The clerk

"Disgusting..." Qiao Jiajin frowned at the filthy stuff on the floor. "With a stench that strong, could it be excrement?"

Excrement?

Qi Xia suddenly turned to look at Qiao Jiajin.

That was an interesting observation.

In other words, besides the nine of them and those in animal masks, there were other people here.

Or perhaps... other "things."

This person or "thing" seemed to have lived here for a long time. Otherwise, it could not have left excrement all over the floor.

Everyone searched around, but they could not find any needles, thread, or gauze. Nor could they see a pharmacy or clinic outside the convenience store. If they went out searching blindly, Han Yimo probably would not last that long.

"What do we do now..." Officer Li stood with his hands on his hips and looked helplessly at Doctor Zhao, seemingly asking for his opinion.

Before Doctor Zhao could speak, a noise came from behind the convenience store's checkout counter, and the door to the staff room slowly opened.

All nine of them recoiled in alarm, immediately taking several steps back as they watched the door slowly open.

A thin figure slipped out from behind it.

On closer inspection, it was a girl so emaciated she barely looked human. They could not even tell her age.

Her cheeks were deeply sunken and her eyes bulged, as though all the flesh on her face had vanished.

She pressed her cracked lips together and looked curiously at them.

After a brief daze, she seemed to realize something. She hurriedly straightened her filthy, ragged clothes and said in a hoarse voice, "Welcome..."

Welcome...?

Officer Li considered the meaning of those words and seemed to understand.

"Are you... the clerk?"

The girl nodded. "Yes."

No one spoke again, because something about this made no sense.

Leaving aside why there was another human here, even if she really was the "clerk," why would she be working in a completely derelict convenience store?

Seeing that none of them moved, the clerk could only venture, "Please feel free to browse."

Despite her words, what was there left to "browse"?

There was almost nothing on the shelves, and the few remaining items were rotten and covered in filth.

The clerk stared fixedly at them with vacant eyes.

Her gaze frightened some of the women.

"Do you have a needle and thread?" Qi Xia asked the clerk, his expression unchanged.

"A needle... and thread?" A flicker passed through the clerk's lifeless eyes. Then she raised her hands and mimed threading a needle. "You mean... this kind of needle and thread?"

Only then did they notice that her hands were covered in dried, blackened blood. It was a horrifying sight.

Qi Xia took another step forward. "Yes, that kind. Do you sell any?"

"Con man, you..." Before meeting Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin had thought he was the bravest man in the world. Yet now, even he did not dare speak to this woman. "Can't you see there's something wrong with her?"

"So what if I can?" Qi Xia said evenly. "Our situation can't get any worse."

The female clerk stood there blankly, thinking for a while longer. Then she suddenly lifted the counter flap and rushed out.

Only now could they see her whole body.

She wore a filthy, oversized white shirt that hung awkwardly on her, as though draped over a clothes hanger.

Something was smeared across the shirt. It looked like oil, but also like blood.

The shirt reached almost to her knees. She did not seem to be wearing any pants, and her thighs were covered in dried blood.

Qi Xia frowned slightly and tried to take a step back, but the clerk seized his wrist.

It felt as though an old vine had wound itself around his wrist, dry and painfully tight.

"I have some here!!" The clerk opened her mouth, revealing yellowed teeth. "I have a 'needle and thread'! Come with me!"

She kept pointing toward the "staff room," apparently wanting Qi Xia to follow her inside.

She had genuinely frightened them. Judging by her behavior, following her inside was a terrible idea.

"Forget it... we're not buying anything!" Qiao Jiajin stepped forward and tried to pry her hand loose. "Let go first."

But the clerk acted as though she had not heard him. She dragged Qi Xia along, smiling happily as she moved.

"There's a 'needle and thread' in this room! Come on!"

She was even stronger than Qiao Jiajin and Qi Xia combined.

"Hey!! Come help!" Qiao Jiajin shouted over his shoulder.

Officer Li and Doctor Zhao snapped out of their daze and hurried over.

The clerk quickened her pace.

Qi Xia felt an enormous force dragging him forward, and he could not break free at all.

They had not been far from the staff room to begin with. After just six or seven steps, they were already through the doorway.

Doctor Zhao and Officer Li were pulling Qi Xia back out when the clerk unexpectedly let go.

"Ah!"

With a startled cry, several of them nearly fell over.

Once they had regained their footing, they saw that the clerk was paying them no attention. Instead, she had turned away and was rummaging through the room.

Still shaken, the four men looked around.

It was slightly cleaner than outside. A folding bed stood in one corner, its bedding already yellowed.

There was also a large bloodstain on it that looked fairly fresh.

In another corner, a rusty iron pot sat on a makeshift stove, with something bubbling away inside.

The clerk ignored it all as she rummaged through an old box.

"Where is it... the needle and thread..." She kept tossing things out of the box. There were drink cans, old magazines, and assorted pots, bowls, and utensils.

Qiao Jiajin rubbed his nose and looked toward the iron pot.

"Come to think of it, I'm pretty hungry," he whispered to Qi Xia. "If only she weren't crazy. I'd like to ask if she'd let me have a meal."

Qi Xia glanced at the iron pot. Something white was cooking inside.

He felt a little hungry too.

"You'd actually dare eat anything from this place?" Officer Li asked. "Who knows how filthy that stuff is..."

"But it smells good."

Qiao Jiajin was right. Thanks to the iron pot, a delicious aroma filled the room, masking the foul stench.

"What are you cooking?" Qiao Jiajin worked up the courage to ask. Apparently, he really did want a bite.

"A piglet," the clerk replied.

"A piglet?"

Qiao Jiajin's interest was piqued. He was just about to go over and look inside the pot when the clerk cried out.

"Ah! Found it!"

She turned around, holding something in both hands, and excitedly said to them, "Look! A needle and thread!"

Officer Li stepped forward to look, and an uneasy expression crossed his face.

This was no "needle and thread." It was a rusty fishhook and a small, tangled bundle of fishing line.

He turned toward Doctor Zhao and gave him a meaningful look.

After a moment's thought, Doctor Zhao stared at the fishhook and fishing line and asked, "Miss, do you have any other needles and thread?"

"No." The clerk shook her head. "Just this. Are you buying it?"