The Man Who Charged at Windmills

Inside a grand, massive building adorned with colorful signage.

Unfortunately, with no electricity, the signs could no longer shine.

From the patterns of the lights, one could barely make out its original name:

Greed Casino.

Shen Qianqian was frantically fleeing inside, accompanied by several dirt-covered elementary school students, both boys and girls.

She was no exception, her dress covered in stains, her entire appearance disheveled and grimy.

They were desperately running between gambling machines and card tables, heading deeper inside.

Behind them was a strong middle-aged man.

He wore a silver watch on his wrist, dressed in fitted short sleeves and shorts that revealed his powerful muscles.

However, his complexion wasn't good, appearing pale and exhausted, clearly suffering from hunger and fatigue.

In his hands, he held a blood-stained baseball bat, engaged in combat with several zombies.

With each swing, whenever he hit a zombie's head, it would shatter completely.

The few zombies entangling with him were quickly dealt with, knocked to the ground.

"Teacher Li! This way!"

Shen Qianqian shouted to the middle-aged man called Teacher Li, pointing at an emergency exit.

There seemed to be a safety passage there, leading to an unknown destination.

Hearing this, Teacher Li ran towards Shen Qianqian and the elementary school students.

He quickly caught up with the students ahead.

That day, after escaping from Tianshen Elementary School, their bus had accidentally crashed while coming down an overpass.

PE teacher Li only managed to help some students jump out of the bus, and they had been hiding in this area ever since.

Unfortunately, this area was quite desolate, with only small hotels and locked residences, making it difficult to find food.

For many days, they had only eaten sporadically when they could find something.

The starving elementary school students had lost many of their numbers during this journey, with only 4 or 5 remaining - those with better physical constitution.

Initially, about 10 had escaped from the bus.

Since then, some had been ambushed and bitten by zombies, while others had simply died from starvation.

Today, they had stumbled upon this casino, hoping to try their luck in finding some snacks.

Who knew that inside, there was a horde of gambler zombies - not only was there no food, but they themselves had become potential prey.

"Crash!"

A shattering sound echoed through the casino from the direction they had come. A large group of zombies poured in through a broken door.

"Urgh..."

"Rawr..."

Upon seeing the frightened elementary school students and the tall PE teacher at the other end of the casino, they let out hungry roars and charged toward them.

Some jumped onto the gambling tables, others knocked over cards, while some fell and crawled out from under roulette wheels.

"Run!"

Teacher Li covered the rear, urging the students ahead toward the emergency passage.

He gripped his baseball bat tightly, zombie blood from recent hits still dripping onto the floor and his shoes.

The approaching horde of zombies grew closer, and he knocked over everything he could find to create obstacles.

Though it helped little, it was better than nothing.

The students ahead ran breathlessly, their faces pale from prolonged hunger, running on pure survival instinct.

In the long emergency passage, the group couldn't move very fast.

Fortunately, the narrow passage prevented the zombies from swarming in large numbers, allowing Teacher Li to barely manage them from behind.

"Ahead! Let's get out there!"

Sharp-eyed Shen Qianqian spotted a half-open iron door at the passage's end.

It had the letters "EXIT" above it.

Shen Qianqian, who usually disliked English, had never felt such affection for English letters before.

Teacher Li couldn't swing his bat properly in the narrow passage, so he could only repeatedly jab at the zombies with the bat's end.

There were too many zombies - for each one he knocked down, countless others would step over its body to advance, even crushing the fallen zombie beneath their feet.

These horrifying creatures had only one thought: to feed.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

Teacher Li felt himself reaching his limit, his arms aching terribly, having jabbed countless times with his bat, urgently pressing them forward.

Shen Qianqian suddenly accelerated, as if using her last ounce of strength, burst through the iron door at the passage's end, and pushed it open.

Standing by the door, she shouted inside:

"Teacher Li, come out and help me close the door!"

The remaining students also picked up their pace.

Hearing this, Teacher Li made one final jab at a zombie, then turned and ran without looking back.

Without obstacles, the zombies behind accelerated, and looking back into the passage, one could only see countless grotesque faces moving in the darkness.

It was like hell inside that door.

"Help me close the door!"

Teacher Li was the last to exit, but immediately grabbed the door's edge, joining Shen Qianqian in forcefully closing it.

"Bang!"

The heavy iron door slammed shut, and Shen Qianqian immediately dropped the door bar, then collapsed sitting on the ground, breathing heavily.

Her unwashed hair stuck to her face in dirty strands, now wet with sweat, making her look completely disheveled.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The trapped zombies violently beat against the door, venting their fury at missing their meal.

The survivors, having escaped death, all sat down exhausted, too breathless to speak.

However, Teacher Li suddenly shouted:

"Everyone get behind me!"

The students who had just sat down looked up at Teacher Li in terror, then saw their situation:

They were in a dead end, with the iron door at one end.

And at the only exit, more zombies were gathering, drawn by the sound of banging on the door.

Teacher Li, supporting his exhausted body, stood in front of the students.

Even the most innocent students understood one fact: they were trapped in an extremely dangerous situation.

"Waaah! I don't want to die! I haven't seen my dad yet..."

One little girl broke down crying, collapsing on the ground, tears streaming down her dirty face, mixing with the dust on the ground.

The other students stared wide-eyed, trembling in fear, tears flowing unconsciously.

Shen Qianqian, the class's PE representative who had always been physically fit, made the bravest decision in this situation.

She picked up a brick from nearby, preparing to help Teacher Li.

Teacher Li's bat was swinging again, but even with his good physical condition, he was at his limit.

He felt that after each swing, he might not have the strength for another.

Gritting his teeth, trying to squeeze out his last remaining strength, he just wanted to buy a few more seconds.

Just when... they had successfully sent out a distress signal... why hasn't help... arrived...

Sweat had dripped into one of his eyes, making it uncomfortable, blurring his vision and stinging.

But there was no time to wipe it away, as the surrounding zombies kept increasing.

"Ahh!!!"

A zombie bit his shoulder from behind, making him cry out in pain.

Immediately, a brick flew over, hitting the biting zombie and making it stagger.

Feeling the zombie release his shoulder, he quickly turned and struck it dead with his bat.

Glancing back, he saw it was Shen Qianqian who had helped him.

But he had already been bitten, there was no turning back, no possibility of survival.

He shouted at Shen Qianqian:

"Step back!!!"

Seeing the teacher's furious shout, Shen Qianqian stood frozen, then slowly backed away a few steps, understanding Teacher Li's protective intent.

She pressed her lips together tightly, tears welling in her eyes, her grief beyond words.

Teacher Li stood at the entrance of the dead end, facing the zombie horde, never looking back again.

He raised the bat in his hand, like Don Quixote lifting his lance to charge at windmills.

In this moment, he no longer feared death.