“There’s a building up ahead, let’s hide inside first,” the woman leading the group, Wu Le, said.
The two people behind her quickly agreed and followed her as they turned into the building.
Only half of the entrance was open, and the space was narrow. The other half had already been destroyed, temporarily slowing the relentless pursuit of the mutated animals behind them.
However, once inside the building, a new problem arose. In the silent space, the distinctive growls of zombies and the faint rustling of poisonous insects echoed.
The three of them could only lighten their footsteps as much as possible, planning to find a clean, lockable room to make do for the night.
But everything around them was pitch black, their vision completely obstructed. They did not dare to turn on a flashlight, afraid it would attract monsters.
As they struggled forward, the door behind them was suddenly smashed open, and the mutated animals followed their scent and charged in.
Wu Le and the other two had no choice but to quickly exit through another door and start running again.
There was no other option. At night, the monsters were more numerous and far more aggressive. They simply could not stop.
As exhaustion set in, their pace naturally slowed, yet the monsters behind them continued their relentless pursuit.
At that moment, they heard a voice. “Come over here and hide!”
The three of them no longer had the strength to think. They could only run in the direction of the voice. Then Wu Le felt herself being pulled into a warehouse. Once she realized they were safe, she collapsed onto the ground, gasping heavily as she tried to steady her racing heart.
Gu Yi and Jiang Yu, who came in after her, also could not hold on any longer and fell straight to the ground.
The warehouse doors were shut, cutting off the monsters outside.
Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong exchanged a glance. They had come to this area to hunt zombies and mutated beasts while also searching for supplies. Unexpectedly, they had encountered a large group of mutated beasts. In the chaos, they had taken temporary shelter in this warehouse.
When they first entered, they discovered a small nest of poisonous insects. The two of them quickly eliminated it, then thoroughly checked inside and out. Only after confirming that there were no problems did they relax.
They had not expected that shortly afterward, they would hear another group of monsters approaching. At first, they did not intend to make a sound, but they seemed to hear human voices among them.
So they quickly opened a small crack in the door to check. After confirming that there were indeed humans outside, they called out and guided them here.
“Are you from a nearby shelter? Why are you still outside so late?” Jiang Qing asked.
“No, we came from Y City. Y City has basically fallen. The survivors from the shelters are all fleeing outward, and we got separated from our companions along the way,” Gu Yi explained after resting for a while.
“Y City has fallen?” Jiang Hong was somewhat shocked. Y City was not far from their E City. They had even traveled there with their parents before. It had once been a beautiful city, yet now it had turned into a living hell.
“Yes. A large number of mutated beasts and zombies suddenly flooded in. We don’t know why. A lot of people will probably flee in this direction,” Wu Le said. Since C City was a central hub, large in size and home to many shelters, it was the most likely destination.
“Y City didn’t have this many zombies before. I don’t know why they all gathered there overnight,” Wu Le added with a sigh.
“By the way, I wanted to ask earlier, why aren’t you wearing gas masks?” Gu Yi said. Ever since he came in, something had felt off. Only now did his oxygen deprived brain realize that the two of them were not wearing gas masks.
“We are wearing them.” Jiang Hong tapped the mask on her face. “This is a new gas mask from our shelter. It’s thin, breathable, and fits the skin. Once you wear it, it feels like you’re not wearing anything at all, completely effortless.”
The three of them looked more carefully. With the firelight in the warehouse, they could indeed see another layer over their faces, like a semi transparent film completely covering them.
“What shelter are you from? There are already gas masks like this?” Wu Le asked in amazement.
“Sunrise Shelter. It’s newly built, but everything there is the best. This kind of gas mask is only available at our place.”
As they spoke, the water Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong had been boiling was ready. This was clean water they had brought from the shelter, specifically to boil and use for preparing the convenient food they had taken with them.
They took out white food boxes, instantly attracting the attention of the three people across from them.
They had been traveling in a hurry. Aside from the mutated crystal cores they carried, they had brought very little food, and what they had was already gone. So when Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong began preparing the food and its aroma started to spread, their gazes were completely fixed on it.
What was that? Were they dreaming? It was actually food from before the apocalypse, rice, vegetables, and meat, filling an entire box.
“Th-this… what is this?” Wu Le and the others were so shocked that they could barely speak clearly.
“This is food we can receive for free every day at our shelter. It’s very convenient to eat like this when we’re out in the wild,” Jiang Hong said, even taking the opportunity to promote the shelter.
