Whoosh!
With a whoosh, Ye Shuangluo swung his rod and dealt with the zombie blocking the stairwell.
He then continued up to the sixth floor, pondering something as he walked.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but these zombies seemed less sluggish than yesterday.
This made Ye Shuangluo vaguely speculate: were these zombies evolving?
When he reached the sixth floor, the anti-theft door slowly opened, and a scantily clad girl peeked out halfway, glancing downstairs.
After confirming there were no zombies, the girl breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Ye Shuangluo:
"Thank you for coming to rescue us. We've been trapped here for almost a week, and our supplies are almost depleted."
"No need to thank me, it was just a small favor."
Although the other party had almost hit him, it didn't seem intentional, so Ye Shuangluo didn't pursue the matter and instead showed a benevolent smile.
Seeing Ye Shuangluo's approachable demeanor, the girl couldn't help but start calculating.
Looking at the girl who seemed to be deep in thought, Ye Shuangluo couldn't be bothered to ask what she was thinking. Instead, he mentally called up his talent panel.
【Congratulations! You have achieved: "The Kind One"】
【Acquired Skill: Killing Power】
Killing Power LV.1
Passive Skill
Every attack you make will be imbued with Killing Power, which ignores enemy defense and forcefully deals 10 true damage.
Note: This skill cannot be leveled up through skill points or talents. The only way to level it up is through killing. This skill has no level cap.
Seeing this skill, Ye Shuangluo's expression was a bit strange. After saving someone, he was rewarded with a skill for killing. This talent was probably not quite normal.
But… a smile curled at his lips. As a hardcore gamer, he was well aware of how powerful this skill was. An uncapped skill like this was naturally the more the merrier.
Just as Ye Shuangluo was feeling pleased about acquiring the skill, the girl suddenly spoke:
"Um… I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Yi Lin, and this is my younger brother, Yi Xiaoyang. Xiaoyang, quickly thank big brother for coming to take us out."
After Yi Lin introduced herself, she called out into the room, and a five or six-year-old boy immediately ran out.
"Thank you, big brother."
"When we see Mom and Dad, we must tell them to thank big brother properly for escorting us. Remember that?"
"I remember."
Watching the siblings' back-and-forth, Ye Shuangluo's brow furrowed slightly, and a bad premonition arose in his heart.
"Excuse me, but I don't think I mentioned where I was taking you, did I?"
Facing Ye Shuangluo's distant and cold tone, the girl seemed not to notice at all, speaking with a tone of course:
"There's almost no safe place left in the whole city now. You're definitely going to the shelter in the city center next, right? Then it's better for the three of us to go together, so we can look out for each other."
As soon as Yi Lin finished speaking, her brother, who had been clinging to her leg, immediately followed up:
"Yeah, if you take us, I can have Mom and Dad give you a lot of money."
Hearing that the other party wanted to give him money, Ye Shuangluo scoffed. Not to mention that he wasn't even from this Main World, with the apocalypse, money would either become worthless or be no different from trash.
He was barely able to take care of himself now, so how could he have the mind to take two burdens along?
"It's impossible for me to take you with me. I've killed all the zombies in your residential building, so you can leave on your own."
After saying that, Ye Shuangluo turned to leave without looking back. Yi Lin, seeing this, grew anxious and shouted:
"You can't leave us here, or I'll use a megaphone to attract all the nearby zombies!"
Hearing this, Ye Shuangluo, who had been about to leave, stopped in his tracks. He slowly raised his head and looked at Yi Lin, saying:
"Are you threatening me?"
Facing Ye Shuangluo's terrifying gaze, like a fierce beast ready to devour someone, Yi Lin was a little scared, but she still bravely said:
"You're forcing me! I told you, we don't have any supplies left, and you still insist on leaving a weak woman and a child here. How is that any different from murder? You murderer!"
Threats combined with moral blackmail—this familiar tactic made Ye Shuangluo's mood sour. Once upon a time, that couple in the Main World had done the same.
Back then, he had no way to resist. But what about now?
After a moment of thought, Ye Shuangluo's grim expression instantly vanished. He smiled:
"Alright, I'll take you with me."
After saying that, he prepared to go upstairs again. Although Yi Lin had just threatened him, as the distance between them continuously closed, her body uncontrollably began to tremble.
And her younger brother, Yi Xiaoyang, though only a five or six-year-old child, was calmer than his sister at this moment, even daring to threaten again:
"Don't even think about hurting either of us. If anything happens to one of us, the other will use the megaphone to attract the zombies. At worst, we all die together."
