The male supporting character was actually myself.

I really can't take this hardship anymore. I miss my brother so much... I want to find him and die with him... So I sold everything I owned to raise money to come to this island. I never thought about leaving alive; I just wanted to find my brother..."

Sitting next to her, Jiang Chen frowned, unsure of what to say, so he patted her shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

No wonder she was so dedicated to shooting training when she was in the team, but she rarely fired when facing zombies after arriving at the destination. Even when she discovered a large number of zombies attacking, apart from her initial instinctive fear reaction, her subsequent behavior was very unbecoming of her age.

So that's why she came here—to die...

After hearing her brief explanation, the handsome middle-aged man's face showed a kind expression. He paused for a few seconds before introducing himself, "I am forty-three years old this year and have been wandering around without a fixed abode."

Julia, your brother and I may have fought side by side.

The difference is that they were reinforcements, while I was the advance team, the first to arrive when the abnormal situation occurred on the resort island.

I was the squadron leader at the time, leading twenty-four men on a rapid descent from what is now Warrior's Canyon, north of its current edge, in an attempt to gain control of the situation. I remember it clearly; it was around ten o'clock in the morning in May, the sky was overcast, and the sea breeze was strong.

The isolated island was completely different from what it is now. Back then, tourist areas emphasized natural beauty, unlike today where things have been artificially shaped and altered so much. It was peak tourist season, and the island was full of visitors. A zombie virus, from who-knows-where, first infected a group of people, and then everyone else became prey.

When we arrived, the entire island looked like hell on earth.

Chapter Seven: The Handsome Uncle's Plan

The handsome middle-aged man, perhaps recalling a tragic situation he didn't want to remember, twitched at the corner of his mouth, took out a wine flask from his pocket, and with trembling hands unscrewed the cap and took a sip of wine before continuing to recount what happened back then.

"Legs and limbs were scattered everywhere on the island, and the strong smell of blood mixed with the stench of decay was nauseating. People were crying out for help everywhere."

The zombies were crooked and bloody, with bulging gray-white eyes. They could only sense their location by sound, but they attacked very fast and never retreated. They kept chasing and attacking the survivors.

Although it was the first time we had ever seen such a strange situation, we were not affected in any way.

For soldiers, protecting the people while carrying out their missions is the top priority.

Without much hesitation, I pulled the trigger and blew the head off the nearest zombie that was trying to tear apart a young man.

After spitting out almost black, putrid blood, it immediately lost its last bit of mobility and collapsed limply to the ground.

I breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the guns and ammunition could still kill them, it wasn't a big problem. The remaining pollution issues would naturally be handled by other departments; we just needed to hunt down all the mutants.

The mission went very smoothly. After all, zombies are just flesh and blood and can be dealt with by a single shot to the head, while we are a battle-hardened, fully armed professional unit!

If nothing unexpected happened, we wouldn't need any other support; I and my twenty-four brothers could have wiped out all the zombies on the island. But the unexpected still happened, and I still feel it wasn't a natural disaster but a man-made one.

"At first, supplies were reduced, and we dared not eat anything on the island, so we could only endure it for the time being; later, even guns and ammunition were not supplied. Apart from the continuous reinforcements sent to the island, there was nothing else."

There are many people on the island, but they can only rely on daggers to defend against sudden zombie attacks.

Even so, we did not fail in our mission. Instead, we killed all the infected individuals and found a way to bury them on the spot to prevent them from contaminating and infecting others.

The mission was completed, but headquarters never replied.

We were isolated on the island, while the surrounding sea was heavily armed. Any target that tried to leave the island was attacked indiscriminately, under the pretext of—not knowing if they were infected, and ensuring the safety of the land and preventing the virus from spreading.

With their water and food supplies exhausted, the comrades, unwilling to sit idly by and wait for their fate, began searching for relatively safe packaged food and water.

Three days passed, and the zombie virus swept in again.

I still don't know which link in the chain went wrong. Logically speaking, they were all professionally trained soldiers who knew how terrible the zombie virus was, so how could anyone get infected?

This outbreak turned the resort island into a living hell for the second time.

Whether it was out of reluctance to kill teammates who were infected but hadn't yet turned into zombies, or due to some other route of transmission, that night was filled with the howls of zombies and the screams of survivors.

He paused, looking at his hands, his whole body trembling slightly. "I was thirty-six years old that year. I consider myself a ruthless and cold-blooded person, but... they were all my comrades-in-arms! Comrades-in-arms who risked their lives and never abandoned a single one of them!"

