Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Room Inspection on the Ground Floor (Part 4)
Without any hesitation, they slammed the door shut. Hu Wangtang and the other two were each leaning against a corner of the wall, calming the panic in their hearts.
"What happened?" Wu Chao, holding a golf club, rushed down from around the hallway corner, his palm-sized face full of tension.
As if to answer his question, the door they had just shut started making a series of violent thudding sounds.
"Damn it, this shitty room connects with a storefront outside, with a whole bunch of zombies holed up inside. If we hadn’t dodged fast just now, we would have become appetizers for those beasts!" Wang Qiang cursed with lingering fear, his labored breathing making it hard for him to speak.
"Enough! This isn’t the place for idle talk. Whatever it is, let’s discuss it back inside!" Hu Xiaodong timely interrupted the two’s conversation, his eyes cautiously scanning outside the building. Once he confirmed there were no signs of "living" activity, he quickly beckoned everyone upstairs to avoid further trouble.
After the life-and-death ordeal they had just experienced, Wang Qiang had no intention of staying at the bottom of the stairs longer. He immediately picked up his Long Spear, patted Wu Chao on the shoulder, and headed upstairs.
Just as they reached the corner of the stairs, Tang Xiaoquan’s hesitant voice suddenly emerged, "Uh, Brother Hu, wait a moment!"
He raised his eyebrows and glanced at the small window embedded into the wall. Tang Xiaoquan leaned on his elbow and pondered for a moment before suddenly turning to Wu Chao at the front of the line and instructed, "Wu, could you go upstairs and bring me a chair? I want to use it to check out the situation outside!"
Wu Chao was slightly stunned and instinctively uttered, "Ah," about to ask for details, when Wang Qiang interrupted first with a sneering remark, "I say, my good buddy, why the hell do you need to look outside? Aren’t you satisfied with the mess those beasts made?"
Faced with Wang Qiang’s sharply sarcastic comment, Tang Xiaoquan could only give a helpless smile.
Why did he want to take a higher look? It was all for finding a way out for the team!
From the sudden situation they had just encountered, it was a perfect illustration of the Law of Survival’s principle: you never know what will happen the next second, so planning and preparing in advance, finding a suitable retreat is key to long-term survival.
Raising his arm to interrupt Wang Qiang’s teasing, Hu Xiaodong signaled for the latter not to say more.
Although he was still unsure of what the young man intended, his instincts told him the other wasn’t doing something pointless.
So...
He stepped forward, removed the quiver from his back, bent down, and pointed to his back, calmly saying, "No need to waste time getting a chair. Just step on my back and take a look!"
"Brother Hu~ this..." Tang Xiaoquan hesitated slightly, Hu Xiaodong’s action was clearly unexpected.
"Enough! Stop dawdling! Hurry up!" Hu Xiaodong urged Tang Xiaoquan again, his thick eyebrows knitted together.
Seeing the serious expression on Hu Xiaodong’s face, Tang Xiaoquan knew there was no point in continuing to refuse, so he straightforwardly said, "Okay," and decisively stepped up.
As he stood up, everything outside the building gradually came into view.
In his eyes appeared a narrow passage about 20 meters long squeezed between two small buildings.
On either end of the passage were iron doors; the one on the right was embedded in the Wall of Hell.
On the other side, Tang Xiaoquan could vaguely make out a straight road under the sun’s rays, with several wavering black shadows appearing and disappearing on it.
A schematic of the surrounding buildings began to form in his mind, and with the completion of this map, Tang Xiaoquan could pretty much confirm the possible escape routes if a crisis were to occur.
He gently jumped off Hu Xiaodong’s back and brushed the dust off the latter’s back, then said, "Thanks!"
Hu Xiaodong grinned indifferently. To him, that was nothing; the only thing he cared about was, "So? Did you see what you wanted?"
With a firm nod, Tang Xiaoquan gave a positive answer with a smile.
Undoubtedly, the team could only discuss the next step after understanding their location.
Although this place was safe, they couldn’t possibly stay here forever.
In Tang Xiaoquan’s view, only by quickly locating a government-operated large-scale shelter could everyone genuinely ensure their safety.
Upon returning inside, Acheng remained blissfully asleep, completely unaware that his brothers had just endured a near-death escape.
Tang Xiaoquan went to the bathroom for a cold shower and then changed into some fresh clothes.
After washing up, the fatigue he had momentarily forgotten due to stress overcame him, leaving him yawning, sleep heavily encroaching his senses.
Seeing Tang Xiaoquan’s tired state, Hu Xiaodong gestured for him to go to sleep, and the others sensibly lowered their voices, fearing to disturb him.
Tang Xiaoquan slept deeply; the continuous hardships had pushed him to his limits.
As a team member, he experienced the same life-and-death battles as the others, and he had been making critical decisions about the team’s fate. To a young man who had only recently graduated, both the physical and psychological toll was imaginable.
By noon, Tang Xiaoquan slowly awakened from deep slumber, the restful sleep rejuvenating him.
Wang Qiang, with a grin, pried open a can of lunch with a mischievous smile, "You’re finally awake. Go wash your hands and get ready to eat, and see how your Brother Qiang cooks!"
Despite rolling his eyes at Wang Qiang, Tang Xiaoquan could tell just by looking at the table full of food that Wang was using yesterday’s "watery broth" as a pretense.
However, while cooking was one thing, a whole table of food was excessively wasteful!
No way! He must emphasize with everyone about food supply distribution over the meal.
Joking aside, though they had amassed more supplies recently, it was still relative.
If everyone kept consuming like this without restraint every meal, then...
Frowning slightly, Tang Xiaoquan was willing to joke and be lenient about other matters, but on this, which concerned the team’s future, he refused to back down a bit.
After all, the supplies were acquired at the cost of their lives. No matter who you are, you don’t have the right to distribute them so wantonly!