A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 598 Inference
After confirming the ownership of the Longquan Sword, Duan Rong slowly walked behind the desk, opened each drawer, and searched through them. Sure enough, he found a map of S City with Qin Yuan.

Duan Rong spread the map out on the mahogany desk and stared at it intently.

At this moment, Guo Tian and Du Wan also came over. They looked down at the map and were all astonished, because they had never seen such a complex and dense map before, with all kinds of markings densely packed together.

Du Wan couldn't help but exclaim, "How can this map be so complicated?!"

However, Duan Rong was engrossed in examining the map and had no time to pay attention to Du Wan and the others' surprise.

He needed to use this map to confirm one thing: whether the S City in front of him was the same S City from his previous life. This was of utmost importance.

Duan Rong first looked around the neighborhood where he rented an apartment, which was also the area he knew best. The hospital, supermarket, restaurants, gas station, and all the amenities matched his memories perfectly.

Then, he looked at a few more places and matched them all from memory.

At this moment, Duan Rong raised his head and looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window. He was now certain that this S City was the S City he remembered.

Only after confirming this matter could he use it as a basis to consider the plan for the outskirts of S City.

The city was already overrun with zombies; only by reaching the suburbs and adopting an agrarian lifestyle could they truly survive. But regardless, surviving in this brutal world besieged by zombies was no easy feat.

Duan Rong suddenly grabbed the map from the table, folded it up, and put it in the side pocket on his back. Then he glanced at a set of car keys on the table and casually grabbed them.

Those were clearly Qin Yuan's car keys.

Qin Yuan's car was a Land Rover Range Rover, and a high-end model worth over two million yuan, with plenty of horsepower. But even with such powerful horsepower, the area outside was congested with zombies during rush hour, and all the intersections were blocked, making it impossible for even a Land Rover to break through.

Duan Rong still put the car key away. Qin Yuan's car must be parked in the underground parking lot of this building. In this post-apocalyptic world, the value of a powerful SUV is self-evident. Even if he can't get out of the CBD, he can easily run to the supermarket not far away and loot some food and medicine.

However, Duan Rong does not plan to take them out directly for the time being. The reason is simple: there are seven of them, but only three weapons to kill zombies, which is far from enough.

The safest plan is to unleash the full potential of all seven members before they break out of the building.

After all, there are only a few zombies in this building, but there are hordes of zombies on the streets outside. If something goes wrong, everyone will be too busy to protect themselves.

Therefore, only by first equipping the team in this relatively safe building before considering venturing out can their mortality rate be minimized.

Duan Rong put away the map and car keys, then glanced around the office and, finding nothing of value, said to everyone, "Let's go, I'll take you to gather some food."

Duan Rong needed to carefully consider the plan for their operation in the suburbs. This matter required careful planning before action. To act rashly without a well-defined plan, wandering aimlessly like a headless fly in this zombie-infested world, would undoubtedly be suicidal.

Moreover, Duan Rong was the only one who had considered this matter.

Guo Tian and Du Wan had absolutely no idea what kind of world this was. Unlike the previous illusionary realm of gods and demons, which was the world of Kyushu and which they knew very well, this world besieged by zombies was completely unknown to them.

Duan Rong led the group out of Qin Yuan's office. His eyes darted around, and he immediately knew where to go. In his previous life, the girls in the finance department were the biggest snack lovers in the company; he'd start by ransacking the finance department.

Duan Rong then led them to the finance department.

In other departments, apart from the leaders who have separate offices, most people work in open cubicles.

However, the finance department is different. All the bills and vouchers in the finance department must be reviewed, and there can be no carelessness. Therefore, the finance department works in a rather large office.

Duan Rong led them to the front of the finance department. He found the key to the finance department on the iron plate in his hand, opened the door, and then lightly jumped away.

After standing there and looking around to make sure there was nothing unusual inside, Duan Rong turned to Duan Rong and said, "Jiang Hanyan, you stay outside! Guo Tian, ​​come in with me."

Duan Rong learned from his previous experience of entering Qin Yuan's office alone.

Jiang Hanyan stood outside the door, gripping the Longquan sword, her eyes coldly scanning her surroundings. Lu Chu and Du Wan stood behind her, also keeping an eye on the commotion.

