"Brother Zhao, those soldiers have run off."
On the second floor of the supermarket, a man withdrew his gaze from the edge of the curtain and spoke to a man on the second floor.
The man called Brother Zhao was in his forties, burly and coarse, with a fierce look on his face.
He used to be a butcher in the supermarket, and when the apocalypse broke out, he was just inside. Facing zombies, Brother Zhao exhibited extraordinary abilities, using a sliding blade meant for chopping ribs to slash seven zombies.
At that time, there were as many as sixty people in the supermarket; about forty of them mutated. Eight or nine were infected or eaten by zombies. He led the remaining dozen to the second floor and blocked the stairs with junk.
The supermarket contained considerable resources, more than enough for them to survive for a while.
Initially, they awaited rescue; however, after three days, there was no sign of rescue, no network, no television, just desolation, and the situation worsened.
Nonetheless, Brother Zhao wasn't overly worried.
Because he had a dog with him.
This dog was his own, a Tibetan mastiff, usually tied up in the supermarket's backyard. He fed it scraps of meat, fat, and bones as he butchered, and over time, the mastiff grew twice the size of a regular dog.
Once the apocalypse hit, he fled to the second floor, assuming the dog would likely be eaten by zombies.
Unexpectedly, the dog broke free from its leash and followed him up.
During the first night of anxiety and fear, he didn't pay attention to the dog crouched in the corner. On the second day, when things calmed a bit and he saw the dog, Brother Zhao could hardly recognize the dog he had raised.
The black mastiff had grown larger, seeming almost comparable to a lioness.
Its paws were bigger, and its teeth extended beyond its mouth.
Anyone who saw the dog was petrified, too scared to move.
The dog was no longer ordinary; it had become a beast.
This dog exhibited immense abilities, jumping from the second-floor window to bite and kill several zombies below.
The zombies couldn't catch the dog; it killed and ate two of them, then used boxes to climb back through the window to the second floor.
From that moment, Brother Zhao realized he was different from the others.
Naturally not a good person, without much property, in this situation, some uncontainable ambitions began to surface.
The supermarket owner wanted to seek rescue, but Brother Zhao opposed him. After some mocking words from the owner, Brother Zhao sent his dog to kill him.
A typical case of a man relying on his dog.
His subordinates included two apprentices from the butcher shop. Three of them became the dominant force among the dozen survivors and swiftly assumed leadership.
From then on, he ruled as the king of this place.
After his apprentice finished reporting, Brother Zhao turned to face the remaining survivors.
"Did you hear that? The soldiers have run off; your hopes for rescue are gone!"
An apprentice chimed in from the side, "Yeah, there were only five soldiers, one looked like a junior officer, and four soldiers, but I observed, they were almost out of bullets and barely escaped."
Another short and sharp-witted apprentice snorted, "The apocalypse is here, just like in the biochemical crises you've watched. Now there's no government or military, nothing at all. You must follow the strong to survive, so open your eyes wide and be mindful."
While the apprentice spoke, Brother Zhao continued to stroke his mastiff's fur, casting a sinister gaze at the survivors.
The mastiff only seemed docile before its master; towards others, it glared fiercely and appeared ready to pounce for a bite.
After killing people, this dog had turned bloodthirsty.
The dozen or so survivors dared not speak; one man who seemed like a former office worker stepped forward, looking educated, and lit a cigarette for Brother Zhao, smiling obsequiously, "Brother Zhao, you are the strong one. I'll follow you from now on."
"Hmm, quick learner. Xiaosan, give him a crossbow arrow."
On the second floor, the sporting goods section of the supermarket had some prior stock of crossbow arrows, meant for sale but confiscated after a check for destructive weapons. Luckily, the owner kept some, and they became Brother Zhao's personal cache.
Xiaosan handed the crossbow arrow to Ma Xiang, and Brother Zhao spoke, "Regardless of whether it's humans or zombies, if anyone comes to this second floor, follow my orders. When I command you to shoot, you will shoot!"
"What if those soldiers come back?" Ma Xiang asked.
"You'll still follow my orders, or else you'll either become zombie manure or Black Wolf's feces."
The mastiff was named Black Wolf, fitting its wolfish nature.
The people around shivered with cold sweats; could Brother Zhao actually defy the soldiers?
