Edge of the Apocalypse

Chapter 86: Chapter 81: This is a Gambit on Human Nature...

A short while later, Zhao Wenjie opened the door from inside Building Two.

"You’ll never guess how terrifying the first floor is... If anyone tried to force their way in from the outside, the moment the door opens! See this big log? It shoots right out! It could smash a person into a pancake!"

"And there’s this tripwire trap at the entrance. Take one step and a deadly pendulum comes crashing down on your head. And these boxes hanging on the side are filled with nails, broken glass, and steel balls. They explode as soon as you walk in!"

"Further down the hallway, he has his defensive zone, and a mace he made himself... Look at this thing. If it hits you, you’d be full of holes!"

Zhao Wenjie was holding a wooden club studded with long nails and screws, covered in dried blood.

Yu Dong and the others were all wearing helmets, so their expressions were hidden. Zhao Wenjie dragged a tightly bound man outside, struggling with the weight.

Just disarming all those traps had taken a lot out of him.

"Good thing I came in from inside the building. Otherwise, anyone who came through this main entrance would’ve died. No joke."

"Oh, right. This is the lone wolf. He’s really built. I had to tase him unconscious three times before he finally stopped fighting back..."

After Zhao Wenjie dragged the man out of the trap-filled first floor, Yu Dong gave him a slight nod.

"Let’s carry the Master of Traps. We’re heading back."

Huang Zhiqiang, Zhao Youcai, and Zhou came over to lend a hand. The four of them carried the bound Master of Traps back to Building One.

At that moment, roars and the sound of pounding on the gate came from outside the community.

The explosion and the zombie slaughter had attracted even more zombies from farther away.

And as more zombies shrieked, the number gathered at the gate grew, forming a small horde.

"Close the doors. We’re going home."

Shen Xinyi and Liu Ye’ye, who were bringing up the rear, shut the main entrance to Building One completely, and the group retreated upstairs...

Ten minutes later, the entire community was surrounded by zombies. The stench of blood from inside lured them to keep pressing forward... Pushing and shoving, the zombies started piling on top of each other and climbing over the surrounding walls and the main gate.

ROAR!!!

GRRRAAAAH!!!

AARRRGH!!!

The frenzied zombies rushed into the community, pouncing on the three bodies at the entrance of Building One. They feasted greedily on Lin Xiaojun’s severed leg!

After they finished their meal, the zombies lost their focus and began to wander, surging into Building Two and Building Three.

The Xiangti Bay Community had become a zombie playground...

...

That night, Building One of the Xiangti Bay Community was dead silent.

In Apartment 501, shrouded in darkness, Qiao Ping spoke nervously.

"The zombies outside... they won’t get in, will they?"

Huang Zhiqiang moved closer to comfort her. "They won’t. Don’t worry, Sister Qiao. Our main door is solid, and the first and second floors have security bars on the windows. The zombies can’t get in."

"What if one of them squeezes in through the third floor?"

"Don’t worry. I’m here. I’ll protect you."

In the days that Yu Dong had been organizing them to kill zombies, they had all grown bolder, killing them like wild animals without a second thought.

Liu Ye’ye said worriedly, "But... there are so many zombies outside. More than when the apocalypse first started. They’re all surrounding our community..."

The chain reaction triggered by the explosion had plunged the once-safe Xiangti Bay Community into grave danger.

The community was surrounded by zombies, and the grounds they had worked so hard to clear were no longer safe.

"Sigh, we solved the human problem, but now we have a zombie problem... When there are this many zombies, it’s hard to deal with. Maybe we shouldn’t have used explosives? Those things come running at any loud noise."

Just thinking about the horde of zombies outside gave Zhou a headache. It wasn’t just zombies at the gate anymore; one could climb over a wall from anywhere, and then it would be like a real-life horror movie...

"They’ll leave."

Yu Dong said calmly. Hearing this, everyone’s spirits lifted.

"Oh? Why do you say that?"

"Because today is the ninth day of the apocalypse..."

Everyone: "???"

’What kind of reason is that!?’

Yu Dong let out a soft sigh.

"Let’s take Kai upstairs and bury him."

