《A Man, A Dog, and A Zombie》 The Cause [Parallel World: Country A, City A] [Time: 2030] "I like you!" On the quiet street, after hesitating for a long time, Zhang Lei finally mustered up the courage to confess to the class beauty. The class beauty, upon hearing this, was initially stunned. When she came to her senses, her pretty, oval face visibly flushed. She shyly glanced at Zhang Lei, then lowered her head and whispered, "You called me here... just... for this?" "Y-Yes... Is... is that not okay?" Zhang Lei, a bit nervous, had spent all his courage on this confession. Zhang Lei was the class monitor of Grade 11, Class 1, consistently ranking first in his class. He was humble and easygoing, and quite handsome, with a scholarly air that made him seem like an ancient Confucian scholar. However, his family was poor, and the only reason he was able to attend the prestigious A High School with its exorbitant tuition fees was because of his excellent grades. In contrast, the class beauty, Xia He, had a very different background. She was beautiful and the daughter of the owner of a large corporation in the city. She had many suitors, including some rich heirs from large enterprises. She could have had any man she wanted. But what attracted her the most was the class monitor, who was privately referred to as the "poor guy" by others. The reason was simple: Xia He found Zhang Lei to be pure and simple, unlike the arrogant, money-driven young masters. Xia He had developed a strong liking for Zhang Lei. So, when he asked her to go home with him after school, she agreed without a second thought. She had expected a confession, and it turned out exactly as she had hoped. Because they both liked each other, the shy girl nodded, then said with embarrassment, "I... I like you too." And just like that, a new couple was born. They left hand in hand, both red-faced, unaware of a male classmate sitting by the roadside eating his lunch. The male classmate, who had witnessed the entire scene, glanced at his lunch box, and for some reason, lost his appetite. At that moment, a stray dog walked over to him. The dog wagged its tail happily, hoping to beg for some food. But the classmate just glared at the stray dog. Then: "Woof, woof, woof!!!" He barked at the dog, scaring it away. Next, he threw his lunch box on the ground, beside a trash can, open. Afterward, he left, heading toward his destination. After walking fifty meters, he suddenly turned around. What he saw was the stray dog eating the leftover food from his lunch box.
[Time: 2032] Ding ding ding... The sound of the alarm clock startled Huang Jin awake from his sleep. Opening his eyes, he saw the flashing police light on the bedside table emitting an ear-piercing noise. Every time the alarm went off, Huang Jin knew his business was coming. Beside the police light was a red button, and Huang Jin pressed it, silencing the alarm instantly. He turned on the bedside lamp. The layout of the room was immediately visible. The cluttered room looked chaotic, as if a post-apocalyptic filter had been added. In fact, this was the apocalypse. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Looking back, it had been almost two years since the zombie outbreak. This was a shelter in City C of Country A, the place Huang Jin had fled to. The shelter was run by a group of violent criminals. They had sectioned off an area and surrounded it with cement and various materials to form a wall that isolated them from the zombie world. To stay in the shelter, one had to pay a "monthly rent." Food, cigarettes, or alcohol. Things of value. ¡ª except money. Huang Jin, with his excellent scavenging skills, had become one of the longest-serving residents of the shelter. But staying outside and fighting was not sustainable. Especially with resources in the city becoming more scarce. So Huang Jin set up a side business. He opened a private office within the shelter. For a sufficient fee, he''d do anything. Most of the people who came to him were rookies asking for help with scavenging. Usually, they knew of a place in the city with supplies but didn''t have the ability to retrieve them themselves. Reluctantly, they sought help from Huang Jin, who had mastered the skill of scavenging. With Huang Jin''s guidance, they would retrieve the supplies. Then, as agreed, they''d split the loot. Normally, Huang Jin would take 60% of the supplies as his commission. To make his business more successful and build a good reputation in a world where no one could be trusted, Huang Jin usually kept his word and didn''t kill his clients to take all the loot for himself. After all, only by letting the clients spread the word of his success would more business come his way.
[Time: 3:00 AM] The wall clock showed the time was 3 AM. To find him at this hour, the client must have something urgent. It was highly likely that it wasn¡¯t a typical scavenging job, but something very important to the client. Huang Jin had received this type of request over a dozen times last year. It was usually someone who had lost something crucial to them. Like a child who had lost their parents'' heirlooms, or someone who had lost their only emotional support. But this type of request only came in the early days of the apocalypse. Now, it was the second year of the zombie outbreak. People had begun to realize the value of supplies.
