Chapter 5: The Office Building: Zombies! Nothing But Zombies!

Ji Li tossed the washed Zombie Cores into the cardboard box, fretting.

His skill was a hoarder’s dream weapon, but it had zero offensive power, and zombies were sensitive to sound and prone to clustering—one slip and he’d be surrounded.

Those two kills had been pure luck. Where was he supposed to find that many shut-in zombies… huh?

Ji Li looked up at the towering building behind the steps.

All the evidence said the apocalypse here had broken out in broad daylight. In wide, crowded indoor spaces like schools and malls, zombies would easily gather into hordes.

But an office building had a complex layout—there should be shut-in zombies inside.

Provided he could lure the wanderers away.

The problem was, his phone was nearly dead.

Ji Li took out his phone and frowned at the 13% battery.

Without it, he had no way to lure wandering zombies away, and the danger would multiply.

By rights, having looted the whole parking lot—four power banks alone, plus a dozen-odd charging cables—he should have charged his phone ages ago.

The problem was the plugs didn’t fit!

The cable connectors were nearly half again longer than his phone’s port—they wouldn’t even insert. They could only charge Eno’s Charging Dock… Eno!

Ji Li’s eyes lit up. He pulled open the car door, grabbed Eno—dozing on its dock—and shook it.

“Eno, wake up! Sing a song, quick!”

Eno: [@@]

Eno: [••]?

Eno: [￣￣]=3

Eno: Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo~

“Louder! Max volume!”

Eno: DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO!

“Good! Very good!” Ji Li rubbed Eno’s cheek with his thumb, then solemnly made a shushing gesture at it. “Now hush. If I don’t say you can make noise, you don’t make noise—not even sound effects. Understood?”

Eno: [••]

Eno: [•”•]ゝ

Eno: [•x•]

“Smart little thing!”

Ji Li kissed the top of Eno’s head, stuffed it in his pocket, donned his face mask and riot helmet, pocketed the Folding Knife, grabbed his club, and set off for the building.

In his pocket, Eno stood perfectly still. After a long moment, a stretch of blue code suddenly flashed across the square display.

The code lasted one second, then vanished, the screen returning to bean eyes as if nothing had happened.

Reaching the steps, Ji Li didn’t rush up. He circled the entire building first.

He’d noticed before that the steps weren’t built for terrain—the staircase ran straight up to the second floor, with windows beneath and no visible entrance anywhere.

At the time he’d had no time to hunt for that possibly nonexistent door, nor the strength to climb dozens of steps, so he’d given up. Only after walking all the way around to the back of the building did he find the door to the first floor.

But one look was all Ji Li needed before turning away.

So many zombies!

Behind the glass doors, zombies were packed shoulder to shoulder, cramming the hallway solid—a sight both horrifying and bone-chilling.

With that many zombies, no trick would work. Ji Li circled back to the steps and dutifully climbed to the second-floor main entrance.

Only now did Ji Li finally learn what this building was.

Cheng’an New Media Group…

Hiding at the wall’s edge, Ji Li poked his head out, looking through the open glass door at the gilded characters on the wall.

Unlike the zombie-crowded first floor, the space beyond the second-floor entrance was empty—no zombies, no debris, only the blackish-red footprints scattered across the floor, silently hinting to visitors at what had happened here.

Lips pressed, Ji Li swept the layout, then tiptoed into the lobby and looked down the corridors on either side.

Offices lined both corridors, some doors flung wide, some shut tight. At the corridor’s end was a window, and through the light it admitted, he could clearly make out a metallic door in the right-hand wall.

A fire door.

That was trouble.

Ji Li withdrew from the lobby and stood at the entrance, thinking.

The fire door led to the emergency stairs, running through every floor. Any commotion, and zombies could easily climb up—so he had to confirm the fire door’s situation.

Just walking over to look was out of the question. The corridor held no zombies, but several office doors stood open, and what was inside was anyone’s guess.

Besides, the first-floor hallway was too densely packed with zombies. He needed to divert their attention, in case they stormed the stairs.

Thankfully, he had a good helper.

A wicked smile spread across Ji Li’s face as he fished Eno out of his pocket.

“Baby, Daddy’s life is in your hands~”

Eno: [••]?

A few minutes later, Eno was shuffling toward the first-floor glass door, taking a few steps, then looking back at Ji Li.

