Chapter 123: Chapter 123: The Unlucky Ones

The footsteps grew heavier and heavier. Su Changxing estimated that there were about thirty zombies, which seemed not particularly many, but were actually difficult to deal with.

This is different from scattered zombies. The undead tide comes in swarms, relentless. One person might have to face attacks from several zombies at the same time; you can push away one zombie, but not necessarily two or three.

Screams came from afar to near, as several dark figures dashed through the corridor. Su Changxing faced them head-on and with one slash cut off the heads of two zombies, killing them.

The second slash hit two more zombies, but due to the angle, it only killed one. The other had a deep gash cut into its chest, breaking ribs along with it.

The two sides engaged in close combat, tearing into each other.

Su Changxing could only defend a small patch of ground. Screams echoed, and after one exchange, several people were either bitten or clawed.

Su Changxing was no exception; his arm was accidentally grazed by a zombie.

These people had very weak combat abilities. Equipped with weapons, their average combat strength was about the same as a zombie, and some were even weaker than one.

Zhou An, however, demonstrated astonishing combat ability. He stood behind and used superpower to throw, used small weapons, iron shards, glass fragments to accurately strike zombie brains, penetrating them, taking down 4 zombies in ten seconds.

This drew astonished looks from others, who couldn’t understand why Zhou An was suddenly so formidable.

However, after throwing four or five times, Zhou An was completely exhausted and had to pick up his weapon and move forward to engage in close combat. Subtly, he felt his body seemed to have grown stronger, wielding the weapon more forcefully.

The blade struck flesh like a series of sighs.

With each slash, Su Changxing experienced a sense of illusion, where the zombies before him seemed like sheets of paper, easily slain.

Slashing while advancing, in over ten seconds he took seven steps, hacking through the undead tide, carving a path, with more than a dozen zombies falling around him.

Meanwhile, on the human side, someone had a neck bitten through, a belly clawed open. A woman in her thirties or forties wearing a turtleneck sweater was pounced to the ground by zombies, getting her shoulder bitten, weapon dropping to the ground, powerless to pound the zombie’s head.

With the sound of bones cracking, she fell weakly to the ground, despair plastered on her face, as she saw yet another zombie lunging at her.

With one swift bite, her half face was torn off by the zombie, eliciting a scream of horror that struck a chill in those who heard.

“Ah~”

Another scream erupted, a middle-aged man in a jacket slashed a zombie, the blade stuck in the zombie, failing to kill it, and was instead knocked down by the zombie.

The middle-aged man looked desperately at the zombie’s ferocious face, knowing that nearby people likely had no time to help him.

The zombie’s strength was heavy and relentless, while his strength waned.

“Pu~”

A blade extended from the zombie’s head, exploding black blood that splattered all over his face.

Over the zombie’s shoulder, he saw the young man holding the Steel Saber standing in front of him.

Su Changxing kicked away the zombie’s body, glancing at this person, finding he probably wasn’t too seriously injured, turned his head to see seven or eight zombies tangled with others, he immediately wielded his saber and returned to the fight.

Twenty seconds later, Su Changxing pulled the blade from the zombie’s head, the last zombie falling to the ground.

The room returned to calm,

He breathed heavily, black blood covering him, surrounded by corpses, scanning the area, realizing only seven or eight people remained standing, two or three struggling, groaning on the ground.

A station of thirty to forty people dwindled to just them in a single night.

Here, life was fragile, cheap, worthless, barely different from ants.

Most people wore expressions of relief, facing death without much sorrow or grief, because in such an environment, there’s no space left for such emotions.

Surviving itself is an immense effort, requiring continuous struggle.

A middle-aged man in a brown jacket slowly climbed from the ground, blood seeping from his torn clothes, walked over to Su Changxing, saying with lingering fear:

“Thanks, getting bitten by that zombie, thought I was done for. Ha, feels like something straight out of a book, where fate’s uncertain, thought I was dead but still survived.”

Su Changxing stood upright, turned his head to look at him, only to see a hint of a smile, a bit of contentment, a bit of helplessness, a bit of relief on his face, not at all like someone who nearly died.

A… very strange person, stranger than Mu Qing, who was strange because she was never normal, while he was a normal person.

Su Changxing found a cleaner spot nearby, plopped down to rest, saying earnestly:

“Seemingly everyone has luck. But you don’t seem afraid of death, or perhaps lack the survival instinct others have.”

The middle-aged man wiped his face, then squat beside Su Changxing to rest, laughed: “Haha, maybe for me, this is just a dream, a game. Living again; not dying is best, but dying isn’t a loss either.”

This person was naturally sociable, his words piquing Su Changxing’s interest.

Su Changxing pulled out some water, took a mouthful to moisten his dry throat, said: “Oh, so you were originally a terminal illness patient.”

The middle-aged man’s eyes filled with surprise, nodded: “You guessed quite accurately. My name is Ma Xuekai. It’s distressing to talk about; had cancer, diagnosed in late-stage, was preparing to jump off a building but ended up in this world instead.”

Su Changxing pondered, asking quizzically: “Jump because of cancer? Should be treatable, even if not cured, could live a bit longer.”

Ma Xuekai’s skin was fairly fair, nose big and red, wore glasses, somewhat sluggish.

He chuckled dryly, a tint of bitterness, said: “Worked busily half a life, only to meet such an end. When I discovered I had cancer, my wife was arguing for divorce, really divorced later, took the child and left with someone else, meanwhile the company faced major issues, starting mass layoffs.”

Su Changxing paused awkwardly, couldn’t help but vent: “So you got laid off too? You’re really unlucky then, kind of see why you considered jumping.”

“Not entirely because of those things.”

Ma Xuekai shook his head, rummaged in his pocket, surprisingly pulled out a pack of cigarettes, saying: “Smoke? Heh, been saving these, haven’t had the heart to smoke them, found them while scavenging.”

Su Changxing waved it off, said: “Forget it, smoking’s harmful to health.”

He scanned through phone forums, encountering numerous posts about survivor attacks, many post authors’ avatars grayed, seemingly killed in the attacks.

Su Changxing skimmed, noticed not all areas were attacked, concentrated on dozens of regions.

Coincidentally, their location was among them, with no less than four or five posts originating from here.

“So that means nearby there’s likely a survivor settlement similar to Shield Company······”

Su Changxing mumbled as he stared at the phone, based on post coverage, deducing this settlement’s survivor count could exceed that of Shield Company.

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