Chapter 23 Clearing the Residential Area
Upon hearing Zhao Lina's words, Zhou Qiuping's face registered pure shock. "Is he really that incredible?"
"Mm-hmm! Every single word is true," Zhao Lina said, nodding emphatically. "Last night, I even made sure to eat beforehand, and I was still pushed to complete exhaustion. That's why I saved this food for you-I was genuinely worried you'd be worked to death tonight!"
Zhou Qiuping's expression wavered between sheer apprehension and subtle anticipation.
......
Meanwhile, on the other side of the compound.
Liu Yang was planning his next moves.
Today, he intended to clear out every last zombie in the entire villa district.
He had already eliminated a huge chunk of them yesterday while searching for survivors. All that remained was to hunt down the scattered stragglers roaming the secluded corners of the neighborhood.
Once that was done, the entire villa district would officially become a secured safe zone.
His women could then move around as they pleased.
The district's facilities were top-tier: a sports field, a swimming pool, a fully equipped gym, and various athletic gear.
A massive artificial lake sat right at the center of the development, perfect for boating and fishing.
Once cleared, they could enjoy the full luxury and convenience of the entire estate, free to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
After walking around for a while, Liu Yang hadn't spotted a single zombie.
The villa district was inherently spacious with a low population density. Coupled with the massive cleanup he had conducted during his rescue runs yesterday, the remaining roamers were few and far between.
As for the ten high-rise residential towers, he had locked the zombies inside, sealing them off completely.
After pacing around for a few minutes, the first zombie finally ambled into view.
By now, Liu Yang's physical attributes were over twice that of an ordinary human.
Without even bothering to use his abilities, he gripped his axe and charged, taking down the zombie with ease.
"Thwack!"
The fire axe cleaved straight into its skull, wedging deeply into the bone.
Liu Yang planted his boot firmly on the zombie's head and yanked the axe free with a grunt.
He shook his head in dissatisfaction. "The fire axe hits hard and can split heavy armor, but it's just not sharp enough. The head is too thick, so it wedges in the skull easily. Wasting time pulling it out tanks my efficiency."
With his base attributes now double that of a normal human, his melee capability was formidable. Even without using his abilities, he could easily clear dozens of zombies single-handedly in close quarters.
His weapon, however, was holding him back from delivering fluid, continuous strikes.
Every chop risked embedding the blade in a skull, forcing him to spend precious energy prying it loose.
In a dense horde, that momentary delay could easily put him in grave danger.
"If only I had a proper weapon. With a good blade, I wouldn't even blink if a hundred zombies surrounded me."
Despite the complaint, his hands never slowed. He kept moving, felling zombies with one clean blow after another.
In less than an hour, every wandering zombie in the villa district had been eliminated.
He was able to sweep the area so quickly for two reasons: his past experience as a security guard here gave him intimate knowledge of the layout, and the villa area had a naturally low population density.
Meanwhile, the heavy main gates of the ten high-rise towers remained locked, keeping the massive infected population trapped within.
Having cleared all the open areas, Liu Yang passed by the high-rise sector on his way back. Suddenly, he caught the heavy, rhythmic banging against the iron gates of one of the towers.
"BANG! BANG!"
He walked over to investigate.
A single zombie was relentlessly slamming its head against the locked iron gate.
The loud impacts quickly drew more of the infected. Within moments, dozens of zombies had congregated at the entrance, clogging the gateway completely.
The moment they spotted Liu Yang through the iron grates, their bashing turned ravenous.
Furious, guttural roars echoed through the steel structure.
Some zombies even bit directly into the iron bars, gnawing so violently that their teeth snapped and shattered, yet they didn't slow down for a second.
It was a display of utter madness.
Liu Yang remained entirely unbothered, watching the commotion with absolute calm. Standard zombies posed zero threat to him now; even if the iron gate vanished and the dozens of infected surged out all at once, he could wipe them out effortlessly.
Yet, the behavior piqued his interest.
"Normally, once I lock the iron gates and break line of sight, the zombies should stop attacking. But now, some are targeting the gate without any prompting. That means they're starting to recognize the gate as the barrier keeping them inside. Their intelligence is evolving."
Originally, Liu Yang hadn't planned on dealing with the high-rises right away.
His initial plan was simple: keep the doors locked on all ten towers and let the trapped zombies starve or rot.
Now, that strategy was looking unreliable.
As the zombies grew smarter, they would eventually break through the gates and spill out into the complex. That would be a massive headache.
While the villa area itself was sparsely populated, the high-rise section was densely packed.
Each tower housed at least a hundred households.
Across ten towers, that was nearly ten thousand people-meaning several thousand turned zombies trapped inside.
If several thousand zombies flooded out simultaneously, even with his enhanced strength, Liu Yang knew he couldn't clear them all single-handedly.
He needed a permanent solution for the high-rises.
"ROAR!"
A burly zombie suddenly slammed against the gate, howling directly at Liu Yang.
Its eyes gleamed with mindless fury, desperate to burst through and tear him apart.
Fortunately, their intelligence hadn't progressed far enough to operate a door handle.
Though in a few days, that might change.
"Tch, almost startled me," Liu Yang muttered.
With a flick of his wrist, an ice needle shot out, piercing the burly zombie's skull and blowing its head wide open.
He then walked over to a luxury car parked outside the villa, retrieved a large washbasin from his Dark Space, and siphoned gasoline straight from the fuel tank.
Once the basin was filled to the brim, Liu Yang carried it back to the entrance and splashed the gasoline straight through the iron grates onto the horde.
Instantly, the zombies were drenched in fuel.
Liu Yang pulled out a lighter, sparked it, and tossed it forward.
"WHOOSH!"
Roaring flames erupted instantly.
Incapable of feeling pain, the zombies maintained their crazed expressions, blindly smashing into the iron gate as the fire rapidly consumed them.
The heat quickly billowed upward, igniting the structural elements of the building as the inferno spread.
Works like a charm. In less than a day, this entire tower will be gutted, and every zombie inside turned to ash. Looks like I'll need to burn down all ten towers to wipe them out for good before their evolving smarts let them break out.