Chapter 13 Heading to the First Floor

Su Han's mind stirred, and the Four-armed Corpse threw down the two corpses and stepped back to the front of the group, standing like a mountain, its head not too far from the ceiling.

The released Angel Envoy corpses also returned to their own side under the control of their host, but behind the blonde man, someone's face was grim, looking none too pleased.

"Brother Fang, we're at a big loss, my Angel Envoy might not recover..."

"Don't talk nonsense! It was all a misunderstanding. That handsome guy Su Han didn't do it on purpose."

He Fang told his underling to shut up and then flashed a smile at Su Han, "My name is He Fang. We were rash just now, my apologies."

Both offered their apologies one after another, but Su Han could sense something amiss between them.

Su Han looked at Cheng Zhenyong, "How many people are there in the gathering spot on the first floor? What's the situation like?"

"There are currently twenty-seven people, all owners or tenants, who hid from the fog together on the first floor that day. There should have been more, but then that big eyeball appeared, and suddenly some people turned into monsters, harming many."

That day, it just so happened that the security team was patrolling the area, and Cheng Zhenyong was there. Together, they killed the monster and by a fluke, formed a Contract.

Otherwise, there might not have been so many survivors on the first floor, and a complete slaughter was not out of the question.

After learning the number of people, Su Han pondered to himself, "There aren't many people, but if we're going in and out searching for supplies, we can't avoid them, and the seventh floor isn't convenient."

"Brother, why don't you guys come to the first floor, too? It would be good to have each other's back. With such a powerful Angel Envoy as yours, we'll be able to clear the entire building quickly, making it safer and easier to find supplies."

Cheng Zhenyong was indeed inviting Su Han to join his thinking, still influenced by his military mindset valuing unity and a strong vanguard to ensure the safety of the entire team.

Seeing his sincere attitude, Su Han didn't immediately agree. Gan Xinglei, Yan Meiyu, and Zhu Xiong were all waiting for Su Han to speak.

He Fang and his people heard Cheng Zhenyong inviting Su Han to join and showed subtle changes in expression, but they didn't speak up.

"First, tell me about the situation on the first floor, how you scavenge for supplies, and how you handle new arrivals bringing in items. Do they share or not? You have to talk about it. Otherwise, if we join hastily and you're unhappy later, and so are we, right, Captain Cheng?"

The crafty Zhu Xiong spoke with a chuckle, easing the tension considerably.

Cheng Zhenyong nodded and spoke amicably, "You make a good point, sir. Everyone has come together temporarily on the first floor without many rules. The supplies are your own, and we join together to ensure everyone's safety and to scavenge, distributing based on contribution."

He went on to explain the situation in more detail, and Su Han now understood the general circumstances: not many people, not many rules, and as long as you don't endanger everyone's safety, many things were negotiable.

As for bargaining, Su Han understood that it boiled down to one's strength; if one was strong or reputable, they would have a say.

Having understood this, Su Han spoke up, "I want three rooms on the first floor. We can cooperate on operations, but we don't take orders from anyone; we negotiate."

His tone was calm but left no room for doubt. Talking about joining was a pretense; without trust and leadership foundations, it was merely banding together, and to expect to command each other was wishful thinking.

Cheng Zhenyong clearly understood this as well and nodded, "That's fine, I'll persuade the others to switch rooms."

Su Han said, "I've cleared out from the fifth to the seventh floors except for a few locked rooms, which they can use at will."

Cheng Zhenyong's pupils contracted slightly, looking at Su Han with newfound respect. Truly extraordinary, four people had cleared three floors of monsters.

The higher floors were different from the lower ones. When the anomaly happened on the lower floors, there were quite a few people in the lobby on the first floor, so not as many monsters were scattered across the floors.

But on the higher floors, unless people were out, most would be in their rooms, where the number was relatively higher.

"Let me take you down to see first. We won't mess with the rooms on your original floor," Cheng Zhenyong said, having interrupted their own exploration upon the sudden encounter with Su Han's group, he led the four down the stairwell.

Starting from the third floor, the stairwell was much cleaner. Though there were still bloodstains, they were rare, and most importantly, there were no bodies.

