Chapter 18: The Convenience Store

“What’s so good about it?”

Wang Zhi looked at Ying, who had just been sulking and feeling hopeless, and wondered why it suddenly seemed like the world wasn’t so bad after all.

“As you said, as long as we don’t die, we can do whatever we want. We can live in seclusion, or even create our own small country and do whatever we wish.” Ying said.

“Ying Jie, our team is currently a level 2 team, but we’re one member short. I was thinking of adding Jialuoli to our team. What do you think?”

“Sounds good, another sister is fine. But you’re not just interested in her looks, are you?” Ying looked at Wang Zhi with disdain.

“No, no, no one’s more beautiful than you, Ying Jie. I’m just judging based on strength and character.”

“Hmph! But what if she doesn’t want to go on adventures with us?”

“Then she wouldn’t have shown up downstairs in the first place.”

“I get it! Having another sister is good, someone to look out for each other.”

After Wang Zhi and Ying stood guard through the night, they woke up the fatty and Old He. Wang Zhi tossed the remaining half a pack of cigarettes to Old He and found a spot to lie down.

Due to various reasons, Wang Zhi hadn’t rested properly for nearly 40 hours. As soon as he lay down, he felt an overwhelming fatigue and unknowingly fell asleep.

October 3, 2025, overcast.

At 5 a.m., Wang Zhi suddenly sat up from the ground and instinctively checked his gun.

He looked around in panic and saw the fatty and Old He chatting by a table, while Ying was sitting against the wall, resting with her eyes closed.

Wang Zhi sighed in relief. He had slept too soundly, and in situations like this, sleeping so deeply could be dangerous, but thankfully nothing had happened.

“Yo! Captain, you’re awake?” The fatty said as he saw Wang Zhi sitting up.

“Yeah, let’s eat something and head to the restaurant soon.” Wang Zhi said, waking Ying up. The four of them began eating their own food.

After eating, Wang Zhi chose three of the stronger male members to be responsible for leading the way and carrying the food.

The chosen students didn’t want to do it. No one wanted to take such dangerous tasks, but in the end, they gave in to Wang Zhi’s gun. It was better to risk dying outside than to die right here.

Wang Zhi walked over to Jialuoli and handed her his knife.

“Be careful, protect yourself.”

After the four of them finished packing, they slowly opened the rooftop door and prepared to go downstairs.

Since they had cleared the zombies on the floor the day before, they killed one zombie on their way to the first floor.

However, once they reached the first floor, the number of zombies increased. Many zombies had entered the hall, about ten or so, which startled the three students behind them, almost making them scream.

Luckily, Wang Zhi had warned them, so they could only tightly cover their mouths, not daring to make a sound.

Ying and Old He took care of the ten or so zombies, while Wang Zhi and the fatty tried not to shoot unless absolutely necessary. The reason was simple—they weren’t accurate enough to save ammunition.

After a while, the zombies in the hall were easily dealt with by Ying and Old He, almost without wasting a single bullet. Wang Zhi couldn’t help but admire their accuracy. He had truly seen what skilled marksmanship looked like!

After arriving at the west playground, they found the corpses of the zombies they had burned yesterday still scattered around. There weren’t many living zombies, and the ones left were far enough away that they decided not to bother with them. They headed directly toward the restaurant in the north.

“We’re almost there!” A student behind whispered.

“Alright, once we go in, we’ll cover you. Grab as much food as you can, and try to take as much as possible.”

Wang Zhi continued on, but the closer they got to the supermarket, the fewer zombies Wang Zhi saw. This made him feel uneasy.

“This is strange.” Wang Zhi suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Old He asked, confused.

“There are too few zombies here. This is a bit abnormal!” Wang Zhi said.

“Don’t scare me, Captain!” The fatty said, frightened.

“Let’s find a spot and observe the situation inside with binoculars.” Wang Zhi said.

Regardless of what was happening, they decided to first check the situation inside. Everyone took out their binoculars and peered into the restaurant.

“Damn!” The fatty exclaimed.

Looking through the binoculars, they saw the restaurant was filled with zombies, all wandering around back and forth.

Seeing this, it was clear that entering to get food was impossible. They couldn’t even get to the entrance!

“Is this a zombie nest? There are so many zombies!” The fatty said.

“That’s normal. Everyone knows there’s food here. Once they’re starving and out of options, they’ll definitely come here. But the result is always the same—once you go in, you never come out!” Wang Zhi analyzed.

“So what do we do now? Go back?” The fatty asked.

“We’ll figure something out. We’re not starving yet.” Wang Zhi said.

“Boss… I know a place that might still have some food.” A student behind said.

“Where?”

“It’s a convenience store, all sorts of snacks inside, and the warehouse is in the basement of a residential building.” The male student continued.

“How many people know about it?” Wang Zhi didn’t want to end up in another zombie nest.

“Not… not many. The convenience store usually takes online orders and delivers to our dorm. Very few people know their warehouse is there.”

“Great! Let’s go there.”

Wang Zhi took out the map and asked the student to point out the general location. It was to the east of their current position, in a residential area.

After confirming the location, Wang Zhi and the others changed their course.

With yesterday’s experience, the four of them moved carefully, avoiding causing any chaos, and shot zombies from a distance.

They soon reached the residential building the student had mentioned. It was a slightly run-down small high-rise. The basement of such old buildings was typically on the first floor.

After observing the surroundings for a while and confirming there was no danger, Wang Zhi led the way into the building.

The hallway was a bit dark. Wang Zhi turned on his chest light and cautiously made his way to the basement.

Ding~, Wang Zhi tossed a bullet around the corner ahead.

In this kind of blind spot, Wang Zhi had to use bait to check it out.

Sure enough, as soon as the bullet hit the ground, two zombies immediately let out low growls and pounced on the bullet.

The group was startled, but quickly opened fire, killing the two zombies.

The convenience store was at the far end of the basement. They arrived at the door to the basement and found it was closed. There should be no zombies inside. The two zombies had likely come from outside.

“The door’s locked. Should we force it open?” Wang Zhi turned to look at the others.

“Let me handle it.” Ying stepped forward and took a piece of wire from her bag.

“Ying Jie, you can do this?” Wang Zhi asked as he watched Ying picking the lock.

After a few moments, there was a click, and the lock was undone!

Ying tried to pull the door open, but it didn’t move. She pushed again, and it budged slightly, indicating that the door was loosening.