Chapter 83 Supplies
"Brother, can we really find supplies here?"
In N City, at an intersection on the originally empty Riverside Boulevard, a train that looked very extraordinary appeared.
The train stopped in the middle of the avenue, and seemed to be emitting a soft and mysterious light under the bright moonlight. Looking from the train door, it seemed that one could still see swaying figures inside.
The staggering figures coming out of the city seemed to be attracted by the people on the train, following the smell and breath, but soon after, they fell one by one at the door of the train, and were then pushed aside by the people inside with wooden and iron sticks.
Boss Fang and his little cousin were guarding one car door. After knocking down the last zombie surrounding the door, he shook off the sticky flesh and blood on his weapon and looked at the other three car doors guarded by others.
There were not as many zombies at the other three car doors as here, and the gatekeepers had stopped long ago.
All the zombies that had followed them around had been knocked down and were now piled up at the doors of the cars, emitting a foul smell.
Boss Fang waved his flashlight around and didn't see any new zombies approaching. He shouted to the other side of the carriage, "What should we do next?"
The idea of clearing out the zombies was proposed by the Jiang family. After it was resolved, Boss Fang naturally asked the Jiang family about it.
Jiang Qian took a breath, then held it before the stench reached her nose. "If you want the crystal core, dig it out. Let's drag all the others out to the middle of the intersection and burn them!"
Most of the zombies chasing them had been soaked in floods, and the temperature remained high after the water receded. The degree of decay of their bodies was more serious and disgusting than any zombies they had seen before.
Even if she wanted the crystal core again, Jiang Qian couldn't bring herself to do it. She just wanted to stay away from these zombies.
Boss Fang obviously thought so too. These swollen zombies, soaked in water, were like poison gas bombs; he didn't want to touch them if he could.
"Then let's drag them to the middle of the intersection!" he said. "Second brother, third brother, you two come over here too. We'll take turns, and the rest of you will stand guard outside."
…
One kilometer away from the train stop, three young and strong men picked up iron bars and smashed the glass door at the entrance to the first floor of the shopping mall.
The sound of glass breaking continued to ring out in the silent night until a passage wide enough for two people to pass through appeared in the broken place.
The three of them went in carefully, holding mining lamps on their heads.
The soles of their shoes made a sound as they touched the smooth floor. The three of them stood back to back in a circle and walked in little by little.
"Brother, can we really find supplies here?"
A hoarse male voice asked in the darkness.
"Keep your voice down. Even though there don't seem to be any zombies here, we can't let our guard down."
A clear voice, different from the one that had just asked, rang out from behind. "Besides, didn't you see the sign outside just now? How could you not find supplies in the mall? This is a famous chain supermarket in City N!"
"But second brother, didn't you say you saw online that this place was flooded? What if the boss shipped all the supplies away in advance?"
A clear voice disagreed, "How could such a large five-story mall possibly carry away all the goods? Just finding something here and there will be enough for us to eat!"
"Stop talking for now!" Another calm voice, different from the previous two, rang out. "Whether we can find it or not is another matter. Now, pay attention to your surroundings."
After hearing what the eldest brother said, the second and third brothers who had just spoken shut up.
All three of them were surnamed Duan, and they weren't very old. The eldest and second oldest were 23 and 21 respectively, and only the youngest, the third, wasn't even 20. Although they all got on the bus from City B, they weren't locals; they had come from their hometowns to work.
The three of them happened to rent the same three-bedroom apartment. After getting to know each other, they discovered they were from the same hometown, which naturally gave them a closer bond than most. After living together for two years and getting along well, they became sworn brothers and continued their relationship.
As three bachelors, they have no pressure to support a family. Apart from saving money for their wives, they spend most of their daily salary on eating and drinking outside.
Although their rented house had a kitchen, they rarely used the stove. They usually bought food as they went along, and they didn't stockpile supplies. After the rainstorm, the only thing they had left was half a box of noodles.
But in less than a day, the three grown men had eaten up all the noodles in the bucket. Seeing that the rain was still going on, they braved the rain and went to the supermarket outside the community to buy more food. However, the heavy rain did not stop, and the food they bought could not be eaten for many days even if they ate it sparingly.
The day after the incident, all the supplies in their house were gone.
Fortunately, the three of them were all strong and courageous, so they took advantage of the initial stage of the mutation, when the zombies were still agile, to grab some food from the convenience store downstairs. Although they encountered danger later and the amount they brought back from the convenience store was not much, this batch of food helped them to survive successfully.
After the incident, the three of them stayed at home for a while. They had thought about risking their lives to return home like everyone else. One of the purposes of their going to the convenience store was to prepare things for the journey home, but when they came back from the convenience store, there were so many zombies downstairs that they couldn't go downstairs.
They were renting an old residential complex in the urban area of City B, not far from the city center. The buildings were old and the rent was cheap, but there were quite a few residents, most of whom were migrant workers like him. Therefore, after the mutation, the zombie situation was more serious than in other places.
