“That move of yours made them fall flat on their faces and even cost them two teammates. No wonder they hate you so much.”

When Lin Chu heard Yu Hongfei say this, she realized he must have overheard bits of the conversation when Ma Yan and his group had captured him.

She glanced at him and curled her lips faintly. “Only one person should’ve died in the elevator incident.”

“Then how come Ma Yan said they were down two people? Don’t tell me the other one wasn’t your doing?”

As he said this, Yu Hongfei suddenly turned his gaze toward Zheng Ziyu.

Right—Ma Yan hadn’t actually seen who did it. He’d just heard it was a woman… Could it be…

Zheng Ziyu noticed Yu Hongfei’s look but didn’t respond. She simply shifted her gaze to Lin Chu.

Lin Chu, of course, also noticed Yu Hongfei glancing at Zheng Ziyu and clarified, “It wasn’t her. The second one was also me—but it didn’t happen in the elevator.”

She briefly told them what had happened at the 24-hour convenience store.

After hearing the story, Yu Hongfei’s face turned red with anger, the veins on his forehead bulging visibly.

Lin Chu had no doubt that if Ma Yan’s corpse were thrown in front of him right now, he would go up and beat it with all his strength.

Zheng Ziyu’s face also darkened.

“That’s such a cruel method…”

She had only said a few words when she suddenly looked up with urgency.

“I think I’ve heard of him. The serial rapist-murderer who shocked the whole nation years ago—he always raped the victims and then carved two Xs on the women’s faces with a knife.”

“I remember the experts said he had an extreme misogynistic tendency.”

“But…”

Zheng Ziyu looked up, confused. “I remember he was caught. He was executed, wasn’t he?”

Yu Hongfei rubbed his face with his hand and pressed his lips together, saying nothing.

Lin Chu nodded.
“You’re not mistaken. That’s him.”

“I was the one who collected live evidence from him at the time.”

“And the authorities did officially announce that he was executed.”

As she spoke, a dark glint flashed through Lin Chu’s eyes.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Ziyu let out a bitter laugh and shook her head.

“Makes sense. This system is so powerful—it can drag in ordinary people like us, so naturally, it could also pull in someone who’s already dead.”

She had read enough infinite survival novels to know that many protagonists entered such worlds after dying.

Thinking about it that way, Ma Yan’s appearance here seemed perfectly logical.

The cruelty of Ma Yan’s crimes left a deeper shadow on the minds of the other two.

They fell silent again. Lin Chu wasn’t one to talk much either, so the three continued quietly along their path until they reached Building 8 in the medical park.

Though Ma Yan and his group had stirred up quite a few zombies that day…

After escaping, they had vented all their rage on the surrounding zombies.

By now, there wasn’t a single living zombie near Building 8.

Only dismembered body parts littered the ground.

So mangled that even the system wouldn’t bother glancing at them.

Even after these past days of witnessing all kinds of gore, Zheng Ziyu still furrowed her brow at the sight.

The three carefully avoided the dismembered remains as Lin Chu led the way to the warehouse entrance.

They reached the fire escape door Lin Chu had used before without encountering any obstacles.

Yu Hongfei pulled Lin Chu behind him and drew his police baton from his waist.

“You cleared out the zombies last time, but it’s been a while. Things could’ve changed. Let me go first and check it out.”

It was an ingrained sense of duty for Yu Hongfei.

As a soldier, his ability to handle unexpected situations was far better than Lin Chu’s, so she didn’t argue. She just reminded him to be careful and stepped back.

Yu Hongfei reached out his left hand and tested the fire door a few times before pushing it open with force.

“Creak—”

The sudden sound of the door opening was especially loud in the quiet and empty space.

There was nothing behind the door.

He raised his hand to signal Lin Chu and Zheng Ziyu to wait.

After checking the area inside, he returned and waved them over.

“All clear. We can go in.”

Once Lin Chu and Zheng Ziyu entered, Lin Chu closed the fire door behind them.

The group arranged themselves with Yu Hongfei in front, Zheng Ziyu in the middle, and Lin Chu at the rear, then headed upstairs.

Following Lin Chu’s previous route, they first went to the upper floors to collect sterile supplies like gauze and then swept the lower floors layer by layer.

Opportunities to raid a medical warehouse were rare, and with Lin Chu’s spatial storage, they gathered plenty of medicine.

However, since Yu Hongfei and Zheng Ziyu didn’t have time-frozen storage like Lin Chu, they had to be more selective and take only long-lasting types.

Perhaps because they were moving in a group this time—and Ma Yan had scared off many participants—Lin Chu felt safer and took time to pick through the supplies, filling gaps from their last run.

Once inside her space, the medicine wouldn’t expire, so she didn’t mind taking as much as possible.

Still, she had to leave room for future resource gathering.

They were very satisfied after sweeping from the 8th floor down to the 3rd.

Just as they pushed open the fire door to head to the 2nd floor, they suddenly heard noises from the stairwell.

“Creak—”

The dull sound of a door opening reached their ears.

It came from the 1st floor.

They knew that sound well.

Every time they opened a fire door during their sweep, it made that same noise.

Someone was coming.

The three exchanged glances but remained still.

It seemed like the person downstairs was also checking if the stairwell was safe.

After a moment, a man’s voice—deliberately lowered—rang out:

“Wife, there are no zombies here. Bring our son in quickly.”

Though he tried to lower his voice, it still echoed clearly in the quiet stairwell and reached Lin Chu and the others.

Moments later, there were rustling sounds—someone had entered the stairwell.

The fire door closed again, and the man’s voice sounded more confident:

“I’ll go upstairs to check if it’s safe. You and our son rest here for a bit.”

“Okay. The boy and I are exhausted. If it’s safe, we’ll stay here and rest.”

The man responded, and the three upstairs heard his footsteps heading up.

Yu Hongfei turned back to look at Lin Chu, silently mouthing a question, clearly treating her as the core of their team.

Lin Chu shook her head and pointed to the floor, signaling him not to move—they should stay where they were.

Since they had already opened the fire door, closing it now would just make noise and give away their presence.

Might as well stand their ground openly and wait.

Given the strength of the three of them, they were unlikely to come out worse in any confrontation in this world.

If the newcomers were friendly, they could just say hello and leave.

If they were troublemakers, Lin Chu didn’t mind dealing with them head-on.

It sounded like a family of three.

Such groups always had weaknesses.

She wasn’t worried about them causing trouble.