He put on his thick, patched coat and quickly went downstairs. There was a self-installed electric wire leading from the first-floor back door to the alarm next to his bed. When a client pressed the button on the first floor, the alarm in Huang Jin''s room would go off. The windows on the first floor had iron bars but no glass, so the cold wind blew in, making it unbearably cold. It was winter, and a snowstorm was raging. Snow had blown into the house, covering the old floor near the window. Huang Jin approached the back door, but instead of opening it, he peeked through the gap to look outside. He vaguely saw a tall, thin figure. "Who?" he asked. "I... I was sent by someone. Please, I need your help..." The person¡¯s voice was weak and trembling, clearly from the cold. From the voice, Huang Jin could tell it was someone his age, probably a newcomer to the shelter. But the voice seemed oddly familiar. "Step back," Huang Jin said. The man obediently stepped back, standing in the snow. But Huang Jin didn¡¯t open the door. Instead, he turned on his flashlight and shone it through the crack to get a better look at him. After confirming the man wasn¡¯t carrying any weapons, he finally opened the door. But the door didn¡¯t push outward; it swung inward. Chapter 2: The Class Monitor The beam of the flashlight illuminated the man outside, making him squint against the harsh light. He was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and jeans, and even in the winter, when the cold would normally hinder the spread of odors, the stench of urine was unmistakably strong. He was thin, almost skeletal, and covered in dirt, with several footprints marking his ragged clothes. His appearance was a far cry from the usual residents of the shelter, and it was clear that he was another unfortunate soul who had been bullied by the local thugs.
"Have we met somewhere before?" Huang Jin thought the man looked somewhat familiar. "Y-Yes... we¡¯re classmates." The man gave a bitter smile, revealing a missing tooth. That pitiful, almost tearful expression made Huang Jin pause. It took him a moment, but then he finally remembered. "Class monitor?" "Th-Thank you for still remembering me..." The man gave a weak smile. It was none other than Zhang Lei, the class monitor. Huang Jin had always had a good impression of him, especially considering how Zhang Lei often asked to copy his homework. "Quick, quick, come inside! Why are you wearing so little?" Huang Jin hurriedly opened the door and ushered the shivering man in. Thanks to the man¡¯s thin clothing, Huang Jin could tell he wasn''t carrying any weapons, so he felt safe letting him in. "I... I got stripped during a fight..." Zhang Lei mumbled, his voice barely audible. "Did you lose your tooth in that fight too?" "Y-Yeah..." Zhang Lei grimaced, his eyes still clouded with pain. "You¡¯re already weak. Why provoke someone like that? Who beat you?" "A bald guy." "Well, you''re really unlucky." Huang Jin grabbed a coat and tossed it to Zhang Lei, who was sitting on the worn-out sofa. "Th-thank you..." Zhang Lei quickly put it on, and his trembling body slowly began to calm down. "So... why did the bald guy attack you?" The "bald guy" was a man in his thirties, stocky and strong, and the second-in-command of the shelter. The leader, his brother, was just as despicable.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Huang Jin was waiting for Zhang Lei¡¯s answer, but after hearing the question, the man fell silent. It wasn¡¯t until a long while later that he spoke. "Could... could we skip that part?" "Of course." Huang Jin smiled and poured himself a drink from the water dispenser. "As long as you¡¯re not here to cause trouble, I don¡¯t need to know the details." Zhang Lei fell into silence again, as if debating whether to speak. A few seconds passed before he finally shared the painful truth. "Xia He... Xia He¡¯s dead..." Huang Jin¡¯s hand froze mid-sip. He walked over to Zhang Lei and handed him the cup. "Thank you..." "How... how did she die?" "She was killed by the bald guy and his gang..." "Where¡¯s the body?" "They threw it in the trash outside the shelter. She wasn¡¯t wearing any clothes..." Huang Jin said nothing. He had already pieced together the full picture. This kind of brutality was all too familiar to those thugs. "We... we only arrived here yesterday," Zhang Lei continued. "We saw the shelter and hoped we could find refuge... but the bald guy..." Zhang Lei began recounting the events that led up to this. It all started two years ago when the zombie outbreak began. At the time, A City had descended into chaos. But Xia He¡¯s family was wealthy, so they sent a helicopter to pick her up from school during