Ye Shuangluo's expression remained unchanged at Yi Xiaoyang's threat, as if he hadn't heard it. He simply asked faintly:
"The zombies' mobility will significantly decrease at night, so we'll leave tonight, no objections, right?"
"No… none."
Hearing Yi Lin's reply, Ye Shuangluo gave the siblings a meaningful look, then sat down on the steps to wait for nightfall.
The siblings, meanwhile, immediately closed the anti-theft door, clearly not wanting to say anything more to him.
Soon, night fell. The anti-theft door was opened again. Ye Shuangluo turned his head to look. The siblings seemed to have taken all the valuable things from their home.
Ye Shuangluo didn't bother to remind them of anything. He picked up the iron rod placed beside him and led the way downstairs.
As for the siblings, they cautiously followed behind him and soon arrived at the entrance of the residential building.
Ye Shuangluo took a deep breath and walked out of the residential building.
The siblings followed him out of the residential building, but the moment they stepped out, they felt something was wrong.
Why had the zombies' eyes all turned red? In an instant, only one thought remained in their minds: they had been tricked.
They wanted to escape back into the residential building, but it was too late. The zombies had already smelled the scent of living people; they were now driven purely by instinct.
So the zombies frantically rushed towards the siblings. As for Ye Shuangluo, he had already sprinted towards another residential building.
Yi Lin took her brother and retreated back into the residential building, trying to close the main door, but the zombies were already upon her.
Countless withered arms jammed into the door crack of the residential building, preventing Yi Lin from closing the door no matter how hard she tried.
She wanted to quickly escape upstairs, but the zombies had already forced open the main door of the residential building, and instantly, countless zombies surged inside.
"Help…"
The girl couldn't even finish shouting for help before she was torn apart by the frenzied zombies. As for her brother, he followed her one after the other on the path to the underworld.
Ye Shuangluo, the culprit, remained expressionless. After rushing into another residential building, he immediately ran upstairs.
During the day, when he went upstairs to rescue the Yi siblings, he had noticed something: these zombies didn't seem to climb stairs.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been only a few scattered zombies on each floor. Now, this idea was confirmed.
These zombies indeed couldn't climb stairs. They only frantically chased the scent of living people, even causing a stampede.
The zombies stepped on the bodies of their kind, relentlessly pushing forward, trying to catch up to Ye Shuangluo. After finally escaping to the top floor, Ye Shuangluo looked back at the three zombies that had pursued him.
If there were only three, Ye Shuangluo wasn't afraid. Standing at a higher position, he swung his iron rod from above, smashing the pursuing zombies down.
After dealing with the pursuing zombies, Ye Shuangluo still dared not relax, his eyes fixed on the stairwell.
After ten minutes, no more zombies rushed up, and he finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. Just after the Yi siblings died, the game system seemed to have made a sound.
But at that time, the situation was critical, and he had no mind, let alone time, to check. Now that he was finally safe, he called out his panel to check the system prompt from earlier.
Congratulations! You have obtained a hidden achievement: 【The Fickle One (After saving someone's life, you unhesitatingly send them to their grave again)】
Reward obtained: "hypocrite's tears" (Equipment)
Ye Shuangluo chose to claim the reward, and instantly, a teardrop-shaped necklace appeared in his hand.
【"hypocrite's tears"】
Equipment Quality: White
Equipment Type: Accessory
Effect: Backstab Blade (When you attack any unit that has goodwill and trust towards you, damage increases by 5%-10% based on the degree of goodwill and trust.)
Evaluation: Oh, my dear friend, how did you die? (Wiping blood from hands while shedding tears) Don't worry, I will inherit all your family property and take good care of your sister-in-law and daughter.
…
After reading the attributes, Ye Shuangluo only felt that the necklace in front of him was utterly useless.
He was facing a group of zombies without intelligence or the ability to think. What goodwill and trust could a group of zombies possibly have?
He pouted. Although he was utterly disgusted, having something was better than nothing, so he still put the "hypocrite's tears" around his neck.
After doing all this, Ye Shuangluo glanced out the window. The purple moon emitted an eerie and cold moonlight.
This made Ye Shuangluo murmur to himself:
"These zombies are so quiet during the day, but they start rampaging at night. It's probably largely related to this purple moon."
Thinking of this, Ye Shuangluo secretly made up his mind: from now on, he would honestly find a place to hide at night.
As for now, he planned to rest for a while and leave here during the day.