Chapter 658: We’re Not Leaving
Before An Ran could finish speaking, the second Zhan Lian suddenly reacted—sensing that the situation had shifted against him. He hurled a small sphere to the floor.
A burst of white smoke exploded outward. From within the haze, a throwing knife shot through the air, aimed straight at Doll.
The first Zhan Lian—standing by the doorway—lunged forward instantly. He drew his blade mid-stride, intending to stab the second Zhan Lian, but the impostor shrank back, his body twisting and compressing until he slipped into the thick smoke, vanishing without a trace.
The real Zhan Lian barely had time to search. The knife was already flying toward the child.
He spun around and threw himself forward, shielding Doll with his body as metal clashed against metal in a sharp, ringing impact.
In that instant, the truth was clear—the second Zhan Lian was fake.
Chen Chaofa.
But while the real Zhan Lian had deflected the blade, the impostor had already fled, disappearing into the smoke.
“It’s tear gas—move!”
Zhan Lian didn’t hesitate. Instead of chasing Chen Chaofa, he grabbed An Ran, then swept Little Mint—who was holding Doll—into his arm and bolted from the room at full speed.
The gas would be harsh on a child’s lungs and throat. Before Doll could breathe it in, they had to get out.
That decision alone made it obvious—this Zhan Lian was real. For him, nothing mattered more than his wife and daughter’s safety. Everything else could wait.
The corridors outside were chaos. People were running in every direction, most heading toward the fourth floor. There, the conference room had a window leading directly outside—but it was nailed shut. No one could get through.
The crises from both above and below were driving everyone toward the same place. Voices shouted, hands hammered at the barricaded window, desperate and panicked, as the trapped survivors pressed against the metal plates blocking their escape.
But Zhan Lian didn’t follow the crowd. He led An Ran, Doll, Little Mint, Zhao Ru, and Liu Shasha down toward the lobby.
When they reached the first floor, An Ran saw what she hadn’t expected—many people were still there. Children, huddled together and crying. Among them were the ones Yun Tao had brought earlier from the fifth-floor staff rest room. Their faces were streaked with tears, and they crouched fearfully inside the tearoom, terrified and helpless.
Luo Feifan was there too, guarding them. When he saw Zhan Lian finally return with An Ran, his expression eased with relief.
“An Ran,” Luo Feifan said quickly, “there’s a new kind of wood-type zombie evolving inside the Grand Fortune Hotel. Do you have any way to deal with them?”
“My link with the plants has been completely severed by those wood-type zombies,” An Ran replied, shaking her head. “But I can try to restrain them—to stop them from moving.”
“Good.” Zhan Lian nodded, his tone firm. “Then we’re staying put. Chen Chaofa’s still among us—he’s gone completely insane. From now on, no one moves alone. If anyone needs to leave, they must go in pairs. That’s the only way to stop him from taking advantage of us.” He looked around the room, his voice steady but commanding. “We’ll stay on the first floor until Yun Tao returns. Then we’ll figure out our next step.”
Most survivors had gathered upstairs in the fourth-floor conference room, but the situation outside was clear—no one was going to let anyone inside the Grand Fortune Hotel out. Not until Chen Chaofa’s body was found.
Letting someone like him escape could spell disaster for everyone later.
On that point, An Ran and Zhan Lian both understood perfectly.
In fact, the decision to seal off the Grand Fortune Hotel had been made at An Ran’s suggestion in the first place. She had chosen to stay willingly.