Chapter 25: The Rescue

"We're breaking out," Qin Lan, though a woman, showed no fear in the face of zombies.

Initially feeling despair closing in, the appearance of Tone gave her a glimmer of hope. Perhaps a larger part of her didn't want to see Tone sacrifice himself for their rescue?

"Charge!" Not only were Qin Lan and Xiao Jun inspired by Tone's arrival, but the rest of the group were also motivated to charge out together.

"These people are quite loyal," Hayes noted, aware that the few dozen zombies posed no challenge for Tone. He leisurely approached, all the while vigilantly scanning the surroundings for mutated creatures or evolved zombies.

Seeing the majority of zombies drawn towards Tone and Qin Lan's group charging out to help, Hayes felt a stir of emotion. Such scenes confirmed his decision to help them was right.

As expected, Tone's loud shouts attracted all the zombies' attention towards him. His rapid pace in eliminating the zombies also incited the remaining ones to become more aggressive, abandoning their previous targets and charging at him. Their blood-red eyes made it clear how much they wished to tear Tone apart.

Yet, Tone faced the zombie onslaught with calm, swiftly moving within their encirclement to avoid being hit while his blade never ceased its motion. Each flash of his blade meant another zombie head was severed.

To Qin Lan and her group, Tone seemed like a tiger plunging into a flock of sheep, leaving no zombie untouched.

A few minutes later, Tone had taken down all the attacking zombies.

"Big brother, thank you," Xiao Jun ran to Tone's side after he decapitated the last zombie.

"Are you all okay?" A slight smile appeared on Tone's lips. Seeing Qin Lan and the others following them out, Tone and Hayes shared the same view on their action.

"We're okay, thank you so much for your help," the older members of Qin Lan's group recovered from their shock at this point.

They had rushed out unhesitatingly at Qin Lan's command to help, but were stunned upon doing so, as Tone's prowess among the zombies was too terrifying. Alone, he moved like a god of war, swiftly navigating through them, and single-handedly eliminating all the zombies.

"Are you a survival squad?" Tone felt somewhat embarrassed by the gratitude, especially coming from the women.

"Sort of," Qin Lan nodded, her expression somber.

They had started the morning with sixteen people, now only twelve remain. If not for Tone's timely intervention, perhaps none of them would have survived.

"Are you alone?" Qin Lan asked.

"No, there are two of us," Tone pointed towards Hayes, who was slowly approaching. "My name is Tone."

"Qin Lan, and these are Xiao Jun and Liu Yu," Qin Lan introduced them to Tone.

Afterward, they all got acquainted.

Once introductions were made, Hayes joined them.

"This is Hayes," Tone, noticing Hayes wasn't carrying anything, knew that there hadn't been any sightings of mutated creatures or evolved zombies during his watch.

"Hello," Qin Lan said in a subdued tone, barely glancing at Hayes. In her view, Hayes didn't seem like someone worth getting to know deeply. After all, how could anyone let their companion fight zombies while leisurely lagging behind?

Qin Lan was puzzled as to why Tone would associate with someone like Hayes. Despite her confusion, she remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings. They hadn't killed that green zombie earlier, and she feared its sudden attack.

"Big brother, you shouldn't be with someone like him; he's not a good partner," Xiao Jun, full of admiration for Tone's indomitable presence amidst the zombies, whispered to him.

The others shared a similar sentiment, showing an unfriendly attitude toward Hayes.

"He's not a good partner?" Hearing Xiao Jun and observing the others' attitudes toward Hayes, Tone couldn't help but smile wryly. If Hayes weren't a good partner, Tone wondered how many times he might have lost his life by now.

Aware that he had charged too far ahead, making himself the hero, Tone addressed Qin Lan, "Miss Qin, what are you worried about?" Noting Hayes' indifference to others' attitudes, Tone turned to see Qin Lan's vigilant and somewhat anxious expression.

"Have you encountered it? Today, we faced a monster with incredible speed and a green body," Qin Lan, grateful for Tone's lifesaving act, detailed her experience upon his inquiry.

"Evolved zombies, those are 'Green Zombies'." Tone, knowing that Hayes had intended to spread information about zombies, briefly explained to Qin Lan and the others, including the fact that more zombies would mutate the day after tomorrow.

"Roar"

Just as Tone finished explaining about the zombies, a thunderous roar startled everyone present.

"It's out, where?" Qin Lan reacted immediately, gripping her pistol, ready to fire at any moment.

"Save your bullets, everyone move back," Tone, having learned about the Green Zombies from Qin Lan's description, advised against wasting bullets, which were not easy to come by.

Perhaps impressed by Tone's capabilities, everyone heeded his advice and retreated together.

"Aren't you moving back? Do you have a death wish?" Qin Lan was about to retreat when she noticed Hayes nonchalantly standing still. Unable to overlook this, she pulled Hayes back with her.

In her eyes, aside from the impressive scale armor Hayes wore, he seemed like a student fresh out of school, naive about many things in this apocalyptic world, trying to act cool.

Hayes could only offer a wry smile in response to Qin Lan's words, but he didn't take them to heart. After all, they were about to go their separate ways, with little chance of further interaction, so there was no need for lengthy explanations.

As Hayes and Qin Lan moved back near a wall, the Green Zombie appeared, charging at Tone with incredible speed.

"Ah, be careful!" Another woman in the group screamed upon seeing the Green Zombie's terrifying velocity, remembering how a companion had died that morning to a zombie's bite.