Hu Ye

"This is the place." Led by the bald man known as Wild Dog, the trio arrived at a high-rise urban area. This used to be Su City's most bustling entertainment street, with dozens of bars and nightclubs, known colloquially as the Night City. Even before the apocalypse, the Long Hu Gang had entrenched itself here, and it remained their stronghold afterward.

The once complex and intertwined Night City had been completely transformed. Most intersections were barricaded with fences and wire mesh, leaving only a straight street leading to the core area. "I'll lead the way. Hu Ye will be pleased to meet you. He admires brave and strong individuals like you the most," Wild Dog said, limping ahead. Despite the pain from his wounds making him grimace, he maintained a servile demeanor, although his eyes occasionally flashed with malice, plotting how to eliminate Noah.

He might not be able to defeat Noah, but that didn't mean Hu Ye couldn't. With hundreds in the Long Hu Gang, they could drown Noah with their spit. Having mixed in the underworld for over a decade, Wild Dog couldn't swallow the defeat.

He was determined to kill Noah to regain his pride. "No need for you to lead anymore. I know the way from here. You've outlived your usefulness," Noah stated, and with a single wave of his hand, a dagger flew out, piercing Wild Dog's throat.

Clutching his throat and eyes wide, Wild Dog fell stiffly to the ground. Noah casually took Wild Dog's daggers, noting their decent quality, suitable for use as throwing knives. Noah and Liu Xiaoyu continued down the street, encountering almost no zombies, a sign of someone's maintenance. Only occasionally did a few jumping types leap out from the shadows, all swiftly dealt with by Liu Xiaoyu's baseball bat.

Soon, the pair arrived at the end of the straight street, where a bar named "Blood Queen" was located. However, the first floor's doors and windows were sealed from the outside with steel plates. The only entry was through a shattered floor-to-ceiling window on the third floor, accessible by a rope ladder. Two young men, likely on sentry duty, were squatting beside the window.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Upon seeing Noah and Liu Xiaoyu, one of the men quickly stood up, pulling out a handgun and aiming it at Noah with a wary expression. Noah was somewhat surprised to see they had firearms, but it was just a handgun, effective against humans but hardly against zombies, not even capable of penetrating the defense of a Level 2 Hardened type.

Yet, these people were smart to set the entrance on the third floor, out of reach for Hardened type zombies, while Jumping types that could reach were vulnerable to gunfire. Overall, it was relatively safe, at least for now, but the situation could change in a couple of days.

"We're here to join Hu Ye. Can we come up?" Noah asked with a smile. After a brief exchange, the men called down, "Okay, the woman can come up first, the man stays below."

One of them quietly disengaged the safety on his gun, clearly not intending to let Noah up, only Liu Xiaoyu. In the apocalypse, women, especially young and beautiful ones, were considered a type of 'resource.' Naturally, they wouldn't refuse someone as attractive as Liu Xiaoyu.

With his Eagle Eye ability enhancing his vision several times that of a normal person, Noah could see their subtle movements clearly. He had intended to blend in as much as possible to avoid startling them, but it seemed being inconspicuous was no longer an option. Noah then made a quick dash, running up the wall to reach the window.

The floor-to-ceiling window was only eight or nine meters above the ground, a distance Noah could easily scale by running up the wall. Had it been five or six stories high, it would have been a different story.

Seeing Noah effortlessly run up the wall, the two guards shouted in disbelief and, without hesitation, fired two shots at him. The bullets whistled out, aiming for Noah, but in the next moment, they curved back, striking the guards in the head.

Noah easily jumped through the window and scanned the room, finding it empty. However, the gunfire would likely attract others soon. He then gestured for Liu Xiaoyu to come up, "Come on." Nodding, Liu Xiaoyu took a run-up, leaped high, grabbing the rope ladder and climbed up in no time. Her use of the strength enhancement ability still fell short of Noah's, unable to replicate his feat of running up a vertical wall.

As soon as Liu Xiaoyu got inside, the door was kicked open, and a dozen men armed with machetes and axes streamed in. Seeing the two bodies on the floor, one of the leaders, without bothering to ask for an explanation, ordered, "Kill the man and chop him up to feed the zombies; keep the woman."

His men charged at Noah, screaming. 'Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...' Several knives shot out from behind Noah, weaving through the room. In the blink of an eye, the floor was littered with over a dozen warm corpses. The leader, panic-stricken, pulled out a handgun and fired a barrage at Noah. The bullets curved, piercing the leader's limbs.

Collapsing to the ground, powerless, the leader screamed in agony. Noah approached, stepping on his chest with a cold expression, "Where's Hu Ye?" The leader's face turned deathly pale, "Hu Ye is in the office on the fifth floor, please spare my life, I can..."

Before the leader could finish his sentence, a dagger flew through the air, sealing his throat. Noah kicked aside the bodies blocking the doorway and stepped inside, with Liu Xiaoyu gripping her baseball bat tightly as she followed.

Exiting the room and entering the corridor, they were confronted by several armed individuals who coldly demanded, "Who are you, kid?" Preferring not to waste words, Noah manipulated the knives to eliminate each aggressor, quickly turning the floor bloody, the air thick with the scent of blood.

They continued down the corridor to a large door from behind which blared jarring rock music. The knives flew, eliminating the two guards at the entrance, and Noah pushed the door open. Inside was a spacious dance hall illuminated by neon lights, with the loud rock music vibrating eardrums painfully. Dozens of men and women danced to the music, most of them naked, with significantly more men than women. The ages of the women varied, the oldest being in her early thirties, and the youngest, barely teenagers.

A seductive woman wearing a collar was on her knees, working fervently. In the center of the dance floor was a large iron cage containing a zombie, its mouth sewn shut and nails clipped, chasing a naked woman. A few thugs cheered at the cage, occasionally splashing water inside.

The air was filled with a nauseating, lewd smell, causing Noah to frown in disgust. Liu Xiaoyu, on the other hand, started retching on the spot.