In the end, I agreed to take Yangyang to the mall the next day.
Suo Tian was right.
How long could I protect him?
I was always afraid of him encountering accidents or danger, but I never considered that if one day something happen to me, what would happen to him left alone in this disordered world?
After breakfast, Shen Feng carefully selected a dagger from the weapons he brought.
Suo Tian briefly taught him how to use the dagger, but I still wasn't at ease, reminding him to stay close to me.
Although the horde of walkers on the main road had dispersed, there were still quite a few of them.
We chose to go through the alley and drive around to the mall.
This time, all four of us took one car.
Shen Feng drove, and his driving skills were quite reliable.
When we arrived at the mall entrance, we could see from a distance that groups of walkers were wandering aimlessly.
Our car caught their attention.
They turned around and slowly began to gather around us.
I mustered up the courage and, with Suo Tian, took down the two walkers at the front.
Turning back to Shen Feng and Yangyang, I said, "We'll do it like this, just keep swinging."
Suo Tian gripped the blade tightly, took a deep breath, and charged at the approaching walker, accurately piercing its skull.
Yangyang stood by the car, his face ashen, and I could even see his legs trembling uncontrollably.
"I told you not to come," I said, somewhat displeased.
The glass doors of the mall were wide open, welcoming people from all directions.
It seemed like someone had been here recently searching.
When we left last time, we had clearly shut the door, and the walkers couldn't have opened it by themselves.
Suo Tian led the way with his blade drawn, signaling us to be quiet.
We followed behind, making sure to step lightly and control our breathing.
We quickly passed the entrance, and sure enough, there were many more walkers inside than the last time we were here—at least several times more.
Suo Tian quickly signaled for us to take cover.
But the walkers eyes were fierce.
We hadn't even had time to hide.
They all screamed loudly, charging toward us with their throats raspy.
Though their movements were slow, they were overwhelming in numbers, and the scene was terrifying enough.
But no matter how horrifying the scene, you get used to it after seeing it enough.
This time, I finally managed to hold myself together and didn't shake with fear like before.
We were forced to retreat from the mall.
"What should we do?" I asked loudly, looking at Suo Tian—he was always much more reliable than the others.
"I'll draw them away. You three take down the rest. Hurry and grab what we need, don't waste time," Suo Tian quickly devised a plan.
He threw those words out in an instant, then pounded on the wall beside him and ran off into the distance.
Grabbing the still-dazed Yangyang, the three of us quickly hid inside a pharmacy.
The walkers hadn't noticed us; they were all distracted by the noise Suo Tian had made, twisting their bodies and shambling past the pharmacy, snarling in hunger.
We stayed behind the counter, waiting until we were sure all the walkers had passed before cautiously peeking out.
"It's safe now. Let's hurry to the mall."
With a dagger in hand, I led the way out of the pharmacy and toward the mall.
The short stretch of road was filled with tension, but we finally made it into the mall without incident.
Inside, it was surprisingly clean…
I quickly scanned the area and confirmed there wasn't a single walker in sight.
I gestured for them to hurry up and grab the supplies.
Shen Feng quickly got into action, knowing how to find the essentials.
Although we still had plenty of biscuits and things for now, they'd eventually run out.
He swiftly cleared the remaining packaged foods from the shelves and into the shopping cart.
Watching his efficient movements, I couldn't help but think—this guy would be a great robber.
Turning to look at Yangyang, I almost felt my nose twitch in annoyance.
The kid was crouching nervously, glancing around like a thief.
He accidentally stepped on a patch of blood, startled, and nearly knocked over the shelf behind him.
I rolled my eyes at him, too tired to scold him.
In the end, it was my own fault—my strong personality had suppressed the masculinity he should have developed.
After reminding the two not to make too much noise to avoid attracting any nearby walkers, I held my dagger and quickly found the section of the store with the refrigerated meats, relying on my memory.
Subconsciously feeling that the area was safe for the moment, I wasn't too afraid.
In front of me was a whole row of transparent freezers.
It seemed like the power to the freezers had been cut off a long time ago, and most of the meat inside had changed color.
Some of the freezers weren't tightly closed, and flies and mosquitoes had already swarmed inside, making me feel nauseous.
What I needed wasn't the disgusting stuff inside, which had now become almost like waste, but the frozen meat stored in the tempered glass freezers.
If I remembered correctly, there should still be plenty of seafood inside.
I had often seen staff take seafood from these freezers when I bought it in the past.
I swallowed, shaking off the image of a seafood feast in my mind.
I gripped my knife tightly, carefully stepping over the glass freezers.
The tempered glass fridge was right beside me, leading directly to a door.
The room inside had been used by staff, though I wasn't sure exactly what it had been for.
But at this moment, if anyone was inside, they certainly weren't staff.
Suddenly, a rustling sound startled me.
I quickly took two steps back.
The sound had come from the small room.
I gripped my dagger tightly, vaguely able to make out the structure of the room.
A half-open door revealed a small, naked girl crawling out.
Her face looked relatively clean, but both of her legs were missing.
She was about fifteen or sixteen years old.
I was deeply shocked, and even by just thinking about it, I could guess what this poor little girl must have gone through before she died.