He truly dared.
Brother Zhao used to be at society's bottom, just a pig-killing butcher, overlooked by all. Now with the apocalypse, he felt strangely joyous.
Among these survivors, there were two relatively wealthy ones, a man and a woman. The man's large gold chain looked as thick as a dog's leash, perhaps more suitable for bringing himself.
The woman, in her early twenties, looked vibrant and pretty. Wouldn't she be better off with someone like me?
But these survivors were still counting on rescue, hoping for the old order. Haven't they realized what time it is?
Even though those soldiers had guns, they were too few in number. Even if they reached the supermarket, considering the situation of being mentally prepared against the unprepared, with my sliding blade and crossbow arrow, plus this dog, I had a significantly high chance to take down those soldiers.
In this world, once a person dies, they're just dead, with no possible aftermath.
As long as I manage to get hold of those few guns, even if the bullet count is on the lower side, these survivors would recognize the situation.
He even looked forward to it a bit, thinking to himself, why haven't those soldiers arrived yet?
********
After eating, the time was twelve o'clock.
Everyone's equipment, including Ye Fan's, had refreshed.
Looking at the six golden bullets inside the revolver, Ye Fan felt very satisfied.
Even though it couldn't compare with the soldiers' equipment, but which officer goes into battle wielding a submachine gun?
Being the commander was the key, and he liked it.
"Prepare to set off, let's head to that supermarket again, there aren't many zombies left there, another round and it should be cleared out."
Four soldiers stood up, ready to head out.
On their way back, they ran, drawing the zombies into a line, now there were some in the stairway, and some in the courtyard.
Ye Fan gave orders for the other two conscripts to kill first, since they had already killed over a dozen zombies each, let's have them upgrade to senior privates first.
Four senior privates mean firepower of 360 rounds, they would be at ease by then.
Upon receiving the orders, several soldiers went out the door.
The zombies in the stairway were easy to clear, there was no need to fire guns; with constant bayonet thrusts, the zombies fell one by one.
After clearing out the zombies in the stairway, Ye Fan only gained five golds.
They continued into the courtyard, where there were about twenty zombies.
The four soldiers cooperated well, taking down twenty ordinary zombies wasn't too difficult; using the cover of the motorcycle to loop around, combined with Wang Hu and Li Biao's cooperation, they finally both upgraded to senior privates after clearing the courtyard zombies.
Seeing all privates become senior privates, Ye Fan felt a surge of confidence.
"Wang Hu, how many more to reach a star promotion?"
"Reporting sir, I need forty-six more zombies to star up."
"Good, prioritize your kills on the next batch of zombies."
First, he let the soldiers collect gold and silver. After collecting from these twenty zombies, Ye Fan's money reached 136, enough to produce another conscript.
However, he didn't produce immediately; there were still many zombies and zombie bodies outside, he planned to collect them all before producing more.
With four senior privates in tow, Ye Fan left the courtyard.
There seemed to be seventy or eighty zombies in front of the supermarket, but Ye Fan knew the zombies had lost their combat potential.
The zombies in the surrounding shops had mostly been lured out; once all were killed, there wouldn't be many left on this section of the street.
"Advance, Wang Hu takes priority in kills, others provide cover."
Wang Hu started taking precise shots, and this was when the Type 56 rifle demonstrated its power.
The continuously spraying fire tongues took down zombie after zombie that rushed forward.
Occasionally, more zombies were attracted by the gunfire, but their numbers gradually decreased.
More than half of the zombies fell under Wang Hu's gunfire.
When only seven or eight zombies were left, the group stopped shooting and switched to using bayonets to finish them off.
By the time they reached the supermarket's entrance, there wasn't a single standing zombie to be seen around.
Wang Hu excitedly ran to Ye Fan: "Reporting sir, Senior Private Wang Hu has been promoted to Corporal."
Ye Fan glanced at Wang Hu and noticed his cartridge pouch had increased from two to four magazines.
With four magazines plus the bullets in his gun, Wang Hu now had a daily allotment of 150 rounds!
There were also changes to his shoulder badge, from two horizontal stripes to two crossed rifles plus a stripe.
Standing tall with bulging muscles, the young man over 1.8 meters exuded a fierce aura.