Chapter 85 Shopping Mall Crisis

"Will I turn into a zombie?"

Most of them are in their thirties. Due to policy reasons, many of them are the only child in the family. Even if they are not the only child, they are the only son in the family.

The news of their childhood friend's death quickly spread throughout the nearby residential area. From that day on, their family members were no longer willing to let them go on missions with the rescue team.

"Sanping, Damei and Shuanghua are both married. Your two sisters are not with me. Even if I am worried, I can only bear it. Now your father and I only have you as a child. You can't abandon your family like Taozi did. Listen to me and don't go out with the rescue team anymore, okay?"

My mother's cries are still ringing in my ears, and my wife's tearful face is impossible to ignore.

"Let's not do anything dangerous, okay? Wasn't the work on the construction site pretty good before? We can eat less. It's okay if we don't have enough to eat. I just hope you can be safe."

"Dad, does Nian Nian's dad not want her anymore? Don't be like Uncle Taozi and do not want me anymore!"

His mother's cries, his wife's advice, his father's sighs, the panic and worry in his children's eyes, and the fear of possible death...all these things combined made Huang Sanping withdraw from the rescue team and follow his family's wishes to become a more stable construction worker.

It would have been easy to quit the rescue team, but seeing the visibly declining living standards of his family, with his parents, wife, and children all looking pale because they didn't have enough food, he had to consider a new way out.

The plan to venture to City N to look for supplies was discussed by the brothers who had previously withdrawn from the rescue team with him.

Although the safety of City A and City B is guaranteed with the rescue teams, on the other hand, because of the rescue teams charging at the front, the channels for ordinary people to obtain supplies have become narrower.

It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it's harder to go from extravagance to frugality. Having experienced the days of having enough to eat, no one wants to go hungry. Therefore, in the few days since leaving the rescue team, almost everyone has been looking for other ways to obtain supplies.

This time, I wanted to go to City N to find supplies, but it was actually just a spur of the moment decision.

As the closest neighbor to City N, most people in City B know about the situation in City N. They have also heard that the rescue team went to City N during the heavy rain and that almost half of the citizens of City N were evacuated due to the heavy rain.

Everyone has evacuated, so I guess there won't be many zombies.

After hearing where the station was in City N, they became excited and decided to take this trip without telling their families.

There were more than a dozen brothers who grew up together and knew each other well. Although not all of them were convinced by this sudden action, six people participated, including Huang Sanping.

Before getting on the bus, they searched online for supermarkets and stores near their next stop, and as soon as they got off the bus, they headed straight for the largest supermarket nearby.

But because they were not very familiar with the nearby roads and supermarket entrances, they took the wrong road and circled around before finding the nearest entrance to the mall.

When they arrived, the tightly locked glass door of the mall had already been smashed into a big hole by someone who had come earlier.

They weren't surprised that someone else had arrived first, nor did they care. After all, with so much stuff in the mall, it was impossible for anyone to grab everything first. But thinking about the other people inside, they were more cautious to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.

In this way, the six of them entered the mall.

The shopping mall, which had five floors in total, was pitch black. They didn't bother looking for the people who had come in before. Of course, even if they wanted to, they might not be able to find them.

Huang Sanping and his six companions walked around the first floor of the mall, went up to the second floor along another staircase, and entered the supermarket from another entrance. By chance, they missed Duan Lao Da and his two companions who had already gone up to the third floor.

When Boss Duan and his two companions realized something was wrong and left in a hurry, Huang Sanping and others, who were immersed in collecting supplies, did not notice it at all.

They excitedly collected the supplies they wanted, and even though the bags they were carrying were already full, they were still ready to continue going upstairs to raid.

"The second and third floors were flooded, and a lot of things are unusable. My wife said she saw it online before, and there's a gift discount store on the fourth or fifth floor with a lot of sundries, so you should be able to find a lot of daily necessities."

The voice echoed in the empty mall, stirring up layers of echoes like waves, extremely loud, but the speaker didn't care at all. Instead, he continued, "Let's go this way first. We'll be able to see it after we go around."

Although there are a lot of things in the supermarkets on the second and third floors, some small appliances such as flashlights and power banks cannot be used for a long time after being soaked in water, and there is a certain risk, so they thought of looking upstairs.

They were still vigilant when they first entered the mall, but after being in the mall for so long and not encountering any danger, and not even running into people who had come in before, their vigilance was thrown out of the window.

The six people were chatting casually. After walking around the fourth floor of the mall, they didn't see the discount store they had mentioned before, so they went upstairs again.

After going upstairs for a short while, they found the place they were looking for in the corner of the fifth floor. The six people used tools to pry open the door lock and entered the store.

The discount store sells small commodities of many kinds, most of which are daily necessities. They rummaged through the various shelves for a long time, found a lot of things, and filled the bags prepared in advance little by little.