The rioting crowds, the out-of-control world, and people who were even more terrifying than demons — the evil thoughts in their hearts could no longer be suppressed.
Walkers don't have the patience to strip off clothes.
Maybe it was because I had seen so many disgusting walkers, or maybe because I felt that this little girl couldn't harm me, but when I looked at her, I wasn't scared.
On the contrary, I felt an indescribable calmness in my heart, mixed with a sense of powerless sadness...
I walked up to her, crouched down.
She tried to grab me with her bloodstained arms, and her open mouth emitted a foul, rotting odor that was completely at odds with her once delicate face.
I forcefully drove the dagger into her head.
She finally became quiet...
No matter what she had gone through in her life, at this moment, she was truly at peace.
I took off my jacket and covered her with it.
It was my way of leaving her with the last shred of dignity after her death.
I didn't dare delay any longer and quickly opened the freezer.
I wasn't sure if it was because this large freezer wasn't connected to the same power source, but even though the power had been cut off in the mall, the freezer was still running.
I casually grabbed a cart, filled it with meat, ribs, and other miscellaneous items from the freezer, stuffing it all into the cart.
I closed the freezer door.
I only took about one-fifth of what was inside.
For now, it seems that besides us, no one else is in the mood to look for food.
If the freezer keeps running, the food inside should be enough for us for a long time.
Pushing the cart back to Yangyang and the others, once we confirmed we had enough, the three of us made a few trips and finally moved everything into the car.
Sitting in the car, Shen Feng started the engine: "What about Suo Tian?"
Just as I was about to suggest he follow the same path to catch up...
"Brother Tian is back!" Yangyang happily shouted, pointing towards the pharmacy.
Shen Feng and I froze, quickly turning our heads to look...
It really was him.
But he looked quite a mess, his whole body was covered in dark bloodstains, and one sleeve of his shirt was missing.
Shen Feng drove the car over, and Suo Tian got in, bringing with him a strong, pungent smell.
Yangyang covered his nose and rolled down the window.
"Looking at your current appearance, that must've been quite the close call," I said, handing him a bottle of mineral water.
"Mm," Suo Tian repliedly, taking the water from my hand and unscrewing it to drink it all at once.
"I'm quite curious, how did you manage to shake them off?" Shen Feng gave Suo Tian a quick glance.
"Shake them off?" Suo Tian chuckled lightly. "I made them all lie down."
"What?!" Shen Feng slammed on the brakes.
The sudden stop nearly jolted all three of us.
"Oh... sorry, I just can't believe that he killed so many people by himself," Shen Feng muttered.
The car started moving again.
"People?... If they really were human, I'd probably be the one lying on the street now."
The car was still stopped at the alley entrance.
Shen Feng used his superb driving skills to position the car so that it blocked the alley entrance, leaving only a narrow gap just wide enough for someone to slip through sideways.
This served two purposes: one was to prevent the walkers outside on the street from getting into the alley, and the other was to ensure that if we were chased by walkers, the narrow gap wouldn't trap us because of the car.
Walkers don't know how to sidestep and slip through narrow gaps.
We all noticed that for the past few days, there had been almost no walkers in this alley.
This alley could be considered a natural passage—hidden enough and safe enough that large groups of walkers wouldn't appear here.
When we returned to the yard, I noticed that the several electric scooters that had been left there were now piled up at the foot of the stairs.
We exchanged glances, each of us guessing what had happened... the situation wasn't good!
Electric scooters don't just move themselves to the foot of the stairs.
And walkers certainly wouldn't move them either.
Shen Xue and Rongrong couldn't have done it—they wouldn't be able to move them.
The current situation only meant one thing... someone else had broken into the house while we were gone.
We quickly reached the fourth floor.
On the way up, I noticed that the doors to the second and third-floor apartments were wide open.
The ominous feeling grew even stronger...
I knocked on the door...
After a while, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
Click, the door opened.
As expected, it wasn't Shen Xue or the others opening the door, but a middle-aged man who appeared to be around thirty.
He scanned us from top to bottom, a smug smile on his face, proudly welcoming us into the house.
It was as if this place was actually his home.
When I saw the scene in the living room, I finally understood why this man was still able to wear such a smug expression when facing the four of us.
The living room sofa was filled with people, and every single one of them was male.
There were a few women of varying ages standing by the side.
It seemed like they were all part of the same group.
Upon seeing us, they all stood up from the sofa.
I searched around but couldn't spot Shen Xue or Rongrong anywhere.
"Excuse me, where are the people who were originally in the house?"
I tried to keep my tone as calm as possible.
I had a vague sense of what their intentions might be.
My mind was clear and calm, quickly analyzing the current situation.
The most important thing now was to confirm whether Shen Xue and Rongrong were safe.
"Yo... the boss here is actually a pretty little girl," said a young boy with dyed blonde hair, looking like he couldn't be much older than Yangyang.
"Lianlian!" A middle-aged woman standing nearby scolded him.
"The two little girls are very safe under our protection," spoke a middle-aged man sitting in the middle of the sofa.
It seemed that he was the representative of this group.