Most of the zombies’ clothes were still damp, so they didn’t ignite immediately, but the intense burst of heat and the scattering glass shards were still highly destructive.
Very quickly, the air filled with a mixed smell of roasted flesh and corpse rot. The unlucky zombies that caught fire slowed down, while even more zombies noticed the commotion and began turning in this direction.
Holding a baseball bat, Song Jinhe ran to the nearest parked car under Cheng Yan’s cover and swung the bat hard at the window.
A piercing car alarm suddenly rang out.
“…” Cheng Yan stared at Song Jinhe’s actions in shock.
Wasn’t she supposed to use the alarm to lure the zombies away? The zombies were almost gone already, so what was she doing sitting in that car?! Why wasn’t she running?!
At that moment, the people upstairs also heard the commotion below.
Looking at the blaring car downstairs, Deng Miao broke down and shouted, “Jinhe, I’m begging you, save us! Zhang Ping was bitten by a zombie!”
A zombie corpse lay on the floor, while Zhang Ping, who had already turned, had fallen over together with a chair and was crazily roaring at Deng Miao.
Under Deng Miao’s sleeve, two rows of bloody bite marks were oozing blood. She had wanted to cut off her arm, but in the end she didn’t have the courage.
“That bastard Cai Zheng tricked me and ran off by himself. Help me! We’re friends, you can’t abandon me…”
Deng Miao’s face was deathly pale. Amid her regret and fear, resentment began to grow.
If Song Jinhe had helped them yesterday, if she had trusted Zhang Ping and not tied her up, Zhang Ping wouldn’t have been bitten by the zombie, and afterward she wouldn’t have bitten her in revenge.
Why was she the one bitten instead of Song Jinhe and that bastard Cai Zheng?!
Song Jinhe merely glanced upward once before withdrawing her gaze and speeding up her movements.
She was nervous too. Her palms were covered in sweat, and she had no time to deal with the other woman.
A zombie with a broken ankle hanging on by only bits of flesh drooled as it placed its hand against the car window. At the critical moment, the sound of the engine finally roared to life.
Song Jinhe slammed on the gas and shot forward, causing the zombie to lunge at empty air.
It was true that she had a driver’s license, but she hadn’t driven much before. She might not have had much experience dodging zombies, but she was certainly effective at plowing through them.
Mainly because she was driving too fast and didn’t have time to turn the wheel to avoid them, so she simply crashed straight into them.
The zombie in front slammed onto the windshield before falling to the ground, even losing one of its shoes in the process.
Meanwhile, the windshield cracked from the impact, and black blood mixed with rotting chunks of flesh smeared across half her field of vision.
“Holy shit! She’s that fierce?”
Peng Zhixue stared dumbfounded as the car charged out like some war god, sending zombies flying several meters away.
Just as Cheng Yan threw out the second Molotov cocktail, Song Jinhe drove the alarm-blaring car over with a massive swarm of zombies trailing behind it and slammed on the brakes beside the side iron gate.
The zombies inside pressed against the steel bars, their upper and lower teeth clacking together with crisp snapping sounds, clearly a sign of healthy teeth.
Meanwhile, the zombie that had hit the hood and not fully died had also crawled onto the windshield.
Back when she had taken her road test, she was supposed to shift into a lower gear and slow down while turning and parking, but Song Jinhe had shifted wrong instead. She had accidentally accelerated forward and somehow barely managed to stop perfectly in position. It was practically identical to what had just happened.
Any closer, and today they wouldn’t even have been able to open the car door.
“The torch!”
The moment Song Jinhe jumped out of the car, the windshield had already been smashed open with a huge hole, and half a zombie’s body was hanging into the driver’s seat, with a chunk of flesh torn off its cheek.
Cheng Yan reacted quickly. He lit the alcohol-soaked cloth tied to the end of the badminton racket and tossed it through the car window.
The moment the flames touched the alcohol Song Jinhe had poured while getting out of the car, it instantly ignited.
