Chapter 63: Submachine Gun, Retreat into the Repair Shop

When Bian Changxi circled back to the auto repair shop, a fierce battle was underway.

People were under siege by zombies.

She was shocked. Hadn’t that stinking rat only drawn out a few nests of mutant beasts? How did zombies get involved too? Thinking it over, she guessed the mutant beasts had injured some people, and the scent of blood had attracted nearby zombies.

Although this wasn’t directly her fault, she couldn’t deny she was involved. That thought made her feel a bit guilty. She saw Lin Rongrong and the Chen father and son struggling to evade zombies. Spotting an opening, she brandished her straight blade and fought her way toward them.

“Are you all okay?”

“Changxi!”

“Miss Bian!”

The group was visibly relieved to see her. The former martial arts instructor was there too, but the other two men from their team were nowhere to be seen. Lin Rongrong asked, “Changxi, where did you go just now?”

“I didn’t have anything to do here, so I went for a walk. When I saw all the zombies heading this way, I rushed back. What’s going on? Isn’t anyone in charge?”

“Captain Yue is missing. First, mutant rats showed up at the shop, scaring everyone outside, and then the zombies came.”

Bian Changxi understood. Yue Li and Su Chensi were probably still at the 4S dealership—the fighting she’d heard earlier must have been them.

She glanced around. Lin Rongrong and the others were hiding in a dead-end alley between two buildings, blocked by a wall at the back and only seven or eight meters deep. If more zombies showed up, there’d be no escape. The repair shop was right across the street, but the road was wide, with seven or eight zombies in the way—and more inside the shop.

“This spot won’t do. We need to get back to the repair shop. The doors there are thick—we can hold out for a while if we close them.” Bian Changxi pretended to pull a submachine gun from her bag, gripped it, and shouted to the four, “Stick close to me!”

As she spoke, she fired two shots, dropping two zombies.

The people across from the fallen zombies froze for a moment, then, seeing Bian Changxi with a gun, instinctively ran toward her. She shouted, “Don’t block my line of fire! Head for the repair shop!”

She strode forward, steady on her feet and accurate with her shots. Though not every bullet was a headshot, she quickly took down four zombies. For the rest, the angle was wrong—she didn’t dare shoot for fear of hitting people.

At the repair shop entrance, she saw four or five zombies inside. Several people were already down on the ground, while the rest were hiding in vehicles, using their agility to dodge the zombies’ deadly claws.

“Everyone get down! Take cover!”

Bian Changxi shouted as she adjusted her position and fired—not in bursts, but in controlled shots, two or three bullets per zombie, enough to take them down while saving ammo and avoiding friendly fire.

Once the zombies were down, she told Lin Rongrong and the others, “Go check—make sure they’re dead, and cut off the heads of any that aren’t. Also, note anyone who’s been bitten.” Then she went to the main door, called for anyone still outside to come in, and covered their retreat.

As more people made it back, the number of zombies outside grew. The survivors shouted to close the doors, but two soldiers blocked the way: “We can’t close them—Captain Yue and Miss Su aren’t back yet!”

Bian Changxi kept firing. Her submachine gun was a military-grade model—one of Shadow’s old treasures—with a larger magazine than standard. But after all this shooting, one mag was already empty, and the one in her hand was her last. If she ran out, her pistol wouldn’t be powerful enough, and her heavy sniper rifle had too much recoil for rapid fire. There was also a crate of guns from the 4S dealership, but she wasn’t sure if they’d work. Staring at the wolf-like zombies ahead, she shouted without turning her head, “Close the doors!”

Most of the people in the repair shop had been brought back by her. Hearing her command, they rushed forward, but the two soldiers raised their guns: “Anyone who tries to close the doors will be shot!”

“Damn it! Where were your guns just now? Only care about your own skins, and now you’re pointing them at us instead of the zombies?” The crowd was furious.

After what they’d just been through, the untrained members of the group had dropped from over thirty to just a bit over twenty. Danger and death had awakened their fighting spirit—they were fiercer now than when facing the zombies.

