Chapter 41: Entering the Supermarket

The rain lasted three full days.

Over those three days, a musty smell gradually rose in the temple. The moment the sun came out, Tang Zhao couldn’t help letting out a joyful shout. He ran in circles under the sunlight, like an idiot.

Bai Tao was infected by his mood. While complaining about him, she couldn’t resist going out to bask in the sun as well.

Zhou Zhuo Hua threw away the rotten plants in her hands and sighed regretfully. The rain had lasted too long; she hadn’t been able to dry her herbs.

Although they had food in the car and usually saved what they could by foraging locally, there had only been a few wild fruits around this time. As a result, all five of them now felt an urgent need to stockpile supplies.

The five gathered together to discuss their next destination.

Originally, Bai Chen Zhu had wanted to hitch a ride for a while, but he hadn’t decided on a destination yet. Jiang Ye pointed out that they were short on supplies, and their top priority was to stock up on consumables.

When Tang Zhao heard this, he rummaged through his backpack a couple of times and pulled a bitter face as he told Bai Chen Zhu that he wanted to stock up too.

It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

Bai Chen Zhu had no reason to refuse. He looked at Jiang Ye’s smile and finally nodded. “Then we’ll be troubling you from here on. If we run into danger, Tang Zhao and I will pitch in too.”

—

After chatting a bit more about the road ahead, they dispersed.

Bai Chen Zhu collected his dried clothes and turned to see Jiang Ye staring thoughtfully at the algae in the stone vat. He put away his clothes and tiptoed over, reaching out to tap Jiang Ye’s shoulder and scare him.

But before his hand could reach, it was intercepted midair.

“I figured it was you.” Jiang Ye didn’t even turn his head as he let go.

Bai Chen Zhu walked around with interest and leaned in beside him to look at the algae. The water was clear, reflecting their shadows. Bai Chen Zhu peered for a long time but couldn’t see anything special, so he asked directly.

“I’m thinking about past events,” Jiang Ye said briefly.

“I see.” Bai Chen Zhu murmured, then voiced the question he’d been harboring for a long time. “Jiang Ye, I’ve always thought you were a contradictory person. You say you don’t care about anything, that you won’t build any base or play savior, but you’re obsessed with the fragments. That day, I saw your eyes turn red as you went after the mutated cow. To be honest, I thought you were crazy at the time.”

Jiang Ye snapped back to attention and only caught the latter half of Bai Chen Zhu’s words, but it didn’t stop him from understanding the point.

He stared fixedly at Bai Chen Zhu, his throat bobbing as if he wanted to explain—or perhaps brush it off lightly.

“With your abilities, no matter how bad the apocalypse gets, protecting yourself shouldn’t be an issue,” Bai Chen Zhu said softly, glancing sideways at him.

Jiang Ye looked down at the stone vat and gave a self-mocking smile. “I’m not a good person. Haven’t you seen that already?”

He gazed at his reflection, and through the shell of youth, he saw that fleeting glimpse of a cold soul.

“To be honest, I’ve never done it for anyone else.”

In fact, Jiang Ye was quite willing to share his thoughts with Bai Chen Zhu—only Bai Chen Zhu could understand. Thinking about it that way, he did regret pushing Bai Chen Zhu away.

In a flat tone, he spoke words that were anything but ordinary.

“I’m no good thing. I just can’t stomach it. After pouring my heart into it for so many years, it all vanished in this ridiculous way. My base, my friends and family, my life—all gone. I’m not reconciled. I can’t swallow that anger.”

“Even in my dreams, I’m constantly reliving those final scenes.”

“The more they fear something, the more I want to do it.” Jiang Ye thought for a moment, already envisioning dismembering his enemies, and smilingly snapped off a nearby wildflower.

“Sometimes, I’m in a hurry. I’m rushing to find them through the fragments and kill them all.”

To an outsider, the two looked like they were discussing something pleasant. For instance, Tang Zhao passed by in the distance, waved at them, and helped carry Zhou Zhuo Hua’s medicine box onto the car.

“That really isn’t anything good,” Bai Chen Zhu thought to himself. He’s pretty vindictive. I hope I haven’t offended him anywhere.

He looked up at the sky, then at the ground, and spotted Tang Zhao walking by not far away. He switched to a less heavy topic. “By the way, do you know Tang Zhao?”

This “know” didn’t mean now.

“Not at all.” Jiang Ye knew what he meant, raised an eyebrow, and shattered his illusion. “But that doesn’t matter, does it? At least I know him now.”

At least we’ve completely changed his fate.

Bai Chen Zhu hadn’t expected Jiang Ye to be even more clear-headed than himself. He rubbed his forehead and smiled wryly. “You’re right. I was the one being stubborn.”

He often got stuck in strange little ruts like that. Sometimes Bai Chen Zhu felt helpless about it, yet he couldn’t pull himself out.

Jiang Ye snapped off the flower and tapped the water surface lightly. The picture-perfect reflection shattered, much like their current chaotic situation.

