Soon, the second group of black-clad individuals also landed.
Except for the two who ran over to start the vehicles, the remaining four formed a team, daggers in hand, and headed toward the main gate.
Along the way, any walkers that blocked their path were mostly taken down with daggers — probably to avoid the noise of gunfire, which might attract the large number of walkers inside Building 6.
That would be a huge problem.
Watching their orderly, coordinated movements, the panic that had been clinging to my heart finally eased a little.
As expected… the strength of a team is immeasurable.
It's not just about the increase in combat power when people band together — even the mutual sense of security is far more comforting than when you're alone or in a group of two.
I tore my gaze away from them and looked up toward the rooftop.
The moment I did, I jolted upright instinctively — completely forgetting I was sitting in the car.
Bang! My head slammed into the roof, and a buzzing sound immediately rang out in my ears.
I rubbed my head hard, trying to ease the discomfort from the impact, then quickly crawled out of the car and looked up at the people carefully descending from the rooftop.
Yangyang was swaying slowly on the outermost rope, looking incredibly shaky.
My heart twisted into a knot at the sight.
Even though he'd grown stronger after surviving alone for days with Zheng Yiyi, deep down, he was still timid.
I remembered clearly that he had a serious fear of heights — if it weren't for the security bars on the windows giving him a sense of safety, he wouldn't even look down from the balcony of our fourth-floor apartment.
It seemed the black-clad team wanted them to descend first.
Shen Feng and Xu Shu were on the other two ropes, climbing down as well.
Since the building was so tall and neither of them was in great shape, they weren't sharing ropes like the first group had — probably to avoid slowing each other down.
The black-clad team remained waiting on the rooftop.
I stood by the car, staring up at Yangyang and the others, utterly worried.
Every time Yangyang showed the slightest sign of instability, my heart leapt into my throat.
Watching their clumsy movements, I felt like I was being tormented along with them — my heart pounding wildly.
When they finally reached about the halfway point, I let out a small breath of relief, but my nerves remained tight.
I was terrified I might see one of them fall at any second.
My eyes and neck moved ever so slightly as I followed their gradual descent.
When all three of them finally reached the third floor more or less at the same time, I let out a deep, relieved breath.
A ridiculous thought suddenly popped into my head: Well, even if they fall now, it probably wouldn't be fatal.
There's an old saying: bad words come true more often than good ones.
Back when we were kids, if anyone said something unlucky during holidays or festivals, adults would immediately scold us and often spit twice on the ground to ward off the bad luck.
Just as this dark little thought flashed through my mind, the next second—bang bang bang—several gunshots suddenly rang out.
In the otherwise quiet atmosphere we'd tried so hard to maintain, the sound was especially jarring.
Before I could even react, Suo Tian suddenly whipped his head around to look at Building 5, tilting his head slightly upward—it was hard to tell exactly which floor he was looking at.
I followed his gaze toward Building 5.
The gunshots from earlier echoed in my mind, and a tight knot formed in my chest.
Could those shots have come from Building 5?
A second later, a terrible realization hit me.
I whipped my head back toward Yangyang and the others—and what I saw made my face go pale.
The spot where Yangyang and the others had just been was now riddled with bullet holes.
Those shots… they had been aimed at them?!
They all seemed visibly startled, but thankfully none of them had lost their grip.
In fact, they now seemed more determined to escape that vulnerable position of hanging midair, each one speeding up their descent.
Just then, Suo Tian's walkie-talkie crackled to life, and a stern, older male voice came through, sounding more serious and rigid than usual:
"Boss, a rat slipped out from the seventh floor of Building 5."
Although I didn't quite understand what they meant by "rat slipped out," the moment I heard a specific location mentioned, I instinctively whipped my head toward Building 5 and quickly counted up to the seventh floor.
Sure enough, in one of the windows, I spotted someone setting up a rifle.
I squinted for a closer look — and immediately felt a jolt of terror.
I could swear on my 5.0 vision that the barrel of that gun was aimed right at me and Suo Tian!
"Take him out!"
Suo Tian had clearly seen it too, but his expression didn't change.
His eyes were locked firmly on that window as he calmly raised the walkie-talkie and gave the order.
I stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle.
Judging from the bullet holes on the wall earlier, that shooter clearly had terrible aim, but still — who's to say he wouldn't get lucky and hit one of us this time?
Nobody wants to get shot for no reason — it hurts like hell!
Almost the very next second, there was a loud bang, and a burst of blood mist exploded from behind the seventh-floor window.
The guy didn't even have time to scream before his head was blown clean off.
"Over," came a voice from the walkie-talkie.
At the same time, Yangyang and the others finally made it safely to the ground.
Exhausted, they all crouched down where they landed, bending over and catching their breath.
