36

The group was thankful for the few watermelon seeds when there was a sudden flurry of noise at the back door.

"Run! RUN!"

"Close the door! Close the door!"

"Wait, wait don't close it yet!"

"Oye! What's going on?! How are there so many!?"

Seven people looked at each other, their hearts flashed with a horrible realization. It could not be...the supermarket back door, had been cut off?

Luo Xun, the most experienced with the apocalypse made a snap decision. "Get to the second floor right now!"

The staircase and elevator acted as a barrier, even if the first floor was occupied by zombies, they would defend themselves for a while. Plus they could use the second floor window to observe the nearby situation.

Seven people hurried towards the second floor. Luo Xun's heart was heavy – this escalator had a staircase ramp – no way to block the zombies!

Anyway, they needed to get to the second floor first. Luo Xun and company's position was originally close to the elevator, at the moment creepy sounds approached faster/ Scrambled up to the second floor, a group from upstairs collected things leaving others downstairs.

"What's the situation? What's going on?"

"Zombies, someone brought zombies from downstairs!"

"What?! More zombies in the supermarket!?"

"Who did this? They have no shame!"

The issue of civic mindedness was set aside, Luo Xun and the others went further in the building after scanning around. The second floor had less wandering zombies than the first floor, they had been put down but that did not mean they could rest assured.

They hurriedly ran to the window to catch a glance – twenty to thirty heads had unexpectedly gathered at the back door street. Behind many zombies hobbled over – a few could not help but scold the young lady in their hearts – how would they get out of here!?

The situation at the front door was worse than at the back door! In the current state of the world, if even one zombie started to pound against a door, the sound would attract a second and a third. So the front door could not be cleared of the stream of zombies.

"What, what do we do?" Li Tie and the others panicked.

They thought of simply jumping directly from the second floor but the height of the supermarket's second floor could not compare to a house! A jump from here would only result in death! Not even mentioning nimbleness required, with He Qiankun's weight the jump would like a belly flop. Secondly, there were no other buildings in the vicinity, no chance to climb away and hide.

Luo Xun's eyes quickly scanned around, he pointed towards a certain window. "In a moment, we open a gap here, jump onto the top of that bus. Hurry and see if there's anything useful on this floor."

Li Tie and company were relieved then dazed as they were told to collect stuff.

"Collect, collect what?"

Luo Xun stared. "Daily lifestyle products! Why else would we come to the supermarket?"

Scavengers would not leave empty handed, the first floor zombies had not come up yet, there should be at least some time to quickly collect supplies. If he had not seen the second floor and it was not as dangerous as the first, he would not have brought it up with things so tense.

They had to speed up their actions, even if it was risky but the group could not miss out. There might not be such a chance in the future – there were only fewer and fewer things in the city.

Yan Fei turned towards the escalator, his fingers twitched but did not act – he wanted to manipulate the metal like making the ramp slippery. But there were living people down there, he was not so heartless to block an exit. Secondly there were two sets of escalators so four sets of stairs, each of them relatively large. His abilities may not hold such a large range and amount. Yan Fei turned to follow behind Luo Xun as they checked the sundry shelves but did not find much.

Contrary to the empty first floor, the second still had a lot of things, but as Luo Xun scanned around – the clothing department, even children's wear was swept clean.

Any kitchen tools useable as weapons like wooden spoons and knives were all missing. They had been collecting plastic boxes in the household good aisle, arranging things in the boxes. Loaded half bag of mop heads, discounted cloth and things.

The five people gathered – it was time to evacuate, the survivors on the first floor had escaped. He Qiankun ran over holding a box that jingled with each step. Li Tie closed the zipper on the backpack in his arms. Han Li slung his arms over several large plastic baskets. Wu Xin and Wang Duo each held a big box, seemed like they had no time to wear a backpack.

"Quick, quick! Put all the good stuff in the bag!" Two people desperately packed a paper box away.

