Over the next hour, the two of them discussed and planned things out, eventually coming up with a preliminary “Three-Step Plan to Escape Rong City.”
Step One: Go from the movie theater on the 7th floor down to the underground parking lot on B2 of the mall. There would definitely be zombies in the parking lot, but probably not many. Ye Ling would deal with the zombies as quickly as possible, while Jiang Qi would search their bodies for car keys. The moment they found a set of keys, they would immediately drive away.
Step Two: Travel from Xingguang Commercial Center to Rong Mountain Scenic Area. No one could predict what might happen along the 15-kilometer journey. If they encountered special circumstances along the way and could escape, they would use distractions to draw the zombies’ attention and flee while they had the chance. If they couldn’t escape… then they could only blame their bad luck.
Also, if they failed to reach Rong Mountain Scenic Area before dark, they would first find a safe place to stay for the night and continue after sunrise. Traveling at night carried too much risk when visibility was poor.
Step Three: From Rong Mountain Scenic Area, head toward either the highway or a rural town. If everything went smoothly, they should be able to leave Rong City within two days.
Using the limited materials inside the theater hall, Ye Ling made a small steel crossbow.
“Miss Jiang, use this crossbow. Just aim for the zombie’s forehead and fire.”
Jiang Qi shook her head and refused.
“No need. A crossbow doesn’t suit me.”
Ye Ling explained, “I already made the crossbow smaller. It should be easier for you to—”
“It’s not about convenience. I have absolutely no experience using a crossbow.”
Jiang Qi had a very clear understanding of her own capabilities.
“A complete beginner, running for her life in a panic. Do you really think I’d be able to hit anything accurately?”
She had never even killed a chicken or a duck herself before. And now, with zero experience, she was supposed to skip straight to using a crossbow to kill zombies?
What a joke. At this rate, she might miss the zombie entirely and accidentally shoot her teammate instead.
After thinking about it, Ye Ling felt she had a point. He immediately slung the crossbow onto his waist.
“Then what are you going to do without a weapon?”
If zombies lunged at her, she had to fight back somehow. Ye Ling didn’t believe he could block every danger. While he knew how to shoot and could make crossbows, those skills were just hobbies. He had never pursued shooting professionally, and his skill level could only be considered proficient. Only when he was in particularly good form could he barely reach the level of excellent.
“Hmm… how about this? Just turn the bottom of this frying pan into a spiked shape for me.”
Jiang Qi handed over her frying pan.
“It’ll be easier for me to smash things with this.”
Ye Ling looked at his crossbow, then at the frying pan Jiang Qi handed him. After two seconds of silence, he nodded.
“Alright.”
Using a frying pan as a weapon…
It reminded him of a cartoon he had watched back in school, where one of the animal characters often used a frying pan.
Ye Ling’s ability was extremely convenient. Not only did he turn the bottom of Jiang Qi’s frying pan into a sharp, spiked surface, but he also lengthened the handle considerably.
“Try it.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Qi took the modified frying pan and swung it a few times in her hand. Other than feeling heavier, it had no drawbacks.
“It feels great. Thanks.”
The corners of Ye Ling’s lips lifted slightly as he replied politely, “You’re welcome. This way, if you stand behind me, I’ll feel safer too.”
Since they had formed a team, they needed to build mutual trust, even if they had only known each other for three hours.
Jiang Qi also stored the sling bag she was carrying in her spatial ring.
“Are we leaving now?”
“Yeah. We leave now.”
The two stood behind the exit door on the left side of the movie screen. This was the closest spot in Theater Hall 8 to the emergency stairwell. Earlier, they had already looked up the floor plan of Xingguang Commercial Center online and studied the layout of every corner and hallway, figuring out the fastest route.
Gripping the white string tightly in his hand, Ye Ling turned back to Jiang Qi.
“Ready?”
After taking a deep breath, Jiang Qi nodded. “Ready!”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
Ye Ling yanked hard on the white string in his hand, causing the musical plush toy hanging from the entrance door handle of Theater Hall 8 to fall to the floor.
