The three of them were so absorbed in collecting gasoline and supplies that the whole afternoon slipped by before they knew it. Or perhaps the sky had been so dark all along that it was hard to tell the time.
Bai Shu looked down at his wristband in shock. "We've been at this until six already?"
How had time flown by so fast?
Wang Weihu stretched his shoulders and neck. Zombies had wandered over now and then throughout the afternoon, and he had needed to take breaks to kill them. Now his whole body ached.
Just then, another explosion rang out nearby, accompanied by a flash-blast effect as electrical currents writhed wildly through the air.
Xu Duoduo looked up toward it, an instinctive flicker of fear rising in her.
Bai Shu pushed up his glasses and smiled. "Qin Luo must be getting fed up too. He's actually started using his ability. He still hasn't gotten used to it, so he usually doesn't like using it."
"I don't like using mine either," Wang Weihu muttered. "It's hard to control my strength when I do."
Of the four of them, Qin Luo had a rare thunderstorm-type ability, Bai Shu had enhanced eyes, Wang Weihu had enhanced strength, and Chen Xiaofei had enhanced speed.
Since the apocalypse had only begun about a month ago, everything was still in chaos. Headquarters had yet to work out a decent manual for using abilities.
Everyone could only figure things out for themselves.
They also did their best to cooperate with the research institute, hoping that would help them understand abilities better. But there was still a long road ahead! None of it was easy.
After an afternoon of clearing the area, they had finally wiped out the zombies nearby. Any smarter ones left had probably fled. At least there were no zombies to be seen in the parking lot, though the ground was not a pretty sight.
It was all mosaic censoring.
Xu Duoduo followed Bai Shu and Wang Weihu to find Qin Luo and Chen Xiaofei.
Wind stirred and clouds churned in the pitch-black night sky, lending everything an uneasy air.
Wang Weihu and Bai Shu were already contacting the other two through their wristbands. "Qin Luo, Xiaofei? Where are you? Come in, come in."
As voices sounded through their earpieces, Xu Duoduo vaguely heard them say they were in the cafeteria inside.
"Copy," Wang Weihu said. "We'll be there in twenty minutes. We're going to collect some supplies first."
Looking at the specialty shops and other stores on the ground floor, Xu Duoduo was already itching to reach out her claws and start collecting.
Qin Luo's voice came through the earpiece. "All right. There are a dozen or so survivors here too."
He meant to let them know there were outsiders present, so they would need to be careful about certain things.
"Copy," Bai Shu replied.
Xu Duoduo opened the door anyway, slipped inside, and started collecting everything in sight. The specialty shop mostly stocked dried goods, such as expensive mushrooms, ginseng, and the like, along with pastries such as flower cakes.
Everything her hands touched vanished into thin air. It was immensely satisfying to watch.
Xu Duoduo was thoroughly enjoying herself too. Dried morels, russulas, and other goods that had once been sold by the gram were now hers for free. What bliss.
These dried goods were all highly nutritious. If she had the chance later, she could make soup with them.
Wang Weihu spotted an entire row of cigarettes and alcohol and called out, "Little Class Monitor!"
Xu Duoduo turned to look, then immediately pattered over and stored the whole cabinet away. Even a burly man like Wang Weihu could not help clenching his fists in excitement. "Little Class Monitor, just say the word if you ever need anything! As long as there are cigarettes and booze, I'm up for anything! Order me around all you like!"
Bai Shu was checking the medicines in the shop across from them. At that, he teased, "Weren't you all upright and principled earlier? The sort who'd never bend the rules for personal gain? Now you'll do anything? I told you ages ago to be nicer to the Little Class Monitor."
Had he not seen how much Chen Xiaofei had buttered Xu Duoduo up right from the start? Now, whenever he said he was hungry, she would immediately produce food for him.
Wang Weihu scratched his head sheepishly and could only chuckle.
Xu Duoduo's zombie brain was now filled with nothing but [stockpile][stockpile][stockpile]. She paid no attention whatsoever to what the two of them were saying.
She stored anything she wanted, occasionally stepping over the mosaic censoring on the floor and pretending she had not seen it. In the end, she emptied the entire specialty shop.
What a valuable shop!
When Bai Shu called to her from across the way, she plunged straight into the pharmacy opposite.
It stocked nutritional supplements and common medicines, such as motion sickness pills and cold medicine.
Xu Duoduo collected all of those too, emptying the little pharmacy before taking her two "bodyguards" along to loot the food shops. Food from before the apocalypse was still sitting on their front counters, but anything exposed to the air had already been contaminated.
That could not be taken.
Xu Duoduo headed straight for the kitchens and collected the stock from the refrigerators and storerooms.
Bai Shu shook his head repeatedly when he saw some ready-made meals. "Tsk, tsk. Even crossing-the-bridge rice noodles are made from ready-made packs? Food safety these days. Tsk, tsk."
Wang Weihu was more pragmatic. "Now that the apocalypse is here, who cares whether it's ready-made or not? We're lucky to have anything to eat. Just take it all."
Watching the zombie young lady weave through the row of little shops, Bai Shu began to marvel at just how large her storage space was.
How was it like a bottomless pit?
He lowered his voice and said to Wang Weihu, "She already collected three huge warehouses full of canned goods, then all that gasoline. Now she's still collecting nonstop without even batting an eye. The Little Class Monitor is really something!"
Wang Weihu was filled with respect too, then told Bai Shu not to mention it again. "The more impressive she is, the more we need to keep it secret. Careful, walls have ears."
All sorts of strange abilities had appeared in the apocalypse, but they kept forgetting that.
Bai Shu immediately shut his mouth and nodded in understanding. After that, he accompanied Xu Duoduo as she finished looting the shops. She even collected the stock for fried snack skewers, along with several large tubs of cooking oil.
This was good stuff too!
When the three of them reached the cafeteria Qin Luo had mentioned, they saw a dozen or so survivors standing or sitting behind the glass doors. One girl was still clinging tightly to Chen Xiaofei, crying, "I'm so scared, I'm so scared! Sob!"
Chen Xiaofei looked pained and helpless. "Miss, I know you're scared, but you're safe now. Please stop hanging on to me!"
Several girls were trembling, wrapped in thick layers of clothing. Another, her face streaked prettily with tears, tried to grab Qin Luo.
Qin Luo stepped back out of her reach and said without even looking up, "If you can't stand, sit down. Stop crying and try to be strong."
After that, he questioned a male and female survivor who were still capable of answering. "So you're saying that the two of you sensed something was wrong right at the start of the apocalypse, shut the doors, and survived until now on the cafeteria's food?"
The couple looked to be in their forties or fifties and were in the best condition of all the survivors. They answered in a rush of lightly accented Mandarin.
"Yes! I still remember that evening. It wasn't even mealtime yet, just around six, and only a dozen or so customers had come in. Then people outside suddenly started fighting! I was so scared that I hurriedly told my husband to shut the doors. He'd barely closed the main doors when people outside started biting everyone!"
"That's right, that's right! Once we shut the doors, we pulled down the shutter at the side too, and blocked these glass doors with tables and chairs. If you fellows hadn't come, we still wouldn't have dared open up!"
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