The first floor of this supermarket was a shopping street, while the retail area was located on the second floor and above. The path to the second floor had been blocked off by a thick fire shutter, and time seemed to have been magically frozen at that last second. Although the first floor was still filled with colorful and varied signs, the cold and quiet passageway only had Jack and his three companions walking through it. Only the ubiquitous discount and special offer notices seemed to silently narrate the previous hustle and bustle.
"Wow, it's GUCCI!" A-Xue, already carrying a backpack and dressed in loose casual clothes, shouted as she rushed in with an axe in hand, followed closely by Cao Mei. In the past, they would have been unceremoniously tackled to the ground by the supermarket security and sent to the police station. But now, in the empty store, not even a living soul could be seen; who would care about them?
It seemed as if the two women were enchanted; the short-handled axes in their hands had already been thrown to the ground. They were shouting and frantically putting clothes from the hangers onto themselves, not caring whether there were any men around. They boldly stripped down, as if they had never seen each other naked before. At that moment, they seemed to return to the days of frantically competing with each other, carrying bags and packages.
Jack shook his head with a smile, took out a pack of cigarettes, and tossed one to Hu Laoda. Leaning against the glass wall, he leisurely lit up. Both men knew that once these women started shopping, their enthusiasm was unmatched, and it would probably take a long time to finish.
"Miss, please wrap this one up for me; I'll pay by card!" Cao Mei excitedly held up a dress, instinctively looking towards the cash register, but it was empty. The golden cash register was covered in a thick layer of dust, lonely and desolate.
"Ha! Have you lost your mind? Paying by card? I wonder where you'll get the card with your bare butt! Could it be that you've stuffed a bank card in your backside?" Hu Laoda laughed from the side. Cao Mei was clearly too absorbed, forgetting what day it was.
Hu Laoda's voice dimmed the eyes of the two women, and the frenzy of shopping suddenly subsided. A Xue sighed softly, and a white handbag slipped from her hand to the ground. She remembered that it was a limited edition commemorative piece worth over a hundred thousand; she had only dared to look at it from a distance before.
"Hurry up, just pick a few things you like and take them! We still haven't figured out the situation here!" Jack flicked the cigarette butt away and straightened up to say.
The two girls nodded silently, realizing the reality. They had lost their initial frenzy; aside from one who picked a set of lingerie, they both obediently changed into the clothes they had initially chosen at the outdoor supply store. After all, those clothes were more practical and suitable for survival in this environment, unlike the flashy but impractical GUCCI. In the choice between reality and glamour, the two women's minds remained relatively clear.
"Brother Lin, this is what I picked for you; your old one is a bit worn out!" A Xue suddenly handed over an exquisite box, inside which lay a brown GUCCI belt.
"Okay, I'll switch to it once this one is worn out!" Jack nodded and smiled as he accepted it. To be honest, he had never liked luxury items like GUCCI; he preferred more convenient and practical things, like the nylon belt he was wearing, which was easy to adjust and, more importantly, a hundred times sturdier than this fake leather GUCCI in critical moments. However, he couldn't refuse A Xue's kind gesture, so he solemnly placed it in his backpack.
"Scared... scared..."
A series of unpleasant sounds resembling an asthma attack echoed as Jack and his group turned a corner. Two female zombies, as if they had made an appointment, emerged from the corner, dragging their stiff legs and wobbling towards Jack and the others.
The two zombies were said to be female, but their appearance made it impossible to tell. This was because once a person turned into a zombie, most of their hair would fall out. If it weren't for the fact that they were wearing dark short-skirt uniforms similar to flight attendants, no one could distinguish whether they were male or female, given their bald, shriveled heads and flat chests.
"Ha, Cao Mei, look! You just mentioned swiping a card, and the waiter came running to check you out!" Boss Hu, holding a long frozen meat knife he had taken from a kitchenware store, pointed at the name tags on the two zombies' chests and laughed. The small golden tags indicated that they were salespeople from a GUCCI store.
"Boss Hu, you take the one on the left. Cao Mei, A Xue, the one on the right is up to you!" Jack crossed his arms and stood aside, clearly intending to watch from the sidelines this time.