She had deliberately unscrewed the cap of that opened bottle of alcohol and stored it in her space last night specifically to save time.
New zombies kept emerging from every direction.
As Song Jinhe prepared to leave, the corner of her eye suddenly caught sight of a crookedly staggering zombie dropping a car key.
Loot dropped?!
The zombie was wearing a white lab coat, so the car was very likely parked in the employee parking area!
Song Jinhe risked turning back to pick up the key. After confirming which car it belonged to, she rushed over, started the engine, and drove Zhang Yi and Peng Zhixue toward the convenience store.
Seeing Song Jinhe head for the convenience store, Cheng Yan followed as well. Zhang Yi was assigned to stand guard at the entrance while the others went inside to gather supplies.
The convenience store’s front door had long since been broken open. After only a few steps inside, they saw a corpse on the floor that had been eaten down to almost nothing but a skeleton. A huge pool of blood stained the floor red, white maggots writhing through it as a nauseating stench filled the air.
Cheng Yan found one of the small delivery carts used by the store and began piling food onto it. Time was limited, within at most two or three minutes, the zombies would arrive. Everyone simply grabbed whatever they could see.
To conceal the existence of her space, Song Jinhe dug two large plastic bags out from the blood-covered cashier counter.
The speed at which she swept through the shelves made the corners of Cheng Yan’s mouth twitch.
Before the apocalypse, had she been a professional shoplifter or something?
She was unbelievably skilled at it, cookies, chocolate, instant noodles, coffee from the drink fridge, water, juice, everything was dumped into the bags at lightning speed.
Jiang Hongrong and her son together still couldn’t compete with Song Jinhe. They could only watch helplessly as she grabbed the last two self-heating rice meals, the eight-treasure porridge, and the canned yellow peaches. The two grew so anxious their faces turned red as they cursed and mocked her from behind, saying all kinds of nasty things.
Song Jinhe couldn’t care less. Instead of wasting time arguing, it was better to grab more supplies.
While the others were busy carrying supplies to the car, she quickly stored the boxes of water, bread, and instant noodles from the back into her space.
She also took tissues, shampoo, toothbrushes, towels, cups, and other daily necessities. Hardly anyone had bothered taking those before, so there was still plenty left in the convenience store.
She even took the shell wind chime hanging on the door. Once burned, seashells became quicklime, which could be used to make traditional handmade soap.
Industrial products would eventually run out one day, but sustainable production was what ensured long-term survival.
“They’re coming!”
The moment she heard Zhang Yi’s urgent shout, Song Jinhe suddenly stepped on something. Looking down, she discovered it was actually a claw hammer and a pry bar!
She stored the claw hammer in her space, kept the pry bar in hand, and ran out of the convenience store carrying two plastic bags.
She had already opened the trunk when getting out of the car earlier, so she only needed to throw the bags in and shut it.
“How can you do this?!” Jiang Hongrong panicked when she saw how many supplies Song Jinhe had taken. She chased after her and stood beside the car.
“You took everything! What are we supposed to do? Yesterday, we were the ones who opened the door and saved you. You can’t be this selfish. You’re only one person, while we’re two. How about we trade for one bag? Anyway, once we reach the shelter, there won’t be any shortage of supplies.”
Trade? Dream on.
“What happens to you has nothing to do with me,” Song Jinhe said bluntly. “If Cheng Yan and the others hadn’t opened the door yesterday, would I have rushed out in front today? Didn’t you say I lacked morals? Yeah, I do lack morals now, so don’t try to morally blackmail me.”
“How can you talk like that! Don’t you know to respect your eld—”
Before Jiang Hongrong could finish speaking—
“AHHH—!”
A bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out.
She watched as a zombie that had suddenly crawled out tore a chunk of flesh from her son’s leg, instantly causing her to break down screaming.
“Mom, save me! I don’t want to die! Save me!” The young man collapsed on the ground, wailing in agony.