Gathering supplies

The first thing Chen Ye saw was a large gateway standing at the entrance to the town, bearing the words "Welcome to Apricot Blossom Town!"

The gateway's peeling red paint gave it a desolate look.

Beyond the gateway lay a long street stretching into the distance.

It was only three in the afternoon, yet it felt as though endless darkness lurked at the far end of that road.

Rows of shops lined both sides of the street.

Their signs all had white lettering on black backgrounds, an unsettling sight.

Weeds overran the street, the walls were weathered and peeling, and even those black-and-white signs were mostly damaged.

Only a few months had passed since the supernatural outbreak.

Yet this town looked as though no one had visited it in decades.

A damp, rotten smell washed over them.

Anyone in their right mind could tell that something was wrong with Apricot Blossom Town.

Many people had gone deathly pale. Their calves began to cramp as they backed away.

Chen Ye's expression was grim too, and he took the hand crossbow from his waist.

The crossbow was useless against supernatural entities, but at least it offered some comfort.

Just as everyone stood hesitating-

A gruff voice rang out:

"Quit dithering! I'm going in first!"

Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a burly man, two meters tall and weighing over 150 kilograms, squeeze out of a modified off-road vehicle.

Yes, he actually had to squeeze out.

Only when the man stood on the ground did Chen Ye realize just how absurdly huge he was.

He stood over two meters tall and was powerfully built, with arms almost as thick as a grown man's waist.

Ignoring everyone's stares, the burly man charged toward a distant supermarket sign like a giant elephant.

The burly man-no, the giant-was clearly heading for a large supermarket.

A supermarket usually meant a wealth of supplies.

"Hey, you big oaf! Wait for me!"

A curse came from inside the off-road vehicle before its engine started, and it followed the burly man.

The others exchanged looks. Soon, a second off-road vehicle followed, also heading for the supermarket beneath that huge sign.

"Damn it! Fortune favors the bold, while cowards starve!"

An old man nearby started his little mobility car and followed them.

"You youngsters have less guts than an old man like me!"

"When I come back out, you can all watch me feast like a king!"

The old man tossed out that taunt before leaving.

Everyone else flushed red.

Curses filled the air, and quite a few people, goaded by his words, followed.

But plenty still stood where they were, wavering.

Chen Ye also rode his tricycle after them.

But he was not heading for the distant supermarket.

That supermarket was too deep inside the town. If anything happened, he might not even be able to escape.

Chen Ye's targets were the shops along the street.

They might not have as many supplies as the supermarket, but they were safer.

Besides, sunlight still shone on the street.

According to the survivors' accumulated experience, when a supernatural entity pursued someone, it would stop chasing as soon as they escaped into sunlight.

Quite a few people had the same plan as Chen Ye. Several nearby were also eyeing these shops.

Fortunately, there were plenty of shops here-enough for everyone to take one.

Chen Ye stopped outside a shop selling tobacco, alcohol, and groceries. Through its glass door, he could still see the furnishings inside, with packs of cigarettes sitting out in plain sight in a glass display counter.

Rows of shelves stood in a slightly darker area beside it, holding snacks and other things he could not make out in the dim light.

A little grocery shop like this might not have as many supplies as the supermarket, but it still had enough for Chen Ye to collect.

Those cigarettes in the glass display were especially tempting.

Chen Ye had been smoking for over a decade. Going without cigarettes was truly miserable.

Besides, in the apocalypse, cigarettes, alcohol, and medicine were all highly sought-after supplies, along with food.

Even nonsmokers would take cigarettes to trade for supplies they needed.

Chen Ye was about to find a brick to smash the glass door when he noticed that the shop's lock was badly corroded.

A gentle tug was enough to pull the lock on the glass door open.

The glass door let out an unpleasant creak. Even its hinges were covered in rust, as though a push could snap them apart.

Chen Ye peered into the shop.

It was already past three, approaching four in the afternoon. The sun was sinking westward, and sunlight streamed into the shop through the doorway.

The area near the entrance was lit up, with the light falling directly on the cigarette counter.

The other areas, untouched by the sunlight, looked rather dark, in stark contrast to the bright entrance.

Raising his crossbow, Chen Ye cautiously entered the shop and strained to inspect the interior. He saw no sign of any supernatural entity or shadow.

Chen Ye picked up the pace, hurriedly shifted his backpack from his back to his chest, and began sweeping food off the shelves.

Although he badly wanted to grab the cigarettes, he restrained that urge.

In the apocalypse, going without cigarettes would not kill him. Going without food absolutely would.