I was just about to run over and check on them when my eyes caught sight of something — over a dozen walkers had appeared from behind the shattered front doors of Building 6.
Alarmed, I spun back toward the window where the shooter had just been.
My temples immediately began to throb violently.
That bastard!
He never intended to kill any of us — his real goal was to make noise and draw all the walkers out of Building 6!
Suo Tian clearly realized this a moment before I did.
He was already shouting into the walkie-talkie, "Move faster!"
Yangyang and the others were still crouched near the wall, breathing hard.
The dozen or so walkers had now slowly wandered around the corner — heading right in their direction.
"Hey! You three, get back here now!"
With more black-clad team members beginning to descend rapidly above them, I grew more anxious.
In a panic, I simply grabbed the iron shovel, lifted my leg, and was about to rush forward — but Suo Tian yanked me back.
Before I could even ask why, he turned, pulled a dagger out from under the car seat, and gestured for me to stay put.
Then he sprinted forward without hesitation.
Hearing my shout, Xu Shu was the first to react.
She awkwardly pushed herself up using her legs, said something to Shen Feng and Yangyang, and the three of them began hobbling toward us, their legs stiff and heavy as if they could barely move.
At that moment, the dozen or so walkers rounded the corner and spotted Xu Shu and the others.
Their mouths flew open as they began screeching — their voices noticeably more frenzied than before.
The three of them heard the noise and immediately stopped, turning around.
I figured they probably wanted to fight back, but their bodies were too drained to even respond properly.
Luckily, Suo Tian had already reached them.
As he passed by, he turned his head slightly to glance at them, then raised the dagger and charged headlong at the approaching walkers.
To be honest, dealing with over a dozen walkers alone is no small task, especially without backup.
It's like the previous times we ran into groups of them — the two earlier teams had high numbers, and we were able to get through thanks to mutual cover and the fact that the walkers were scattered.
But when you're alone, it's hard to cover every angle.
All it takes is one blind spot, and a walker could bite you before you know it.
Still, watching Suo Tian's swift and ruthless movements, I gave a slight shake of my head — he should be fine.
I decided not to focus on him anymore.
Instead, I rushed forward to help support the three, who were so exhausted from the descent that their limbs had gone soft and couldn't muster any strength.
"Sis, where did you and Brother Suo Tian go just now? Why are there so many walkers here? Did a walker horde break through?"
With my help, Yangyang was practically hanging half his body on me, dragging down my steps and making me stumble.
I had no choice but to shoot him a glare and tell him to support himself as much as possible — I could only assist him a little.
Hearing his question, both Xu Shu and Shen Feng also turned to look at me, their faces full of the same confusion.
I didn't answer right away.
Instead, I helped the three of them into the van.
Once Shen Feng said he could still manage to drive, I quickly thought about it and gave them a rough explanation:
"These walkers were being raised by the people here. Their beliefs are really strange — on the surface, they look kind and peaceful, but in reality, they're extremely deranged. I can't really explain it clearly, but… you guys know about Fal*n Gong, right? Everyone here is in a similar state — completely obsessed with some guy who calls himself 'Arhat.' I'm guessing they released the walkers on purpose, either to kill us or to force us to leave."
After I rattled all that off, the three of them looked at me with even more puzzled expressions.
Xu Shu was the first to ask, "Raised? All these walkers here were raised by them? There aren't even that many people here! And what's this about Arhat and Fal*n Gong — what does any of that mean? The more you talk, the more confused I get."
Yangyang chimed in from the side, "Sister Xu Shu, my sister's just using a metaphor. She means that the people here are blindly worshiping something that goes completely against the truth."
I gave Yangyang an approving look — truly, blood ties run deep.
He just gets me, no matter what I say.
From the front driver's seat, Shen Feng turned to glance back and asked, "Why would they want to kill us? They can believe whatever they want — we weren't interfering with anything."
Before I could answer, Xu Shu, having thought it over, waved her hand and said to Shen Feng, "Forget it. I get it now. Most people these days are insane — total lunatics! You can't ask 'why' with people like them. Their thinking doesn't operate on logic anymore — there's no 'why,' only how they can keep fooling themselves to escape their own suffering."
Seeing the three of them talking it out amongst themselves, I simply opened the car door and got out again.
I tilted my head back to look up at the rooftop.
Watching the black-clad figures sliding down rapidly, I couldn't shake the heavy feeling pressing on my chest.
Uncle Gazi, Tingyun, Rongrong, Chen Pu, Jun Di, Zhang Hongsheng, Han Xue, Zhou Wen, Taozi — were they still up there on the roof, or had something already happened to them?
----------------
Exclusive access on patreon to Ch 150
Join now : p@treon*com/DeCakraWnloverz