A Mother and Daughter

The supermarket was filthy and chaotic, with shelves scattered across the floor. Many puffed snacks had their packaging bags broken open by zombies, their contents spilled out and crushed into a thick layer of filth mixed with the rotting flesh that had fallen from the zombies, making the floor slippery underfoot.

Shang Jiudi called Chen Shaoye over to help clean up. They were both sweating profusely, having already gone through several mops.

Chu Han, meanwhile, was inspecting the supermarket for any overlooked zombies and, more importantly, for food. The supermarket's food supply was plentiful. Aside from a few broken cans and damaged packages, much of it was still intact. The dirt on the outside of the packaging didn't affect the freshness of the food inside.

Luo Xiaoxiao trailed behind him like a little shadow, her small legs working to keep up with Chu Han's pace. She couldn't resist picking through the items on the shelves that hadn't toppled over. Of course, despite her good mood, she remained vigilant, her automatic rifle held tightly in her hands.

Always keep your weapon with you, Chu Han had drilled into her.

The supermarket had two doors. The main entrance was the one they had broken down. The back door was locked tight. The roars of zombies from outside could be heard inside, making it difficult to determine if the area beyond that door was safe.

"I'll go check it out." With that, Chu Han picked up his axe and moved forward.

Luo Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment before steadily raising her automatic rifle and following him.

Chu Han didn't stop her. In this new era, a twelve-year-old was capable of handling themselves. Regardless of Luo Xiaoxiao's noble background, he treated her the same as everyone else; she had to grow.

The back door was shut tightly. Chu Han approached silently, reaching out with his left hand to gently turn the handle.

Click! Click!

It wouldn't open. The door was locked from the other side!

Was someone inside?!

Roar—

Just as Chu Han's thought formed, a slightly weak zombie roar came from within, accompanied by the sound of pounding on the door.

So it was a zombie. Fortunately, just a zombie.

Judging by the sound, there was only one zombie inside.

The door was sturdy, but it was shaking with the impacts, looking like it could be broken open or fall apart at any moment. It seemed the zombie inside had been banging on it for a long time, perhaps days, or even weeks.

Such persistence.

Chu Han remarked emotionlessly, then abruptly raised his right hand, swinging the axe precisely at the lock.

Crack!

The door sprang open, revealing a warehouse.

Roar— Roar Roar Roar!

The zombie inside went wild. As soon as the door opened, it lunged forward. Its flesh was almost entirely gone, leaving little more than a skeleton, but its craving for food was unaffected.

Its face was unrecognizable, its cheeks completely sunken, its lips long gone. The only thing distinguishing it as female was a tattered dress.

The zombie lunged hungrily, its mouth opening in anticipation.

Bite! Bite! Swallow! Swallow!

Bang!

Chu Han, devoid of emotion, swung his axe and blew the female zombie's head off. This zombie had likely been starving for a long time; its bodily fluids had concentrated, making it much smaller than other zombies.

Counting the newly acquired point, Chu Han stepped inside, Luo Xiaoxiao following closely behind.

Suddenly, Chu Han stopped and spun around, reaching out with his relatively clean left hand to cover Luo Xiaoxiao's eyes.

After this instinctive reaction, Chu Han paused. Why did he feel such a protective urge towards this little girl?

He was afraid she'd be stimulated, afraid she'd be scared, afraid she'd cry.

He wanted to protect her?!

It wasn't just Luo Xiaoxiao; he felt this subconscious impulse towards Shang Jiudi and Chen Shaoye as well. Was loyalty a two-way street?

The confusion lasted only a moment. Then, Chu Han felt Luo Xiaoxiao's eyelashes brush against his palm, moist.

"I saw it," she said, her voice trembling.

Then, Luo Xiaoxiao gently moved Chu Han's hand away, her eyes red as she stared ahead.

Before them lay a human carcass, completely gnawed clean. Calling it a carcass was generous; it was more accurately a skeleton, a child's skeleton, with several broken bones.

A pile of long hair lay scattered nearby, along with a few scraps of cloth. It was clear they were from a torn pink dress. This was a little girl, likely around Luo Xiaoxiao's age.

She had clearly been trapped here and attacked by the zombie.

However, judging by the zombie and the remains, they had originally been mother and daughter.

The mother had become a zombie, but the little girl...

Chu Han remembered that the first time he saw Luo Xiaoxiao, she was wearing a pink puffy dress, very similar to the one on the floor.

"Let's go find Fatty Chen," Chu Han said, not wanting Luo Xiaoxiao to stay there any longer.

Clang! Clang!

A few faint, irregular banging sounds echoed. Chu Han looked up. It was the sound of the protective iron gate being hit by passing zombies. There were many zombies on the street outside, but fortunately, they couldn't get in.

The warehouse was large, with boxes of goods stacked along the sides. In the center was a truck, its white surface smeared with dark, sticky mud – the rotten flesh from the previous zombie.

After Luo Xiaoxiao left, Chu Han sighed and found a box. He placed the little girl's skeleton inside, then carried the zombie's body away as well, cleaning out the almost perfectly preserved warehouse. Though he didn't know why he was wasting time doing this, he just didn't want Luo Xiaoxiao to see it again.

Not far from the supermarket, in a residential building, a group of men were playing cards with their shirts off. The room was littered with cigarette butts, and one to two foul-smelling women sat beside each man.

In this post-apocalyptic world, women were not clean or beautiful. Without enough water and not bathing for extended periods, they reeked. Their hair was greasy and infested with lice, some clumped together with dirt. Their fingernails were black and grimy. They wore revealing clothes, fawning over the men beside them with forced smiles.

Zhou Shuli sat in the center of the group. His face was fleshy, and he sported a thick beard. The abundance of food and cigarettes around him indicated his high status among them. The women beside him were also prettier and cleaner than the others, but still dirty and smelly. In civilized times, they would have been nauseating enough to make one lose their appetite.