After leaving the noodle shop, Lin Chen continued his journey, leading the Old Yellow Ox.
As the number of trees of the same kind increased, Lin Chen's speed finally picked up.
Along the way, he dodged zombies whenever possible, and if he couldn't, he tried to lure them together, bind them, and then take them out with Shillelagh, conserving his mana.
Fortunately, the route he chose was excellent, separated from residential buildings by a green belt and a road, so there were very few wandering zombies.
In fact, if you were careful and looked around, you might not see a single zombie, but as soon as you made a slightly louder sound, those zombies would emerge from who knows which corner.
Lin Chen observed for a long time before realizing that when there was no target to attack, zombies preferred to stay in dark places rather than openly walking on the main road in direct sunlight.
However, they were not afraid of sunlight; once they found a target, they would relentlessly pursue it.
This greatly facilitated his movement, but with the sun about to set, he had to quickly find a place to spend the night; the green belt offered no shelter, which was clearly not an option.
Lin Chen's gaze still fell upon the buildings across the road.
Shops with glass display windows were unsafe and not considered; those with rolling shutters made too much noise when opening and closing, so they were also out.
Excluding these, the only option left was the three-story building of Anping Driving School ahead.
With so many rooms, he was sure to find a suitable one, and its large area and numerous passages would make escaping easier.
Lin Chen left the Old Yellow Ox in the green belt near the driving school, without even tying its rope.
The Old Yellow Ox had lived for many years and was already smarter than ordinary animals; after being fed so much spring of recovery, it was even more understanding, so he didn't worry about it running away, and if it encountered danger, it wouldn't be restrained by a rope.
The driving school building was on the street, and behind its side was a sizeable driving practice area, though now there wasn't a single car in it, nor a single zombie.
Lin Chen entered the driving school, finding two glass doors in the building; one was secured with a large lock, and the other was half-shattered.
He entered through the broken door; the staircase by the entrance was heavily obstructed with miscellaneous items, leaving only a narrow passage.
He checked the first floor, then the second, room by room; there were neither zombies nor people inside, yet Lin Chen couldn't relax.
The scattered traces here indicated a past struggle; the apocalypse struck at noon, and the driving school wouldn't have been empty, so its current 'cleanliness' suggested someone had cleared it out.
On the third floor, there were three lounges, their doors tightly shut, and the only windows covered by thick curtains.
Lin Chen tried, but couldn't open them.
The third floor had the most rooms in the entire building, and its windows were smaller, giving a greater sense of security.
Unable to open it, he simply raised his hoe and smashed it down.
"Bang~ Bang~ (Bang~ Bang~ Bang~)"
Lin Chen withdrew his hoe in surprise, stepped back two paces, and looked at the adjacent lounge.
As he smashed the glass, a crashing sound also came from the window there, much fainter than his, but continuous.
After a few more impacts, the glass finally shattered.
A head pushed aside the curtain, saw Lin Chen outside, and its eyes sparkled with joy.
"Do you need help?"
Lin Chen looked at his muffled mouth, the bruises on his forehead, and the faintly visible bound body.
Nie Ying nodded repeatedly; seeing a guy outside greatly increased his sense of security.
"Step back a little; I'll smash the window open a bit more."
Nie Ying hopped back.
Lin Chen cleared away the remaining glass from the window.
"Alright!"
Lin Chen dragged Nie Ying out of the window and untied the strips of cloth binding his body.
Before he could even ask what happened, Nie Ying casually wrapped the cloth strips around himself, barely covering his exposed body.
"Quick, save Zheng Jing! He's right next door, and once we save him, we run! If those people trap us, we're finished!"
Lin Chen quickly understood what had likely happened, sighing at the wickedness of human hearts in the apocalypse, and feeling some admiration for the boy in front of him.
Zheng Jing was his full name, and he was locked in the adjacent lounge, the very one Lin Chen had just smashed the glass of.
Lin Chen pushed aside the curtain and approached, only then hearing the "thump-thump" sound coming from inside.
A boy about Nie Ying's age was tied to a bed, and the sound was his head hitting the bed frame.
Nie Ying squeezed through the window, quickly helped Zheng Jing untie his restraints, and found a few pieces of clothing in the room for them to put on, before the two stumbled out of the lounge.
"Finally out! Brother, thank you for saving us. Let's go quickly and find a safe place first!"
Nie Ying pulled the still-recovering Zheng Jing with his left hand and reached for Lin Chen with his right.
"No time, someone's coming," Lin Chen, standing by the corridor, pointed to three middle-aged men at the main entrance, leading a large group of zombies into the driving school.
"They're back! Yingzi, we can't escape," Zheng Jing's body trembled as he saw those figures, his eyes overflowing with despair.
Suddenly, as if he had made a decision, he abruptly grabbed a piece of broken glass from the floor. "You two go quickly and hide somewhere on the second floor. When they come upstairs, you run. I'll hold them off. Anyway, in this world, there are monsters everywhere, and we don't have abilities, so there's no point in living!"
"Zheng Jing, don't think like that. Even if we can't beat them, we have to get revenge. As for you, brother, find a place to hide and leave tomorrow when they go out. They haven't seen you, so you should be able to escape," Nie Ying said, looking apologetically at Lin Chen.
"Don't worry, it's just the three of them, right?"
Lin Chen patted their backs, trying to calm them down.
"It's just the three of them, but they have some strange abilities. Two are incredibly strong, probably awakened Strength abilities, and one is quite fast, probably a Speed ability. Zheng Jing and I are just ordinary people. Even if you're an ability user, one against three is very dangerous. Don't be reckless, brother, you look even younger than us. Falling into their hands would be worse than death!"
Nie Ying said anxiously. This guy came here alone, so he must have some reliance, but one against three, with so many zombies, not to mention the two of them as burdens, it was almost impossible to succeed.
"?" Lin Chen was full of questions. Ability user? What was that? This boy must have read too many novels.
However, Lin Chen also realized the crux of the problem: these two might not have had any contact with the outside world since the apocalypse began, nor had they killed any zombies. But there wasn't enough time for a detailed explanation now, so he decided to make it short and sweet, "Do you want abilities?"
"Of course!"
"Then follow me. You'll get one by killing a zombie. If it's just three people, I can handle them," Lin Chen's mana was still abundant, and he remembered the pile of tables and chairs at the stairwell, which those few people must have specifically placed to deal with zombies.
"We need to be quick. First, let's go to the second-floor cafeteria and get a pot of oil. You two find yourselves some suitable weapons."