Chapter 032 The Life of an Old Couple


    After Zhang Su and the other two prepared themselves and secured their protective gear, they each carried an empty, oversized backpack and headed up to the ninth floor.


    Zhang Su tapped the door of apartment 901 with his hand axe, then pressed his ear to the door. After listening for a while, he shook his head. "No sound. I haven’t heard any footsteps from upstairs before either. Looks like no one lives here."


    They continued upward. The homeowner group chat had no records of residents on the tenth floor of Unit 1 in Building 3. The condition of the floors and the two front doors also indicated no signs of occupancy.


    Moving further up, they opened the safety door on the eleventh floor. Zhang Su''s grip on the axe tightened slightly.


    Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan both gulped nervously.


    The door of apartment 1101 was firmly shut, but a dried and darkened pool of blood had seeped out from under the door. A doormat that read "Safe Travels" was soaked in coagulated blood, its eerie discoloration adding to the unsettling scent of blood lingering in the hallway.


    Zhang Su turned and gestured for silence, ignoring 1101 entirely as he pointed toward 1102.


    Based on the homeowner chat, 1101 should have been unoccupied, while 1102 had residents. But now, 1101 clearly had a situation.


    As Zhang Su cautiously turned the corner to see 1102, his heart skipped a beat.


    The front door of 1102 was wide open. A small electric scooter was parked in the entryway, and two pairs of shoes were neatly placed on the floor. Everything appeared normal.


    Yet, this "normal" filled Zhang Su with a deep unease.


    The sound of fingers gripping tightly echoed faintly.


    Behind him, Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons.


    "The same rule as always: no matter what happens, no one makes a sound. If anyone screams, I''ll knock them out immediately!" Zhang Su, without taking his eyes off 1102, gave stern instructions to the two women.


    Both nodded lightly, gripping their weapons even tighter.


    Step by step, the three of them approached 1102. The silent hallway was unnervingly quiet, making the tension palpable.


    Finally, Zhang Su''s foot landed on the doormat just inside the doorway. He sniffed the air. There was an odd smell.


    Beyond the entryway lay the living room. Zhang Su crept forward slowly, his view inching into the room. The first thing he saw was a pair of feet clad in socks, the shoes nowhere in sight.


    His heart skipped a beat. He gestured to the two behind him to wait, then tapped the shoe cabinet lightly with his axe.


    The dull sound reverberated through the room, pressing on their eardrums.


    Still no response, but that was somewhat reassuring. If a zombie were hiding, it would have reacted to the sound.


    As they moved further in and took in the full view of the living room, the three of them froze in place.


    In the center of the living room lay a mutilated corpse. The upper body was unrecognizable, chewed and torn apart, with the abdominal cavity ripped open. Organs spilled out, a bloody mess of entrails. From the somewhat intact head, streaked with blood-stained silver hair, it was clear this was an elderly woman.


    What was most disturbing was the lack of any signs of struggle in the room. It was as though the woman had willingly allowed herself to be devoured by a zombie while still alive.


    Zhong Xiaoshan managed to turn her head away, visibly distressed but composed. Zheng Xinyu, however, felt the urge to vomit, though she barely managed to suppress it.


    "Where’s the zombie?" Zheng Xinyu whispered cautiously, swallowing nervously as her eyes darted around the room’s doors. If there were a zombie, it should have been drawn out by the noise. What if one suddenly leaped out?


    Zhong Xiaoshan stayed silent, clutching her large wrench so tightly it was warm in her hands, ready to strike at any moment.


    Zhang Su was sure the zombie wasn’t in the apartment. His eyes locked on the wide-open bay window in the living room. "The zombie probably climbed out through there."


    "What?!" Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan were both stunned by his conclusion.


    "Remember the loudspeaker yesterday? It likely happened then. Zombies don’t have intelligence; they only act on primal urges, chasing prey without thinking about the consequences."


    Zhang Su walked to the bay window, inspecting the blood smeared on the frame. Leaning out, he looked down and spotted a twisted body lying by the flower bed at the base of the building. It seemed clear the zombie had fallen from the window.


    "Close the front door and check the other rooms," Zhang Su ordered as he pulled his head back in.


    The three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment was quickly searched. Only one bedroom had its door closed. Aside from the body in the living room, they found nothing else.


    Zhang Su closed the curtains, then fetched a blanket from the bedroom to cover the corpse in the living room. Turning back to the others, he said, "Let’s hurry and gather supplies. Xinyu, check the kitchen and the second bedroom. Xiaoshan, check the master bedroom and the smaller room. Look for food, water, or any useful tools—take whatever you can."


    "Got it."


    "Understood!"


    Less than ten minutes later, the three regrouped in the living room. Sёar?h the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Brother Su, this place was probably only occupied by the elderly couple. There’s not much here," Zheng Xinyu said with a sigh, patting her nearly empty backpack. She’d assumed there would be plenty of supplies in the kitchen, but it turned out otherwise.


    The pristine kitchen had barely anything: a half-used bag of millet with about two pounds left, four or five pounds of flour, an unopened bag of dried noodles, a few bottles of pickles, some eggs, and cooking oil in the fridge. The most convenient item was probably a pack of black sesame paste.


    "The master bedroom was clearly used by the elderly couple, but the other two rooms haven’t been occupied in ages," Zhong Xiaoshan reported, showing her findings: a screwdriver, scissors, a few small tools, and several boxes of medication for chronic illnesses.


    Zhang Su had found two old flip phones in the living room, which he powered down and tucked into his bag. He also held up a bankbook, waving it at the two women. "The couple’s valuables are right here."


    Curious, the two leaned in to look. The bankbook was filled with deposit records, the most recent from the start of the month. Every month, they had deposited 5,000 yuan, and the balance now exceeded 300,000 yuan.


    "This was their savings for their grandson’s wedding," Zhang Su said, flipping the book to reveal the back cover, which read:


    "They were probably planning to give this as a gift at their grandson’s engagement. The love of elders really is selfless," Zhang Su sighed.


    Zhong Xiaoshan’s eyes reddened, and she couldn’t help glancing at the blanket-covered corpse on the floor.


    "These poor old folks scrimped and saved their whole lives, only for it all to end like this. What a f***ed-up world…" Zheng Xinyu pouted, then looked at Zhang Su pitifully. "Brother Su, I miss my mom and dad, my grandparents. I miss them all."


    "Well, at least your family’s all accounted for," Zhang Su said with a shake of his head. "Let’s focus on figuring out how to survive first!"