"What! What did you say! You're not joking with me, are you? You want to drive those beasts away??" As if he'd heard a joke, Wang Qiang couldn't help but let out a cold laugh, and he tried his best to control his tone so as not to alert the zombies outside the house.
Faced with Wang Qiang's skepticism, Tang Xiaoquan appeared quite calm. He didn't offer much explanation and merely nodded to himself, saying indifferently, "I'm not joking with you. I do want to get rid of these zombies."
"Ugh~" Feeling slightly speechless, Wang Qiang exhaled and ran his hand over his forehead, then turned his face with seriousness and said, "Okay, you say you want to drive them away, then tell me, how do you plan to do it? You don't think those beasts can understand human speech, do you!"
"Human speech??" A glimmer of brightness flashed in his eyes, and Wang Qiang's previous words evidently triggered something in Tang Xiaoquan. He slowly lowered his head and silently recalled the happenings of last night. After a while, a bold plan gradually surfaced in his mind.
Time is life, without any delay, Tang Xiaoquan immediately laid out his idea completely, but after hearing it, Wang Qiang's face was full of doubt.
"Are you sure this will work?"
To be honest, Tang Xiaoquan didn't know how successful his plan would be, so he couldn't answer Wang Qiang's question. But given the current situation, even if there was only a 50% chance, he had to risk trying, because if they continued to stay put like this, even if they didn't die at the mouths of the zombies, they would face dehydration.
"No matter what, I have to give it a try!"
Resolutely throwing down these words, Tang Xiaoquan crouched and headed to his computer desk. After some rummaging, he fished out a Phillips screwdriver used for daily computer repairs from the drawer. Although he wasn't sure how useful this tool would be against zombies, based on past experiences in game movies, having something was better than nothing.
Returning to the original spot, Tang Xiaoquan once again thoroughly explained the relevant action items to Wang Qiang, because their lives were at stake, and there was no room for error.
Taking a long, deep breath, Tang Xiaoquan slowly bent down, then crawled out of the bedroom door.
If his heart's fear index was only at 60% while in the bedroom, now Tang Xiaoquan felt that his heart would almost jump out due to tension.
This feeling is something he had never experienced before, as if in the next second the endless fear would engulf him.
Sweat, like overflowing waves, gushed out from every pore on his body, leaving a long trail of water stains on the ground as Tang Xiaoquan crawled.
Looking at the terrifying water stain, Wang Qiang couldn't help but feel tense. Although he was inside the bedroom, he felt the same predicament as Tang Xiaoquan. He instinctively tightened the baseball bat in his hand, vigilantly watching the surroundings for any abnormality, ready to dash out and fight at a moment's notice.
Perhaps sensing the smell of food, the previously calm corridor began showing signs of subtle agitation.
Suppressing the urge to rise and flee, Tang Xiaoquan's adrenaline was rapidly secreted within him. For the first time, he felt how distant the stretch between the bedroom and the kitchen could feel, so distant that he wasn't sure if he had the courage to complete it.
"Calm down! Calm down! Hold on! Hold on!" He kept cheering himself on internally, and Tang Xiaoquan tightly bit his tongue, persisting, afraid that once he stopped, he might never have the courage to start again.
Moving at a speed barely faster than a turtle, nearly 15 minutes later, Tang Xiaoquan finally crawled through the purgatorial 5-meter distance, looking as if he had been soaked in water, not a dry spot on him.
With his back against the wall, Tang Xiaoquan gasped loudly, exhaustion quickly enveloping him whole. He knew it was the result of tension suddenly releasing, so he dared not rest. As soon as his heart rate slightly steadied, he hurriedly made an "OK" gesture toward Wang Qiang in the bedroom, then began searching through the kitchen.
According to Tang Xiaoquan's plan, the next step was to find some objects in the kitchen and make some noise to lure the zombies away. This idea was entirely inspired by last night's attraction of zombies by television noise, believing that since zombies could be drawn by TV noise, perhaps they could be similarly lured away by sound.
Though Tang Xiaoquan also wasn't sure about the feasibility of this method, besides this plan, he truly couldn't think of any better strategy.
Randomly grabbing the only four bowls and plates from the cupboard, Tang Xiaoquan stealthily walked to the edge of the windowsill, slowly pushing open the broken window that hadn't been touched since they moved in.
Though cautious in the pushing and pulling process, the window frame still inevitably made some slight, ear-piercing sounds. These ordinarily negligible sounds were now like needles prickling Tang Xiaoquan's nerves.
Afraid to delay, Tang Xiaoquan hurriedly threw the bowls and plates outside the window.
Seconds later, after a vertical freefall, the four bowls and plates finally hit the ground one after another, issuing a "crackle" noise.
Feeling the disturbance made by four bowls and plates was still inadequate, Tang Xiaoquan continued to throw out items like a round stool, trash can, wine bottles, and cans, causing quite the commotion downstairs before slowly stopping his actions.
After finishing this, Tang Xiaoquan quickly positioned himself against the edge of the kitchen door frame, nervously listening to the events outside the room.
Everything that could be done had been done, hopefully, these beasts wouldn't let him down. Tang Xiaoquan prayed silently in his heart.
However, waiting was always torturous as the wandering zombies seemed intent on testing the young men's resolve, showing no sign of leaving, merely standing aimlessly and staring.
Suspended in stalemate, both sides awaited, until just as Tang Xiaoquan was about to give up, the corridor suddenly stirred with agitation, followed by a burst of roars.
Inside the bedroom, Wang Qiang, observing the zombies' movements using a mirror, was overwhelmingly excited, as through the reflected image he could clearly see the corpses orderly leaving the corridor, heading downstairs.
He truly never expected his brother's seemingly absurd plan to actually succeed. As he marvelled at Tang Xiaoquan's intelligence, he hurriedly relayed the good news.
"Hey! Quanzi! Those beasts have left!"