Everyone is human, how big can the gap be?

A panicked David pushed open the double doors of the storage room, colliding with Ollie, the electrician Jim, and several others who were preparing to enter to check on the generator.

"Hey! Slow down, David. What are you doing?"

"What happened?"

Back under the glow of the supermarket lights, David, still shaken, felt a slight sense of relief. He licked his dry lips, steadied his nerves, and looked at the group, asking, "Did you hear any noise?"

The two doors of the storage room were soundproofed well, so none of them had heard the sound of the rolling shutter door being pounded and rattling.

"The generator? We were just about to go in and check it," Ollie said, gesturing toward the storage room in speculation.

"No, no!" David reached out to stop Ollie, hesitated for a moment, and said nervously, "I shut down the generator; the batteries are full. I'm not talking about that—the rolling shutter! There's something outside! Something is pressing against that... door!"

Old Jim, the electrician, being a typical American with a tradition of anti-intellectualism, kicked a box of laundry detergent on the floor with indifference. He shook his head and sighed, "What noise? Are you saying it's a monster?"

At this moment, Norman, a supermarket helper, walked over carrying the flashlights they had requested, looking at them with a puzzled expression. "Weren't we supposed to go in and check the generator?"

"David says there's a strange noise inside," another mechanic shrugged.

Ollie wore a thoughtful expression. He gave a thumbs-up and pointed in a certain direction, suggesting, "Why don't we ask Mr. Li Wei to come and take a look?"

Li Wei was indeed the only person they knew who had walked through the white mist, but the people here didn't really trust that strange Asian man.

Even if they had seen the shadow of that monster, it could have been a trick!

Although David felt there really were monsters in the mist, he didn't want to seek help from that man.

Old Jim, the electrician, was more blunt. He waved his hand and said, "Don't go that far. You guys must have just been scared. Maybe this is just a bad joke. Let's go check it out!"

After saying this, he took the flashlight from Norman, bypassed David, and walked into the storage room.

The others hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Jim had already pushed the door open, they grabbed their flashlights and followed him into the storage room.

David glanced in a certain direction, then turned and walked into the storage room as well.

He thought to himself, we are all human; if we really encounter a monster, what difference would it make?

By the partitioned stove, Li Wei, who was cooking curry, was surrounded by a crowd of people waiting to eat. They were mostly the type of people who had no attachments and lived by the philosophy of "one man fed, the whole family is full."

Even with monsters outside, they could still eat and drink without a care in the world. If no one had taken the lead, they might have worried about their safety just like everyone else.

But since Li Wei had set the tone, they started drinking and joking around. If they weren't afraid of disturbing others, they might have made the atmosphere even more lively.

"Hmm~ the curry is ready. Save me a portion; I'll take some to the old lady first." Seeing that the curry in the pot was done, Li Wei loaded a piece of bread onto a plate, added a spoonful of curry with potatoes and fresh carrots, and stood up, preparing to deliver it to the white-haired old woman.

He brought the curry to Aisle 6 and handed it to Grandma Repla, who was leaning against a shelf, receiving a word of thanks in return.

Li Wei nodded, glanced at Billy, who was dozing off in Turman's arms, and without making any more sarcastic remarks, turned to leave.

Just then, his keen hearing allowed him to vaguely catch some chaotic noises coming from the direction of the storage room.

It was a gurgling sound, accompanied by the screams of someone. Curious, he asked Repla, who was eating her curry, in a low voice, "Is there anyone in the storage room?"

"Oh!" Repla swallowed the food in her mouth and smiled, "It's David. He went to get a blanket for Billy."

Li Wei said "oh" upon hearing this, thanked her, and left, bumping into Amanda, who had just returned from finding medicine.

Amanda placed the medicine on the ground and sat down slowly, her gaze locked on Li Wei's retreating back. "I always feel that Asian man is a bit strange... just like a character in a movie."

"Very mysterious, right?" Turman, who was comforting Billy nearby, smiled and offered a fitting description.

Amanda turned around, handed the medicine to Turman, and nodded in agreement. "It really is like that."

"Alright, ladies, it's not nice to talk about others behind their backs. Do you want to try some curry?" Grandma Repla raised her plate and gestured with a smile.

In the quiet and peaceful supermarket, no one could have imagined that a heart-stopping tug-of-war was currently unfolding inside the storage room.

The rolling shutter door in the storage room had been lifted about half a meter. Several thick, terrifying tentacles had reached through the bottom of the shutter, slithering into the storage room and turning the place into a mess.

Even more fatal was that one of the tentacles had wrapped around Norman, the supermarket helper. A heart-wrenching scream erupted from his throat, as the spikes on the inner side of the tentacle had torn his chest into a bloody, mangled mess—the wound was gruesome and horrifying!

David and Ollie were grabbing Norman's two arms, struggling against the tentacle, not daring to let it drag Norman out, as that would mean death.

Jim, the electrician who had acted so bold earlier, and his apprentice were now so terrified that their eyes were vacant and their bodies stiff. Their mouths hung open, and they leaned against the side, not knowing what to do, failing to respond to David's shouts for help.

"Ahhh! Save me! Help me! Ah! I don't want to die!" Norman's screams and pleas for help echoed through the supermarket's storage room, while several other giant tentacles rampaged through the room, knocking over shelves at random.

When Li Wei entered the storage room, this was the scene he witnessed.

He immediately stepped forward, smashed the glass of the fire cabinet hanging on the wall, and pulled out the fire axe with one hand, looking as effortless as if he were picking up a plastic toy.

David and Ollie were still struggling with the tentacle. Hearing the crisp sound of shattering glass, they thought Jim and the others had finally reacted and come to help.

But to their surprise, the person they caught a glimpse of wasn't Jim or his apprentice, but Li Wei.

Carrying the fire axe, Li Wei walked up to the three rather disheveled men. He grabbed the giant tentacle with his left hand and gave it a hard yank!

The tentacle, which the two men had struggled with all their might to barely slow down, felt light as a feather under Li Wei's pull, causing them to fall over from the sudden release of tension.

David and Ollie climbed up, dazed, and looked at Li Wei, who was holding the fire axe high with one hand.

They saw the heavy fire axe descend. With the sound of metal striking the floor, the thick tentacle was severed in half by that single blow.

The tentacle holding Norman loosened due to the pain, and the remaining tentacles rampaging in the storage room retracted rapidly as if they had been burned, causing even more items and shelves in the room to collapse.

Under David's gaze, filled with terror, Li Wei once again lifted the fire axe—which had embedded itself into the concrete floor—with one hand. He pressed his shiny black leather shoe onto the large, retreating tentacle and swung his right hand down again...

Bang!

With another dull thud, the remaining half of the flesh was severed.

Nearby, the previously dazed Jim and his apprentice were not relieved but terrified by the sight. After letting out a few screams, they rushed toward the exit of the storage room, only to trip over the other tentacles that were rapidly retracting because they hadn't been watching their feet.