Chapter 34: Zombies Also Have Morning Tempers
Chaolu didn’t want to bring the two adults along. With the way they startled at every little thing, if there really were zombies ahead, it would be like personally delivering food to the doorstep.
But she couldn’t exactly send them back out either…
Chaolu thought for a few seconds, then instructed Wang Defa and Qian Suiyou:
“You two hide under the cashier counter and wait for me to come back. Don’t wander around, got it?”
Wang Defa and Qian Suiyou nodded repeatedly, then quickly crouched down under the counter, even pulling a basket in front of them as a makeshift shield, just in case.
“Alright, I’m going now. If you run into danger, remember to call me.”
After reminding them, Chaolu moved quickly toward the general merchandise section.
From her observations these past few days, zombies tended to move more slowly at night. By that logic, in the dark they were probably sluggish as well.
Her target was the radio, so she had no intention of getting tangled up with zombies.
She swept her flashlight back and forth as she searched, but all that appeared in front of her were tubes of toothpaste.
Chaolu: “…”
Did this supermarket stock too much toothpaste?
Were the people in this town that obsessed with brushing their teeth?
Then wouldn’t that mean the zombies here had especially fresh breath… cough, cough. That thought went too far.
Chaolu searched for a long time before finally getting past the toothpaste section and reaching the area for pots and pans.
Just as she rounded the corner, her foot landed on something soft and limp.
Chaolu froze.
What she stepped on… was either a corpse, or a zombie.
She had no intention of checking which it was. She immediately bolted!
“Roar!”
A familiar snarl rang out from behind her.
Looks like her luck was rotten—she’d drawn a defective prize from the blind box.
It was even darker here than at the entrance. At the entrance at least she could make out shapes, but in this area, without the flashlight she couldn’t see a thing.
So Chaolu quickened her pace, planning to put enough distance between herself and the zombie before turning back to deal with it.
But trouble never came alone. After only a couple of steps, she stepped on something soft again.
Chaolu: “…”
“Roar!”
A second zombie woke up, furious, dragging itself off the ground and lunging at her.
Chaolu couldn’t help thinking that zombies must have really bad temper when waking up.
Because she was pretty sure these two were growling louder than the ones outside.
Frowning, Chaolu sped up her pace.
And then…
“Wait—did I just run straight into the zombies’ nest!?”
Feeling the squishy things under her feet, Chaolu broke down inside.
She was a kid who usually didn’t curse—but right now, she really wanted to let loose a string of swear words!
This was b*llying a child way too much!
Thankfully, the shelves here weren’t fixed against the walls, which let Chaolu run circles around them. Otherwise, she honestly wouldn’t have known what to do.
But in just a short while, five zombies had already latched onto her trail. Chaolu had no way to stop, and no way to search for the radio either!
Damn it!
Chaolu cursed inwardly.
One hand had to hold the flashlight, which seriously limited her movements.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
After circling a dozen times, Chaolu’s breathing grew heavier.
She could still hold on, but at this rate…
Her expression tightened. She would have to climb up onto the shelves.
But she still needed one hand free to hold the flashlight…
Damn it.
Why couldn’t she be Nezha?
Then she’d have three heads and six arms.
Just as Chaolu was about to shove the flashlight into her mouth and climb up, two beams of light suddenly swept toward her.
Chaolu froze.
She looked toward the source of the light and saw Wang Defa and Qian Suiyou trembling as they clung to the top of a tall shelf, holding their flashlights high above their heads.
Scared… they were scared to death.
But still—they were adults!
The little girl had gone off to face danger by herself, fine, but now that zombies had appeared, for them to just keep hiding—wasn’t that going too far?
Of course, the two men knew their own limits well. If they had followed her, they wouldn’t have been helping but dragging her down.
The only thing they could do was shine some light for Chaolu.
Well…
Naturally, they couldn’t make a sound, otherwise if the zombies were drawn to them, they’d be done for.
Even though what they could do was limited, for Chaolu, it was enough!
She immediately stuffed her own flashlight into her pocket, then scrambled up the shelf in just a few quick moves.
The shelves in this supermarket were fairly tall, about two meters or so. Once Chaolu climbed up, it was like a monkey finally getting up a tree. She quickly widened the gap between herself and the zombies, then pulled out the bow on her back and readied it at the undead.
Swish! Swish, swish, swish! Swish!
In no time at all, the five zombies were swiftly taken down.
Chaolu let out a breath of relief.
On the other side, the two men started to climb down to help, but Chaolu waved them off.
Better if they didn’t come down. Just holding the light for her was enough.
She really didn’t want to step on any more zombies.
Chaolu dropped back to the ground and resumed her search for the radio. This time, she quickly located the shelf it was on.
Since she couldn’t tell which kind was which, she simply shoved all seven or eight radios into her bag.
At least one of them had to work, right?
…
The van carrying Chaoyang and Mibao had practically taken the zombies on a sightseeing tour around the entire town.
Only after luring them to the farthest, most remote area did Chaoyang finally switch off the loudspeaker, then told Zhu Dafu, who was driving, to speed up and shake off the pursuing horde.
Zhu Dafu couldn’t have been happier—he slammed down on the gas, sending the van flying like a spaceship.
“I wonder how they’re doing over there…” one of the other adults in the car couldn’t help but worry.
In the other vehicle, there were four people in total—three had gone into the supermarket, while one stayed behind in the car to keep watch.
“Brother Chaoyang, someone’s watching us.”
Just then, Mibao, who had been staring out the window the whole time, tugged on Chaoyang’s sleeve.
Everyone instinctively turned their eyes to the left side of the van, but saw nothing.
Nobody was there…
“Upstairs.” Mibao pressed her whole face against the window, squishing her nose flat like a piglet. “But we’ve already driven past.”
So now they couldn’t see anymore.
“Should we try to make contact with the people in this town?” Zhao Xuehua, sitting in the passenger seat, asked hesitantly.
Zhao Xuehua was Zhu Dafu’s wife, fond of cooking and exceptionally skilled at it.
Whenever it was her turn to cook, even the simplest of ingredients could become a dish so good it brought tears to their eyes.
The others in the van fell into silence at her words.
Their little group was indeed harmonious, but the truth was, none of them were kids anymore…
Uh—except, of course, for Mibao and the Chaoyang–Chaolu siblings.
They often forgot the kids’ actual ages because the three of them were just too dependable.
In short, no one here was stupid, nor were they that naïve.
It had already been over a month since the apocalypse began. Ordinary people were probably struggling even to find food—who could say if the folks in this town hadn’t already been driven to desperation?
If they made contact recklessly, wouldn’t they risk being attacked?
“…Don’t make contact. But if later on we happen to have a spare radio, we can give them one.”
After a long silence, Chaoyang finally spoke.
“If there’s hope in that radio, at least we can let them know.”
Otherwise, it would just be far too hard to endure.