"Yeah, you’re right. With so many zombies outside, who knows when we’ll be able to clear them out again... Let’s go, I’ll help!"

Zhao Wenjie volunteered eagerly.

In the darkness, Yu Dong glanced at him and shook his head.

"You stay and guard the Master of Traps."

Then he looked at Yang Yi. "You stay here with Sister Qiao."

"Just the six of us will go."

Yu Dong led his original team, and together they carried Yan Yikai to the 32nd floor, passed through a small door, and went out onto the rooftop.

A cool breeze brushed against their faces, and the roars of the zombies seemed more distant.

In silence, the group buried Yan Yikai next to Mei, creating another small mound of earth.

Back then, Zhao Youcai had bought several truckloads of planting soil, and there was still a lot left over after filling the greenhouse.

Wang Xiuying heard the noise and came up partway through. She glanced at Yan Yikai’s body, lit three incense sticks for him, and planted them in the mound of earth.

"He was a good kid."

"How did the world suddenly become like this..."

Then she went back downstairs.

That left the group of six sitting on the rooftop.

Liu Ye’ye looked at Yu Dong, who had been silent all night, and said comfortingly,

"No one expected them to have a gun, and such a small one at that... If we hadn’t dealt with them today, then maybe in the future, it would have been just like that story you told us... Maybe they would have killed us all. Senior, don’t blame yourself. It was just an accident."

Everyone on the rooftop was one of their own. They knew Yu Dong was a Reincarnator and already believed him.

The story Yu Dong told them a few days ago about the Lin Gang... they had all guessed that it was probably about the Lin Xiaojun gang that Yu Dong had faced in his previous life.

Zhao Youcai also patted Yu Dong’s shoulder.

"Dongzi, conflict means sacrifice. Spilling blood is unavoidable. It’s just... Kai wasn’t very lucky. Otherwise, it could have just as easily been you, me, Huang, or Zhou. Any one of us could have died."

Yu Dong shook his head at that.

"The one to die... would only have been Kai. Because he was always the first to charge in."

Yan Yikai was always the one to lead the charge.

As the leader, Yu Dong felt it most keenly. Every time they ran into trouble, he would rush forward without hesitation.

Yan Yikai had already proven himself to be a reliable member of the team. Yu Dong had been planning to formally bring him into his core team after this was all over, expanding it to seven people.

But...

After the group sat in silence on the rooftop for a while, Shen Xinyi suddenly spoke up.

"Captain, I still don’t get it... How did you know they would come out of Building Three, and that there would be three or four of them? That’s not being a Reincarnator, that’s being a prophet, isn’t it?"

The others also looked at Yu Dong. Yesterday, his arrangements had left them scratching their heads, seeming a bit random, but today... he was right about everything.

"Because a person’s experiences after the apocalypse might change, but their personality and way of thinking won’t..."

"Lin Xiaojun is a total animal. He’s capable of any vile, violent act, but there’s one thing... he would never do."

Shen Xinyi asked, "What’s that?"

"He wouldn’t be a lone wolf, and he wouldn’t write a declaration like ’STAY AWAY, OR DIE!’. He wants to be a gang boss. He’d manipulate the people around him into becoming his thugs and lackeys."

"A nobody like him from before the apocalypse... he craves fear and respect from others even more than the average person."

"So, the person in Building Two couldn’t have been Lin Xiaojun. By process of elimination, that means Lin Xiaojun and the people who saved him must be in Building Three. And based on what I knew in my past life... there were two other men alive in Building Three. It’s very likely Lin Xiaojun recruited them, which is why I figured his group would be three to four people."

Shen Xinyi asked, "Then how were you so sure he would come out at this exact time? What if they were doing just fine in Building Three?"

"Lin Xiaojun is a predator to the bone. When he saw our lifestyle, our gear, and... our beautiful women, he was bound to get greedy."

Shen Xinyi suddenly understood.

"So you left me alone at the entrance, with the doors wide open, just to lure him out, right?"

"That’s right, Xinyi. Your beauty is something Lin Xiaojun couldn’t resist... He’s severely sexually repressed."

"Then why did you have Yang Yi pretend to be Ye Ye and go out with you? Wouldn’t the two of us have been better bait at the entrance? Ye Ye is just as pretty as me, right?"

