Chapter 3：Hotel Lobby

Guo Yuan's eyes widened suddenly as he watched the grim scene in front of him. All his hair stood on end, but his hands and feet didn't react. They felt as heavy as lead.

He watched Shen Chen narrow his eyes, holding the machete in both hands. At the moment the zombie pounced on him, he dodged to the side, stabbing the zombie's back with his hilt. Then the zombie fell onto the bed. It was just struggling to get back up when Shen Chen jumped onto the bed.

Snap—

Black Blade precisely cut the back of the attendant's head. Its solid skull was easily split open. The attendant looked like all her energy had been sucked out of her by some sort of machine. Her body shook for a bit, then fell limp to the bed like a pile of mud.

Shen Chen lightly panted, but his eyes were tranquil. Only then did Guo Yuan feebly crawl over, an expression of horror on his face. His face was extremely pale. "Second! Second... She... Zombies... Is this the apocalypse?"

Shen Chen smiled helplessly. "It is! Congratulations! Welcome to Doomsday!" Then he stepped on the zombie's skull with his foot and pulled Black Blade out of the zombie's split skull.

Blood spurted onto Guo Yuan's face. Fear made him lose his senses for a few seconds, but he quickly recovered. He called people frantically on his phone, but the automatic reply on the phone made Guo Yuanhim fall limp onto the floor.

"Grandpa... Grandma…" He wanted to cry, but he had no tears. Guo Yuan didn't know how the world had become like this. He had lost his parents when he was young and had grown up with his grandfather and grandmother. To him, his grandparents were his only family... yet now...

Shen Chen patted his shoulder, consoling him. "Think about it this way: ninety percent of old people became zombies. Compared to those who still live... perhaps becoming zombies is actually a happy thing…"

"Right…" Guo Yuan had no choice but to nod. His gaze was dull, and he rambled incoherently.

Shen Chen didn't pay any mind to him. There was a process of adaptation after Doomsday came. He wiped the fluid on Black Blade with the bed sheets in disgust, then he opened the window and tossed down both the zombie and the bedding.

Boom!

The loud noise of heavy objects falling to the ground attracted dozens of swaying zombies. But after they didn't smell the scent of living humans, they quickly scattered and began wandering around.

There were more zombies this time than before! Shen Chen keenly noticed this. It looked like in the short while that had just passed, at least another dozen people had been infected and had become zombies!

Screams came one after another, lingering in the air. At the same time, the pungent scent of blood and rotting corpses came from outside the window. Soon, the screams became more and more infrequent. What replaced them were the growling of zombies and the noise of them eating. Shen Chen knew that by now the remaining people in the hotel either had become zombies or had been eaten by zombies. Less than ten percent of people survive in those kinds of public locations.

Shutting the window, Shen Chen's heart fell. He had initially thought that the hotel was in a remote location and that there weren't many people in it. He didn't expect there to be more than a hundred zombies on the seventeenth floor. It made him nervous. The restaurant door was always open, which meant that the hundred zombies in the restaurant could appear anywhere in the hotel at any moment. "Second! Thank you!"

"Huh?" Shen Chen raised his head.

"Thank you for saving me!" Guo Yuan said seriously. "Perhaps you knew early on, but no matter what, thank you for calling me to the hotel…"

Guo Yuan gazed outside the window with a complicated expression. He saw another woman jumping off a building with broken legs... then he turned back around. "Otherwise, I might have ended up like the rest of them!"

Looking at Guo Yuan, who quickly calmed down, Shen Chen smiled. "Don't mention it. We're brothers!"

'Yes, brothers! Even at the moment of death in my previous life, you stood in front of me without hesitating. In this life, no matter what, I will let you escape the fate of death! Because we are brothers!'

Ding!

His phone rang again. Shen Chen quickly picked it up and heard Third's trembling voice. "Second, are... are you still alive? I'm with Boss. There are so many zombies here! So many people have been eaten... The biochemical... biochemical crisis has erupted!

"Where are you guys now?"

"We've fled from the street of snacks. We're not far from the school now... There aren't many zombies on the road... Shen Chen, you…"

"Don't go back to campus. Come quickly to XX Hotel 1618. I'll meet you downstairs!" Shen Chen interrupted Third. "From now on, don't make any loud noises. You must be cautious. If you see any fire axes, you must hold them in your hands, then chop them at zombies' heads!"

"Okay... I... I got it!"

The Boss in the dorm was Zhao Zhen. Fourth was Pan Di. The four brothers in the dorm were great friends. Now that they were coming over, the dozens of zombies at the door might be hard for them to handle!

Shen Chen felt like he was done recovering. He picked up Black Blade. "I'll go downstairs to meet Boss and the rest!"

"Wait!" Guo Yuan quickly shouted. "I'll come with you!"

