You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

"Lu Jun, what are you doing!"

Before Xu Lin could explain, an alarmed and furious roar from Zhou Yong suddenly erupted from behind him.

Without waiting for him to turn around, Lu Jun had already brushed past him.

In that instant, he noticed the intense anger and hatred in the man's eyes, aimed right at Zhang Ye who was ten steps away!

For an adult man, that distance required less than three seconds to cover.

And for Lu Jun, those three seconds were more than enough.

He had already charged in front of Zhang Ye.

Kill!

Kill him!

Avenge his own family who had died!

He had been haunted by nightmares every night since then, with the day's tragedy replaying over and over in his dreams.

The company people had located them a while ago but didn't come to the rescue immediately.

Instead, they left after a single sentence.

"Someone will come for you tomorrow."

Tomorrow?

At first, Lu Jun felt somewhat relieved.

After holding on for so long, did one more day really matter?

But that same night, an abnormally strong zombie burst through the door and killed all of Lu Jun's family members within minutes.

And he, consumed by extreme rage, engaged in a desperate fight with this zombie that was somewhat different from the rest.

Ultimately, he managed to drive half of a mop handle into the zombie's eye socket by chance.

When the company's people arrived the next day, all they found were three mangled corpses and a nearly unconscious Lu Jun.

He was taken to the hotel like this and had remained silent ever since he woke up.

Even during the selection, it had been the same.

Until today.

"Why!"

"Why didn't you send someone earlier!"

"They could have lived, you killed them!"

Lu Jun roared furiously.

His eyes no longer held their usual lifelessness.

Instead, they now blazed with intense guilt and hatred, as hot as flames ready to burst forth at any moment.

But just as the sharp chisel in his hand was about to make contact with Zhang Ye, the latter's body suddenly stepped back, causing the chisel aiming for his chest to strike empty air.

Lu Jun's expression changed, clearly surprised.

He had clearly seen the shock in the other's eyes; he obviously hadn't expected such a turn of events.

In such a situation, it would have been impossible for him to dodge!

But what of it?

At this point, the others were too late to stop him anyway.

Even if you're lucky to dodge the first time, could you really escape a second time?

Lu Jun's gaze darkened once more, a hint of mockery even surfacing in his eyes.

He took a step forward, his body lunging ahead, and his hand clutching the chisel thrust out again, while his other hand reached for Zhang Ye's shoulder!

Just then, a woman suddenly appeared behind Zhang Ye!

Before Lu Jun could react, she delivered an incredibly fast kick to his wrist, knocking the chisel that had nearly pierced Zhang Ye's chest several times to the ground!

The pain in Lu Jun's hand made his body instinctively stagger backward.

When he finally came to his senses, he saw the woman shielding Zhang Ye completely, her wary eyes intently fixed on him.

"Ai Bing?"

Zhang Ye looked at the woman in front of him, emotion welling up in his eyes.

But Ai Bing didn't pay him any attention.

"Sister Bing, what happened?"

Another woman burst out of the villa.

The moment Liu Qingqing stepped out, she saw Ai Bing protecting Zhang Ye, with a man whose expression was a mix of shock and anger standing in front of them.

Without a second thought, she lengthened her stride and took off running!

Then, she launched into a flying kick!

It landed squarely on Lu Jun's chest!

Zhang Ye's already formidable combat skills became extremely exaggerated with the boost of inertia.

Lu Jun, who was about to pick up his weapon, was sent flying backward.
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"Ouch!"

"My ribs!"

Behind him, Zhou Yong and Lachang, who had just rushed up to help, were instantly crushed under the falling body of Lu Jun.

Amidst the howls of pain from the group, Lu Jun tried to struggle to his feet.

Someone grabbed the back of his head.

Another knee strike.

Crack.

————

Calmness returned to the courtyard once again.

Zhang Ye closed his eyes, savoring the warmth after the shock.

A woman's hands gently massaged his temples, occasionally helping him adjust his position on her thigh.

"What on earth happened?"

"Did you get a clear answer?"

He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Xu Lin.

Xu Lin's face was flushed with shame; he was standing by the living room couch, not daring to sit down.

The situation had been completely unexpected.

Members of his carefully chosen team hadn't even started training and already one had come out trying to assassinate a superior?

Even before the apocalypse, this would have been considered a major incident.

But what could have been the reason?

He couldn't figure it out.

Logically speaking, these survivors from the hotel were only alive thanks to their attachment to the company.

Even if they weren't grateful, they shouldn't harbor such great animosity towards the company.

Could Lu Jun have a problem with his brain?

It didn't seem so.

But Wang Hu was responsible for interrogating Lu Jun.

He, too, was somewhat embarrassed.

After all, he had checked and then brought Lu Jun into the base, and now such an incident had occurred?

It was truly a loss of face!

Perhaps that was why Wang Hu, without a word, took a pair of iron pliers from the vehicle and dragged Lu Jun into the interrogation room.

As Xu Lin was sweating with nervousness, Wang Hu finally returned.

The pliers in his hand were covered in fresh blood.

Strips of flesh were still hanging off them.

Lu Jun, not being a trained agent, hardly lasted a few minutes before the iron pliers.

The reason it took so long was simply because Wang Hu was venting his anger.

He also took the opportunity to ask if there were any co-conspirators.

Naturally, there were none.

Xu Lin's initial thoughts hadn't been wrong.

Most of the hotel survivors did harbor some gratitude for the company's protection.

The tragedy that struck Lu Jun was just an accident, and for him to transfer this hatred to the company or even Zhang Ye was an accident within an accident.

Zhang Ye was very clear in his mind that he had to take some responsibility for this accident.

After all, this procedure was essentially designed to serve him.

Intelligence gathering for check-ins, leading to card punching.

Because only through this could he receive the system's task rewards, thereby increasing the upper limit of company staff numbers, and ultimately enhancing the company's scale and strength.

If this procedure couldn't be changed for the time being, then measures had to be taken to prevent the same kind of accident from happening again.

Before Zhang Ye could speak, Ai Bing, who was massaging him, spoke up:

"Officer Xu."

"How about adding an extra step in the process?"

"From now on, everyone brought back to the hotel will have their prior experiences registered, and then submitted to the Supervisory Department for review."

"Any factors that might adversely affect the company—"

"Should be eliminated as early as possible."