Infinite Ebullience

Tang Zheng knew that the trouble was just beginning. As expected, upon reaching the third floor, he peeked down and saw zombies wandering around the staircase landing. Unfortunately, he couldn't confirm how many there were.

"What do we do?" asked the high school student, with a slight headache. "Considering the chefs and waiters, there must be a significant number."

"I'd like to run an experiment. Otherwise, with this limited ammunition, it'd be impossible to take down the zombies in the kitchen," said Tang Zheng. Seeing Qin Yan about to ask, he held up an index finger at his mouth in a silencing gesture, "Let's get back to the fifth floor first."

Everyone understood that discussing here might attract the zombies, so they obediently retreated to the fifth floor. After Lin Weiguo confirmed it was safe, the seven of them sat on the floor.

"What kind of experiment do you want to conduct?" The high school student asked impatiently, offering his assistance. "I can go first."

"That's the spirit!" Li Xinlan complimented. The high school student straightened his back triumphantly upon hearing this.

"It's too dangerous with all the zombies grouped together. We cannot handle them all at once. I'm thinking of using the 'human train' tactic to scatter them across the staircase, then eliminate them one by one," explained Tang Zheng.

"Hmm, that tactic could work. Zombies, due to their varying physical abilities when they were alive, probably move at different speeds now. In addition, the twisted structure of the staircase will restrict them, ensuring they get separated. " Qin Yan's mind worked quickly, understanding the principle of the tactic in just a few seconds.

"I'm having more and more faith in you. It seems like no challenge is too great for you," said the bald man, giving Tang Zheng a pat on the shoulder. "So, who's going to lead the pack?"

"Since it's my proposal, naturally, I'll be the one to do it."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Tang Zheng in stunned silence for a minute.

"How can you be so sure that you can outrun the zombies?" Li Xinlan looked at Tang Zheng's firm, handsome face, feeling a pang of sympathy. She did not want this young man to take the risk. Up until now, he had been the one handling the most dangerous tasks. "What if you encounter special zombies like the Hunters from the 'Road to Survival', known for their speed?"

"Based on the three zombies we encountered in the 12th-floor corridor, their speed is equivalent to, at most, a jog. As for encountering special infected…" Tang Zheng gave a bitter smile, and said, "pray for me."

"I'll go with you and specifically deal with the special infected." Lin Weiguo replaced his clip, "I don't need to run as far, so don't worry. I can outrun you."

"My hundred-meter sprint time is under 11 seconds. Alright, you all go and wait on the tenth floor." After giving his instructions, Tang Zheng picked up his firefighter ax and proceeded downstairs, with Lin Weiguo following closely behind.

Standing on the middle landing of the staircase leading to the first floor, Tang Zheng stuck half his head out to carefully observe. Meanwhile, he attempted to recall the specific locations of several critical departments within the Oasis Hotel according to the information he got from the receptionist. At approximately sixty meters to the left down the first floor corridor and after taking a right turn, was the hotel lobby. There were two elevators in the middle of the corridor. Both the kitchen and the waiter's lounge should be in this corridor. As for the engineering department and laundry room, there was no information about them. It seemed that the security room was on the second floor.

The closest to him now were two female zombie waitresses. There were blood stains on their disheveled uniforms. Their black stockings had big holes, revealing skin that was pale and covered in scratches. They were only wearing one high heel each. Further ahead, about twenty meters away stood three chef zombies and two security guard zombies...

Just as Tang Zheng was about to observe further, the two female zombies suddenly turned around, looking towards him. Then, stretching out their arms, they started jogging towards him.

"Do zombies track humans by scent? Or has their hearing evolved to the point where they can hear me breathe?" Tang Zheng didn't dare to linger, he turned around and withdrew. Thankfully, he was wearing sneakers so he didn't have to worry about making too much noise while running hard.

"Are they coming? How many?" Lin Weiguo was also retreating, seeing that Tang Zheng wasn't in a hurry, he slowed down his pace.

"I'm not sure, probably two, maybe seven." Tang Zheng didn't dare to look back, he just glanced down through the gaps between the stair railings.

The two of them reached the sixth floor, waited for less than a minute, and the first zombie appeared around the stair corner, it was the female waitress zombie.

"Leave it to me."

Lin Weiguo reversed his rifle and put it on his back, picked up a prepared long-handled firefighter axe, and rushed down. The zombie saw a human, its vocal cords immediately let out a hoarse roar. Its movements suddenly accelerated and pounced on him, but this danger was negligible compared to the previous threat of the Southern Swordsman. Lin Weiguo darted away and swung his axe at the zombie's nape as it passed by him.

Half of the neck was chopped off, the zombie's head tilted to one side, after the inertia of rushing forward disappeared, it fell to the ground with a thud. A small amount of dark red blood flowed out, staining the floor.

"The second one's coming." Tang Zheng reminded, "They have a gap of less than ten seconds, this is really testing our combat power."

"Using this kind of cold weapon will easily tire the muscles, plus dodging, if there are over ten zombies, I'm afraid I will be exhausted and won't be able to land a vital hit." Lin Weiguo killed the second zombie cleanly, then used the axe's blade to hook onto their clothes, dragging them to the corner of the wall.

"The corpses can slow down the zombies." Tang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there were no more zombies at the back.

"But they can also block you, plus the blood has wet the floor, be careful when you run." Lin Weiguo picked up his rifle again, asking, "Move on?"

Tang Zheng returned to the middle platform on the first floor once again, trying to stay silent and keeping his breathing low. After waiting for a minute, the three zombies he detected earlier didn't react, he took a deep breath, bent down, and began to move forward. About fifteen meters away from them, one of the closer bodyguard zombies suddenly turned its head and pounced on him. The other two chef zombies were also startled at this time, but there was a figure that was faster than them, it slid out from the neighboring kitchen. Tang Zheng initially thought it would hit the opposite wall, but it rebounded as if it had springs attached to its body. It hit the ceiling, then the wall on the right, and then launched an attack with a difficult triangular jump.

"Damn, it's a Hunter." Tang Zheng cursed and immediately turned to run. Behind him were the uninterrupted thumping noises made by the Hunter zombie hitting the wall, the intense urgency was like a death curse.

Tang Zheng's back was instantly soaked as if he had been drenched by a downpour, covered in sweat. He'd barely taken three steps and the Hunter zombie had already jumped nearly ten meters. He knew that once he got onto the stairs, the Hunter's triangular jump could be even more advantageous and he would be caught before reaching the third floor.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Because of the Hunter zombie's attack, the previously silent corridor on the first floor was filled with roars and chaotic, frantic footsteps, the zombies had been provoked. They gushed out of several rooms and rushed into the corridor, and ran in Tang Zheng's direction.

At least forty zombies in various uniforms, security guards, chefs, waitresses, engineers, and even guests crammed together in the dark, rushing up the stairs. There were too many zombies and the staircase was too narrow, they piled up into a cluster. However, the other three Hunter zombies didn't care about this, a few triangular jumps and they leaped over their heads, chasing right behind Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng began facing the biggest crisis since entering the Survival Challenge Game.