After a glance, Luo Xun hurriedly joined in – really was good stuff! A box of socks and a box of men's underwear. He did not think they would find this sort of thing!

"Where did you get it? Weren't the boxes all empty?" Li Tie asked while helping.

"On the top shelf, no one ever moved it. Fortunately of the boxes, we picked the men's. If now had not been a crisis, we could have grabbed two more boxes."

Even ladies underwear...*cough* was not completely unwearable...

At that moment, from the other side came sound of splinters and loud bangs, leaving the group dumbfounded. The glass window on the other side had been broken, some of the survivors jumped down regardless of danger to escape the zombies.

"Oh! What a betrayal!"

The broken glass window was not far from them, with such a loud sound, there would certainly be more zombies!

Some hurried out the window, though at a distance zombies chased behind them. Luo Xun and company swallowed and wisely decided to dismiss the idea.

But what now? Where would they run? Choose another place to jump?

"Go this way." The previously silent Yan Fei got up and pointed in the opposite direction!

He referred to the small storage on the second floor, not too far from their current location.

"To hide in there?"

One could not blame Wu Xin. The room was not big, it could hide seven people but later? Once the zombies broke through would they not get overrun?

Yan Fei lightly rolled his eyes. "There is a window we can use to get away towards the cars."

"Right! Get downstairs from there!" Thinking of curtains or things to knot to form a makeshift rope, Han Li rose and slapped his thighs.

After distributing the remaining supplies, the group hurried into the small room. When they entered they were disappointed – pots, pans and empty shelves but no curtains on the windows.

Yan Fei went directly to the window, ignoring the busy people behind the door. He pushed against the window, hand touching the frame. In front of them Luo Xun could see the hidden intersection with their cars.

Some zombies slowly gathered nearby, fortunately the window was close to the location they had parked.

"Are you preparing to..." Luo Xun's eyes lit up as he saw Yan Fei observing the window frame.

Yan Fei raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth lifted into a self confident smile that would cause people's hearts to pound. "Gather all the metal."

"Hey? What?" Li Tie and the others thought they had not heard correctly and looked at the two in confusion.

"We'll go down a slide."

Five people turned and looked warily at Luo Xun, their meaning obvious – was your cousin alright in the head? He did not get a concussion while collecting stuff earlier?

"Move over!" Luo Xun stacked a variety of metal pots, pans and cargo shelves beside Yan Fei. He lifted a hand and the window started to vibrate furiously! The entire window shook then as if held by an invisible hand, flew inwards!

They stared with big eyes, mouths wide open as if seeing something strange – of course the scene was really weird.

They had been rescued by the military but had not seen any power users en route to base. So different to the ability of an average person! Fire ability, thunder ability users could emit fireballs and lightning from their palms. Even the weakest wind ability user could knock over people with a strong gust of air.

But Yan Fei? Nothing appeared when he used his ability! The object just started floating! Said he got a power after the apocalypse, but now he seemed more like having a so called superpower from before – able to float things around.

In fact, Yan Fei could only manipulate metals, but who let the glass be surrounded by a metallic frame? Naturally he took advantage of the loophole.

The glass floated to his side, the metal jerked and separated from the glass pane. Luckily the window floated not too far from the ground. The impact made little noise and did not attract the attention of the blocked zombies downstairs.

At the same time, all the metal in the room converged towards Yan Fei. using the open window frame as a starting point, the metal gradually condensed downward towards the parking area, forming a metallic 'slide'.

Yan Fei used almost all the metal in the room but some cars parked downstairs were swallowed by the long metal ladder. Once the last step was done, he breathed a sigh of relief and waved at the group.

"Down."

As if in a dream, the five people walked over and slid down one by one. Luo Xun went last, standing beside Yan Fei and whispered after He Qiankun slid down.

"You okay?"

Li Tie and company's attention had been grabbed by the metal slide and did not think about where the energy came from to pull that off. Luo Xun from the start had focused on Yan Fei, so he knew that the other's current state was not good.