I ultimately betrayed them.

I killed my closest brother, who had been bitten, with my own hands, and then carried his body into the sea to provide cover. I was lucky; the island was in chaos that night, the weather was bad, and the waves were huge, so I survived the gunshot wound to the waist, which only grazed my skin. I swam for a very long time before finally crawling ashore from the remote coastline.

From that time on, I became a living ghost.

I had no documents, no identity, and no home. They erected a monument for me with a grand epitaph, and every year people send flowers to pay their respects.

I've saved up enough money to buy a fake identity and come to the island, intending to destroy the entire island!

When we landed on the resort island to kill zombies, for safety's sake, my brothers and I hid explosives in a concealed cave on the cliffs of the north coast, but we never used them. My plan was to rely on my skills to infiltrate the island, and when the tourists left and entered the closed-off self-check area, I would kill all the zombies and then detonate the explosives, making this evil place disappear from the world..."

"It sounds like an experiment."

The atmosphere in the safe house grew increasingly heavy and somber. After a moment of thought, Jiang Chen spoke up: "Perhaps they didn't initially intend for you to be test subjects, but in the end, capital's desire for profit led them to abandon you and even actively seek more experimental data."

Without extensive research from various perspectives, Guardian Angel Company would never have dared to risk developing a tourism project.

It seems they were quite successful; after all, the resort island hadn't had any mishaps until tonight, and had even become a good place for some people to disappear completely.

Duruel clenched his fists and roared angrily, "For a dignified army to collude with merchants and trample on human lives is simply inhumane!"

"Child, you shouldn't be thinking like this." The handsome older man, Rossoff, looked at Julia earnestly and said, "Even for your brother's sake, you must try harder to live happily. I can't guarantee anything else, but I will never let you get hurt before I breathe my last!"

If you manage to escape the resort island, I hope you'll stay out of it and leave the rest to me. Whether I expose the island's sinful deeds or destroy it, it's my mission.

Your mission is to live a better life, and after hardship comes happiness!

Han Sha also came over to comfort her, and Jiang Chen handed Julia a bottle of water, indicating that she should drink some water to calm down.

"Host, the script has been updated." The fluffy dumpling reminded him, holding the script: "There aren't many changes, except the time has been changed to ten hours later when the resort island is blown to pieces, twenty-four hours later when a large number of zombies appear on the coastline; and three months later when the mission world is completely destroyed."

That's it?

He rubbed his temples with his fingers as if in a habit, pondering whether there were any other possibilities.

The change from eight hours to ten hours must be due to the prop's impenetrable effect, but why didn't the subsequent times change?

If the large number of zombies on the coastline is caused by the virus contamination of the island's zombies after they are immersed in the sea, then logically the time should be pushed back by two hours. Did the script forcibly change the spread speed?

Or is there some other hidden story?

Just as Jiang Chen was racking his brains trying to figure it out, a rustling sound suddenly came from outside the safe house.

"Zombies?!" The handsome uncle and Jiang Chen were the first to react, immediately reminding their teammates to be quiet, and then listening intently to the sounds outside.

The safe house on the resort island was clearly not built with corners; the heavy iron door provided excellent sound insulation, and even when the handsome middle-aged man pressed his ear against it, he couldn't immediately discern what was making the noise.

The thought of hordes of zombies outside the door terrified Han Sha, who immediately burrowed into her boyfriend's arms.

Mark and Julia instinctively moved further inside, barely daring to breathe.

Outside the iron gate, a disheveled man and woman, panting heavily, stood guard with guns at their sides; another young man wearing a hat was frantically lifting a barrier and frantically entering a password on it.

The red warning light is still on, indicating that the password is incorrect.

"Damn it!" He slammed his fist on the iron door and cursed, "What the hell happened? Who the hell changed the safe house password?!"

Chapter Eight: Hands Up

"Stop spouting nonsense! It's your fault for not protecting the safety of the tourists!"

The woman, covered in blood, cursed angrily, "We fought our way out of the zombie horde, three of our teammates were killed! You said we could open the next safe house once we found it, but we're running low on guns and ammo, we don't have another chance to try our luck. Think of something now or I'll shoot you dead!"

The other man, clearly older, with a thick white beard clinging to a hunting rifle, panted heavily as he warned, "Shoot the bolt off! If we drag this out any longer, the three of us will be devoured alive by the zombies!"

There were three vehicles at the entrance. I checked them carefully and found no blood. Maybe someone has already entered the safe house!

