Lin Jing's veins bulged. A full-grown man weighed more than his own weight, hanging beneath him. If it weren't for his previous life's occupation, Lin Jing would have been dead by now.
He desperately kicked the back of his right ankle with his left leg, until the zombie's hand was deformed and the grip on his ankle finally released.
Lin Jing felt only a burning pain in his palm, nearly losing consciousness. His movements were a completely instinctive reaction bred by years of living on the edge of a knife.
Lin Jing desperately did pull-ups, his left leg desperately trying to hook the iron railing. The first time, it was just a little off, and Lin Jing almost let go. Enduring the pain in his hands, he used all his strength to pull up again. This time, his right leg finally hooked the iron railing. With a tug of his wrist, Lin Jing flipped over, not quite deftly, and finally stood on the iron staircase.
Lin Jing didn't even have time to breathe. Seeing the zombie's bloody mouth open wide at Mo Fei, some slime even dripping onto his face, Lin Jing's dagger reappeared in his right hand. He kicked the zombie's face to the side while desperately slashing at the male zombie's neck.
After the first strike, while the zombie was still dazed, Lin Jing squatted on the stairs, one leg glaring at the male zombie's face. With all his might, he forcibly pulled Mo Fei out from under the male zombie. "Let's go," he said. With that, Lin Jing, holding the dagger in both hands, desperately slashed at the male zombie's neck. The life-or-death situation had just triggered all of Lin Jing's rage. He wanted to fight these monsters to the death. Adrenaline surged, and Lin Jing mobilized all his strength and launched a barrage of kicks and slashes at the zombies in front of him. Surprisingly, it worked, knocking down five or six zombies in a row.
Mo Fei knew now was not the time to be afraid. Sh couldn't hold Lin Jing back. She had already grasped the iron railing and obediently ran upwards.
After dispatching five or six zombies, Lin Jing was able to escape and turned to run upstairs. She had nearly fallen from the seventh floor. Thinking about it now, Lin Jing's palms were sweating. If it weren't for her neighbor risking his life to block the zombies, she would have been bitten by the zombies behind her. She would have either fallen to his death or turned into a zombie, which would have been a terrible fate.
Thinking of this, Lin Jing glanced at Mo Fei in front of him. It seemed that having a teammate around was of some use.
Mo Fei was delighted to see Lin Jing catch up, but now was no time to talk. The two of them ran upstairs desperately. Of course, Lin Jing kept listening to the music in the building to find out where it was coming from. They reached the thirteenth floor, and the music was still there, sounding like it was coming from the rooftop.
Lin Jing and Mo Fei didn't dare delay. The zombies were still chasing them, but they were only about five or six meters away, giving them a chance to catch their breath.
When the iron staircase reached the end, Mo Fei anxiously shimmied at an iron door. The fire escape leading to the 14th-floor rooftop also had an iron door.
Lin Jing saw this and pushed Mo Fei inside. "Let me do it," he said, grabbing his Tang sword and desperately slashing at the iron lock. After four or five hits, the lock finally gave way, and the zombies behind them were about to catch up.
Lin Jing exerted his strength with both hands, finally breaking the iron lock on the door. He kicked it open and shouted to Mo Fei, "Hurry!"
Mo Fei reacted quickly, knowing she couldn't hold Lin Jing back. By then, someone had already rushed out of the iron gate and onto the rooftop. However, once there, Mo Fei became even more worried. The two doors leading to the top floor on the 13th floor had also been broken open by the zombies inside. There were already quite a few zombies on the rooftop, but for some reason, none of them were rushing towards him and Lin Jing.
The rooftop was large, but the view was also wide, leaving almost no place to hide. If she and Lin Jing were on the rooftop, wouldn't that mean there was no other way out?
Just as she was thinking this, the music on the rooftop stopped abruptly. Mo Fei turned to look at where the music had been coming from. It was a rectangular object, like a table. Mo Fei couldn't understand why it was making the sound.
Lin Jing was on the other side, the zombies behind him were already charging at him. He kicked the zombies with all his might and then ran desperately towards the rooftop. He remembered the system's instructions: zombies couldn't get within 10 meters of the card draw machine.
He had already spotted the card draw machine, right outside the machine room. He rushed forward a few steps, then sat down exhausted.
Mo Fei, seeing the zombies not far behind him, hurried over to help Lin Jing. He'd thought he'd given up and given up.
Lin Jing grabbed his wrist and shook his head. "They can't get through."
