Chapter Forty-Three: A Band of Cowards

The next moment, he could not utter another word, and from then on, he would truly never worry about food again.

“Ah!!!”

A chorus of screams erupted.

“He’s killed someone, he’s killed someone!”

The screams came not only from the surrounding survivors, but also from the young women in his own team.

A vibrant life had been ended right before their eyes; to them, it was unbearably terrifying.

Fang Xia casually took a piece of clothing from his spatial storage and began carefully wiping the blood from his blade.

Liu Rui suffered the worst. The victim had been closest to her, and blood had splattered directly onto her clothes. She was frantically scrubbing herself with a huge wad of tissues; if there weren’t so many people around, she would certainly have changed clothes.

This damned Fang Xia, why did he wait until he was so close to strike? Couldn’t he have acted sooner? Ugh, I’m going to vomit.

Fang Xia glanced at Liu Rui in surprise as Li Xiaochun hurried to help her clean up.

It’s over, the cleanliness freak got blood on her—she might want to kill someone now. I pray for Brother Fang.

Fang Xia’s lips twitched involuntarily. So Liu Rui had a cleanliness obsession...

“He’s killed someone, killed one of our own! Everyone, we must punish him together!”

“He’s a demon! Not only did he refuse to share food or help his fellow survivors, but now he’s committed murder!”

The commotion drew Fang Xia’s attention back. He paused as he wiped his blade. The crowd suddenly fell silent, many stepping back several paces, fearing the killer might turn on them next.

“We have so many people—are we supposed to be afraid? Is there any justice left in this world?”

In a flash, Fang Xia unleashed his full strength. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the short distance, and the crowd retreated in panic, leaving only the man who had spoken.

Fang Xia’s blade was already at his throat. The bespectacled man, who looked scholarly, was unexpectedly the agitator.

“Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me. There’s a group who told me to stir things up, to start a fight among you. They even gave me a rice ball.”

With the cold blade at his neck, the bespectacled man broke down, almost dropping to his knees.

“Oh? A group? Describe them.”

Fang Xia smiled at the man before him, pressing his blade a little harder.

Thud.

The bespectacled man fell to his knees.

“It was the man you just killed—he was one of them too.”

Fang Xia relaxed his grip slightly, raising his blade. Faced with the threat of death, the man wet himself, a pungent odor rising.

“Get lost.”

With a swift kick, Fang Xia sent the man sprawling. The rest of the crowd no longer dared to even mention resistance.

“You all heard it. Someone’s trying to sow discord, hoping to profit from the chaos.”

Everyone nodded fervently. Now that Fang Xia was the strongest, whether he was right or not, his word was law.

“Liu Rui, let’s go home. Anyone who tries to stop us dies.”

They returned to the hotel. Liu Rui remained in a daze, still haunted by the blood splattered on her, and Fang Xia was now directing the group.

As soon as they entered the room, Liu Rui seemed to come to her senses, looking at Fang Xia.

“Brother Fang, I remember now. That man was from the team resting not far from us at noon.”

That group?

Fang Xia recalled them too. He hadn’t paid them much attention at the time, but now realized they’d played a dirty trick on him.

He’d remember this debt. Since they were all in White City, it would be settled sooner or later.

“We’ll put this matter aside for now. We’re still short-handed—we need to recruit more people.”

Fang Xia wanted to prevent such incidents from happening again. The only way was to become strong enough.

If today there had been a hundred first-stage female fighters wielding battle blades, would those people have dared to cause trouble?

Thirty seemed like a lot, but for a team, it was far from enough.

From both a physical and psychological perspective, women were usually the weaker group. If he wanted to build a female squad that would not be bullied, it needed more members.

Liu Rui agreed.

They now had enough strength; finding food was no longer difficult, and today they had acquired another tent. Even a hundred people could be accommodated easily.

Of course, she didn’t yet know that the supply crates would not increase after tomorrow. When the survivors discovered this, the fierce struggle would only just begin.

“Recruit more people—and from now on, don’t just look for supply crates. Any spatial storage should be used for daily necessities.”

“We’ll need to check out supermarkets and malls. Most storage warehouses are on the basement level. We need more supplies.”

“Remember, prioritize food, stock up on water, and get plenty of survival gear.”

Liu Rui didn’t understand why they needed so much survival equipment. Was Fang Xia planning to leave the hotel?

Fang Xia didn’t elaborate.

The early appearance of second-stage zombies remained a concern for Fang Xia. He didn’t know if other events would happen ahead of schedule, but it was best to be prepared.

Recruiting more members was part of that preparation.

The number of zombies outside the city would only be greater than inside. To live outside, they would first need to clear territory.

In his vision, five hundred people would suffice.

Before heading out, he needed to visit the survivor teams.

After tomorrow, humanity would realize the zombies no longer increased in number, and the survivor teams would expand rapidly, sweeping through most of White City, establishing territories and order.

Fang Xia didn’t plan to join them yet, because there was still an earthquake that hadn’t happened. The city was not safe.

In his previous life, the earthquake had reduced the survivors by half. Many first-stage fighters died, let alone ordinary people.

At midnight, exactly twelve o’clock.

Fang Xia stood at the window, a cigarette slowly burning in his hand.

The sky was perfectly normal. The cracks that had lasted a week had vanished, and there were no more of those detestable zombies.

Everything seemed to have returned to the proper trajectory, continuing as Fang Xia understood it.

“Brother Fang, is this the change you spoke of?”

Beside him, Liu Rui and Bai Xing stood, one to each side, Bai Xing asking in astonishment.

Liu Rui stared wide-eyed out the window, but there wasn’t a trace of a zombie in the sky.

At that moment, both women had a huge question in their hearts. How did Brother Fang know? Was he clairvoyant?

Fang Xia offered no explanation. Such things couldn’t be explained, so he preferred to remain mysterious.

“From today on, zombies and supply crates will no longer increase. The chaos is about to begin.”

Closing the curtains, Fang Xia sighed.

The apocalypse was only beginning. Fighting zombies required courage, but battling humans was the true test.

If these women remained as naive and kind-hearted as they were today, unable to strike against other humans, then what awaited them would be a lesson written in blood.

Fang Xia would not interfere. He believed Liu Rui could handle it.