the early days of the outbreak. However, Xia He wasn¡¯t at school when the helicopter arrived. She had gone to the hospital, where Zhang Lei had been hospitalized for an acute appendicitis. Eventually, Xia He found her boyfriend, but in doing so, she missed the helicopter. After that, they had to escape like everyone else, fleeing from one place to another. They finally ended up in C City just yesterday, looking for a shelter. They hoped to find protection, but the shelter demanded "rent." At the time, they had nothing, and were about to leave when the bald guy saw them. He immediately set his eyes on the beautiful Xia He and ordered his men to take her. Zhang Lei, of course, refused, but he was no match for the thugs, and a fight broke out. He was beaten mercilessly and lost his tooth in the process. The bald guy made it clear: "If you want her, bring me food. If you can bring me ten pounds of food, I¡¯ll make sure nothing happens to your girlfriend. But I¡¯ll only give you one day." Desperate, Zhang Lei went out, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn¡¯t find any food. In the end, he resorted to finding an empty bag, filled it with trash, and hoped to fool the bald guy. The plan seemed simple: exchange the trash for Xia He¡¯s safety, and then escape with her once the deal was made. But, of course, things didn¡¯t go as planned. While sneaking the trash into the bag, Zhang Lei accidentally discovered a naked body in the trash heap. When he looked closely, his blood ran cold¡ªhe recognized the body. It was Xia He. Her face was contorted in pain, and there were... more than one person¡¯s filth on her. Zhang Lei snapped. Enraged, he rushed to the shelter, intent on confronting the bald guy, but it wasn¡¯t like the cartoons. Alone, he was quickly overpowered, beaten, stripped, and humiliated. The thugs mocked him, talking about his girlfriend¡¯s body and the things she had done. But in the midst of his fury, something in Zhang Lei snapped. Exhausted though he was, he managed to rise again, but this time, instead of rushing in blindly, he kicked the bald guy between the legs. And then, he ran. The bald guy and his men chased him, but Zhang Lei was able to escape to a corner of the shelter, hiding among the garbage piles. Fearing discovery during the day, he had waited until nightfall before finally coming to find Huang Jin.
"Who was that scavenger?" Huang Jin asked, piecing together the whole story. "He called himself Lao San. He¡¯s over sixty years old." "Ah, him..." Huang Jin nodded. He knew the man well. He turned to Zhang Lei, once the envy of many classmates, and said, "You didn¡¯t come here just to drag me into this, did you?" "I... I need you to... help me kill someone..." Chapter 3: The Request "Kill someone?" Huang Jin raised an eyebrow and teased, "Wow, you really think highly of me. I just turned eighteen tomorrow¡ªstill a harmless little boy. Though, ''Opening Treasure Chests'' is pretty powerful, but I don¡¯t see how it involves killing people." (Opening Treasure Chests: Refers to rummaging through trash cans and scavenging.) "No, you have killed before. A long time ago. I know." "Are you sure you want to slander me like that?" "I... I¡¯m not joking." Zhang Lei lowered his head, desperately trying to recall: "If... If you didn¡¯t kill anyone, then how did Principal Wang die?" As he said this, he subconsciously glanced at Huang Jin''s eyes, but as soon as their gazes met, he quickly lowered his head, as though afraid to look directly at him. "Whoa~ Looks like you really do know something." Huang Jin¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, and his usual calm expression gradually turned cold. "Y-Yes... The day the principal died, I saw that the button on your jacket was missing... These... These are all things Summer told me..."
The specifics of the situation go back two years. Huang Jin attended a very wealthy private school. Most of the students at this school were either rich or influential. However, in Huang Jin''s class, there were two exceptions. That would be Huang Jin and Class Leader Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei was an outstanding student, exempt from tuition fees, and a top student. Huang Jin, on the other hand, was a special case, bought into the school by the "boss" for a fee.
Huang Jin''s true identity was that of an assassin. Bought by the boss at the age of three from human traffickers, and trained from a young age to complete various tasks depending on his age. Not long after entering this school, Huang Jin received a mission: to kill the principal. The reason was that the principal had gotten involved in some business disputes with the boss, and needed to be silenced.
