When the engine noise stopped outside the supermarket entrance, Lu Chen was tightening the lid of the last bucket of spirit water.
He and Shen Wanqing had been working for most of the night.
Three metal buckets and two plastic storage boxes from the shelves were all filled with water from that spring.
The water was so clean, so clean that it looked like an object out of nowhere when placed in the middle of the dusty shelves.
“There’s a car,” Shen Wanqing said suddenly, her face tightening.
She pushed the buckets behind the shelf and retreated behind the pile of rice bags.
Lu Chen took the crossbow and pressed it against the observation hole.
Outside, there was a white SUV parked.
The car door was sprayed with the words “Special Police”, and the paint was scratched in patches.
There was a half-length dark red object hanging on the front bumper, but it was unclear what it was.
The car wasn’t turned off, and the exhaust pipe was emitting white smoke, stretching out a long tail in the cold air.
The first one to get out was a woman.
She had short hair, wearing a dark training coat over a bulletproof vest, holding a rifle.
She got out of the car without looking at the supermarket first, but quickly scanned the street corner, the second-floor windows, and the roof – her movements were so fluid, as if she had practiced them a hundred times.
The second one was a young man in his early twenties, with a bandage on his arm, holding a rifle, following her half a step behind.
The two walked up to the main entrance and stopped.
The woman looked at the collapsed shelves and the freezer, then looked up at the two still-bright emergency lights.
“There’s someone inside,” she said, her voice not loud but clear and penetrating through the glass, “Stop pretending.
This door wasn’t blocked yesterday.”
No one responded.
She didn’t get angry.
She took a step back and kicked the door frame with her foot.
The metal made a dull sound.
“My name is Su Wan.
I’m from the Special Police Division,” she said.
“There’s no water in the car.
One of us is seriously injured.
Open the door and let me get some water.
Once we finish drinking, we’ll leave.”
Lu Chen didn’t loosen his grip on the crossbow.
In the apocalypse, the phrase “drink and leave” was something he had heard too many times but rarely saw people actually do.
He said.
Su Wan laughed outside the door: “OK, a sensible person.”
To be fair, Su Wan didn’t intend to kill anyone.
But she was never the type of police officer who would bet her life on the conscience of a stranger.
“Akai, turn around.” She tilted her head and said to the young man beside her.
“Thanks.” Akai replied and then turned around and disappeared into the alley.
He was quick on his feet and was out of sight in just a few steps.
Lu Chen felt his heart sink.
The back door.
Ake was more familiar with this building than they had thought.
The freezer at the back door was pushed open by a crack from the outside.
He squeezed in sideways, holding his pistol against his chest.
As soon as he entered, he saw the several buckets of water in the corner.
Full and complete.
The water droplets on the bucket walls were still wet, reflecting the morning light and looking so clean that it was dazzling.
His breathing stopped.
“…
“Relieve me!” he shouted, his voice changed.
“There’s water inside!
Whole buckets of it!”
Three seconds later, Su Wan挤进正门的缝隙里.She held a gun and took up a corner, coldly surveying Lu Chen and Shen Wanqing, and finally her gaze fell on the several buckets of water.
What water meant in the post-apocalyptic world, all three of them knew well.
“These buckets, where did you get them?” Su Wan asked.
“It’s none of your business,” Lu Chen stood in front of the buckets.
“This building has been our supply point since the day before yesterday,” she said slowly, each word clear.
“You two outsiders, you hid the water here.”
“This building was deserted the day before yesterday.”
Su Wan didn’t say anything.
Her gun muzzle naturally shifted three inches downward, pointing at Lu Chen’s knees.
The atmosphere tightened immediately.
Wen Wanqing spoke from behind her, her voice cold.
“He saved my life with this water.
If you want to take it, ask me first about this arm.”
Su Wan glanced at her and saw the fresh, still-healing cut under her sleeve, and then her ID card – City One Hospital.
“Doctor?” her brow furrowed.
