Chapter 182 The Poor Kid in the Apocalypse 12
Grandpa Li reacted quickly. He realized that every minute of delay would be more dangerous in this weather, so he immediately told them to look for any remaining supplies in the supermarket.
Having come all this way, we absolutely cannot go back empty-handed.
Shen Ci watched the surveillance footage in the basement and sighed inwardly. This old man Li's alertness and action were indeed quite good among ordinary people. His reaction was also so quick. This kind of person was most suitable for survival in the apocalypse.
The family wandered around the empty supermarket, searching every corner, but the supermarket was spotless and had no supplies. However, they discovered the door to the basement.
"Dad! Look! This door! It's locked with so many locks! It must be a warehouse inside! It must be full of good stuff!"
Grandpa Li's son exclaimed excitedly, "Now he's going to be a great contributor to the family!"
Seeing the door with so many locks, the family was excited. What kind of door could have so many locks? There must be very precious treasures locked inside. For a supermarket that sells goods, aren't the most precious things the goods?
Ignoring their exhaustion, they began trying various methods to open the door, which had three brass locks. They pried and rammed the door, making themselves feel like they were about to evaporate in the already hot weather.
Meanwhile, in the small space behind the basement door, the Chen family members, who had been imprisoned for half a month, were already weak from hunger. Even the chubby Chen Kang Kang had lost a lot of weight. After not eating or drinking for so long, they were only one step away from death.
Suddenly hearing banging and voices outside the door, they trembled with fear, thinking that Shen Ci had brought people back to kill them. But the more they listened, the more they realized that someone might have come!
Driven by the instinct to live, they responded with their last ounce of strength, weakly pounding against the door and making muffled noises. If they were discovered, they would be saved!
It was a blessing in disguise, as the temperature in the basement was much lower than at ground level.
The sounds from inside and outside the door mingled together, further agitating Mr. Li and his family. They assumed that the supermarket owner, unwilling to hand over the goods, was hiding inside, and they vandalized the premises even more vigorously.
After a great deal of effort, they finally managed to force open the basement door.
The moment the door was opened, a mixture of smells hit them: the stench of sweat, excrement, and dampness from being locked up for so long. The Li family opened the door full of anticipation, only to find that there was no mountain of supplies inside as they had imagined.
There were only three people, bound by ropes, pale-faced, with cracked lips, looking like they were about to die. They all knew these three people; they were the supermarket owners, Chen Kangkang and his family.
The imagined supplies turned out to be an empty basement. After working so hard for so long, Grandpa Li was completely dumbfounded. If he had known that there were only these three good-for-nothings inside, he would have been better off not having bothered to come in. The family stood blankly at the door, at a loss.
But the Chen family felt they saw hope. After so long, someone had finally come in! This meant they had survived a great calamity and were sure to have good fortune in the future!
Upon seeing their familiar neighbors, tears welled up in the three people's eyes instantly, and they stammered out sounds. This was even more exciting than meeting an old friend in a foreign land!
They originally thought they were doomed to die!
In an instant, Grandpa Li was caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to decide whether to save her or keep her. His face turned ashen. It was his son who stepped forward and pulled the towel out of Chen Kangkang's mother's mouth, which was also Da Bao's aunt's mouth.
"Boss lady?"
Why are you all tied up? What's going on here?
The proprietress wanted to burst into tears, but the long period of not eating or drinking had left her with no strength to cry out.
"Help me, help me untie the ropes..."
The proprietress said weakly that after the rope was untied, she forced herself to stand up, picked up a stick from the side to use as a crutch, and bent over to rummage through the corner for a few pieces of bread. The bread had been expired for a long time, but she didn't have time to think about it and tore it open to eat.
She was starving, so incredibly hungry. She felt like her stomach was about to burst. If the person in front of her wasn't someone she couldn't eat raw, she would have devoured them whole.
"There's food! Dad, there's bread here!"
Grandpa Li's son excitedly pointed to the corner of the wall, not noticing that there were several boxes there, which were full of bread, but all of them were expired.
Grandpa Li waved his hand, a fierce glint in his eyes, "Boss lady, our family saved you, so consider these breads as our reward."
"Anyway, you own an entire supermarket and don't need anything. We just need a few boxes of expired bread, is that alright?"
Old people are wise, and after calming down from his initial shock, Grandpa Li thought about it carefully. He didn't know how long the landlady and her family had been locked up in this basement, but judging from how they had changed from being plump and strong to being skinny and emaciated, he knew that it couldn't have been for a short time.
They might not know that the supermarket upstairs had been emptied, so this was a good opportunity to test the waters.
Chen Juan nodded. She was too hungry to speak. She ate a piece of bread and felt a little better now that she had something in her stomach.
"Thank you. Please untie the ropes binding my husband and son. You can have all these boxes of bread."
She wasn't exactly a grateful person; anyway, she needed to get rid of these boxes of bread since they were all expired and her family wouldn't eat them. She originally planned to sell them at a low price, but now Old Man Li's eyes were just too dangerous.
It was as if he would attack if I didn't agree to give him the bread. The naughty aunt immediately nodded in agreement. It's just a few boxes of expired bread, right? It doesn't taste that good. There are so many good things in the supermarket. We don't need this little bit!
Grandpa Li nodded, "You two, go and carry the bread home, be careful on the way."
I'll untie their ropes.
Grandpa Li was cunning. He first had his son and daughter-in-law move the supplies back home. The Chen family would definitely be too busy to get up for a while and would need some time to recover. Only after his son and daughter-in-law had moved the bread out the door did Grandpa Li start to untie the ropes binding Chen Kangkang and his son.
"I'm going home first. I've already untied their hands, and you can untie the ropes on their feet yourselves."
After helping halfway through, Grandpa Li left. Before leaving, he took a quick look around the basement and, finding no other supplies, departed with peace of mind.
Chen Juan nodded. Although she was somewhat dissatisfied, her own family was too weak right now, and they would definitely lose if they tried to compete with the Li family.
A wise person knows when to yield; it's wise to play dumb when necessary.
After Grandpa Li left, Chen Juan stuffed the few pieces of bread she had just pulled out into her son's and husband's hands.
"Quick, eat!"
Old man Li has come into our supermarket! Who knows how he got in! Let's finish eating and go check it out!
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