At the age of being most capable, failing to act led to certain desires becoming repressed and twisted.
Wen Xishu was actually aware of this; he could guess from those films.
Human desires are insatiable.
For most survivors, the greatest desires in the apocalypse are water and food.
When these are abundant, thoughts naturally turn to procreation when full and warm.
This is biological nature: in dangerous environments, the desire to evolve; in safe environments, the desire to reproduce.
"We used to say... if we had a cup of hot water, we’d do anything, but now, I can drink hot water, but my girlfriend..."
The sinister fire in Duan Donghuo burned increasingly fiercely. He even felt himself getting into the mood.
Scenes flooded his mind—
"Madam, you don’t want your husband to die of thirst, do you?"
So Duan Donghuo suddenly took the cup of water from Wen Xishu’s hand and casually poured it out:
"Hahahahaha, don’t mind me, I just want to tell you, I have plenty of this water."
"Where is your lover? Let’s go rescue her. What does she look like? Do you have a photo?"
"She used to be a model. Sorry, I left in a hurry and didn’t bring her photo, but I know where she is."
"We got separated in a hotel building outside the neighborhood. At the time, we had no food or water, so we had to go out to explore."
"But in this neighborhood, we got lost. It’s too big here."
Hearing she’s a model, Duan Donghuo got even more excited:
"Great... oh no, I mean, this neighborhood is indeed large, but as long as she’s inside, I can find her."
Wen Xishu saw through all of Duan Donghuo’s reactions.
This was someone whose desires had been repressed to the extreme. This was evident from those movies in the second-floor room.
"Shall we go find her then?"
"What’s your girlfriend’s name?"
"I usually call her Xiaohua, and she calls me Ah Shu."
Duan Donghuo was thrilled, already contemplating knocking Wen Xishu out, tying him up, and then, in front of the frantic, head-shaking, muffled-screaming Wen Xishu, engaging in some ’mind-body beneficial’ activities with Xiaohua.
The feeling of movies becoming reality made him feel a fire burning in his belly.
There’s a blade above the word ’lust’.
Next, at Wen Xishu’s suggestion, Duan Donghuo actually gave Wen Xishu a dagger.
Duan Donghuo himself had a pistol at his waist, a shotgun in hand, and wore thick, foul-smelling, makeshift armor. He took Wen Xishu outside.
During this process, Wen Xishu led Duan Donghuo to a place he had previously observed, where about ten zombies were shambling around.
To kill these slowly moving zombies, as long as you have weapons, even "most people" can do it.
To gain Duan Donghuo’s trust, Wen Xishu deliberately exposed his back to him, and several times voluntarily shielded Duan Donghuo, personally killing zombies.
There was no real danger; Wen Xishu had noticed before, these old-man-like zombies moved very slowly.
So he acted bravely. Thus, following Wen Xishu’s maneuvers, they arrived at a pavilion in the neighborhood.
On the pavilion was a chessboard, a set piece frozen in the midst of a game. The solution was to sacrifice pieces, feign weakness, then lure the enemy into overextending and launch a decisive attack.
The distribution of zombies around the pavilion seemed like an ambush.
Wen Xishu remembered this place clearly and immediately realized what was going on:
"She should be hiding nearby, but there are too many zombies here... she might be in hiding."
"Then let’s deal with the zombies around first."
Wen Xishu’s diligence and effort gave Duan Donghuo a very good impression. So Duan Donghuo increasingly believed that Wen Xishu indeed got separated from his girlfriend here.
When the two arrived near the pavilion, the zombies sprawled around like a Ten Sides Ambush began to charge at Wen Xishu and Duan Donghuo.
Calling it a charge... was more like moving slightly faster than a slow walk. Most zombies capable of a burst charge were hidden inside the houses. Exploring indoors would expose one to malice comparable to that of Hidetaka Miyazaki.
However, the zombies outside the houses were very weak, akin to feeble old infirmed.
Initially, Wen Xishu wondered why this had been designed.
The zombies’ positioning made it feel like one was beset on all sides, but their slow movement rendered the ambush ineffective.
Now Wen Xishu understood: it was meant to encourage players to lured Duan Donghuo to this place.
When Duan Donghuo and Wen Xishu were surrounded, Duan Donghuo said:
"I’ll handle the ones in front, you take the ones behind. Don’t worry, these zombies aren’t strong, the stronger ones are inside the houses. You performed well just now; with your skills, the zombies behind aren’t a problem!"
Wen Xishu nodded, thinking, you’re quite decent, actually telling me such important information.
Although Wen Xishu had already guessed the three skulls in the neighborhood indicated the greatest danger hidden in the residences.
Now, Wen Xishu went from guessing to certainty.
So, when Duan Donghuo turned to deal with the zombies, Wen Xishu delivered a righteous backstab.