The supermarket selected as a supply point was not far from the temporarily closed hotel where Xie Xishu was staying.
The supermarket wasn’t particularly large—it was the kind of neighborhood store commonly found in cities, mainly serving a few nearby residential communities. However, the supermarket was still stocked with all the essential items, and its supplies could be considered complete.
Moreover, the mutation that had hit City A this time was different from the zombie crisis novels and movies Xie Xishu had seen before. Many ordinary people hadn’t even had time to react before they transformed directly into monsters, and those who hadn’t were consumed as food during the monsters’ “feast” last night.
So, when Xie Xishu and Qi Wu walked in, the supermarket appeared only slightly disordered, likely the result of employees mutating.
Some goods had fallen off the shelves, and some of the shelves were tilted, but the store still looked fully stocked, showing no signs of being looted.
Golden sunlight slanted into the store through the broken glass doors, illuminating half of the supermarket. There was no power, and the ventilation system had long since stopped working, leaving the air filled with a faint scent of blood. Occasionally, there were dark red stains in the corners, and on a tilted shelf, Xie Xishu even spotted a few pieces of flesh, torn off by the sharp metal edges.
But he only glanced at it before silently turning away, as if such scenes were normal in every supermarket—after all, the plastic bag Qi Wu had brought back to the hotel bore the supermarket’s logo.
It was likely around that time that Qi Wu had cleared away the monsters wandering inside and outside the store.
So now, the supermarket, along with the surrounding streets, looked relatively “peaceful.”
However, as Xie Xishu pushed the shopping cart, the sound of its wheels clattering softly on the floor, echoing in the dimly lit aisles as he selected the supplies he needed, he couldn’t shake the surreal feeling that clung to him.
“Want a Snickers?”
Qi Wu, hands in his pockets, followed Xie Xishu with a bored expression, suddenly breaking the silence by asking the dazed young man in front of him.
“Huh? What Snickers?”
Xie Xishu responded absentmindedly.
And as he answered, cracks opened on Qi Wu’s body. He stretched out a long “tongue,” sweeping all the Snickers bars off the shelf with a loud clatter, dropping them into Xie Xishu’s shopping cart.
“You ate all the ones I brought back last time. Who knew you’d like something so sweet and heavy?”
The boy’s calm voice echoed in the quiet supermarket. Xie Xishu snapped back to reality. His lips moved slightly, about to explain that he didn’t actually like Snickers bars—it was just that they were the purest high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie food, and eating them quickly replenished his energy, which was why he’d eaten so many at once…
But when the words reached his lips, Xie Xishu swallowed them silently.
“Hmm… Snickers is a good emergency disaster relief food.”
He forced a bitter smile and spoke softly.
He couldn’t quite remember from which book he had learned this bit of trivia. But when he came across it, he probably never imagined that one day he would experience all of this in City A, a bustling metropolis. Of course, he also never thought that he would end up stockpiling it to cope with the monster mutations.
When reading novels, Xie Xishu’s favorite scenes were when, before the zombie outbreak, the protagonists foresaw the disaster and wisely stocked up on all kinds of supplies from supermarkets. But now that it was his turn, Xie Xishu’s heart felt heavy, and his mind was blank.
He didn’t really know what he should be stocking up on.
In those novels and movies, the protagonists were always accompanied by fellow humans, at least to some extent.
But right now, in this vast City A, Xie Xishu’s only companion was actually a member of the monsters.
Even the survivor he met yesterday was personally revealed by Qi Wu to be “not normal.”
Sometimes, Xie Xishu even wondered if he might be the only living human left in the entire world.
And that possibility…
Just thinking about it made Xie Xishu feel a wave of overwhelming panic.
If he were the last living person in the world, would hoarding supplies really make any sense?
What would it take to survive like this?
Xie Xishu didn’t know.
He just relied on some vague memories, picking up some apples and oranges from the supermarket—things that could last a long time and would also provide vitamins.
Next were foods to stave off hunger (mostly packaged foods), followed by toilet paper, disinfecting and hygiene products, salt, and sugar…
Finally, when he spotted cartons of bottled water on the shelves, Xie Xishu paused.
He looked at the heavy bottles of water, furrowing his brows slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
It was only a moment of hesitation, but Qi Wu noticed immediately.
