BC Chapter 4

Out of fear of the approaching little girl, everyone retreated back into the company’s office building. Xiao Li used a mop handle broken in two to block the main entrance of the lobby, temporarily separating everyone from the little girl outside.

“Actually, we should deal with this little girl,” He Shifeng said, standing a meter away from the front door like everyone else, watching the little girl outside baring her teeth and claws as she slapped the glass of the front door. “Because…” Before He Shifeng could finish speaking, someone exclaimed with a pale face, “That woman is ‘alive’ too!!!”

“Damn it, that’s exactly what I was going to say.” He Shifeng gritted his teeth, turned around, and waved his hand: “Quick, tell everyone upstairs to come down!”

“Xiao Li, you and I will go find some ‘weapons’ to deal with these two ‘things’. The rest of you guard this door and don’t let them in.”

…

The people upstairs, eager to get news as soon as possible, had already taken it upon themselves to come down without Boss Wang Lin’s permission. To maintain peace, unity, and no divisions, even Lu Ziming, who was always buried in her computer, diligently working, was dragged down by her colleagues.

For the people in the office, the thrilling scenes just now were naturally shocking. Although they hadn’t been there in person, even from several floors up, they could still feel the impact that the two ‘zombies’ on the first floor were having on their sanity. Some of the older people were so overwhelmed that they hadn’t even processed what was happening.

Lu Ziming, on the other hand, remained calm and composed. Her gaze swept over the crowd and the zombie mother and daughter outside the door, baring their fangs, grinning, and drooling, analyzing the situation in less than two minutes. Although Lu Ziming hadn’t been focusing on the ‘events’ that everyone was concerned about, she had inevitably overheard bits and pieces of their conversations.

Lu Ziming’s reclusive and indifferent personality was largely due to her upbringing. After she was born, she never pleased her father, and her mother was also burdened because Lu Ziming was a girl, and was often beaten and scolded by that beastly man. Even today, many years later, if she calmed down to recall, Lu Ziming could still remember that rainy summer night…

…

“You shut your fucking mouth! I’m not spending your money on alcohol, you good-for-nothing who only knows how to spend my hard-earned money! And this little monster coming to collect debts from me, why don’t you all just fucking die! I’m working my ass off every day, what for!! Can’t even give birth to a son, what the fuck good are you to me!!” The man named Lu Jinghai swept all the bowls, plates, chopsticks, and other tableware off the table, shattering them on the floor. Lu Ziming’s mother, Xia Shulan, hurriedly got up and pulled Lu Ziming, who was still eating, behind her. Before she could finish speaking, Lu Jinghai interrupted her with a string of curses.

Lu Ziming looked up at her rice bowl, which had also been knocked to the ground. Most of the rice had spilled out, but the bowl spun around once and a half without breaking. She stared at the bowl, chewed and swallowed the mouthful of rice she had just taken. She wasn’t full. She didn’t know when this fight would end, and she would probably go to bed hungry again tonight.

Just because Lu Ziming was a girl, she had been disliked by Lu Jinghai since she was a child. This included Lu Jinghai’s elders and relatives, who had basically never expressed any kindness to Lu Ziming and Xia Shulan. In their eyes, a woman who couldn’t give birth to a boy was as good as half a waste, and Lu Ziming, as a girl, was just a little monster coming to collect debts. But Xia Shulan, although she was a woman without much of her own opinion, was very stubborn. Because of Lu Ziming’s existence, she had suffered a lot in this family, but after all, she was a mother, and she had never vented her resentment on Lu Ziming, always silently enduring, without saying a word.

Dinner had been ready for a long time tonight, but Lu Jinghai didn’t come back. When Lu Ziming asked Xia Shulan for the fifth time, “Mom, when can we eat?” Xia Shulan went to the door and turned around again before putting the warm food on the table.

Unexpectedly, just as the mother and daughter were halfway through their meal, Lu Jinghai staggered into the house, reeking of alcohol.

“I’ve already made dinner, why did you eat outside? You didn’t even tell us, we’ve been waiting for you, the child is starving. But you, you drank outside before coming back!” Xia Shulan stared at Lu Jinghai, who was sitting across the table, and complained.

Lu Jinghai squinted his eyes and looked up at Xia Shulan, with an unkind expression, but didn’t say anything.

“What are you looking at me for! Am I wrong?! Other people’s food is so delicious, why don’t you just go live with them!!” Xia Shulan slammed the bowl and chopsticks on the table, and this family war officially began.

…

Regarding single-parent or two-parent families, Lu Ziming had her own views since she was a child—if a person can live well alone, then so-called parents are unnecessary.