Liu Ye’ye didn’t quite understand that part either.

"Yeah, why did I have to hide inside? I could have operated the tracked vehicle from the entrance to blow them up."

Yu Dong shook his head. "Our movements downstairs were completely exposed. They were definitely watching us. They knew Ye Ye is good with drones and robot dogs, so he would have been wary of her. If that happened... the little bomb-carrying vehicle at the entrance might have caught his attention early. But with all of us gone and only an unarmed Xinyi left, he would let his guard down and want to rush into Building One, making him overlook the real danger..."

"With Ye Ye inside Building One, she just needed to keep the vehicle’s camera aimed at Building Three to spot their movements at any time and detonate the bomb with precision."

"Besides, Yang Yi served another purpose..."

Huang slapped his thigh. "I know, Dongzi! To deceive the guy in Building Two, right? He thought all six of us were launching a full-frontal assault, and between the fire on the fourth floor and the smoke grenades on the first, he couldn’t see anything clearly. That meant he wouldn’t spot Zhao Wenjie, who was already hidden behind Building Two, giving him the chance to break through the security bars and get inside!"

Yu Dong nodded.

"Exactly. As long as we assumed both groups were watching our every move outside, then both Lin Xiaojun and the Master of Traps would be deceived by our team’s combat numbers. They’d think six fighters was our limit... but they didn’t know about Yang Yi and Zhao Wenjie, who had never stepped outside."

Shen Xinyi said, "No wonder you had me give you guys masks two days in advance... It was so Yang Yi could disguise herself as Ye Ye without being discovered, right?"

"Mhm. They’re about the same height. With the same clothes, hairstyle, and a mask, it’s hard to tell them apart even up close, let alone from a floor above."

Huang Zhiqiang asked, "Dongzi, I think there was a really risky part of your plan... How were you so sure that once Zhao Wenjie got inside, he could subdue that tough-looking lone wolf with just a taser baton? What if there were two of them? And how did you know for sure he’d be on the second or third floor?"

Yu Dong answered:

"Because he was on his own, or with one other person at most. To watch the main entrance... he had to be on a lower floor. When we went to the first floor to ’declare war,’ he immediately came and destroyed our tracked vehicle. That proved his position was close to the ground floor."

"Also, he posted that sign on the fourth floor, which actually eliminated that entire floor from suspicion for us. None of us would post a declaration on or next to our own bedroom, so he had to be on the second or third floor."

"Of course, the final confirmation came from Qiao Ping, who was watching the whole time. We knew making such a huge commotion would force him to act, and action reveals one’s position. Qiao Ping observed him for a long time and finally pinpointed his location. Zhao Wenjie just had to lie in wait at his door to take him down..."

Zhao Youcai couldn’t help but sigh with admiration.

"That lone wolf had it rough. He couldn’t watch his front and back at the same time. Our feint completely threw him off balance. And in the end, it was our ’weakest’ member, Zhao Wenjie, who easily cut through the security bars, slipped in through a first-floor window, and took him down with three jolts from a high-voltage baton."

Huang Zhiqiang laughed. "Three zaps to break a lone wolf’s spirit! That’s what I call craftsmanship!"

Zhou, after thinking back on the whole process, looked at Yu Dong with a newfound sense of awe.

"Show weakness to the enemy to lure the snake from its hole..."

"A feint in one direction to conceal an advance in another..."

"Brilliant!"

"But, Dongzi, your plan had one flaw... The explosion eliminated the enemy, but it also got us surrounded by zombies."

Just then, a cold wind blew past.

Everyone couldn’t help but pull their clothes tighter around themselves.

Yu Dong stood up and said, "They will leave."

"Why?"

"Because..."

At that moment, a bolt of lightning split the sky!

It illuminated Yu Dong’s sharp jawline and calm eyes.

"Today is the ninth day of the apocalypse. Tomorrow... comes the storm."

The next moment, raindrops began to fall on them.

...

On the way back downstairs, Zhao Youcai pulled Yu Dong aside to walk at the back.

"Dongzi, how did you convince Zhao Wenjie to do something so dangerous for us? And Yang Yi... she didn’t cause any trouble, did she?"

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