Entering Small Shop Street

"We can't take too much, or it'll slow us down," Zhang Yi said thoughtfully, the crease between his brows deepening without his noticing. "No water, no cooking oil, no seasonings. One or two bags of salt will be enough, no more. Rice and flour..." He hesitated. Rice mostly came in bags weighing dozens of jin, though there were five- and ten-jin bags too, if they were lucky enough to find them. "If there are small bags, take one. Otherwise, leave it. If there are dried noodles, take a bundle or two. As for canned food and the like, take what seems suitable, but don't get greedy. Keep your load under ten kilograms." It wasn't that the two of them couldn't carry more, but doing so would affect their speed and reactions. If they encountered more than two zombies, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Nan Shao listened while silently committing the layout to memory, raising no objections to Zhang Yi's arrangements. Biscuits, instant noodles, and the like were light, but the mixed-grain bran cakes they had bartered for in town could serve as substitutes. Even if they took water, they couldn't carry much, so their main targets this time were canned pickled vegetables, fish, meat, and similar foods that could provide extra nutrition.

"There's a blacksmith's shop here. We'll go this way when the time comes. We might find something useful." Zhang Yi pointed to a secluded alley. It was only because this was the old town, and Ziyun County lagged behind economically, that an old handicraft workshop like this had survived. Nan Shao was using a thick wooden stick he had picked up on the spot. Not only was its striking power limited, but it could also snap easily, so they had to find a suitable weapon.

"Remember, we have to be quick. Don't linger anywhere, even if it looks safe. Don't stop to dig out Corpse Crystals," he emphasized once more at the end.

Nan Shao grunted in acknowledgment without saying anything else. Zhang Yi couldn't help glancing at him. He found it rather unexpected that this man would willingly take orders from someone else. After all, his impression was that Nan Shao was someone accustomed to holding authority and giving orders.

"What is it?" Sensing his gaze, Nan Shao looked back at him and asked.

Zhang Yi shook his head and stood up. "Let's go." Whatever the reason, the other man was willing to cooperate unconditionally, and that was enough.

The two left the sand depot, bashed a zombie that had emerged from who knew where along the way, and dug out its Corpse Crystal. By the time they reached the main road, there was hardly anyone ahead of or behind them. Zhang Yi led Nan Shao down a shortcut. They hadn't gone far when they noticed someone following them.

They exchanged a glance. As they rounded a bend, they abruptly split up, hiding themselves behind piles of clutter. After they waited a moment, light footsteps finally sounded behind them.

"Huh?" The startled, questioning sound was extremely faint, but it was enough to tell them that the newcomer was a woman.

Zhang Yi signaled to Nan Shao with his eyes to stay where he was, then slipped out of hiding, appearing nearly five meters in front of the woman.

The woman took a step back, then stopped. Surprise flickered through her eyes and vanished, but she showed none of the panic of someone caught in the act.

"I'm from Yunzhou Province. I don't know my way around here." Before Zhang Yi could ask anything, the woman spoke first. Her voice was a little dry; otherwise, it would have been soft and pleasant. She held a pickaxe stained with dried blood and wore filthy jeans and a loose men's jacket zipped all the way to her neck. Even with sweat covering her face, she showed no intention of opening her collar even slightly. Her hair was very short, plastered untidily against her scalp, and it was obvious at a glance that she had cut it herself with something. Her bangs were long enough to nearly cover her eyes. With an appearance like that, no one would have any interest in looking at her face, whatever it looked like.

Zhang Yi remembered this woman because he had encountered her several times before. She kept to herself and seemed to have no special ability, but she could kill zombies on her own. Coupled with her unflattering appearance and somewhat gloomy air, this meant that hardly anyone had designs on her. Of course, she received almost no help either. Out of professional habit, however, Zhang Yi had noticed at first glance that her features were actually quite attractive and that she was very young, certainly no older than twenty-five.

"I don't know how to get to the old cinema," the woman continued to explain. She trusted no one, so she was unwilling to ask anyone else for help and could only resort to this method. She also knew it could easily provoke resentment, so she made no excuses when she was discovered.

The old cinema was the rendezvous point agreed upon by the Vanguard Team. Zhang Yi stared steadily into the woman's eyes for a moment, then nodded silently. He turned and gestured toward Nan Shao's hiding place before continuing on.

Nan Shao emerged without looking at the woman and quickly caught up with Zhang Yi. The woman inwardly sighed in relief and followed them at a safe distance. Ordinarily, she never took part in operations involving such a mixed assortment of people, but she had run out of sanitary pads and had no choice but to grit her teeth and join in. Sometimes she hated it: everything in this world had changed, so why did women still have to get their periods?

The route they took skirted the outer wall of a small brickworks outside town, passed along paths between the fields, and led straight up a rubbish-covered slope on the other side of the old town. This was the way Zhang Yi had escaped with his son. Anyone who wasn't extremely familiar with the old town could never have known about this route. Even if someone happened to wander over here, they would think there was nothing ahead but a mountain of rubbish.

Along the way, they occasionally saw freshly killed zombies with their heads smashed in. Clearly, someone had already come this way. After all, Wangyang Town wasn't far from Ziyun County, so there were bound to be survivors who knew the county well. This was also why Zhang Yi had abandoned this route in favor of another when planning their retreat. No one could guarantee that someone unwilling to take risks wouldn't lie in ambush here beforehand and seize what others had earned through blood and sweat.

Zhang Yi understood perfectly well that the Vanguard Team had definitely not invited them along because it valued their fighting strength, but because it wanted them to serve as cannon fodder when necessary. That was why he had discussed a plan of action and retreat with Nan Shao right at the beginning, rather than pinning all his hopes on the Vanguard Team. They were merely using each other, so there was no question of either side wronging the other. Naturally, keeping themselves alive came first.

Chapter 10: Entering Small Shop Street

There was a floodlit sports court in front of the old cinema. In the late eighties and early nineties, it had been the liveliest place in Ziyun County. Whenever there was a film screening or an organized event, people would pack in shoulder to shoulder, with sunflower seed vendors everywhere. Zhang Yi still remembered the old woman who sold sunflower seeds back then, rolling paper into palm-sized cones. One jiao bought a cone, and business was quite good. In those days, six fen could buy a piece of fried tofu or a baked flatbread, and a bowl of rice noodles cost five jiao, so one jiao for a small paper cone of sunflower seeds was expensive. But on days like those, everyone felt as though they were celebrating a festival, so they didn't begrudge the money.