"The national flag fluttering... that's good."
Lam Pham turned his head, a smile on his face, carried his things, and left cheerfully.
He was very busy right now.
Being a security guard was his main profession; clearing the streets was his part-time side job.
Being a runner was also his job.
He was willing to try any work that could earn money; as long as he took the initiative, he could make a living in the apocalypse.
He passed by a cake shop.
He knew there was a survivor inside this cake shop, but it seemed the shock of the apocalypse had left her mentally distraught, making her extremely wary of outside survivors and the environment.
Therefore, he hoped to use his own special method to send her some warmth.
At least it might slightly change her agitated heart.
"He appeared again, that strange and terrifying guy. Is he really a survivor?"
To Hieu Hieu pulled aside a corner of the curtain, seeing that across the street, there was always a figure standing in front of the desolate storefront, quietly looking towards her side, even waving.
Just like a scene from a horror movie.
As if saying...
Come here...
"Sob sob sob, I'm so scared."
To Hieu Hieu huddled under the window, trembling. She was genuinely terrified, her mind filled with thoughts like, why could he appear openly on the street? Wasn't he afraid of those terrifying zombies at all?
Lam Pham didn't intend to approach or make contact.
He just watched quietly for a while.
With light steps, he walked down the street, heading towards the residential area.
There were other survivors around, not just the one in the cake shop.
In one particular shop.
There were two survivors, a man and a woman. The man was the owner of this shop, and the female survivor had hidden in this shop in panic when the apocalypse began, frightened by the situation on the street.
In the end, just the two of them were hiding in the shop.
"Look, look quickly, there's someone on the street."
The woman's face was weary. The torment of the apocalypse had caused her spirit to somewhat collapse, making her feel like she was living like a walking corpse. She used to love dressing up beautifully, but now, since the apocalypse began, she hadn't washed in many days, and her whole body emitted a foul odor.
She deeply regretted it.
She regretted hiding in this shop. The first time she saw him, the shop owner gave her a despicable feeling. But she thought, things outside were such a mess.
But surely things would calm down soon, and with his courage, he definitely wouldn't dare do anything to her.
At that time, she held her mobile phone.
Constantly calling the police, calling her family, but the calls either went unanswered or the phones were turned off.
She checked the news. On the first day, the news was still reporting.
Telling everyone to hide at home, not to randomly open the door for others, and to wait patiently. At that time, although she was a bit scared and worried, she thought things might end soon, so she wasn't too afraid.
She didn't believe the owner of this shop had the guts to do anything to her.
Who could have imagined that things wouldn't end by the second day, and even got worse? She saw those monsters biting people, like crazed dogs, constantly tearing at fleeing people.
She also saw someone trying to escape in a car, but because the noise was too loud, it attracted countless zombies. Eventually, the car was forced to stop, overturned, glass shattered, and the person was dragged out of the car and torn apart.
That scene lingered in her mind like a nightmare, hard to forget.
And this shop owner finally snapped. He pushed her against the window, pressed down on her head, telling her that if she dared to resist, he would throw her down from here, letting her become zombie food.
She didn't want to die, so she submitted. Now that she saw hope, she had to leave this cursed place.
In a dark corner.
The shop owner, Buong Binh, was mentally unstable. Hearing the woman's words, his expression turned ferocious, like a madman. He rushed forward frantically, grabbing the girl's neck, roaring darkly.
"What do you want? You want to leave me, don't you? I'm telling you, that's impossible!"
"I fed you, gave you water, who do you want to leave with? Impossible! If you want to leave, I'll strangle you, strangle you!"
At this moment, Buong Binh was terrifyingly mad.
Anyone would be scared seeing such obsession.
He was about to be driven insane; his ability to cope mentally wasn't strong. At night, hearing the roars of zombies, he felt like he was going mad.
Forcing himself to play cards for days, food running low, stamina running low, his mental state was even worse.
Only the ox gets tired to death; the field is never plowed badly.
"Ugh... ugh..."
The woman's face turned red, her eyes rolled back. Her hands weakly grasped Buong Binh's wrists, unable to breathe. Her brain lacked oxygen, and her consciousness gradually faded.
...
On the street.
"There's movement."
Lam Pham stopped, looking towards the Cat Cat shop across the street. Unexpectedly, he saw a figure fall from the window.
This kind of situation, this kind of event, seemed familiar.
As if he had encountered it many times before.
He crossed the street using the crosswalk.
He arrived below the storefront.
It was a female, looking very haggard, her body emitting a foul smell.
But this kind of smell didn't affect Lam Pham's emotions.
There were finger marks on the woman's neck.
He looked up at the second floor.
"What did you do?" Lam Pham frowned, not expecting to encounter a murder case again.
He truly realized that under apocalyptic conditions, relationships between people were really not friendly at all.