Mo Fei was almost exasperated. She couldn't believe what Lin Jing said, but when she turned and looked back, she saw a transparent wall appear out of nowhere, five or six steps away. There was no wall, but it seemed as if a transparent wall had appeared out of thin air. The zombies were already swarming against it, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get inside.
Mo Fei was stunned, staring blankly at the hideous zombies. "What's going on?"
Lin Jing was exhausted and just wanted to lie down and rest for a while. Although he was splattered with some zombie blood, he was fine, not as miserable as he had been in the neighborhood before. He lay on the ground and took a few breaths before speaking. "It's hard to explain it right away. Anyway, we're safe for now. Let's get some rest."
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Mo Fei didn't want to ask more. She glanced at the nearly one hundred zombies at the building entrance, then at the zombies not far away. Mo Fei finally sat down next to Lin Jing. With Lin Jing around, he felt a little more at ease.
Lying on the ground, Lin Jing didn't care what Mo Fei was thinking. He just felt like his whole body was falling apart. His hands and arms were shaking slightly. He had used up too much energy today, especially on the fire escape outside. He almost fell from the seventh floor. Lin Jing felt a lingering fear when he recalled the incident.
He lay on the ground for about ten minutes before finally pushing himself to sit up. With the music gone, the rooftop's appeal to the zombies had faded. Low-level zombies lacked intelligence, so some still tried to charge onto the rooftop, while others were squeezed by the zombies behind them. In short, the zombies remained huddled together. However, thanks to the card machine, Lin Jing and the others were temporarily safe.
As if realizing something, Lin Jing's expression grew serious. The card machine only stayed in one location for three hours. After that, it would disappear, and the area within ten meters of it would no longer be safe. The zombies would then swarm over, putting him and Mo Fei in danger.
Besides, the two building entrances were swarming with zombies, making escape through them impossible. Outside, the fire escape he and Mo Fei had just climbed was also crammed with zombies, effectively providing rations for the zombies.
Lin Jing's brow furrowed. He stood up and quickly surveyed his surroundings, but the only three options he had thought of remained. He looked toward the outside of the building. Unless they didn't take the stairs, he and Mo Fei would be dead.
Seeing Lin Jing's grim expression, Mo Fei hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Jing pursed his lips and shook his head. He had a rope in his backpack. If he could use it to descend a few floors from the outside of the top wall, then break through the window and enter any room on the 10th or 9th floor, it should be possible. The zombies were all piled up on the upper floors, and if he went down from the 10th floor, the possibility of escape was still relatively high. However, he was exhausted and had doubts about whether he could successfully descend to the 10th floor using the rope, not to mention that he had Mo Fei by his side.
As a normal neighbor, Lin Jing could have chosen to ignore Mo Fei. However, just now, on the fire escape, he nearly fell. If Mo Fei hadn't held back the zombies, he would have been dead by now. He couldn't just ignore someone who had saved him once.
His gaze fell on the card drawer. Now, he could only hope that it would yield something like a cheat code, perhaps he and Mo Fei could still survive.
Lin Jing walked towards the card drawer, with Mo Fei following him.
The screen was still lit, displaying several options. Lin Jing clicked the button to load zombie cores. Soon, a drawer-like device popped out, and the screen displayed, "Please insert 100 Level 1 zombie cores."
Lin Jing was afraid that conjuring crystal cores out of thin air would be too unbelievable, considering Mo Fei was still there. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his baseball jersey, pretending the cores were there. With a thought, he continued to place the cores into the small drawer, while the electronic screen of the card drawer automatically counted.
Lin Jing paused grabbing the cores when he saw 100 appear on the screen. Simultaneously, ten items appeared on the card drawer's screen, arranged in two rows.
Lin Jing glanced at them: three bottles of drinking water, a blocking item (one-use only), a hammer, a bottle of genetic enhancement potion, a bag of Rainbow Candy, a rack of Wahaha, a pair of scissors, a speed-up item (one-use only), a box lunch, and a watermelon.
Lin Jing pursed his lips as he stared at the ten items on the screen, his heart pounding. Why were there so many food and drinks at a glance?
Lin Jing looked at these things and felt that they were unreliable. The only items that seemed to be of any use were the two props and the gene enhancement potion. The probability of winning these was 3 in 10, but when Lin Jing thought about his previous luck, he couldn't help but hold his forehead with a headache. He was a complete loser.
When he was a bodyguard, there were only two options. With a probability of choosing one of the two, he would always meet the criminals head-on. Lin Jing really didn't dare to think about what he would win later.