Blowing out the candle beside him, the room was instantly swallowed by darkness. Only a dim fire pit at the entrance flickered weakly, occasionally crackling as wood splintered, accompanied by hushed whispers. Lin Tao adjusted his pillow, seeking a more comfortable position, ignoring the cat-like moans of the women around him. With his eyes closed, he quickly drifted into sleep.

  He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when a faint fragrance filled the air, accompanied by the sensation of a figure slipping into his bed. A soft rustling followed, and a trembling hand began to unzip his pants. The fingers, though cold, moved with practiced ease, pulling out the warm, pulsing "dragon" within. The shadowy figure lowered their head, skillfully taking it into their mouth.

  “...Are you stroking it?”

  Just as the figure was fervently bobbing their head, causing the "dragon" to harden and swell, a pyful voice suddenly whispered in their ear. An icy, metallic object, tinged with the scent of gunpowder, forcefully intruded, pressing against their mouth and shoving the "dragon" aside.

  “Mm... Mmph...”

  The shadow recoiled in shock, hands trembling. The cold steel inside their mouth showed no mercy, pushing deeper, triggering a gag reflex. Yet, they dared not struggle, for even in the darkness, they could clearly recognize the object—a gun, one that could end their life with a mere twitch of a finger.

  Click!

  A fshlight clicked on, its blinding beam illuminating a pale, blood-drained face. Cao Mei instinctively shut her eyes, raising her hands to shield herself from the harsh light, yet she dared not spit out the firearm lodged in her mouth. Droplets of saliva trickled from her thin, sensual lips, glistening as they dripped onto her bare skin, which was now riddled with goosebumps from fear.

  “Did Boss Hu send you?” Lin Tao slowly released the hammer of the gun, withdrawing the weapon from Cao Mei’s mouth. It glistened with her saliva, but he paid no mind, casually wiping it on her discarded underwear before slipping it back into its holster.

  “N-No... I... I wasn’t sent by anyone...” Cao Mei fought back nausea, shaking her head vigorously. After composing herself, she hurriedly expined, “I... I just wanted to serve you!”

  “Serve me? And serving me means sneaking around and touching my gun?” Lin Tao smirked mockingly before waving her off. “Forget it. I don’t care what your motive is. Just don’t disturb my sleep again. Next time, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

  “N-No! Master Lin, please don’t drive me away!” Cao Mei clung to his leg, dropping to her knees in desperation. “Just let me stay by your side! I’ll do whatever you ask, I swear! Please, take me with you... The food supply is running out. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll die here!”

  “That bad?” Lin Tao shrugged, tucking himself back into his pants and zipping up. His expression remained indifferent as he replied, “In this world, people die every day. Sorry, I can’t help you.”

  Seeing his cold response, Cao Mei reached out again, hoping to plead further, but her movements froze under Lin Tao’s increasingly icy gaze. Left with no choice, she gathered her clothes, sobbing as she stumbled out of the room.

  Lin Tao shook his head. It wasn’t that he couldn’t take in another person, but this woman was scheming—exactly the type who would stab you in the back at the worst possible moment. If he were to bring someone along, it certainly wouldn’t be her.

  Switching off the fshlight, darkness enveloped the room once more. His companion, Michael, was no longer in bed. From the awkward moaning next door, Lin Tao guessed that the lustful dog had already found his way into the beds of the three girls there. He sighed in resignation and was just about to fall asleep again when suddenly—

  BANG!

  A heavy crash echoed from the entrance. Lin Tao’s eyes snapped open. He immediately recognized the sound—it was the iron cover at the exit being forcefully lifted. The ctter that followed suggested someone had let it fall back down in a hurry, making a noise that sent chills down the spine in the dead of night.

  “What’s going on? Who opened the hatch?”

  The sudden noise jolted everyone awake. In this post-apocalyptic world, nerves were already frayed, and no one could afford to ignore such an abrupt disturbance. Moments ter, Boss Hu stormed out of his room, shirtless, a bck Type 54 pistol tucked into his waistband. His expression was thunderous as he stood at the doorway, his men quickly igniting the fire pit, illuminating the underground shelter once more.

  “Old Ma, go check it out,” Boss Hu ordered, scanning the room warily. His gaze briefly nded on Lin Tao in the corner, and his tense expression rexed ever so slightly.

  Old Ma, flustered, grabbed two other men and hurried toward the entrance. Meanwhile, standing beside Boss Hu, Cao Mei—now cd in only a thin tank top—looked nothing like the pitiful woman from earlier. Instead, her face was flushed, and the glistening trail of saliva at the corner of her lips, coupled with the bulge in Boss Hu’s pants, made it clear that she had wasted no time seeking comfort elsewhere after leaving Lin Tao. When she noticed Lin Tao smirking coldly at her, her expression stiffened, and she lowered her gaze awkwardly.

  “Boss, it’s Qiangzi’s team! But... only Qiangzi and his brother made it back!” Old Ma came running back, gripping his makeshift iron spear. Behind him, a few others helped two battered and bloodied men into the shelter.

  “It’s Qiangzi!” Boss Hu’s initial joy quickly turned to concern as his brow furrowed. “Wait... they’re injured!”

  His words sent a wave of panic through the room. Survivors instinctively scattered like startled insects, leaving the two wounded men standing alone. The ones who had been supporting them recoiled in terror, releasing their grip as if they had just touched a corpse. Blood oozed from a long gash under Qiangzi’s ribs, while his younger brother’s left arm bore a deep wound, and his right hand had a gruesome hole pierced through it.

  The fear was justified. In this world, injury often meant infection, and infection meant inevitable transformation into one of those horrifying undead creatures. A single oversight could doom the entire underground shelter and its three hundred occupants.

  “Boss, our wounds weren’t caused by the monsters! We got these while escaping—just scrapes from steel bars!” Qiangzi shouted desperately, struggling to stay upright.

  “Qiangzi, what the hell happened? You left with over twenty men this morning. Why are there only two of you left?” Boss Hu maintained a cautious distance, his face contorted with feigned grief.

  “Boss... we were trapped at a construction site by a massive horde of the undead. But it wasn’t just them—something else was there, something fast and deadly. Every time it moved, one of our men dropped dead, their hearts ripped out. We were terrified and took refuge in an unfinished building, but even then, our brothers kept dying. My brother and I barely escaped by jumping across to another building. The wounds we have now? We got them from the steel bars during the jump!” Qiangzi’s voice trembled, his face pale with lingering horror.

  Boss Hu nodded. “Old Ma, get them something to eat.”

  As Old Ma walked away, Boss Hu sighed. “You’ve been through hell. Eat first, but for safety’s sake, you’ll have to sleep in the iron cage upstairs tonight. If you’re still fine in the morning, we’ll let you out. I’ll personally cover your rations for the next few days.”

  Qiangzi nodded, knowing the drill. Without protest, he and his brother limped toward the factory floor upstairs, where a massive iron cage awaited—an insurance policy against infection. Behind them, Old Ma followed with two bowls of rice and a thick iron chain. A necessary precaution.

  The night was far from over.