“Come help hold the door!” I shouted at the others who were still frozen in place, my voice almost giving out.
I was both anxious and angry—how could everyone be so unreliable at a moment like this?
Taozi, Han Xue, and Lili had at least been out there with us before, so their reactions were much faster than those who had always stayed inside the base.
As soon as they heard me, they rushed over to help press against the door.
That finally gave me a moment to look around for something else to reinforce it.
When I spotted the not-so-large bookshelf standing against the wall, an idea flashed through my mind.
I immediately shouted to Handsome Guy and Zhang Ting, “Come help me move the bookshelf over to block the door!”
They hesitated for a second, then hurried over.
Chen Jiaojiao was completely terrified by now, sitting on the floor with a pale face, staring at the wide gap in the door and the walker’s arm clawing wildly through it.
The bookshelf wasn’t very big, but it was packed with books and extremely heavy.
The three of us could barely lift it.
As we moved closer to the door, Lili and the others shifted aside, still holding the door in place while pulling the desk away bit by bit.
Then we slammed the bookshelf straight against the door.
It covered the entire doorway perfectly.
We had used so much force that the walker’s arm sticking through the gap was crushed between the door panels—snapped clean off, falling inside before being ground into pulp under the impact of the bookshelf.
We dragged the desk back in front of the shelf, finally buying ourselves a bit of breathing room.
Collapsing onto the floor, I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to steady my pounding head.
Then I glanced over at Chen Jiaojiao, still curled up in the corner.
I tilted my head back in frustration—and that’s when I suddenly noticed something: the end of a baseball bat sticking out from the top of the bookshelf.
Staring at it for a second, I sprang to my feet, startling Lili and Han Xue beside me.
Climbing onto the desk, I reached up and grabbed the bat.
I weighed it in my hand—it felt just right.
No time to wonder why there was a baseball bat in an office.
Maybe the manager was a fan.
All I knew was that now, with a proper weapon in my hand, my confidence surged.
I stood on my toes to check the top of the shelf again, making sure there was nothing else we’d missed, then jumped back down.
The moment I landed, the bookshelf shook violently again.
Han Xue and Taozi rushed to brace it once more.
I swung the bat a couple of times, then glanced at the books on the shelf.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke to everyone:
“We can’t hold out here for long. Once the walkers break in, none of us will get out alive. It’s already been a while, and Team D still hasn’t come. So… we may have to fight our way out ourselves. The fourth floor is a big supermarket—I noticed it earlier. If we can get in there, we might find better weapons. As long as everyone works together, I’m confident I can get us out safely.”
The last part was purely to boost morale.
Truth be told, I didn’t have any real confidence at all.
Just the pack of monsters outside was already a massive problem.
The room fell silent for a while.
Taozi looked around, then turned to me. “Can we really make it out?”
“We can. As long as everyone cooperates, we have a real chance.”
He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright.”
His sudden determination surprised me.
I stared at him for a second, then couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you scared?”
Taozi let out a small laugh. “I may be gay, but I’m still a man. Everyone in this room is weaker than me—how can we all just cower here and wait for you, someone who’s sick, to protect us? Sure, you’re tough, but you’re still a woman, aren’t you?”
“I’m in too—I’m a real man as well,” Handsome Guy added from the side, raising the stone in his hand as a reminder that he’d just smashed a walker’s head with it.
Lili held Xuanxuan in her arms.
Even though she didn’t say it out loud, it was obvious she felt very pessimistic about the idea of us breaking out.
Han Xue casually pulled a few books from the shelf, rolled them up, and said to me, “We’re going to die anyway—might as well try rushing out.”
After saying that, she found a roll of wide transparent tape in the desk and tightly wrapped the rolled-up books into a stick-like weapon.
She swung it a couple of times and then smiled at everyone, saying, “Han Xue brand DIY self-defense weapon. Anyone want one?”
Zhang Ting, who had been crouching beside Chen Jiaojiao, glanced at Han Xue.
After hesitating for quite a while, she finally stood up and walked over.
“Better than having empty hands. I’ll make one too.”
Watching them wrap the makeshift weapons with tape, I turned and walked over to Chen Jiaojiao.
My approach made her tense.
I smiled slightly and asked, “You’re not very old, are you?”
She froze for a moment before answering softly, “Twenty…”
“Ah… twenty? Are your family members still alive?”
The way I asked seemed to make her uncomfortable.
She frowned slightly before replying, “My parents and younger brother are all at home.”