Ji Li, hidden at the corner, pumped his fist and mouthed silently: You’ve got this!

Eno: [☍º]

Eno: [づº]

Eno: [◣◢]

Watching Eno’s resolute little back recede, Ji Li waved an invisible handkerchief.

Go, child. When the job’s done, Daddy will charge you! A full charge, no less!

A few meters took Eno several minutes on stubby legs. At last standing before the glass door, the little guy played an inhaling sound effect, then began blasting music.

Eno: DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO! DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO!

The zombies, already restless from the robot’s footsteps, grew wilder, hurling themselves at the glass door with dull thuds.

Thankfully, it was an access-controlled sliding door—it only opened automatically after being unlocked with a keycard. With no power, the door was locked dead; no matter how the zombies slammed it, it didn’t budge.

The plan was perfect!

Lips curling, Ji Li hoisted his club and ran up to the second floor, turned into the left corridor, crept soundlessly toward an open door, then swiftly peeked—

SAFE!

Silently exhaling, Ji Li studied the room from the doorway, checked the wide-open door once more, then moved on.

Door by door like this, Ji Li’s progress was harrowing but unscathed. Confirming these open-door offices held no zombies, he finally relaxed.

The office doors here all opened inward. As long as no one opened them, any zombies inside couldn’t get out—an excellent hunting ground.

Only the fire door and the open doors of the right corridor remained unchecked.

Gripping his club, Ji Li crept toward the fire door, first glancing at its top edge.

NICE! It opened outward!

Made sense—fire codes required fire doors to open toward evacuation routes and never be locked. If it opened inward, people would waste precious seconds opening it in an emergency, and a crowd crush would be fatal.

And this way, even unlocked, he didn’t have to worry about zombies coming up—same logic as the inward-opening office doors.

The downside: his hunting grounds were limited to the second floor.

Ji Li eyed the fire door with regret.

Maybe… he could exploit the outward-opening design—make a restrictor and kill zombies little by little?

The more he thought about it, the more feasible the plan seemed. He just needed a lock—ideally a U-Lock or a chain lock.

Adding “find a lock” to his mental list, Ji Li approached the fire door and peered through its glass window into the stairwell.

One look, and he sucked in a cold breath.

Zombies!

Nothing but zombies!

Wait—how were there so many?!

Less dense than the first-floor hallway, but scattered up and down the stairs and landings were a good twenty or so, giving the impression that every zombie in the building was streaming toward the ground floor.

How?

Ji Li thought for a while without an answer and shelved the question, heading for the right corridor.

He had a hunch those open-door offices on the right held no zombies either.

The wandering zombies in this building had, for unknown reasons, entered the emergency stairs and gotten trapped inside, unable to move.

He didn’t know the exact cause, but it worked in his favor. Find a lock, and he could grind down every one of these zombies and finish the Daily Quest.

Oh, right—could Zombie Cores be duplicated?

Ji Li’s step paused, then resumed.

Try it later.

Having confirmed the right corridor was clear too, Ji Li went down to collect Eno and prepared to search the second floor.

But before searching, he had to identify which doors held zombies.

Soon doo-doo sounds echoed through the quiet second floor. Ji Li, pocketing the singing Eno, made a circuit, noting the room numbers of every door that thudded, then started looting from the open offices.

Most were wrecked—chairs toppled, desks strewn, blackened bloodstains everywhere.

But some looked immaculate, as if the owner had just stepped out, with only a layer of dust on the desks.

Supplies were mostly office goods; the useful finds were few. Only after turning the place upside down did Ji Li come away with four jackets, three packs of tissues, two utility knives, two pairs of Bluetooth earphones, a bulk pack of wet wipes, a thin summer quilt, a desk fan, a gaming chair, a laptop, and a tablet.

Plus tea bags, instant coffee, multivitamins, and energy bars, and some bagged cookies—not much, barely a snack.

Beyond that, from the restrooms at the ends of both corridors, Ji Li found ten rolls of toilet paper, two big boxes of hand soap, and some cleaning tools.

The rest was stuff that made his eyes greedy but couldn’t be pried loose or carried off—like the air conditioners and water dispensers.

Ji Li looked at the wall-mounted AC unit, shook his head regretfully, wrapped his finds in a jacket, piled them on the gaming chair, and wheeled it to the lobby. Then he went to pry open the locked offices that had no zombies.