Duan Rong and Guo Tian, ​​each holding a weapon, walked side by side into the finance department office. The windows of the finance department were closed, but the curtains were rolled up, making the inside brightly lit.

Duan Rong held an entrenching tool horizontally, while Guo Tian held a fire axe vertically. The two men, their eyes wary, scanned the rather large office from left to right.

Soon, Duan Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief. There were obviously no zombies inside. He then called out to the door, "Come in, everyone."

Jiang Hanyan, Lu Chu, and Du Wan then walked in from outside. Jiang Hanyan, holding the Longquan sword, was the last to turn around and enter, closing the door with a snap.

Duan Rong looked at them and said, "Look around and see if there's anything to eat."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately began searching their respective workstations.

Duan Rong stood there, glancing at the safe in the corner. Inside was the company's financial seal, and probably some cash and even gold bars. However, none of this was of any use to him. Even if this were the real world, with the zombie horde outside, what use would money or gold bars be?
The group was searching through the items, but they didn't recognize many of them, especially potato chips and shrimp crackers, because the packaging was so fancy that they had never seen them before.

Jiang Hanyan, Su Xinjue, and Du Wan were scavenging at a workstation.

Jiang Hanyan glared at Du Wan behind her and said, "Why are you following us when there are so many other places to go?"

Du Wan's gaze unconsciously swept over Su Xinjue's waist as she said, "Who's following you? We just happened to walk together."

Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue both noticed Du Wan's gaze. Jiang Hanyan gave him a sharp look. Su Xinjue, however, lowered her head slightly and smiled faintly, causing Du Wan's heart to flutter instantly.

Seeing that Du Wan refused to leave, Jiang Hanyan had no choice but to let her follow.

The three of them began to search the area. Suddenly, Su Xinjue opened a drawer and found three small bottles of dark liquid inside.

Su Xinjue frowned slightly and said, "What is this? It looks like Chinese medicine."

As she spoke, she picked up a bottle. At that moment, Jiang Hanyan opened the drawer next to her, and Su Xinjue slightly turned to the side, causing the bottle in her hand to fall onto the table with a thud.

As soon as the bottle was smashed, the dark liquid inside suddenly foamed up in large amounts.

The three of them were all astonished upon seeing this.

Du Wan exclaimed, "This must be highly poisonous!" Based on her experience in the Nine Provinces world of her previous life, only highly poisonous substances would suddenly produce such a large amount of white foam.

Duan Rong had already seen the bottle when it slammed onto the table. He walked over and said, "What kind of deadly poison is this? This is a good thing!"

Duan Rong picked up the 300ml bottle of cola on the table and immediately unscrewed the cap. As soon as he turned the cap, the foamy liquid gushed out, startling Su Xinjue, Du Wan, and Jiang Hanyan, who jumped back immediately, fearing that they would be splashed with the poison.

Duan Rong didn't care about their reactions at all. He hadn't had cola in a long time, and seeing it now had his cravings aroused.

He unscrewed the cap and tilted his head back to take a big gulp.

Su Xinjue, Du Wan, and Jiang Hanyan, who were standing to the side, were all dumbfounded.

Duan Rong drank it down in one gulp, let out a soft "ah," then took another swig, burped, and finally felt slightly satisfied. He turned to look at them and laughed, "Anything that doesn't foam is highly poisonous! This stuff tastes really good!"

Su Xinjue and Du Wan both looked at Duan Rong with suspicion. Even if it wasn't poisonous, they still thought the thing was strange because it was dark and foamy.

But Jiang Hanyan's beautiful eyes had already flickered with curiosity. Duan Rong's satisfied expression just now was definitely not an act. She walked over, grabbed another bottle of cola from the drawer, and gently unscrewed the cap. But this time, no foam came out. A look of doubt flashed across Jiang Hanyan's face as she looked at Duan Rong and asked, "Why isn't this bottle foaming?"

Duan Rong said, "If you shake it vigorously, it will foam."

Jiang Hanyan didn't shake it randomly. Wasn't it just right that it didn't foam, so as not to get her hands dirty? She gently opened the lid and sniffed it. It had an indescribable smell, but it was definitely not Chinese medicine. She took a small sip.

After taking a small sip, Jiang Hanyan's eyes suddenly lit up, and then she drank it one sip after another.

Su Xin couldn't help but ask, "Han Yan, is that stuff tasty?"

