Chapter174

Without much thought, he rushed towards it. As he opened the door, some of the life energy from inside inevitably leaked out, unlike when Park Su and Xu Nuo entered with the cover of breaking formations.

However, his reckless entry was without any preparation, and with so many people inside, it was impossible not to emit some life energy. By the time Ge Qing and Lu Shang realized his intent and tried to stop him, it was too late.

Due to his action, the zombies outside all turned their heads towards him in unison.

Ge Qing and Lu Shang, standing by the door, immediately scowled. If it weren't for this person, their captain and deputy wouldn't be in this state, especially the deputy, who had sustained severe injuries.

Yet, this person had the audacity to run here, and what's more, he barged in without thinking, or perhaps, he did it on purpose!

If not for the fact that he was a speed esper and his ability seemed to be on par with theirs, Lu Shang would have thrown him out to be devoured by the zombies.

Now, they had no time to waste on him since many zombies had noticed something was off and began moving towards them. Seeing this, Ge Qing couldn't help but detest this fool who had suddenly barged in, truly a troublemaker!

Under these circumstances, the zombies outside were likely to rush in, and with so many of them, the talismans on the doors might fall off.

If that happened, no one inside the supermarket would escape.

With these thoughts, Ge Qing's hatred for the intruder grew, but the man, oblivious to the mood, seemed to relax, thinking he was safe now, and started to rest without noticing the others' expressions.

He even let out a sigh of relief, saying, "Thank goodness there's this place to rest, or I would've been killed by those zombies for sure. But how do you know this place won't be discovered by them? It's pretty close, isn't it?"

Lu Shang held back the irritable Ge Qing, telling him to guard the door with him, then turned to Zhu Xiao saying, "Deal with this idiot."

He then placed both hands on the door, activating his metal ability to merge the metal door frames together, making it temporarily impenetrable by the zombies.

Simultaneously, he had his wife use her ice ability to freeze the talismans and the glass together, creating a small ice wall on the door with the ice energy in the air.

After all, many of the zombies outside were second-tier, capable of easily tearing through small ice blocks with their claws.

If the talismans were inside the ice, they would shatter along with it, so creating an ice wall was the best solution, though he knew well that continuously forming ice walls was only a temporary fix.

Nevertheless, it was better than doing nothing, especially since their abilities had recovered to 80% with the help of a bag full of zombie cores.

The ice wall Ge Qing created was relatively thick, and the zombies trying to break in only managed to crack the edges and leave scratch marks, none reaching the talismans.

He now hoped the zombies would lose interest and leave quickly, as he had great confidence in Xu Nuo's talismans. If the zombies had smelled the living flesh inside, they wouldn't give up easily, but with the isolation talismans, they shouldn't be able to sense what was inside, at most reacting out of instinct.

So he thought that perhaps if they waited, the zombies might give up on their own, but sometimes, the instinctual behavior of these mindless creatures can be even more terrifying.

With nothing else to do, attacking the ice wall had become their sole activity, even though they didn't know for sure if there was prey behind it!

Once they started clawing, they were determined to break it. Watching this from inside, Ge Qing couldn't help but feel anxious, so he used his ability again to repair the ice blocks the zombies had damaged.

At the same time, he called out to his husband to help interweave some metal ability into the ice, strengthening it.

After all, at this rate, his ability would be depleted faster than he could replenish it, and it was only a matter of time before the zombies broke through.

Meanwhile, Zhu Xiao had already grabbed the fool, doing so with ease. The man, thinking he was safe after arriving here, hadn't anticipated any hostility from the people inside.

When he was grabbed and his limbs bound, he was utterly bewildered and immediately complained, "What are you doing?

We're all humans here, why treat me like this? I didn't want to take your supplies; I just wanted to hide here and recover my abilities. There's no need to tie me up like this! Is this place yours? You can hide, but I can't? Isn't that unreasonable?"

Zhu Xiao was almost amused by his stupidity, walking up to him and smacking him on the head, "You f*ck*ng idiot, is your brain just for show? It's just there to make you look taller, huh?

