He had held back instead of arriving before the Sequence Adepts because they would charge straight to the front.
If there were any anomalies in the Small Town, the two Sequence Adepts would draw them out.
At previous Supply Points, any anomalies lurking there had immediately attacked the Sequence Adepts.
From the looks of it, there were no anomalies at this Supply Point.
"Something's strange about this place," Chu Sheng murmured as he walked into the convenience store and surveyed the mess inside.
Ever since the apocalypse began, he had encountered at least a few anomalies every time he entered a Supply Point with the convoy.
Yet this time, there were none.
Chu Sheng quickly swept his gaze around the convenience store. It looked as though no one had visited it.
Much of the food was missing from the shelves, and the cigarettes behind the checkout counter had practically been cleaned out.
There were still four or five bottles of baijiu on top of a cabinet, though.
They seemed to have escaped the looting because they had been placed so high up.
Apparently, some people had already swept through this Small Town.
Without hesitating further, Chu Sheng hurried to the shelves, picked out filling foods with long shelf lives, and tossed them straight into the backpack hanging against his chest.
Nutrition hardly mattered in the apocalypse. When Chu Sheng spotted seven or eight bundles of dried noodles, his eyes lit up. He immediately took off the backpack on his back and stuffed the noodles inside.
Then he added a dozen or so packets of instant noodles, filling the little backpack before slinging it onto his back again.
This little backpack had belonged to the thug with the tattoo sleeves. Chu Sheng had taken it to carry supplies.
By then, the people running behind him had almost arrived.
Their eyes lit up when they spotted the convenience store Chu Sheng was in. Three or four of them immediately rushed inside and began clearing the food off the shelves.
Seeing this, Chu Sheng quickened his movements and soon filled the backpack against his chest as well.
He glanced at the newcomers. When he saw that they had not noticed the bottles of baijiu above the counter, he immediately jumped onto the checkout counter and stood on it to retrieve the Erguotou and Niulanshan.
After another glance at the people gathering supplies, he stepped out of the convenience store, only to witness a sight that left him dumbstruck.
A blood-red coffin slowly rose out of the concrete ground in the middle of the Small Town as though it were intangible, like a foam box floating up from underwater.
Chu Sheng drew the butcher knife from his waist and slowly backed into the convenience store, keeping his voice low. "Everyone, stop! Don't make a sound!"
His growl was quiet, but everyone heard it in the convenience store, where no one was talking and everyone was focused on gathering supplies.
They all turned toward him. Seeing him clutching a butcher knife, his eyes fixed on the street as he moved toward the back of the store, they realized something was wrong.
They immediately stopped what they were doing, stepped in front of Chu Sheng to look outside, then scrambled to hide behind him.
"Fuck!" Chu Sheng cursed at the sight, turned around, and ran toward the back of the store.
He had spotted a staircase leading to the second floor at the very back.
The convenience store was in a privately built house, with the first floor used for business and the second floor serving as living quarters.
The second floor had a layout resembling four bedrooms and a living room. As soon as Chu Sheng went upstairs, he saw something that made his scalp prickle.
The others were leaning over the balcony, craning their necks to look at the road. Behind them, a black cat with eyes glowing an eerie red was silently approaching.
An anomaly!
The words instantly flashed through Chu Sheng's mind.
Thud!
Just then, a dull sound suddenly came from the street outside, like a heavy wooden board hitting the ground.
He did not need to think to know that the thing outside had emerged.
I'm done for! Chu Sheng felt as though his life was about to end.
He was truly caught between a rock and a hard place!
As though sensing Chu Sheng's gaze, the black cat turned to look at him. Its scarlet eyes seemed to pierce straight into his soul, yet also felt like a demon's whisper. An inexplicable pressure settled over him.
Fortunately, the black cat only glanced at Chu Sheng before resuming its approach toward the people leaning over the balcony. Its movements were light and nimble, utterly silent, like a prowler in the darkness.
The others remained gathered at the balcony, watching the scene below, seemingly convinced that there were no anomalies here.
Even the noise made by the anomaly inside the coffin outside had not made them back away.
Honestly, Chu Sheng rather admired their courage. He would never have dared to watch so openly himself.
Who knew whether those anomalies could sense someone's gaze?
The black cat's movements remained graceful. It took over a minute to cover a mere two or three meters and finally reach the people on the balcony.
Meanwhile, Chu Sheng was also inching along, keeping close to the wall as he slowly approached the black cat.
Since he was already trapped between two threats, he was no longer afraid.
Besides, he really wanted to find out whether anomalies could provide survival points.
As though it had not noticed him, the black cat raised its right paw. Four claws instantly extended from its paw pad. Even from three or four meters away, Chu Sheng could still sense their chilling sharpness.
Like an elegant dancer, it suddenly sprang into action, fluidly opening several wounds across the backs of the necks of the people leaning over the balcony.
Chu Sheng could see that their necks had been sliced more than halfway through. Blood sprayed from the wounds in torrents.
The black cat was too fast.
So fast that those people were dead before he could even make out its movements.
It's that terrifying? Chu Sheng's eyes widened.
He had faced anomalies at other Supply Points before, but none of them had been as terrifying as this black cat.
Ordinary people could even drive some weaker anomalies back with their fists.
It was just that ordinary people could not kill anomalies. Otherwise, the apocalypse would never have come so quickly.
Only Sequence Adepts could kill anomalies!
When ordinary people encountered weaker anomalies, driving them back was the best they could manage. They could not even injure them.
As for the black cat Chu Sheng had encountered, there was little more to say. There was already a coffin waiting outside.
The black cat seemed to relish the thrill of hunting and ambushing its prey. Chu Sheng could faintly make out the pleasure on its face.
After killing those people, the black cat turned its gaze toward Chu Sheng. Its tongue lapped at one of the severed necks, staining the fur on its face bright red with blood.
Chu Sheng's hand trembled slightly around the butcher knife. He stayed against the wall, watching the black cat without making any more furtive movements.
The man and the cat stared at each other for two or three minutes. Then the black cat moved, approaching Chu Sheng at a leisurely pace as though toying with its prey.
Seeing the black cat move, Chu Sheng immediately raised his butcher knife and slashed at it, his expression turning vicious.
A trace of mockery flashed through the black cat's eyes. Without dodging, it raised its right paw to block the blade with its claws.
But in the next instant, a piercing cry burst from the black cat's mouth.
"Mreeow!!"
The black cat instantly sprang backward, retreating to the balcony and warily eyeing the butcher knife in Chu Sheng's hand.
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