The hallway didn’t hold for long against the zombies.

Commander Li Wenqiang saw what would happen before the line Meilan and her men actually broke. It wasn’t panic that gave it away. It was the small corrections that came too late, the way the men adjusted instead of controlled, the way their spacing tightened without anyone ordering it. They were reacting, not dictating the pace, and that was more than enough for the zombies to gain the upper hand.

And he didn’t move to reinforce them.

He stayed where he was, just inside the room his men held, his rifle steady as he watched the engagement unfold down the corridor. His position gave him a clear angle without exposing his unit, and he had no intention of sacrificing that advantage for a fight that was already slipping out of control.

"Hold," he said quietly, and his men obeyed without question his order. They didn’t shift, and they didn’t step forward.

They simply maintained their line, their attention fixed outward while the rest of the house started to unravel.

Down the hallway, Meilan’s team tried to keep formation.

And they almost managed it.

For a few seconds, their movements were tight, controlled, their shots placed with enough precision to keep the nearest targets from overwhelming them. Shen Kaiyang stayed at her side, matching her pace, his weapon moving in clean arcs as he tracked movement before it reached her.

Tao Jun and Lin Cheng adjusted behind them, attempting to reinforce the line instead of expanding it, while Guo Ren held the rear angle, his attention split between what was in front of them and what might come from behind. Huang Zedong moved where the pressure was highest, stepping into gaps as they formed and breaking contact before it could collapse entirely.

It should have worked.

But it didn’t.

The problem wasn’t skill, although those five men seemed to need more of that.

It was space.

The hallway forced them closer together than they should have been, and every adjustment compounded the next one. One step too far to the left closed off another angle. A delayed reaction created a gap that shouldn’t have existed. Each correction made the next one harder.

Then someone stumbled.

Li didn’t see what caused it, but he saw the result. One of the men lost his footing as something hit him from the side, driving him into the wall hard enough to break the line. Another body followed immediately, not giving him time to recover, its weight forcing him down before anyone could reposition to compensate.

The shot that ended it came from behind.

Clean.

But much too late.

"Pull back!" Shen Kaiyang shouted.

This time, the movement came faster.

Not clean.

Not controlled.

Still trained, but strained now, their formation tightening as they gave ground instead of holding it. They stepped back in sequence, covering each other as best they could, but the space was already working against them.

Doors were open now.

Windows were gone.

Entry points that hadn’t existed minutes ago were now feeding zombies into the house like a tide.

"They’re still coming in!" a voice called out.

Li didn’t need the confirmation. He could see it.

The flow wasn’t random.

It wasn’t scattered.

It was consistent.

That was what made it dangerous.

Meilan didn’t slow. She adjusted with the retreat, her shots still almost controlled, still almost efficient, but the pace had shifted around her.

Shen Kaiyang stayed tight to her position, covering her flank instead of the space beyond it, and the others followed that same instinct, tightening their formation around her instead of maintaining control of the hallway.

They were protecting her.

Not the line, and that was the difference between life and death.

Li stepped forward just enough to get a clearer view. "This position won’t hold," he said. He didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t need to.

His men closest to him heard it and reacted before the words fully settled. "Fall back to the yard," he added. "Controlled movement. Don’t break formation."

That part mattered the most.

The shift came cleaner this time.

Not because the situation had improved, but because the order had. The men in both units moved with purpose instead of reacting to pressure, their retreat tightening into something usable as they pushed back through the living room.

Another window gave way behind them and glass hit the floor.

A zombie forced its way through, it’s bloody fingers clawing at the windowsill. But it didn’t matter anymore. The house was lost.

Chen Minghao reached the door first and forced it open fully, stepping out just far enough to secure the immediate area before signaling the rest forward.

Wang Junjie moved beside him, covering the angle while Tan Wei shifted to keep the line from collapsing as the last of the group pushed through.

One by one, they cleared the threshold, and the difference outside was immediate. The open space gave them distance, room to breathe, and the ability to reposition without pressure closing in from every direction.

Their formation expanded as soon as they hit open ground, weapons lifting in unison as they created separation from the structure and reestablished control over the engagement.

No one ran, and no one broke. They moved with discipline, adjusting their spacing as they pulled back, each man covering his assigned angle without hesitation or confusion.

Behind them, the house remained active.

Movement filled the windows as zombies pressed against the openings in uneven clusters.

Some forced their way partially through before dropping back inside, while others turned away entirely, as if whatever had drawn them in still held their attention deeper within the structure.

"They’re not dispersing," Guo Ren said, his voice tight but controlled.

Li didn’t answer immediately, because he didn’t need to. He could see it for himself.

"They’re not interested in us," Liu Zhenyu added. "Look. they aren’t following us."

Li kept his gaze on the structure for a moment longer, trying to figure out the patters without trying to force them into something familiar. Then he turned away, the decision already made.

"Mount up. We leave now."

The order came quickly, but without urgency or panic. It was final, and his men responded immediately, moving toward the vehicles with the same efficiency they had shown inside. Cover was maintained until the last possible second, their angles held and spacing controlled until everyone was accounted for.

Doors shut, engines turned over, and the convoy pulled away in a tight, disciplined formation.

They didn’t fire as they withdrew, because there was no point. The threat remained behind them, contained within the structure instead of spilling outward the way it should have.

Li looked back once as the distance widened.

The house stood exactly where it had been, unchanged and intact. The doors remained closed, the windows broken, and movement continued inside, steady and contained in a way that didn’t match what they had just fought through.

That was the part he didn’t get. The zombies weren’t spreading, they weren’t chasing. They simply stayed, their eyes watching them through the darkness.

It really was a monster’s house.

He only wondered if Shen Rouxi knew what would happen when she opened those door. He wondered if she got out okay.

------

Downstairs, the television continued to play, even though almost everyone was asleep.

Rouxi didn’t look up at the muffled noise overhead. She didn’t know if the men had heard it or not, but it didn’t matter.

With Meilan acting like a beacon for zombies, they weren’t going to look downstairs.

Not if the men weren’t actively using their powers.

Lingyun, the only other man awake with me, reached into the bag again, passing it across without comment as the screen flickered with light that had nothing to do with what had just happened above them.

"I take it we’re ignoring the gunfire?" he murmured, his eyes briefly looking up before turning his attention back to me.

"What gunfire?" I asked, blinking my wide eyes at him.

He scoffed as the end credits started play. "Next episode?"

"Next episode."