Yan Fei looked at him, his eyes had a trace of warmth in the depths. "Not bad, some dizziness."

This long ladder was much more troublesome than the steel wall built in Luo Xun's house before they left base. He did feel some exhaustion.

Luo Xun hurriedly shoved something into Yan Fei's hands. "Try these."

"What are these?" Yan Fei looked in surprise at the five or six, transparent small diamond like things.

"Um...I found it inside a zombie's head after I killed it. Might be like the nucleus in zombie light novels? Could replenish your energy?" Luo Xun scratched his cheek and pointed at the slide. "Let's hurry down."

Outside the door, the smell had gradually attracted zombies, the number was not high but in a while the warehouse would not be safe. Yan Fei nodded, motioned for Luo Xun to go first, he would follow behind.

"Quick! Get in the car!"

Luo Xun and the group felt relief after they rushed inside the vehicles. The backpacks and other boxes were thrown into the back trunk. He immediately started the car.

In the passenger seat, Yan Fei closed his eyes and his heart flashed with a hint of surprise. When he meditated he could feel the energy contained the crystal nucleus held tightly in his palm! This energy could completely replenish his currently low spiritual power!

With that thought, he concentrated, the energy flowed along his palm through his arms and whole body like refreshing spring water. When he came back to focus and opened his hand, the shards were gone...were absorbed?

Thinking of the nucleus's source, Yan Fei was a little awkward for a few seconds then calmed himself. If he had not met Luo Xun, he was afraid he would not even have a set of tableware to eat on base. These things were not really 'eaten' anyway, where would the remains be expelled?

The southwest base in A-city was busy in full swing. Many people had been involved in wall construction. Those with experience or help got a leg up, the rest of the newcomers who did not take part in the last construction project dug the foundation and mixed cement, tasks that did not need too much experience.

Meanwhile, the army's more experienced engineers were frantically building new homes in the inner circle.

37

The outer base wall was built up but since the inner circle already had protection it was necessary to increase construction projects to provide a place for the new people to live. Although the vast majority of communications had been cut, military specific satellite and phones still ran normally.

Early on, the problems on base became more serious at this time dangerous news reached the southwest base. Apart from ordinary residents, there were many important people who needed to move to the more sturdy bases in A-city.

The southwest base was main acceptance, rescued people went to the western and northern bases. So the pressure was lighter on the east side – the northeast base was responsible for that. It was true, in A-city the two bases in the north and northeast were now in trouble and could be overrun at any time. With the west base as a precedent, the two bases had decided to start evacuation to other well established bases.

Building the outer wall was only part of the task, in the event the wall was not yet built and the three accidents created a deluge of zombies...they would need to retreat into the inner circle defense. They needed to build additional defences.

Recently a lot of people lived in Wang Jing district because behind them was a stretch of farmland, so the community area was considered pure. But in the last two days, with the emergencies on three bases, it was no longer clear.

The east side of Ping Fang district, which had been flattened years earlier had been recently cleared of rubbish and foundation was being placed.

Listening to the sound of thumping from outside the wall, Puppy opened her mouth and lazily yawned. Half body in the balcony sun, her head lied on her paws with grains of dog food and slippers.

She stood and shook her warm fur and tail while trotting off to the nearby large glass box. She toured her territory, the whole room was hers! Although she was not actually that arrogant, since her owners lived here, so did she.

The little quails who lived in the glass box were now active, running here and there. Drilling and sometimes grasping the earth with little claws to dig up some mealworms or pecking at slivers of lettuce in the soil. A straw-like object hung over the whole aquarium, each half day water would drop to irrigate the vegetables.

The puppy's nose was pressed against the glass, forming a thin layer of mist. Lifted a paw for the 20th time to confirm she could not play together with the small animals. The little puppy turned away proudly then secretly turned her head to look at what the quails happily pecked at...something green and delicious?

