At the base of the Fuli Huang Grand Hotel, atop an armored vehicle.
A burly man gripped the handles of the heavy machine gun, his finger stubbornly pressing the trigger button. He controlled the gun at a sixty-degree upward angle, sweeping from the fifth floor all the way to the eighth. Golden shell casings already littered the ground.
"Enough!" A low voice crackled through the earpiece. Only then did the man reluctantly release the trigger, shaking his numb and tingling hand with dissatisfaction. "Bro, I wasn't even done yet. Why stop me?"
In the passenger seat of the armored vehicle sat a man in his forties—Wang Peng, captain of the Black Cloud Safe Zone's security team. The one manning the machine gun was his younger brother, Wang Ou.
Wang Ou lowered his binoculars and picked up the walkie-talkie, scolding, "You know exactly how precious these machine gun bullets are. What's the point of the gun if you waste all the ammo?"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it!" Wang Ou replied impatiently. "But seriously, bro, I don't get it. What can those two even do if they escape? They'll just get eaten by Zombies sooner or later. Why go through all this trouble to hunt them down? It's totally unnecessary!"
Wang Peng sneered. "What do you know? Even you realize they won't last long out there—you think Wang Han doesn't?"
"Then why would he run? Sure, life's tough, but isn't staying alive better? Even if he doesn't care about himself, what about his weird, mysterious son? Would he really let his kid die with him?" Wang Ou argued.
"Ha! So that thick skull of yours can think sometimes?" Wang Peng chuckled darkly. "Who in their right mind would run out blindly without a solid plan?"
"Wait… you're saying the old man's been preparing for this? That he's got a hidden base outside, stocked with supplies?"
"Exactly. That's why the boss is dead set on catching him. We nab him, pry the info out of him, and boom—we've got ourselves a stockpile of food!" Wang Peng laughed.
"Hell yeah! Then I'll go get him myself. If he won't talk, I'll make him watch as I put a bullet in his son's ass!" Wang Ou roared with laughter before jumping out of the vehicle, gun in hand, and charging into the hotel.
Wang Peng, however, stayed put. Recalling what he'd seen earlier in the square, his brow furrowed deeply. A bad feeling gnawed at him.
Hundreds of Zombies—all with their heads blown off. And that teammate who'd just climbed to the fifth floor? Same thing: a single shot to the head. But did Wang Han even have a gun? Even if he did, there was no way he could've taken out all those Zombies in the square alone.
Was there someone else in the building? Someone… skilled?
He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie, urgency sharp in his voice. "Listen up! There might be someone else in there besides Wang Han and his son Wang Ya—probably an expert. Stay sharp!"
"Relax, bro. With all our men and firepower, what's there to fear?" Wang Ou's voice crackled back.
"Better safe than sorry. I don't wanna be scraping your corpses off the floor!" Wang Peng snapped, tossing the walkie-talkie aside in frustration. When it came to his brother, he was utterly helpless.
The twelfth floor of the Fuli Huang Hotel housed a small storage room filled with hotel supplies—bedding, linens, and various tools.
Bai Wen sat quietly, his eyes fixed on the building blueprint he had just found and a walkie-talkie on the table before him. The last message from Wang Peng still echoed from the device.
He reached out and turned off the walkie-talkie, then glanced at the father and daughter resting nearby. Curious, he asked, "Why did they say your daughter was a son?"
Wang Han, who had regained some strength, gave a bitter smile. "I deliberately hid the truth. Otherwise, things would have gone badly. Those heartless monsters are capable of anything. So I made Wang Ya dress like this to conceal her identity. She never spoke, either, so they thought my 'son' was mute and called her 'Wang the Mute'."
Bai Wen nodded and turned his gaze to Wang Ya, who was polishing a kukri knife she had found in the hallway—likely left behind by a previous survivor.
He then looked back at Wang Han and remarked coolly, "Seems like you held a high position in the Black Cloud Safe Zone."
Wang Han's expression shifted before he sighed. "That's all in the past. No point dwelling on it. Let's focus on what to do next. We can't stay hidden here forever."
Bai Wen pressed further, "Just in case, why don't you tell me the location of that secret spot you mentioned? After all, there's no guarantee we'll all make it out alive."
Wang Han's expression darkened again. He chuckled dryly. "If I tell you now, you'll probably disappear the next second, won't you?"
"Not at all. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn't. We're on the twelfth floor, and the place is crawling with armed enemies below. How would I escape? Besides, I was dragged into this mess because of you," Bai Wen replied with a matching chuckle.
"Isn't it a bit late to say that now? So what if you were dragged into it? Even if you kill us now and try to surrender to them, they won't spare you. Your only way out is to cooperate with us—otherwise, you're dead," Wang Han countered with another cold laugh.
A smirk played on Bai Wen's lips as his eyes narrowed, a flicker of killing intent flashing through them. The atmosphere in the storage room instantly turned icy. Yet Wang Han seemed unfazed, meeting Bai Wen's gaze without flinching.
Wang Ya immediately stood up, gripping the kukri knife protectively in front of her chest, her eyes locked on Bai Wen in warning.
Suddenly, Bai Wen shook his head and smiled faintly. "I hope you keep your word."
"You're the one with the gun. If I lie, you can kill me anytime," Wang Han said.
Bai Wen glanced at the darkening sky outside and said gravely, "Even if we hold out until nightfall when they retreat, we still can't stay. The smell of blood will draw hordes of Zombies. We can't afford to wait."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"We can climb down through the ventilation shafts to the basement. There's a drainage system there—we can enter the sewer network and go anywhere in S City," Bai Wen declared confidently.
"Did you already have this plan in mind? Is that why you've been so calm?" Wang Han asked.
Bai Wen shook his head, a hint of pride in his voice. "In this perilous apocalypse, I believe only those who stay composed in all situations survive the longest."
He added, "That's just my nature—whether I have a plan or not is a completely different matter."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's move!" Wang Han stood up.
"Are you sure you're up for this? Crawling through ventilation shafts isn't like taking the stairs!" Bai Wen was still concerned. Although the ventilation system was relatively safe, if they were discovered, they'd be sitting ducks—ninety-nine percent chance they'd get riddled with bullets. All that nonsense in TV shows about people surviving prolonged gunfire was complete bullshit.
"No problem!" Wang Han confidently patted his slender chest, indicating he was quite strong. His earlier weakness had just been from hunger.