He barely lasted a minute in the first one he cracked before fleeing, shuddering uncontrollably.

Whoever had hidden in that office must have holed up for a long time, finally fashioning a rope ladder from clothing and escaping out the window.

The room held nothing useful, but plenty of disgusting things—people eat, drink, and… relieve themselves…

Ji Li shuddered, decisively gave up on the zombie-free locked rooms, and club in hand, headed to the other corridor to hunt.

Placing Eno about two meters from a door, Ji Li stood on the other side, pressed to the wall, one hand on the door handle, the other holding up three fingers at Eno.

One. Two. Three!

The instant the third finger fell, Ji Li pressed the handle amid the doo-doo sounds and quickly retreated.

A zombie burst out, jaws gaping, not even glancing at him, charging straight for Eno.

Before Ji Li could celebrate the plan working, his smile froze.

There were TWO zombies in this office!

…Fight, then! It wasn’t like he’d never killed one!

Ji Li charged in, slamming his club down on the back of the zombie facing away from him, then swept the club in an arc, striking the second zombie’s jaw from below and knocking it flat on its back.

Both strikes landed. Just as Ji Li moved to press the advantage, the skull-struck zombie lunged and staggered him, nearly toppling him over.

He steadied himself and flung the zombie off, but before he could raise the club again, the other one pounced, gnawing and clawing wildly.

Thankfully the riot helmet covered him well, and his winter delivery uniform was thick enough. Though hard-pressed, Ji Li never got bitten.

But at this rate, injury was only a matter of time.

Ji Li simply dropped the club, drew the Folding Knife, freed both hands, and stabbed straight into the pouncing zombie’s head!

Stab after stab like this, and by the time both zombies finally fell, Ji Li was unrecognizable—blackish-red fluid flecked with white dripping between his fingers, the stench of rot thick enough to knock a man out.

Thankfully, after so many rounds of intense shock, he didn’t vomit this time—just panted hard and coughed twice, full of chagrin.

Those first two zombies had gone so smoothly that he’d overestimated himself. Clearly, two at once was his limit.

From now on, he’d have to listen carefully at every door—and ideally pick offices with only one zombie inside.

Thinking this, Ji Li shook out his aching wrist, about to harvest the cores, when a mechanical sound suddenly reached his ears.

He looked over—Eno was pinned beneath a zombie, stubby legs sticking out, struggling helplessly.

Ji Li rushed over and yanked it free, and was greeted by a furious little face.

Eno: [◺◿]╬

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Ji Li apologized profusely, ran to the gaming chair for a pack of wet wipes, and—ignoring his own sorry state—wiped Eno spotless from top to bottom.

“There! Once again an adorable, pretty, clean little robot~”

Eno: [▽▽]

“Don’t be mad. Thanks to you, I took down two zombies so smoothly. Thank you!”

Eno: [¬¬]

“Really, really! I’ll need your help again soon!”

Eno: [••]=3

Eno: [••]ゝ

Suppressing a laugh, Ji Li returned its salute, wrapped it in a wipe, tucked it into his pocket, and started carving out cores.

After that, Ji Li carefully listened at each door, finally scraping together ten cores, and looted plenty of good things from the rooms.

A humidifier, a heated desk pad, a thermos, steam eye masks—and the best surprise, a big bag of instant rice cereal and sesame paste from one office!

But the good luck ended there: every remaining room held at least two zombies, not so easy to clear.

Ji Li patted his growling stomach and decided to leave the hard challenges for tomorrow. First, a trip to the school—if luck brought him a lock, every problem would solve itself.

Supplies stored in the Gatehouse, Ji Li stripped off his unspeakable delivery uniform, changed into sweatpants and a black coat, washed his riot helmet and weapons, and started steeping his noodles.

After eating, he eyed the ten Zombie Cores in the box and decided to wait until he was back from the school to duplicate them.

If luck brought him a lone zombie, he could duplicate even more.

Mind made up, Ji Li donned his riot helmet, shouldered his backpack, pocketed Eno and the Folding Knife, grabbed his Golf Club, and set out.

A dozen-odd minutes later, Ji Li stood before the gates of Cheng’an Higher Vocational School, staring blankly at the zombies strewn across the ground.

Facing the middle-aged woman standing warily amid the corpses, it took him a long moment to squeeze out:

“Sis… are you taking underlings?”