Infinite Ebullience

As everyone's vision cleared, they realized they were standing on the bustling streets of Los Angeles, watching blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasians passing by, hearing them babbling paragraphs of American English. This shattered any glimmers of hope in their hearts instantly. Even obstinate middle-aged fellows like Kang Songde knew this was not a prank.

"Haha, this is awesome, it feels so incredible." The high school student was the only one carried away with excitement. He cheered enthusiastically, quickly whipped out his phone, and started taking pictures, eager to preserve the moment.

"Are you out of your mind?" Zhao Jingye was not pleased with the high school student's actions. He took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, looked at the bald man staring at his packet of cigarettes, gave a casual smile, and passed him the packet along with the lighter, remarking, "Smoke one."

"You're alright, old Lin. Come on, have a panda. We've never smoked such good cigarettes in our life." The bald man handed one to Lin first, before blowing out rings of smoke himself.

"Taking pictures? To flaunt when we get back." The high school student sniffled, then asked, "What do we do next?"

"First, put on the protective clothing." Tang Zheng opened the silver metal box, revealing a black bodysuit. Without any hesitation, he started undressing on the spot and quickly put on the protective suit.

The flight attendants were taken aback by Tang Zheng's boldness and immediately turned their heads away from his underwear-clad body. They made no move to dress themselves though, not yet ready to be as free-spirited as him. Kang Songde was less cautious, but before he could open his box, a boot on the shoulder sent him tumbling from the bald man.

"I'll try if I can fit into this." The bald man quickly touched the metal box and grunted irritably, "Damn, it won't work, it's electrified."

Zhao Jingye's eyes flashed a hint of disappointment. He sighed almost imperceptibly, quickly masking his disappointment with a smile. He urged, "Better change soon. Look, the suit seems to be form-fitting. I guess you can only wear a set of underwear underneath."

"How do I change here? They've seen everything." One of the flight attendants pointed at the curious Americans crowding around them, her voice choked with desperation. "Can't we find a restroom instead?"

Indeed, because of Tang Zheng's audacious behavior, curious pedestrians began to flock towards them. Many took out their phones to take pictures. Some even cheered him on, commending his physique, asking him to strike more poses for them.

Due to his regular jogging and resistance training, Tang Zheng's physique was quite impressive. Coupled with his upright height of 1.83 meters, his handsome, rugged looks, and his jet-black hair and eyes that hinted at an Oriental charm and allure...

A few punk-styled girls, with purple eyeshadow, walked over and started talking to Tang Zheng using sign language.

"They want a picture with you." The flight attendant, who had spoken to Tang Zheng before, translated for him. When he looked at her, she extended her hand and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Qin Yan."

"Tang Zheng." Tang Zheng gave her a quick glance and didn't extend his hand in return. Instead, he took off his backpack and began to rummage through its contents. Mathematics and Philosophy textbooks, along with a thick book on medicinal botany, were all discarded on the ground. Only a bottle of mineral water, three cans of beef, and three packs of instant noodles remained. This was his planned dinner.

"What on earth are you doing? Such bad manners." Watching Qin Yan, whom he had been chasing for a long time, face rejection, Zhao Jingye quickly jumped in to criticize Tang Zheng, aiming to cultivate more favor and support from the flight attendants. Of course, he also wanted to tarnish Tang Zheng's reputation. Zhao Jingye, self-proclaimed as an elite, saw clearly that among them, the biggest threat to him was Tang Zheng. This man was too calm. Unlike the lax behavior of the two prisoners, he operated with a specific goal, as if everything happening was under his control. This made the elite Zhao Jingye very uncomfortable.

"Reduces the load, discards unnecessary items." Tang Zheng took out a Vengeful Goddess Tactical Folding Knife and put it in the pocket of his protective suit. He carefully pocketed the black magnesium rod pendant on his phone as well. Ever since he watched Bear Grylls's Man vs. Wild, he liked to carry a folding knife and a magnesium rod when he went out. Even though they didn't take much space, he never expected they'd be of use now.

"Why?" Seeing Tang Zheng ignore them, the American girls assumed he didn't understand English. They then started talking to Zhao Jingye and Qin Yan. After all, their flight attendant uniforms stood out, and it's normally assumed that flight attendants know foreign languages.

"Heisapsycho," Zhao Jingye shrugged at the American girls, pretending to look helpless while explaining.

"It'sagreatpity." Seeing the disappointment on the faces of the American girls, and no longer asking for group photos, they now set their sights on Zhao Jingye. After all, nobody wants their picture taken with a psycho. Just thinking about it curdles their stomach, so they targeted Zhao Jingye instead.

Frankly, Zhao Jingye was an eye-catching guy himself. His uniform added to his already charismatic demeanor, making him an ideal 'husband' candidate.

"Captain, you're so humorous," One of the flight attendants who admired Zhao Jingye laughed, subtly flattering him. As for caring about Tang Zheng's feelings? He couldn't understand a word anyway.

