Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

After a moment, the walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"Brother Lin... We’re not busy... We just finished clearing two buildings and made a list. Do you need it?"

"It’s not about that... We’ve cleared out the zombies in the main areas of Xingfu Li District. See if you can arrange for some people to clean up the bodies..."

’There must be over a hundred bodies here. Even I’ve never seen a scene like this. I’d better not think about it too much, or I’ll have nightmares...’

"Huh?"

"...You’re already done clearing them out?"

Liu Bin’s disbelieving cry came through the walkie-talkie, along with the quiet whispers of the people around him.

"Move aside... Alright, Brother Lin, let’s talk in person. I’ll bring some people over through the stairwell..."

Lin Fan stuffed the walkie-talkie back into his pocket, pulled Wang Yuanhua up from the ground, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and set him down against the wall near the stairwell entrance.

’I’ll have to explain his situation to Liu Bin later to avoid any misunderstandings.’

A few minutes later, a unit door in the adjacent building opened. Several spears poked out cautiously, followed by a few faces.

"WHOA!"

"So fast!"

"So many dead people..."

Before anyone even emerged, a few exclamations drifted out from the doorway.

Then, several men holding spears squeezed out of the door, followed closely by Liu Bin, the man Lin Fan had just contacted.

"Brother Lin..."

After gasping in awe, the group turned, saw Lin Fan standing not far away, and hurried to greet him.

"Holy crap, Brother Lin, this is..."

The man in the lead was Zhang Ziyi, whom Lin Fan had met a few times. He was more familiar with Lin Fan and not as nervous, so he took the initiative to step forward and speak.

"This... There must be over a hundred of them, right?! You took care of all... all of them in a single morning?"

’But then I remembered that this superman before me could never be judged by common standards. Besides, as part of Liu Bin’s inner circle, I’d heard from him about the Awakened Ones. I heard that the four people under Lin Fan set out with him and killed all these zombies in just one morning. I’m one of the main guys on Liu Bin’s teams for clearing zombies from buildings; no one knows better than me how strong a single zombie is. But the proof is right in front of my eyes, and it just makes me even more envious of the power of the Awakened Ones.’

"WHOA!"

"So many bodies..."

"BLEGH!"

Before Lin Fan could exchange pleasantries with Zhang Ziyi, Liu Bin also squeezed out of the doorway, a group of people trailing behind him. They were covered up thoroughly. Some, lacking proper gloves, had simply wrapped trash bags around their hands.

’Looks like he organized them to move the bodies.’

"Brother Lin... Are your wife and the others okay...?"

Liu Bin stepped over the corpses to approach him. Seeing no one in the large trash dumpster, he asked the question.

It seemed Liu Bin had heard about the dumpster from someone he’d met that morning, so he wasn’t too surprised.

"They’re fine... They went back..."

Lin Fan glanced around, but he didn’t see a suitable place to put the bodies.

"These bodies..."

"I thought about it on the way here. Let’s just move them all to Building 23, seal it up, and be done with it..."

He finished with a shrug, looking at Lin Fan.

Building 23 was the one that had been destroyed by a major fire. They weren’t short on supplies now, so no one ever went there.

The bodies of the zombies from the roadside and the corpses of those Mutated Zombies had all been thrown into that building before. Lin Fan hadn’t even thought of that.

"Alright, you guys handle it then. If need be, we can throw all the bodies in the building and set it on fire again..."

Lin Fan clapped his hands, settling on the plan.

Hearing Lin Fan’s agreement, Liu Bin immediately went to organize his men. They began systematically looting useful items from the corpses, like car keys and watches, before loading the bodies onto handcarts and transporting them to the base of Building 23, where a few people would then move them inside.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ziyi and the other armed personnel were responsible for standing guard during the transport process, ready to deal with any hidden zombies or other sudden incidents.

Just then, Xu Qian returned from a distance after finishing off the last of the zombies. Seeing the chaotic crowd, he stood far off to the side. Lin Fan waved him over.

"You stay here and patrol with them. If there are any stray zombies, you deal with them together. There are benefits to it. Besides, you’re stronger than them, so they’ll be safer with you here..."

Lin Fan patted Xu Qian’s shoulder. He knew the young man was reluctant to interact with outsiders, but it wasn’t necessarily because he disliked it—it was more likely due to fear.

That’s why Lin Fan deliberately gave him the responsibility of protecting these people, to let him experience what it was like to be the one protecting others.

As he spoke, he thrust the walkie-talkie into Xu Qian’s hands and gestured toward Wang Yuanhua, who was propped up against the base of the nearby wall.

"And keep an eye on him for me. If he wakes up or if there are any problems, call me on this channel. I’m going upstairs for a bit. I have a spare walkie-talkie..."

"Don’t worry, Brother Lin! I’ll head over right now!"

Xu Qian nodded firmly and picked up his spear. His voice was a bit hoarse, but it held a newfound resolve.

After the morning’s battles, Lin Fan could sense a change in the young man’s mentality. Having him work with Zhang Ziyi’s group to protect the body-disposal team was a deliberate move on Lin Fan’s part.

Often, just adding a few words can give the same task a completely different meaning.

As Lin Fan had said before, he never really knew if the decisions he made were right or wrong.

’But looking at that somewhat slender yet reassuringly determined back in the distance, I guess I probably got it right again this time...’

Lin Fan turned and walked through the stairwell door. He had also been through several fights. While he wouldn’t say he was exhausted, he was certainly tired.

Precisely shaping the spears had drained more of his energy than he’d expected. It was only noon, and he was already feeling a bit drowsy.

He walked into his home and saw two empty instant noodle bowls on the coffee table, the broth drunk down to the last drop.

Beside them were a few wrappers from braised eggs.

’I can see Su Qing and Chu Zhaozhao lying on opposite sides of the bed in the bedroom. They didn’t react when I came in, so they must be asleep already.’

Lin Fan washed the blood and grime off his body, dried himself, tossed his bloody clothes by the door, changed into some lounge clothes, and lay down on the sofa.

He had originally planned to come home, hold Su Qing for a while, and get some proper rest.

’Liu Bin’s group scouted the suspicious rooms in two buildings, so there should be quite a few Mutated Zombies. After a short nap, I’ll have to go out and work again...’

But he couldn’t sleep.

’The moment I close my eyes, images of severed limbs flash through my mind. It’s as if I’m sleeping in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, in danger of being drowned by the ever-growing pile of gore and filth at any moment...’

’At moments like this, I almost envy Su Qing and the others. Unlike me, they must have been truly exhausted, crashing the moment their heads hit the pillow, probably not even dreaming.’

He suddenly felt an indescribable exhaustion and a longing to be reassured.

So, grabbing his walkie-talkie, he got up and walked into the bedroom, looking at the two figures sleeping soundly on the bed.

He gently squeezed in between them, rested his head on Su Qing’s pillow, and pulled her into his arms.

Su Qing murmured and woke up. Her drowsy eyes opened to see Lin Fan. She wasn’t surprised, just snuggled instinctively deeper into his embrace and peacefully fell back asleep.

For some reason, Su Qing always gave off a faint, fragrant coolness. Even though the weather outside wasn’t hot, it was still incredibly comfortable.

Feeling the gentle rise and fall of her soft breathing in his arms and hearing Chu Zhaozhao’s faint snores behind him, the tension in his heart finally eased a little. Soon, he drifted off to sleep.