In her sleep, Wen Yu felt a cool sensation below and subconsciously squeezed her legs together.
She squeezed twice, but it felt like there was some kind of obstacle preventing them from closing fully. In the end, she simply gave up, turned over, and continued sleeping sweetly.
In the quiet space, two faint, gentle breaths seemed to sound, but no one paid them any mind.
Two in the afternoon.
Wen Yu woke up naturally. When she opened her eyes, she discovered that Pei Ye was packing a hiking backpack that he had somehow gotten from somewhere.
She got out of bed, went to the bathroom to wash her face, and then asked Pei Ye, “Are we leaving now?”
“Mm. Once you’re ready, we’ll go.”
Wen Yu tidied up her light pink sportswear set, tightened her shoelaces, and finally tied her long hair into a ponytail. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Pei Ye nodded.
He slung the hiking backpack onto his back, walked to the door, opened the wardrobe, and removed the clothes-hanging rod used for hanging clothes. He weighed it in his hand.
It was stainless steel. Although hollow, it was still better than being empty-handed.
Opening the door, Pei Ye held the rod in one hand and grabbed Wen Yu’s wrist with the other as they walked out.
The hotel restaurant was on the 16th floor. To be safe, the two of them didn’t take the elevator and instead used the stairs.
The staircase was very quiet. There were no people and no zombies, but it felt eerie and uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Pei Ye held Wen Yu’s hand the whole way, giving her a considerable sense of security.
The two quickly reached the lower floor.
Before the mutation, many people had been dining in the restaurant. Together with the restaurant staff, there were eight zombies in total. Some were men, some women; some were dressed elegantly, while others wore bathrobes.
On the ground were several corpses that had already been completely devoured.
Wen Yu gagged instinctively again. But the moment the zombies caught the scent of living humans, those wandering aimlessly immediately rushed toward the two of them.
Wen Yu didn’t even have time to retch. Her breath caught in her throat, and she nearly screamed.
Sure enough, in the world of zombies, humans were basically barbecue sprinkled with cumin—fragrant and irresistible!
Pei Ye pulled Wen Yu behind him and swung the clothes rod heavily at the head of the zombie in front.
The zombie’s head instantly caved in slightly, but it seemed to feel no pain. After pausing for only half a second, it continued lunging toward them.
Pei Ye directly thrust the rod into its throat.
With a puchi sound, blood sprayed everywhere.
Pei Ye didn’t stop moving. He raised his foot and kicked it away.
The flying male zombie knocked down the two zombies pushing forward behind it, creating a gap in the encirclement. Pei Ye immediately pulled Wen Yu and ran toward the back kitchen.
There was also a zombie in the back kitchen, wearing a clean and tidy chef’s uniform. However, low-level zombies were somewhat slow-witted.
They couldn’t open doors or cross obstacles. They could only wander back and forth within a fixed area.
Before it could fully react, Pei Ye casually grabbed a kitchen knife and strode forward, chopping its head off as easily as slicing a melon.
His movements were smooth and fluid. In another setting, Wen Yu would definitely have praised him a few times.
But the blood that sprayed out inevitably splattered all over Pei Ye, adding a hint of madness to the originally refined and handsome man.
Wen Yu couldn’t bring herself to praise him. Instead, she felt somewhat nauseous.
After the zombie mutation, although the blood was still red, it carried a faint stench—slightly different from the usual smell of blood. Wen Yu wasn’t used to it.
Before she could mentally prepare herself, the blood-soaked Pei Ye stuffed a long knife into her hands.
The end of the blade was still greasy, as if it had just cut some meat.
She slowly exhaled, gripped the knife tightly, and stood behind Pei Ye with a slight tremble.
The zombies outside couldn’t get in for the moment, so Pei Ye quickly opened the hiking backpack and began packing supplies.
Two ten-jin bags of rice, one ten-jin bag of flour, and the remaining space was filled with seasonings and durable fruits like apples.
After zipping up the backpack, Pei Ye pulled Wen Yu and walked out.