This wasn't the Hoang City in his mind.
Nor were these the citizens of Hoang City in his mind. Although the citizens of the past might occasionally have minor conflicts, most were very friendly.
"Strangle you, strangle you, want to run? Impossible! It's you, why weren't you bitten to death?" Buong Binh roared ferociously, his voice very loud. "I want to attract the zombies, let the zombies bite you to death!"
Lam Pham blinked.
He felt truly innocent.
He was just buying things, quietly walking towards the residential area, and then he encountered this kind of thing. Of course, encountering this kind of thing, he definitely couldn't just stand by and watch.
"I hope you can remain calm. Your actions have violated the law. Murder is illegal. Come down now, I'll take you to the police station. Confess properly, and maybe you'll receive lenient treatment."
Encountering this kind of situation, he always tried persuasion first.
Don't make pointless resistance.
It's unnecessary.
Roar!
From dark corners, alley turns.
Many ferocious and terrifying zombies rushed out, drawn by the sound.
Buong Binh's crazy voice was very lethal in the apocalypse.
There weren't many zombies on this street.
But definitely not few.
As the zombies appeared, a crazed look flashed in Buong Binh's eyes, and he roared ferociously.
"Bite him to death, bite him to death!"
In Lam Pham's eyes, the other party's mental state had probably already exploded under the torment of the apocalypse.
But he thought of the survivor in that cake shop.
And the survivors who drove the steel behemoth.
They were all surviving resiliently.
"Are you trying to help a criminal deal with me?"
Lam Pham, carrying his bag, reached for Frostmourne slung on his back, warning them, hoping they could stop in time.
Swish!
A sword strike flashed out, sword light glittering. No one could see clearly how fast his sword swung. By the time they reacted, the zombies' heads were already separated from their bodies.
In an instant, all the zombies that had rushed over were lying on the ground.
Seeing this scene, Buong Binh's mouth hung open, his eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In his eyes, this group of terrifying zombies posed no threat at all, not even touching the corner of the opponent's clothes.
"Impossible, impossible."
Buong Binh shook his head, unwilling to believe.
Fake.
It was all fake.
How could someone be so powerful?
Lam Pham looked at the closed roller shutter door, gripped Frostmourne, and slashed at high speed. There was indeed a shimmer of light; this was his strength, his speed had reached a very abnormal state.
"Seeing injustice, capturing the culprit, is what I should do."
He placed his food by the entrance, bent down, and went into the shop. As soon as he entered, a very unpleasant smell hit him. It had been sealed for too long, and there was also a kind of accumulated feces and urine smell, garbage hadn't been cleared, piled up in some corner.
He saw a long black rope in the corner, and also a poster. The poster depicted a woman, tied up very strangely.
"This kind of binding is really impressive."
Lam Pham certainly knew about it, after all, having browsed forums for so long, classic bondage really had a shocking feel.
Picking up the rope, he went to the second floor. As soon as he got up, a dark shadow lunged at him.
"I'll kill you!"
Buong Binh certainly wouldn't surrender without a fight, but he was facing Lam Pham. Everything he did was useless. In an instant, he was subdued, Lam Pham pressing the back of his neck, pinning him to the ground.
"Let me go, you let me go, I didn't do anything wrong!" Buong Binh shouted loudly.
"Wrong or not, it's not for you or me to say. I'll hand you over, there will be punishment for you there." Lam Pham wasn't deeply familiar with bondage culture, but he had heard people talk about it on forums before.
A certain R country was very researched in this field, forming an industrial chain.
Even forming famous masters.
They weren't called bondage masters there, but rather tying masters (shibari masters). This was a very high-end profession, not the kind imagined.
Lam Pham didn't understand this well, so he simply tied Buong Binh's wrists, then tied his arms together.
"Let's go, taking you to the police station."
He didn't want to talk much with Buong Binh.
Arriving at the door, he saw the bag of food still sitting there and couldn't help but show a happy smile. Perhaps Hoang City was indeed very chaotic now.
But at least the spirit of not pocketing things found on the road still existed.
At this moment, he saw the woman lying there. He thought leaving her outside wasn't good after all. She was the victim, even though she was dead, she should still have dignity after death.
Buong Binh was still shouting.
Criminals often behave like this when caught; he was already used to it.
"Shh, be quiet, otherwise it will be very dangerous," Lam Pham reminded.
He picked up the deceased woman, enduring the smell on her body, and carried her towards the second floor. He didn't know where her home was, nor if there was any good place nearby to place her.
He could only leave her here.
He gently laid her down.
"Sigh, I hope you can rest. I will take him to the police station. Doing wrong things definitely requires paying a price," Lam Pham said softly.
Buong Binh's cursing came from outside.
Immediately after.
A bloodcurdling scream was heard, the sound seemed like heart-wrenching pain.