Even though the gathering spot was just a mutual protection setup, there was collaboration in division of labor. Those who hadn't gone out to explore were responsible for cleaning up the bodies.

Fearful as they were, they steeled themselves to handle the bodies of monsters, which was not an impossible task.

Upon reaching the first floor, there were even more bloodstains, all dried to a dark red. The mutations three days earlier had turned the entire first floor into a battleground.

Aside from the few who had escaped into their rooms first, many people died near the elevator entrance and in the lobby.

"Captain."

Seeing Cheng Zhenyong leading people downstairs, the security guard stationed at the main entrance stood up to greet him.

Even then, when he saw the two-and-a-half-meter-tall Four-armed Corpse, he couldn't help but reveal a shocked expression.

"Brother Zhang had the guys move to a different room upstairs, and those who were temporarily staying on the first floor also gave up two rooms."

Among the six resident households on the first floor, only one was at home and had narrowly escaped with their lives.

The remaining five households' rooms were naturally claimed first; the security team took two of them, while the remaining three were temporarily allocated to other survivors.

"Alright, I'll handle it right away."

While waiting for the middle-aged security guard, Brother Zhang, to deal with it, Su Han noticed the sealed state of the Unit Seven entrance.

The metal gates were tightly closed, and several large sofas were used as barricades, making it more secured than the staircase emergency doors.

"Captain Cheng, you've been guarding here the whole time, what's the situation with the fog, how much do you know?"

"There are monsters," Cheng Zhenyong said with a serious look: "Two nights ago, a monster slammed into the door, its strength even greater than the corpse's. Although it was hard to see clearly, Old Zhang said that the creature didn't look human."

"There's also another matter I'm not sure about," Cheng Zhenyong hesitated.

Upon hearing this, Su Han inquired: "Does it also have to do with the fog?"

"Yes," Cheng Zhenyong nodded, "That day when the fog came, some people who couldn't run fast were surrounded by it, just not even ten meters away from this building. They wandered in the fog, and within just a few minutes they started screaming in terror, their voices trembling. By the time they found the entrance, their faces were pale, presumably from fright."

Su Han asked, "Didn't you ask them what happened?"

"I did," Cheng Zhenyong said: "It wasn't a monster that frightened them, but something about the fog made them feel oppressed and panicked, something wasn't right with them. They spoke incoherently, not making much sense."

"Captain, the rooms are cleared out, 7101, 7102, 7103, three rooms in total."

Zhang Fu came over and greeted Cheng Zhenyong.

Cheng Zhenyong nodded: "Settle down there first, we can talk about other matters later."

Cheng Zhenyong took his leave with his men, and Su Han said to the other three, "Let's talk inside the apartment."

The three of them arrived at 7101, the door lock was broken, which was not surprising since Cheng Zhenyong and his men weren't landlords and definitely didn't have the keys.

Su Han entered, retracted the Four-armed Corpse back into the Book of Blood Spirit, while Zhu Xiong patted Gan Xinglei on the shoulder, calling him brother, and gave a meaningful look, they without discussing it, placed the Angel Envoy's corpse at the door.

Inside the room, it was somewhat messy, with clothes and various items strewn across the sofa and tables.

Gan Xinglei pushed the items aside, then they all sat down on the sofa, prepared to discuss the current situation.

"That blond guy and the captain don't seem to be on the same page."

Zhu Xiong grumbled, his street smarts running deep, his discerning eye could tell that within this first-floor stronghold, the power seemed to be split between two groups of people.

"People who came together temporarily, it would be surprising if they were all united."

However, Su Han shook his head slightly, then said to the three: "To be safe, we'll go back to our original room later, bring the supplies down, and keep them here. It's inconvenient to come and go upstairs, and we can't keep watch over it, you come too."

Zhu Xiong was startled and then cracked a smile: "Alright, our three rooms are connected, we can act as one unit, there's less need to worry."

He was implying something, and Su Han understood.

As a team of four, even if the situation changed, with Su Han as the core and the others supporting, they were no weaker than Captain Cheng's security team or that blond man's group.