BC Chapter 47

The gunshot startled the men who were about to attack and everyone behind the woman in black.

Zhang Biao, shot in the arm, was bleeding profusely and cried out in pain, unable to stand steadily. The men beside him were wary and didn’t dare to approach to help him, afraid the next shot would hit them.

Meanwhile, the zombies outside the store, originally drawn by the fleeing Hu Ying, were now gathering towards the entrance after hearing the gunshot…

Layers of zombies clustered outside the dental hospital’s main door. The ones in front banged against the hospital’s double glass doors, and the nearby windows began to echo with thuds and taps. The zombies beat at the doors and windows with their hands and arms, some even slamming their heads against them. Black blood streamed out, covering their faces and heads, making them look terrifying and disgusting.

The people inside finally realized what it meant to be beset by internal and external troubles.

“Anyone else want to try getting shot? Come on.” The woman in black raised her gun, aiming at the men who had been about to charge forward.

Seeing the gun pointed at them, the men belatedly raised their hands to shield themselves, fear creeping into their eyes.

Meng Qinghua stepped forward, his facial muscles twitching as he tried to smooth things over. “Don’t, beautiful lady. Killing people won’t do you any good. Besides, look at those zombies outside, they’re already eager to break in. If you fire again, we’ll all be in trouble. How about this? We’ll give you and your people the safer rooms on the second floor, and we’ll stay downstairs. Take whatever you need upstairs. Once the zombies outside disperse, we can discuss what to do next together.”

Clearly, conflict at this moment was a dead end for both sides. Seeing their compromise, the woman in black didn’t insist on killing them. Those behind her knew they had no advantage in a fight. Fortunately, none of Meng Qinghua’s group of ten or so were truly desperate individuals. They all understood who would be the first to charge and the first to die, and no one wanted to be a scapegoat. Furthermore, the woman in black’s attitude was indeed strong enough to maintain the current balance.

The conversation ended. Meng Qinghua’s group huddled together, slowly moving to a corner near the lobby entrance, giving up the staircase to the woman in black and her people.

The men and women behind the woman in black didn’t stand on ceremony. They took most of the supplies from the first floor upstairs. During the process, the woman in black remained by the first-floor stair railing, gun pointed at Meng Qinghua and his group, without the slightest relaxation.

The first to reach the second floor was Han Xiaoling. She was a senior at Qingshui Business University. The day the virus broke out, she was working at a small company, toiling as an unappreciated intern. Relying on her quick wits and a young person’s foresight, she escaped from the company. Later, she met Zhao Huiyun, a waitress from a coffee shop. By chance, they found a place to hide together and worked hard to survive for a few days. Later, Zhang Biao and his group discovered them during one of their sweeps and “rescued” them. But they hadn’t expected to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

After being violated by Zhang Biao and the others, Han Xiaoling had wanted to end her life, but Zhao Huiyun noticed something was wrong and saved her. Now, not only did she fear the man-eating zombies outside, but the presence of Zhang Biao and the others made her feel hopeless about ever returning to her old life. So, when the woman in black confronted Zhang Biao and the others, she grabbed a bag of supplies from the floor and ran upstairs.

Finally… she could get away from these beasts… she thought.

However, when she opened the door to the furthest room on the second floor, the sight inside terrified her so much that she couldn’t even hold onto the things in her hands, and they all fell to the ground.

“…What’s wrong… Xiaoling?” Zhao Huiyun, who was right behind her, noticed her unusual behavior, moved past her, and looked into the room.

On the messy bedding, lay a naked body, hair tangled, with injuries on her face and body. Some of the bloodstains had even seeped into the bedding.

The woman who had been ravaged beyond recognition was none other than Mei Ting.

Zhao Huiyun also took two steps back in fright, but calming herself, she entered the room, placed her things aside, and went to the body, reaching out to check the other’s breath.

There was still breath, she wasn’t dead. Relieved, she wanted to help the other put on some clothes, but found they had all been torn to shreds by the beasts outside. Perhaps because she had resisted too fiercely, angering the brutes, she had not only been violated, but also beaten all over by them.

Just watching from the side, Zhao Huiyun’s body trembled, and tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes. Finally, she reached out, then let her hand fall, turning to go downstairs to find some clothes for the other to wear.

In that short time, the other girls downstairs had also come up. Seeing Han Xiaoling standing blankly by the door, they felt somewhat strange, until the remaining people also saw the scene in the room, and grabbed Han Xiaoling into the room, then closed and locked the door.

Li Yang and Qi Xin, the two men who had come up later, were about to enter the door with their things, but were directly shut out by the girls, causing them to be confused.

But Qi Xin reacted faster, immediately remembering what Zhang Biao and others had done in this room before. Without needing to see anything, thinking about how Zhang Biao and others had treated them before, they could guess why the girls had locked the door directly, not letting them in.

He looked at Li Yang, who met his hesitant gaze, and finally realized what was going on. So the two of them temporarily put their things by the door, and then sat down, one on each side of the door.

At this time, the two of them were best off being invisible, otherwise what Zhang Biao and others had done would also be counted on their heads—those who failed to prevent and those who did not resist are guilty of the same crime as the oppressors.

When Zhao Huiyun went downstairs to pick out some clothes, seeing that the woman in black was still confronting the men, she went over and tugged at her sleeve, gesturing for her to come with her.

The woman in black looked at Meng Qinghua and the others who were frantically helping Zhang Biao stop the bleeding, and saw that most of the things had been moved away, so she cautiously followed Zhao Huiyun upstairs.

When the people inside opened the door for the two of them, the woman in black, like the others, saw Mei Ting lying on the ground.

She paused for a moment, then told everyone to help Mei Ting put on her clothes. Then she asked Li Yang and Qi Xin to go downstairs and bring up a few empty backpacks.