Rescue in progress

The drink section inside the snack shop was truly dazzling, stocked with every variety, familiar and unfamiliar alike.

Xu Duoduo swept through the whole shop, collecting everything that wasn't dirty.

If she didn't take it, someone else would eventually, or mutated monsters would destroy it. She felt perfectly justified taking it all. Only supplies in her own hands gave her peace of mind.

They soon finished clearing out the snack shop and moved on to the dessert shop next door. Naturally, the cakes in the display case were useless; they had all gone rotten.

But the baking area in the back still had plenty of ingredients left-flour, milk powder, sugar, and the like.

There were plenty of food shops along the way. All they had to do was take whatever usable stock remained.

The most exciting find was the gold shop!

The shop was full of glittering gold. Both the little zombie and Chen Xiaofei let out a "Wow!"

"Oh my god! How much would all this have been worth before the apocalypse? Little Class Monitor, quick, quick, quick! Let's take it all! I think there's a tobacco and liquor shop next door! Old Wang's favorite. We'll go there once we finish here!"

Xu Duoduo nodded and waited for Chen Xiaofei to take out the few female zombies behind the counter. Then they broke the glass, and she went into collect-everything mode.

The tobacco and liquor shop next door was just as astonishing. Chen Xiaofei kept clicking his tongue. "If Old Wang were here, wouldn't he be over the moon?"

Xu Duoduo didn't say a word. She simply packed up the entire wall of tobacco and liquor and took it away.

While the supply-hoarding duo happily browsed and collected supplies, Wang Weihu kept sneezing elsewhere. He and Bai Shu were both in a sorry state.

"Everyone, follow me this way. Don't fall behind, and don't shout."

Wang Weihu called out to the survivors behind him, then led them toward a convenience store at a run and settled them inside.

Bai Shu covered them. Even in daylight, the zombies grew unusually agitated when confronted with a group of living, breathing people.

They lunged at anyone they saw.

Bai Shu kicked away another zombie that lunged at him, then finished it with a shot. "Tch, these things are so damn annoying. They just keep coming. There's no end to them!"

He looked up and saw more zombies emerging from hiding.

They had already wiped out about ninety percent of them earlier. How had so many gathered again already?!

It was almost dark!

Wang Weihu threw a Marble Bomb at a small cluster of zombies ahead. Its blast diameter could be controlled within five meters. If he set it to five meters, it would be exactly five meters-the control was incredibly precise.

It exploded with a bang.

A small bunch of them was wiped out instantly.

"Bai, stay here and guard the survivors. I'll go bring the others over."

Living flesh kept drawing zombies in. Leaving the survivors here on their own simply wouldn't work. They could easily scream when frightened, and who knew what else that might attract.

Bai Shu caught his breath and nodded, then pulled out his flask and gulped down a large mouthful of herbal cooling tea. The Little Class Monitor had given it to him; each of them had a big flask. He had no idea where she had gotten so many insulated flasks. She had probably collected them along the way.

Wang Weihu patted Bai Shu's shoulder and hurried forward again, killing zombies as he turned onto the neighboring street to rescue more people.

Bai Shu had to change magazines while killing zombies, occasionally glancing at the survivors inside the convenience store. Every one of them was hiding with a hand over their mouth, their face full of terror.

Ah.

He let out a deep sigh.

Elsewhere.

Qin Luo was a zombie-slaughtering machine. The large shopping mall was absolutely packed with zombies. He couldn't use large bombs, only Marble Bombs.

He couldn't use too many Marble Bombs, either, for fear of hitting electrical appliances and setting off a chain of explosions.

Even if nothing exploded, he still had to worry about starting a fire.

So apart from the mall's more open lobby, he had to deal with everything using a gun or a knife.

Qin Luo plunged into the horde and slaughtered without stopping. One mass of zombies fell, then another. Most of the time, he was a numb killing machine, though occasionally his thoughts strayed to what his teammates were doing.

Everyone continued working separately like this until night fell.

Chen Xiaofei grew more vigilant, too. "Little Class Monitor, don't stray too far from me from now on. Stay right behind me."

Even though he knew the little zombie had a killer move, they still didn't understand its aftereffects.

Better not to let her use it unless she had to.

After hearing him, Xu Duoduo raised her wooden whistle and gave it a short blow to show she understood. She looked up at the sky. The gloom seemed to have cleared, and there was actually a moon tonight. It had been so long since she had seen it that she stood there in a daze.

When Chen Xiaofei called for her to keep up, she followed him again to collect more things.

The two of them had cleared out all the shops near the mall, filling much more of the multifaceted Rubik's cube space. The sight made Xu Duoduo feel secure.

After they finished the last pharmacy, Qin Luo's call came through their earpieces. "Hello, hello, hello! Everyone done? It's dark. Get back here, quick."

Their agreed resting spot was the mall. Clearly, Qin Luo had already cleared it out all by himself.

Chen Xiaofei replied excitedly, "Roger that, roger that! The Little Class Monitor and I are on our way back."

Xu Duoduo gave her wooden whistle a blow, too.

They ran into Bai Shu and the others first, just as they were escorting the survivors into the mall.

Seeing Chen Xiaofei, Wang Weihu called out, "There are still a dozen or so survivors in the convenience store at the intersection ahead. I'll go get them. You two help escort these people inside first!"

Chen Xiaofei said that was no problem, and Wang Weihu hurried back.

Xu Duoduo looked at Bai Shu and Wang Weihu, both covered in the zombies' black blood, then at herself and Chen Xiaofei. They had only picked up some dust and a few bloodstains. Compared with those two, they were clean.

They'd had it rough!

Bai Shu chuckled when he saw Xu Duoduo. "Our Little Class Monitor never lets us down. Everything you give us is so useful. Thanks to your herbal cooling tea, Old Wang's throat and mine felt much better today!"

Otherwise, all that shouting to direct the survivors would leave their throats hoarse every time. It was rough.

It had been the same last time.

As a sniper, he would never let anything distract him, no matter what he encountered.

So whenever he was on a mission, there was always a chance some insect would bite him. Last time, the Little Class Monitor had sprinkled some insect-repellent powder on him, sparing him that suffering altogether.

A grown man could put up with a little discomfort, but avoiding it was still a relief.

Chen Xiaofei wholeheartedly agreed. "The Little Class Monitor is basically Doraemon. Seriously, she has everything, and it's all so useful. Going on missions with her is a breeze!"

Bai Shu laughed. "You'd better not let Qin hear that."

He would get jealous.

Only then did Chen Xiaofei catch on, and he chuckled. "I'm not scared. I've got nothing to hide!"

Combat squads and doctors possessed a similar sort of magic: when the people protecting you could laugh and joke freely, it meant things were safe enough for the moment.

So listening to the two men joke with each other helped the survivors relax considerably.

Xu Duoduo noticed quite a few people staring at her neck. Self-consciously, she pulled her collar over it. She really didn't like people looking at that collar.

It made her feel like she was different from everyone else, even though she really was a little zombie.

People in City C were all tall and big.

At a glance, the survivors all looked tall and sturdy, too. Seeing such a small girl, they wondered why she was out on a mission.

It was mostly surprise.