directional layout
The second floor was vast. Compared to the first floor, it mainly housed household goods. Though the quality couldn’t match a high-end shopping mall, Mu Yining wasn’t in a position to be picky. She searched all over, yet to her surprise, she couldn’t find Chu Yu anywhere.
With no other choice, she swept everything into her spatial dimension to expand her line of sight. Off in the distance, all that remained were a restroom, a small tool storage room, and rows of empty display shelves.
Mu Yining walked into the restroom. Space inside was tight, hardly a place that looked suitable for hiding someone. After a thorough search, she moved on to the storage room, but it was equally empty.
She wondered if Chu Yu was even here. Had her judgment been wrong? Yet that man earlier had braved certain death—it had to be to save someone, right?
Unable to dwell on it further, Mu Yining retrieved a thick mattress and quilts from her space and transferred the injured man back outside. She gave his wounds a rough preliminary treatment. By now, he had slipped into a state of semi-consciousness, muttering unintelligibly. Mu Yining hesitated; at this early stage, the zombie virus was not overly potent. As long as the infection wasn’t too severe, combined with her Healing Ability, he could most likely be saved.
However, the person she intended to save was Chu Yu. She had never seen this man among Chu Yu’s subordinates in her past life. Had he failed to survive this incident back then? It made sense—had she not shown up in time, he wouldn’t have lasted long at all, let alone now. He would have likely become just another face in the zombie horde long ago.
After mulling it over, she realized she had already come this far. If she simply watched him turn into a zombie, what would have been the point of entering the supermarket? She still hadn’t found Chu Yu; her original intent was to save him, but wasn’t saving his subordinate effectively the same thing?
Mu Yining examined the man’s wounds closely, holding Qingling in one hand while activating her ability with the other to prevent getting bitten if the treatment failed.
Her ability’s energy seeped slowly into the man’s wounds. Mu Yining could feel the battle between her power and the virus. The virus had not yet spread throughout his body, likely due to his strong physical constitution under normal circumstances.
His entire body was covered in wounds of varying sizes. Mu Yining reached out to activate her ability on them one by one, and the effect turned out better than she had anticipated. Gradually, the man’s complexion began to recover, and his body temperature steadily dropped.
Feeling her energy nearing exhaustion, Mu Yining casually retrieved a fruit harvested from the massive tree inside her spatial dimension and consumed it. Instantly restored to full strength, she continued treating the man until not a single wound remained visible on his skin. After carefully checking his body to ensure there were no other injuries, she finally lowered her hands and fed him another small fruit.
Yet, he showed no signs of waking up. She tucked him under the quilt, turned on a heater, and sat down beside him.
As the temperature continued to plummet, Mu Yining put on a down jacket. Having awakened her ability, her resistance was far better than that of an ordinary human. She only hoped the man before her would wake up soon, as Chu Yu’s whereabouts remained unknown.
Two hours later, just as Mu Yining’s patience was wearing thin, the man finally stirred awake.
“Cough, cough… Who are you? You saved me—thank you,” the man stammered as he sat up. Seeing that all the wounds on his body were healed, he looked up at Mu Yining in confusion.
“I saved you. Don’t ask so many questions. Chu Yu—what’s your connection to him?”
“You know Captain? Where is he? How is he? Can you help me save him? I’m begging you!”
“Lead the way to him.” Mu Yining offered no explanation—it wasn’t as if she could tell him she knew him from a past life; she wasn’t an idiot. Passing him a bottle of water, she stood up and walked toward the exit.
“Thank you. My name is Chu Yan. Captain and I were ordered to carry out a mission here. However, by the time we air-dropped onto the roof, the place had already fallen. We originally planned to retreat, but Captain suddenly lost consciousness, leaving me no choice but to take him into hiding. By the time Captain woke up, the zombies had already pressed up to the second-floor stairwell. Desperate and with Captain’s body still weak, I had to hide him in the basement, intending to draw the zombies away from here, but I couldn’t break through the layers of encirclement.”
Though anxious, Chu Yan managed to explain the situation clearly and concisely.
“What a pair of brothers in distress. Did you really think hiding away would keep him safe? A zombie’s sense of smell is sharper than a dog’s. If you died out there, your captain wouldn’t have escaped either.” Mu Yining replied, amused by the foolishness of his actions, yet secretly admiring his courage.