"Impossible."
Lam Pham hurried downstairs. The first glance showed Buong Binh being pinned to the ground by a zombie, being bitten and torn.
"Don't bite, this is the one I need to take to the police station," Lam Pham called out as a reminder.
The sound startled the zombie, which was feasting voraciously. It turned and lunged towards him, very fast, only to be kicked away more than ten meters by Lam Pham, hitting the ground hard, black blood splattering.
He walked up to Buong Binh.
The opponent's neck was torn open, missing a chunk of flesh. Suddenly, Buong Binh's body convulsed violently, veins bulged, his body arched, fingers contorted into claws, eyes rolling upwards.
Sticky threads appeared in his mouth, and he let out guttural roars.
"Even if you've turned into a zombie, what you did before was really not good. I still have to take you."
Lam Pham pulled the rope. The zombified Buong Binh chased after him. At this, he just ran forward, leading the way, heading towards the police station.
Passing the cake shop.
To Hieu Hieu covered her mouth with both hands.
Not daring to make a sound, her eyes wide like a cow's.
Only one thought was in her mind: he was truly terrifying, absolutely must not be caught by him.
Police station.
Lam Pham delivered him, tied him up securely, left a note telling the police uncles what had happened.
Looking up at the sky, his mood was acceptable.
He hadn't lost faith in the apocalypse, always thinking that as long as he worked hard, he could definitely restore Hoang City to its former glory.
Standing at the entrance, deep in thought.
"So many people have encountered difficulties, shouldn't I be doing something?"
Walking and thinking.
Soon he returned to the residential area. Just as he entered, he saw the two old gentlemen chatting. For them, life now was quite satisfying, just occasionally thinking about other situations, like when the apocalypse would finally end.
"Lam Pham, bought quite a few things back, huh?" Old Man Vuong greeted.
Lam Pham said: "Yes, some quick-frozen food. I'll take it up first, be down later."
After taking the things back home.
He moved a chair out from the security room.
"Two esteemed elders, on my way back, I encountered a murder case. I happened to see it, stopped the criminal, but who would have thought the criminal actually turned into a zombie. I thought about it, and finally took him to the police station," Lam Pham recounted the recent event.
The two old gentlemen were already accustomed to it.
If it were at the very beginning.
They would only think.
Is Lam Pham's head okay?
But now, they could understand. This was a kind of ideological realm; those who know naturally understand, those who don't naturally don't.
"Very good, praise," Old Man Vuong gave a thumbs-up.
Old Man Chu followed suit with a thumbs-up.
Don't ask, if asked, it's good.
"I've found that many survivors in Hoang City are having a hard time," Lam Pham said.
Old Man Vuong said: "Lam Pham, you're right. The apocalypse has come, dangers abound, but hope always exists. It's just that this hope often needs someone to discover it, someone to lead, someone to magnify that hope a bit, so that others can see it, or perhaps touch it."
Lam Pham looked at the old gentleman, feeling his words were very profound.
Old Man Vuong continued: "There's a saying, with great power comes great responsibility. Humans are social, relatively complex creatures with social relationships. When any of us does anything, we can't just consider ourselves, without considering others."
"If we don't shoulder our responsibilities, then one day, human society will also vanish."
"Simply put, you know recent history, right? Invaders invaded, everyone had one thought, which was to drive out the invaders, protect their homes. This was everyone's individual intention, but a single person's ability is weak, it's impossible to rely on just one person to achieve it."
"So at that time, a leader emerged, gave a gentle push, gathered everyone's abilities and beliefs together, thereby becoming bigger, stronger."
Old Man Chu looked at Old Man Vuong; he knew what Old Man Vuong was saying, and what he meant.
Lam Pham nodded vaguely, "Mmm..."
Old Man Vuong smiled and said: "Lam Pham, do you know how to fix the internet?"
"No."
"Then do you know how to repair computers?"
"No."
"Then do you know how to invent things?"
"No."
"Then do you know what you do know?"
Lam Pham thought for a moment, "Does killing zombies count?"
Old Man Vuong laughed: "It counts! Although there are many things you don't know, the ability you have is very powerful, because other people might not possess this kind of ability. Your ability is unique, so to others, you are that kind of person who gives a gentle push, gathering everyone's abilities and beliefs together."
"I have that kind of ability?" Lam Pham wasn't doubting himself, but felt Old Man Vuong's praise was really strong.
Old Man Vuong said: "Why don't we do this? I know there's a brokerage company nearby. You're thinking about earning more money for living expenses. Why don't you take a part-time job, grab some flyers and ask if there are any survivors willing to live in our community? If there are, not only can we let those struggling survivors join our big family, but you can also earn a decent commission."
Lam Pham was moved by Old Man Vuong's words.
"I feel that could work."