"Haha, that's why it's important to learn foreign languages. Modern university students are all good-for-nothings. All they do is play games and watch porn online all day. They never do anything serious," Zhao Jingye glanced at Tang Zheng's textbooks. Naturally, he figured out Tang Zheng was a university student, and he adopted an air of superiority, indirectly chastising Tang Zheng. He wanted to leave an impression of him being more capable on everyone's mind.

"This team is mine. It's not your place to dictate things," Zhao Jingye, displaying a full-faced smile, addressed everyone. "Hire some taxis. We'll leave the city immediately. Once the citizens of Los Angeles turn into zombies, it will be too late to escape. The number of zombies in the desert will be smaller. We can find a small town and restock our supplies. We can definitely last for fifteen days."

"Isn't it more complicated than that?" The high school student questioned, but stopped his objections when Zhao Jingye glared at him.

"Let's not care about how to do it. Just don't stand here like an idiot. I don't want to be ogled like a monkey," Kang Songde, having put on his protective clothing, suggested, looking rather rotund. "Let's find the embassy. It's safe, and I've got some connections. We have nothing to lose."

Upon hearing this, Laolin and the bald man looked visibly upset, raising their guns. Director Kang, startled, hastily placated them with a smile.

"Stop this nonsense, we should be helping each other in a situation like this." As the flight attendant in charge, Qin Yan had some authority and presence. Her sweet looks gained her some points as well.

Tang Zheng got up after packing, before he had a chance to persuade the flight attendants to change clothes, the warning of the Silver Trojan cube rang out in everyone's ears first.

"Please take note, the game officially begins, all Los Angeles citizens will turn into zombies in ten minutes." The mechanical voice remained emotionless.

"Ten minutes is not enough to leave the city, let's go to the embassy, or... finding a gun store to hide is not bad either." The high school student looked excited, his face beaming with pride. He was satisfied with his idea. With weapons, any amount of zombies wouldn't be an issue.

Unfortunately, the high school student was ignored and treated as if he was invisible. Most of the flight attendants were looking at Zhao Jingye, waiting for his ideas. The bald man and Laolin, however, were looking at Tang Zheng, anticipating his actions.

"Hi, Where is the nearest hotel?" Tang Zheng faced the American girl, speaking in fluent English with a slight Chinese accent, but his meaning was perfectly clear.

The American girl brightened and started giving Tang Zheng directions. They had no trouble communicating.

"Ha, he sure got a hard slap on his face." The bald man gloated. In retrospect, Captain Zhao's earlier haughtiness made him look like a clown, which was quite humiliating.

Zhao Jingye's face turned stone-hard, and he gripped his AK74 so intensely that it looked like water was about to spill out. The flight attendant who adored him sneered and glanced at Tang Zheng, disparagingly said, "This guy is a self-centered lunatic who doesn't care about anyone else. I don't want to entrust my life to such a person."

"Thank you." Tang Zheng thanked the American girl, picked up his travel bag, pointed to the two policemen who were constantly talking on the walkie-talkie and said, "Are we still not leaving? Did you not see that they are calling for backup? Without a passport, are you waiting to get caught?"

"Where to?" Kang Songde was the most proactive. He even held onto the metal box after changing his clothes.

"Hotel. Believe me and come with me, or wait for death." Seeing a bus stopping at a station about ten meters away, Tang Zheng sprinted and barely squeezed into the bus right before the door closed.

"This kid's gone crazy." The bald man cursed and without any hesitation, he followed and started running. Laolin and the maintenance worker closely followed. The high school student hesitated for a moment; he wanted to be with the flight attendants.

"Xiao Zhao, now is not the time to be stubborn." Kang Songde both ran and talked, constantly looking back, coaxing them, "We have a better chance of survival together."

"F*ck, let's go." As soon as Zhao Jingye moved, the ten flight attendants started to run, too. After all, they all preferred to be with each other.

Tang Zheng rushed into the bus, holding the Vengeful Goddess tactical folding knife in his hands. Pretending to be casual, he walked over to the driver and swiftly held the knife to the American man's neck. As soon as Baldy got on the bus, he paused for a moment and then cooperatively lifted the muzzle of his Type 95.

"Terrorists hijack bus, everyone get off." Tang Zheng yelled twice in English. Even without him shouting, seeing him holding the driver hostage and the bald man with a rifle standing behind him, about ten American passengers screamed and rushed to get off the bus from the back door. After all, no one wanted to be a hostage.

"You crazy bastard, you're going to get us all killed." Zhao Jingye was furious. He could see from the window that the bystanders were urgently dialing 911 on their phones. The words 'terrorist' echoed throughout the street.

"Go to the nearest Oasis Hotel, or you're dead in three minutes." As soon as the last flight attendant got on the bus, Tang Zheng immediately gave the order. Of course, he was just pretending to be a thug. If they didn't arrive within the given time, he wouldn't actually do anything rash to the driver.

The bus driver was not a tough man, nor could he see through Tang Zheng's carefully composed nervousness. He felt the coldness of the knife blade against his neck and the black muzzle of the gun beside him, and he hit the accelerator without any hesitation.

Along with the roar of the bus charging forward, Tang Zheng's English roar echoed down the street, "We're going to hijack the Oasis Hotel, let the SWAT eat sh*t!"

...........

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