After entering the pharmacy, Su Cheng closed the front door, but to her dismay, she couldn’t find a lock. The glass doors could close, but they couldn’t stop anyone from pushing their way in later.
At roughly 80 square meters, the pharmacy wasn’t particularly large. Several display shelves had been knocked over, some medications were scattered across the floor, and dried bloodstains of varying sizes lingered on the shelves, ground, and counter.
Crouching down, Su Cheng checked between the shelves one by one until she saw no sign of any zombies, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
“Pharmacies usually have a restroom for employees to use…”
Just as Su Cheng anticipated, she quickly spotted a door in the corner. Not rushing to go inside right away, she pressed her ear against it; hearing no movement, she pushed the door open.
The restroom was a complete mess. Aside from a squat toilet, cleaning tools like brooms, mops, buckets, and rags were piled randomly together.
Picking up a mop, Su Cheng walked back to the glass doors, wedged the mop handle horizontally through the handles, and then pulled down all the window blinds to block out the exterior light.
Afterward, she forcefully pushed an empty display shelf over to barricade the entrance, making the interior of the shop instantly much dimmer.
“Ugh…”
A wave of dizziness washed over Su Cheng, making her stomach churn as if she were carsick. Leaning against the wall, she dry-heaved, but aside from stomach acid, nothing came up.
She touched her forehead and felt a large bump, while the scratch near the outer corner of her eye, torn by glass shards, stung sharply. Fortunately, it had stopped bleeding.
Having been in constant peril just moments before, all the physical discomfort had been selectively repressed by her brain. The moment her tense body relaxed slightly, the wave of discomfort rushed in to take its revenge.
But now was not the time to rest.
Catching her breath, Su Cheng walked over to the cash register to rummage for anything useful.
The computer screen at the cash register was still lingering on the transaction entry page, serving as the sole source of light in the room. The most prominent feature on the counter was the popped-open cash tray, while the drawer contained a few pieces of candy, scissors, and a stapler…
Inside the cabinet were a stack of documents, two flashlights, and a canvas bag—likely belonging to a store employee, as it contained some cosmetics, a mirror, and a power bank.
Su Cheng tore open a piece of candy and popped it into her mouth to replenish her sugar and energy. She dumped out the cosmetics from the canvas bag, replacing them with the remaining candy, scissors, and flashlights.
To Su Cheng’s pleasant surprise, tucked away in the corner of the cabinet was a multi-pack of bottled water with its plastic film already torn open, leaving 8 bottles behind.
Su Cheng only had 4 bottles left from what she had brought out of the taxi. She cracked open a fresh bottle and gulped down more than half of it.
She packed all 12 bottles into her plastic shopping bag, and then double-bagged it with another plastic bag for extra security.
“Since I’m already in a pharmacy, I definitely need to grab some common medicines. But for the sake of mobility, I can’t take too many… If only I could pack all these drugs back into the apartment!”
Gazing at the medicine-filled shelves, Su Cheng deeply yearned for the kind of spatial inventory cheats found in novels.
In the end, Su Cheng grabbed tablet-form antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, fever reducers, painkillers, five small packs of iodophor cotton balls, and a 50ml bottle of rubbing alcohol, packing the canvas bag slung across her body until it bulged out roundly.
Medications were light, so carrying them in a canvas crossbody bag wouldn’t hinder her mobility.
She also picked up vitamin gummies and small bottles of sugar water off the floor; these were supposed to have been displayed on the shelves right in front of the cash register, usually used to entice children into buying them.
Having finished a simple search of the pharmacy, Su Cheng sat down on the floor by the cash register, chewing on a gummy.
The cramped space inexplicably brought a sense of security.
She lifted a small mirror. The large bump on her forehead was red and swollen, and the scratch near her eye wasn’t too deep.
Tearing open an iodophor cotton ball, she disinfected the wound. The cool, wet cotton ball touched her skin, sending a needle-like sting radiating outward.
Su Cheng’s face crumpled in pain, and letting out a soft hiss, she quickly finished applying it and slapped a band-aid over the top.
Once finished, she poured protein powder—found in the health supplement section—into a mineral water bottle that still had half its water left, and shook it up and down.
Cold water mixed with protein powder failed to fully dissolve the clumps, leaving powdery lumps toward the bottom. The taste wasn’t great, but to Su Cheng, who hadn’t eaten since before entering the dungeon and had been running on an empty stomach for a long time, it didn’t taste half bad.
“Consider it a boost of energy.”
Su Cheng licked her lower lip, leaning against the corner of the table while massaging her sore, strained legs from all the running, and planned her next move.
Her original plan had been to hide out in the low-population suburbs and coast through the 5 days, but she had been too late. The zombie virus spread too quickly, and she had missed her window of opportunity.
Su Cheng was well aware of her own combat capabilities. She wasn’t born with super strength, didn’t possess any reliable weapons to stake her life on, couldn’t drive, and had no vehicle.