Like everyone else, Huang Sanping was wandering around the shelves, thinking about the mosquito bites he had seen on his daughter these days. He took two more bottles of toilet water from the shelf and was about to ask his brothers if they wanted to take some too, when he heard a scream suddenly coming from the place blocked by the shelves at the door.

He subconsciously looked up and saw a row of gray faces pressed against the glass windows in the originally dark mall corridor.

Some brothers who saw the situation outside before him had already screamed in surprise. The brother closest to the door even bumped into the shelf behind him in panic, causing the small commodities on the shelf to shake and eventually fall to the ground.

But at this moment, no one paid attention to the small commodities scattered on the ground.

The six of them ignored the things they had just picked up from the shelves and gathered together with their weapons.

The zombies outside gradually gathered as they moved, looking more and more violent, banging their entire bodies against the glass windows.

Huang Sanping retracted his gaze, glanced at the brothers around him, swallowed his saliva, and asked in a trembling voice, "What...what should we do?"

The glass door of the discount store was very heavy, so they closed it when they came in. But looking at the crazy zombies outside, it was estimated that they would be able to break the door down in no time.

Huang Sanping and his companions had been on a mission with the rescue team for a few days before, but civilians like them were mostly left behind to clean up the battlefield in the first few days. Although they had seen others fight zombies, they did not have much practical experience.

The childhood friend who had joined the rescue team with them was also killed by a conscious zombie during the final street cleanup.

“Hit…hit!”

One of the brothers gritted his teeth and said, "No matter what, we have to get out first. We can't get caught in a trap!"

The discount store wasn't large, and with so many shelves inside, there wasn't much room to move around. They didn't know how many zombies were outside, but there weren't many surrounding them right now, so they should be able to escape if they rushed. If they hesitated any longer, and more zombies arrived, and if one broke through the glass door and came in, their escape would be even more dangerous.

"Everyone, grab your stuff. Grab your weapons. I'll yell three, two, one, and we'll charge out together." The most opinionated of the six who had spoken earlier lowered their voices, "Do you all remember the way up here?"

After looking around and seeing everyone nodded, they turned their attention back to the door.

Two people were sent to the door. The zombies outside that had been banging on the door seemed to sense the human breath and became even more agitated.

The two people who were given the important task took a deep breath, listened to the instructions behind them, and when they heard "one", they gripped the door handle tightly and pushed it out with all their strength.

The heavy glass door was pushed open, and the zombies surrounding the window were also pushed aside as the glass door opened. The people who were originally in the store had already prepared themselves and took the opportunity of the door opening to rush out quickly.

The two people who opened the door followed closely behind them after everyone else went out.

In an instant, the empty shopping mall was filled with the sound of chaotic footsteps. They were carrying things and returning along the way they came.

"Here, here, the stairs down are here!"

The brother running in the front was identifying the way downstairs and giving instructions as he ran.

The zombies were chasing them closely. The others had no time to react and could only follow the people in front of them. They had no time to think about where they were going or what route they were taking.

Layer after layer...

They circled the mall again and again, finally descending from the fifth floor to the first. Everyone was out of breath, but the zombies were chasing them, and even though the exit door was right in front of them, no one dared to stop.

Just when there was a glimmer of hope, a cry of pain suddenly came from the back of the team.

Hearing the familiar voice, everyone in the front became nervous and subconsciously turned around to look behind them.

Under the dim and messy light, the person who was originally at the end of the team was lying on the ground, and the thing that was pressing down on his lower body and pulling on his legs raised its head, and a blue-gray face without eyeballs came into everyone's sight.

"Help, save me..."

The person who was attacked kicked hard, trying to break free from the zombie's hands, while calling for help from others.

Although Huang Sanping and others were a little frightened, they did not stand idly by and went forward to help.

With the combined efforts of several people, the zombie was quickly dealt with and pulled aside, but they did not dare to relax. Instead, they looked at the person who had been knocked down by the zombie before.

Even though he was wearing long pants, they could tell that the man's leg had been bitten by a zombie. After the injured person rolled up his trouser legs, the bloody wound looked even more terrifying under the blazing white light.

Seeing that the other zombies were still upstairs and had not caught up, the person next to him quickly took out purified water and alcohol from his bag, first rinsed and then disinfected.

The injured man gasped in pain and spoke incoherently, "Everything was fine at first, and they couldn't catch up to me. Who knew that at the last moment, a zombie would roll down the stairs and land right at my feet!"

Thinking of this, he felt aggrieved, and he felt even sadder when he saw the wound that had been cleaned and bandaged.

"Will I turn into a zombie?"

【Author’s words】

The next chapter will be updated on Thursday. I have applied for the list. I will sort out the outline in the next few days and work hard next week!

Come on, come on!