“The one in my car, gunshot wound, three days old, the person is almost going crazy.”
“Shoot first,” Wen Wanqing said.
“Stop protecting those buckets of water for now.”
“I won’t protect the water,” Wen Wanqing took a step forward and stood next to Lu Chen.
“I’ll protect the person.
If he raises his gun for those buckets of water, I won’t let him either.”
The two groups stood still in the empty supermarket.
One side was guns, the other was crossbows, and in the middle were several buckets of water.
No one moved first.
Ake was on the side, his palms all sweaty.
He wanted to say something, opened his mouth, but swallowed it back.
The mass of corpses was drawn here by this vehicle.
The off-road vehicle had idled at the entrance for too long, and the vibrations from its engine were transmitted through the asphalt road for a long distance.
In the post-apocalyptic world, that sound was like a gong announcing the start of a meal.
First, at the street corner, there was a series of slow footsteps.
Then came the second and third locations.
In the morning mist, slowly moving shadows emerged from various doorways, gathering together and forming a tight circle around the white vehicle, blocking all escape routes.
And…
And there’s another big one!
That’s no ordinary zombie.
Lu Chen looked out through the observation hole.
On the other side of the mist, a huge creature emerged.
It was taller and wider than the tyrant in the neighborhood yesterday.
Its shoulders were like two door panels, and with each step, the asphalt beneath it cracked a gap.
It didn’t roar; it just pushed forward with its head down, and even its fellow zombies that blocked the way were knocked aside by a single slap.
“Back door!” Su Wan shouted.
The four of them retreated inward.
Lu Chen and Shen Wanqing knew the way well, and they filled in the second wall on either side.
Su Wan held the gun, and Akai changed the magazine.
Their movements were so fast that they were hard to follow.
The Tyrant crashed into the main door.
“Boom!” There was a loud explosion.
The shelves blocking the way collapsed inward by half a foot, and glass fragments rained down like a downpour.
Akai raised his hand and fired a shot.
The bullet grazed a white line across its forehead and bounced off.
“Not enough to stop it!” he shouted.
“Eye.” Su Wan said coldly, “Wait for it to look up.”
The Tyrant crashed into the first wall, and one of its arms swung open the freezer – that thing rolled out and made a crater on the ground.
Its entire body squeezed into the door, with its shoulder blades higher than the shelves.
Just at the moment it raised its head, Su Wan’s gun fired.
Three consecutive shots were fired, and two of them hit its left eye socket.
The Tyrant let out a dull sound and moved a beat later – instead of falling, it lunged towards the nearest living person.
That living person was Lu Chen.
Lu Chen didn’t retreat.
He knew he couldn’t.
Behind him was Shen Wanqing, those buckets of water, and this place that had only been a home for two nights, barely more than that.
He moved forward.
The tyrant slapped out a palm, and the wind it created was rancid.
He didn’t confront the palm force head-on.
He crouched down to avoid the wrist, using his shoulder to press against its forearm – yesterday, he had been numb for half an hour after one such punch.
Today, that force was caught and absorbed by him, like it had been swallowed by something in its entirety.
He grabbed the ridiculously thick wrist with his other hand.
The two forces clashed.
The tyrant’s skin was as thick as an old tree.
He pulled it forward, and it actually staggered back a step.
Lu Chen followed up, his knee hitting it in the abdomen, using the momentum to flip it over onto its side.
It crashed onto the ground, collapsing two rows of shelves, and the iron pieces on the shelves fell down with a clatter.
Su Wan stood three steps away, her pupils contracting for a moment.
She had seen power-type awakened beings – those were things seen on TV, in briefings, and rumors.
But this man in front of her had no flames, no lightning, nothing.
He was just strong.
Extremely strong.
Just then, she heard a very faint noise behind her – the sole of a shoe scraping against the ground.
A runner had somehow circled around Lu Chen and was now holding out a hand, aiming to bite at his neck.
