Xing Meng turned around abruptly to look at Dong Xiu, but saw that he was slightly lowering his head. The reflection on his glasses made it hard to discern his expression. Xing Meng gave him a deep look, turned back, and tentatively said, “I promise not to let him hurt you, okay?”
After quite a while, just when Xing Meng was about to lose his patience, the girl finally moved step by step towards them, her footsteps silent like a ghost, and eventually unlocked the door from inside.
At that moment, Dong Xiu, who was originally behind Xing Meng, suddenly rushed forward, yanked the glass door open, and swung his fist to punch the girl in the face. Xing Meng seemed to be prepared and reacted quickly. As he sidestepped, he raised his hand to push Dong Xiu forcefully, while grabbing the girl’s arm with the other hand, pulling her behind him. Dong Xiu stumbled backward without hitting anyone. When he regained his senses, he found that Xing Meng had already protected the girl behind him, and he snorted heavily in displeasure.
“Mr. Dong,” Xing Meng was also a bit unhappy, “why bother with a young girl?”
Dong Xiu squinted his eyes, coldly staring at Xing Meng, but soon showed a strange smile. “I just wanted to teach her a little lesson. Why such a big reaction? I didn’t intend to do anything to her. Besides, you might be thinking for others, but they might not appreciate it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xing Meng felt a strong force from behind, pushing him forward. He stumbled a couple of steps and turned back to see it was the girl. She seemed unwilling to be too close to anyone, but with the glass door behind her, she couldn’t retreat and had to push others away.
Dong Xiu laughed heartily.
Xing Meng sighed helplessly, “We’re all part of the same team with the same goal. We don’t have to be close, but we need to get along harmoniously to have hope of passing the game.”
Only Xiong Jiabao nodded vigorously in agreement, while the other two acted as if they hadn’t heard anything.
However, the door was finally open. There was plenty of food in the supermarket. Although fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats were too rotten to eat, the packaged foods would last them for a long time. Xing Meng wanted to check the expiration dates to get a rough idea of the time but found that all the bags were blank, without even an ingredient list, which seemed to be an issue with the game.
The girl probably wasn’t hungry; when they went in, she hid behind the shelves again, and the others didn’t bother her.
The three of them first had a late breakfast and then each packed a large bag of food. Xing Meng wanted everyone to help him find something like a banner to hang on the roof so that the other two teammates could find and join them. But Dong Xiu glanced at him sideways, sneered, and said, “Forget the banner. It would have to be huge for people far away to read the words, and there’s no cloth that big in this building.”
“What should we do then?” Xiong Jiabao, with his mouth full of egg yolk pie, asked in distress. He knew he wasn’t very smart and couldn’t provide any meaningful suggestions, so he simply asked others directly, “Does anyone have any ideas?”
Seeing that Xing Meng had no idea for the moment, Dong Xiu raised one corner of his mouth, tilted his chin arrogantly, and said, “Remember this: up until now, there hasn’t been a problem that Young Master Dong couldn’t solve!”
Xiong Jiabao was overjoyed, looking at Dong Xiu in admiration, almost jumping to hug him. “You have a solution?”
Dong Xiu adjusted his glasses, his seemingly calm gaze betraying his undeniable pride. “Of course.”
He patted the dust off his casual pants, sat down on a chair at the cash register, and casually straightened the collar and cuffs of his shirt. His demeanor seemed more fitting for a high-end conference room of a multinational corporation than a spooky, deserted supermarket. His face exuded a sense of confident strategizing.
“When I first entered the mall, while being chased by a horde of zombies, I roughly surveyed the place. There are no banners here, but on the second floor, there’s a stationery store with lots of colorful spray paint cans. We can take them to the indoor children’s playground on the tenth floor, which is surrounded by large windows. We can spray the words on the glass, making them very clear from the outside.”
“Great idea!” Xiong Jiabao clapped foolishly. “Brother Dong is amazing!”
Xing Meng: “…”
Although Dong Xiu’s attitude was a bit off, the method was indeed good, and Xing Meng had no objections. So Dong Xiu led the way, and the two followed obediently up to the second floor, where they found a store full of colorful spray paint cans. The three each took a few cans and continued to climb up to the tenth floor, the top level.
The tenth floor was a vast open space, like the first-floor lobby, without rows of stores, directly divided into several areas. Larger areas included an ice rink, an indoor playground, and an open swimming pool, mostly places children loved to play. The floor was chaotic, with scattered children’s toys, deflated swimming rings, and torn children’s swimsuits. The black-brown dried blood added to the eerie atmosphere. Fortunately, the surrounding floor-to-ceiling glass provided excellent lighting, and the room was bright, alleviating most of the gloominess.
