"Bin-ge, what do we do?" Chen Hao's voice cracked as he took in the nearly thousand zombies closing in from both directions.

The only reason they'd had it so easy until now was Yang Bin's True Vision Eye. It let them spot and avoid large groups before walking into them. They'd basically never been surrounded.

But the school held twenty-seven or twenty-eight thousand zombies. Of course there were massive clusters. Getting swarmed and torn apart was the most normal thing in the apocalypse.

The fact that they'd been wandering outside every day and were still breathing? That was already a miracle.

Yang Bin's expression was grim. He hadn't expected a trip to the Girls' Dormitory to turn into this.

Their position was terrible. Four to five hundred zombies blocked the path ahead. Behind them, those women were still sprinting this way, dragging a massive horde in their wake.

Dormitory buildings flanked them on both sides. The right side was the back of a building-no way through. The left building faced them properly, but its main entrance sat right in the middle of the zombie mass ahead.

Those women had probably been trying to flee back to the dormitory. They just hadn't expected this many zombies waiting here too.

"Haozi, Liangzi, get ready to fight! We push through to that entrance. Once we're inside the building, we're safe." Yang Bin's voice was hard.

Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang looked toward the distant entrance. Their faces were tight. Four to five hundred zombies stood between them and it.

But they knew this was their only option. Once the two hordes merged, there'd be no escape.

"Ready-go!"

Yang Bin charged first. Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang were right behind him.

They met the horde in seconds. Yang Bin swung the Barbell Rod into the front rank.

Skulls burst. Three zombies at the front had their heads caved in instantly.

But there were too many. Before those three bodies even hit the ground, the next wave lunged forward.

Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang struck at the same time, hammering down on the zombies rushing in from the sides.

The three smashed and pushed forward, and within moments, they were completely surrounded.

Back to back, each covering one direction, they swung without stopping at the bodies hurling themselves in.

As for Little Orange-it had long since scrambled up the wall.

Trapping a cat in a place full of buildings was obviously impossible.

The three caught a glimpse of it perched on a second-floor windowsill, watching them with casual interest. Species advantage. Couldn't compete.

Calling it down to help would've been pointless anyway. In a situation like this, Little Orange couldn't do much.

Zombies threw themselves at the trio in waves. All they could do was keep swinging the Barbell Rods and killing.

Every swing crushed several skulls-but more immediately surged forward to fill the gap.

These things didn't know fear. They came one after another, relentless. Mixed in among them were Tier-1 Zombies, and the pressure spiked immediately.

The Barbell Rod was a wide-arc weapon. Backed by raw strength, its killing power was devastating-but the stamina drain was brutal.

Especially against numbers like these. Every single swing burned through enormous energy.

And the rod lacked finesse. Once a zombie closed inside its reach, things got ugly fast.

Against a few dozen zombies, nothing would've gotten near them. But hundreds pouring in without end? They couldn't hold them all back.

Once zombies got in close, wounds were inevitable.

Yang Bin, cutting the path at the front, bore the worst of it. The zombies ahead were packed so dense that breaking through felt impossible. Kill the ones in front, and more filled in instantly.

All they could do was grind forward, inch by inch.

The group of women behind them had spotted the situation, but they kept running this way regardless. They had nowhere else to go.

"Hey-help us! Together we'll have a better chance!" the woman at the front shouted. She wore a tracksuit, her voice raw with desperation.

"More like we'll die faster," Chen Hao muttered, staring at the horrifying mass of zombies trailing behind them. Conservative estimate-at least five to six hundred.

This time, even Hu Wenliang didn't think about saving anyone. He understood clearly: trying to play hero here would just get them all killed.

Some of the zombies surrounding the trio noticed the women and peeled off toward them. It eased the pressure slightly.

But only for a moment. Once the horde behind those women caught up, the impact would be even worse.

Yang Bin knew it. His jaw clenched tighter. Five or six meters to the entrance.

Five or six meters that felt like a canyon. Every step forward now cost everything they had.

Soon, the women were swallowed by the horde. Their screams cut off quickly. The outcome needed no explanation.

That was the apocalypse. Scenes like this played out across the globe every second of every day. Crystals weren't easy to earn.

If you wanted crystals, you had to be ready to die for them.

None of them had the luxury of watching what happened to those women. The zombies that had been chasing them were already surging this way.

The pressure on Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang at the rear exploded.

Yang Bin saw it. He bit down hard, grabbed the Barbell Rod with both hands, jammed it against the zombies in front of him, and shoved forward with everything he had.

His raw strength drove the zombies backward. They crashed into the ones behind them, and those crashed into more, and still he didn't stop.

Bodies stacked against each other-ten, fifteen, twenty deep-until finally, after more than twenty had piled up, Yang Bin couldn't push any further.

That single push gained them over three meters. But the cost was savage.

Both hands locked on the rod, he couldn't defend his flanks. Zombies on either side tore into him-clawing, biting, ripping. In those few seconds alone, wounds covered his entire body.

"Bin-ge, switch!"

Chen Hao's eyes were bloodshot. He grabbed Yang Bin and hauled him back, stepping into the front position to hold the line.

"Bin-ge, let me heal you first-" Hu Wenliang started.

"No. Get inside first. I can take it." Yang Bin forced the words through clenched teeth.

Less than two meters to the entrance now. But the zombies ahead were crushed together so tightly there was no room to push through.

"Meow!"

Little Orange dropped from above without warning. It landed directly on the heads of the zombies blocking their path, then bounced from skull to skull, clawing and biting in a frenzy.

The zombies ahead snapped toward it. Dozens shifted their attention, lunging after the cat.

Chen Hao's eyes lit up. He seized the opening, threw his weight forward, and bulldozed through the last few zombies to reach the entrance.

Yang Bin and Hu Wenliang were on his heels. The three burst through the main gate, slammed the iron door shut behind them, and sprinted for the stairs.

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