“La la la~ I’m the little newspaper-selling expert~”
The sudden nursery rhyme echoed through the quiet entrance of Theater Hall 8. The zombies wandering the corridor reacted like starving wolves spotting an injured sheep. Roaring and sprinting, they all charged toward the source of the sound at the theater entrance.
“ROAR!!!”
Bang bang bang.
Thud thud thud.
Then came the sounds of zombies crazily slamming their bodies and heads against the door.
The entrance doors of Theater Hall 8 had already been reinforced by Ye Ling with steel and other materials, so they wouldn’t break open from a single hit. But with enough continuous battering, they would eventually give way.
Jiang Qi heard the sound of zombies running outside the door to their left. Nervously, she counted in her head.
1… 2… 3… 4… 5…
The moment she reached five, Ye Ling twisted the handle with a click and opened the door.
There was blood on the corridor floor outside, but no zombies!
Ye Ling exited Theater Hall 8 first, and Jiang Qi immediately followed, shutting the door behind her.
Their diversion tactic had succeeded.
While most of the zombies had been lured away by the plush toy and the sounds of pounding on the door, the two of them swiftly and silently reached the emergency stairwell.
The emergency stairwell from the 7th floor to the 6th floor had no zombies, and there were no bloodstains on the ground either.
Jiang Qi carefully closed the stairwell door, terrified of making even the slightest sound that might attract zombies. She tried to keep both her breathing and footsteps as quiet as possible.
Ye Ling gestured for her to follow.
Jiang Qi nodded, gripping the frying pan tightly with both hands as she followed behind him with a serious expression.
Don’t be scared. Worst case, I die. If I’m not even afraid of dying, what else is there to fear?
She could only keep encouraging herself inwardly because she was so nervous.
The emergency stairwell from the 6th floor to the 5th floor also had no zombies and no bloodstains.
The lack of blood on two consecutive floors was probably because, by the time the zombies had flooded into the 6th and 7th floors of the mall, there had already been too many of them. Anyone trying to escape probably never even made it to the stairwell.
The emergency stairwell from the 5th floor to the 4th floor had no zombies either, but there were bloodstains on the ground.
Looking at the chaotic blood smears and bloody footprints trailing from the 5th floor down toward the 4th floor—and continuing farther downward—Ye Ling immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Could it be that two hours ago, someone had been injured and fled down the emergency stairwell, attracting a wave of zombies behind them?
Ye Ling thought it was highly possible.
He raised two fingers. It was one of the hand signals they had agreed on earlier while planning their escape from Rong City.
One meant safe, no need to fight.
Two meant unsafe, prepare to fight.
Three meant extremely dangerous, be ready to run at any moment.
Right now, it was two.
Jiang Qi nodded to show she understood the signal, but internally, her thoughts were endlessly repeating.
I’m going to fight zombies. I’m going to fight zombies. I’m going to fight zombies. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. I’m not scared. Just treat it like a game…
Just treat it like a game. Just treat it like a game…
Ye Ling had no idea Jiang Qi was psyching herself up through relentless mental repetition. Holding up the crossbow in his hands, he slowly descended the stairs. Firearms absolutely could not be used in this situation. The noise would only attract more zombies.
If they wanted to successfully find a car and leave Xingguang Commercial Center, they couldn’t afford to make too much commotion.
Fortunately, things weren’t as bad as they had imagined. They didn’t run face-first into dozens of zombies in the stairwell.
But there really were zombies in the emergency stairwell between the 3rd and 2nd floors.
It was just that this particular zombie had fallen down the stairs while escaping, breaking its leg and leaving it unable to stand.
A sharp whoosh cut through the air.
Before the zombie even noticed them, Ye Ling had already fired a crossbow bolt straight into its forehead.
According to their division of responsibilities, Jiang Qi handled logistics while Ye Ling handled offense and defense, so she immediately suppressed her nausea and crouched down to inspect the zombie.
A name tag was pinned to the zombie’s suit jacket.
The tag read: “Manager Zhao.”
If he was a manager, then he probably had a car in the parking lot, right?
Jiang Qi quickly spotted a remote car key hanging together with the keys on “Manager Zhao’s” belt.
