BC Chapter 26

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Let’s split the story into two. Lu Ziming, Zhou Yuanyuan, and Dai Qianya finally escaped from the underground parking lot and didn’t dare to stop. They retraced the route Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan had taken before. However, this time Lu Ziming was surprised to find that many of the zombies they had seen on the street had disappeared.

What’s going on? Lu Ziming felt confused and had a vague, uneasy premonition. But she knew that this wasn’t the time for deep thought. She could only cautiously observe the dim surroundings while pulling out the weapon tied to her backpack.

Although it seemed that something strange happened outside while they were trapped in the previous location, the sharp decrease in the number of zombies wandering the streets was ultimately a good thing for the three of them. Because they were afraid that the temporarily trapped zombie horde behind them would catch up again, the three of them basically didn’t stop moving.

Having run back and forth several times, and being familiar with the surrounding routes and environment, Lu Ziming was able to determine the direction even in the dark night by recognizing the approximate outlines of objects. So, she carefully and cautiously led the two women, avoiding the few sluggish zombies on the street, and finally arrived at the fire door on the floor where Sun Tai was hiding in the Walmart underground supermarket.

Because they were afraid that zombies might accidentally wander into the supermarket, Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan had instructed Sun Tai to lock all the fire doors connecting to the outside before they left. When they returned, they would use two sets of knocks as a signal, and Sun Tai inside would open the door after hearing the signal.

Lu Ziming turned her head to look at Zhou Yuanyuan and Dai Qianya behind her, took a deep breath, and raised her hand to knock on the door twice, then stopped immediately, quietly waiting for a while, carefully distinguishing the sounds inside the door. After a few seconds, she knocked twice again, this time louder than before. Only then did she hear some faint sounds coming from the silent fire door. At first, there was a very soft pattering sound, and then the sound seemed to be coming from afar towards the fire door.

“Patter, patter, patter…” followed by faint sniffing sounds through the door, and then small, crisp “Woof, woof–” sounds.

“It’s Tuan Tuan…” Zhou Yuanyuan’s expression had been somewhat stiff due to the tense escape, but now, after recognizing that the sound from the other side of the door was the puppy Tuan Tuan running over, a look of joy finally appeared on her face as she murmured. Then she squatted down and softly called to the puppy on the other side of the fire door.

“Tuan Tuan, Tuan Tuan. It’s your big sister, did you miss me…”

Lu Ziming didn’t stop Zhou Yuanyuan. She knew how much of a shock the other woman had just endured; just facing the big zombie up close was enough to stun her for a while. This interaction with the puppy could help her relax. It would be even better if she could take this opportunity to completely release her emotional stress.

Soon, the door was opened from the inside with a “click”. Sun Tai’s happy face appeared in the doorway. Making way at the door, Sun Tai pointed into the supermarket and said with relief, “It’s good you’re back, hurry, come in.”

Zhou Yuanyuan, who was squatting down, hugged Tuan Tuan, who was about to jump out and act cute, before smiling and entering the door.

Dai Qianya, following behind Zhou Yuanyuan, nodded to Sun Tai as a greeting. Jin Shengzhe, whom she was carrying on her back, finally revealed a pair of somewhat uneasy big eyes under the large hood, secretly looking at Sun Tai, the big brother.

Sun Tai had heard Lu Ziming mention Dai Qianya and her son before, so he didn’t show any surprise. He just smiled warmly at the little boy.

After Lu Ziming was the last to enter the supermarket, Sun Tai cautiously locked the fire door again, then pressed the door handle and pushed it outwards to make sure there were no oversights before following the others to the prepared living area.

After they became familiar, they ate some hot vegetable noodles cooked by Sun Tai, chatted briefly, and then rested. They lay on the simple beds that Sun Tai had prepared for them, made from tape, cardboard, blankets, silk quilts, and towels from the supermarket’s household goods section. But fortunately, they had something to lie on and something to cover themselves with. Having exhausted too much energy during the escape, the three of them became drowsy after lying down. Sun Tai had been sleeping before they arrived, so he wasn’t sleepy. He lit a scented candle from the supermarket and used the candlelight to read a few novels that he had randomly taken from the stationery area. The puppy Tuan Tuan snuggled comfortably in Zhou Yuanyuan’s blanket, closing its eyes and exhaling a long breath.