Actually, at this point, both Du Wan and Su Xinjue realized that the stuff was definitely delicious.

Jiang Hanyan hummed in agreement, looked at Duan Rong, and asked, "What is this?"

Duan Rong laughed and said, "This is called 'happy water'!"

"Soda?!"

At this moment, Lu Chu walked over with a smile and said, "This doesn't sound like a proper name!"

As Lu Chu spoke, he looked at Jiang Hanyan and said, "Hanyan, the martial world is dangerous!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hanyan frowned slightly, glanced at Duan Rong, and instead of drinking the remaining half bottle, she put the cap back on and placed it on the table.

Duan Rong's expression shifted slightly. Seeing Lu Chu's malicious look, he knew what he meant. This guy was probably associating the name "Happy Water" with aphrodisiacs like Yin-Yang Harmony Powder.

Duan Rong shook his head and said, "Some people are just like that—their hearts are all over the place. What are they thinking about when they're enjoying a perfectly good drink of happiness?!"

As he spoke, he finished the last sip of his drink and threw the empty bottle into the trash can at his feet.

At this point, Duan Rong had already discovered the problem: his companions were not familiar with the food of this world. Therefore, he immediately gathered everyone together and gave them a lesson on the various snacks available in the finance department.

Duan Rong brought over a box of potato chips, unscrewed it, gave each of them a chip, and then said, "The types and styles of food in this world are different from those in Kyushu. You need to get familiar with them."

Everyone put the potato chips in their mouths and chewed them; the taste was naturally not bad.

After they ate a few more dishes, Guo Tian suddenly asked, "These things don't taste bad, but won't it get dry eating like this three times a day?"

Duan Rong smiled slightly and said, "These are just snacks."

"Snacks!?" Everyone stared in astonishment at the various packaged foods piled up on almost half the table. They had never seen so many kinds of snacks before.

"These are all snacks?!" Du Wan asked in shock. As a rich kid, what kind of snacks hadn't he eaten? But there weren't many kinds of snacks in the Nine Provinces world!
"Ok!"

Duan Rong gave a soft hum and then fell silent. He didn't want to delve deeper into the topic and discuss the dietary structure of the people from Earth in his previous life with them.

Duan Rong had shown them the snacks, especially emphasizing the cola and soda water. At this point, Jiang Hanyan's doubts had dissipated, because she had drunk half a bottle of the soda and hadn't experienced any strange reactions. Moreover, Duan Rong had just drunk the whole bottle, and his complexion was normal.

After that, Duan Rong packed the looted snacks into everyone's backpacks, and then took them out to loot again. However, the harvest outside was very meager, consisting of only a bag of spicy strips and two cartons of milk.

After thoroughly searching the entire floor, Duan Rong stood there and said, "Now we need to go to the other floors, mainly to scavenge for food and weapons!"

After Duan Rong finished speaking, he led everyone to the company gate. The glass door was tightly closed, and outside was the elevator corridor. At that moment, a zombie dressed in a security guard uniform was wandering aimlessly in the corridor.

The moment everyone stood behind the glass door, the zombie reached the end of the corridor and turned around. Upon seeing them, the zombie suddenly pounced and slammed into the glass door with a bang, causing it to shake violently.

A withered, brown face was pressed against the glass door, a low, hoarse sound emanating from deep within its throat. Its mouth was wide open, and its eyes, covered by a white film, revealed a primal, animalistic desire.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered slightly.

Their footsteps were very light, because the area near the entrance was carpeted, meaning the zombie security guard didn't rush over after hearing the sound.

Moreover, the moment they stood behind the glass access door, the zombies recognized them.

It is evident that although the glass door reflects light slightly, the zombies can recognize them as living people as soon as they turn around.

Based on this, Duan Rong hypothesized a question: how could the security guard zombies determine in a short instant that they were living people and not zombies?
He quickly deduced that the zombies' eyes, covered by a white film, were highly sensitive to the infrared radiation emitted by living people.

Only in this way can we explain why, as soon as they turned around, the zombie pounced on them the instant they were standing there.

After a zombie has turned into a zombie, it has ceased to exhibit any vital signs, and the infrared radiation it emits is not as dense or intense as that of a living being. This is the fundamental reason why zombies can distinguish their own kind from the living.

As they undergo necrosis, their eye membranes also change, which is a complete mutation!

(End of this chapter)