The man downstairs cautiously made his way upstairs.

Because of the way the stairwell amplified sound, Lin Chu and the others could clearly hear his footsteps approaching.

Tap, tap, tap…

The footsteps grew closer.

Yu Hongfei was already prepared to confront him.

But the footsteps stopped on the second floor.

After some rustling sounds, the three of them clearly heard the sound of water being flushed.

They exchanged glances in confusion.

Zheng Ziyu, who was rather shy, already had a faint blush of embarrassment on his face.

Yu Hongfei scratched his head, unsure of what the man was up to.

After a while, the water stopped, and the rustling resumed.

Then came the tap tap tap of footsteps again.

Just as the three tensed up, thinking the man was finally coming upstairs, the footsteps started to fade away instead.

He was going back down?

Yu Hongfei looked back, a trace of confusion in his eyes.

Was that what he meant by “checking if the upstairs is safe”? He only checked the second floor?

The three of them were speechless.

Not long after, they heard the man back on the first floor, saying to the woman waiting there:

“I checked upstairs. It’s safe. No zombies. Let our son sleep in peace.”

Lin Chu and the others didn’t want to wait anymore.

After Lin Chu nodded, the three of them moved out—Yu Hongfei taking the lead, Lin Chu covering the rear—as they exited the third floor.

As the fire door closed, it inevitably made a noise.

Voices in slight panic rose from downstairs.

“Honey, listen! There’s movement upstairs.”

“Are you sure it’s safe up there?”

Though the man stammered a bit, his voice carried some impatience.

“I’m sure, I checked. There’s nothing upstairs. Not even anything breathing…”

“…at all.”

The couple sat cross-legged facing each other, a few worn cloths spread out beneath them.

Their backs were slightly hunched, appearing to be in their fifties or sixties. Their clothes weren’t exactly clean, but they were tidy—not like they’d been living on the streets long-term.

Beside them was a clean blanket, where a boy who looked about ten or so lay sleeping.

The man sat with his back against the wall, facing the staircase.

As he uttered those last words, he suddenly saw a foot appear on the stairs.

He couldn’t help but swallow nervously, though his mouth still finished the last word out of habit.

“Nothing? Then what was that sound just now?”

The woman rubbed her arms, goosebumps rising. Something didn’t feel right.

“There’s someone.”

As the man said this, he stood up, eyes fixed on a point behind the woman.

She almost jumped out of her skin at those two words and sprang to her feet.

“Who’s there?!”

Seeing her about to panic, Yu Hongfei immediately spoke up.

“Hello, we just came down from upstairs. We’re only passing through, we mean no harm.”

The man peeked out from behind the woman. The couple eyed the three cautiously, but the child lying on the floor simply rubbed his eyes and turned over, continuing to sleep.

“What do you want?!”

By the light of the moon streaming in from the window, Lin Chu could see the woman trembling slightly, though she tried to appear calm, holding her head high.

Yu Hongfei, hearing her question, shook his empty hand.

“We don’t want anything. Just passing through. We’re trying to leave.”

The woman looked at them, half-believing.

Behind her, the man’s eyes darted from Yu Hongfei’s baton to Zheng Ziyu’s kitchen knife, and finally to the bone club in Lin Chu’s hand. He swallowed hard.

He tugged on the woman’s sleeve and whispered, “Honey… stop asking. Just let them go.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“You promise… you won’t do anything to us?”

After Yu Hongfei nodded, she stepped aside, shielding the boy behind her.

The three of them slowly descended the stairs.

Just as they passed by the woman, she suddenly spoke.

“Are you part of a mission team from the F City Survivor Base? Can we go with you to the survivor base?”

F City Survivor Base?

Lin Chu and the others exchanged glances. Then Yu Hongfei calmly asked:

“You don’t look like you’ve been living out on the streets. Why do you want to go to the F City Survivor Base?”

The woman’s eyes turned sorrowful as she pointed to the floor beneath her.

“To be honest, our daughter used to work at this company.”

“About six months before the zombie outbreak, she suddenly called us and said the company was sending her to join an important pharmaceutical research project. Once she joined the team, she wouldn’t be able to contact family for a year.”

“Then the outbreak happened. We tried everything to find her but heard nothing. We… we even thought she might already be gone…”

Her voice choked up.

The sadness seemed to affect the man too. He lowered his head, lips trembling slightly.

“Some time ago, at the H City Survivor Base, we heard that the researchers sent out by this company were secretly protected.”

“And supposedly… they were protected at the F City Survivor Base. That gave us hope again.”

The woman’s tearful account had Yu Hongfei nodding in sympathy.

But Lin Chu kept his eyes on the boy behind her.

“This your son?”

The sudden question startled the woman. She shifted slightly, trying to block Lin Chu’s view of the child.

“Yes. Our son and his big sister were very close. He kept begging us to find her, so we came.”

As she spoke, Lin Chu noticed the “sleeping” boy purse his lips in displeasure.

“We’re not from the F City Survivor Base. And we’re not heading there either.”

“You—!”

Before the woman could respond, the man couldn’t help but lift his head, glaring at them in displeasure.

But all he met was Lin Chu’s calm, indifferent gaze.

Those phoenix eyes seemed to see right through him. He couldn’t hold eye contact and turned his face away instinctively.

The woman realized she’d been tricked into revealing too much. Her expression darkened, but she knew she couldn’t do anything about it.

“You got information from us… shouldn’t you give us some food in exchange?”

She tried to negotiate.

Lin Chu raised an eyebrow at her.

She immediately fell silent.

The three walked past them and exited through the fire escape. Lin Chu, being the last, even kindly closed the door behind them.

On the way back, Lin Chu kept turning the woman’s words over in his mind.

This biopharmaceutical company had a confidential research project before the zombie outbreak.

After joining it, their daughter went completely off the grid.

And Ma Yan had a mission that was also related to this company.

Could there be some kind of connection between them?