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In the evening, the moon rose quietly as night fell.
Shane had long since fallen into a deep sleep from exhaustion, his breathing steady and long.
Under the desk, Louis, who had been responsible for keeping watch, slowly raised his head.
Those blue eyes, still bright in the darkness, showed no hint of sleepiness, only a cold calm.
He knew the time for action had come.
He crawled out from under the table soundlessly, his movements as lithe as a cat's.
First, he took the ebony wand out of the case and carefully hid it close to his body; the warm, smooth texture of the wood gave him a sense of peace.
Next, Louis took a small amount of food and water and put them into his suitcase. He didn't know when he would find supplies again, so he had to be fully prepared.
Having done all this, he found paper and a pen from a drawer and began to write something on the paper by the faint moonlight streaming through the window.
After finishing, he carefully folded the note, found the small electronic alarm clock in the side pocket of Shane's backpack, set the time, and placed it alongside the note by the sleeping Officer Shane's head.
Finally, he took a deep breath and then, without any hesitation, turned and walked out of the room quietly.
Louis didn't go straight downstairs; instead, he first slipped into a nearby utility room.
From inside, he took a bundle of strong nylon rope he had collected a couple of days ago and returned to the hallway.
He wore the suitcase on his back like a schoolbag, wrapping the rope around his chest and waist several times to tie the case firmly to himself, ensuring it wouldn't make any noise or fall off during the operation.
Then, he took out his greatest asset—the invisibility cloak.
The silver cloak draped over him like flowing water; light distorted, and his figure instantly vanished into thin air.
Finally, he picked up a large adult raincoat, which he had also found in the utility room, and walked soundlessly toward the first floor.
The lobby downstairs was a mess. The Walker whose skull he had smashed with a crowbar still lay quietly by the filing cabinet, emitting a nauseating stench.
Louis held his breath, suppressing the churning nausea in his stomach, and walked over.
He picked up a piece of a broken metal rack from nearby to use as a tool and began to scrape the viscous, dark red flesh and tissue from the highly decomposed corpse.
Several times, he almost couldn't help vomiting on the spot, but he forced it down with sheer willpower.
After an unknown amount of time, the yellow raincoat had been completely stained into a mottled, disgusting dark red, covered in bits of flesh and unknown slime, emitting a thick stench of death identical to that of a Walker.
Louis almost fled from the corpse. He carefully carried this 'camouflage suit' up to the second floor and placed it gently outside the manager's office door.
Only after completing all this did he return downstairs again.
He glanced at the time on the alarm clock: four in the morning. There was still over an hour before dawn; the timing was perfect.
He walked to the main door, which was blocked tight by desks and filing cabinets, and using all his strength, he carefully pushed aside the outermost cabinet just enough to create a gap for a child of his size to squeeze through.
Finally, he gripped the blood-stained crowbar, took a deep breath, slipped through the gap, and completely merged into the gray sea of Walkers outside... The cold night wind blew, cooling his head, which had grown hot from tension.
He was surrounded by Walkers!
They were crowded together, wandering and growling aimlessly. The nearest one even brushed past him. The rotting clothes rubbed against the surface of the invisibility cloak, bringing a scalp-tingling sensation.
Louis's heart pounded wildly, but he didn't lose his composure.
He remembered his experiment from during the day: as long as he didn't make a loud noise, the Walkers wouldn't be able to detect him.
To verify this, he grew bold and, as he passed a Walker, used the end of the crowbar to gently trip it.
The Walker stumbled and fell forward, knocking over another Walker in front of it.
But it only growled blankly a couple of times before struggling back up, never once discovering the 'invisible' culprit beside it.
Louis was completely reassured.
He began his plan.
He walked to the edge of the corpse crowd and, using the crowbar in his hand, tapped the ground rhythmically and lightly.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the early morning.
The Walkers closest to him were immediately attracted by the continuous sound. They turned around, their empty eye sockets 'looking' toward the source of the noise, and then began to follow with stiff steps.
Seeing this, Louis felt a surge of joy.
He immediately stopped tapping and turned to walk away from the office building, while continuing to make faint noises with the crowbar as he moved, like a silent shepherd leading his flock.
In this way, he led the first batch of Walkers a long distance away.
Then, draped in his invisibility cloak, he circled back soundlessly via another path, returned to the vicinity of the office building, and used the same method to lead away a second batch, a third batch... He was like the most tireless corpse herder, traveling back and forth between the office building and distant streets time and again, continuously 'moving' the Walkers out of the area.
He didn't know how many times he had gone back and forth; he only knew that his arms were incredibly sore from the constant tapping and his legs felt as heavy as lead.
But he had done it.
The once-crowded street had now become much sparser. Although there were still stray Walkers wandering about, they no longer posed a threat.
As the sky brightened, Louis found a bench by the roadside and sat down exhausted, panting heavily as he observed the office building and rested... Meanwhile, inside the manager's office.
Shane suddenly jolted awake from his sleep. His biological clock was always accurate; it was almost dawn.
The room was quiet—too quiet.
He instinctively looked around; the space under the desk was empty.
"Louis?!"
Shane's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately scrambled up, only to see the alarm clock and the folded note on the floor next to the sofa.
He picked up the note and quickly unfolded it.
"Officer Shane:
By the time you see this letter, I've already left to carry out my 'secret mission'!
Thank you so much for taking care of me these past few days. Now, it's my turn to help you.
Yesterday, I saw from the window that some survivors smeared the flesh of those monsters on themselves, and the monsters actually walked right past them without noticing!
So, I decided to leave using this method and then make some noise outside to lead them away.
I've also prepared a 'camouflage suit' for you; it's right outside the door. It's disgusting, but it should be very useful.
I also left you an alarm clock; remember to cancel it. If necessary, it can also be a good tool to attract the monsters' attention.
Finally, please don't worry about me, and definitely don't come looking for me. Like I said, I'm a Wizard chosen by God; I will definitely survive!
You should leave quickly; you have more important people waiting for you. I remember you saying your partner's family... is also your family.
They must be very scared and lonely right now, just like I was. They need you, so go protect them!
—Your friend, Louis"
"What?" Shane desperately hoped this was all just a joke by Louis. How could he let a child do something so dangerous on his own!?
But clearly, this child was even braver than he had imagined.
He rushed to the window, and when he saw that the crowd of corpses outside had thinned by more than half, he was completely stunned.
The child wasn't joking.
He really had, all by himself in the dangerous dead of night, cleared a path to survival for him!
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