Plus, with people from other teams mixed in, the group looked even more intimidating. None of them cared about the so-called captain or young miss. They glared at the soldiers, ready to tear them apart if they kept blocking the way.

The two soldiers swallowed nervously. “If something happens to Captain Yue, you’ll all be held responsible when we get back…”

“To hell with responsibility! We’re about to die here!” someone snapped.

One soldier, thinking quickly, pressed his gun to Bian Changxi’s head. “Tell them to stop! We absolutely cannot close the doors—we have to wait for Captain Yue. They’re already on their way!”

Bian Changxi glanced at the walkie-talkie in his hand and sneered. “How about closing one door and leaving the other open? With Captain Yue’s build, he should be able to squeeze through, right?”

Just then, Yue Li and Su Chensi appeared at the intersection, with quite a few people behind them—including Liu Meng.

The soldiers cheered, “Captain Yue! Miss Su! Over here!”

Bian Changxi snorted, fired a few more shots to clear the way, ushered the group inside, and the repair shop quickly slammed the doors shut. With a loud bang, they slid a thick iron bar into place and parked two heavy trucks in front. Zombies outside kept slamming into the door, making a deafening racket—the door was already starting to warp.

The two soldiers—especially the one who’d just threatened Bian Changxi—immediately switched to fawning mode, hovering around Yue Li and Su Chensi, fussing over them, asking if they were hurt, and making excuses for their own actions. They were so busy they couldn’t even help with the defense.

Bian Changxi was disgusted. Who’d have guessed that someone in full camo, looking so upright, would turn out to be this kind of person? If Yue Li kept people like this around, either he had no real status, or he was just blind.

She flexed her ankle, sore from crouching too long, then strode over to the soldier, gripped her submachine gun like a club, and swung it at him.

The soldier crashed to the ground, mouth open, spitting out blood and several teeth.

The crowd erupted in shock.

Yue Li was in a foul mood—he’d barely set foot in the 4S dealership before mutant rats drove them out, then zombies nearly killed them, and so many of his team were dead or wounded. He’d definitely be punished when he got back.

He’d thought this would be a relatively easy mission. Who could have guessed…

He was about to lose his temper at the chattering soldier when, suddenly, the guy collapsed. Looking up, he saw a cold, fierce face.

He hesitated, frowning. “Bian Changxi, what are you doing?”

Bian Changxi stepped on the soldier, submachine gun pressed to his forehead, and turned to Yue Li. “What am I doing? I think everyone here would be happy to explain. As a soldier, in this situation, if you’re carrying a gun and have the authority to command civilians, you should also take responsibility for protecting them. If you don’t protect them, fine. If you only care about your own life, fine. But to boss people around and endanger them for your own sake? That’s not okay. And the worst part—he pointed a gun at my head. No one who’s ever done that to me has come to a good end.”

As she finished, she glanced at Liu Meng.

Liu Meng’s group was down to four, including the scrawny man who’d once followed Zhang Hu. They’d been glaring at her since they came in, especially the scrawny one, who was muttering to himself, eyes full of malice and schadenfreude.

Pathetic.

Plotting revenge, are they? Fine. Since we’re already enemies, there’s no need to pretend. If you’ve got the guts, come at me—I’m not afraid.

The scrawny man shivered under Bian Changxi’s murderous gaze, his face going pale as he edged behind Liu Meng. Liu Meng, on the other hand, looked at her differently now, as if finally taking her seriously. He even nodded in agreement. “You’re right. Anyone with power who doesn’t do their job is trash. Miss Bian, right? My people owe you our lives. If we make it out of here, we’ll be sure to thank you properly.”

Bian Changxi raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

Suddenly, Su Chensi spoke up. “Who are you? Following me and Captain Yue, dragging us down with your bad intentions. We haven’t even called you out yet, and you’re already making trouble.”

Liu Meng forced a smile but didn’t reply. Su Chensi turned to Bian Changxi. “Xiao Xu is a sergeant, not an ordinary person. Stepping on him like that—what does that say about the army’s reputation?”

Liu Meng might be afraid of her, but Bian Changxi wasn’t. Back at the pharmacy, she’d been polite out of principle, but now she wasn’t about to back down.