The puppy tilted her head at the big white pipe that circled the balcony with a half blocked metal fence. The green things on top seemed to be the same as what the birds pecked at?

Swinging her tail at the bare rail fence, for security reasons Luo Xun did not leave the barricade too high. At the puppy's current size, she may be able to jump out...but a collision would hurt!

No, curiosity killed the cat, the little chow chow puppy was very smart. She understood that they could do some things but not others. If she really jumped out and never came back what would happen when the owners came back?

If you do something bad, keep your tail clean! Never get caught!!

She flicked her tail and did two laps inside. Then jumped onto the box of dog food to eat a few big mouthfuls before leaping out. In order to easily eat food there was a box half the size of the bigger one used as a ladder.

When the puppy jumped out she did not step on it and instead knocked against it...wait moved?

A light bulb flashed over the dog's head and after a while the sound of shuffling came from the room.

The seven people with four cars were sweating in their situation. At this time, Yan Fei the only ability user was also tense, his forehead beaded with sweat.

"The front can only be rammed past." Luo Xun clenched his teeth and floored the accelerator.

Their luck was not good, more like horrific! After managing to escape from the supermarket towards the exit, they hit dozens of cars with a string of zombies in front of them!

Luo Xun and the other's cars could hold more things but could not really be regarded as strong. There were a few modified SUVs in front, the most common type of delivery vehicle! Could not compare to the speed of a puma, the vehicles could only be merged into the tail of the convoy. Even worse was that for some unknown reason the cars were not speeding away!

Although the crystal nuclei had recovered a lot of Yan Fei's mental strength, there were a lot of zombies outside the car so his hands moved in bursts to kill batches of the creatures. The car was not strong enough so he had to also strengthen the small truck and his spirit was on the brin of collapse.

"Go ahead, there should be no problem with the front." Yan Fei had conveniently added some metal parts for protection and durability.

As for Li Tie, their two cars were right behind, following as if their lives depended on it. The two could not handle more at the moment and could only pray for better future luck.

The car in front suddenly increased horsepower and rushed forward followed by another...and another. Suddenly spun around to face Luo Xun and the other students.

"What a situation!" The car was not fast, but the road ahead was blocked, Luo Xun and company could not get around!

Yan Fei's brow wrinkled, the car's speed, angle, where it separated...

What was wrong with the car? Or...was it on purpose? Luo Xun was unavoidably sort of anxious while the car in front slowed down, the headlights flashed, the horn honked but none of the peer cars were ready to help.

A number of desperate zombies jumped on the car, a layer of dead bodies obstructed the vehicle. One waved its arm, drooling dark green saliva as the fresh meat in the car caused a burst of crazy hunger.

Luo Xun could only helplessly watch from the back. The car was in a parallel position and one could faintly see looks of panic – the people inside had not been infected. The other cars rushed forward, away from the zombie group while some wanted to stay and watch. Their thin skin could not stand the act of ignoring the car.

Luo Xun lightly shook his head, he had nothing to say, no mind to go down and save them. Shined his tail lights, behind Li Tie said they were ready to face the zombie horde and so they slammed down on the accelerator.

It took 20 minutes for them to rush out from the zombies. The car was not far from the team and was not in almost complete tatters. WIth draped bodies, the source of a disgusting nauseous liquid, unknown claw marks, it looked scary.

Although there were not many zombie groups on the roadside, the number of zombies wandering on the road of the residential area only increased. There were even a few fast running zombies stuck next to the motorcade.

Luo Xun let out a breath, if this continued they would be back in a few minutes. As his mind started a thought, he did not have a chance to speak with Yan Fei when all heard a faint cry – the cries of a baby.

Did not know which car, with the crying, zombies rushed to a car in the convoy. The crying suddenly stopped, listening carefully one could still faintly hear some noise. It seemed that someone in the car had blocked the child's mouth with something.