—

Once everything was packed, Zhou Zhuo Hua backed the car out of the small courtyard behind the temple. Bai Tao hopped straight into the passenger seat, humming a tune happily.

The three big men squeezed in the back.

The journey was long. Tang Zhao yawned, his head nodding bit by bit until it dropped onto Bai Chen Zhu’s shoulder. Bai Chen Zhu unhesitatingly smacked his head over to the window.

Jiang Ye watched with schadenfreude and said to Bai Tao, “Stop humming those. Why don’t you write your own songs? That way, when the apocalypse ends, you could become a singer.”

Given the frequency of her “concerts” every few days, it wasn’t impossible.

“I agree!” Tang Zhao woke up instantly, excited. “Change it, change it—save me! Her singing always reminds me of those flag-raising days at school! And why do we even have the same intermission motivational songs!”

The car drove along the main road. Bai Tao laughed smugly, swaying back and forth as she deliberately sang an old song that gave Tang Zhao psychological trauma.

—

Several hours later.

Bai Chen Zhu pinched his nose and rolled up the window. Unpleasant things had piled up on both sides of the road—too many similar corpses made him nauseous.

Jiang Ye was obsessed with tying a ponytail for Bai Chen Zhu. With limited materials, he snatched the drawstring from Tang Zhao’s hoodie to use as a hair tie. After half a day, he finally succeeded in making a small low ponytail and showed it off proudly to Bai Chen Zhu.

Tang Zhao hugged his backpack and slept soundly, curled up like a piglet.

Zhou Zhuo Hua glanced in the rearview mirror at the few people sleeping in a twisted heap and had to remind them. “Perk up, everyone. We’re entering the city.”

Bai Tao woke up in a daze. Hearing this, she nearly jumped up. “Why are we entering the city?”

Zhou Zhuo Hua looked at the red mark on her face and smiled. “Because we can already see the supermarket sign here. Look—right there. It’s just at the edge of the city district.”

Bai Chen Zhu followed her indication and indeed saw a huge chain supermarket sign amid the outer city buildings.

Zhou Zhuo Hua confirmed one last time. “We go there?”

Everyone agreed.

The supermarket’s first floor was all small shops; only the second and third floors were the actual supermarket.

After getting out of the car, Bai Chen Zhu found a badminton racket in a roadside sports store and weighed it in his hand to use as a weapon. Looking back, he saw Jiang Ye had grabbed his beloved baseball bat from the store.

Jiang Ye twirled it left and right. “Feels okay, but not as good as the last one you had. Where’d you find that one?”

Bai Chen Zhu said, “Picked it up randomly. Can’t really remember.”

The first-floor shops had been ransacked—anything edible, drinkable, or wearable was gone. The more Tang Zhao looked, the more uneasy he felt. “The upper floors won’t be empty too, will they?”

Bai Tao gestured. “How could they? It’s such a big supermarket.”

Zhou Zhuo Hua dug out a good find, tested it, and hurriedly handed it to Bai Tao. “Look! Little Bee!”

Bai Tao’s eyes lit up immediately. She eagerly put it on, and when the other four saw her clear her throat, their hair stood on end. Fortunately, Bai Tao had no intention of screwing over her teammates right now.

The elevator wouldn’t go up. The three men took the lead to clear the way, with Zhou Zhuo Hua and Bai Tao following behind to watch their backs.

Jiang Ye suddenly called out Bai Chen Zhu’s name.

“What?” Bai Chen Zhu was holding back his disgust as he smacked a zombie away. He eyed the growing stains on his clothes with revulsion, determined to grab a few changes later.

Jiang Ye’s gaze sharpened. “Go to the back and stay there.”

Bai Chen Zhu turned and saw the path ahead was clear, but a few sales clerk zombies guarded the supermarket entrance amid the wreckage.

When they spotted the newcomers, their dust-veiled eyes lit up, and they sniffed the air as they approached.

Bai Chen Zhu immediately realized his mental power’s appeal to the mutants. Like facing a great enemy, he slowly retreated behind Jiang Ye and Tang Zhao. “Be careful.”

“I can too! Let me try my Little Bee!” Bai Tao eagerly squeezed into Bai Chen Zhu’s former spot. The moment she appeared, the four clamped their hands over their ears.

Bai Tao cleared her throat, turned on her Little Bee, and began singing with dramatic inflection, like reciting an essay.

Bai Chen Zhu covered his ears tightly. With his eyes, he watched the approaching “audience” clutch their heads and shriek, writhing on the ground until they stopped moving. Only then did Bai Tao reluctantly turn off the Little Bee.

The instant she did, a black shadow pounced.

Jiang Ye raised his bat and smashed it into the figure’s face, sending it into the wall. The force snapped the new baseball bat in half.

Tang Zhao shouted, “Holy shit! So ugly!”

