A person got out of the car. The woman was wearing a windbreaker and a mask, her face completely obscured, holding a knife in her hand.
The man came out from the side. He was dressed rather sloppily, his gaze cold.
“Sa… save me…” Zhao Desheng instinctively reached out his hand for help.
But the two of them didn’t even look at him. They walked straight into the back room.
Zhou Li had already managed to crawl toward her daughter. Tongtong was still young, but seeing her mother refusing to give up, she also struggled to move closer.
However, the zombies outside had gathered together, and their strength was enormous. The shutter door was already damaged, and with so many of them slamming against it, the gap quickly widened.
A hand was about to grab Tongtong’s leg.
Zhou Li knew how strong those things were—strong enough to tear a person apart alive.
She forced her body upright with everything she had, trying to shield her daughter.
But it was too late. Suddenly, a flash of cold light—one of the zombie’s arms fell inside the shop.
Immediately after, the child was lifted up in one motion. Zhou Li felt the weight on her body suddenly loosen; the restraints had been cut. The rope fell to the ground, and was quickly picked up again.
“Move.”
A soft but firm female voice rang out. Zhou Li didn’t even have time to look properly before she hurriedly reached for her daughter.
Fu Yinli stepped forward. Through the door, he used a sharp crossbow bolt to stab directly into the zombies’ eyes. Once it penetrated, the zombie would die.
A zombie could also be killed by piercing the skull or cutting off its head, but the skull was not so easy to penetrate. It required either great strength or a very strong weapon.
Fu Yinli considered his strength decent, but the human skull was inherently hard. Cutting the neck would be faster.
However, with the door blocking him, it wasn’t convenient to use a blade. Guns were too wasteful. His crossbow wasn’t perfectly accurate, but at this close range, he could only rely on sharp bolts to kill the zombies.
But as more people arrived, the zombies became excited and more forceful. The shutter door looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“Hide somewhere,” Ruan Zhe said, leading Zhou Li and her daughter into another room. She handed each of them an iron rod and a bag of food. “May you survive.”
Of course, these things didn’t come from their vehicle. In fact, half an hour earlier, their RV had silently arrived here.
They discovered it was a not-too-large wet market. After observing for a while, they found there were no living people left—only chaos everywhere.
But this was a market!
When the car arrived, it stopped in the fresh meat section. But after so many days, all the pork, beef, and lamb had already spoiled. There was nothing edible left.
So they took the mincing machine and the butchering tools from the stalls.
As for live chickens and ducks, that was impossible—no living animals could survive here with zombies present. They did manage to collect some unbroken eggs—chicken, duck, and century eggs.
Ruan Zhe also stored several cages for poultry into her space.
All the prepared foods and braised dishes in the cooked food shops had spoiled as well; she only took some serving plates.
There were no living creatures left in the seafood section either. From the chilled display, they barely managed to salvage a few edible fish.
In the live fish tanks, almost nothing survived. In the end, only a few grass carp remained, which Ruan Zhe stored into her farm along with their water and basin.
They took five or six basins, but only three fish.
Just as they were about to continue searching elsewhere, the two of them noticed the disturbance here.
Fortunately, there weren’t many zombies. Hidden in the shadows, they saw that the zombies were concentrating their attack on this one shop.
From the back room, they heard the full story.
As soon as Zhao Desheng stuck his head out, Ruan Zhe drove straight into him without hesitation.
As for the iron rods and other items, those were things they had casually grabbed earlier. Giving them to the mother and daughter, along with some food scavenged from the market, was already more than enough.
Zhou Li nodded. She wanted to say something—like begging them to save them again—but in the end, she didn’t.
They could kill Zhao Desheng so easily; they could also kill them.
Without them, she and Tongtong would already be dead.
Zhou Li didn’t look at Zhao Desheng, who was barely alive on the ground. She took her daughter and left. If they wanted to survive, they needed to find shelter and supplies—just like those two people.
The rain grew heavier, but the inside of the wet market was mostly sheltered, only slightly flooded.
After sending Zhou Li and her daughter away and seeing that they didn’t head toward the RV, Ruan Zhe picked up her iron rod and followed behind Fu Yinli.
The two of them didn’t have much experience fighting zombies, but Fu Yinli seemed to have trained before—he was stronger and faster.
Ruan Zhe felt a bit tired from the earlier scavenging, but she had to get used to killing zombies.
“Move aside,” she said, lifting her iron rod.
Fu Yinli stepped away, and a zombie rushed forward—only to have its neck pierced by her in one strike.
It was somewhat difficult; the scene and smell were disgusting.
But she didn’t have time to feel nauseated. She pulled the rod out, and more zombies rushed in like mad.
Zombies felt no pain or fear, but there weren’t many of them. Fu Yinli immediately drew his long blade and struck down.
“Missed the neck!”
Ruan Zhe quickly retreated. They didn’t plan to force a direct fight; instead, they relied on the doors and windows of the shops to attack.
Fu Yinli’s slash missed the zombie’s neck and hit near the shoulder instead, so they both quickly fell back.
They retreated to the back room. The wooden door there was fragile and already had a hole in it. After they got out, they blocked it with a rod, then waited with weapons for the zombies to emerge.
The zombies kept slamming the door and reaching in, but Fu Yinli struck down without hesitation.
A severed hand would be replaced by another—zombies didn’t have intelligence.
So the two of them stood on either side of the doorway. When another hand reached in, Ruan Zhe swung the bone-chopping knife down.
The zombie’s head eagerly pushed in—and this time, Fu Yinli did not miss.
They had confirmed there were only a few zombies in this wet market before daring to act.
Wet markets were open, crowded places with few hiding spots. After a zombie outbreak, it would spread quickly and survivors would become rare.
Zombies also tracked the scent of living humans.
And survivors would not choose such places as shelters.
So that man earlier, for his own survival, had lured zombies out using his wife and daughter—utterly insane.
But in the apocalypse, human nature could be far more terrifying.
They held the door tightly. Several times it nearly broke open, but just before it collapsed, they finally killed all the zombies.
Afterward, Ruan Zhe felt a surge of excitement, her hands warming—her adrenaline still high.
Then she turned around, eyes lighting up: “I want all of this!”
“I have a guess,” Fu Yinli said.