Su Wan’s gun muzzle couldn’t turn anymore.
She didn’t hesitate.
She took a sliding step forward, the butt of her gun against her shoulder, and with muscle memory, she pulled the trigger at the man’s neck.
The gunshot.
The bullet passed by Lu Chen’s ear and entered the dark mass behind him.
The runner fell to the ground, still twitching.
It was less than a foot away from Lu Chen’s neck.
Lu Chen turned his head.
First, he saw the smoke from the gun muzzle, and then Su Wan’s face.
She stood there, panting, staring at him, the look in her eyes he had never seen before – not gratitude, but shock.
“Earlier, you,” she said halfway through, “Forget it.”
Lu Chen didn’t have time to respond.
He drew his sword and charged at the overturned tyrant, mounting it and stabbing deeply into the old bone crevice at its back, twisting.
Blood spurted from the wound, burning half of his face.
The tyrant thrashed three times before stopping.
Three men stood guard over a broken door, forcing the remaining zombies back one by one.
Su Wanjiao had excellent marksmanship, but the reloading of her ammunition became increasingly slow – her ammunition was running low.
Akai provided cover on the flank, fired the last bullet from her pistol, grabbed a steel pipe on the ground to block an approaching walker.
He was knocked to the ground, the steel pipe slipped from his hand, and that thing pressed down on him.
” Akai!” Su Wanjiao fired her gun, but the magazine was empty.
She had no time to reload.
Lu Chen jumped down from the shelf, kicked the walker away, and with a reverse swing of his sword, ended its life.
But Akai’s chest had already been slashed open by a deep gash.
Blood was seeping out through his fingers, and he was panting, unable to speak, only looking at Su Wanjiao.
Su Wanjiao rushed over, knelt in front of him, and pressed her hand against the wound.
The blood was oozing out from between her fingers, and no matter how hard she pressed, it wouldn’t stop.
” Dr.
Lan Qing!” Lu Chen shouted.
Lan Qing ran over and knelt on the other side.
She glanced at him and shook her head very gently, her face losing its color.
She looked up and at Su Wanjiao, giving her a single, slow nod.
Su Wanjiao didn’t move.
Her fingers remained pressed against Akai’s chest, pressing until his hand completely stopped moving.
The supermarket was very quiet.
Only the zombies outside were still “hooting”.
” Come inside.” Lu Chen pushed the last wall up, blocking the main entrance.
He turned and looked at Su Wanjiao.
She was still kneeling beside Akai.
After a long time, she reached out and closed Akai’s eyelids.
Then she stood up, scooped up half a瓢 of water from the bucket, and slowly wiped the blood from his face.
After doing all this, she turned around.
” Su Wanjiao.” She said, ” I joined the team three years ago.
His name was Akai, and I was the one commanding the soldiers.”
” Lu Chen.”
” I won’t take those buckets of water.” Her voice was hoarse.
She lowered her head, picked up the empty magazines one by one from the ground, and put them back into the ammunition bag.
When she picked up the last one, her hand paused for a moment – that was where Akai had dropped it.
” Lu Chen.” She suddenly looked up at him, staring at him, one word at a time, ” Just now that big thing pushed you, why didn’t you fall?”
Lu Chen looked at her without answering.
Su Wanjiao raised her chin, her eyes burning again: ” There’s one more thing you should listen to.
Pay attention.
This small team left the west of the city four days ago.
We didn’t encounter many zombies along the way – we were being led along by someone.”
” Who?”
” I don’t know.” She said.
” They wore black clothes, with a wolf embroidered on their arms.
They didn’t kill us, but they surrounded you and headed in one direction – towards the east of the city.”
She paused, looking at the slowly dispersing wave of zombies outside, then at the buckets of water in the depths of the supermarket, her voice very low:
“They seem to be looking for water.
They’re looking for living people.
They’re looking for all those who can stand up like you just did, to hold back the tyrant alone.”