“You can get this kind of food for free every day?!” Among the three, the usually quiet Jiang Yu could not help but speak.
“Yes, and our shelter also provides water and electricity twenty four hours a day.” What started as simple promotion gradually turned into unmistakable pride in their voices.
“Is there really such a good shelter? Can we join? What are the requirements?” Wu Le asked eagerly.
“Yes, our shelter has already been destroyed. We’re currently looking for a place to stay,” Gu Yi added. “Could you help introduce us?”
“Of course. Since our shelter is newly built, the Administrator said everyone is welcome to join,” Jiang Hong said with a nod. “Once the monsters outside leave, we’ll head back to the shelter. You can come with us and take a look.”
As they spoke, the aroma made the three of them so hungry that their stomachs began to growl loudly.
Seeing this, Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong took out two more boxes from their bag. “We still have two portions left. Do you want them? You can share them. Since you’re not members of our shelter yet, it’ll be one Level 2 mutated crystal core per portion. If you were shelter members, one Level 1 mutated crystal core would be enough.”
“One Level 2 mutated crystal core? And after joining, just a Level 1? Are you sure? This price…”
“We’ll take them.” Wu Le immediately took out two Level 2 mutated crystal cores and handed them to Jiang Hong and Jiang Qing, then received the meal boxes.
They followed the same method, placing the boxes into hot water.
Before long, they had two full portions of food.
The three of them divided the food and began devouring it. The taste made it impossible for them to stop.
After finishing, although they were not completely full, the hot food in their stomachs allowed their tightly wound nerves to finally relax a little.
This made them begin to imagine what life would be like in the new shelter, whether it was truly as good as described.
They waited until dawn the next day, when the sounds outside had completely disappeared. After opening the door slightly to check, the monsters were nowhere to be seen.
Only then did they leave the warehouse and prepare to return to Sunrise Shelter.
Sunrise Shelter was neither very far nor very close. Although there were fewer monsters during the day than at night, they were still present. They detoured, avoided, and fought back along the way. It still took them more than half a day before they finally saw the shelter’s walls.
Just as they stepped into the shelter, Gu Yi suddenly collapsed to the ground. At some point earlier, his mask had been damaged. During the journey, it had cracked, and he had inhaled a significant amount of radiation contaminated air.
Jiang Yu and Wu Le quickly supported him. When they saw the crack on his mask, despair appeared on their faces. As long as a person inhaled too much radioactive air, it would cause irreversible damage to the human body.
Since the beginning of the apocalypse, countless people had died from the radioactive substances in the air.
“Wait here, I’ll go get the Administrator,” Jiang Qing said. Jiang Hong followed as well, both of them fully aware of how dangerous radiation was as they hurried toward the shelter entrance.
Tang Ye was not in her room at that moment, but at the recycling and reconstruction station. The toilet paper, sanitary pads, and towels had already been produced. Some even came in packaged sets, and there were quite a lot of them. At a glance, each type numbered in the hundreds. Tang Ye planned to take these items out for sale as well.
Just as she finished packing everything and placing it into the storage cabinet, she heard Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong calling from outside, their voices urgent.
Tang Ye quickly locked the recycling station door and stepped out.
“What happened?” Since unrelated people were not allowed in this area, the two of them stood at the entrance of the corridor, their faces filled with anxiety.
“There are three survivors outside who want to join us, but one of them has a cracked mask and inhaled a large amount of radioactive air. He seems like he’s about to die!”
In Jiang Qing and Jiang Hong’s eyes, Tang Ye was capable of anything, so they instinctively came back to seek her help.
“Wait for me.” Realizing the urgency, Tang Ye quickly went to the laboratory, took a dose of anti radiation agent, and followed them to the surface.
“Do they have mutated crystal cores? Everything in the shelter requires an exchange to be used,” Tang Ye said.
The two of them nodded. “Yes, they do. Last night they even used crystal cores to exchange for our boxed meals.”
By the time they reached the surface, Gu Yi had already lost consciousness. The two people beside him were anxiously calling his name.
“Do you have a Level 4 mutated crystal core?” Tang Ye asked directly.
“This is our Administrator. She can save him. Give her one Level 4 mutated crystal core first,” Jiang Hong explained quickly.
The two of them clung to this last hope, immediately finding a Level 4 mutated crystal core and placing it into Tang Ye’s hand.
“Please, save him.” Wu Le’s voice was already choked with emotion.
Tang Ye accepted the crystal core without hesitation and directly injected the anti radiation agent into the man’s body.