The dense smoke, pitch black and straight, rose into the air, adding a touch of color to this desolate apocalyptic scene. Beyond Zhang Xiaoqiang's line of sight, he knew something had happened there, and curiosity scratched at his heart like cat's claws. He glanced at his watch, it was now 3:40 PM. There were at least two more hours until dark, enough time for him to go to the rooftop and figure out what was going on. 

Zhang Xiaoqiang picked up a replica Tiger Tooth military knife and fastened it to his belt. The shoelace under the sheath was tightly tied around his thigh. Taking a few steps, he checked that it didn't hinder his flexibility. He picked up his shield, iron spear, and carried the telescope, and headed out.

 He climbed the stairs carefully. Zhang Xiaoqiang lived on the second floor, and the rooftop was above the eighth floor. He tiptoed his way up the stairs, reaching the staircase on the third floor. He tried to open the anti-theft door of the resident on the third floor, but as he expected, it was securely locked. At least he didn't have to worry about zombies rushing out from inside. 

Zhang Xiaoqiang ascended slowly, testing the doorknob of each floor's door until he reached the eighth floor. It eased his tension slightly; his unit was safe, and the zombies were locked inside their rooms. As he passed by each door, he could hear the sound of zombies scratching the iron doors from inside. The scent emanating from him intensified their efforts, and the zombies' sharp claws scratching the iron doors produced a piercing metallic sound, making his teeth feel a bit sour. 

The owner on the eighth floor had sealed off the entire staircase with iron railings, and an entrance/exit iron door was tightly locked. Zhang Xiaoqiang tried prying it open with the tip of his iron spear but failed. He carefully examined the iron door and noticed that there was a lot of rust along the edges. It was tightly locked, and only a card as thick as an ID card could be inserted on the side of the lock. 

Zhang Xiaoqiang felt a sense of urgency and considered going downstairs to find some tools. His gaze scanned the entire iron door, and he tapped it with his hand, realizing that the door was actually quite thin. The owner had welded a sheet of white iron onto a door frame made of triangular iron, but there weren't many welds. He breathed a sigh of relief. Now things would be easier! 

He pulled out the Tiger Tooth military knife and inserted it into the iron plate, giving it a tug. "Thud..." 

The iron plate was pried open at one corner, and he continued to use the Tiger Tooth knife to pry until he created an opening large enough for him to crawl through. 

Zhang Xiaoqiang walked towards the rooftop. The ground was filled with various construction materials—bricks, river sand, cement, and all kinds of PPR water pipes and PVC conduits scattered across the entire rooftop. It seemed that the owner of the eighth floor was planning to build a private structure on the rooftop. At the end of the rooftop, a row of red brick walls had already been halfway constructed.

 Suddenly, three zombies flashed out from behind the wall. One in the front and two behind, they approached Zhang Xiaoqiang, with the one in the front holding a roofing tile knife in its claw.

 "Kao!" Zhang Xiaoqiang cursed. He hadn't anticipated such bad luck when he stepped out.

 He turned around and took two steps, then came to a halt!

 "Now I can run. What about later? It's just three of them. What do I have to be afraid of?"

 The rush of blood to his brain exhilarated Zhang Xiaoqiang. He turned back and bravely approached the first zombie with small steps. He tightly gripped the shield in his left hand and held the iron spear slightly raised in his right hand. He gasped heavily, his eyes fixed on the zombie's figure.

 The zombie's emaciated cheek and exaggerated large mouth caught his eye. In the instant of contact between the zombie and him, his right hand tightly gripped the iron spear and swept it in an arc through the air before forcefully smashing onto the zombie's right calf.

 "A crack..." The sound of bones breaking echoed.

 "A thud..." The zombie collapsed to the ground.

 Without paying any further attention to the fallen zombie, Zhang Xiaoqiang dashed towards the remaining two. With one on the left and one on the right, the two zombies were separated by a distance of five or six meters. He charged towards the zombie on the left. The palm of his hand holding the iron spear was slightly sweaty, his heart pounding intensely, making it difficult for him to breathe.

 "Two meters, one meter, now!"

 His left hand, holding the iron skillet lid, pressed tightly against his left chest. He used his left shoulder to forcefully collide with the zombie, pushing it with the lid. A tremendous force traveled from his shoulder to the bones of his left wrist. A burning sensation spread through his left hand, causing the iron skillet lid to deform, making it unrecognizable.

