After Zhang Su and the others prepared and ensured their protection, they each strapped on an empty large backpack and headed to the ninth floor.
Knock knock knock.
Zhang Su tapped the axe on the door of unit 901, then pressed his ear against it. After listening carefully for a while, he shook his head: "No sound. I haven't heard footsteps upstairs usually when at home, seems like no one lives here."
They continued upwards; there was no owner information for the Tenth Floor, Unit One of Building Three in the owner's group. Moreover, from the state of the floor and the entrance doors of the two units, it indeed showed no signs of habitation.
Going further up, as they pulled open the safety door of the eleventh floor, Zhang Su's grip on the axe handle slightly tightened.
Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan both swallowed hard.
The door of unit 1101 was tightly shut, but there was a pool of dark, dried blood at the entrance, clearly seeping from under the door. The doormat with "Safe Travels" written on it was soaked in the blood, emanating a strange color, with a faint smell of blood lingering in the corridor, unsettling to the heart.
Zhang Su turned and gestured for silence to the two, ignoring the situation of 1101, and instead pointed towards 1102.
Based on the information gathered from the owner's group, 1101 was supposed to be unoccupied, while someone lived in 1102, but now, 1101 clearly had issues.
When Zhang Su cautiously rounded the corner and saw 1102, his heart leapt!
At this moment, the entrance door of 1102 was wide open, with a small electric scooter parked in the entryway and two pairs of shoes neatly placed on the ground, everything appearing very ordinary.
Yet this normalcy filled Zhang Su's heart with unease!
Creak.
The sound of fingers clenching echoed.
Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan, trailing behind Zhang Su, simultaneously tightened their grips on their weapons.
"Stick to the old rule, no matter what situation we encounter, no making noise. Anyone who screams gets knocked out!"
Zhang Su warned the two women without taking his eyes off 1102.
They softly replied with a hum, gripping their weapons tighter.
Step by step, the three headed towards 1102, the silent corridor echoing no sound, a silence that heightened the anxiety.
Finally, Zhang Su stepped onto the doormat inside the door, sniffing the air, detecting an odd odor.
Passing the entryway led directly into the living room. Zhang Su moved forward slowly, his view gradually widening, the first thing he saw was a pair of feet in socks with no shoes in sight.
A chill ran through his heart; he gestured 'wait' to those behind, then tapped the shoe cabinet with the axe.
Thud thud.
The dull sound resonated in the room, striking the eardrums.
Still no reaction, but this brought some relief—if a zombie were lurking, it would surely respond to the noise!
As the three entered further, taking in the entire living room, they froze on the spot.
In the center of the living room lay a mangled corpse, its upper body grotesquely gnawed, the abdominal flesh peeled back, organs exposed and jumbled in a bloody mess, from the fairly intact head and blood-stained white hair, it was an elderly woman.
The eeriest part was that the living room bore no signs of struggle, as if the elderly woman had willingly let herself be devoured by the zombie while alive.
Zhong Xiaoshan, seeing the scene, merely turned her head sorrowfully, while Zheng Xinyu had a more intense reaction, a wave of nausea sweeping over her, though she barely managed to suppress it.
"Where did the zombie go?"
Zheng Xinyu asked cautiously, saliva constantly swallowing in her mouth, her eyes darting over the room's doors. Normally, a zombie would be attracted by noise; an unexpected situation couldn't be ruled out, a large one might suddenly leap out of some corner!
Zhong Xiaoshan didn't speak, her hands gripping a large wrench, which was icy cold but now warmed by her touch, ready to attack at any moment.
Zhang Su was certain the zombie wasn't inside. Observing carefully, he quickly focused on the living room's wide-open bay window: "The zombie should have climbed out from there..."
"What?"
Startled by this shocking conclusion, Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan were astonished.
"Remember yesterday's loudspeaker? It's likely that it happened then. It seems zombies indeed lack intelligence, driven only by primal desires, relentlessly pursuing prey!"
Zhang Su looked out the bay window where sticky blood on the window frame confirmed his suspicion, peering downward, a twisted body lay at the flowerbed base, apparently the zombie had indeed climbed out of the window.
"Close the main door, check the other rooms."
Retracting his gaze, Zhang Su instructed the two women.
In the three-bedroom, two-living room house, only one bedroom door was closed. The inspection concluded quickly; aside from the living room body, no other corpses were present.
Rustle!
Zhang Su closed the curtains, then fetched a blanket from the bedroom to cover the body in the living room, and turned, saying: "Hurry to pack things, Xinyu, head to the kitchen and the secondary bedroom, Xiaoshan, take the main and small bedrooms, food, water, handy tools, grab whatever seems useful."
"Okay."
"Got it!"
In less than ten minutes, the three regrouped in the living room.
"Brother Su, it seems only an old man and woman lived here, not much stuff..."
Zheng Xinyu patted her backpack helplessly. Previously, she thought that in a household with elderly, the kitchen would be well-stocked, only to find it otherwise.
The kitchen was impeccably clean, with a bag of millet left with about two pounds, half a bag of flour four or five pounds, and an unopened pack of noodles. The fridge held oil, eggs, and a few jars of pickles, possibly the most convenient item was that packet of black sesame paste...
"Judging from the bedrooms, aside from the master bedroom used by the elderly couple, the other two have been unoccupied for quite a while."
Zhong Xiaoshan spread her hands, only finding a few everyday tools such as screwdrivers and scissors, plus some boxes of chronic disease medications.
Zhang Su powered off two elderly mobile phones found in the living room and stuffed them into his bag, shaking a bankbook in hand at the two women: "The belongings of the two elderly are here..."
Intrigued, Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan took the bankbook. Neatly printed deposit records filled the lines, the last entry was at the start of this month, invariably depositing five thousand every month, with a balance already exceeding three hundred thousand!
"This is the money the elderly saved for their grandson's marriage…"
Zhang Su indicated them to flip the bankbook, where it boldly stated: Grandfather and Grandmother wish Haotian a happy marriage.
"The two old folks surely planned to gift this as a wedding present when their grandson got married, a testament to the... heart of elders."
Zhong Xiaoshan's eyes reddened, glancing involuntarily at the blanket-covered mound on the floor.
"The elderly frugal their whole lives, and now everything's gone, what a damn world..." Zheng Xinyu pouted, sympathetically looking at Zhang Su: "Brother Su, I miss my mom and dad, grandpa and grandma, and both sets of grandparents."
"Your family is quite intact..." Zhang Su shook his head, consoling: "Better think about how to survive yourself for now!"