Shen Chen took a long look at Guo Yuan. He smiled and tossed a mask and a fire axe at Guo Yuan, then made a violent chopping gesture. "Remember. Chop down at those zombies' heads!"

The calmness and courage in Shen Chen's eyes transferred to Guo Yuan. Unexpectedly, Guo Yuan stared at Shen Chen and no longer felt as afraid as before. He nodded firmly and said, "Okay!"

The elevator showed it was on their floor. Shen Chen cautiously pressed the button, then signaled to Guo Yuan. The two of them pressed their bodies against the wall, raising their weapons in their hands. Their eyes locked on the elevator. The attendant from before had clearly been attacked by zombies, but there wasn't a single zombie in the hallway.

The elevator door slowly opened, and a rotting figure leaped out of the elevator. Guo Yuan was unprepared and was pounced on. The moment before the zombie reached Guo Yuan, Shen Chen jumped forward and pushed Guo Yuan out of the way, but Shen Chen became completely exposed to the zombie.

Watching the zombie bite toward him with a rotting mouth, Shen Chen narrowed his eyes, leaning his body to a certain angle. Then, with the force of his back, he did a kip-up from the ground. The moment he jumped up, he exerted his lower back again, and his body quickly twisted in the air. When he landed, he was standing behind the zombie. The entire move was natural and smooth and took less than a second.

Guo Yuan's mouth opened wide, and he stared at Shen Chen in disbelief. A move like that was impossible for an ordinary person! Even soldiers in the army couldn't guarantee that they would be able to stand up again after being pounced on by a zombie! But Shen Chen, the guy who had never gone through any training, did it!

Indeed, Shen Chen had practiced the technique countless times in his previous life. With the move, Shen Chen had been able to escape the grasp of death countless times after being pounced on by mutated zombies.

The zombie didn't have time to adjust. It didn't know that the prey beneath itself had escaped, and it fell down from the momentum. Its sharp teeth bit the ground.

"It's an idiot!" Shen Chen shook his head. The zombies were all acting on instinct. They haven't gone through another mutation. That was why, when facing zombies that hadn't mutated, as long as he could overcome his fears, even a child could kill them. With a swing of his knife, the zombie was completely dead.

"Second, you... where did you learn that from? It was awesome!" Guo Yuan said with a stutter, but he looked pleasantly surprised. If Second was this skilled, then he didn't have to worry about being eaten by zombies when around him!

Shen Chen smiled. "I learned it from some gym teachers…"

The two of them dragged the zombie into the elevator with its body and head. The descending elevator gave off a light hum. The elevator descended without obstruction, just like Guo Yuan's sinking heart. He turned around and studied Shen Chen. He still had the same face, but for some reason, he looked different from the Second before, like he had something more. But soon, Guo Yuan withdrew his gaze and stared at the elevator door. He didn't know how many zombies would be waiting for them in the first floor lobby. Perhaps the moment the elevator door opened, he would be drowned in them. But he had to do this with Second, because if his brothers were greeted by a crowd of scary rotting corpses the moment they entered the hotel, he would never forgive himself.

The hotel lobby had become a paradise for zombies. Dozens of zombies surrounded a couch to the side. Judging from their heads, which rose and fell continuously, they were clearly eating. Their bellies had swelled up, and they looked like pregnant women.

Zombies wandered through the spacious hotel lobby. The creaking sound of their gnawing made the whole place more terrifying.

Guo Yuan watched the zombies that were eating and couldn't help a shiver, but Shen Chen looked like he was taking a stroll in a garden. He easily came up behind a zombie. The woman clad in rich fur walked with teetering steps, but the next moment, before she could let out a growl, her entire head was separated from her body.

Guo Yuan looked at Shen Chen with respect. He made a thumbs-up at Shen Chen. Their next targets were the two attendants pushing the luggage cart. They were the ones closest to them. Four meters... Three meters... Two meters... One meter...

The sharp Black Blade and fire axe streaked through the air one after another, slicing the rotten atmosphere like lightning. The two zombies let out a "gege" noise from their throats at the same time, and they subconsciously reached for Guo Yuan and Shen Chen's throats with dark claws. Before their claws reached Guo Yuan and Shen Chen's throats, the zombies' heads slowly fell, followed by a light thump, and rolled onto the smooth marble floor. Dark red blood spewed two meters up from the wounds in their necks.

But the next moment, Guo Yuan's expression of joy became one of horror. The neck of the zombie he had attacked was only half-broken. The other half was still attached to its body. It let out a mad growl, then turned around and reached for Guo Yuan with sharp claws.

The fire axe was stuck in its skull and couldn't be pulled out. Guo Yuan trembled all over, trying his hardest to pull the fire axe out, but the more anxious he became, the more scared he got, and his hands became weaker.

Finally, nearly limp, watching the zombie jump toward him, its rotten stench already hitting his face, Guo Yuan's eyes widened...