The enormous blue-green tail slipped back into the darkness.
Silence fell over their surroundings once more.
All they could hear was the rustling of things constantly writhing.
The stench of decay washed over them again, even fouler this time.
Everyone formed a circle, their backs to one another.
The darkness magnified the pressure on each of them.
One man in the group, his nerves stretched to the breaking point, suddenly broke away.
Screaming and shouting, he sprinted toward the Supermarket's entrance.
"Idiot!"
Brother Dao instinctively reached out to grab him, but caught nothing.
Big Niu reacted quickly too, lunging half a step forward and seizing the man by the back of his collar.
"Let him go."
Chen Mo's voice came from the center of the circle.
Big Niu turned to look at Chen Mo, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Let him leave. Everyone has the right to fight for their survival."
Chen Mo approached the man and patted his shoulder.
With his right hand, he quickly slipped one of Old Yang's modified, extra-bright flashlights into the man's jacket pocket.
The man was so terrified that tears and snot covered his face. He never noticed the extra object in his pocket.
He fled in abject terror toward the revolving door they had entered through.
Chen Mo coldly watched the "light source" recede.
"Why-"
Before Big Niu could finish speaking-
"Aah!"
A scream cut off abruptly.
They looked toward the sound, a few meters in front of the revolving door they had entered through.
The man's retreating figure had vanished, replaced by an enormous monster.
It was a gigantic catfish the size of a car, its dark green body coated in slime.
Several thick tentacles hung beneath its head in place of whiskers.
The fleeing man had already been swallowed whole, with only his lower legs still twitching feebly outside its mouth.
The flashlight Chen Mo had slipped into the man's pocket shone through the catfish's belly.
Everyone took a step back at the horrifying sight.
Brother Dao pulled one of his underlings with him, discreetly moving a few steps farther from Chen Mo.
"Fuck you!"
Big Niu's body grew amid a series of explosive cracks from his bones, and a pair of fearsome horns tore through the flesh atop his head.
With a furious roar, he charged at the catfish.
The flashlight inside the catfish's belly left it nowhere to hide.
It whipped Big Niu back with its tail and roared at the group.
Chen Mo glanced at the donkey lying on the floor, playing dumb.
Its rump stuck high in the air as it lowered its head and kept sniffing at something on the floor.
Clearly, it had no intention of helping.
Chen Mo flicked his wrist, tracing a silver flourish with his blade, and charged at the monster locked in combat with Big Niu.
Big Niu hoisted a nearby shelving unit and smashed it toward the catfish.
The catfish shattered the shelves with a lash of its tail. The instant it shifted its stance-
Chen Mo darted out from behind the shelving.
The Surgical Knife went straight for the catfish's belly.
The catfish turned, taking Chen Mo's slash head-on with its back.
Screech!
A shower of dazzling sparks burst out. The Surgical Knife scraped across the catfish's back, leaving only a white mark.
It's this tough even without scales?
The catfish swept its tail sideways, driving both men back with a violent gust.
"Bzzzz-"
The buzz of beating wings came from deep within the fresh food section.
Those who had stayed behind immediately aimed their flashlights toward the sound.
A dozen or so enormous flies and maggots, each half a meter long, closed in around them.
The Barbie Doll in Xiao Ya's arms vanished again, moving so fast it became a blur as it smashed through a fly's body.
Yellow-green fluid burst outward.
The stench was overwhelming.
"Fuck!"
Brother Dao roared and slashed, cleaving a white maggot that lunged at him. Viscous fluid splashed across his face.
"These aren't supernatural horrors! We can kill them!"
The others descended into chaos too, scrambling to fend off the monsters with Xiao Ya's support.
The donkey blasted a fly apart with a backward kick, then slowly edged closer to Xiao Ya.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo and Big Niu's battle with the catfish reached a fever pitch.
Big Niu abandoned defense entirely. Gripping an electronic scale used by the Supermarket to weigh goods and calculate prices, he hammered it against the catfish's body.
After a few blows, the electronic scale fell apart completely.
The catfish lashed out with its tail, wrapping it around Big Niu's thigh.
It yanked hard, knocking Big Niu off balance and sending him to the floor.
The catfish immediately pinned him beneath its body, opening its cavernous maw to bite down on his head.
Seizing his chance, Chen Mo thrust the Surgical Knife straight at the catfish's skull, the blade trailing silvery-white supernatural energy.
Sensing a lethal threat, the catfish released Big Niu and whipped its tail at Chen Mo instead.
Chen Mo tilted his head aside to dodge the strike, then slashed backhanded.
Splurt!
A tremendous force surged through the Surgical Knife, sending Chen Mo flying backward.
Dark green blood gushed out!
The catfish recoiled in pain, sprang off the floor, and turned to lunge at Chen Mo.
Just then-
A dark blur streaked past.
The Barbie Doll slammed straight into the frenzied monster.
A dull impact sounded. The catfish's enormous body staggered and toppled toward Big Niu.
Big Niu planted himself, gathered his strength, and punched the catfish square in the belly.
"Urgh!"
The catfish retched, spewing the contents of its stomach across the floor, including the man it had swallowed earlier.
Big Niu seized the opening and drove another heavy punch squarely into the catfish's head!
The catfish reeled backward under the blows, its mind going blank for an instant.
Now!
Chen Mo planted his foot on the slime-covered floor.
He leaped into the air.
The Surgical Knife in his hand flared with white light as he drove it viciously into the back of the catfish's head.
Squelch!
The catfish convulsed violently a few times, then crashed to the floor.
Its enormous body lay on the ground, its muscles still twitching faintly.
The danger had passed-for now.
Chen Mo stepped aside, allowing Big Niu to stuff the catfish's body and tail into his sack.
Before they came in, Chen Mo had already learned that Big Niu's shabby sack was a wondrous item capable of storing things.
Every survivor was panting for breath.
Brother Dao wiped the filthy blood off his face, spat, and hauled Yellow-Hair up from beside him.
"Get upstairs! Find clothes!"
No one dared delay. They trampled through the yellow-green mess covering the floor and rushed up the long-defunct escalator.
The second floor was the clothing section, their destination on this trip.
Standing at the top of the stairs, they cautiously surveyed their surroundings.
Darkness and silence still reigned, as though what had happened on the first floor had nothing to do with the second.
Yellow-Hair stood at the rear of the group and casually glanced back.
He froze.
Yellow-Hair raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the way they had come.
"The... the... escalator..."
Everyone turned.
There was nothing there.
The escalator they had just climbed... was gone...
In its place lay sections of cream-colored flooring.
They blended seamlessly into the second floor, without the slightest hint that anything was wrong.
As though that passage connecting to the first floor had never existed.
Before you continue