"The gunshots will attract the zombie horde..." The staff member was so anxious that sweat was pouring down his forehead.

He really couldn't understand what had happened; everything had gone smoothly and was no different from usual all day.

After setting up camp for the night, everyone was preparing to rest when suddenly a tourist screamed. He had just crawled out of his tent when he saw a zombie pounce on a female tourist and tearing at her.

The young and inexperienced staff member was so frightened that he was stunned for two seconds before he reacted. By the time he called his team members to get in the car and flee the camp in a panic, a large number of zombies had already caught up with them.

Fortunately, the company-designated camps are usually not far from the safe house. After he led the way and drove all the way to the safe house, he was devastated to find that the unified password could not open the iron gate!

Everything happened so suddenly that he couldn't think of a solution in his panic. He could only risk leading his team out of the zombie horde to find the next safe house.

Coming to the island to torture and kill zombies for thrills is one thing; being chased by a horde of zombies in the middle of the night is another. Soon, a hot-tempered guy in the group became extremely dissatisfied, believing that as the leader and safety officer, he couldn't even open a combination lock, which was simply unreasonable and he wanted to shoot him.

The other team members believed that only the team leader knew the island's routes, geography, and situation, and therefore they must not kill him.

The team leader's life was also in danger if the combination lock couldn't be opened. It's certain that it wasn't that he didn't want to open it. Instead of making a fuss, it's more important to find a safe place to hide and wait for rescue.

In the midst of this conflict, three team members were thrown from the vehicle and injured, unable to be rescued; one was scratched by a zombie jumping down from above the canyon and forced to be pushed off the vehicle; another leaned out to fight back against a zombie but was dragged down... In the blink of an eye, three lives were lost, and the remaining three squeezed into the same vehicle to retreat and find the next safe house.

At this point, their equipment and supplies were severely damaged, and all three were exhausted and could no longer easily give up on the safe house!

"There are people outside." The little white cat popped its head out and reported, "Host, there's a man in his twenties wearing a staff uniform; a woman who looks to be in her forties; and a rather old man. Should we let them in?"

Jiang Chen turned to ask, "If it were another survivor, should we open the door?"

"do not want!"

"Of course!"

The others replied in unison that, apart from the female lead's boyfriend, Durul, who said "no," the others all wanted to help others.

"I... I'm worried that if there are survivors, who knows if they have any injuries?"

Seeing the surprised look on his girlfriend's face, Durul quickly explained, "Besides, it's more likely that zombies chased us, not people. Don't forget how huge the number of zombies we saw was, how, how could anyone possibly break through?"

A hint of disappointment flashed in Han Sha's eyes. She really didn't expect her boyfriend to have such selfish thoughts at a time when lives were at stake.

With some displeasure, she moved closer to Julia.

"Kid, you're young and have good hearing. Are you sure those outside are people and not zombies?" The handsome uncle checked again, picked up his machine gun, and prepared to fire at any moment. He whispered, "Then open the door and let them in. Disarm them first, then check them for any injuries."

Jiang Chen twisted the mechanical door handle, and with a creak, the heavy iron door opened a crack, letting in a little light.

"The door's open! There's someone here!" A renewed hope ignited within the staff member who had been on the verge of despair. With a trembling voice, barely containing his excitement, he cried out, "Quick! Let us in..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the dark muzzle of a gun pointed at him. He instinctively raised his hands and forced a smile. "I am a staff member on the island leading the raid. These are my two team members. I can guarantee that none of the three of us are injured and that we have no malicious intent."

The woman was delighted to see the door open, but when she turned around, she was stunned.

▄︻┻┳═一……☆(>○<>

The team leader didn't dare to move an inch, slowly inching forward following the dark muzzle of the gun.

The other party was obviously very experienced. Their first demand was for them to disarm, put their hands behind their heads, turn around and face the wall to wait for an inspection for any wounds.

"Heh, you're quite the smooth operator, what's your name? I love your sunny and handsome type, wanna hook up?" She didn't object, put the gun in her hand at her feet and kicked it over, then stood aside with her hands behind her head, still teasing the handsome guy.

Another old man with a white beard, a ruddy complexion, and a slightly overweight appearance also lowered his gun and kicked over, muttering under his breath, "Hurry up, stop dawdling, or those damned zombies will all smell it and follow us!"

Jiang Chen quickly checked the three people to make sure they were not injured and did not have any other offensive weapons before letting them in.

The safe house wasn't very big to begin with, and with the addition of three slightly larger people, it suddenly felt a bit crowded.