The alley was narrow, with little light entering, making it quite cool, but the faint roars added a sense of depression.
You're unlikely to encounter other people here. Although there are relatively fewer zombies in the alley, it's easy to be caught in a pincer attack by zombies and end up in a desperate situation.
Of course, this wasn't a problem for Su Changxing.
As he moved forward, he dealt with the occasional zombie, and when he chopped down the ninth zombie, he noticed a disturbance ahead.
A chubby man in a dark blue jacket, holding a broken stick, was running towards him. Despite his size, he wasn't slow—definitely a nimble fatty, with five or six zombies clawing and howling behind him.
As soon as Su Changxing saw him, the man also saw Su Changxing and shouted, "Brother, run! There's a group of zombies behind, run, woah woah woah!"
Su Changxing was somewhat surprised. He didn't expect the fat man to specifically warn him to run. You know, when being chased by wolves, you don't need to run faster than the wolves; you just need to run faster than the people beside you.
And he was that person beside him.
He had been considering whether or not to run, and now his decision was made.
The chubby man saw Su Changxing dazing in place, got a bit anxious, thinking he might have encountered an idiot—how could someone still not run upon seeing zombies, have they been scared silly?
"Are you standing there waiting to die? Run!"
He zipped past Su Changxing, not even clear on what Su Changxing was holding in his hands, a bit regretful that another person was about to die at the hands of zombies.
Just a few steps later, he heard the sound of bones cracking—gosh, did the zombies dismember him so quickly?
The chubby man looked back and happened to see the person wielding a Steel Saber, smashing the zombies' heads, with blood and flesh splattering everywhere.
His feet unconsciously came to a halt. He realized he had met a big shot, a powerful one, but didn't associate him with the person from yesterday's video.
After a few minutes of battling, Su Changxing had killed these zombies, took out a piece of rag from his pocket to wipe the blood off the Steel Saber, and was about to leave when he heard the fat man shouting behind him.
"Awesome, big brother!"
Zhou An darted over to Su Changxing, looked at the zombies all over the ground, thought of a line from a martial arts film, cupped his hands, and said, "Thank you, big brother, for saving me. I have nothing to repay you with."
Looking at the chubby man's demeanor, Su Changxing found it strangely funny, almost laughed, but held it in, and said faintly, "You're welcome, see you around."
Zhou An stared blankly at the departing big shot—this wasn't what he expected. He caught up again and said, "My name is Zhou An, may I know what big brother's name is?"
Su Changxing stopped, smiled, and said, "My surname is Su. Is there anything you need?"
Zhou An felt Su Changxing was a bit mysterious and expressed his intention anyway: "There are over a dozen people nearby who formed a group on the forum. Doesn't big brother Su want to join? Helping each other out is better than going alone."
Su Changxing thought for a bit, pretended to be reluctant, and said, "I'm afraid not. I have more important things to handle."
More important things?
Zhou An's brain started working at high speed, comparable to dozens of supercomputers combined. This big brother in front of him not only had tremendous strength and excellent equipment but also acted with integrity.
He must be a special member of some official organization, carrying out a secret mission for humanity's survival. That's why he seemed a bit urgent and refused to divulge his information.
Zhou An's expression changed, appearing somewhat mysterious, as he said softly, "I understand. Everyone has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the country. Big brother, if you need help, just let me know. My ID is NothingMuchToDo."
NothingMuchToDo?
This ID seemed familiar.
Su Changxing raised his eyebrows, not understanding why Zhou An would have such a reaction, but still reminded him, "Help is not needed; just don't mention me to others. More importantly, don't make any posts."
Thinking back to when someone recorded a video of him and posted it was already a headache—Wu Wenbi seemed to have recognized him through the video and knew his backpack had a hatchet.
Ha, he was really analyzed thoroughly by them.
Wait, Su Changxing suddenly wondered, watching the video shouldn't be enough to identify him, so the truth was likely that someone secretly photographed him from another angle.
Let me catch that person, and they won't get away easily!
Zhou An showed a "wise man" expression and said, "I understand, I understand, it's a special time, we all need to work hard together now."
Su Changxing was somewhat confused; he didn't know what exactly Zhou An understood but managed to maintain his composure, nodded, and said, "Mm, I'm leaving first. Stay alive."
"Okay, big brother."
Zhou An gave a not-so-standard salute.
Su Changxing was silent for a moment, then returned the salute somewhat more properly. He realized why Zhou An reacted this way.
Zhou An watched the figure receding in the alley, tall and resilient, and unknowingly felt tears welling up, murmuring to himself:
"Even though everyone is having a hard time, there are always a few who carry more and forge ahead in the shadows. There's never truly a peaceful time in this world."
The more Su Changxing recalled earlier events, the more ridiculous they seemed. He had inexplicably gained a new identity, just thinking Zhou An had considerable imagination, probably from reading too many ridiculous novels.
Twenty minutes later, Su Changxing returned to the familiar Mysterious Shop A01713, treating this place like a temporary "home."
He noticed the street seemed to have been cleared again, with more zombie corpses, indicating someone else had been there.
Who was it?
Chenxi or someone else?
Following the stairwell, Su Changxing reached the third floor and came upon the room he had previously stayed in, finding it in complete disarray as if it had been burgled.
The empty cans and bottles he had left in the room were missing as well.
"Is this because someone saw signs of habitation and searched, or were they specifically looking for me?"
Su Changxing determined that this wasn't aimless looting, but purposeful, as only this room had been meticulously searched.
At the same time, he felt a tinge of anger, feeling violated. Although those rooms didn't belong to anyone, since he had been staying there, they were his, now wantonly ransacked by someone.
The room was chaotic, but Su Changxing felt more at ease here, maybe due to some familiarity. Leaning against the wall, he drank some water and took out his phone to browse the forum.
He hadn't had much time to look at other things on the forum before.
[Number of survivors: 8.6 billion]
This Doomsday World seems like a massive sieve, eliminating those unable to adapt, while the death rate began slowing down.
"I guess in a bit more time, the death rate will completely slow down, assuming no major changes occur."
Su Changxing pondered for a while, looked up at the moldy ceiling and muttered, "The more one says that, the more it feels something will go wrong, not due to jinxing, but because this Doomsday Game is certainly not that simple."
"So my current strength is far from enough; it's adequate for fighting zombies, but that's about it."