You just mindlessly led all these zombies to us, nearly causing our entire esper team to be wiped out. We finally found a place to take shelter, and you bring the zombies right to our doorstep.

Do you have some vendetta against our team? Are you just obsessed with us?

And you have the gall to say we're all humans when you led the zombies here. Why didn't you think about humanity then?

If you have so many complaints, don't do such disgraceful things. What's the point of making excuses now!

Not killing you on the spot is already my greatest act of mercy. Not torturing you now is because we're all humans. What the hell are you complaining about?

Let me tell you, if the zombies manage to break in, most of us here won't survive, but don't worry, I'll make sure you're the first one thrown out to feed them. With your lack of brains, you're better off dead anyway!"

The man was stunned by Zhu Xiao's tirade. Looking at Zhu Xiao and then at the two espers at the door struggling to maintain their abilities, he realized his mistake in drawing the zombies' attention here.

Though he didn't understand why his entry had alerted the zombies, he knew he was to blame for the situation.

Feeling somewhat guilty, he turned back to Zhu Xiao, trying to make his expression as pitiful as possible, saying, "I was just acting on survival instinct at that moment."

"I thought having more espers would increase our chances of survival, for both you and me. Even without me, you would eventually run into those fourth-tier zombies anyway.

My mind wasn't clear enough to think of all this at the time, and I didn't mean to harm you. Just now, I saw you all were fine inside; how was I to know it would turn out like this when I came in?"

Seeing his pitiful look, Zhu Xiao was momentarily unsure whether this man had intentionally entered knowing the situation or had accidentally stumbled in. He didn't know how to punish him appropriately.

At that moment, they suddenly heard Xu Nuo's voice from the corner, "Whether he's truly foolish or feigning it, he can't be let off easily. Zhu Xiao, you deal with him for now. I don't want to see him; I might just lose control and kill him here.

All espers in my team, come to me to get zombie cores. I want you to recover your abilities as quickly as possible and prepare for a breakout!"

Xu Nuo, still holding Park Su, spoke with an apparent calm. In truth, if he weren't holding Park Su, he might have already gone over to beat the fool senseless.

Had this man not led the zombies here, especially when their abilities were nearly exhausted, Park Su wouldn't have been so gravely injured.

Though Xu Nuo knew part of the blame was on himself, he wasn't ready to let this go. Making this man suffer a little was one thing, but it was unacceptable that Park Su was the one injured.

However, there was no time to dwell on this now. The man was in their hands, and once everything here was dealt with, there would be a reckoning.

By then, with ample time, he could ensure the man learned his lesson, whether his actions were intentional or not, the damage was done, and he must pay the price.

Despite all these thoughts, Xu Nuo only gave the esper a cold look, which sent a shiver down the man's spine.

Yet, this couldn't dampen the excitement the man felt from Xu Nuo's words, "Wait, your team members actually get such good treatment?

You even distribute zombie cores to help them recover their abilities? So, if that's the case, can I join your team too? Can you give me some cores to recover my abilities? I can be quite useful; I'm already a third-tier esper!"

Hearing this, Zhu Xiao felt a vein in his temple twitch; this guy was truly brainless, still saying such things in this situation. If it were him, hearing Xu Nuo's words and considering his current state, he'd be thinking about how to escape or beg for mercy, not spouting such nonsense!

The other espers in Xu Nuo's team were also surprised. They had seen thick-skinned people in the apocalypse, but this level of shamelessness, coupled with such self-entitlement, was rare.

The man, however, was completely oblivious, looking at Xu Nuo with hopeful eyes, but Xu Nuo had no interest in entertaining him. He carefully laid Park Su down on the ground, asking Lü Xia to watch over him.

Then he stood up to distribute zombie cores to his team members, walking forward until he reached the door.

There, he took out a talisman pen from his spatial ring, then used a peach wood sword to cut a line in his palm, letting fresh blood flow. He dipped the brush in his blood and took his position by the window.