Chapter 47: Cleaning the Wheels

Jiangcheng was a city built against mountains and rivers. However, every successive administration had pushed development southward, resulting in ghost towns proliferating in the southern areas while the northern suburbs remained quieter, dotted with residential complexes and villas near the mountains. The streets now teemed with countless zombies, infesting both high-rises and villas. Survivors fleeing toward the mountains from here would have decent odds of survival, yet Zhang Xiaowen couldn't understand why so few had escaped the urban chaos.

After driving along the highway embankment for a while, they approached a high-rise apartment complex towering beside the river.

"Park here. We'll start searching. High-rises theoretically offer better survival chances—but skip the psychologically twisted ones. Focus on rescuing those still human. The underground warehouse here has metals I need. Priority: absorb those first." Magic Cube pointed at a building.

Nodding, Zhang Xiaowen parked, armed herself with a silenced submachine gun and pistol, geared up in combat armor, and slung a supply-packed backpack over her shoulders.

Too lazy to walk, Magic Cube perched atop her backpack like a mechanical gargoyle. Zhang Xiaowen sprinted toward the underground parking lot—a likely low-zombie zone with access to the warehouse. Her boots tore muddy divots across the lawn before hitting concrete. The parking entrance yawned like a monster's maw: dark, chilly, reeking of rot. Night-vision goggles activated, rendering the gloom as clear as daylight.

"Zombie at 10 o'clock. Looks like a corporate executive."

*Pfft!* A bullet silenced the undead manager.

"Seven down. Why so few here?" she muttered while reloading.

"Simple. Suburban residential area. Outbreak hit during work hours—most residents were stuck in traffic jams downtown. Parking lots were empty. Buildings likely held stay-at-home moms, elderly, or nannies. Students? All busy romancing at school then."

"Why do I detect bitterness? Do robots angst over being single?"

"Negative. Merely stating facts. Robots are pathologically honest."

"Stop hiding behind Earth's primitive bots. Your IQ is demonic. You're not a machine—you're a mechanical *soul*." Zhang Xiaowen kicked open a wooden door. A headshot zombie crumpled outward.

As they advanced, gunfire punctuated the silence until she hissed, "Too many ahead!"

"Stay. I'll handle it." Magic Cube scaled the wall, ripped open a vent, and crawled inside.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Zombies stared dumbly at the vibrating ceiling vent.

*CRASH!*

A small figure burst through, spraying bullets. Confused, the zombies turned on each other—biting necks, clawing guts.

"Ugh… why yank out intestines? Trying to gross me out?" Zhang Xiaowen gagged behind her scarf upon entering.

"..." Magic Cube's eye-lights flickered indignantly before trudging toward the warehouse—only to freeze. Rotting blood clung to its wheeled feet.

"Disgusting! My wheels are jammed!" Hopping on one leg, it scraped frantically until Zhang Xiaowen lifted it, rinsed its feet with bottled water, and smirked: "Better, drama queen?"

The robot spun its wheels experimentally. *Hmph. Not entirely useless, this human.*