Chapter 144: Not a Single One Left
The explosion was louder than he had anticipated, causing his eardrums to ache.
However, the blast's power didn’t reach him; only some dust fell from the walls.
Zhang Yi let out a long breath.
Holding the riot shield firmly, he gripped his loaded assault rifle and slowly walked to the door of Room 1301.
Seeing the scene inside, Zhang Yi's body relaxed.
The grenades had worked excellently.
The room was a mess, with bodies scattered everywhere. The furniture had been knocked over, crushing some of the people underneath, leaving only parts of their bodies visible.
In a corner of the room, a man covered in blood struggled to get up but failed. He glared at Zhang Yi with intense hatred."We helped you so much... Why did you kill us?!"
As he spoke, blood filled his mouth, but he continued to roar in anger.
He felt betrayed, believing they had helped Zhang Yi for so long, only to be discarded like used tools.
"You helped me? I don't think so," Zhang Yi replied coldly. He raised his gun, aimed at the man's head, and ended his life with a single shot.
Pathetic neighbors. They still thought they had helped Zhang Yi until the end. Without Zhang Yi’s protection, they would have died long ago. Allowing them to live until now was Zhang Yi’s greatest kindness to them.
Zhang Yi then aimed his gun at each person or corpse on the ground, shooting them all in the head.
Sure enough, one of them couldn’t keep pretending and got up, screaming and trying to fight Zhang Yi. But he was met with a cold, merciless bullet.
"Bang!"
...
"Bang!"
...
"Bang!"
...
Each bullet fired from the carbine took a life, the sound slow but powerful.
Every shot from Zhang Yi hit its mark; he never wasted a bullet. Ammunition was incredibly precious in the apocalypse.
After five minutes, Zhang Yi had shot every person. During that time, some cursed, some begged, and others screamed in despair. But Zhang Yi was fair, treating each one equally with a single bullet.
"One, two, three, four... fifteen, sixteen... hmm?"
Zhang Yi frowned slightly and counted again.
"The number doesn’t seem right."
He had previously counted. Excluding himself and Uncle You’s families, there were 18 survivors in the unit. Subtracting Xu Hao, there should be 17 left. But no matter how he counted, there were only 16 bodies.
"Indeed, there’s a clever one who realized I intended to kill them, so they didn’t come."
Zhang Yi smiled faintly, then thoughtfully stroked his chin.
"It seems... it was that guy, right?"
Zhang Yi recalled the person, a real estate agent.
"Damn, why struggle so hard? It's not like you can survive!" Zhang Yi sighed, then raised his gun.
He started searching floor by floor.
Zhang Yi knew where the person lived, so the search area was greatly reduced.
An hour later, Zhang Yi found him hiding in a kitchen cabinet.
"You think you’re smart?" Zhang Yi mocked.
Under the man's despairing gaze, Zhang Yi gave him a taste of brain surgery with a bullet.
With that, the entire Building 25 had only five survivors left.
The culprits who had invaded Zhang Yi’s home and tried to eat him alive were all dead.
Although Xu Hao was an outsider, he had suffered a worse fate in the previous life.
As a high-profile wealthy heir, he had drawn attention by buying supplies in the group, making his family one of the first to be attacked and overrun.
Zhang Yi’s revenge journey had finally come to an end.
With no more obstacles in his heart, Zhang Yi felt the world become clearer, even his breathing smoother.
"Feels great!" Zhang Yi exhaled contentedly.
From now on, there would be no one in the Yue Lu community who could threaten him.
In the days to come, he would enjoy a peaceful life.
Of course, this depended on him and Xu Hao successfully taking over Wang Siming's doomsday shelter, said to be capable of withstanding H-bombs.
Then he would leave this place, completely disappearing from everyone’s view.
Zhang Yi sheathed his assault rifle and returned home.
He approached Uncle You’s sickroom, putting on a sorrowful expression.
"Uncle You, I have some bad news. Sister Xie... sigh!"
Zhang Yi clenched his fist and sighed deeply.
Uncle You, realizing something was wrong, asked in disbelief, "What happened to Xie Limei?"
Zhang Yi explained, "The neighbors have been dissatisfied with us for a long time. They secretly colluded with people from other buildings, planning to kill us and take our supplies and my home."
"Although I killed Jiang Lei and Li Chengbin, there were still traitors among the remaining people."
"Fearing my retaliation, they acted first, killing Sister Xie... sigh!"
Zhang Yi's face was full of grief, his expression one of profound sorrow.
Uncle You closed his eyes in pain and slammed his fist onto the bed.
"Bang!" The steel-framed bed's corner collapsed from the impact.
Zhang Yi's eyes gleamed.
It seemed he was right; Uncle You’s mutation was strength-based.
This was perfect, complementing Zhang Yi’s abilities well. With Uncle You handling heavy labor, there would be no shortage of manpower for physically demanding tasks.
"Uncle You, don’t worry! I made sure they didn’t get away. I killed them all, avenging Sister Xie!"
Uncle You slowly opened his tear-filled eyes.
He was a sentimental man. Although he initially stayed with Xie Limei for her body, they had grown attached over time, making it impossible for him not to feel heartbroken.
"Those people deserved to die. I knew they were unreliable. Despite all our efforts for this building, they neither appreciated us nor even resented us!"
"They deserved to die!" Uncle You said angrily.
He had no doubts about Zhang Yi’s words.
Firstly, over the past month, he had witnessed the neighbors’ ingratitude firsthand. He had also seen Jiang Lei and Li Chengbin’s attack on Zhang Yi.
Thus, Zhang Yi’s claim that the neighbors had conspired with outsiders to kill them made sense.
Secondly, and most importantly, Zhang Yi had been with him in the sickroom for a long time after Xie Limei left, making it impossible for Zhang Yi to have been the one who killed her.
Zhang Yi approached, speaking sincerely, "Uncle You, I bear responsibility for this, too. I didn’t expect them to be so ruthless! Don’t worry, I’ll find you a young and beautiful wife with great skills!"
Uncle You was silent for a moment.
He then slowly said, "I prefer mature and voluptuous women."