At that moment, reason won out over desire.

Chen Ye's hands moved rapidly, sweeping everything he saw into his backpack.

He had specifically sought out this backpack while gathering supplies earlier, precisely for situations like this.

The backpack was spacious, but there was much less food on the shelves than he had expected.

Many shelves were still empty.

A small-town grocery shop like this had never carried as wide a selection as a twenty-four-hour convenience store in the city.

Ever since a supermarket had opened in Apricot Blossom Town, business at this little grocery shop had grown increasingly poor.

If the apocalypse had not come, the shop probably would have been put up for sale before long.

Nothing Chen Ye spotted escaped his sweep.

Spicy strips, instant noodles, jelly cups-he swept them all into his backpack.

Outside, the sun was slowly sinking westward, and the sunlit area inside the shop was shrinking.

Chen Ye cleared out all the food, yet his backpack was only two-thirds full. He pressed the contents down hard, reducing that to half full.

Only then did Chen Ye turn his gaze toward the cigarettes in the counter and swallow.

This time, his hands moved even faster, practically blurring.

There were not only packs of Hongtashan, but also a few packs of Chunghwa.

Most were cheaper cigarettes, though. There were only a few packs of brands like Chunghwa.

There were even fewer packs of Lotus-only two or three.

Chen Ye was not picky. He swept all the cigarettes into his backpack.

He did not spare even the cabinet beneath the glass counter.

Together with the food he had collected, they soon filled the sizable backpack to the brim.

Chen Ye packed away everything he could carry. As for everyday household goods, he passed over anything that was not essential.

Chen Ye also packed two bottles of liquor.

Suddenly, a familiar shudder rose within him.

It was just like the feeling he had experienced while standing at the town entrance, looking at the dilapidated buildings.

He had encountered it several times back in Jiang City too.

Anyone who had survived knew what that feeling meant.

A face paler than a three-day-old corpse was pressed right against the back of Chen Ye's head.

Chen Ye felt waves of cold against the back of his neck, and every hair on the backs of his hands stood on end.

He could also smell a cold, damp stench.

Goosebumps spread from the backs of his hands across his entire body.

It felt as though an icy snake had crawled along his spine.

Chen Ye slowly turned his head.

It was the face of a child about seven or eight years old, very, very close to him.

That deathly pale skin, that exaggerated rouge on the cheeks.

The eyes and mouth curved into arcs, forming an exaggerated, eerie smile.

The whole child looked as though it had been made from paper.

The child crouched in the darkness like a monkey, staring straight at Chen Ye with curious eyes.

A boundary between light and dark lay between them.

One side still held lingering sunlight, while the other was filled with an uncanny, bitter chill.

He had no idea whether this paper child had been hiding in a dark corner, watching him ever since he entered.

Or whether it had only just appeared.

"Fuck!"

Chen Ye stumbled, knocking over the counter as he tried to rush outside.

But he discovered that someone had wedged a wooden stick through the glass door's handles from outside.

The door had been barred shut.

Was someone targeting me?

Just then, through the glass door, Chen Ye saw a man and a woman standing beside his tricycle outside.

Chen Ye knew them both.

The woman was the one in yoga pants whom he had rejected earlier. He remembered her name was Jiajia.

The man was Qiangzi, the fitness instructor.

As though sensing something, they turned to look and met Chen Ye's gaze.

The woman in yoga pants was about to gloat when she spotted the pale-skinned child in the darkness behind Chen Ye.

Her face instantly filled with panic, and she hurriedly urged Qiangzi to leave.

"Hee-hee..."

A child's giggle rang out.

"Lady Moon, shine on the coffin bed, little brother waits for sweets and cries his heart to shreds~~~"

The voice came and went, seeming distant yet close.

This was a Paper-Crying Child!

The Lady Moon in that nursery rhyme probably referred to the moon.

In some southern regions, the moon was often associated with protecting children.

The coffin bed referred to a coffin.

Sugar had been a rare commodity in the old days, so in some places, sweets were also used as offerings to soothe children after their funerals.

Chen Ye had encountered a Paper-Crying Child in Jiang City before.

He had never expected to find one in Apricot Blossom Town too.

Chen Ye felt his scalp prickle.

Whoosh!

A crossbow bolt shot out and passed straight through the Paper-Crying Child's body.

At that moment, Chen Ye wanted nothing more than to curse.

"Lady Moon, shine on the coffin bed, little brother waits for sweets and cries his heart to shreds~~~"

"Hee-hee... Sweets, I want sweets!"