Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 40: Thank You for Releasing Him

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Thank You for Releasing Him

Lin Fan lured the zombies out of the room one by one and killed them, gaining a total of 45 health points.

The reason for the odd number was that after he killed four zombies, his health had increased to [300].

The next zombie he killed only awarded him 5 health points...

’It’s getting harder to increase my health...’

But it made sense, he supposed. His current health was now on par with the zombies. Even in a video game, the "experience" you gained would naturally decrease in a situation like this.

Moreover, when his health rose to 300, he could clearly feel his strength increase. The spear in his hand, which weighed more than ten pounds, now felt a bit light.

It was worth noting that five of these zombies had been gas station employees. In addition to some food and materials, they had also dropped quite a bit of Diesel and gasoline!

One of the drops was even a [Gasoline (Medium) * 1]!

Lin Fan had seen a [Gasoline (Small)] before; it was just a 10-liter metal fuel can.

With a thought, Lin Fan retrieved the [Gasoline (Medium)] from his storage space. To his surprise, it was a massive 100-liter drum!

The capacity had jumped tenfold going from small to medium!

’In the future, I have to loot any gas station I come across. Fuel I can put in my storage space is a vital survival resource!’

Returning the drum to his storage space, Lin Fan pulled aside the merchandise shelves that were blocking the inner room’s door, one by one.

With the doorway to the inner room clear, Lin Fan hesitated for a moment before reaching out with his spear and tapping lightly on the wooden door.

"Is anyone in there?"

A minute passed with no response. There was no sound from inside the room...

Just as Lin Fan was about to kick the door open, two loud CLANGS rang out from inside as metal shelves hit the floor. A moment later, there was a CLICK, and a young woman who looked like a college student poked her head through the crack in the door.

"Hello..." Lin Fan leaned his spear against a nearby shelf. He was about to offer a friendly smile and extend a hand to the young woman—who only had [49/100] health remaining—but the stench wafting from the doorway made him recoil three steps.

...

After letting the group out of the inner room, Lin Fan led the four of them outside the gas station to get some fresh air and dissipate the smell.

The survivors weren’t in good shape, but they weren’t on the verge of death, either. Each one was hovering at about half health.

When they saw the five zombies lying strewn across the ground outside, they all stared at Lin Fan, too shocked to speak.

When the disaster first broke out, a single zombie had latched onto one of their classmates. The two boys in their group couldn’t pull it off, even working together. In the end, they could only watch helplessly as their friend was eaten alive...

And now, this strangely dressed man before them had killed five all by himself. ’Is he even human...?’

While the two young men were still stunned, the young woman was the first to react. She excitedly took a few steps closer to speak to Lin Fan.

"You... sir, you killed all of these?"

A wave of what smelled like excrement washed over him. Lin Fan instinctively wrinkled his nose and took another half-step back.

The young woman realized it, too. They had been cooped up in that room for so long that they had gotten used to the smell. But she knew they must reek as if they had just been fished out of a septic tank.

She gave an embarrassed smile and silently stepped back.

Lin Fan circled around to the upwind side before stopping. After a brief chat with the young woman, he learned their story.

They’d had some seriously bad luck, getting trapped here after leaving Linjiang University...

"Did you guys get the text message about the quarantine zone?" Lin Fan asked.

"We did!" one of the young men blurted out. He pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed the power button, but the battery was dead. The screen remained black.

He could only offer an awkward smile, put his phone away, and start talking to Lin Fan.

"My name is Chu Zhaotian, this is my sister Chu Zhaozhao, and this is my classmate, Xu Qian..."

Three of the four people he’d rescued were students from Linjiang University.

It was summer break, so the group—three guys and two girls—had rented a car to go on a trip to Jishan. But they ran right into the start of the apocalypse and got stuck at this gas station.

Two of their classmates were infected and turned into zombies. The remaining three students and two gas station employees had scrambled into the convenience store, using its tempered glass doors and walls to keep the zombies out.

They ended up eating, drinking, and relieving themselves right there in the store. Luckily, the gas station was basically a mini-mart, stocked with plenty of snacks, drinks, and instant meals, which allowed them to hold out until today.

But early this morning, a machine in the utility room behind the store had suddenly roared to life with a loud TATATATA sound.

The immense noise drove the zombies wandering around the gas station into a frenzy. After just a few charges, they shattered the tempered glass doors and stormed the store.

The male gas station employee was killed covering the female employee’s escape, which allowed the other four to retreat into the inner room they had been using as a toilet for the past few days.

There was no food or water in the inner room. If things had continued, they wouldn’t have survived two more days, even if they ate *.

But they never imagined they would run into a badass capable of single-handedly killing five zombies, who then rescued them in the process.

...

Lin Fan wasn’t particularly interested in their ordeal over the past few days.

He could imagine similar stories were playing out everywhere since the apocalypse began. There was nothing to get emotional about.

They were already incredibly lucky to have been trapped in a place with food and water and to have survived this long.

However, one detail in their story caught his attention, so he asked,

"You said a loud noise suddenly started up out back this morning?"

"Right, right!" the young woman, Chu Zhaozhao, chimed in. "It sounded like a car engine, PUTT-PUTT-PUTT-PUTT! It was super loud!"

"Then why did it stop?"

Lin Fan asked, confused.

"It only ran for a little while this morning, maybe half an hour..."

Chu Zhaozhao seemed to still be shaken from the memory of the zombies breaking through the door that morning. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

"If it hadn’t... if it hadn’t stopped, those zombies definitely would have broken in..."

Lin Fan frowned. ’This whole area must have lost power at the same time this morning. For something to suddenly make noise when the power went out, it had to be a backup power supply or a generator...’

He glanced past the three students toward the middle-aged woman sitting on a concrete curb, silently staring at one of the zombie corpses.

’As an employee, she should know something.’

Lin Fan walked over, bent down, and asked her,

"Ma’am, what’s back there? Is it a generator?"

The woman didn’t react at all. He couldn’t tell if she was deaf or in shock...

"Sir, she’s... she’s in a bit of a state..."

Chu Zhaotian, the most mature-looking of the three students, stepped forward to explain.

"She... there was a man with us, another employee. We were all trapped in the store together. This morning, after the zombies broke in, he was the one who barricaded the door with those shelves after we got inside..."

Chu Zhaotian’s gaze fell as he recalled their desperate escape that morning. He raised a hand and pointed to one of the corpses on the ground.

"That’s him..."

"..."

Lin Fan fell silent. Just as he was about to speak, the woman, as if she had heard Chu Zhaotian, finally showed a reaction.

She reached out and caressed the corpse’s twisted, distorted face. Tears fell onto its bloodstained cheek, carving clean little tracks through the grime.

Without looking up, she spoke, her voice choked with sobs.

"Young man... thank you..."

"For putting him out of his misery..."

"Thank you..."