No matter how much she wanted to flee this city, she wasn’t stupid enough to rashly charge out and go 1v1 with a real zombie. She only had one life, and the apartment rules had explicitly stated that dying in a dungeon meant true death!
“Hiding in a pharmacy and relying on the food in my hands might barely let me scrape through five days. If I ration it tightly, it could work—as long as I don’t starve to death. But…”
But what if a zombie broke in?
While this wasn’t the city center, the population density was still quite high, not to mention that the pharmacy’s glass doors were far from being unbreakable iron walls.
Zombies spread at a terrifying speed. Within three days, an entire city could completely fall.
Could Su Cheng guarantee that when there were no more living people left nearby, wandering zombies wouldn’t stumble in here? And if that happened, would she have the ability to fight back and survive…?
Worry flooded Su Cheng’s entire face. Pondering this, she leaned out from behind the cash register.
Just as she looked toward the front entrance, her gaze locked directly with a woman holding a fire axe high in the air.
Su Cheng hurriedly made a stop sign with her hand to prevent the woman from smashing her way in.
Su Cheng rushed over, shoved the empty display shelf aside, lifted the mop handle to let the woman enter, and then wedged the mop handle back into place.
“Thanks.”
Carrying a backpack, the woman had jaw-length short hair held back by a black headband that exposed her clean forehead, and her hands gripped a fire axe tightly.
She looked to be around Su Cheng’s age, but was a full head taller. Her tall yet slender build, paired with the muscle definition in her arms and the bloodstains smeared across the axe head, telegraphed that she was far from a weak and helpless person.
Most importantly, she wore a black band around her wrist.
She was also a resident of the Survival Apartment!
Black wristbands could only be used to check personal stats and points while inside the apartment. Inside a dungeon, aside from displaying the current time, their sole purpose was to declare one’s identity.
The woman likewise spotted the black wristband on Su Cheng’s wrist.
The two exchanged glances, mutual wariness dissolving significantly.
Su Cheng spoke first, “What kind of medicine do you need?”
“Fever medicine, cold medicine.”
Su Cheng glanced at the woman, only then noticing that her complexion carried a genuinely abnormal flush.
As if guessing what Su Cheng was thinking, the woman added, “I just have a cold. I wasn’t bitten.”
Su Cheng didn’t drag things out either, “Yeah, I know which shelf the medicine is on. I’ll help you get it.”
Pointing in a certain direction after speaking, she added, “You can look around the health supplement section for energy food, or check the floor for any dropped gummies.”
“Thanks!”
Su Cheng quickly helped the woman locate the requested medications, thoughtfully throwing in a few other common drugs as well.
The woman didn’t dawdle either. Since holding the fire axe made it inconvenient for her to carry things, she stuffed all the required items directly into her backpack.
Taking the plastic bag filled with medicine, the woman opened it and took a peek, looking somewhat surprised. Clearly, she hadn’t expected Su Cheng to thoughtfully grab extra common medicines alongside her cold medicine.
After stuffing the drugs into her pack, her gaze grew much gentler when she looked at Su Cheng.
Concise and direct, she introduced herself: “My name is Yan Yu. My car is parked outside. Do you want to come with me? Headed to the suburbs.”
Su Cheng’s eyelids twitched, and she accepted almost instantly, “Okay!”
She had originally wanted to escape to the outskirts before the city completely fell apart; she hadn’t expected Yan Yu to share the exact same plan.
Full circle, and she was back to executing her original plan.
Su Cheng knew her own martial capabilities. With a weapon in hand, she could barely handle one or two zombies, but the moment it exceeded three, she would likely get bitten.
Yan Yu, on the other hand, appeared to possess far higher combat prowess than her. Teaming up with Yan Yu meant having mutual support to deal with unknown risks and easing the pressure of survival.
Finding a strong-willed teammate with high combat capability in a dungeon made Su Cheng feel like she wasn’t completely cursed by bad luck.
Thinking this, Su Cheng flashed a sincere smile at Yan Yu. “My name is Su Cheng.”
Without wasting extra breath, Yan Yu checked her watch. “Alright, let’s go. We need to hurry.”
“Okay.”
Understanding the pressing nature of time—that they needed to escape before the city descended into complete chaos, and that every extra moment of delay meant more zombies—Su Cheng grabbed the supplies she had stashed beneath the cash register and closely followed Yan Yu out the door.
Yan Yu’s car was parked right by the roadside—a green off-road vehicle only fifty meters away from them.
It was currently around 6:00 PM, and the sky had already grown dim. Strictly speaking, summer days shouldn’t darken this fast at six o’clock.
Streetlamps still flickered, the streets were a chaotic mess with overturned burning vehicles casting a glow over zombies feasting on the ground.
Living people fleeing for their lives were no longer visible.
A wandering zombie sniffing around spotted Su Cheng and Yan Yu. As if triggered by some program, its bloodshot eyes widened, and it sprinted toward them at high speed.
