Marvel's Death Merchant

Francis stepped onto the rooftop. Carrying a large bag of weapons, he shouted, "Listen up, everyone!! Grab your weapons and beer! Consider this a warm-up match; we've got plenty of fun to come. Where's my jukebox?!"

"Here...buddy, at least tell us why we had to carry this thing up two flights of stairs, it's incredibly heavy." The two men carried the jukebox up.

“This is because…” Francis’s eyes also held a playful yet murderous glint.

“...You can’t go to a party without music!” Francis took a swig of his drink. At that moment, the zombies below noticed them.

"My God, there are at least a thousand monsters gathered here!" someone nearby exclaimed.

"Ha, then kill them one by one!" Francis picked up his gun.

........

"999!" Four people stood on the rooftop, engaging in a frenzied killing spree.

"998!"

“997!” Francis revealed a deathly smile.

"Don't tell me you're taking sick leave too, Pete." A man was making a phone call on the top floor of a computer company.

“No, Louis, I’m not sick, but I’m not planning to go out.” A hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone.

“For God’s sake…” Louis pleaded with the person on the other end of the phone.

“Listen, Louis,” the man interrupted his request, “I don’t mean to offend you. Under normal circumstances, this has gotten us through quite a few difficult times.”

“Pete.” Louis was speechless.

“But this time it’s different. I assure God that this glass of water is 100% accurate. Something incredible has happened outside.”

“Come back to work, Pete,” Louis pleaded.

"No, Louis, this is a critical matter! The infected people are all dying! I'm not going to risk my life to maintain Franklin Brothers' database, to hell with that damn database!"

“Pete, you won’t get infected if you come back. Only a few people are working at the company right now... You might be more likely to get infected if you stay at home?” Louis kept pleading.

"Absolutely not! Open the window and look outside, it's like the damn apocalypse!"

"Okay. Let's look at it from another angle. What if we didn't have it?"

What are you trying to say?

"I mean, if this flu is just a false alarm, if this infection will subside in a week, what's the point of everyone making a fuss about it aimlessly? Right now, it's just you and me who have to stay at our posts."

Louis continued, "Do you know what we're facing right now?"

“Infection…” “It’s work! Come back, trust me. Everything will be alright.” “Beep…beep…beep…” The phone hung up. “Really…” Louis frowned. Louis looked at the phone and went into the bathroom.

Louis saw a ceda notice on the door that said, "Wash your hands frequently, it can save your life," and he sighed with a sense of helplessness.

“Gah… Ha…” Louis was trying to think about something, then his eyes went back to his phone.

“Oh, damn it,” Louis said helplessly. “Why is this server down again? It was just fixed, damn it….”

A knock came at the door. "There's someone here...buddy," Louis said helplessly.

"Hey! I told you there were people here, and you still kept knocking... Couldn't you have found another place?"

"Bang...thump...bang...bang..." The knocking was still going on outside.

"Dude, what's wrong with you? Can't you just give me some time to think?" Louis was about to lose it. "Can't you just wait for me to finish? It'll be quick, just give me a minute! Wait a minute..."

A pair of feet wearing leather shoes appeared through the gap under the door. The knocking outside stopped.

"...Are you... alright?" Louis asked doubtfully. "Whoosh—" A strange noise came from outside the door.

Louis had just opened the door when he saw a hideous face. A zombie! "Ah!" The zombie attacked Louis, pinning him against the toilet stall door with its hand!

"Oh...no!"

"what!!!"

“Please don’t…” Louis said, fending off the zombies’ attacks.

Just then, the zombie stretched its mouth toward Louis's neck, and with a "whoosh," it opened its bloody maw. Louis quickly blocked it with his elbow, and the zombie bit down on it.

"Let go of your damn hand!!!" Louis kicked the zombie hard in the face with his left foot, but the zombie still held onto his red tie. The zombie's teeth were knocked out. The zombie grabbed Louis's neck and bit into Louis's hand. The fight between the man and the zombie broke the sewage pipe, causing sewage to spill out. Louis grabbed the tin box of toilet paper and smashed it hard against the zombie's head.

"Aaaaah—" He slammed the weapon down on the zombie's neck again. His eyes were filled with terror.

Brain matter was spilled all over the ground, and sewage flowed everywhere.

"Huff...huff...huff..." Louis gasped for breath.

Louis slowly walked out of the restroom; the office was in complete disarray, showing signs of a struggle.

The French windows were shattered, the wind scattering papers everywhere, including Louis's tie. He had no choice but to believe what Pete had said...

A staff member lay in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with his wrist bitten through; he must have broken it during the fight.

Louis walked to the broken French windows and looked at the shattered city. He finally understood that his job was gone, Pete would never come back to work, and the world was doomed.

Looking at the wound on his hand, blood was still flowing. Louis closed his eyes, his heart filled with immense pain. (To be continued...)

Chapter 154 Zoe

The day after the rabies outbreak was a very peaceful day, and nothing major happened. Perhaps only that damned flu kept a few people at home.

An argument was taking place in a dilapidated apartment building.

