Obtaining a new map

The rescue operation went much faster than they had imagined. They had thought it would take ages.

Qin Luo also noticed that his physical fitness had improved, though he still couldn't really use his ability. Whenever he tried, sharp pain shot through his whole body, probably because he had overexerted himself.

He needed to recover properly.

Once gathered, the survivors numbered over six hundred. The sheer mass of people crowded together was daunting.

After finishing the head count, their squad had to notify a nearby logistics team to drive over and pick them up.

At the sight of their rescuers, the survivors all shed tears of joy.

"Thank you, thank you! We thought we were going to die here. We really can't thank you enough!"

The young man leading them kept repeating those words, gripping Qin Luo's hand and refusing to let go. Apparently, he was the manager of the hot pot restaurant on the fourth floor. Like Zhao Gang and his wife, he had gathered everyone into his restaurant on the fourth floor when the emergency struck.

"I'll never forget that day. It happened just after six, right when the shopping district was busy. Lots of people were out shopping, and suddenly someone in the mall fell ill. Word spread through all the staff chat groups."

As he spoke, the young manager showed them a video on his phone. It was indeed footage of a zombie attack from the early stages: a man suddenly sank his teeth into his pregnant wife beside him.

At first, some kindhearted bystanders tried to intervene, only for the man to lunge at them and bite them too.

"Thank goodness I got that warning message. I've always been a little paranoid, and after reading it, I felt uneasy all over. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about it."

The young manager kept recalling what had happened, his hands trembling despite himself.

"It wasn't until I heard screams from downstairs that I snapped out of it. I hurriedly stopped my coworkers from going outside, then called all the customers on the fourth floor into the restaurant. Soon, the customers from the second and third floors came running up too."

"We're the ones who managed to survive. We did our best to save everyone we could."

Luckily, the fourth floor was full of restaurants. By carefully rationing their food and drink, they had managed to survive on the restaurants' supplies until now.

The young manager had also managed to send a distress message to Headquarters thanks to the Doomsday Survival Manual. "It said phone signals would stop working, so I kept sending messages until I finally got through to the rescue department at Headquarters."

Even Wang Weihu had to praise him after hearing that. "You did an incredible job. You kept your cool. These five hundred-plus people survived because you gathered everyone into the restaurant and shut the doors right away. You really accomplished something extraordinary."

The young manager scratched his head bashfully. "Anyone would have done the same. It was hardly any trouble."

He was just an ordinary worker without much education. He had never imagined he would become the pillar of support for a whole group of people after the apocalypse. He had led them in rationing their supplies, worked hard to improve their living conditions, and tried every way he could think of to save them.

He had even comforted the other survivors, helping them make it through.

While writing his report, Bai Shu suddenly noticed something odd. "If customer numbers were no different from usual, why were there so many zombies in the mall?"

When they first arrived, they had seen the place packed with zombies.

The young manager hurriedly answered, "Because there were zombies outside too. The people outside all thought they could take shelter in the mall, but..."

There was no need to finish that sentence.

The people outside had thought they could find refuge in the mall, never imagining that hell awaited them inside.

And zombies didn't know how to use revolving doors.

So they had all gotten trapped inside.

Everyone sighed, but there was nothing they could do. With the apocalypse upon them, survival belonged to those who could adapt. Sometimes, luck played a small part too.

Qin Luo patted the young man's shoulder. "We'll report everything exactly as it happened. Headquarters will reward people like you who have performed exceptionally well."

The young manager was deeply embarrassed. "I really didn't do much. You're the ones who are cool! At first, I thought it'd be like in the movies, with a whole rescue army arriving in a big show of force."

He hadn't expected only a handful of people to come. But after seeing ability users with his own eyes, he admired them even more!

The young manager introduced himself as Ding Shengjie. "Guys, how do you become an ability user? The Doomsday Survival Manual didn't explain how."

He said he wanted to be cool like them and save more people too.

Qin Luo smiled and told him to be patient. "Maybe the base will figure it out someday."

Wang Weihu draped an arm over Ding Shengjie's shoulders and said with a smile, "All right, young comrade, you should get some rest. Thanks for cooperating. We've learned everything we need to know. Buses will come tomorrow to take you to a base."

The nearest base was the survivor base in H City. There was also one farther away in City A, and another even farther away in City B. For now, those three major bases were holding things together. The other cities were still very dangerous.

Bai Shu looked at the crowd. "H City is almost at capacity. This group probably won't all be going there."

Qin Luo agreed. "City A has fewer people. They might send some of them there."

The two of them discussed business, not noticing Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo for quite a while. Those two were coaxing children with candy nearby. A cluster of children stared numbly, shrinking timidly into their parents' arms.

Even worse off were the children without parents. More than twenty children had no one to look after them.

They were all crying quietly.

Chen Xiaofei couldn't bear to watch. After discussing it with Xu Duoduo, he took out some candy and stuffed a handful into each child's pocket.

The air indoors really wasn't good.

Some survivors were clean, while others were filthy, but none of them minded one another.

After Qin Luo and Bai Shu finished discussing business and reported that the mission was complete, they came over to see what Chen Xiaofei and Xu Duoduo were doing.

"Children shouldn't eat this much candy, should they? It'll ruin their teeth."

Bai Shu delivered that merciless remark as soon as he walked over.

He frightened the children so badly that their lips began to tremble again, though none of them dared cry. The looks in their eyes were heartbreaking.

Chen Xiaofei immediately spoke up. "Hey, what are you doing? Don't scare the kids. Life's bitter enough. What's wrong with a little candy? And stop looking at us like that. Little Class Monitor and I aren't messing around. We're doing real work!"

The two of them had gotten the precise location of a grain warehouse in City C out of the children.

The roads there were so convoluted that even navigation apps were useless. Anyone who wasn't local would have a hard time finding it.

Some of the children who had lost their families were older. At ten, they were already old enough to understand things. When Chen Xiaofei asked, one little girl even drew them a map. As soon as she finished, her lips trembled and she began to cry. "My mommy bought me these crayons, but this is the last box! Waaaah!"

The moment she finished speaking, the little girl burst into loud sobs, making the three men and one zombie jump.

Xu Duoduo hurriedly pulled out some chocolate and stuffed it into the girl's mouth, hoping she would stop crying. Her sobs made Xu Duoduo's head buzz. It was enough to frighten even a zombie.

Chen Xiaofei simply crouched down to comfort the child.

Bai Shu picked up the cute crayon map and studied it. "Wow, this is really good. You're very talented. You've taken drawing lessons before, haven't you?"

Qin Luo also reached out and rested his hand on the little girl's head, giving it a gentle rub. "Don't cry. You did a great job. Your mom would be proud of you too."