Chapter 15: Malice
The lockpicking skill was incredibly powerful.
Without any special techniques, it allowed Sylas to unlock any door directly.
This was entirely different from what Sylas had anticipated.
He had thought that the lockpicking skill would teach him the techniques of lockpicking.
He hadn't expected it to be a skill that let him use its power to open any lock directly.
Eager to test it, Sylas left his apartment and went to the door across the hall. He placed his hand on the doorknob and activated the lockpicking skill.
With a click, the door opened.
"This is so convenient," Sylas remarked.
The most troublesome part of clearing out the zombies was dealing with the locked doors.
Many zombies were trapped inside rooms.
Sylas had to unlock the doors to enter the rooms and kill the zombies.
Previously, he had to break down the doors with brute force.
But now, Sylas could simply unlock them.
This made things much easier.
As soon as the door opened, a zombie lunged at him.
Sylas skillfully swung his katana, decapitating the zombie with a single strike.
Killing zombies was easier than killing chickens.
So far, he had killed over thirty zombies.
The main challenge had been breaking down the doors, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Now that he had the lockpicking skill, he could unlock doors effortlessly, making it much easier to kill zombies.
However, there were also survivors besides zombies.
This time, when Sylas opened a door, he found a middle-aged man standing behind it. The man was startled to see Sylas and held a machete defensively.
"Who are you, and how did you get in? I locked the door," the man stammered, eyeing Sylas's katana.
Sylas smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm a neighbor just passing by. Do you have any zombies in here? If not, I'll be on my way."
"No, no zombies here," the man quickly replied.
Behind the man, a middle-aged woman was hiding, holding a small boy in her arms.
It was a family of three.
They were quite lucky to have not turned into zombies.
"Alright, I'll be on my way," Sylas said, greeting them before planning to leave.
The middle-aged man finally reacted and quickly said, "Hey, are there still zombies outside?"
Sylas nodded, "Don't go out yet. There are still zombies outside."
"I'll clear out the zombies, and then you'll be able to come out safely."
After saying this, Sylas turned and left without waiting for a response from the family.
Seeing Sylas leave, the man breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew that in the apocalypse, there were no laws or moral restraints anymore.
Many survivors had turned into marauders, who were even more dangerous than zombies.
Not knowing what kind of person Sylas was, the man naturally felt the need to be cautious.
Even though they all lived in the same building, there were so many residents that they didn't know each other.
Sylas had no time to worry about them.
Taking care of his own was already challenging enough.
He continued unlocking doors and clearing out zombies.
When he opened another door, he heard the screams of a woman and the reckless laughter of men.
Sylas's face changed as he heard these sounds.
He walked into the apartment and saw four or five men in the living room tormenting a woman.
The girl was screaming in pain.
But the men showed no pity; instead, they laughed joyfully.
Marauders!
These men were marauders.
With the collapse of law and order, their moral restraints had vanished.
Their inner beasts had been unleashed, and they were no longer normal people—they were marauders.
"How did you get in here?"
"Grab him!"
Seeing Sylas suddenly enter, the men were startled. They quickly grabbed their weapons and approached Sylas.
Without a word, Sylas turned and ran.
He knew he couldn't handle that many people at once.
One-on-one, Sylas was confident he could handle it, but four or five armed men were too much for him.
One wrong move, and he could end up dead.
"Damn it, he got away."
"Lucky bastard."
"How did he get in here?"
"The lock must have been opened. Maybe he's a thief?"
"He might be a thief. Damn, we should have made him stay. If he can pick locks, we could have worked together."
One of the men said regretfully.
There were still many apartments in this building, and many of them were locked.
They didn't have a way to open the doors.
If Sylas could pick locks, they could have cooperated.
But now, Sylas had escaped, and they didn't dare to chase him.
When they reached the door, they quickly shut it behind them.
They knew there were zombies in the hallway.
So, they immediately chose to close the door.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone