030 Do Not Be Deceived by the God's-Eye View

"Look over there, look at Building 7! Someone is operating a drone!"

Whether it was luck or a sharp eye, Zheng Xinyu quickly spotted a person huddled behind a window on the second floor of the middle unit of Building 7, piloting a drone through the air.

Just as Zhang Su turned his gaze toward Building 7, he suddenly saw four figures appear around the corner of the building. The person operating the drone, seeing their companions arrive, placed the remote control on the windowsill and jumped out of the window without a moment's hesitation!

From the fluid way these people operated, it was clear that this plan had been rehearsed for a long time. Everything had gone smoothly from the start, but unfortunately, the real challenge was only just beginning.

A second-story drop is only about three meters, but without the right technique, it is entirely possible to end up crippled, or in a worst-case scenario, even die.

Clearly, the person who dared to jump was not reckless. Upon landing, they executed a forward roll and slumped to the ground, using a slightly clumsy but effective method to cushion the impact.

The four individuals rushed to the man's side. One woman pulled him up from the ground, while another man handed him a backpack. The man who had jumped didn't say a word, slinging the pack onto his back as he sprinted toward the perimeter wall with the others.

Soon, the five of them reached the collapsed wall. Just as they were about to scramble over, a small group of zombies burst out from the other side of the building!

Danger struck in an instant. It was evident that the group had not expected some zombies to remain unlured by the drone. In the ensuing panic, two of them tripped over the debris.

Although a zombie's movements look stiff, their speed is by no means slow. When pursuing prey, they can easily match the pace of a human walking quickly. Soon, they were upon the two who had fallen.

"They're in trouble!"

Zhang Su gripped the windowsill so hard his knuckles turned white. He wondered how he would handle such a situation if it were him.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan had long since clenched their fists, so tense they didn't dare to take a full breath, as if it were they, not strangers, who were fleeing for their lives.

"Hurry up and throw bricks at them! A handbag is too soft, it's useless!" Zheng Xinyu urged, watching the woman in the group hitting a zombie's head with a travel bag, desperate to offer advice.

Someone in that group seemed to hear her. A man bent down and picked up a piece of broken wall as big as a watermelon and hurled it at the zombies. But then, something absurd happened...

Perhaps due to extreme nervousness, the man forgot to let go in time while throwing the debris. The immense momentum dragged him forward, causing him to stumble and tumble right off the collapsed ruins!

Facing zombies is dangerous even on flat ground, let alone after falling from a height. However, his fall inadvertently knocked the zombies off his two companions. The trapped pair instantly gained a moment of respite and scrambled up using their hands and feet!

"Hiss!!"

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan gasped as they watched the man fall into the midst of the zombies.

"It's over..." Zhang Su whispered, his voice tinged with melancholy. Given the situation, unless they fought together with a unified effort, only firearms could save the man.

Firearms were essentially out of the question, and as for fighting together...

If they were organized and prepared, it would be fine, but when caught off guard, human reaction time is often too slow.

Just as he predicted, the reactions of the people on the ruins were slower than the instincts of the zombies. The zombies gathered at the base of the ruins, excited to find fresh meat within reach, immediately pounced. The group on the ruins just stood there, at a loss.

Facing a single zombie, an ordinary adult male—as long as he isn't injured by a surprise attack—has a chance of winning. But if faced with three or four zombies simultaneously, while already dazed and injured from a fall...

The ending was tragically predictable.

As the zombies swarmed, the man's terrified cries for help were audible to Zhang Su and his companions, even from a hundred meters away. He flailed his arms in the air like a drowning man grasping for a straw, but no one could save him.

A zombie lowered its head to bite into the man's exposed neck, and blood sprayed three feet high on the spot!

Hysterical screams erupted from the woman in the technical jacket on the ruins. She threw stones at the zombie like a madwoman, but it was completely useless; it didn't slow the feeding for even a second.

The loud screams attracted zombies from other areas. Soon, more noticed them, peeled away from the group chasing the noise, and ran toward the wall ruins.

One man in the group covered the woman's mouth, while another dragged her toward the other side of the road. One person remained behind, making a half-hearted attempt to block the zombies climbing the ruins before following the others.

Soon, their figures vanished behind an obstruction, while the man who had thrown the stone remained forever beneath the ruins.

They had only been trying to climb over a collapsed neighborhood wall, and despite having planned and prepared, death still occurred. How brutal.

"Those two, they just ran away like that..." Zheng Xinyu stared at the spot where they had vanished, her expression blank.

It was one thing that the others didn't help the fallen man, but that the two who had been saved didn't offer any assistance either left her feeling horrified by the depths of human nature.

Zhong Xiaoshan also found it hard to accept. "There were only six zombies, and two were already down on the side," she said in a low voice. "Killing them all wouldn't have been easy, but if those four had fought back together, they would have had a chance to save him!"

"True," Zhang Su said in a dull voice. "But it's impossible for ordinary people to analyze and execute the best course of action during a crisis. Fear and selfishness will inevitably take the lead. That is human nature. I don't think there's any need to feel guilty."

"Unless they are well-trained soldiers, very few people are born ready to sacrifice their lives for the team or the greater good. Don't be fooled by the 'God's eye view.' If we were in the same predicament one day, there's no guarantee we would do any better than the ones who ran."

Zhang Su spoke with great seriousness. Seeing the skeptical looks from Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan, he continued, "As bystanders, we can imagine countless possibilities after the fact and pick the best one, convincing ourselves we would have made the right call. But if you were the ones actually living it..."

"Can you guarantee you would react within a single second?"

Before his voice had even faded, Zhang Su swung his arm with lightning speed, his hatchet stopping inches in front of the two women.

"Ah..."

"Don't..."

Without exception, both women reacted in perfect unison, closing their eyes and raising their hands to shield themselves.

"See? When danger truly strikes, there is no chance for you to use a 'God's eye view' to analyze slowly. There is only subconscious reaction, and that subconscious reaction isn't necessarily the optimal solution."

Zhang Su lowered his arm and said slowly, "If it were the three of us... if I only cared about myself, I could definitely escape. Given your current state, you'd likely be done for. If I tried to take care of you and escape together, there's a fifty-fifty chance we'd all die!"

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan looked at each other, their hearts filled with a complex mix of emotions. Witnessing a survivor being devoured by zombies left them with a visceral, suffocating sense of powerlessness.

"Then is there no other way? I don't want to be a burden!" Zheng Xinyu asked, unwilling to give up, a flicker of stubbornness in her eyes.

"Train."

Zhang Su’s response was a single word.

It wasn't just physical training—what mattered more was courage, spirit, and reaction!