Realizing they couldn't leave, the three of them had no choice but to stay. Fortunately, due to the sudden appearance of the train, a rescue team was dispatched shortly thereafter to clean up the area around the train station.
Although the place where they lived was not close to the train station, it was not far away either. It was just designated as a safe zone a few days ago.
But the house they lived in was rented after all. After the community was designated as a safe zone, the original landlord came to them and wanted to use the house to accommodate his daughter and son-in-law who had escaped from the dangerous area.
Although the rental contract has not expired yet, their rent has always been paid monthly, but this month's rent has not been paid yet due to the unexpected incident.
Because they had not paid the rent, and the landlord had been nice to them, the three of them discussed it and decided to vacate two of the rooms for the landlord's daughter and son-in-law and their family to live in, and the three of them moved in to live in the same room.
Although the three did not leave immediately, they did not plan to stay in City B for long. During this period, they had been preparing supplies and planned to return to their hometown in Jiangbei once the supplies were ready.
But supplies are no easier to find now than when they went downstairs at the beginning of the apocalypse.
The shops on every street had been looted long before the rescue team arrived, and the remaining supplies were gathered after the rescue team arrived. To survive, the citizens had to rely on government relief food, in addition to joining the rescue and construction teams to earn rations. In City B, they could not find any supplies at all.
They also worked for two days at a construction site in City A, but missed the summer harvest and planting, and the jobs they found afterwards did not provide much supplies.
So this time, when they heard from the Internet that the train could come to City N, the three of them were excited.
I heard that people in some areas of City N have evacuated early, so there should be a lot of supplies left, right?
With such expectations, they got on the bus and came to City N.
…
Because they were in an unfamiliar place, Duan Lao Da and his two brothers walked around the first floor for a while before finding the escalator to the supermarket on the second floor. Although the escalator was no longer moving due to the power outage, they could still go up along the gentle slope.
When they reached the second floor, the three of them saw the messy shelves under the overhead light.
The stench of decay continued to hit his nose, and Duan Laosan took a breath with difficulty and held his breath.
"What's going on?"
Duan Lao Er shook his head and scanned the surroundings with the light from the mining lamp above his head. As he entered the mall, he said, "This place is so close to the river, it must have been flooded before!"
Although there were a lot of sandbags piled up at the entrances and stairwells of each floor, considering the amount of rainfall a month ago, those sandbags were simply unable to prevent the spread of the flood.
Duan Laosan followed him inside and asked, "Will we still be able to find food? Will it all be rotten?"
Boss Duan, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "The fresh produce must be rotten. We're mainly looking for the ones that are vacuum-packed and haven't been soaked in water."
Upon hearing this, the other two followed him through the fresh food area at the outermost part of the supermarket and walked towards the shelves inside.
Because it had been flooded, some items were floating on the surface before, but now that the water has receded, the merchandise is scattered everywhere. The goods that were once neatly arranged by the staff are now in a mess, with some even piled on the ground and in the corners of the shelves.
The three of them cleaned up as they walked, and it took them a while to find the place they wanted.
Although the fast food on the shelves was in a mess and there wasn't much left, picking up some was enough for the three of them to have on their journey back home.
Duan Laosan's eyes lit up, and he was the first to take out a large luggage bag from his backpack and pick and choose things on the shelf.
“There are so many vacuum-packed chicken and duck legs?”
"Two bags of beef jerky too!"
"And pork jerky, chocolate..."
There were only a few of them, so the things they could take away were limited. Naturally, they would first choose vacuum-packed meat or foods with higher energy. Duan Laosan had been to a convenience store once, so he was very experienced.
Seeing that the third brother was already choosing, Duan Lao Da and Duan Lao Er also went to another shelf.
Since I don’t have to spend any money, I don’t need to worry about the prices when I go to the supermarket this time. I just need to pick what I want.
When traveling, they naturally needed water and instant noodles. Water was easy; they simply grabbed two boxes of any brand of bottled water. As for instant noodles, they skipped the buckets and went for whole boxes of packaged noodles.
There were only three of them and they couldn't bring much with them. Soon, all their luggage bags were full.
Afterwards, the three of them got together.
Boss Duan picked up the bag in his hand and said, "Let's go!"
Duan Lao Er and Duan Lao San looked at each other, and seeing that there were still so many things left on the shelves, they were reluctant to give them up.
Duan Laosan scratched his head and said, "How about we go upstairs and have a look? Maybe it's not flooded and there are more things upstairs!"
Although Duan Lao Er didn't say anything, he just looked at his eldest brother and laughed.
Boss Duan looked at the two of them and rubbed his forehead.
Their original plan was to find supplies, fill their bags, and then go back. Even if they didn't bring much, they could still come back by bus when they had the chance.
But today's trip was indeed smoother. Looking at the rows of full shelves behind him, Boss Duan hesitated.
【Author’s words】
The next chapter will be updated on the 10th, which is the day after tomorrow.
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