She looked at Su Chensi, whose face was pale with anger, and smiled. “That’s not right. Reputation isn’t given by others. If the army can protect hundreds of thousands of people, everyone would gladly submit. Otherwise, raising a bunch of sergeants like him just makes for a rabble.”

Su Chensi’s anger deepened, but Bian Changxi felt a bit better.

Lin Rongrong, worried things would escalate, hurried over to pull her away. “Okay, enough. There are no sergeants or civilians when it comes to zombies. People like him aren’t worth your time.”

Bian Changxi let herself be dragged away, sitting with Lin Rongrong and the Chen father and son. Chen Haitao gave her a thumbs-up and whispered, “That was awesome!”

Bian Changxi smiled faintly.

Chen’s father, however, said, “That might not have been wise. Look at Yue Li and Su Chensi’s faces. They’re still the military—what if they retaliate?”

Chen Haitao replied, “Dad, don’t forget, Captain Gu is military too—and outranks Yue Li. Who’s afraid of who?” Still, he dropped the subject.

Lin Rongrong took out five white cores. “These were taken from the brains of those five zombies.”

Bian Changxi accepted them without protest. After all the zombies she’d killed, only five white cores—what a loss. Counting the ones she’d collected earlier, she’d gotten fourteen today.

She asked, “You’re all unhurt?”

“We’re fine, but quite a few people were injured.” Lin Rongrong whispered, “Will they turn into zombies? Should we isolate them?”

Bian Changxi shook her head. “That’s not our concern. Now that Yue Li’s here, it’s not our place to speak up. Otherwise, we’d really be targeted. Just stay away from them and keep your guard up.”

The martial arts instructor, Han Li, who’d been with them, came over and asked, “Are we just going to hide here? With so many zombies outside, they’ll break in eventually.”

Han Li was in her thirties, quick and efficient, strong and skilled—Bian Changxi had a good impression of her. She replied, “Don’t worry. Yue Li seems calm—he must have called for help. We just need to wait.”

As they waited, they ate. Most people hadn’t eaten since morning, and in the chaos, most had lost their packs. Bian Changxi, who never let hers out of her sight, generously shared her supplies—especially food—since she now had Ning Zuo as backup.

Of course, generosity didn’t mean wastefulness or being a pushover. She only shared with Lin Rongrong, the Chen family, and Han Li, whom she liked. As for the others—sorry, she didn’t know them.

From Lin Rongrong, she learned that the mutant rats hadn’t caused much trouble at first. Though the group was scattered, everyone could handle themselves. But then some idiot, covered in wounds and bleeding, lost it and ran outside. No one could spare the effort to stop him, and everyone figured he was doomed. But the real trouble started when, a few minutes later, he came running back, howling, with a horde of zombies on his heels.

That’s when things really went south.

Other nearby teams were attacked, and the situation spiraled out of control. When Bian Changxi returned, the “zombie battle” had only just begun.

Bian Changxi munched on a Dannon biscuit and nodded. “Without proper training, their mental resilience is too weak. Even after initial screening, these people still can’t handle a single zombie.”

Chen Haitao scratched his head. He had some experience, but in that situation, there were just too many zombies—fighting one risked drawing more, so hiding was the only option.

Han Li said, “We all owe you, Miss Bian.”

“Not necessarily, and I don’t need thanks,” Bian Changxi joked. “If I can help without hurting my own interests, I will. Anyone who wouldn’t even do that is just mean-spirited—it’d shorten their life.”

That was part of it. The other reason was that she did feel somewhat responsible for what happened. If she hadn’t helped, she’d feel uneasy. Otherwise, she could have just led Lin Rongrong and the others far away and avoided being trapped here, waiting for rescue.

She hated feeling powerless and out of control.

Fortunately, help arrived soon.

Not long after, just as the first person in the repair shop began showing signs of zombification and the front door was about to give way, Bian Changxi faintly heard the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air—growing clearer and stronger. Then, gunfire and zombie howls echoed from outside.

“They’re here! Someone’s come to save us!” people shouted excitedly."