 No time to think too much. While the zombie was flipping over on the ground, Zhang Xiaoqiang discarded the damaged iron skillet lid and tightly gripped the iron spear with both hands as he charged towards the remaining zombie. Closing in, he stepped forward with his left leg forming a bow shape. Taking aim at the repulsive face of the zombie, he thrust the iron spear urgently.

 "Splat..."

 The triangular tip of the gun pierced into the zombie's trachea, and drilled through the cervical vertebrae to protrude from the back of the neck. Zhang Xiaoqiang turned the barrel of the gun from left to right, and the triangular file smashed the flesh and bones of the zombie's neck, easily pulling it out. A bloody hole appeared on the zombie's neck. The zombie's head was hanging from the remaining skin and muscles on its back, and it fell over.

 "huu..." Zhang Xiaoqiang breathed a sigh of relief. He was aiming for the head, but stabbed the neck instead? This shooting skill was too bad!

 The first zombie had already climbed up from the ground. The impact just now did not cause any damage to it. It was gnashing its teeth and claws, ready to pounce on Zhang Xiaoqiang again. He glanced at the first zombie he had knocked down with the corner of his eye, and saw it crawling towards him on all fours, one leg already injured by him. For the zombie, the thirst for flesh and blood was greater than anything else. It was a primal urge that made it instinctively approach him, wanting to chew him up and swallow him whole!

 Zhang Xiaoqiang dodged the zombie's attack and ran behind the zombie with the broken leg. He stepped hard on its back with one foot, making it unable to move, and with a strong thrust of his arm, the iron gun pierced into the back of the zombie's head. He turned the barrel of the gun to pull out the tip, and the zombie stopped moving. The tip of the gun was covered with yellow brains emitting a stinking odor.

 "There's one left." Zhang Xiaoqiang looked up and saw the last zombie rushing towards him. He wanted to test his theory of whether there were any other vital points on a zombie besides the head. He teased the zombie, running circles around it, and took the opportunity to break both of its arms.

 The gun tip continued to stab and pull out of the zombie's body. The zombie's clothes were shredded into rags by the iron gun, and its dry, withered body was filled with holes. Its heart, liver, and lungs were all crushed. The zombie was unaware, chasing him like a mad dog, waving its two broken arms to bite him. After his experiment was completed, Zhang Xiaoqiang plunged the gun tip into its stinky big mouth, smashing its teeth and pulling it out.

 "Damn, I actually did it, a 1v3! I really did it! Just five days ago, I was scared to death when facing a single zombie alone. Today, I killed a total of 10, and three of them were straightforward frontal assaults without any fancy moves!"

 Zhang Xiaoqiang felt a sense of relief. "Who said otakus are useless? I'm alive, and I will continue to survive. I'll live even better," he said to himself.

 As his excitement subsided, Zhang Xiaoqiang glanced at his watch. It was 4:31 PM. It took him about ten minutes to climb the building and search around, over twenty minutes to pry open the iron door, and less than ten minutes in total to kill zombies, conduct experiments, and search for the rumored zombie nucleus. Although the zombie heads had nothing inside them except brain pulp.

 Remembering the purpose of his climb, he walked to the edge of the rooftop and raised a tenfold telescope, peering towards the smoking area. It had been over half an hour, and the smoke had started to dissipate. Through the lens of the telescope, he saw a medium-sized van overturned, surrounded by hundreds of zombies grouped in several piles. The front of the van had crashed into the roadside flower bed, and there were faint flames visible on the vehicle. In front of the van, a bus and a medium-sized truck collided sideways, with more small cars crashing behind them. The two vehicles, along with numerous small cars, completely blocked the road, sealing it off tightly. It was clear what had happened. A van carrying survivors had rushed out of the city center, intending to escape. However, due to the blocked road and excessive speed, it flipped over. Some survivors were burned to death inside the vehicle, while others were thrown out and became a feast for the zombies.

 Upon seeing this, Zhang Xiaoqiang felt a bit downhearted. This was now a post-apocalyptic world infested with zombies, where all the survivors fought tooth and nail under immense pressure, much like hungry rats, to secure their survival. At least he was fortunate enough to have enough food at home to last him two months. But what about after those two months?

 "Let's just get through these two months for now, and we'll deal with the future later," he thought.

 Shaking his head, Zhang Xiaoqiang consoled himself with his typical otaku mindset and made his way downstairs. As he descended, the sky began to rain!