Huh, So She's a Woman

Returning to Sunshine Residential Complex.

He diligently placed every trash can back in its original spot, one at the front and one at the back of this building, and two for every other building as well.

This had nothing to do with whether or not other buildings had residents.

That was irrelevant; trash cans were public property. Even if no one lived in the other buildings, they still needed to be placed there. This wasn't a waste, but a rule that had been established from the start.

Without rules, there is no order; without order, there is no harmonious Sunshine Residential Complex.

After setting the trash cans in place, he left the complex to purchase some supplies.

Old Mr. Wang and his wife, Old Mr. Zhou and his wife, and Sister Li and her daughter had all entrusted their bank cards to him for safekeeping. It was necessary for him to buy enough supplies for them to live on.

He walked along the desolate streets.

He arrived at the vegetable market.

Standing at the entrance, a pungent, foul stench rushed toward him.

Ugh~

He couldn't help but feel like retching.

It wasn't that he wanted to vomit, but the smell here was truly intense, truly somewhat unbearable.

"Sigh, what a pity..."

The dim vegetable market was deathly silent. Aside from the smell of rotting food, there was nothing else—not even the roar of a zombie. Perhaps even the zombies couldn't stand the stench here and had left.

"I really want to clean this place up properly, but I have too many other things to do."

He stood at the entrance, silent for a few seconds.

Indeed, a society without sanitation workers simply cannot function.

He turned and left.

He did not linger.

Walking and walking, he soon arrived at a supermarket.

He stopped in his tracks, calmly observing the situation before him. A zombie was crouched in a dark corner, gnawing on flesh. Backlit, its silhouette appeared desolate and terrifying.

"Ahem..."

He coughed softly.

The feasting zombie heard the noise, its movements stalling. It slowly turned its head, its mouth covered in blood, hands clutching an unrecognizable organ. Its grey-white eyes rolled as it wobbled to its feet, letting out a hideous roar at him.

It lunged toward him rapidly.

Puchi!

Sword light flashed, the body split open and crashed to the ground. From the zombie's attire, one could tell that when it was normal, it must have been a delivery driver.

"A person's whole life is spent eating, and even after turning into a zombie, they're still eating."

He walked into the supermarket.

This supermarket was the largest one closest to Sunshine Residential Complex. It had everything inside, from snacks, toys, and clothes to vegetables, meat, and more.

The supermarket was in disarray, with dried bloodstains everywhere on the floor. There must have been a massive riot here during that time. Under normal circumstances, those bitten by zombies would turn into zombies themselves, unless they were truly unlucky and encountered a zombie horde, where their internal organs were hollowed out and their bodies shattered, preventing them from turning and leaving them as nothing more than zombie rations.

Perhaps that was the reason he rarely saw corpses on the streets.

They had all turned into zombies.

He didn't dwell on it.

There were shopping carts at the entrance. He pushed one up the escalator to the second floor. The escalator was out of service, and pushing the cart up required effort, creating a dull, thumping sound. Any normal person encountering this situation would surely be cautious, fearing that making noise would attract zombies.

Soon, he reached the second floor.

This was the food section, where all kinds of provisions could be found.

"Excuse me, is anyone here?"

He asked softly toward the quiet second-floor area. It was silent, without a single sound; aside from his own breathing, he couldn't hear anything at all.

The quiet environment made him feel a bit uncomfortable. In the past, when he came to the supermarket, it would be packed with people, bustling with activity, with every customer wearing a smile while they shopped.

But now... everything had vanished.

"Huh!"

Several headless corpses lay on the floor.

One!

Two!

Three!

Although they lacked heads, from the shape of their chests, he could tell these were three men, carrying backpacks and equipped with weapons.

Axes.

A machete.

Blood was still flowing from the severed neck; judging by the state of it, they hadn't been dead for long.

"They must have come to buy supplies and were on their way to check out when they met with misfortune." Lin Fan observed the scene at a glance and identified the issue; their backpacks were bulging, so they had definitely finished their shopping.

He looked to the side and finally spotted their heads.

"Sigh."

Lin Fan let out a sigh, stepped forward, picked up their heads, and placed them back onto their necks. Let the fallen return to their roots; they were all people from Huang City, and even in death, they shouldn't be left without a complete body. He couldn't bring them back to life, so he could only return their heads to their remains.

"Why is there a woman's head here?"

He looked at the head in his hands, then at the corpse beside it, and finally realized the mistake.

He had misidentified them.

The woman's chest was a bit flat, and she was wearing a tank top, which was why he hadn't been able to tell.

Once he was finished, he continued browsing the supermarket.

He arrived in front of the freezers, where various frozen dumplings, sweet rice balls, and wontons were displayed. The power hadn't been cut, so the freezers were running as usual, allowing the food to be preserved for longer.

"Three-delicacy dumplings, hmm, they taste good. Two bags for Sister Li, four bags for the four elders."

"The wontons are good too, I can buy a few bags of those."

He selected items quietly, checking the ingredients, production date, and expiration date on the back of every item he picked—this had always been his style when shopping.

Even though it was a supermarket, many liked to place items nearing their expiration date at the very front to sell them off quickly.

The vegetable section.

Various vegetables were wrapped in plastic film and sold in individual portions. The prices were certainly higher than at a wet market, but of course, one couldn't compare them based on cost-effectiveness alone; one had to look at the preservation, appearance, and packaging.

Bok choy, green peppers, ginger, spinach, carrots, potatoes, and so on.

"Feifei is still young and needs to supplement her nutrition, so I have to buy some nutritious vegetables."

"The four elders are getting on in years, so anything too greasy definitely won't do. I need to ensure a balanced nutritional intake."

He was like an experienced nanny, picking out produce with great seriousness and care. Some vegetables weren't wrapped in plastic and had inevitably started to spoil during this time, so he had to be selective.

"Oh, right, I also need to buy chicken essence, salt, oil..."

There were simply too many things to buy. He pushed his shopping cart and muttered to himself, as if afraid of forgetting something. Shopping was a mentally taxing task; although it was pleasant, one always tended to forget an item or two when buying in bulk.

Inside the supermarket, only Lin Fan was pushing a cart, slowly scanning the items on the shelves and selecting them with calm, unhurried movements.

Sometimes, when he encountered goods scattered on the floor, he would pick them up and place them back on the shelves.

It was within his power to do so.

Nothing wrong with that.

"The elders have a slower metabolism and lose bone density quite quickly, so I should choose high-calcium whole milk. Oh dear, I don't know if the four elders have high blood pressure or diabetes. Hmm... it's better to choose sugar-free high-calcium milk."

"Feifei is still a child, she must like flavored drinks, this one is better."

Suddenly.

A faint sound drifted over.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He looked toward the source of the noise. In such a quiet environment, a sudden sound was, to anyone, somewhat chilling.

When he saw what was making the noise, he couldn't help but smile.

It was just a basketball.

But... why would a basketball suddenly start moving on its own?

He looked around.

The window wasn't closed; had the wind blown in?