The three discussed that the words they sprayed needed to be legible from the outside, so they had to write them in reverse. Xiong Jiabao couldn’t write backward, so Xing Meng had to teach him hand-in-hand. Later, finding it too troublesome, he simply let Xiong Jiabao rest while he did it all himself.
They also had to ensure each word covered an entire glass pane, so they couldn’t write too much. Finally, they decided to repeatedly write “teammate” and “gather” in a circle around the entire glass layer, visible from any angle, which was about right.
It wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming. After all, the mall covered a large area with many glass panes. Dong Xiu, using the excuse that he came up with the idea, felt others should do the work, so he sat aside and relaxed like a boss. With only Xing Meng working, by the time he finished, the sun was almost setting.
Throwing the last empty can aside, Xing Meng stretched his sore shoulders and arms, took a deep breath, and sat down to solve his dinner with some water and bread offered by the perceptive Xiong Jiabao.
“It’s already dark,” Xiong Jiabao gulped down half a bottle of water in one go, exhaling with a sigh, “If I hadn’t come here, I’d be at work now.”
Xing Meng remembered that he had said he was a bartender, so he worked at night.
“Now I can only sleep,” Xiong Jiabao sighed, “without nightlife, it’s really too painful.”
Dong Xiu sneered from the side, “You can go out for nightlife, and all the female zombies nearby will swarm to you. You can pick whoever you like, and I guarantee you’ve never seen so many women chasing you in your life.”
Xiong Jiabao shivered at the thought of zombies with pus and broken flesh all over their bodies, not to mention exposed skeletons, and wilted completely.
The sky was completely dark, seemingly echoing the apocalyptic scene of the ruined town. The night sky was devoid of the moon and stars, a pitch-black void. The air was filled with the putrid stench of rotten meat, devoid of any human civilization’s noise, not even the chirping of insects or birds, only the heavy footsteps of zombies and beast-like rough breathing, faintly looming, varying in volume, clinging like maggots on bones, chilling the heart.
Xing Meng initially planned to sleep on the first floor, so he could quickly let any arriving teammates in, but Dong Xiu, accustomed to comfort, insisted on going to the fourth floor, where bedding was sold. It had clean bedding and even display beds. He also said it was too late for anyone to see the words upstairs, so no one would come. Seeing his insistence, Xing Meng and the others didn’t mind, and just as they were about to go downstairs, Xiong Jiabao suddenly exclaimed, “What’s that!”
Xing Meng turned his head and saw a faint glow flickering across the glass. He and Xiong Jiabao hurried over and looked out through the glass, spotting a light dot moving along the distant road, particularly noticeable in the pitch-black night. “A flashlight?!”
The two exchanged glances, and Xing Meng shook his head, “No, a flashlight wouldn’t reach the tenth floor; it should be an emergency spotlight or something.”
Dong Xiu, who was initially ahead and almost in the stairwell, turned back and scoffed, “Is this idiot afraid the zombies can’t find him?”
Indeed, even from the tenth floor, they could vaguely see many dark shadows slowly approaching the light spot, yet the light persisted, desperately trying to draw their attention.
Xiong Jiabao grew anxious, “He probably hasn’t seen Xing Meng’s card and doesn’t know that light attracts zombies. If he continues, he’ll be surrounded. We must hurry and save him!”
“Tch!” Dong Xiu crossed his arms, leaning against the glass, his tone indifferent, “It’s nighttime now, the time when zombies are most agile. That fool’s holding a light; he’s probably already surrounded. If we go to save him, we’ll all die.”
His refusal was very clear, leaving Xiong Jiabao puzzled. “But we’re teammates. How can we watch him die? That’s too disloyal, right, Xing Meng?”
Xing Meng nodded, thinking of the white card, “Let’s go. We’ll drive down there and hit the zombies if we encounter them. Mr. Dong, may we borrow your machete?”
Dong Xiu’s expression showed reluctance, but seeing Xiong Jiabao glaring at him for his coldness and Xing Meng staring intently, he pursed his lips and eventually tossed the knife over.
Xing Meng caught the knife and hurried down the stairs with Xiong Jiabao. Crossing the lobby, they saw the Range Rover still blocking the small door, yet no zombies were outside, an unusual situation. They quickly got in the car, with Xing Meng driving and placing the machete in Xiong Jiabao’s hands.
Initially, Xiong Jiabao didn’t want to take it. Unlike Dong Xiu, he lacked both skill and courage. Even knowing the zombies’ weakness was in the neck, he couldn’t bring himself to strike. His hand trembled, but since he couldn’t drive, they couldn’t swap places, so he cautiously held the knife, fearing the blade might cut him.
Xing Meng couldn’t be bothered with him, figuring the light on the other side had also noticed the approaching zombies and began to sway. Soon it went out, perhaps due to some incident. If that person died, then the card… Thinking of this, Xing Meng floored the gas pedal, and the Range Rover shot out like an arrow.