Found it!
She picked up the remote car key and waved it at Ye Ling, signaling that they had secured the crucial getaway item—the car key.
Their luck wasn’t bad. They hadn’t wasted too much time searching for it.
The two continued downward.
At the same time, Jiang Qi removed the remote key from the keyring and held it tightly in her palm.
Now she had a frying pan in her right hand and the remote car key in her left.
As long as they reached the parking garage, they’d be able to leave Xingguang Commercial Center safely!
Just as she was thinking that…
They heard a chilling chewing sound coming from the parking garage below.
It wasn’t the sound of an ordinary animal eating. It sounded more like over a dozen hyenas on the African savannah greedily tearing apart an antelope together.
Clearly, a large number of zombies were blocking the way ahead.
Jiang Qi’s scalp tingled, goosebumps rising all over her body.
The two stood frozen on the stairs between B1 and B2, unable to continue downward. They even retreated up another flight.
“What do we do?” Jiang Qi mouthed silently to Ye Ling. “Should we use the diversion tactic again?”
Ye Ling nodded.
“Yes.”
But they needed to think carefully about how to do it. Simply throwing a toy out there definitely wouldn’t work.
Jiang Qi took out a small remote-controlled car from her spatial ring. Her gaze swept up and down the stairwell a few times before her eyes suddenly lit up.
She had an idea!
Ten minutes later…
A small remote-controlled car with a singing, dancing cactus tied to it came wobbling into view before the zombies, blaring noisy music.
“ROAR!!!”
The zombies, who had nearly finished gnawing on the corpse, immediately chased after the little car.
Listening to the nonstop pounding footsteps echoing through the parking garage, Jiang Qi’s face turned pale.
Just how many zombies were down here?!
Fortunately, she had come prepared!
Jiang Qi pulled her shared electric scooter directly out of her spatial ring.
Ye Ling was only startled for a brief moment before climbing onto it. Jiang Qi quickly hopped on behind him, and the two rode the scooter straight into the parking garage, heading in the opposite direction from the zombie horde lured away by the remote-controlled car.
Underground parking garages were usually enormous.
If they searched for the vehicle on foot, they would one hundred percent end up surrounded by zombies.
Using the scooter as transportation was far better. It would help them locate Manager Zhao’s car much faster.
Jiang Qi gripped the remote key tightly, repeatedly pressing the unlock button as they passed the parked vehicles around the garage.
By now, some zombies had already noticed them and begun charging over with furious roars. Jiang Qi didn’t even dare turn around to look, afraid she wouldn’t be able to handle it mentally if she did.
“ROAR!!!”
Cold sweat poured down Jiang Qi’s back as she continued pressing the remote key.
Thankfully, the zombie outbreak had started at 10 a.m., so there weren’t many cars parked in the massive garage. If there had been more, people could practically get lost here.
Beep beep.
The sound of a car unlocking rang out like the arrival of a savior. Ye Ling immediately stopped the scooter and sprinted toward the black business van with flashing lights.
“Hurry up and follow me!”
Jiang Qi instantly stored away her precious shared scooter and rushed after him at top speed.
“Save me! Please save me!”
Just as Ye Ling got into the driver’s seat and Jiang Qi was about to climb into the passenger seat, cries for help suddenly came from a white car not far behind them.
Inside was a thin, ordinary-looking man wearing glasses.
He stared at the two of them through the car window with pitiful, pleading eyes.
“Save me! Please! Save me!”
In the brief span of half a second, Jiang Qi and Ye Ling exchanged a glance.
Ye Ling frowned and shook his head.
“Can’t save him.”
Hearing that, Jiang Qi immediately gritted her teeth and got into the car.
“Then let’s go!”
There was truly no way to save him. All the commotion from earlier had already drawn the surrounding zombies over. If they didn’t leave now, they would end up trapped here themselves.
Besides, if the skinny man had really wanted to survive, he should have gotten out and followed them the moment they found the car instead of hiding inside and waiting for them to rescue him.
That was how the apocalypse worked.
If you didn’t save yourself, no one could save you.