"Alright, just a little bitch! Watch me! Spit... spit..." Boss Hu replied, spat into each palm, rubbed his hands together, and charged towards the larger zombie on the left with his frozen meat knife.
Seeing Boss Hu charge in, Cao Mei and A Xue surprisingly didn't feel scared. Perhaps Jack standing aside gave them some confidence. The two women exchanged glances, raised their axes, and shouted as they rushed forward.
Jack's plan was simple: since these people had decided to follow him, he would never bring along any dead weight. So what if they were women? Once trained, they would be no worse than men. He had seen many outstanding female warriors; the innate delicacy and calmness of women were qualities that many male warriors could not match. Therefore, if they wanted to survive, they had to rely on themselves.
"Ah..."
"Hey..."
Boss Hu was a strong man, and dealing with even a woman who had turned into a zombie was easy for him. With just a few knife strikes, he chopped off the female zombie's head and stood aside, looking proudly at Cao Mei and A Xue's performance. However, the confident shouts from the two women made even this big man feel a bit embarrassed.
It's just that although the two women were calling out joyfully, that little zombie just couldn't be brought down no matter what. Despite being covered in wounds, it remained exceptionally fierce, and after being provoked by them, its movements actually became twice as fierce.
"Ah…"
Axue struck the living corpse's shoulder with an axe, but the force was too great, and the ax got stuck in the living corpse's shoulder blade and could not be pulled out. Axue was sweating profusely, and even after exhausting all his strength, the ax was still motionless. Seeing the claws of the living corpse swinging towards his face, Axue could only scream, and fell to the ground tremblingly, closing his eyes and preparing to die.
Ah Xue fell to the ground and huddled up like a quail. After waiting for a long time, she didn't expect the gunshot or pain. She slowly opened her eyes and found that the living corpse that had almost killed her had been killed at some point. Half of the man's head was cut off. Cao Meixiang stood beside the mutilated body dripping with sweat, holding her JEEP ax that was stained with blood but still bright, and looked at Ashue on the ground with lingering fear.
"Get up"
Jack walked over expressionlessly and said to the two women with an unprecedented cold attitude, "Don't think that I will shoot behind you. A burden that can't even protect myself is definitely not worth a bullet in my heart."
"And" Jack suddenly stopped and said to Ashue, "Even if you die, don't close your eyes."
Axue got up from the ground with a pale face and walked towards the mutilated corpse of the living corpse in front of her. She stepped on the mutilated corpse and silently pulled out the ax stuck on its shoulder. Axue turned around and looked at Cao Mei with a complicated expression.
"Don't look at me like that. I saved you by chance, but I don't want you to die. After all, there are so many people in the processing plant, and now only a few of us are dead. It's really not easy." Cao Mei smiled helplessly at Ashue, with some indescribable pain in it.
"Since you know it's not easy, why did you kill Lingling? Do you know that she is my best friend?" Ah Xue looked at Cao Mei and shouted loudly. She had been holding this sentence in her heart for a long time. Her best friend was killed in front of her. If she didn't question Cao Mei, she was afraid that she would go crazy first.
"I really can only say sorry about Lingling. I didn't mean to target her, but you saw it with your own eyes at that time. If I didn't push her in that situation, both of us would die. In this case, why didn't I choose to sacrifice her to save myself? Or... do you want us to die together?" Cao Mei looked at Ashue extremely seriously, and squeezed her slender jade hands tightly.
"Then don't you feel guilty?" Ah Xue shed tears and shouted at Cao Mei.
"There's nothing to feel guilty about. If I really have any thoughts, it's gratitude. I'm truly grateful that Lingling blocked those terrifying zombies for me. Without her, I wouldn't have survived. I wish her in her next life not to be reborn as a human, but rather as a free little bird. Perhaps my push was not a release for Lingling. Do you really think living in this world is better than being dead?" Cao Mei shook her head apologetically, leaned over, and gently stroked A Xue's dazed face, slowly saying, "Let's go, silly sister. Since we don't have the courage to go to hell, let's live well. Follow that man closely; we might still have a glimmer of hope!"
A Xue looked at Cao Mei with a complex expression. Ultimately, under Cao Mei's sincere gaze, she sighed helplessly and followed her to catch up with Jack.