Chapter Fifteen: The Excavator

Thanks to the acute senses of a zombie, Lin Dong could already hear the sounds of human activity inside, accompanied by a faint scent of blood. Whatever was happening, it didn’t bode well.

His three underlings, sensing the presence of prey, grew visibly excited and dashed toward the fortress-like building.

Inside, there were indeed quite a few survivors—no fewer than a dozen. Among them were several construction workers, some hired muscle from the underworld, and the developer of the construction site, Zhao Peng—the very same man who had purchased Lin Dong’s breeding farm and lent him money, only to become his biggest victim.

When the apocalypse broke out, Zhao Peng happened to be inspecting the site with his men. Upon discovering the outbreak, he immediately organized the group and had a doomsday fortress poured with reinforced concrete, narrowly escaping disaster and surviving to this day.

Zhao Peng remained the leader of the fortress, commanding his capable right-hand man, Xing Tianlong, and several loyal thugs, keeping the construction workers under control.

“Boss Zhao, none of the people we sent out have come back,” Xing Tianlong said, frowning.

Zhao Peng, too, was troubled. The fortress was secure, but supplies were limited. They had already run out of food and were starving.

“If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to eat meat to hold on, but... I don’t know if we’ll catch prion disease.”

“Boss, I don’t think we will,” said a bespectacled woman nearby, Zhao Peng’s secretary, a woman of considerable intellect.

“Because prion disease only develops in a body after death. As long as we eat something living, there shouldn’t be a problem...”

“Boss Zhao, if you ask me, I should take a group out to find some food,” Xing Tianlong volunteered.

Zhao Peng shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous out there.”

“Don’t worry, Boss Zhao. Back in my street-fighting days, I once ran through three streets with a watermelon knife, didn’t even blink. Those zombies aren’t as tough as people.”

“If you don’t blink, don’t your eyes get dry?” Zhao Peng asked.

Xing Tianlong was speechless; he’d been talking about hacking people up, and Zhao Peng was worried about dry eyes?

Just then, they heard the roar of an engine outside—the sound of a vehicle entering the construction yard.

Xing Tianlong’s eyes narrowed. “Boss Zhao, it might be the second group returning.”

“Let’s go, quickly!” Zhao Peng perked up and hurried to the fortress gates, hoping they’d brought back something to eat.

The fortress’s stainless steel gates were exceptionally sturdy. The fist-sized ventilation hole served for air exchange and as a peephole to observe the outside.

Zhao Peng and Xing Tianlong crouched by the door and peered out. What they saw made their blood run cold. There was no sign of their men—only several terrifying zombies.

A female zombie’s ghastly grin pressed up against the vent, separated from them by only a thin metal barrier, her presence unnerving in the extreme. She was already eager to “love” them, clawing at the steel with sharp nails, sending a bone-chilling screech through the air.

“Damn it!”

Startled, Zhao Peng and his companion stumbled back several steps, nearly falling over.

“What the hell... there are zombies here!”

“Don’t worry, Boss Zhao, zombies can’t get in,” Xing Tianlong reassured him.

Zhao Peng nodded. The zombies were unsettling, but with the strength of their fortress, there was no way they could break in.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, a series of thunderous blows reverberated through the building—it was the Tank, pounding with enough force to make the entire structure tremble.

The noise drew all the survivors to the entrance, curious to see what was happening.

The Tank let out a thunderous roar. His strength was immense, but even at his current level, he couldn’t break through a freezer door, let alone this specially constructed fortress. After a few futile punches, he gave up, obediently standing behind Lin Dong, waiting for his boss to pull out a “little stick” and open the stainless steel gate.

“Has that zombie mutated? How is it so strong?” Zhao Peng was shaken; he’d never seen anything like this before. Since the apocalypse began, the world only seemed to grow stranger.

Xing Tianlong waved dismissively. “Relax. Even if it was a dinosaur, it couldn’t get in unless a zombie knows how to operate an excavator and digs its way inside.”

Zhao Peng nodded, suddenly emboldened.

“I’m going to take another look, see what these zombies look like.”

He returned to the vent, craned his neck, and peered out. This time he saw a young man standing outside, surrounded by three bizarre zombies.

“That’s... Lin Dong?”

Zhao Peng’s expression shifted with surprise. He recognized him instantly—how could he forget? Lin Dong had sold him the breeding farm and borrowed eighty million right before the end. He still owed him money...

“Serves him right! Turned into a zombie, didn’t he? What goes around comes around!” Zhao Peng muttered, though he couldn’t help but admire him—despite his transformation, Lin Dong was still so clean.

Xing Tianlong said, “Boss Zhao, we don’t need to worry about them. They can’t get in. Let them mess around; they’ll leave soon enough.”

“Right,” Zhao Peng agreed, leaving the doorway to sit back down.

Outside, Lin Dong scrutinized the building. Even with a key, it couldn’t be opened from outside, but with his current physical strength, he could punch a hole through it in one blow.

But... that would dirty his clothes.

So, with a wave of his hand, Lin Dong retrieved something from his storage space—a massive metallic machine with a steel arm attached to a giant bucket.

An excavator.

He’d taken it from the breeding farm, and today, it would finally be useful.

With a deafening rumble, the steel machine came to life. Lin Dong drove the excavator toward the fortress. The reinforced concrete was far too thick to dig through directly, so he started on the earth, planning to tunnel in from below.

“Huh?” Inside, Zhao Peng and the others heard the mechanical roar and were immediately alarmed.

What was that?

They rushed to the door, peered through the vent, and saw a giant steel beast lumbering toward them.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

An excavator?

Was the zombie a graduate of Blue Sky Technical College?

The sight before them shattered everything they thought they knew. Xing Tianlong stood in utter disbelief. He had just joked about an excavator, and now it was coming true! Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine a zombie would actually know how to operate one.

Now the real question was: Which school truly teaches the best excavator skills?

As Lin Dong kept digging, a massive pit soon appeared in front of the gate. The floor inside the fortress began to collapse, sunlight streaming in through the widening hole.

“Grab your weapons! Get ready to fight!” Xing Tianlong barked, his voice fierce.

Thugs and workers alike brandished machetes and steel pipes, and somewhere a chainsaw buzzed to life.

They were outnumbered, but their fighting spirit was fierce.

“That’s right! Let’s fight them!”

...