Lin Ya ran all the way out of the small Inn, gradually slowing her pace until she was certain she was safe before finally stopping to catch her breath. Both her hands were trembling slightly from swinging around two five-liter buckets of water for so long.
There weren’t many zombies around, only a few scattered ones wandering in the distance, so they posed no immediate threat to her. Only then did she finally have a chance to properly observe her surroundings.
Fortunately, she was in the suburbs. Apart from the five-star hotel, the other areas didn’t have much foot traffic.
Abandoned vehicles were scattered along the streets, while the windows of some shops had been smashed, their broken glass glittering on the ground. Advertising signs hung at crooked angles, their posters torn and battered, while pools of blood stained the pavement, making it impossible not to imagine the lives that had been lost.
Her gaze shifted toward the nearby buildings. The windows of some apartments were tightly shut, with their curtains drawn firmly closed, leaving her with no idea whether anyone was still living inside. She didn’t dare approach recklessly. In this apocalypse, the most frightening things were often not the zombies, but the humans who would stop at nothing to survive.
At that moment, Lin Ya’s heart was filled with uncertainty and anxiety. She didn’t know where she should go next, nor whether she would be able to find other survivors.
“Girl downstairs!”
A loud voice, as boisterous as an old woman doing square dancing, suddenly came from above. Lin Ya looked up slightly.
“Bring me the purified water you’re holding! I’ll give you twenty thousand!”
The old woman’s voice remained deafening. Seeing what she was doing, the other people in the building became afraid that they would be too late and no one would bring them supplies, so one middle-aged man even grabbed a megaphone.
“Bring me a few packs of instant noodles, and I’ll give you all my savings!”
For a moment, the place where Lin Ya stood became as noisy as a marketplace. All sorts of voices came shouting down from the building, and many people even started throwing cash from the upper floors while yelling,
“I’ll give you the money first! Help me bring some food upstairs!”
The first old woman to shout even started arguing with someone in the neighboring window. Apparently, the man next door claimed that there was still water coming from the tap and wanted her to bring up food, while the old woman insisted that tap water was dirty and that she wanted purified water.
Regardless of how much they argued, Lin Ya quickly ran forward beneath the rain of banknotes. Such a huge commotion was bound to attract zombies.
It was already getting dark, and she had to find somewhere to stay as quickly as possible.
She ran while observing her surroundings until her gaze landed on the sign of a discount clothing store. Although the shop’s display window was shattered, there was a metal security grille outside it, and the door was half open, almost as if it were beckoning her inside.
Lin Ya cautiously approached the clothing store, gripping tightly onto the water bucket she had already drunk some of the water from, ready to deal with any possible threat at any moment.
Her footsteps crunched over the broken glass, and with every step, her heart rose into her throat. Fortunately, the original owner liked wearing sneakers. Otherwise, she would have been completely screwed by now!
As soon as she stepped inside, a strong smell of blood assaulted her nose, while her eyes struggled to adjust to the dim lighting. She tightened her grip on the water bucket and listened carefully for any unusual sounds.
Suddenly, she heard a faint growl, and her heart immediately jumped into her throat.
Lin Ya held her breath and slowly moved toward the source of the sound. She casually set down the water bucket in her hand and picked up a steel clothing rack pole lying beside her feet. It had originally been used to hang clothes in the store, but now it had become a weapon in her hands.
As she slowly approached, she discovered a zombie trapped beneath a pile of collapsed clothing racks.
The zombie was dressed in tattered clothes, its skin pale and cracked, with the veins on its face clearly visible. Its eyes were empty and lifeless, filled only with a craving for the flesh of the living. Its arms flailed helplessly through the air, trying to grab Lin Ya, but its lower body was firmly pinned beneath the clothing racks, leaving it unable to move.
She had to eliminate this threat as quickly as possible.
Lin Ya took a deep breath and steadied herself before slowly raising the steel clothing rack pole in her hand. Her eyes locked onto the zombie’s head. Only by striking there could she completely eliminate the threat.
With light and steady footsteps, she moved around to the zombie’s side and rear, finding the perfect position from which to attack. The zombie seemed to sense what she was planning, its groans becoming more urgent as its arms thrashed even more wildly.
Lin Ya’s heartbeat quickened, and her arm tensed as she held her breath before suddenly swinging the steel pole downward with all her strength. The pole traced a deadly arc through the air with a sharp whoosh before striking the zombie directly in the head.
A dull impact echoed through the store as the steel pole pierced through the zombie’s skull and sank deep into its brain. Its body jolted violently before collapsing limply to the ground, never to move again.
Lin Ya’s breathing became rapid, and her body trembled slightly from tension and fear. This was the first zombie she had ever killed, and for a moment, she couldn’t quite recover from the shock. Her sudden transmigration and the arrival of the apocalypse made her feel as though her body were deprived of oxygen, leaving her struggling to breathe.
She gripped the steel clothing rack pole tightly and cautiously surveyed her surroundings, making sure there were no other threats.
A few seconds later, after confirming that she was safe, she finally let out a sigh of relief. She pulled the steel pole free and carefully avoided the zombie’s corpse before continuing to search the store for the supplies she needed.
Finally, she found several folding backpacks among a pile of assorted bags, each marked with a price of 9.9. They weren’t particularly valuable, but they were small, lightweight, sturdy, and surprisingly spacious.
She quickly opened two backpacks and stuffed the remaining backpacks into the outer pockets of the opened ones. Then she carefully began exploring the clothing store, filling the backpacks with everything she needed.
Just as she was busy gathering supplies, she heard heavy footsteps coming from outside the door. Lin Ya’s heart sank as she wondered whether it was a person or a zombie.
She glanced around, and her eyes were drawn to a fire axe hanging on the wall.
Lin Ya quickly grabbed the fire axe, slung the backpack over her shoulders, took a deep breath, and then suddenly charged out of the clothing store. She saw several zombies approaching and swung the axe with all her strength, hacking at their necks.
As she sprinted down the street, the same loud voices from the upper floors continued shouting at her.
“Girl, what’s happening outside right now? When is the rescue team coming?”
“Miss, can you sell me some food?”
“Girl, bring it to my family first! I’ll pay you twenty times the price!”
Even more infuriatingly, some people were actually watching the spectacle.
“Come on, beautiful! Faster! They’re about to catch you! I believe in you, keep running!”
Hearing this nearly made Lin Ya spit blood. It was only the first day of the apocalypse, so they still had the leisure to fool around. Just wait a little longer and see whether they would still be this carefree once they were desperate.
When Lin Ya was both exhausted and hungry, she finally reached the entrance of a small supermarket at the end of the street.
The supermarket’s main entrance stood wide open, almost as though it were inviting Lin Ya inside. She cautiously approached, gripping the axe tightly and remaining ready to deal with any danger that might appear.
As soon as she stepped into the supermarket, the first thing she saw was the shattered glass display window. Broken glass covered the floor, glittering dangerously beneath the sunlight.
She had expected to find signs that someone or other survivors had already looted the place, but when she entered the supermarket, she found it eerily quiet. There was no sign of anyone or any zombies, and even the workers who should have been behind the cash registers were nowhere to be seen.
The interior of the supermarket was a complete mess. Shelves had been knocked over, merchandise was scattered everywhere, and many items looked as though they had been trampled underfoot. Among the scattered goods on the floor were even a few stray high-heeled shoes and slippers.
Lin Ya didn’t need to guess what had happened. Most likely, zombies had suddenly appeared in the supermarket the previous night, causing everyone inside to flee together. The zombies had then followed them outside.