The supermarket was in complete disarray, resembling a garbage dump. After months of high temperatures, anything that could rot had already decayed and dried out; the only things that wouldn't spoil were things that were no longer desirable.
Li Xiao walked further inside, and apart from the garbage everywhere, there was nothing of value that she could touch.
"Xiaoxiao, come over here and take a look." Shao Jie called out from the other side of the supermarket.
"Okay." Li Xiao looked up and replied in Shao Jie's direction. After speaking, she followed the sound in that direction.
Cheng Shaolin led the way. Because of the rain, the indoor lighting was dim, and it wasn't very clear. Cheng Shaolin was afraid that Li Xiao and you would fall, so he even took Li Xiao's hand and led her across.
"Brother, it's okay, I can see." Li Xiao felt that walking like this was inconvenient, so she suggested that Cheng Shaolin let go.
"It's okay, I'll take you there. There's trash everywhere, just watch your step."
Seeing that Li Xiao couldn't understand, she didn't continue, letting him do as he pleased.
She walked around several overturned shelves, the contents of which were blackened and in a terrible state, unsure of what they had been holding. Li Xiao didn't want to rummage through the trash; anything she couldn't identify was simply ignored.
Shao Jie was pointing to the section where the appearance of the items was clearly visible. This should be the general merchandise section, which contains items that can be stored for a long time and are not easily spoiled.
These are things nobody wanted, so they ended up being left until now.
Li Xiao put away the basins, brushes, and dishes that still looked good. She didn't take anything that wouldn't be useful; it would just take up space. Right now, the problem was space; there was no need to waste space with unused items.
"There's nothing of value here. Let's go look elsewhere." These things are all useless; it's a waste of time to come here.
After enduring prolonged high temperatures, what is lost is not only material possessions, but also the living environment upon which humanity depends for survival.
Time has passed, and things have changed.
It feels like a long time has passed; is this just an illusion caused by time?
Li Xiao's eyes dimmed, and she numbly followed him out of the supermarket.
"The surrounding area is all residential areas and office buildings, so what places could we possibly go?"
"It seems there aren't any." Li Xiao was also helpless. Where else could there be supplies now? There might be, but they would be hard to find.
She walked side by side with Tian Tian, who occasionally reached out to eliminate a few zombies that came to their deaths. She was both at ease and felt dejected.
“We don’t know this place, nor what’s there. If we can only look at the map, it will be very one-sided.”
Yu Yanbin agreed with Li Xiao's statement. They were still unfamiliar with the city and didn't know many specific details. They needed to spend more time getting to know it.
Like now, coming out is like the blind men touching an elephant, relying entirely on intuition.
The map only shows the location, but doesn't specify the size or the surrounding buildings and environment.
"It would be great if there was a local. They would know better than us." Even if Shao Jie is capable, he can't use his skills in an unfamiliar place, and there's nothing he can do about it.
Yu Yanbin looked around and lost interest in running around anymore. Besides the ever-increasing number of zombies, he hadn't gained anything. He might as well go back; he'd only come out today to check things out.
"Let's go, let's go back."
Cheng Shaolin, pulling Li Xiao along, nodded in agreement. Why waste time? "Okay, let's go back."
Li Xiao had no objections. She hadn't found anything on her trip and wanted to go back long ago. She hated rainy weather; it was gloomy and made her inexplicably listless and depressed.
"Tian Tian, let's go back."
"good."
Finally, the group returned to the base.
Unbeknownst to them, their departure from the base had already attracted the attention of the base's higher-ups.
At this time, only a few people are able to go out, especially those with cars.
It's not surprising to have a car; you can get one anywhere these days, and even better ones are readily available. However, owning a car doesn't necessarily mean you can afford to use it. Gasoline, on the other hand, is extremely scarce, practically invisible.
Those who can afford to use cars are not to be underestimated; only large teams can afford them. After all, gasoline isn't easy to find.
This group of people had already gone out by now, and not many teams dared to go out yet; they were all still observing.
Only the two teams at the front of the queue dared to go out, and even then, not all of them went out; only a few team members went.
This team actually mobilized its entire force, setting off at full strength; they were incredibly daring.
And so, their basic information and registration documents for entering the base were placed on the desks of the higher-ups.
“Keep an eye on them; they should be quite capable,” Base Commander Ji Weihao said to his deputy, tapping the table.
"Okay, I'll have my men keep an eye on it," Han Zheng replied.
Li Xiao and the others were unaware of all this; they continued to act according to their own plan, paying little attention to anything else.
Except for those with whom they have direct vested interests.
"I heard the base is going to have a power outage today." Shao Jie quickly reported the information he had gathered at the base to his companions as soon as he got back his food.
Yu Yanbin manipulated the throwing knife in his hand and slowly said, "I had already guessed it, and I was expecting it to be announced in the next few days."
"It shouldn't have much of an impact on us."
"Hmm. More or less, Xiaoxiao, do you still have candles and LED lights?" Cheng Shaolin turned to ask Li Xiao.
Without hesitation, Li Xiao replied, "Yes, but we should still conserve power. We don't know when this power outage will end. It used to be sunny, but now it's raining every day."
"Yes, that's right. We should still save where we can."
"No problem, just order a little bit when you have dinner tonight."
"What, are you afraid you won't get to eat it?" Xiao Peng teased Shao Jie.
"Yeah, I'm afraid we won't be able to see it and it'll end up in our noses." The two of them couldn't help but laugh.
As expected, the next day, the base announced a power outage starting that day. Due to ten consecutive days of rain, and with no indication of how long it would continue, the base would no longer provide electricity to residents. Power would only be supplied to special departments.
This caused quite a stir among the residents of the base. The residents had been using electricity since they arrived at the base, and the sudden power outage was a significant inconvenience for them.
This is no big deal for Li Xiao and the others; it's nothing they haven't experienced before, and there's nothing they can't adapt to.
While the base was filled with complaints, Li Xiao and his group stood quietly upstairs watching. The base was doing this to better maintain its operations, but how many people truly understood that?
In the end, the plan was carried out as scheduled without any changes. The base cut off power to all residential buildings the day after Li Xiao learned of the news.
After that, the entire base was shrouded in darkness, and its former liveliness was gone.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