Huang Jin¡¯s method was to kill during the day, because it would be hard for ordinary people to think someone would be so bold. The process was simple: First, Huang Jin would study the principal¡¯s daily routine at school, then wait for the right moment to strike. One time, Huang Jin disabled a troublesome security camera, and when no one was around, he followed the principal into the restroom. Once inside, he wasted no time, sneaking up from behind, and smothered the principal''s face with gloved hands soaked in poison, slashing the principal''s throat. However, the principal fought back desperately before dying, and managed to grab Huang Jin¡¯s collar. Fortunately, the poison took effect quickly. With the wound on his neck expanding, the principal soon collapsed in a pool of blood. Having completed the mission, Huang Jin quickly fled the scene, but when he got far enough away, he realized... A button from his collar was missing. He planned to return and search for the lost button, pretending to be the first to discover the scene. But to his surprise, someone had already beaten him to it. "Ah!!!!" A sudden scream came from outside the restroom, from the shocked class beauty, Summer. She happened to be standing in a position where she could see the bloodied corpse in the men''s restroom. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road."Summer... Summer was called in by the police to make a statement. During the conversation, she accidentally learned that a button from the killer¡¯s clothing was left behind at the scene... On the day of the incident, I was waiting by the roadside for Summer to go to the restroom, and I just happened to see you leave in a hurry..." "And you just happened to notice that I had lost a button?" "Y-Yes..." "No wonder after that day you stopped talking to me. So? Since you figured out the truth, why didn¡¯t you report me?" "I didn¡¯t want to get involved." Zhang Lei, speaking his most realistic worry: "I still have parents, and my family has no backing. I can¡¯t afford to offend anyone in this school. I didn¡¯t want my family to get hurt..." "Turns out, you were right. But even so, I still can''t help you." "Why?" "Don¡¯t you get it?" "If it¡¯s about money, I know a place with lots of supplies." "No, that¡¯s not what I mean. Forget it, since you¡¯re somewhat clever, I¡¯ll be straightforward with you. Right now, in this post-apocalyptic world, a stable place to stay is hard to come by. The bald guy is second-in-command here, and as a tenant, I¡¯m trying to keep on his good side. There¡¯s no way I¡¯d go out of my way to cause trouble for an outsider." "But I... I..." Zhang Lei hesitated for a long time but couldn¡¯t come up with a valid reason. But then, after thinking about it calmly, it made sense. Who would risk angering a group of tough guys just for an outsider? At that moment, when Zhang Lei¡¯s frustration and helplessness grew, Huang Jin suddenly asked: "What happened to the body?" "Buried it..." "I see..." He glanced at Zhang Lei¡¯s hands, and as expected, his fingernails were full of dirt. He added, "By the way, where are the supplies?" "Weren¡¯t you not interested?" "Just tell me. We¡¯ll get to the location later, but how much do you have?" "A small supermarket. There¡¯s a tricycle at the entrance, piled high with food. It looks like some scavenger didn¡¯t manage to take it before being attacked by zombies." "So why didn¡¯t you take it?" "Because there are zombies all around, I can¡¯t get through." "How many?" "About thirteen." "Ah..." Huang Jin¡¯s eyes narrowed as he processed this. Thirteen? That was within acceptable range. "Would you help me now?" Zhang Lei could see that Huang Jin was somewhat moved. "I need to think about it. Also, if we find the supplies, I want ninety percent." "Fine, if you¡¯re willing to help, you can have all of it." Zhang Lei¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement. But Huang Jin remained calm: "I need to think about it. It¡¯s getting late, you should sleep. I¡¯ll give you an answer tomorrow morning." "Okay, okay..." Huang Jin took Zhang Lei to the basement, where there was a bed. Exhausted, Zhang Lei collapsed onto it and fell asleep instantly. He didn¡¯t even notice that after Huang Jin locked the door behind him, he also bolted the basement door.
"You really are a miracle to have survived this long." Looking at the locked basement door, the young boy muttered coldly to himself. The next moment, he left the house and headed straight for the bald guy¡¯s location. By the usual routine, the bald guy should be playing cards with other thugs by now. What Huang Jin needed to do was inform the bald guy that he had "caught" Zhang Lei. In return, he would earn the bastard¡¯s favor. It couldn¡¯t be helped¡ªjust a tricycle full of supplies wouldn¡¯t sway Huang Jin. Let alone its questionable authenticity. His so-called "concern" was all an act. If Zhang Lei wasn¡¯t so na?ve, he would never have shown up with his beautiful girlfriend at the entrance of a shelter, so openly. It showed just how isolated this couple must have been in the last two years. Maybe it was some large supermarket, or perhaps a department store? Who cared?