Lu Ziming had actually wanted to secretly stay alert and be wary of Sun Tai, pretending to close her eyes to sleep while actually paying attention to the surrounding sounds and movements with her other senses. But she lay there with her eyes closed and thought: how could someone who is so loving towards small animals be someone who secretly plots against them? If he didn’t welcome them, he could have pretended not to hear anything when they knocked on the door and not opened it, letting them live or die outside. There was no need to invite them in for a meal before making a move. Thinking this way, Lu Ziming’s thought process gradually slowed down, and she eventually fell asleep without realizing it.

When she brought Dai Qianya over, Lu Ziming was actually the most tired of the three. She was tense the whole time, arranging the actions of the other two. Later, she took the initiative to act as bait to lure a large number of zombies deep into the parking lot. At the last moment of escaping from the parking lot, she narrowly killed the big zombie and saved the stunned Zhou Yuanyuan and Dai Qianya.

She actually had more than one slightly strained muscle from her previous actions, but she had never been a delicate person since she was a child. Although the pain in her body would occasionally tug at her nerves, she still secretly endured it and didn’t show it in front of others. So, for her, sleeping was the safest way to recover. As she fell asleep, the hidden injuries on her body finally got some rest.

Several hours later, when the three of them woke up one after another, Sun Tai was already cooking a fragrant hot pot. Although he had eaten a lot of the meat from the supermarket’s fresh food section, the supermarket had its own cold storage, so Sun Tai had moved all the remaining meat into the cold storage before it went bad. So, he added some meat slices to those simple self-heating hot pots.

“Wow, it smells so good.” Zhou Yuanyuan, after waking up from a nap, was in much better spirits. She carried Tuan Tuan and moved closer to Sun Tai, sniffing with her little nose and exclaiming.

“Awake?” Sun Tai smiled, poured the first pot of cooked hot pot into a stainless-steel basin he had prepared, pushed it to Zhou Yuanyuan, and continued, “Here, first come, first served. For staple food, there are bags of egg pancakes and bread over there, take whatever you want. But check the expiration date before eating.”

“I’ll eat first?” Zhou Yuanyuan looked at Sun Tai with a hesitant expression, then turned to look at Dai Qianya, Jin Shengzhe, and Lu Ziming, who were gradually sitting up. “Is that okay?”

“What’s wrong with that? There’s enough for everyone, eat without worry.” Sun Tai smiled, picked up the small basin again, placed it in front of her, and said, “Besides, aren’t you going to leave with Lu Ziming later? You can’t eat such luxurious food whenever you want.”

“Hehe, that’s true.” Zhou Yuanyuan was stunned by Sun Tai’s words, then smiled a little embarrassedly, put Tuan Tuan aside, picked up the small basin from the ground, and continued, “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

After Lu Ziming also received a hot pot from Sun Tai, she thought for a while, sat down next to Zhou Yuanyuan, who hadn’t finished eating, and tentatively said, “Have you really thought about it? Are you not going to stay here with Sun Tai and wait for external rescue?”

Hearing Lu Ziming’s words, Zhou Yuanyuan rolled her eyes, swallowed the vegetables in her mouth, and said angrily, “Do you still think I’ll be a burden to you? If you don’t want me to rely on you, just say it, we’ll… split up, split up!”

Then, somewhat unconvinced, she showed Lu Ziming the worn-out areas on her palms: “But I’m telling you, I dealt with a lot of zombies on the road before, look at how worn my hands are! You’re the only one who looks down on me.”

Lu Ziming stirred the vegetables in the basin with her chopsticks without showing any emotion, thought for a moment, and continued, “It’s up to you whether to follow me or not. I’ll leave after I finish eating and rest for a while. But you know how dangerous it is to follow me, as long as you don’t regret it.”

“Follow! Why wouldn’t I follow? You can’t get rid of me! Hmph.” Zhou Yuanyuan puffed out her cheeks angrily, stuffed the last piece of meat in the basin into her mouth, and then cleaned up her things, picked up her and Lu Ziming’s backpacks, and went to pack the food and mineral water she wanted to take away, ignoring Lu Ziming, who was still eating.

This site has no pop-up ads