You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

Co-workers?

Is it not to replace them and do the work?

Cheng Ju and others looked at those dozen or so workers with "dead" expressions, their mouths going dry.

"Zhang, Director Zhang."

"Our bodies really are...."

"You see, couldn't we, maybe, find a few more zombies to take over? Or at least adjust our working hours?"

The broadly-built and corpulent Director Zhang was all smiles, nervously rubbing his hands as he spoke, as if terrified that an ill-chosen word might again incur the other's displeasure.

He was the one most capable of swallowing his pride among them.

Unfortunately, it was no use.

Zhang Ye had started shaking his head even before he'd finished speaking.

"That won't do."

"I hear you used to run a company?"

"A company, surely, has strict rules and regulations, right? It values fairness and justice, equal pay for equal work, doesn't it?"

As he spoke, those new workers had already begun to move materials to the villa district under Da Mengzi's command, each of them burying their heads in hard work, not uttering a single word!

"See that?"

"Now that's what I call a work ethic!"

"Less talk, more work. If others can do it, what makes you think you can't?"

Zhang Ye continued, then brought his gaze back to the leaders in front of him.

A look of 'don't be ungrateful' spread across his face.

"What's more, I've already given you special consideration for Ai Bing's sake."

"You have worked one day, too."

"Did you see anyone else eat a grain of rice or take a sip of water?"

"Didn't think so."

Cheng Ju and the rest widened their eyes, hardly able to believe how shamelessly the man in front of them spoke.

Damn it, they're zombies!

What need do they have for food!

What need do they have for water!

Are we even the same species?

Zhang Ye watched their faces change and felt amused, yet he continued to assault their psychological defenses with his words.

"Now look at you."

"You have food and drink, and even high-end hotel suites to live in."

"Even when just going to the bathroom, someone is tasked with ensuring your safety. Isn't that enough?"

The leaders were completely silent.

Food and drink, meaning other people in the hotel eat twice a day, while they could only eat leftovers at night?

As for accommodations, that was even more outrageous.

While there were plenty of rooms in the hotel, even the old-fashioned Wang Jianguo could live in one by himself.

But what about the four of them?

Squeezed into a room less than thirty square meters.

And damn it, a single bed!

If four grown men didn't want to get cozy together, three would have to sleep on the floor!

And this so-called personal protection, is that really protection?

You're being watched even when you're taking a leak.

By the dead, no less!

Who could even manage it under those conditions!

If this went on, they were going to get kidney stones from holding it in!

Looking at Zhang Ye's smug face, they finally came to a certain realization.

This bastard was doing it on purpose.

Cheng Ju turned his pleading eyes toward Ai Bing.

"Teacher Ai..."

His eyes were full of entreaty.

And a hint of deliberately displayed regret.

Ai Bing looked at her former leaders and colleagues, full of dust, her gaze softening for a moment, then quickly turning cold again.

Zhang Ye was right.

These people were no longer her colleagues.

The moment they treated her as a gift to curry favor with someone else, any past comradery vanished completely.

Begging Zhang Ye to bring them out of the school was already an act of utmost kindness.

Now, she was the company's project manager.

And had nothing to do with the school anymore.

——

"This is just too much!"

"This brat is clearly trying to kill us!"

Zhao Donglai tossed and turned on the floor, unable to sleep, fuming with anger as he thought about what Zhang Ye said in the evening.

He was a finance department leader, when had he ever suffered like this?

There wasn't a single spot on his body that didn't hurt.

The floor was unbearably hard.

The logistics director and Director Zhang next to him had it even worse.

They didn't have any quilts to lie on, so they had to sleep directly on the cold, hard floor.

In the next room were Wang Yang and a few students.

Their snoring was thunderous by now.

"I think, we need to figure out a way to get out of here," said Director Zhang, who had the decisive leadership of someone who had been a top executive.

He patted the bed leg next to him and said, "Cheng Ju."

"I've been observing."

"It seems the zombies don't have the ability to act on their own; they need someone to give them orders."

A hoarse voice came from the bed above, Cheng Ju's.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you saying we can command them too?"

Director Zhang, seeing he was not asleep, instantly perked up and spoke with a bit of excitement:

"During the day, when we work, there's only that little girl there."

"But she's bound to be busy at some point, right?"

"When she is, we can just take the opportunity to escape through that gap, right in front of those zombies, and then just find any car on the street..."

Zhao Donglai, interested, immediately asked, "Are you saying, without someone giving orders, those working zombies won't come chasing after us?"

"Really?"

Director Zhang assured him with conviction:

"I'm eighty percent sure."

"All we have to do is pick the right time—"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The logistics director, upon hearing this, couldn't help but interject: "That girl has to eat at noon. She will definitely leave that construction site."

The three of them, tossing ideas back and forth, quickly settled on a plan to escape the next day.

But suddenly, Cheng Ju from above threw in a line:

"If that's the case, why don't we just go straight to Zhang Ye's villa?"

The three men were taken aback.

"Cheng Ju, what do you mean?"

"Aren't we trying to escape—" Before Director Zhang could finish, a voice tinged with grinding teeth came from above:

"I can't accept this."

"That damn kid has been playing us from the start."

"If the zombies won't act on their own without someone there to command them, why don't we just find that girl?"

"And who knows, maybe that damn bitch is in the villa too."

"Then at that time..." The three men under the bed became somewhat silent, their thoughts growing complicated.

In the past, each of them had been someone of high status.

When had they ever been treated like this?

Even after the zombie outbreak, trapped in the dormitory building, Ai Bing and those students still had to show them utmost respect.

Because no one knew whether government officials would come the next day.

If they did, under the Shen Zhou system, they would immediately regain their previous power and status, and once again, control the lives of countless people.

The disaster had only lasted a short month; the old system and mindset hadn't completely vanished.

For this reason, they found the current humiliation even harder to endure.

"What do you want to do?"

After a long silence, Zhao Donglai was the first to respond.

He seemed to envision a scene where three women, one adult and two younger, were kneeling naked on the ground, begging for their forgiveness.

He had seen it clearly during the interview yesterday.

There were no zombies in the villa.

Only women.