Another group of people had entered the restaurant—more than a dozen of them. After working together to clear out the remaining zombies, they gathered in the seafood section, scooping up Australian lobsters and king crabs.
Wen Yu glanced over and spotted Lin Yitang behind the crowd.
This was probably the squad she had formed.
Judging by their physiques, they were likely trainers from the gym next door. But the muscles on most fitness trainers were built with protein powder; in real combat they were mostly showy moves—nothing comparable to someone like Pei Ye, who had received professional training since childhood.
She only took one glance before withdrawing her gaze.
Pei Ye didn’t even notice Lin Yitang. As he passed by them, he simply said to Wen Yu,
“Right now the most important thing is filling our stomachs. If there’s a chance later, I’ll find some seafood for you.”
He thought she was craving seafood.
Wen Yu nodded.
Her trembling body strangely relaxed a lot because of Pei Ye’s thoughtfulness.
Live Australian lobsters couldn’t fit many into a hiking backpack anyway, and they weren’t filling. They really weren’t suitable for stockpiling in the early stage.
Besides, she had taken a moment to check her own supplies. The number behind the lobsters was also 999—meaning that even by the lowest standard of 999 lobsters, eating two a day would last an entire year. There was no need to bother collecting these small fry.
Watching Pei Ye protectively lead Wen Yu away as if no one else existed, Lin Yitang’s face turned green with anger.
When she turned back and saw her subordinates happily scooping seafood, she grew even more furious.
She shouted sharply,
“Put down the seafood and immediately start packing rice, flour, grain, and oil!”
Ah Cheng, who had been scooping enthusiastically, said unhappily, “Seafood is food too. Why can’t we pack it?”
“It’ll stink by the time we take it back. Do you expect everyone to wait for you to cook it fresh in the kitchen before leaving just so it tastes good?”
Ah Cheng choked on her words. Being bossed around by a woman made him unhappy, and he couldn’t help but retort,
“Then why can’t we just stay in the hotel? The hotel has plenty of rooms, good facilities, fewer zombies, and kitchen supplies. Why go all the way to the suburbs?”
Lin Yitang’s anger shot straight to her head, her fingers trembling slightly.
Short-sighted fool!
If Pei Ye hadn’t refused to travel with her, why would she have to associate with this group of people!
Lin Yitang secretly ground her teeth, but facing the unfriendly looks of the team members, she didn’t dare offend them too much and could only explain patiently.
“Yes, the hotel looks comfortable right now—good food and good lodging. But don’t forget, this is a downtown area. What’s there most in a downtown area? People. And where there are many people, there will be many zombies. Once the hotel’s supplies run out, will we still have to go out and collect supplies? When that time comes, do you still want to face mountains and seas of zombies?”
“So we need to take advantage of the early stage of the zombie mutation, when their mobility is still incomplete, and find a secluded place to secretly develop our strength. The place I mentioned is a wealthy district. The villas are just as comfortable to live in. The key point is fewer people, fewer zombies, and there are several high-end supermarkets nearby. Anything good you want can be found there. Why bother with these petty gains in front of us?”
Several people exchanged glances. One man stepped forward to smooth things over.
“Miss Lin, don’t argue with Ah Cheng. He’s young and inexperienced. Once we reach the wealthy district, he’ll understand its advantages. There are more than a dozen of us—two people can pack seafood while the rest pack rice, flour, grain, and oil. We can completely empty this restaurant’s stock. Miss Lin can rest assured about that.”
The man speaking was named Han Chuan, about thirty-five years old. Before Lin Yitang joined the team, he had been the second-in-command.
She glanced at Han Chuan. A classic smiling tiger—impossible to guess his true thoughts behind that face.
But she didn’t care.
A team with such low combat ability and short-sighted thinking was only fit to be her stepping stone. Once she managed to attach herself to Pei Ye—or to a stronger team—she would throw them all into a pile of zombies, leaving not a single survivor.
Meanwhile, Wen Yu and Pei Ye walked to the parking garage on foot—but ran into trouble.