Ye Xihe looked at Su Nian worriedly.
Su Nian forced a smile. “It’s okay. Actually, I envy you and Brother Ye. My relationship with my younger brother has never been very good…”
“Then what are you planning to do next? Are you going to look for them?”
Su Nian fell silent for a moment.
“I…”
“I’m actually worried about my mother, but…”
From what Xihe had described, there was definitely something strange about the mall. She couldn’t ask her teammates to risk their lives for her.
Ye Xihe knew very little about Su Nian’s family and wasn’t sure how to comfort her, especially since this was the first time Su Nian had spoken about them.
“What are you afraid of?”
At some point, Xu Wen had wandered over. He slapped Su Nian on the shoulder and said,
“Just call me Big Brother, and I’ll go charging in with you.”
Su Nian punched him.
Still, Xu Wen’s interruption improved her gloomy mood somewhat.
…
That night.
Su Nian quietly got up from beside Ye Xihe, put on all her protective gear, and slipped toward the door.
“Sister Su Nian.”
Before she could open it, Ye Xihe’s voice sounded behind her.
Her body stiffened as she turned around.
Xu Wen stood beside Ye Xihe, smiling at her. “Heading out alone this late? Going moon-gazing?”
From the left, Ye Huizhou picked up the conversation.
“Planning to abandon your teammates?”
Although Gu Zhuoye said nothing, he silently walked over and leaned lazily against a shelf. His attitude was obvious.
Su Nian stared blankly at them, feeling warmth spread through her chest until her eyes almost watered.
“You all…”
Ye Xihe hooked her arm through Su Nian’s and tilted her head against her shoulder.
“Are you going to the mall, Sister Su Nian? Let’s go together.”
Before dawn, the darkness was thick as ink, and the gray fog had reached its densest point.
Su Nian shook her head.
“Right now is when the gray fog is at its worst. Going out now is too dangerous. Since everyone has decided to come with me, we might as well wait until daylight. At least the fog won’t affect us as much then.”
Everyone agreed, so they waited until morning.
When Tao Zhaochuan saw them fully equipped and ready to go, panic flashed across his face.
“Are you leaving? Can you take us with you?”
Ye Huizhou replied, “No. We’ll be back by noon.”
Tao Zhaochuan gave an awkward couple of acknowledgements.
Truthfully, he was afraid they might leave for good, but if they wanted to go, there was nothing he could do to stop them.
On the way to the mall, Ye Xihe saw the bow seller again.
This time, two people were with him, seemingly a father and daughter. The little girl looked about seven or eight years old, while the father clumsily struggled to braid her hair.
The group circled the mall once.
Perhaps because so many people had already come through this area, there was nothing around except bloodstains and zombie corpses scattered on the ground.
“We encountered the zombie horde at the northern emergency stairwell yesterday. This time, we’ll go up from the south side.”
“Captain Ye, are we heading straight to the fourth floor?”
Ye Huizhou considered it before shaking his head.
“No! We already know that the basement, first floor, and fifth floor are empty. If we’re looking for people, we need to check the second, third, and fourth floors.”
Su Nian pursed her lips.
“I’ll scout ahead first.”
“No need.” Ye Huizhou stopped her. “Judging by what we saw on the first floor, there’s probably nothing on the second or third floors. The real problem is on the fourth.”
Ye Xihe added, “But we still can’t let our guard down. Be careful no matter what.”
The group quietly entered the southern emergency stairwell.
Just like yesterday, it was completely silent.
However, the stainless steel handrails were now streaked with long trails of dried blood.
Gu Zhuoye brushed his fingers across them.
“Half-dried. Someone came through here last night.”
The fire door on the second floor stood open, revealing a pitch-black shopping area beyond.
Gu Zhuoye conjured a fireball.
The second floor was spotless. There were barely even any bloodstains.
With Su Nian leading the way, the group quickly searched the entire floor but found nothing.
Then they headed up to the third floor.
Strangely enough, the third-floor fire door was open as well.
But large patches of blood stained the entrance, and the door itself was covered in charred black marks.
Gu Zhuoye crouched down and touched the blood with two fingers.
“It’s the same as the blood on the handrails. Probably from around the same time.”
Everyone’s hearts tightened.
Compared to the second floor, the third floor was a horrifying sight.
Blood sprayed across the floors and walls, while scorch marks covered nearly every surface.
Using the light from Gu Zhuoye’s flames, they slowly advanced deeper inside.
After walking a short distance, both Su Nian and Gu Zhuoye abruptly stopped.
“What is it?”
Curious, Xu Wen stepped forward.
Then he sucked in a sharp breath.
Ahead of them was a mountain of charred skeletons stacked all the way to the ceiling.
The sight frightened Ye Xihe enough to make her take a step back.
Su Nian pressed her lips together.
“This doesn’t look like a place where anyone could still be alive. Let’s just leave.”
Everyone turned around and started heading back.
They had only taken a few steps when a deafening explosion erupted overhead.
Boom!
The ceiling of the floor above shattered open, and steel-reinforced concrete came crashing down toward them.
Gu Zhuoye was directly behind Ye Xihe. The instant the noise sounded, he made a split-second decision, pulling her into his arms and rolling across the ground.
Held tightly by his powerful arm, Ye Xihe spun through a dizzying whirl. All she could feel was the hard strength of his muscles and the broad hand protecting the back of her head.
Ye Huizhou reacted just as quickly, moving at almost the same moment as Gu Zhuoye, but the collapsing concrete cut him off.
Su Nian possessed a speed-type ability and naturally escaped without issue.
Xu Wen, however, was buried beneath the rubble.
Before anyone could rush over, a shout erupted from within the debris.
“Ha!”
The pile exploded apart from the center, revealing a golden-skinned Xu Wen frozen in a bodybuilder pose.
Pebbles and chunks of rubble flew everywhere, several striking Ye Huizhou squarely in his handsome face.
Ye Huizhou: …
He wiped his face and was just about to have a serious talk with Xu Wen when his expression changed.
“Xu Wen! Fall back!”
Almost at the exact moment Xu Wen reacted, a massive black-purple figure dropped through the gaping hole in the ceiling.
Gu Zhuoye’s pupils contracted.
The flames in his palm surged.
“This is a C-rank Zombie with lightning abilities!”
“Lightning?”
Ye Huizhou hurled a lightning blade at the zombie, but it left no mark whatsoever.
Everyone’s hearts sank.
Abilities of the same element could not harm each other.
That meant they had effectively lost one of their strongest combatants, Ye Huizhou.
The harmless attacks only enraged the zombie further. Roaring, it charged straight at him.
Gu Zhuoye’s flames wove themselves into vines that wrapped around the rampaging creature.
The zombie’s immense strength made him grunt heavily.
The muscles in his arms tightened, veins bulging as he struggled to hold it back.
Ye Xihe glanced at him worriedly as a soft healing light bloomed in her hands.
Xu Wen’s ability manifested into a massive broadsword. He charged forward and hacked at the zombie with simple brute force while shouting to Ye Huizhou,
“Captain Ye! Your ability won’t work here anyway. Why don’t you go outside and see if you can find reinforcements?”
Ye Huizhou gritted his teeth and let out a mocking laugh.
“The people outside would rather see us dead so they can take our supplies for themselves.”
He picked up a length of exposed rebar from the rubble and gripped it tightly.
“Who said I can only fight with my ability?”