For the next short stretch of the road, none of us spoke.
I figured everyone's mind was reeling—after all, knowing someone in the distance had a gun trained on you wasn't something anyone could stay calm about.
Wang Tingyun, being young and unaware, didn't sense the shift in atmosphere.
She was tugging on her grandpa's ear while humming a tune.
I caught a line—she was singing "Big-Head Grandpa and Little-Head Dad."
A strange sense of amusement suddenly welled up.
Just as I realized my lips were curling into a smile, I quickly snapped back—this was definitely not the time for jokes.
Suo Tian continued walking with his usual calm demeanor, but I could clearly feel the tension in his entire presence.
His every movement radiated alertness—he was clearly very wary of the sniper on the rooftop.
Uncle Gazi, holding Wang Tingyun in his arms, usually wore a jovial expression, but now his face was set with solemn seriousness.
I had no doubt my own face probably didn't look much better than his at that moment.
Under that heavy pressure, we finally arrived at the entrance of the apartment complex.
From afar, we could already see the tall walls that had somehow been built around the buildings, enclosing the entire complex.
Only a several-meter-wide opening remained at the main gate, presumably to allow vehicles to enter and exit.
At the moment, even that single entry point was tightly sealed by a dark, heavy iron gate.
The iron gate was tall—just like the surrounding walls—at least two stories high.
If I wasn't mistaken, this must've been built after the chaos started.
No real estate developer would be dumb enough to surround an apartment complex with something that looked like a prison wall.
It was eerily quiet in front of the gate.
I glanced around and noticed several walker corpses scattered on the ground.
Most were already rotted beyond recognition—one was even reduced to a pitch-black skeleton.
I walked up to stand beside Suo Tian, who was observing the gate, and asked, "Something feels off about this."
Suo Tian kept his eyes on the gate and didn't respond.
Uncle Gazi came over with Tingyun in his arms, his tone uneasy as he asked, "Why isn't anyone coming to open the gate?"
Then, glancing quickly at the rooftop, he lowered his voice and added, "Is that guy still aiming at us?"
I was just about to say yes when Suo Tian suddenly cut me off: "Someone's coming."
I glanced at him, then quickly turned my ear toward the iron gate to listen.
Sure enough, there was a series of footsteps from within—more than one person, by the sound of it.
Suo Tian tugged both me and Uncle Gazi back a few steps, putting a little more distance between us and the gate.
It wasn't long before there was a loud bang, and the iron gate slowly creaked open from the inside—just a narrow gap at first.
Immediately, a group of people in green camouflage uniforms, armed with submachine guns, rushed out in a swift, coordinated movement.
Without saying a word, they surrounded the three of us in an impenetrable circle.
Suo Tian didn't move an inch, but I knew he was already analyzing these people—observing, calculating what might happen next, and evaluating the safest course of action.
Oddly enough, the sight of them bursting out actually made me feel slightly relieved.
Even though they were pointing guns at us, at least they hadn't opened fire right away.
The fact that they surrounded us instead suggested that communication was still on the table.
Not like earlier, when we suddenly realized we were under a sniper's aim—that feeling of being totally powerless had been far more unsettling.
Wang Tingyun had never seen anything like this before, but since she wasn't particularly shy by nature, she didn't seem scared.
Instead, she appeared curious about the sudden appearance of so many people, especially their matching uniforms and the guns in their hands—it clearly grabbed her attention.
"Ugly Grandpa, why do all these uncles look the same?" Wang Tingyun asked in her soft, childish voice.
Uncle Gazi was clearly focused on the situation at hand, probably running through possibilities in his mind, and didn't catch what his granddaughter said.
Wang Tingyun got upset.
She suddenly grabbed her grandpa's ear, pulled it, and shouted right into it with her little mouth: "Stinky Grandpa!!!"
Uncle Gazi snapped back to his senses and patted his granddaughter on the back, speaking in a low voice: "Yuntou'er, be good now. Don't make a fuss."
Just as he finished speaking, my eyes caught a new figure stepping out from behind the black iron gate.
When I got a clear look at the person, I was a little stunned.
This guy… was really fat!