The relationship between people is always maintained by mutual giving. So even parents will abandon their children under certain circumstances. It is said that fatherly and motherly love are the greatest in the world, but nothing is absolute.

…

“What do we do? Should we rush out?” Someone in the crowd asked.

Everyone had already prepared their ‘weapons’ at this time. There weren’t many supplies in the office. Several women, unable to find suitable ‘weapons’, had brought down ‘shields’—the display boards in the office used to post regulations and penalty notices. It was estimated that everyone had disliked these things for a long time. They were supposed to post both rewards and punishments, but most of the time everyone only saw the punishments, and the rewards were few and far between. If they didn’t take this opportunity to take revenge, when would they?

The company’s technicians had even removed the supporting rod from the middle of the swivel chairs, held it in their hands, and made a striking motion. Their firm eyes gave people the illusion that the next ball would definitely be a home run!

Xiao Li and He Shifeng were holding whiteboard frames that were used in the conference room to support the whiteboards when writing during meetings… They had now been dismantled into two hollow iron rods.

Lu Ziming looked around and grabbed the chain lock used to lock the company’s main door from the side of the door—it was usually hung there and not locked.

“Is everyone ready? We’re going out.” He Shifeng and Xiao Li stood in front of the crowd, one on the left and one on the right, already in a fighting stance, looking at the zombie mother and daughter who were only a door away and still baring their teeth and claws at the people inside.

“Ready…”

“Ready.”

“Let’s go.”

The replies were all from men. Not a single woman opened her mouth to respond. They all stared nervously at the inhuman mother and daughter outside.

“Let’s go!” Xiao Li said, and he and He Shifeng each pulled away one of the two mop handles, simultaneously and quickly pushing open the two doors to the outside.

The fierce-looking zombie little girl, like a little beast, was standing in front of the door and was hit head-on by the suddenly opened door. She stumbled back two steps, lost her footing, and rolled down the steps.

The zombie woman, who had been banging on the side glass with all her might, turned her head and saw the crowd rushing out, so she staggered towards the crowd. Probably because her joints were starting to stiffen, she walked very unsteadily, swaying like a drunk person. But even so, her approach still caused several particularly timid women in the crowd that had rushed out to scream, and even a small number of people were so frightened by the screams of these women that they ran back into the building without even seeing what was in front of them.

After all, this woman’s appearance still looked like a human. Although He Shifeng and Xiao Li rushed out, they still hesitated when they swung their sticks. The hollow iron rods hit the woman’s body, but she didn’t even instinctively raise her hand to protect herself, as if the iron rods were hitting a sandbag and not her body.

“Feng, Brother Feng, what do we do…” Because of the woman’s approach, Xiao Li took small steps backward while nervously asking He Shifeng for his opinion.

“What else can we do? Knock…knock her unconscious!” Although He Shifeng said fiercely through gritted teeth, he still didn’t make a move, retreating in the same rhythm as Xiao Li.

He had never hit a woman in his life. Although this woman in front of him could no longer be called a ‘person’ at this time, as long as she was still wearing the skin of a woman, he still couldn’t bring himself to do it.

At this moment, a figure ran past from the side, and there was a rustling sound. The female zombie was tied up completely.

“?” Xiao Li and He Shifeng were stunned. They saw the female zombie still baring her teeth at them, but she was dragged away while tied up. After not walking two steps, the person holding the chain locked her directly to the steel door handle of the main entrance. The anti-theft chain wasn’t thick, but fortunately it was strong. When the female zombie turned around to bite the person behind her, that person had already run away at top speed.

Xiao Li and He Shifeng watched the female zombie being locked to the door, temporarily unable to move, and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. When they looked up, they realized that the person who had bravely locked up the female zombie was actually the Lu Ziming who had always had a low presence in the office.

Lu Ziming jumped back two steps and used her fingers to brush aside the bangs that were wet with sweat before standing still and turning around. The long ponytail behind her head also swayed with her body’s movements. Seeing that the female zombie really couldn’t break free from the anti-theft lock, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as she looked up, she saw Xiao Li and He Shifeng staring at her with their mouths open in shock. She didn’t say anything, but just turned her expressionless gaze behind them, inexplicably raised her hand to cover her ears, and then the women’s screams rose again. Xiao Li and He Shifeng were startled and jumped and turned their bodies around.

It turned out that it was still the little girl who had just rolled down the stairs, hanging with a neck bent at a hundred and twenty degrees and a broken hand, using her legs and the only remaining flexible hand, crawling upwards on all fours. The women who had just run down the stairs to rush out of the company’s compound were once again frightened back by her.