Luffy still felt a lingering fear, but also a sense of relief. Fortunately, he didn’t need to breathe, otherwise he really would have suffocated. He pushed his back hard against the zombies behind him, only to tragically realize that he couldn’t budge the combined weight of several layers of zombies pressing against him.
"Damn it!" he cursed inwardly. "The meat in the freezer is all gone, why aren’t they scattering?"
After a while, once all the meat in the freezer was completely depleted, the zombies finally settled down. However, there were so many zombies crammed into the counter area, packed tightly against one another, that there was simply no way out. The zombies outside the counter, on the other hand, had returned to their aimless wandering.
Luffy was trapped dead center behind the counter. The horde was too dense, leaving him no choice but to inch his way out bit by bit.
Meanwhile, not far outside the mall, four drones flew out from the upper-level windows with a loud BUZZ. A small speaker, suspended by the drones, was carried over a street about five hundred meters away from the mall before hovering in place.
Soon, music blared from the speaker. It was the song "Most Dazzling Ethnic Wind," turned up to maximum volume. In the dead silence of the street, the sound was incredibly jarring.
Inside the supermarket, Luffy was still struggling to squeeze through the crowd when he was suddenly distracted by a burst of music. The surrounding zombies also vaguely picked up on the sound, which echoed from the supermarket entrance. One by one, the zombies outside the counter were drawn by the music and broke into a run toward the escalators. The zombies trapped behind the counter grew restless as well, scrambling to climb out.
Luffy froze for a moment, making no move to follow. He had just confirmed his earlier hypothesis: eating to fullness allowed one to resist temptation. At the very least, he now knew it granted resistance to the lure of sound. This was evident from the zombies around him that had gorged on the pork strips. While the zombies that hadn’t gotten any meat were clawing their way out like mad, those that had eaten their fill remained completely indifferent, just like Luffy.
Only then did Luffy turn his attention to the music playing outside the building. The sudden appearance of music clearly indicated that survivors were using it to achieve some specific goal. The chance of this being an accident was slim to none.
Unable to fully grasp the situation, Luffy decided against acting blindly. It was already too late to leave the supermarket; the horde had already swarmed up the escalators and would soon pour out of the mall. If he went out now, he would likely end up alone. Running into survivors in that state would be disastrous. Who said zombies weren’t afraid of survivors? He had miraculously survived by taking on the form of a zombie, and he certainly didn’t want to die now.
CLATTER! CLATTER!
Luffy suddenly whipped his head around. He had heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy rolling shutter door being pulled down.
There really were survivors. This time, he was absolutely certain, as zombies couldn’t even perform basic actions like opening or closing regular doors, let alone pull down a rolling shutter. Furthermore, these survivors were still inside the mall, likely positioned right above the escalators near the entrance.
Luffy shrank back slightly. With only a dozen or so zombies left behind the counter, he hid himself amidst the remaining corpses and kept a cautious eye on the escalator entrance. Gradually, his mouth fell wide open in shock.
After a long pause, he murmured to himself, "You can actually do that?"
It was four survivors disguised as zombies. They were fully armed and geared up in thick hats, swimming goggles, masks, gloves, and cloth boots. Every inch of their clothing was covered in zombie blood and smeared with a thick layer of minced zombie flesh. Even their masks were caked in the foul gore.
The four held their weapons at the ready. One of them, a burly man, wielded a razor-sharp fire axe, while the other three each gripped a pointed ice axe. Looking at them, Luffy inexplicably felt a headache coming on.
Their disguises were incredibly effective. Luffy couldn’t detect a single trace of living human scent on them, and neither could the remaining zombies in the supermarket, treating the intruders as their own kind. One zombie that hadn’t been lured away by the music completely ignored them, shuffling right past the group without realizing a thing.
THWACK!
An ice axe was instantly driven straight into the top of its skull, finishing it off. Seeing this, the burly man in the lead made a few hand signals, and the other three fanned out.
Luffy guessed their objective was to clear out the remaining zombies in the supermarket. Their subsequent actions quickly proved him right.
"Damn it, what a terrible start!" Luffy thought as he ducked down further to conceal himself. "What should I do? Run? No, I can’t outrun them!"
Because zombies had no speed advantage over normal humans, Luffy decisively abandoned the thought of fleeing.
"Fight them to the death? That won’t work either. They outnumber me, and they’re all armed. I definitely can’t beat them!"
He watched the four survivors fight with extraordinary ferocity. The burly man with the fire axe swung his weapon as easily as if it were a plastic toy, but every single swing decapitated a zombie. Even one of the others—a petite figure who was likely a woman—showed no fear of the undead. Every strike of her ice axe found its mark, piercing either a zombie’s crown or temple.
"Damn it, this world really is dangerous!" Luffy lamented as he frantically racked his brain for a solution. Could he rely on the dozen or so zombies around him? They wouldn’t even know what hit them. Since they were all full, their reaction to sound had drastically dulled. They would be slaughtered like cattle.
He had to come up with a plan!
With that in mind, Luffy slowly crouched down and flattened himself against the floor. A sudden idea had struck him: he would play dead. Once they came over and killed the remaining zombies, he could just hide among the fresh corpses. Surely, they wouldn’t notice him. Luffy refused to believe they would be bored enough to stab the head of every single zombie that was already dead on the floor!
Then, once they got what they needed and left, he would make his own quick getaway!
"Damn it, a zombie afraid of humans? No one would believe it if I told them!" Luffy thought self-mockingly.
But soon, a voice completely shattered his beautiful plan. He heard the woman say, "Honey, slow down! Don’t destroy all their brains. If there’s a Corpse Pouch inside, won’t it be a waste? If we find three more, I can become an Evolver too!"
"Evolver?" He fixated on the key term.
"And what exactly is a Corpse Pouch? Why can’t they destroy the zombies’ brains?" After only a moment of confusion, Luffy understood. The realization made his heart race even faster with dread.
Perhaps, just like in those apocalyptic web novels, a Crystal would grow inside a zombie’s head. These Crystals contained Energy that could allow humans to evolve.
"Fuck my life!" Luffy smiled bitterly to himself. "I haven’t even figured out my own body yet, and you guys are already evolving? Are you going to let us zombies live or what?"
Despite his bitter amusement, a stark realization washed over him: he was in serious danger today! These people were planning to crack open heads and dig around inside. Having already died once, Luffy was still very much afraid of death. He even felt his long-stilled heart give a violent thud.
Just then, the burly man spoke up. "Then I’ll go look for some food first. You guys finish off the zombies over there, and then we’ll find some supplies together!"
THWACK! THWACK!
Huddled in a corner, Luffy felt completely speechless at the surrounding zombies. He thought, "Come on, fight back! You’re zombies! Are you really going to let humans smash your heads in like a game of Whack-A-Mole?"
Judging by the trio’s skills, they had slaughtered countless zombies over the past half-month. They were incredibly practiced and had long since shed any fear of the undead.