Unlike the others holding guns, this man wore a rough, gray cotton tunic with a military coat hastily thrown over it.
His belly stuck out so much that if it weren't clear he was male, I would've seriously wondered if he was about to give birth.
After coming out, he looked over the few of us, a fake smile spreading across his fat, meaty face.
His double chin was stacked so thick it was almost hard to look at.
"So, what brings you all here? Just passing through?" he asked, his voice dripping with sleaze.
I felt instant disgust toward this man.
I used to like chubby people—always thought plump folks were usually food lovers, and food lovers tended to have kind hearts.
But this guy gave off nothing but a sleazy, greasy, unsettling vibe from head to toe.
Suo Tian didn't respond to the man's question.
Instead, he asked, "Where are the people who came before us?"
I knew he was referring to the group with the big-bearded man, including Yangyang and the others.
Suo Tian seemed very certain that the bearded man's group would be here waiting for us.
When the fat man heard Suo Tian's question, the fake smile on his face twitched slightly, and then his expression shifted to something more guarded.
His tone lowered as well.
He stared at Suo Tian for a couple of seconds and asked, "Who are you?"
Suo Tian still didn't answer his question and repeated, "The people who came before—where are they?"
The fat man's brows furrowed tightly.
He asked, "You're with them?"
Suo Tian stared at him without replying.
My heart gave a sudden jolt—his words meant he really had seen the bearded man and the others.
And from the way he phrased it, the most likely possibility was that they were currently inside the shelter.
Uncle Gazi leaned closer to me, his expression serious as he glanced around and whispered, "Girl, why do I feel like something's off here?"
I whispered back, "Suo Tian's weighing the situation—let's wait and see."
Just then, one of the men in camo—his face marked by a large birthmark—hurried over to the fat man's side and whispered something into his ear.
I saw the fat man's face change, and he turned to ask, "Is that true?"
The man with the birthmark nodded, then pointed at Suo Tian and whispered something more to the fat guy.
The fat man's face grew uglier by the second.
By the time the birthmark guy finished speaking, his expression was full of displeasure.
He waved the man away irritably, then turned to us and asked in a hostile tone, "None of you got bitten, right?"
Uncle Gazi replied, "Of course we didn't. If we had been bitten, would we still be standing like this?"
The fat man gave him a glance, his chubby face stiff, then snorted coldly.
He pointed at a few of the camo-clad men standing nearby and barked, "You lot, go check them. See if anyone's got wounds."
I was startled and instinctively moved a little closer to Suo Tian.
What the hell? A full body search?
The men who were ordered stepped forward, slinging their guns across their backs, and walked toward us.
Suo Tian stood at the front and cooperatively raised his hands, allowing them to pat him down thoroughly to check for any bites.
All they had to do was feel over his body to see if there were any wounds.
Anyone who had been bitten by a walker would definitely be missing a chunk of flesh.
After patting down Suo Tian, Uncle Gazi, and Wang Tingyun, they finally moved toward me.
I stood there unwillingly, glaring at them, extremely resistant.
Even in the damn apocalypse, there should still be boundaries between men and women!
"Can we go in now?" Suo Tian suddenly pulled me behind him and asked the fat man.
The fat man was caught off guard, then scowled and pointed at me. "That pretty girl hasn't been checked yet."
"She doesn't need to be."
"Oh? That's not up to you to decide. Our rule is—everyone gets checked before entering."
His tone was as obnoxious as ever, but I still caught a hint of something promising: Before entering?
So that means… we're actually being allowed into the shelter?
Suo Tian's brows furrowed slightly.
His lips pressed into a tight line as he looked calmly and unwaveringly at the fat man.
"I don't want to waste words with you—she doesn't need to be checked."
The fat man seemed provoked by Suo Tian's attitude—his face shifted strangely between green and white, clearly furious.
I found it incredibly strange.
Given the current situation, it was obvious we were the weaker side.
The fat man and his group clearly had the upper hand, so why was he putting up with Suo Tian and continuing this argument instead of just forcing the issue?
Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed once more from behind the iron gate.
These steps sounded exceptionally neat and orderly.
Uncle Gazi and I both turned to look, while Suo Tian continued staring at the fat man without moving.
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