C65 They Avoided the Zombies and Cautiously Rescued Tang Bin. They Escaped the Zombies and Cautiousl

Initially, Tang Bing was concerned that dropping his phone might shatter it. However, when he heard the rock music continue unabated after the "clatter" of the phone hitting the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Peering out the window, he saw that the sound had indeed drawn the attention of the wandering zombies, who were now making their way toward the noise in droves.

To avoid being spotted by the zombies, he quickly exited the bathroom once he was certain it was safe.

"Did you leave your phone back there?" Lin Leyan asked urgently as the rock music still blared, noticing Tang Bing emerging from the restroom.

"I tossed it out the window," Tang Bing whispered back, motioning them to follow. "Come with me."

"But why throw away your phone?" Liang Hui inquired, her curiosity piqued.

"Shh," Tang Bing hushed them with a finger to his lips, beckoning the mother and daughter and nodding toward the mall's entrance.

Despite their curiosity, Lin Leyan and Liang Hui complied, trailing behind Tang Bing.

Once they reached the hall, Tang Bing signaled for them to crouch and guided them to take cover behind a shelf.

Lin Leyan and Liang Hui were puzzled by Tang Bing's tactics, but they obediently followed his lead, knowing that their escape depended on him.

Tang Bing was aware of their perplexed stares and pointed towards the shopping mall's tempered glass windows.

Following his direction, Lin Leyan and Liang Hui saw a horde of zombies outside, including some disabled ones dragging themselves along the ground.

Lin Leyan's academic instincts kicked in, and she quickly grasped the situation. "They're drawn to sound?"

"Shh," Tang Bing confirmed with a subtle nod, signaling them to keep quiet. He explained in a low voice, "Zombies have an acute sense of hearing, far stronger than that of a normal person. They can detect sounds from afar. But since they lack the ability to think, any noise can lure them. To make our escape, we need to exploit this. I used my phone to attract the zombies to the rear of the mall, minimizing potential threats on our escape route. It's a tactic that significantly boosts our chances of safety."

Liang Hui stared at Tang Bing, visibly impressed. "You're incredibly skilled! Were you in the special forces or something?"

"It was a last resort!" Tang Bing said with a resigned shake of his head. "Teacher Lin, Liang Hui, once the zombies at the entrance have cleared out, stick close to me. We can't afford to get separated."

"Understood!" Lin Leyan responded immediately. "We're counting on you, Tang!"

Tang Bing nodded at them, his grip firm on the silenced pistol.

After a tense few minutes, they verified the doorway was mostly zombie-free. Tang Bing took a deep breath and commanded, "Move out!"

Lin Leyan and Liang Hui, hands clasped, followed Tang Bing as he unlocked the door and swiftly exited the container, making a beeline for the main exit.

Tang Bing led the way, bursting out of the mall and onto the street.

Suddenly, a chilling roar erupted from the right. Turning, Tang Bing spotted a nonconformist zombie, missing both legs, dragging itself towards them. It had likely fallen behind the group.

Lin Leyan and Liang Hui emerged to the sight of the crawling zombie and nearly screamed in terror. They quickly clamped hands over each other's mouths, exchanging panicked glances with Tang Bing.

Without hesitation, Tang Bing approached, aimed at the zombie's head, and fired.

"Move, now!" As the nearby zombies turned their attention to the noise, Tang Bing kept a vigilant eye on the surroundings, gesturing for Lin Leyan and her mother to sprint towards the car.

Reaching the car, Lin Leyan was taken aback to see the driver's door missing. "What the—"

"Get in, quick!" Tang Bing urged, opening the door while scanning the area.

"Will it even start?" Lin Leyan asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I've already checked it!" Tang Bing assured her in a hushed tone. "Get in, fast!"

"Okay!" Reassured by his confidence, the mother-daughter duo scrambled into the backseat.

Tang Bing jumped into the car, turned the key, and the engine roared to life.

The sound attracted the attention of the zombies nearby. As Tang Bing reversed and maneuvered the car, a vicious zombie dog leapt out from beneath the stairs ahead.

"Watch out!" Lin Leyan and Liang Hui, pale with fear, cried out to Tang Bing.

Tang Bing's keen senses were on alert, and with the zombie dog charging head-on, it was impossible for him to miss it. His left hand steered the wheel through the turn, while his right hand gripped the silenced pistol, aiming out the doorless left side.

The zombie dog charged, its jaws snapping at the unprotected Tang Bing. "Puff, puff, puff, puff!" He fired four rapid shots as it closed in. The first three missed, but the fourth bullet found its mark, striking the zombie dog's head.

The car engine's roar drew more zombies, and the horde that had been distracted by the phone sound earlier now surged back en masse.

Luckily, they were still a distance away. Tang Bing calmly maneuvered the car, then floored the accelerator. The vehicle lurched forward, slowly at first, then picked up speed, leaving a long trail of exhaust as it raced past the approaching swarm of zombies.

