After climbing over the iron fence, the group of eight saw a whole row of restaurants and food stalls on the commercial street outside the residential area, with a small supermarket in between.
Even if many areas have already been overrun by zombies, it doesn't matter, since zombies only attack living people and won't attack the food and water inside.
The group decided to start their search from the nearest large hotel.
The hotel had a large facade, and looking inside through the glass windows, there were basically no signs of damage from the zombies. Such a large and intact hotel must have a lot of stuff inside, so the group pried open the hotel door without thinking.
After entering the hotel, the group moved a table to block the door before they began to examine the hotel.
This kind of seafood wouldn't even qualify as a star-rated restaurant in the city, but it would be considered a very high-end hotel in the suburbs. The hotel lobby has a whole row of tanks filled with seafood, but they are all empty now, and the pictures and prices of the various dishes on the tanks have become dull and faded due to long-term neglect.
Go further in, and you'll find the lobby bar.
Seeing the baijiu (Chinese liquor) in the cabinet behind the bar, Li Jianguo walked straight to the bar: "It's been a long time since I've had any baijiu. I'm going to have to have a good time today."
Li Jianguo has always been defiant and unwilling to be managed.
The others went with him, while the others continued walking inside.
The bar area was occupied by the hotel's individual seats. Before the apocalypse, this place would have been bustling with activity at this time, but now it was eerily quiet.
The group pushed open the doors of several private rooms, only to find them all empty.
The hotel gave the impression that no one had ever been here since the beginning of the apocalypse. Everyone was a little disappointed. Chen Zhou reminded them that the restaurant looked like it was operating normally. A restaurant that was operating would not be without food. The food in a restaurant is usually stored in the kitchen.
Everyone agreed that Shen Zhou's analysis made a lot of sense, and they all pinned their hopes on the restaurant's kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen, the group indeed found a lot of rice, noodles, and pre-made dishes, and couldn't help but sigh that such a large restaurant was actually trying to fool people with pre-made dishes.
Despite their feelings of regret, everyone immediately took out their backpacks to pack pre-made meals. These things not only have a long shelf life, but they are also quite convenient to eat. Just throw them in hot water to heat them up. The only downside is that they are mass-produced on an assembly line, so the taste is not good. But we are already in the apocalypse, who cares about the taste?
Only Shen Zhou felt that something was wrong with the kitchen.
The kitchen, compared to the cleanliness of the front, appeared rather messy. He expressed his doubts to everyone: "Don't you think this is too strange?"
But everyone thought it was normal: "Isn't that how all restaurants are? The front is clean just for show."
Shen Zhou walked to the countertop, which was piled with plates and leftovers, and noticed water stains on the edge of the sink.
The zombie virus outbreak has been ongoing for nearly four months.
What kind of water stain can last this long?
The only possibility is that people live here!
Just as Shen Zhou was about to warn everyone to be careful, there were people inside, but the sounds of fighting came from outside, and he could vaguely hear Li Jianguo shouting, "Don't open the door!!!"
Everyone immediately sensed something was wrong.
When they rushed out, they found Li Jianguo being held by the arms and legs by a man in his forties or fifties and two boys in their fifties or sixteens. The door they had closed earlier had been opened by a woman in her forties or fifties.
These four people look like a family.
They must have been in this restaurant's kitchen at the very beginning of the apocalypse, which is why Chenzhou saw the trash and water stains on the counter just now.
The reason they reacted this way was probably because they regarded Chen Zhou and his group as heinous robbers.
They felt that rather than have their food stolen by Chen Zhou and his gang, they would rather perish together with them.
Shen Zhou tried to explain to the woman at the door, "We're not bad people. We just wanted to find something to eat and didn't know there were people in this shop. Please close the door, and we promise we won't take any food from the shop!"
Li Jianguo was already very strong. He hadn't been able to react when he was suddenly pinned down, but now that he saw his companions arrive, he suddenly exerted his strength and broke free from the men holding him down, shouting for help: "These guys were hiding under the bar and ambushed me! They planned this all along! Don't waste your breath talking to them!!!"
The group rushed forward and grabbed the three men who had been holding Li Jianguo down.
The woman didn't believe Chen Zhou's words to begin with, and Li Jianguo's sudden break free made her feel that she had lost all bargaining chips with these people. She banged hard on the roller shutter door: "With so many of you, if you close the door, we'll just be waiting to die!"
The knocking sound from the roller shutter door was not only loud but also piercing.
Shen Zhou rushed over and pinned the woman down, while the others went to pull the roller shutter door, but for some reason, the roller shutter door suddenly wouldn't come down.
Meanwhile, the zombies that had been guided to the east were now attracted by the sound of the roller shutter door.
Even at this moment, the woman did not give up struggling. She bit Shen Zhou's hand, took the opportunity to break free from Shen Zhou, grabbed the fruit knife on the coffee table next to the roller shutter door, and tried to stab Shen Zhou.
Li Jianguo grabbed one of the boys by the neck and yelled, "If you dare stab him even once, I'll kill him!!!"
The woman's knife ultimately did not fall.
The roller shutter door won't close, and the zombies will rush in soon. If we don't find a way, they'll all die.
Chen Zhou smashed a chair, found a chair leg, and then said to everyone, "This hotel is no longer safe. You all go into the private room, and I'll lure the zombies away. Then you can take them back to the neighborhood together."
Although everyone was worried about the safety of the sunken boat, no one dared to stop it, after all, no one wanted to be the one to lead the zombies away.
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