Many young people nodded after hearing Brian Bolton's words. William Carter became even angrier when he heard this: "Protection? Open your eyes and look at the people around you who are dead or about to die—what protection have you given them? Now they're about to risk their lives to protect a scum like you!"

Lauren Harris looked in surprise at the young man she had rescued from the dead city, a look of admiration appearing on her face.

After hearing William Carter's words, a trace of shame appeared on everyone's faces. The elderly had also come very close and shouted, "Kids, go! Hurry!"

No one cared about their shame anymore. They all swung their weapons, hacking down the zombies in front of them and turning to run. William Carter saw that the people of his tribe had given up on the survival of the elderly. He looked back at David Clark, who had once saved his life and was now on his back, and forced his way through, hacking down several zombies and carving out a bloody path.

Lauren Harris followed behind William Carter, whose whole body was stained red with zombie blood, and said as they broke out of the encirclement, "Wait for me here!" With that, Lauren Harris ran toward the warehouse.

William Carter quickly adjusted his breathing. David Clark, lying on William Carter's back, said weakly, "Brother, put me down. Even if I've been tortured beyond recognition, I still weigh eighty or ninety jin. Carrying me is a burden."

"Shut up!" William Carter stared at the horde of zombies devouring the elderly, slowly backing away as he said, "We won't die."

David Clark gave a weak smile. "Give me that triangular bayonet. If the zombies really drag me off your back, I'll give myself a quick end."

William Carter said nothing, silently handing the military bayonet to David Clark. Facing more than three thousand zombies, seemingly attacking in an organized way, everyone knew that escaping was almost impossible.

A scream came from Brian Bolton's room. William Carter looked over and saw Brian Bolton dragging a woman's corpse out of the room.

A huge steel knife was stuck in the woman's chest. The dead woman's eyes stared at the sky in disbelief.

William Carter recognized the woman, and the knife. She was the same woman Brian Bolton had been toying with not long ago, and that steel knife had just recently been in Brian Bolton's hand, used to fend off zombies.

The retreating young people gathered around Brian Bolton. Not one of them showed any doubt or surprise that Brian Bolton had killed the woman.

Lying on William Carter's back, David Clark said with deep feeling, "If it weren't for your appearance, maybe I would have become a sacrifice like that woman, just to slow down the zombies."

"Scum!" William Carter looked coldly at Brian Bolton. Slight tremors shook the area around the tribe again, and six more vicious mantis bugs burst out from underground. From the tunnels dug by the bugs, more zombies crawled out, surrounding William Carter and Brian Bolton's group from all directions.

"Outsider! We need to unite now if we want any chance of fighting our way out!" Brian Bolton, with a dozen of his men, hacked down a few zombies and quickly moved to William Carter's side.

William Carter looked at Brian Bolton with disgust and said disdainfully, "Screw you! You'd even kill your own woman to use as bait. I'd rather die fighting than get stabbed in the back by you at a critical moment."

As William Carter spoke, several zombies quickly surrounded him. The fire axe once again flashed its crimson glow, splitting open the skulls of several elderly who had just turned into zombies. The still-warm brain matter splattered onto William Carter.

Axe swings, knee strikes, elbow blows! William Carter used every possible attack as he plunged into the zombie horde. As he fought, William Carter felt that not only was his strength not being depleted, but he was actually improving. Everything around him seemed to slow down—he knew his reflexes had become much faster than before.

David Clark, lying on William Carter's back, was even more astonished. After sleeping for fifty years, William Carter's close-combat skills hadn't declined at all. Judging by his speed, strength, and technique, he was already on par with the squad's top brawler, the muscleman Michael Bolton!

"Why? We both underwent modification, so why is he so different after waking up?" David Clark muttered to himself. William Carter was completely absorbed in the frenzy of slaughter, his brain automatically filtering out all outside sounds.

Brian Bolton was shocked by William Carter's speed and ferocity in killing zombies, while two of his own men had already become zombies in this short time.

In his mechanical killing state, William Carter instinctively snatched a long knife from a corpse and, with a backhanded swing, cut down a zombie that had lunged from behind, trying to bite David Clark.

William Carter himself didn't understand how he sensed the zombie coming from behind, nor did he have time to stop and figure it out. In this environment, stopping meant death—stopping meant becoming a corpse.