Xie Xishu had no choice but to force a wry smile and explain: “In theory, clean water is very important in an apocalypse, but if you take too little, it’s pointless, and if you take too much, it’s too heavy—”
Before he could finish speaking, he watched as Qi Wu effortlessly scooped up several cases of water and tossed them onto the lower rack of the shopping cart.
The metal cart immediately let out a few strained “creaks” under the weight.
“Classmate Xie,” Qi Wu took a deep breath, his voice sinister as he spoke again, “…do you think I can’t even carry a few cases of water?”
“…”
Xie Xishu blinked, thought for a long time, but couldn’t figure out Qi Wu’s line of thinking. In the end, he could only awkwardly say, “Thanks.”
“Tsk.”
But Qi Wu was clearly still very displeased.
Xie Xishu shrank his neck—whether it was before or after the mutation, he had never been good at dealing with someone as moody as Qi Wu.
Just as he was about to push the cart forward, Qi Wu suddenly called out to stop him.
“Hey, wait a second.”
Then, without any warning, Qi Wu bent down and sniffed at Xie Xishu’s neck.
The tall boy wrinkled his nose, and his expression suddenly grew somewhat confused. But after a moment, his face darkened.
“The smell on you… seems to be coming out again.”
Hearing this, Xie Xishu’s movements stiffened.
“Is it going to be dangerous?”
Images of the monsters he had seen on the windowsill this morning flashed through Xie Xishu’s mind. Perhaps because of the brutal survival of the fittest among the monsters, the ones he saw today looked noticeably more ferocious, strange, and terrifying than they did yesterday.
Of course, they were also even more disgusting.
If there ever came a day when his scent leaked out, and he was devoured by those monsters following his trail… Xie Xishu realized that he would rather have been eaten by Qi Wu last night.
At least Qi Wu still seemed, in many ways, like a real “human being.”
*
The boy’s originally sweet and rich scent was now tinged with a faint bitterness, spreading through the air due to his fear…
*
Qi Wu stared at Xie Xishu for a few seconds.
Xie Xishu almost thought that in the next moment, Qi Wu’s face would split open, revealing that hateful tongue, and he’d cover Xie Xishu in sticky mucus again.
But to his surprise, after a moment, Qi Wu inexplicably looked away.
“For now, no, I’m not that weak yet.”
After a brief pause, Qi Wu added somewhat abruptly, “But there are more of those things than cockroaches. Who knows when they’ll swarm back here. You smell so good… Ahem, anyway, if you need something, hurry up. If you can’t get it, just tell me. Stop hesitating and wasting time. It’s annoying.”
“I got it.”
Xie Xishu quickly nodded.
And Qi Wu’s judgment was indeed spot on.
Just as Xie Xishu hurriedly finished gathering all the essentials he could think of, faint rustling sounds began to emerge from the distant, once-dead-silent streets.
The monsters had already noticed the vacuum in this area. But because of the strong scent marks Qi Wu had left on the street, they lingered at the far edges, never venturing too close.
Still, it was enough to make Xie Xishu anxious.
After quickly checking the items in his cart, Xie Xishu was about to leave in a hurry.
But just as he was about to go, a rustling sound suddenly came from deep within the supermarket—
[“Buzz… bzz… this is an emergency broadcast…”]
[“Bzzt… the city is currently experiencing… an unexplained disaster…”]
[“All citizens… zzzt… please proceed immediately to the nearest shelter or concealed area for refuge… zzz… avoid any unnecessary outdoor activity…”]
[“Attention… zzz… please try to avoid contact with external personnel… zzzt…”]
It was clearly an emergency broadcast from a radio.
However, the signal was heavily interfered with, and only a few fragmented pieces could be heard.
And the sound only lasted for a very short moment before it abruptly stopped.
It was as if someone had quickly turned off the radio.
Xie Xishu suddenly stopped in his tracks, half-surprised and half-joyful, looking toward the depths of the supermarket.
But for the moment, he couldn’t see anything: the supermarket was too large, and once you left the small area near the entrance where external light reached, the further in you went, the darker and gloomier it became.
But Xie Xishu was certain that the sound had just come from that darkened area.
So now the question was—
If someone had already completely turned into a monster, could they still handle a radio with such skill?
