Tang Xiaoquan suddenly opened his eyes, then sprang up like a corpse, startling Wang Qiang beside him into a cold sweat.
"What's going on? What sound was that? Did those beasts get in?"
The awakened Tang Xiaoquan fired off a volley of questions like a rapid-fire cannon, but before he could finish speaking, a piercing woman's scream shattered the sky once more.
"Ah! Help! You, you stay away!"
"Bang! Crack! Boom! Clang!" The ear-piercing sounds of falling objects echoed one after another, jolting Tang and King Tang in the bedroom.
And as those falling sounds ended, a much fiercer door slam followed closely after.
"Oh no!" The massive inertia made the sound spread rapidly through the silent street, like a stone dropping into a deep lake; though it sounded just once, the disturbance it caused was terrifying.
Wang and Tang exchanged a look, both seeing the tremor of concern in each other's eyes.
"Next door!"
"Yeah, it should be the balcony!"
Almost speaking in unison, Tang and King Tang quickly determined the woman's location, then both grabbed their weapons and sprinted toward the balcony.
On the balcony, a woman in a sheer red short top was desperately pulling at the wooden door, constantly calling for help. From the depth and exhaustion in her cries, it was clear that something truly horrifying was barricaded behind the wooden door she was desperately tugging on.
"Zombies!" This was the word that instantly flashed through Wang and Tang's minds. Recalling the events of last night, Wang Qiang instinctively blurted out, "Hey, stay away from the door, that thing will..."
"Ah!" A tremor ran through his eardrums, and Wang Qiang felt as if a huge lightning bolt had struck his head, choking the words halfway in his throat.
As everyone knows, the first reaction when people encounter danger or fear is to cry out for help, and the appearance of Wang Qiang and Tang Xiaoquan was undoubtedly a lifeline for the woman who had lost all hope.
She ran frantically to the edge of the balcony, desperately waving her arms.
"Help! Help me! There's a monster in my house!"
Watching the woman's desperate screams, Tang Xiaoquan was momentarily blank.
To save or not to save? That was a question! It was a dilemma he'd encountered more than once on various survival forums, and whenever such questions arose, they inevitably sparked heated debates among netizens. Despite this, no one ever came up with a perfect answer.
The woman's cries for help grew louder, and the adrenaline swiftly released from her panic made this delicate woman become hysterical.
"Quan! What do we do now? We can't just stand by and watch her die!"
Everyone has a bit of heroism in them, and at this crucial moment of life and death, Wang Qiang's heroic spirit was undoubtedly aroused. He instinctively turned his head to look at Tang Xiaoquan beside him, hoping the latter could use his quick mind to devise a rescue plan.
With a slight pondering, Tang Xiaoquan furrowed his brows. Quite frankly, he didn't care about the woman's life or death across from them because the most crucial rule in the Law of Survival was never to attempt anything beyond your capabilities in a crisis, and never try to play the hero.
So, given the current situation, Tang Xiaoquan didn't feel he had the ability to save the woman across the way. After all, he wasn't a policeman, nor did he have the skill or obligation to risk his life for a stranger.
"I'm sorry, Qiang! We're powerless to help her!" He shook his head in feigned sorrow, replying to Wang Qiang apologetically.
Perhaps hearing the voices from across, the woman's already unstable mind became even more frantic.
"Save me! Please save me! The monster is about to come out! It's coming out!"
"Clang clang! Rattle!" As if in sync with the woman's screams, the rickety wooden door was shattered with a loud bang, torn open by the zombies' merciless hands, revealing a terrifying gash. As the breach appeared, a chilling, icy zombie claw burst through.
"Ah!"
An ear-splitting scream that could almost shatter glass exploded in the air, making Tang Xiaoquan instinctively raise his hand to cover his ears while glancing in horror at the street below, his face turning pale.
Damn that woman! Tang Xiaoquan couldn't help but curse inwardly. However, he couldn't blame himself for his anger. It was her dramatic "performance" that had excited the crowd of eager "listeners" below, causing them to wave their arms as they moved towards the building.
"Hey! Calm down! Stop screaming! You'll get us all killed like this!" Frequently glancing at the ground floor, Tang Xiaoquan desperately tried to get the woman to quiet down. However, the instinct-driven woman could only do one thing, which was scream.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! It's coming out! It's coming out! Save me! Save me!"
If he could, Tang Xiaoquan really wanted to shoot the woman across from him. Without a doubt, if she continued her ghostly wailing, this small building would soon become an ocean of zombies.
"Hey! Listen to me! If you want to survive to see tomorrow's sunrise, then shut the hell up!"
Also shouting harshly, although Tang Xiaoquan's voice couldn't rival the woman's dolphin-like pitch, the word "alive" in his sentence brought her back to a modicum of sanity.
"Then hurry up and save me! Otherwise, it's going to come out!"
"Bang!"
"Ah!" The wooden door shattered, and a sharp zombie claw once again gouged out a notch as the woman threatened to go berserk again. Tang Xiaoquan quickly pulled a plum blossom wrench from his pocket and threw it forcefully while shouting, "Grab the wrench on the ground. If that beast comes out, stab it in the head, understand?"
"No no no! You can't leave me; I can't handle it alone, please save me!"
Damn it! At this moment, Tang Xiaoquan was truly burning with rage. Honestly, he didn't want to save the woman across from him at all, but the current situation forced him to intervene because if things continued, his life and Wang Qiang's might be lost too.
"Alright! Just shut the hell up! You're screaming; how can I think of a way to save you?" Once again, he shouted in frustration, but it must be said that Tang Xiaoquan's urgent words were effective, immediately silencing the woman. But with the distance between them, how exactly could he rescue the woman from the opposite balcony...