The drive to the factory was a matter of minutes. Tang navigated towards areas with fewer zombies, while the mother and daughter in the backseat clung to each other, their eyes wide as they watched the horde recede in the rearview. They were too anxious to relax and too afraid to speak, lest they distract Tang and cause an accident that could be fatal for all.

Tang, however, felt somewhat at ease. Fortune seemed to be on his side—the zombies were either sparse or sticking to the fringes, likely having roamed elsewhere during the night. Most were like slumbering statues, sitting or lying on the sidewalks, motionless until the car's presence stirred them into a sluggish pursuit, only to be quickly left behind.

Inevitable obstacles did arise, but Tang plowed through them, sending zombies flying. The car's condition was irrelevant; it was expendable.

The real challenge emerged as they neared the factory. Thousands of zombies had amassed around the building, drawn to the nearby apartment complex. The path beside the complex was the essential route back to the factory—a gauntlet they had to pass through.

Certainly, the car could barrel straight through and make it back to the factory before they swarmed. But that would just draw all the zombies here once more, effectively sealing off the factory entrance! And this time, Tang Bing was short on alarm clocks and cell phones. The toy plane was out of juice, too—no chance of pulling off another stunt to lure the zombies to the apartment building.

So, if he wanted to avoid being trapped, he couldn't lead the zombies there. And he had to ensure the safety of the mother and daughter while doing so. It was a massive problem and a daunting task.

Thankfully, Tang Bing had been mulling over solutions since he set out. He'd come up with several plans. The most straightforward was to gun it, avoiding a stop near the factory and instead sprinting past, dragging the zombie horde along to a more distant location. Naturally, this was the simplest, most effective, yet riskiest strategy, since the road ahead might not be clear. If they encountered a zombie blockade, they wouldn't just fail to shake off their pursuers—they'd be trapped with no way out.

The other options involved abandoning the rescued mother and daughter, using nearby buildings to corral the zombies, and then slipping away through a perilous route before they caught on—like his last rooftop escapade.

But that would render all his prior efforts futile. And to abandon the mother and daughter at the doorstep? Unthinkable. Not only would Sun Meng, Qin Mengli, and Zhao Dagang scorn him, but he couldn't face himself either.

After much deliberation, he knew he had to take the risk. His luck hadn't been too shabby so far; after all, he wouldn't have the mysterious system otherwise. He was confident he could once again turn peril into safety.

With that thought, Tang Bing floored the accelerator and called out to the women behind him, "Hold on tight! Things are about to get dicey—don't be scared!"

"Don't worry, Tang," Lin Leyan reassured him, though she clutched her daughter with trembling hands.

Liang Hui was equally tense, holding onto her mother without uttering a single word.

"Bing!" Inside the factory building, upon hearing the sound of a car, Sun Meng quickly peered out the window. Although she could only glimpse a vehicle barreling toward them from a distance, with the driver obscured, her gut told her it was Tang Bing. Excited, she dashed to Qin Mengli and Zhao Dagang's room and announced to the resting pair, "It has to be Brother Bing! He's driving, so he must have successfully pulled off the rescue!"

Despite their injuries leaving them weak, Qin Mengli and Zhao Dagang managed to rise from their beds and shuffle to the stairwell's windowsill. A night's rest had given them just enough strength to walk a bit unaided by Sun Meng.

They watched as the car, after whizzing past the apartment complex, slowed down, maintaining a mere four or five meters from the horde of pursuing zombies. A single vehicle was leading thousands of frenzied zombies, pushing and shoving past the factory building and disappearing into the distance. Qin Mengli's expression soured. "You said Tang Bing was back, didn't you? That's not him in the car, is it? Otherwise, why would he drive away?"

"Mengli, I'm positive!" Sun Meng asserted, "My instincts are screaming it's Bing! He's got to have a good reason for this, and he'll return soon, I'm sure of it!"

"If only our phones weren't dead, we could just call and ask!" Qin Mengli lamented, shaking her head. "I doubt that's Tang Bing. It's probably just some survivor passing through."

"No way! It's definitely Bing!" Sun Meng insisted with conviction.

"I've known him longer than you," Qin Mengli retorted, eyeing Sun Meng with dissatisfaction. "I don't feel any such intuition. How can you be so certain? Tang Bing might return, but that's definitely not him in the car!"

"Mengli, trust me!" Sun Meng pleaded, "It's Bing, one hundred percent, really!"

"But you're talking about a hunch! Intuition can be deceiving!" Qin Mengli countered breathlessly, "I have a hunch too, and it's telling me that's not Tang Bing. So, who do you think is right, you or me?"

"Won't we find out when Bing gets back?" Sun Meng said, her eyes fixed anxiously on the window. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head, "Ah, I get it now! Bing is deliberately drawing the zombies away! Just like he did when he went to rescue you, Mengli!"