I collect zombie kings in the apocalypse.

Chapter 73 Caught Red-Handed

He walked very lightly, his feet making only a very faint scraping sound on the tiles, which was almost imperceptible unless you listened very carefully.

Lu Chen glanced at the other person's back out of the corner of his eye, while simultaneously recalling the person's information in his mind.

Ma Jianbo, male, 25 years old, dropped out of school and stayed at home. He has never looked for a job and lives off his parents.

His parents turned into zombies on the first day of the apocalypse. He hid in the room alone and survived for the first three days on the food his parents had stored up before they died.

After being rescued yesterday afternoon, when Gao Yuan gathered the field crew, he simply lay on his dormitory bed and pretended to be asleep. When they were moving the body, he couldn't be woken up at all, and when they were cleaning the corridor, he didn't even leave the room.

So dinner was arranged at the last two tables.

At this moment, Lu Chen watched as Ma Jianbo walked towards the piles of supplies packed with bed sheets next to the stairwell.

Those packages contained snacks that had been looted from various buildings this afternoon... beef jerky, chocolate, spicy chicken wings, compressed biscuits—all high-calorie foods that could be eaten directly after unpacking.

It's already clear what the other party's goal is.

This matter is easy to handle. Lu Chen can control Tie Zhu to walk over directly, apprehend the other party on the spot, and catch them red-handed.

But after thinking about it, he didn't do it.

Because doing so would directly reveal one piece of information: the zombies could monitor them.

Once this information is exposed, these people will become extremely cautious in their every move in the face of zombies, and they will lose an eye that was hidden in the open.

Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Lu Chen released his control over Tie Zhu.

The next moment, he possessed Erzhuang's body.

Erzhuang was located at the corner of the 5th-floor corridor near room 506, closest to Shen Qingci's door.

Lu Chen guided Er Zhuang to take a step and walk to the door of 506. He raised his hand and gently knocked twice on the door with his knuckles.

Perhaps because of what happened last night, Shen Qingci slept very lightly. As soon as the knocking sounded, there was a slight creaking of the bed and the sound of footsteps on slippers, and then the door was quickly pulled open.

Shen Qingci stood at the door, wearing a thin coat, her hair a little messy, but her eyes were clear.

She was slightly taken aback when she saw Erzhuang standing outside the door.

Then she saw Erzhuang raise a finger and point downstairs.

Shen Qingci immediately understood, closed her eyes, and used her special ability to scan the area downstairs.

A moment later she opened her eyes, a hint of anger on her face.

She turned to go downstairs, but Lu Chen controlled Erzhuang to take a step and block her way.

Under Shen Qingci's somewhat puzzled gaze, Erzhuang raised his hand again and pointed towards room 502.

That was the room where Gao Yuan lived.

Shen Qingci immediately understood Lu Chen's meaning, quickly walked to the door of 502, and knocked hard a few times.

……

Ma Jianbo was carefully opening the packages one by one. He squatted down next to several large packages, his fingers rummaging through them. He quickly found what he wanted: individually wrapped beef jerky, imported chocolate, and spicy chicken wings covered in chili oil.

He drooled at the sight of these things, stuffing them into his arms one by one. He had already tucked up the hem of his T-shirt, turning it into a makeshift bag, which was already stuffed with seven or eight bags.

"No, we can't take too much, it'll be too easy to be discovered."

He squatted down, forcing himself to stop stuffing things into his arms, and thought to himself, "Besides, Gao Yuan seems to take inventory of these things every day. If I take them, I'll definitely be found out, and I'll need to find a scapegoat."

His gaze darted back and forth between the doors on both sides of the corridor, finally settling on room 503.

He remembered clearly that there was a young man named Liu, who was in his early twenties and had worked exceptionally hard that afternoon, when he was moving the body.

After dinner tonight, as he passed by his room, he said in a sarcastic tone, "Some people have hands and feet but don't work, they just eat for free and aren't ashamed."

At the time, Ma Jianbo was lying in bed pretending not to hear, but he had already memorized those words.

"You're the one." Having chosen her target, she rearranged the rummaged package, trying to make it look as if no one had touched it.

After doing all this, he gathered the bag of snacks in his arms, crouched down, and prepared to go to 503 to frame him.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw Shen Qingci's cold eyes.

Shen Qingci stood at the corner of the corridor, wearing a thin coat, her arms crossed, looking at him calmly and coldly.

Not only her, but also Gao Yuan, Ning Tieshan, and Zhao Yongqiang stood behind her. Gao Yuan held an emergency lamp in his hand, the light shining upwards on his face, making his usually kind expression appear somewhat cold.

Ma Jianbo was startled, and the snacks he was carrying fell to the ground with a clatter.

The beef jerky packaging bag made a rustling sound as it hit the tiles, a bar of chocolate rolled to Shen Qingci's feet, and spicy chicken wings were scattered all over the floor.

"I...I was hungry, that's why..." he hurriedly begged for forgiveness, his face instantly switching to a wronged expression, his voice trembling as if he had suffered a great injustice.

He used this combo countless times before the apocalypse, whether it was asking his parents for money or trying to cheat community workers; it always worked.

"Ha!" Gao Yuan interrupted him with a cold laugh, shining the emergency light in his hand on Ma Jianbo's face. "Although you're sitting at the last two tables, the food isn't much, but I haven't skimped on your rice."

"Each person gets a big bowl, and you ate three big bowls. Did I say anything? What, are you going to blame me for this?"

"No, that's not what I meant..." Ma Jianbo quickly waved his hand, sweat starting to bead on his forehead.

In the apocalypse, everyone sleeps very lightly. The voices in the downstairs hallway startled the people in several nearby rooms.

The doors to rooms 402, 403, and 404 opened one after another, and several sleepy-eyed survivors peeked out, trying to figure out what had happened.

They immediately noticed the snack wrappers scattered around Ma Jianbo's feet and understood what had happened. Caught red-handed, there was really no room for excuses.

More and more people gathered around, some whispering amongst themselves, others leaning against the doorframe with their arms crossed, watching the spectacle.

Most people were criticizing Ma Jianbo, while a few were whispering, wondering how the matter would be resolved—whether he would be punished with a meal or simply kicked out.

At this moment, Shen Qingci finally spoke. Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the quiet corridor could hear her clearly.

"Stealing right under my nose, I don't know what you're thinking." Her tone was calm. "Do you really think my abilities are just for show? You think you can sneak around in the middle of the night and no one will notice?"

Ma Jianbo opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

He knew that Shen Qingci had the ability to detect things, but in his opinion, such abilities only work if they are actively used. Who would use their abilities to scan buildings in the middle of the night?

He never imagined that Shen Qingci would be scouting downstairs just as he reached the pile of supplies.

"As for the outcome of your case, we'll have to wait for Commander Lu Chen to decide." After saying that, Shen Qingci turned and gestured to Ning Tieshan behind him.