The more I thought about it, the more something felt off.
As I slowly recalled everything, I began to realize that ever since we first entered this shelter, everything had felt unnatural—like something wasn't right, though I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what.
Suo Tian dragged me quickly into a small patch of bushes in a flowerbed.
We crouched behind the shrubs as he scanned our surroundings carefully.
Meanwhile, I was still lost in my thoughts about what had just happened.
Something about this place was seriously strange.
Judging from what we'd just seen, there had to be at least a thousand walkers out there—
Had they really all been kept inside Building One this whole time?
Or… were walkers being kept in every building except for Building Six?
Was it everyone in the shelter who had been involved in keeping the walkers here, or just a few?
Were the others simply being kept in the dark?
And what about that suspicious couple?
And the Old man Zheng, who suddenly showed up in the room—
Who were they, really?
I looked back at the residential compound, and a deep sense of unease gripped me like a vice.
The walkers in front of me no longer felt like the scariest thing here.
What truly terrified me…
Was the unknown darkness that lay within human hearts.
After a long while, Suo Tian finally turned and looked at me.
Maybe he noticed something wrong with my expression, because he asked, "What's wrong?"
As he spoke, his eyes scanned me up and down, clearly checking whether I was hurt.
I shook my head and replied, "It's nothing. Just… feels weird. Where did all these walkers suddenly come from?"
Hearing that, Suo Tian frowned slightly and glanced toward Building One.
Then he said,
"Don't worry about it for now."
I nodded, took a couple of deep breaths, and forced myself to focus on the situation at hand.
Lately, I felt like I was becoming more and more unreliable—no matter the circumstances, I always managed to find time to drift off and think about unrelated things.
If something went wrong one of these days, I'd have no one to blame but myself.
After a while of thinking things through, Suo Tian turned and pointed toward Building Six.
"We're heading over there," he said to me.
It wasn't until that moment that I suddenly realized something extremely out of place.
Ever since the walkers started pouring out until now, I hadn't heard a single gunshot.
That was very strange.
Never mind Suo Tian's team, who were all armed—even that group with the Fatty had weapons too.
Walkers were practically flooding the entire courtyard by now, so how had there not been a single shot fired?
Then a thought struck me:
If these walkers had been raised by Fatty's group… then not firing would make sense.
But then, what exactly was their goal?
Noticing I'd fallen into thought again, Suo Tian reached out and gave my head a light tap.
He probably knew I wouldn't stop spacing out unless I got some answers, so he simply explained, "The problems here have existed for a long time. They've got nothing to do with us—it's the people here who have issues."
As he said this, Suo Tian glanced toward Building One and the security post near the gate.
After thinking for two more seconds, he added, "There aren't any rooms in Building One—each floor is just one big hall."
Hearing that, I was stunned and instinctively turned to look at Building One—which looked identical in appearance to all the other buildings—and asked in surprise, "You went inside?"
"Yeah," Suo Tian nodded.
"Wait, wait—so does that mean those big halls were used to keep the walkers?"
"Not all of them. Only the floors above the tenth," he replied.
No wonder there were so many walkers inside Building One.
The buildings in this complex were nearly twenty stories tall.
Normally, each floor would have four apartments.
If they were combined into one large hall, how many walkers could they cram into each floor?
"What about the floors below the tenth?"
"Couldn't get in. Not sure."
After answering me, Suo Tian pointed toward the gatehouse and asked, "You've been there?"
"You could tell?" I asked in surprise.
Suo Tian looked at me for a second or two and said, "You were standing with that man just now."
I paused, then quickly realized he was talking about the Old man Zheng.
I nodded, now understanding, and started to consider whether I should tell him about the strange things I'd encountered there.
But before I could even open my mouth, a sudden bang bang bang rang out loudly, followed by the sharp crash of something shattering.
The sounds made me jolt violently in shock.
Suo Tian whipped his head toward Building Six.
I quickly came to my senses and also turned to look in that direction through a gap in the bushes.
Those few bang bang sounds just now, while not exactly familiar, were still easy to identify—they were sniper rifle shots.
As for the sound of shattering glass afterward… could it have been the main entrance of Building Six?
I remembered that the lobby doors were made entirely of glass.
If it had just been a window breaking, it shouldn't have made such a loud crashing noise.
