and joined Tang Bing in the task.

The two women stayed to tidy up the room, searching for tools to clean the bloodstains from the room and hallway, while the men carried the female zombies up to the rooftop.

Once the zombies were stacked, Tang Bing instructed, "Dagang, go grab some cloth, paper, anything that'll burn!"

"Got it! Should I look for some firewood too?" asked Zhao Dagang.

"No, we'll use gasoline," Tang Bing replied, shaking his head.

"Okay!" Zhao Dagang turned to leave, then paused halfway, puzzled. "If we're using gasoline, why do we need cloth and paper? Can't we just douse them and light it up?"

After sending Zhao Dagang off, Tang Bing allocated 5 skill points—2 to strength and 3 to agility—then retrieved a can of gasoline from his virtual pack and began searching the bodies.

You have obtained an empty bottle!

You have obtained a small teacup!

You have obtained painkillers!

You have obtained a ham sausage!

You have obtained canned black tea!

You have obtained coffee seeds!

You have obtained a piece of cloth!

You have obtained the blueprint for a barbed fence!

The search yielded a good haul, but Tang Bing was most thrilled about the barbed fence blueprint.

The barbed fence blueprint described a basic yet effective defensive structure, using spiked fences to halt zombies and inflict damage. Required materials: 20 pieces of wood.

Clearly, it was an excellent defensive construction. It could not only stop zombies in their tracks but the sharp spikes would deal significant damage.

Tang Bing immediately studied the blueprint, and the option to craft a barbed fence was added to his repertoire.

By layering several rows of barbed fences outside the factory's perimeter, even a modest horde of zombies would pose no threat.

After completing his search, Tang Bing quickly grabbed a barrel of oil and doused the zombie corpses before him with gasoline. He then stepped aside and pulled out a monocular to survey the nearby buildings.

The supermarket and the police station were the closest, and he could easily spot over a dozen aimless zombies wandering around them. Peering through the windows, he could also make out several zombies lying dormant on the ground inside.

Inside the police station, a few zombified wolfhounds were running back and forth, their bodies in various stages of decay. These zombie dogs were significantly faster than the average zombie—so fast that an ordinary person wouldn't stand a chance of outrunning them.

The police station was likely the only place to find firearms, and Tang Bing wasn't about to let a few zombie dogs deter his search. However, ensuring his own safety was paramount, so figuring out how to handle these zombie dogs was a pressing issue.

The supermarket was brimming with supplies and was undoubtedly a place that warranted a thorough search.

He decided to devise a strategy tonight and scout out these two locations tomorrow. Figuring out how to avoid or eliminate the zombie dogs was the problem currently plaguing Tang Bing.

"Bing!" As Tang Bing was perched high, scanning the police station and supermarket with his binoculars and pondering his approach to the zombie dogs, Zhao Dagang returned to the rooftop, clutching a cotton quilt. "Will this work?"

"Yes!" Tang Bing turned to see the quilt in Zhao Dagang's arms and nodded in approval. "Lay it over the bodies and let's cremate them!"

"Got it!" Zhao Dagang, catching a whiff of the pungent gasoline, thought it might be overkill, but he trusted Tang Bing's judgment without question.

After draping the quilt over the corpses, Zhao Dagang fished a lighter from his pocket, set the quilt ablaze, and quickly stepped back.

With a whoosh, the gasoline-fueled fire engulfed the thick cotton blanket. The fierce flames completely consumed the zombie corpses.

Tang Bing and Zhao Dagang retreated to a safe distance, watching the fire rage until the last of the corpses was reduced to ash.

Cremating the bodies would prevent the spread of the infection and significantly reduce the stench of decay, making their living conditions at least somewhat more bearable.

After descending from the roof, Sun Meng and Qin Mengli had finished tidying up the rooms.

Sun Meng's room was at the far end of the hallway on the right, directly opposite Tang Bing's room. Qin Mengli's room was next to Sun Meng's, with Zhao Dagang's room across from hers.

The two had scrubbed away the bloodstains from the floors and rooms, leaving each space immaculately organized. They used bottled pure water brought from the hospital for cleaning—wasteful, perhaps, but the factory's tap water was of questionable safety. They even went so far as to spray the rooms with disinfectant that Sun Meng had taken from the hospital.

After washing up, Tang Bing and Zhao Dagang came to inspect their respective rooms, finding that the women's housekeeping skills were commendable. The rooms were spotless and had a refreshing feel to them. However, true to Tang Bing's words, they had stripped the men's rooms down to the bare essentials—a bed and blankets—removing all the women's personal items and clothing!

Though Tang Bing himself harbored no interest in the belongings of female zombies, the sight of the barren rooms left him at a loss for words.

Zhao Dagang, on the other hand, was less contemplative. The prospect of finally having a proper room to sleep in filled him with sheer joy!

"Bing, shall we head down to the first floor?" Sun Meng approached and suggested. "Mengli and I will start cooking. You guys can keep watch nearby."

Tang Bing was tempted to point out that all the zombies inside the factory had been cleared, and none from outside could get in—what was there to guard against? He really just wanted to retreat to his room for some well-deserved rest. But seeing the women's anxious faces, he reluctantly agreed, knowing that it was the only way to ensure they'd all have a peaceful dinner.