“I just want you to take care of her for a semester, Wade,” a middle-aged woman said to the man on the other side of the table.

“It’s only been a week, and she almost got kicked out of school. What did you do?” she continued to berate.

“I have to work too…” the man said helplessly. “You make it sound so easy for her mother… Don’t you also do nothing at home every day?”

The woman took a sip of her drink and said, "Home, you think this is home, this shabby apartment."

The man started bringing up old stories: "Yeah, keep lecturing me."

"What are you saying?" The man's next question clearly angered the woman.

"Hey...is that enough? Haven't you two had enough of arguing yet?" said Zoe, a young girl wearing a white tank top, sitting in the middle of the table.

“Oh yes, daughter, do you know how expensive tuition is these days?” The woman turned to Zoe and said as she heard her complain.

“Mom, I have a scholarship,” Zoe said.

"So what? We'll send you to film school. I want you to learn how to make movies."

“Oh.” Zoe seemed to dislike her mother’s actions.

“I’m not asking you to stay home all day watching movies, zombies, vampires—that’s all garbage. It won’t help you at all, honey,” the mother scolded again.

“Mom, this can also be used as data collection... Besides, isn’t there a contagious disease outside? We can’t go to school…” Zoe said helplessly.

"It's just the flu!" the mother said, flipping her hand and continuing her lecture.

“You know, choosing film as a subject is indeed quite risky…” The father, who had been silent for a while, finally interjected.

“She’s so grown up, she could be a police officer like me…” “Enough…” the mother tried to interrupt the father.

"She should learn how to use a handgun to protect herself. For example, the gun's range, etc..." the father said. This was indeed a good suggestion; if she really learned it, it would definitely be very useful in the future, but that's a matter for later.

“Listen to me first…” Zoe tried to interrupt.

“I won’t let my daughter come into contact with such dangerous things. She’s not from a drug family, so why would she need a gun to protect herself?” the mother said firmly.

“Sigh…that’s enough…” Zoe said, mimicking her mother’s tone.

"Just focus on completing your studies..." The mother realized there was someone standing behind her. "That's enough..." she finished speaking.

The mother immediately jumped up and hugged Zoe, because the person standing behind her was deathly pale, and his clothes and mouth were covered in blood.

"Pete, why is there such a madman in your house?!" the mother exclaimed in alarm.

"Don't go near him!" the father said, turning to take a gun from his coat. His father was an American policeman.

“He must have contracted an infectious disease…” the father said. “Are you… alright? Can you hear me?!” the father continued, trying to find out.

But the man seemed to be in great pain, struggling. In fact, his will had not yet been completely consumed by the virus.

He clenched his fists as if about to launch an attack; it seemed his will had ultimately been defeated. After all, few could withstand such a display.

"Oh my god! Do something quick! He's coming!" her mother exclaimed.

"Mom, let's go." Zoe told her mother to leave.

"I'm warning you, stay away from them. This is your last chance." The father had already drawn his pistol. It seems that only when disaster strikes can people stop arguing.

"Did you hear me? I'll count to three... 1... 2... 3!"

Just as the father was about to fire, the zombie lunged at the mother's neck. Three bullets were fired. As the zombie's head exploded, the mother's neck was also severed. Zoe, who was holding a kitchen knife nearby, cried out in shock, "Mom!"

The two rushed over. "Mom!" Zoe was clearly terrified.

"Zoe, call the police!!!" the father commanded, then reassured her, "Darling...it'll be alright..." Unbeknownst to him, his mother's body was undergoing a rapid transformation, and she couldn't hear his words at all.

"Ah... Oh dear..." the mother murmured.

"Zoe, go call the police!!" the father said again to the terrified Zoe.

“...Ugh…” The mother was still making strange noises.

Zoe tried to reassure herself as she ran to get the phone: "Everything will be alright...nothing will happen...nothing will happen...Oh my god...Oh my god, oh my god!"

"Just hang in there, dear," the father comforted him.

The mother continued to make strange noises. "I'm here with you..." the father said. "I can't get through!" Zoe cried, tears streaming down her face. "Keep trying!" the father commanded. "Hold on... I'm right here."

Just then, the light in the mother's eyes, which had been gradually dimming, suddenly brightened, turning her pupils white. The mother lunged forward, her fingernails scratching the father's face.

"Help!" The mother bit the father's neck. The father fell to the ground, and the mother continued to punch him. "Help!" "Mom?! Please don't...do this..." Zoe pleaded innocently.

The zombie glanced back at her, then became even more ferocious. "No!!!" came a scream.

"Bang—" The zombie's head, which was about to attack Zoe, was blown off. Zoe looked at the zombie's corpse, then quickly went to her father's side. Her father was half-lying against the wall. "She's not your mother anymore..." her father said painfully.

“Dad...you’re badly injured…” Zoe said, “Let me help you stop the bleeding…wait a minute…”

"I'll go find a medkit..." Zoe kept crying.

“No…” The father paused, then said, “Zoe, do you remember those zombie movies we watched together when you were little?!” the father asked.

"I remember... Mom must have gone crazy when she found out you showed this to me..."