From our angle, we couldn't see the lobby of Building Six directly—only the upper floors and some of the side corners were visible through a narrow diagonal line.
My mind paused for a beat, and suddenly, something clicked.
I quickly looked up toward the roof of Building One—and sure enough!
That tireless dark figure was still crouched up there.
Only this time, his rifle was aimed toward… Building Six!
Because of the loud noise, the walkers in the courtyard gradually began drifting toward Building Six.
Even the massive horde inside Building Two had heard the commotion and were now stumbling out one after another, shambling toward Building Six.
Suo Tian pushed my head lower to keep us hidden from the view of the walkers passing by the other side of the bushes.
Watching the scene unfold in front of me, connecting it to what had just happened, a sudden chill hit me like a punch to the chest.
They did it on purpose!
They were deliberately luring the walkers toward Building Six!
It didn't take long before I started hearing gunfire erupting from inside Building Six—at first just a few scattered shots, but then rapidly escalating into an almost nonstop barrage.
I clenched my fists tightly.
Now I finally understood why they hadn't fired a single shot earlier—because most of the walkers had been drawn into Building Two by me and Suo Tian.
There were still some in the courtyard, but not enough to pose a serious threat, and Building Six hadn't drawn attention yet.
All they needed to do was keep the lobby doors shut and remain quiet, and the walkers wouldn't notice them.
As long as they didn't step outside, they didn't even have to deal with the danger directly.
Thinking of that person who shattered the entrance to Building Six, I couldn't help but grit my teeth in hatred.
I didn't know how much time had passed—only that my legs had gone numb from squatting so long, and my neck was sore from keeping my head down.
Only now had the walkers inside Building Two more or less all poured out.
I tried to lift my stiff neck a little and glanced toward Building Six.
There weren't many walkers in front of it anymore—I knew the majority had already rushed inside.
The gunfire from within continued almost nonstop.
Aside from that, the rest of the residential compound was eerily quiet.
For a moment, it felt as though the only people left in this entire complex… were us.
But when I looked up and saw that the black-clad figure on the rooftop had vanished, I knew—
There was still a group of people hiding in the shadows, carefully watching us, eagerly waiting for the moment we'd be torn apart alive by the walkers.
The gunfire in Building Six had moved up to the top floor.
I narrowed my eyes and stared intently at the rooftop.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before I saw a group of people appear on the roof.
But the distance was too great—other than making out that a sizable number of people were up there, I couldn't make out anything else clearly.
Suo Tian had clearly noticed them too.
Once he saw the figures appear on the rooftop, he scanned the area, then pointed at Building Four in front of Building Six and said to me,
"Let's head to the roof of Building Four."
I was about to remind Suo Tian that Building Four might also have some issues, but then I remembered—since he had already known about the situation in Building One, with how cautious he was, he had definitely checked the other buildings as well.
If he was suggesting we go there now, it must mean he was confident that there was no uncontrollable danger inside.
Most of the walkers in the courtyard had gathered around Building Six, so Suo Tian and I simply made a break for it—running straight and openly toward Building Four.
Along the way, a few walkers tried to block our path, but we managed to dodge around them.
Just as we were about to enter the lobby of Building Four, my eyes caught a flash of something—a metal spade sticking upright in the soil of a small flowerbed nearby.
Without hesitation, I ran over, yanked the spade out of the ground, and weighed it in my hands.
It wasn't exactly ideal, but it was better than being empty-handed.
This must've been left behind by someone who had tended to the plants here at some point.
Suo Tian glanced back and gave the spade in my hand a quick look.
He signaled for me to keep up, then strode confidently into Building Four.
There were two walkers mindlessly drifting around inside the lobby.
I was about to try sneaking past them—but then I looked down at the spade in my hand, remembered how close I'd come to getting bitten earlier, and gritted my teeth.
I charged straight at them.
As I closed in, I raised the spade and swung it hard at one of their heads.
But the walker barely reacted—it just kept coming at me with its mouth wide open.
I winced hard.
Damn it.
First time using a weapon like this, and of course I screw it up.
No experience at all.
I was just about to lift the spade again to strike its forehead when my arm was suddenly yanked backward.
A strong force pulled me away, and right after that, I heard Suo Tian's slightly annoyed voice:
"Stop wasting time."
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