A figure slid slowly down the wall—an inch-cut head, pale face with clear whites in its eyes, twisted limbs. Its body was twice the size of a normal person’s, stuffed into burst janitor mutant clothes.

Jiang Ye focused. “It’s a higher-level mutant. To it, Bai Tao’s mental power is a provocation.”

Beat the small ones, and the big one comes.

It was Bai Tao’s first time seeing her usually invincible mental power turn into bait. She stepped back, staring fixedly at the janitor mutant.

But she clearly saw that after the janitor mutant was initially drawn by her voice, its attention fully locked onto Bai Chen Zhu in the group.

Trouble really did come from his mental power, Bai Chen Zhu cursed inwardly.

The janitor mutant crouched on the ground like a primed bomb, then suddenly leaped. Bai Chen Zhu shoved Zhou Zhuo Hua aside and rolled in the opposite direction across the floor.

He raised his badminton racket and, as the janitor mutant charged again, smacked it squarely and swiftly on its distorted fat face. The racket snapped, the shaft embedding in the fatty flesh. Murky black blood splattered half his body, and Bai Chen Zhu’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Careful!” It was Jiang Ye’s voice.

A strong force yanked him back from behind, and the “bomb” pounced on empty air.

Bai Chen Zhu hit the ground. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Jiang Ye and Tang Zhao ganging up on the janitor mutant.

But no matter how they struck, the thing was like an indestructible diamond body. Even drenched in blood, it moved nimbly.

Just as Jiang Ye was sent flying and Tang Zhao was grabbed by the neck and smashed into the wall, Bai Chen Zhu seized the moment and pulled out the gun from his pocket.

Bang—

The janitor mutant whipped its head around; the bullet grazed its ear and embedded in the wall.

It discarded Tang Zhao and rushed at Bai Chen Zhu with terrifying speed. He didn’t even have time to turn and run before the gun was knocked flying, rolling away. He was pinned to the ground, his legs pinned like under a boulder, unable to break free.

He gripped the janitor mutant’s neck with both hands. Its blood-basin maw dripped foul liquid, jagged teeth lunging repeatedly for his head.

“Brother Bai!”

“Little Bai!”

Zhou Zhuo Hua and Tang Zhao rushed up to attack its head, only to stare in shock as the monster turned its head even after a fruit knife stabbed a hole in it. In the next second, it flung them both away.

Bai Tao turned on the Little Bee to draw the monster, but it only fixated on Bai Chen Zhu.

“Grr~ Grr!” The monster broke free of his hold and gaped its jaws.

Another gunshot rang out. This time, the bullet pierced the monster’s fatal spot in its head. It wailed, eyes rolling with murky fluid.

As the mountain-like body began to topple, Bai Chen Zhu scrambled aside—but it was too heavy; he couldn’t escape from under it.

Just as he wondered if he’d be crushed, Jiang Ye kicked the janitor mutant away and pulled him up from the ground.

“Your aim sucks. Practice with the gun more.” He spun the gun in his hand like a trick before tucking it into Bai Chen Zhu’s pocket.

Bai Chen Zhu broke out in cold sweat, patting his chest with lingering fear. His gaze toward his savior burned hot. “Teach me?”

“Sure.” Jiang Ye saw he was fine and went to check on the others.

Bai Chen Zhu touched the gun hidden in his clothes, considering whether to give it to Jiang Ye, who was more skilled with it. But the thought only crossed his mind for two seconds before he abandoned it.

Jiang Ye was physically robust and could protect himself without a gun. And since he attracted monsters so easily, it was better for him to have a surprise weapon for self-defense.

The group rested at the supermarket entrance for a while. When they looked at the bodies of the salesperson and the janitor mutant, some of them got cold feet.

Tang Zhao patted his chest in lingering fear. “There won’t be anything more powerful inside, right?”

“There won’t be. These were probably the fiercest ones.” Jiang Ye checked the corpses of several monsters, then lifted his eyes to scan the surroundings, dispelling his doubts. “If there were more, they would have come out with that monster just now. Bai Tao, start up the little bee and hum a song.”

Bai Tao spoke incoherently. “I-is this really okay? Another monster won’t come out, right?”

“If one comes out, we’ll take it down.” Jiang Ye’s words were rough but reasonable.

“We’re already here.” Bai Chen Zhu agreed. He stood up, placed one foot on the monster’s body, grabbed the tennis racket handle with both hands, and yanked it out hard. He finally rescued his own racket—though it no longer had the racket face.

He weighed the handle. Luckily, the pole could still be used.

Fortunately, once inside, they only encountered three or five wandering ordinary zombies.

The group dealt with the zombies while packing up supplies.

Until they reached the snack area, where a painful sound came from behind the shelves.

They went on high alert like facing a great enemy. Bai Tao no longer dared to hum, staring fixedly at the shelves.

Two sneaky men emerged from behind the shelves. Their clothes were soaked through with black blood, and fear filled their faces as they stared at the group. “H-how did you get in?”

“What about that monster???”