Its raw roar acted like a feeding signal, catching the attention of other zombies and locking all their eyes onto the same direction.
“Roar, roar—!”
“Hurry!”
Holding the fire axe, Yan Yu ran in the lead, with Su Cheng tailing her closely.
The two hopped into the vehicle simultaneously. Yan Yu hadn’t turned off the off-road vehicle’s engine; the moment a zombie lunged forward, she stomped on the gas pedal and broke through.
The closest zombie lunged into empty air, roared as it scrambled back up, and chased after Su Cheng and Yan Yu alongside the rest of the pack…
Gripping the steering wheel, Yan Yu plowed past an overturned trash can on the sidewalk at high speed. The vehicle shuddered slightly, but didn’t slow down or pause in the slightest.
Yan Yu reminded her, “There are weapons down there.”
Steadying her posture, Su Cheng fumbled along the floorboards until she found the weapons Yan Yu had mentioned.
Two makeshift spears made by binding sharp kitchen knives to wooden poles.
Gripping the spear tightly, Su Cheng spun around to fixate her gaze on the seven or eight zombies trailing behind the rear window.
With ferocious expressions like starving wolves catching sight of meat—yet lacking consciousness, feeling no pain, and capable of causing infection with just a single bite—they were far more terrifying than wild wolves…
Clutching the wooden pole, Su Cheng stared hard at the tailing zombies, her mind already spinning with worst-case scenarios: if a zombie lunged forward, she would thrust the knife straight into its head!
“Buzz-buzz-buzz—”
A helicopter flew low overhead, its tail trailing black smoke as it plummeted in an emergency descent toward a certain direction. The massive roaring sound instantly captured the attention of the zombies on the ground.
Zombies were extremely sensitive to sound, and the majority of them turned to follow the noise.
Even the zombies that had been chasing behind Su Cheng and Yan Yu’s car paused for a split second, redirecting their course.
Both Su Cheng and Yan Yu let out a massive sigh of relief at the exact same time.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Yan Yu couldn’t help coughing, her face flushing red—whether from a fever or from the coughing fit. Her breathing sounded heavy, but she kept her eyes glued ahead, not daring to relax for a second.
Su Cheng regretted that she had never learned how to drive; otherwise, she could have taken over…
Yan Yu clearly wasn’t familiar with the city’s internal map. Making erratic twists and turns, having sent zombies flying off the hood twice through direct impacts, she was still spinning in circles along the asphalt roads…
Su Cheng pointed to the right. “Let’s try going that way?”
The front windshield was smeared with sticky blood, prompting an inappropriate thought to pop into Su Cheng’s head: This scene really looks like a hit-and-run fleeing from justice…
“Rumble—”
Thunder ripped through the sky.
A torrential rain followed immediately after.
No one could have expected the weather to be so fickle, bringing a downpour the moment it was mentioned.
The rain fell like a diligent cleaner, striving to wash away the blood on the car and scour the stains off the road…
Outside the window came the pounding rain, reflecting Su Cheng’s blurred visage against the glass. She looked into her own eyes, which remained brimming with tension and anxiety.
It was raining again. This time, she wasn’t on a bus in the reality world, but right in the middle of a zombie dungeon.
The rain grew heavier and heavier. Combined with the darkness of night, the headlights could no longer illuminate the road ahead. Amidst flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder, the downpour showed no signs of easing up.
The sound of rain muffled the noise of the engine, but it also made driving extremely difficult.
Making yet another choice at a left-or-right fork, Yan Yu slapped the steering wheel in frustration. “Damn it! Which road actually leads out of the city? Why are there so many forks!”
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Stirred by her agitation, she started coughing again.
Unable to find the path, Su Cheng grew anxious as well.
But panic wouldn’t help. Neither of them were locals of this city; they were entirely clueless about the terrain.
Seeing Yan Yu coughing violently, Su Cheng unscrewed a bottle of water and placed it in the cup holder behind the gear shift. “Drink some water.”
Yan Yu didn’t refuse Su Cheng’s kindness, quickly picking it up to take a sip.
“Thanks,” her voice grew noticeably hoarse and raspy after the coughing fit.
“It’s fine, don’t rush. Look, there’s a bridge on the right. There aren’t many buildings across the bridge; once we cross it, we should be heading toward the suburbs…”
Nodding, Yan Yu steered the car toward the overpass, her voice weak and laced with a heavy nasal twinge, “Yeah…”
The vehicle’s tires rolled through a low puddle on the road, splashing up red, blood-mixed rainwater…
A few cars sat parked on the overpass. Crashing through them head-on, Yan Yu brute-forced a path straight through.
And right as they were coming off the bridge, the exact thing Su Cheng dreaded happened—
Slamming hard on the brakes to a sudden halt, Yan Yu went limp, her head slumping forward against the steering wheel as she lost consciousness…