With the weapon now in hand, a smile appeared on Yang Bin's face.
He couldn't be blamed for being overly cautious. In such extraordinary times, he had to eliminate every potential threat while it was still small if he wanted to survive longer.
"We're from Dorm 308. My name is Yang Bin, and this is Chen Hao. What about you guys?" Yang Bin introduced himself first.
"We're from Dorm 716. I'm Zhao Kun, and these two are Skinny Monkey and Lao Hei," the tall man said.
"There are only three of you in your dorm?" Yang Bin asked curiously.
"There was another one, but he turned into a zombie. Luckily we discovered it early this morning, otherwise the three of us would've been done for," Zhao Kun said with lingering fear.
"That's impressive—managing to escape from a zombie," Yang Bin said in surprise.
"It wasn't really escaping. There were three of us and only one of him. Besides, he fell from the top bunk himself. The three of us worked together and tied him to the bed with a bedsheet. That's how we survived."
"That's still pretty impressive."
"What about you two? You're from the third floor—how did you end up here?"
"Uh… the two of us were drinking and chatting up here last night. We never went back to the dorm."
"..."
"Well, you guys are really lucky."
"I think so too." Yang Bin smiled.
The two sides began chatting and got along fairly well. After all, they were classmates, and without any conflicts of interest, it was easy to get along.
By noon, several "gurgle" sounds suddenly rang out.
Skinny Monkey held his stomach awkwardly and said, "Do you guys have anything to eat? We haven't eaten anything since morning. I'm getting hungry."
"Does it look like there's food up here?" Yang Bin spread his hands helplessly.
They themselves hadn't eaten since last night either. They were hungry too, just holding it in.
"Then what do we do? Even if the zombies can't get in, we'll starve to death sooner or later."
"Just endure it. Maybe the authorities will arrive with rescue soon," Lao Hei said.
"What if the authorities don't come for several days?"
"That… that shouldn't happen, right?"
"Nothing's impossible. We can't place our hopes on others. We need to figure out a way to get food ourselves," Chen Hao said.
"How? There are two zombies guarding the door. We can't even get out, let alone find food."
"Maybe… we can let them in, deal with them, and then find a way to go down to the dorms to look for food," Yang Bin said seriously.
"Are you crazy? If we let them in, we'll all die." The three of them were instantly shocked. They had fought zombies before and knew how terrifying they were. After finally reaching a safe place, they didn't want to face them again.
"There are only two zombies outside right now. We have five people. There's still a chance we can deal with them. If more zombies gather, we'll have no chance of getting out," Yang Bin said.
"You're overthinking it. You've never fought a zombie before—you don't know how terrifying they are. These things don't feel pain. Hitting them does nothing. If they grab or bite you, it's over," Zhao Kun frowned.
"Yeah. Letting them in is basically suicide. You might not care about living, but we do," Skinny Monkey shook his head.
Even Chen Hao looked at Yang Bin with concern.
"Brother Bin, are you sure?"
"Whether we're sure or not, we have to take this step. This is the rooftop. Zombies have no intelligence. As long as we find a way to push them off the roof, it's solved. This is the easiest way to deal with them. If we can't even do this, then we shouldn't even think about leaving."
"Alright, Brother Bin. I support you," Chen Hao said firmly.
"No! We absolutely won't agree to letting zombies in!" the other three shook their heads.
"This place was ours first. Since when do we need your permission?" Yang Bin said angrily.
"Hmph. We don't agree. Let's see who dares open the door!" Zhao Kun snapped. He tried to grab the steel pipe, only to realize it had somehow ended up in the other party's hands. His face immediately darkened.
"Give me back my steel pipe!"
"You think that's possible?" Yang Bin sneered.
"That's mine!"
"It's mine now."
"..."
"Damn it! Without the steel pipe there's no way we'll let you release the zombies!"
"That's not up to you."
Yang Bin looked at him coldly. Suddenly, he kicked the ladder, knocking it over.
"Holy shit!"
Zhao Kun and the others were startled and immediately used their bodies to brace the iron door.
"You're crazy! You're completely insane! You'll get all of us killed!" Zhao Kun roared angrily.
"Rather than staying here waiting to die, I'd rather gamble once. If you're too scared to fight, then keep holding the door. Let's see how long you can last."
Yang Bin said coldly. Neither side backed down, and the atmosphere instantly became extremely tense.
"Bang! Bang!"
The iron door was struck again. The zombies outside, who had previously quieted down, heard the commotion inside and began slamming into the door again.
The three of them held the door with all their strength. Seeing that Yang Bin and Chen Hao had no intention of helping, their faces turned pale.
"What do we do, Brother Kun?" Skinny Monkey said anxiously. "We can't hold on much longer like this."
Zhao Kun's expression changed several times. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said to Yang Bin:
"If we're going to fight, at least we need a plan. What kind of move was kicking the ladder away like that?"
"Hmm. That's actually a reasonable point," Yang Bin nodded seriously. Then he slowly picked the ladder back up and placed it against the iron door again.
"Phew…"
The three collapsed to the ground once more. They had thought reaching the rooftop meant safety, but things had turned out far more intense than expected.
After a while, Zhao Kun looked at Yang Bin again.
"Alright. Tell us the plan."
Yang Bin glanced around and said:
"In a moment, Skinny Monkey and Lao Hei move the ladder. When the zombies rush in, use the ladder to pin one of them against the wall. The three of us will handle the other one and try to push both zombies off the roof as quickly as possible."
"That sounds easy, but zombies are fast. The ladder is heavy. If they get close, the ladder won't be a weapon—it'll become a burden. Then they'll be in danger," Zhao Kun argued.
"From what I've observed, a zombie's physical ability is about the same as a normal human's. Their advantage is that they don't feel pain. But they also have a fatal weakness—they have no intelligence and don't dodge attacks.
Once they rush in, those two just need to pin the zombie to the wall with the ladder immediately. I don't think it'll even get a chance to get close. If something still goes wrong, then that's just their problem," Yang Bin said.
"Fine. Let's say you're right. What about the other zombie? I don't have a weapon. You expect me to fight a zombie with bare hands?" Zhao Kun looked unhappily at the steel pipe in Yang Bin's hand—the one that used to be his.
They had originally had a tall stool as well, but in their rush earlier they hadn't brought it inside. It was still outside the door. Now they had no weapons at all.
"There are plenty of bricks on the ground. Just pick up a couple and use them as weapons."
"Bricks? Seriously? Why don't you try fighting a zombie with bricks yourself?"
"I have a steel pipe. I don't need to."
"..."