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

It is well known that, in Shen Zhou, most people go their entire lives without ever having the chance to handle firearms or other such weapons.

Even props that were once commonly seen have now become regulated items.

This directly led to a phenomenon.

When the zombie outbreak first occurred, even those who were fairly skilled at fighting found it difficult to find suitable weapons to use, leading to even more people dying at the jaws of zombies.

Zhang Ye thought long and hard, suddenly realizing that he seemed to have overlooked something.

His company was also facing a predicament.

A shortage of weapons and equipment.

Apart from the dozen or so sets of police riot gear they had seized from Fat Cat and his group, the rest of the zombies were basically running around naked.

The only protection they had was their clothes, full of holes.

And for weapons, they only had steel pipes and wooden clubs.

Bricks had already been phased out.

Good for intimidation, but in a real fight, they probably wouldn't last a few hits to the head before shattering in hand.

Even the successful defeat of Chen Bingjiang and Zheng Youcai, who attacked at night, relied on a surprise ambush and the numerical advantage of the employees, since those gangs were also poorly equipped.

But such occurrences were bound to become less and less common.

As time passed, the people who survived would only gain more experience fighting zombies. Once their fear subsided, all that remained was their wariness of zombie hordes—the kind of large-scale zombie gatherings—and little else.

Not to mention the Mutant Rats like the one they had seen today.

If hundreds, even thousands, were to come—

How would the company cope?

The more Zhang Ye thought about it, the more irritated he became, failing to notice the woman who walked into the gate.

Ai Bing had just returned from the construction site.

The progress of the wall construction had almost reached one-third.

Under the non-stop labor of dozens of zombie workers, even with overtime work, the height had now surpassed half a meter.

In another month's time, the progress was estimated to be over eighty percent complete. Then they could take these workers and start reinforcing the walls in other directions.

As she entered, she saw the man in the yard staring blankly at something in a cage.

Ai Bing walked over curiously to take a look.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

"There, there's a rat!"

Women seemed to have a natural fear of such creatures that weren't so cute.

Even the typically calm college professor was no exception.

The scream instantly pulled Zhang Ye out of his gloom. Before he could see what was in front of him, a mature and voluptuous body had already dived into his arms.

The scent of shampoo that came at him improved his mood quite a bit.

He looked at the trembling woman in his arms and then glanced at the rat in the cage, instantly understanding.

With a thought from Zhang Ye, a few security guards immediately came over and carried the cage away.

"Don't be afraid,"

"The rat is gone now,"

He gently stroked the woman's back until the trembling beneath his palm gradually subsided, then he stopped.

"Feeling better now?"

Zhang Ye looked at the pretty face so close to his and felt his heartbeat suddenly quicken, but he felt as if two other people were staring at him.

He turned his head and saw Liu Qingqing and Luo Xin still standing in the same spot.

They suddenly screamed in unison.

"What a huge rat!"

"We are scared too!"

Saying so, they also followed Ai Bing's example and tried to dive into Zhang Ye's arms. Soon, his arms were filled with three equally beautiful but differently styled heads.

"Hehehe."

That was Liu Qingqing's silly laugh.

"Hehehe."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

That was Luo Xin's infatuated giggle.

Ai Bing, who had finally found an opportunity to get close to Zhang Ye, couldn't hold back any longer.

She grabbed the necks of the two women and pulled them out of Zhang Ye's embrace.

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Luo Xin, who had been about to take the chance to explore the mysteries of the human body, had just reached into her pants when she realized she'd been pulled away and looked at Ai Bing with an annoyed expression.

Ai Bing crossed her arms and squinted at her without saying a word.

The teacher's natural deterrence was instantly unleashed.

"Qing Qing, we haven't finished our game from yesterday yet!"

"Let's go, go, go back and continue!"

Luo Xin's momentum instantly died down.

She quickly made up an excuse and, with a puzzled Liu Qingqing in tow, rushed into the villa, disappearing up the stairs.

Seeing that the two troublemakers had left, Ai Bing looked at Zhang Ye with an added glint of anticipation in her eyes.

But then she immediately remembered the expression on the man's face.

He seemed to be worried about something.

Speaking of which, that rat seemed unusually large.

Could it be because of this?

"Hmm."

When she tentatively asked about it, the man indeed gave a confirming answer.

Then his expression became somewhat gloomy again.

Zhang Ye looked at the two security guards standing guard outside the gate and said quietly,

"Do you know?"

"That rat was brought in by those two from outside."

"If it weren't for Luo Xin's quick reaction, pushing Qing Qing aside, I'm afraid both of them would have died at the hands of that rat today."

Ai Bing was shocked upon hearing this. How could that be possible?

Just because of a rat?

Could it be—

"It moved too fast."

"It leaped over the crowd of corpses and employees below and pounced onto the carriage."

Zhang Ye, seeing that she seemed somewhat incredulous, immediately started to explain.

"And judging by its form and habits, this rat has clearly undergone some sort of mutation."

"It's highly likely infected with the same virus as the zombies."

"Do you know what that means?"

Ai Bing was silent for a moment, a look of disbelief slowly emerging in her eyes.

Carrying the same virus, and actively attacking the living.

What does that mean?

It means that anyone wounded by this rat could mutate in a short time, just like wounds caused by zombies.

It also means those creatures that vanished on a large scale in the city didn't go extinct.

Rather, they could be hiding in some sewer or corner, undergoing mutations.

Because they could be infected as well.

In fact, this should have been apparent already.

The two foremen supervising the well-digging crew had two zombified dogs with them, both infected with the virus.

But those two zombified dogs were clearly different from today's Mutant Rat.

They were not mutated; they were zombified.

Just like the zombies.

Ai Bing bit her lip tentatively and said,

"Does that mean any creature infected by the virus could potentially mutate?"

"Or turn into a zombie?"

Zhang Ye silently nodded.

He had thought that with zombie employees, he could rest easy.

But what about now?

A mere Mutant Rat.

It could weave through the crowd of corpses and his own employees with impunity, nearly managing to snatch an enemy commander's head in a sea of soldiers?

Yet he couldn't think of any way to deal with this crisis for the moment.

How was he supposed to manage?

Just as Zhang Ye was feeling frustrated again, a cold hand suddenly touched his ear.

Then with a gentle tug, it pulled his head into her embrace.

The woman's soothing voice echoed in his ear.