"Gao Hai, how did you escape here? Are there any other passages?" Jack asked softly, looking at Gao Hai, who was licking the sausage skin.
Upon hearing this, Gao Hai quickly put down the sausage skin but couldn't bear to throw it away. He stuffed it into his pants pocket and said to Jack, "That day, my wife and I were chased by them. I stole a car and escaped with my wife, but they didn't give up and chased us all the way to this area. The car ran out of gas, and to avoid their pursuit, we had to run to the most dangerous place. Fortunately, it rained that day, and those living corpses became sluggish in the rain, allowing us to reach the vicinity of this building safely. We originally planned to go up to the rooftop via the maintenance ladder on the outside of the building, but unexpectedly found that there were people on the second floor. With their help, we broke the glass to get in here, but that ladder is already rusted and completely unusable!"
Jack nodded after hearing this, finally understanding how Gao Hai and his wife ended up here. Without the outside ladder, even if it rained, the living corpses in the hall wouldn't have let them go. Jack's gaze slowly swept over the other people. Besides the middle-aged man and the young girl he was holding, there were three men and three women left. He scanned each person and then casually asked the middle-aged man, "Were you the one who signaled me?"
"That wasn't me, it was Liu Fei and you!" The middle-aged man hurriedly waved his hand and pointed to a short-haired woman standing to the side. The woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, appeared slightly haggard, but her beautiful face and figure perfectly showcased the maturity and charm that a woman of her age should possess. She was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt that still had some color to it, paired with black trousers. When she noticed Jack's gaze on her, she didn't seem too shy; instead, she flirtatiously tucked her bangs behind her ear and smiled, saying, "I used to be a communications soldier in the army, but I've almost forgotten Morse code. Sorry to make you laugh!"
"As long as you can send an SOS, that's enough!" Jack smiled nonchalantly. For some reason, looking at the woman's slightly upturned eyes made him think of Cao Mei in the building across. Aside from being a bit older than Cao Mei, her Thomas-like charming face and smile were strikingly similar. Jack frowned oddly, looking at her blue shirt and silver buttons, and curiously asked, "Are you a police officer?"
"I used to be, but now, haha... where are there any police left?" Liu Fei smiled helplessly, acknowledging her identity.
"Excuse me, man, I want to ask, can we... really get out of here?" The middle-aged man looked at Jack hesitantly. After all, there were only two of them and a dog, and they had come in quite awkwardly. If they were to leave with so many people, it would probably be quite difficult.
"No one can guarantee whether you can get out, so you need to think it over!" Jack smiled faintly. Without waiting for a response, he took out a black walkie-talkie from his waist bag, pressed the talk button, and said, "Bai Ru, Bai Ru, we have arrived safely. How's the situation on your end?"
"Thank goodness, we've been hearing gunshots non-stop, we were almost worried sick. We're fine here, when are you coming back?" Bai Ru's relieved voice quickly came through the walkie-talkie.
"Let's wait until dawn; it's too dark to take them back now. You don't need to worry about us, just keep the main gate secure, and contact me if anything happens!" Jack said, holding the walkie-talkie.
"Okay... honey, just do your best, don't push yourself too hard!" Bai Ru's voice came through slowly, tinged with a bit of worry.
"Mm, got it, you should rest early!" After Jack finished speaking, he put the walkie-talkie back in his waist bag. Looking at the time on his watch, he found a Thomas iron chair to sit down, took out his cigarettes, handed one to each of the men, and then lit a cigarette, saying to them, "There are still more than four hours until dawn. Regardless of whether you ultimately decide to come with us, you should introduce yourselves first. By the way, just call me Jack!"
"Well... I'll start then!" The middle-aged man took Jack's cigarette with some trepidation, bent down to pull a piece of wood from the fire to light it, and after taking a greedy puff, he stroked the little girl's head beside him and said to Jack, "I'm Gao Chuanjiang, and this is my daughter Gao Yuanyuan. Before the disaster, I worked at the Jiangcheng Military Affairs Bureau. I already knew Liu Fei; she was accompanying the city leaders to Lin City for a meeting, and I hitched a ride with them to take my daughter to a relative's house. Who knew this would happen!"
"Ha ha, there are leaders here? Have they been eaten or turned into zombies? I'm from Jiangcheng, and our Jiangcheng has been a mess under their management these past few years, with corrupt officials popping up all the time. If they turned into zombies, I'd give them another gun, just to vent my anger!" Thomas Xu immediately got excited upon hearing this. He had been sitting on a large iron box, but he stood up at once, holding the gun and looking at Gao Chujian with great enthusiasm.
"Little brother, I didn't expect you to be such a hothead!" Liu Fei said, looking somewhat speechless at Thomas Xu, pointing outside the glass curtain wall and saying, "There's a decent vice mayor who seems to have been eaten long ago, but just now, there was a fat living corpse in the yard that you killed. I don't know if you noticed, but that was our organization's minister, an old lecher who never does anything serious. You could say you hit the nail on the head!"
"I don't really remember that, and I don't know if I shot him in the head?" Thomas Xu blinked, sitting down somewhat dejectedly. Seeing the strange looks from the people around him, he laughed heartily and waved his hand, saying, "I was just a bit upset; you all continue, continue!"
"Brother Lin! You already know my name and profession, so I won't say much. I'm the only one left from my colleagues who came out with me. My little sister may not have many strengths, but she is definitely obedient, so I hope you'll take good care of her in the future!" Liu Fei smiled charmingly and winked at Jack, a woman in her thirties who seemed completely unbothered by calling herself 'little sister.'
"I... I'm William Jianwei, and this is my girlfriend Jiang Yan. We are both university students and got stuck here while taking a bus to Wuhan for fun!" A thin boy standing by the fire timidly raised his right hand. At the same time, his left hand tightly held the hand of the girl beside him. His girlfriend looked like a very ordinary student type, with her hair down and wearing black-rimmed glasses. She was very skinny, and her green T-shirt made her flat chest look like an airport. She kept her head down, leaning against the boy, seemingly too shy to look at Jack.
"Brother Lin, I'm Thomas Liping. You can just call me Little Thomas. This is my... girlfriend William Fang. I'm in small business, and William Fang sells clothes. Hehe~ We met here!"
A man standing behind Gao Chujian, who was as thin as a monkey, nodded and bowed while looking at Jack. The tall woman beside him also smiled at Jack with a flattering expression. She looked like she came from the countryside, wearing a red T-shirt paired with green flat shoes. Her hands were clasped together, with very thick joints, suggesting she was probably a woman used to doing heavy work.
"I... I'm William Peng, the chef of this restaurant!" When it was the turn of the last burly man, he had a stiff smile on his face and spoke very timidly, seeming overly nervous around Thomas, constantly wiping the sweat from his palms on his dark blue trousers.