“Then your family is pretty lucky. Have you all been living here this whole time?”
“Here?” She didn’t seem to understand the term.
After thinking for a bit, she said, “We’ve always lived in this city—in the house we’re in now. Everything was still normal when the military first stationed here.”
“So none of you have killed one, or even really seen one of those… walkers?”
“Some people have seen them. There was one incident in the city before. This is my first time seeing them.” As she spoke, she shrank back again.
“Mm.” I nodded, then dropped the smile and looked at her seriously.
“Do you want to die?”
My sudden change in tone startled her.
After a moment, she shook her head. “No…”
“If you don’t, then stop acting like this—like some fragile Lin Daiyu. You’re not her, and there’s no Jia Baoyu here to take care of you. Everyone here wants to live. You can see the situation for yourself. If you keep acting like this, then the moment we open that door and those walkers rush in, you’ll die for sure. No one will be able to save you. Zhang Ting won’t even be able to protect herself, let alone you. So think about it—do you want to be torn apart and eaten alive, piece by piece, or do you want to gather your courage and escape with us?”
After saying that, I stood up. “In ten minutes, I’m opening that door. I hope I won’t hear any piercing screams by then—they’re pretty unpleasant.”
I didn’t wait for her reply.
I turned back to the door and quietly listened to the sounds outside.
Han Xue was good at making use of whatever she could—she had rolled some magazines around her arms as makeshift protection in case things got dangerous.
Taking a moment, I glanced back at Chen Jiaojiao, who was still in a daze.
I had deliberately spoken harshly earlier—because in a situation like this, the only person who could save her was herself.
We’d lived too long in peace, detached from danger.
At first, I hadn’t planned to bother with her—after all, whether she lived or died had nothing to do with us.
But earlier, when I saw Xuanxuan crawling on the floor toward her, even though she was trembling in fear, she still picked the child up… that moment softened my heart.
So I said those harsh words, hoping to give her a push—just enough strength to stand up for herself.
A few minutes later, everyone had prepared their makeshift gear.
The weapons Han Xue came up with were surprisingly effective—the tightly taped book-clubs were sturdy enough to clash against my baseball bat without breaking.
Even if they couldn’t kill a walker, they could at least knock them back.
Chen Jiaojiao, however, was still sitting on the ground.
I felt a bit disappointed.
It seemed like everything I said earlier had been for nothing.
Just at that moment, Chen Jiaojiao suddenly flipped herself up from the floor.
After hesitating for a second, she walked over to Han Xue. “Make one for me too.”
Zhang Ting clearly hadn’t expected that and exclaimed in surprise, “Jiaojiao? Aren’t you scared?”
Without lifting her head, Chen Jiaojiao stared at the books Han Xue was wrapping and replied, “Compared to death, fear is nothing.”
I gave her an approving look, and Zhang Ting seized the moment to give me a thumbs-up.
By the time everyone was fully prepared, more than ten minutes had already passed.
Outside the room, aside from the walkers’ growls, there wasn’t a single sound from any living person.
The D Team still hadn’t shown up.
After reminding everyone to stay alert, keep formation, and not fall behind, I briefly explained the plan.
There were too many walkers—there was no way we could handle them all at once with these makeshift weapons.
So we’d use the door in front of us to our advantage: let in two or three walkers at a time, deal with them, and once their numbers were reduced, we’d make our move outside.
That way, the overall threat would be much lower.
I’d said it many times before—the terrifying thing about walkers is when they swarm.
Once they’re separated, they’re much easier to handle.
Once everyone understood the plan, everyone except me moved to the door, ready to shift the bookshelf and open a gap to let a couple of walkers in.
Now that I had a proper weapon in hand, I felt much more confident than before.
Dealing with two walkers, especially with the “handsome guy” backing me up, shouldn’t be a problem.
As Sister Hua softly counted “One, two, three!” they pushed the cabinet toward the wall.
Taozi stepped forward and opened the door just wide enough for one person.
Almost instantly, a walker shoved its arms through and squeezed inside, drawn to me standing in the room and not noticing Taozi by the door.
When the second one got in, the others quickly shoved the cabinet back, crushing a third walker that tried to force its way in—pinning it to death in the doorway.
Gripping the baseball bat, I swung hard at one of the walkers.
The blow was heavy—it knocked it to the ground with bits of flesh splattering, but it wasn’t enough to kill it.
Taking the opportunity, the handsome guy rushed in with the stone and smashed its head in with a brutal strike.
— The end of the Chapter–
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