Chapter 272: Seriously, Someone Needed To Become Competent
Luo Qing glanced at him, then at the flame gathered at the end of his finger. "You had better."
There was no fear in her voice, which Lingyun appreciated, but that didn’t make him like the woman. After all, fear made people stupid, and he had already spent enough time surrounded by stupidity for one day.
Seriously, someone needed to become competent because he was really starting to lose the little bit of his mind that was left.
Chenghai leaned into the crowbar again and opened the gap wide enough for Luo Qing to slide one hand between the doors. She selected a long metal pick, pushed it through, and began feeling for the lock she could not see.
But the second the smell of her hands, her warmth, got close to them, the zombies reacted to her immediately.
Several bodies crushed themselves against the gate, each one trying to force its way close enough to reach the living hand moving on the other side. Lingyun fired through one eye, then another, keeping the space in front of Luo Qing clear while she adjusted the angle of her tool.
"The lock is deeper than I expected," she muttered, clearly not impressed.
That was nice. Join the club.
Chenghai’s boots shifted when another wave of bodies struck the entrance. "Find it quickly."
"I am working blind while dead people try to eat me. You are welcome to reach inside and try."
"I would rather keep my hand."
"Then shut up and let me work."
Lingyun nearly laughed at her tone, but one of the zombies forced its arm through the bars enough to be able to reach toward Luo Qing’s hair. His smile vanished before the fingers got close enough to touch her.
Honestly, she was doing a good job proving herself, and for that reason alone, he would keep her alive until Rouxi’s final judgement.
The narrow flame cut through the zombie’s wrist, and the hand dropped against the glass before sliding to the ground.
Luo Qing paused long enough to look at him.
"If I tell you to move, you move," Lingyun warned, his smile already back where it belonged. After all, he had a reputation to uphold.
The smile one.
The nice guy.
The one who has no problem putting a knife into your heart through your back if you stepped out of line.
What could he say?
He was a very simple man.
As if she could read his thoughts, Luo Qing studied him for a moment before returning to the lock. "Understood."
There we go. That was much better. Teamwork worked best when everyone knew their roles.
Lingyun continued firing while the woman worked. The focused flames left his hand faster now, although the ache in his wrist had started climbing toward his elbow. He continued to ignored it, because that was the smart thing to do, and concentrated on the gate.
Every zombie he dropped bought Luo Qing another second, and every second brought him closer to getting the supplies and going home.
He could already imagine Rouxi’s reaction when they returned with a truck full of strangers and enough building materials to turn her mansion into a construction site. She would complain about the noise, the people, the damaged lawn, and whatever Lingyun accidentally broke while unloading everything.
And he desperately needed to hear every word of it.
Another gust of wind swept behind him, throwing one of the approaching zombies beneath the SUV. Zhenlan had finally settled into protecting the parking lot without offering another opinion, and Chenghai was too busy keeping the doors open to argue about whether this was a good idea.
It had taken them long enough.
Luo Qing changed her grip and pushed the tool farther into the lock. Metal scraped against metal while the security gate rattled under the weight of the zombies pressing from inside.
"It is warped," she grumbled.
"Can you open it?" Zhenlan called from several steps behind them.
"Yes, but asking every ten seconds will not make it happen faster."
Lingyun rolled his eyes. Why did people need to talk so much? If he didn’t think he would have made things worse, he would have already melted the lock.
The only problem was that melting metal would only make it harder to open the doors and close them after.
Mind you, if they had Yuche, instead of the bastard getting to spend more time with Rouxi, this wouldn’t be a problem any more.
That was it.
Next time, Yuche was going on the field trip and Lingyun was going to stay home.
It was decided.
The zombies slammed into the gate again, forcing Chenghai to brace one foot against the bottom of the glass door. Luo Qing kept her hand inside and twisted the tool until something in the lock shifted with a hard metallic crack.
The gate moved under the pressure behind it, and Luo Qing pulled her hand back just as the zombies surged toward the small opening. One of them forced its arm through and caught the edge of her sleeve before she could step away.
Lingyun’s flame cut through the wrist so quickly that the severed hand remained tangled in the fabric while the rest of the zombie disappeared beneath the bodies.
Luo Qing ripped the hand free and threw it onto the pavement.
"The lock is open," she informed them. "The bodies are jamming the track."
Chenghai released the glass doors long enough to hook the crowbar through the metal gate. He planted both feet, tightened his grip, and started dragging it sideways while ash, broken bones, and half-burned bodies scraped along the bottom track.
The opening widened slowly.
A zombie shoved its head through the gap, but Lingyun burned through its face before it could pull the rest of its body forward. The next one tried to crawl over it, only to collapse when another flame entered through its eye.
Chenghai pulled again, opening enough space for one zombie to squeeze through at a time.
The first came fast.
Lingyun dropped it across the threshold before its feet reached the pavement, and Chenghai kicked the body aside to keep the doorway clear.
Beyond the gate, the store was packed with movement. Zombies filled the front aisle, climbing across abandoned carts and knocking displays onto the floor as they rushed toward the opening. The darkness behind them made it impossible to know how many more were hidden deeper inside.
Chenghai looked at the crowd, then at Lingyun. "You still want this open?"
Lingyun lifted his hand as another white flame gathered at the end of his finger. The gleam in his eyes returned while the dead fought to reach him through the gap.
"We did not come all this way to window-shop."
Chenghai tightened his grip on the crowbar.
Lingyun smiled.
"Open the damn door."
