Chapter 32: Picking a Fight, The Woman in the Red Shirt

Legou was a large supermarket on XX Avenue. The building had four floors: the first floor was occupied by various shops, the fourth floor was for leisure and entertainment, while the supermarket itself took up the second and third floors.

On either side of Legou were a few ice cream parlors, fast food joints, bakeries, and accessory stores. The signs for KFC and Mr. Steak were especially eye-catching.

At this moment, the parking spaces in front of Legou were a mess—not only were there abandoned cars parked haphazardly, but also several trucks and SUVs. One of the trucks still had a driver waiting inside. The corpses of zombies and humans littered the open space, the remains still fresh. Dozens of zombies were blocking the tightly shut entrance of the supermarket, and from inside came the sounds of shouting and fighting, making it clear that a group of people had forced their way in not long ago.

Zhang Hu’s men parked their car in the shadows at the corner of the street, nervously eyeing the snarling zombies. “Brother Hu, what do we do? Should we try somewhere else?”

Zhang Hu cursed, “We’ve already tried three places. It’s the same everywhere!”

His underling thought, What’s the point of yelling at me? I wish there was a big supermarket with its doors wide open and not a soul in sight, so we could just go in and take whatever we wanted. But every place is either in a busy area crawling with zombies, or already occupied. At the last place, a gang of ruthless thugs cleared everyone out, and if you got too close, they’d point their guns at you.

Damn it! Where do these badasses come from?

“So, Brother Hu, what should we do?”

Zhang Hu took a hard drag on his cigarette. “If we can’t rob a big one, we’ll rob a small one. I don’t believe we can’t even get into a convenience store! Drive to the intersection over there!”

Just then, Bian Changxi pointed. “Look, that truck driver.”

Zhang Hu and his men looked over. The driver on standby was an old man, huddled in the cab, trembling. Every so often, he’d sneak a peek outside through the window.

“What about the driver?”

“Huh? That’s weird, Brother Hu, the zombies aren’t trying to bite him.”

Zhang Hu squinted. Damn, the guy had a string of garlic hanging around his neck. “That actually works?”

Bian Changxi said coolly, “He’s not just wearing garlic—he’s crushed it and smeared it all over himself. He’s also rubbed zombie brain matter, saliva, and meat on himself. That’s how he’s fooling the zombies.”

One of the underlings gagged. “That’s disgusting!”

Zhang Hu looked at her. “What are you trying to say?”

Bian Changxi replied, “Someone’s already got their eye on the convenience store at the intersection. You’ll need to pick a different target. There’s a pedestrian street up ahead with plenty of small supermarkets, but you can’t drive there—it’ll attract all the zombies. If you want to get supplies safely, you’ll have to go on foot and make some preparations. Otherwise, you’ll be zombie chow before you’ve gone a few steps.”

She added, “Didn’t you want me to be your cannon fodder? I just don’t want to die because of your ignorance.”

Zhang Hu snapped, “Watch your mouth, or I’ll shoot you right now!”

She turned her face away, unconcerned.

She could have pretended to be a helpless damsel to lower their guard, but Bian Changxi knew Zhang Hu was a suspicious man. Acting cold, aloof, and ungrateful made it more believable that she’d be alone, and less likely to arouse suspicion. Besides, she had no intention of sucking up to him, so she might as well keep her distance—he wouldn’t kill her just for that.

One of Zhang Hu’s men called out, “Brother Hu, look!”

Sure enough, five or six people had entered the convenience store at the intersection and were fighting two zombies inside. Zhang Hu frowned. How had he missed them? Good thing they hadn’t gone over—those people were armed, and with just five of them, including this woman, they’d be no match. Worse, they might get thrown to the zombies as bait.

He glanced at Bian Changxi. “So, what preparations do we need? There’s no garlic here.”

Bian Changxi answered, “We can use zombie clothes as camouflage. That should help.”

Garlic was basically useless. The only reason that old driver hadn’t been discovered was because his windows were tightly shut and he’d smeared himself with zombie remains. But those were toxic—he’d break out in a rash all over within two hours.

She scanned the area. There were two dead zombies not far from the car. They were badly mangled, but their clothes were still usable.

Zhang Hu looked at Bian Changxi. “Fine. Go get three sets of zombie clothes. And dig out the stuff from their brains for me. Don’t try anything funny—I’ve got my gun on you.”

Bian Changxi had expected this. “I’ll need a tool, won’t I?”

Zhang Hu tossed her the small knife she’d left in the car. Bian Changxi glanced around through the window, checked the rearview mirror, then quietly got out and stepped into the sunlight.

The late May sun was warm enough to drive away some of the chill from the street. Bian Changxi took a deep breath, stretched her limbs, and quickly stripped the nearest zombie of its outer clothes, pulling them on despite the suffocating stench of rot—it was a small price to pay for survival.

She rolled the zombie’s head over, dug around with the knife, and pretended to search with her hand. When she found the crystal core, she secretly stashed it in her farm space, but kept a disappointed look on her face as if she’d found nothing.

She repeated the process with the next zombie, all the while keeping an eye on a zombie wandering near the back of a bus five meters away.

Without a word, she cut the buttons off the zombie’s clothes and held them in her hand.

“Hey, what are you doing over there?”

Suddenly, a sharp, girlish voice rang out. Bian Changxi’s head snapped up. It was one of the people looting the convenience store—a woman in a red shirt, standing at the door with her arms crossed, watching with a gloating smile.

Bian Changxi turned her head. The zombie behind the bus, hearing the voice, started searching for the source. When it spotted her, it let out a low growl and lurched toward her.

She quickly reached into the zombie’s skull for the crystal core and sprinted toward the Sagitar. But Zhang Hu, that bastard, pointed his gun at her. “Don’t come over here! Kill that zombie! If you come closer, I’ll shoot!”

Bian Changxi sneered and threw the buttons at him. Zhang Hu ducked, the gun went off by accident, and he fell backward. Bian Changxi had been watching his gun the whole time—at the moment it fired, she dove and rolled, the bullet hitting the pavement.

She now had a remote key in her hand. She pressed the unlock button twice, and all four doors of the Sagitar clicked open. She reached out, yanked open the two doors on the left, then darted around the front of the car and took off running. The zombie chasing her saw two living people in the car and immediately changed targets, lunging at Zhang Hu.

Behind her came Zhang Hu’s shouts and a volley of gunshots. Bian Changxi smirked. Two more zombies suddenly appeared ahead, forcing her to change direction. The gunshots had startled the zombies in front of Legou and those lurking in the shadows nearby. Like a swarm of locusts, they surged forward. The survivors who had been quietly scavenging for supplies panicked, forced out of hiding and fleeing for their lives. Some were caught by zombies just as they opened their car doors, their screams echoing through the air.

The woman in front of the convenience store was no longer smiling. She stared in shock as her four companions, stuffing things into their bags, ran out, shouting, “Don’t just stand there! Run!”

Bian Changxi weaved swiftly and calmly through the parked cars. Seeing the five people about to escape, her eyes narrowed. She glanced around, smashed the window of a nearby car with her knife, grabbed the lucky cat figurine inside, and hurled it at the woman in the red shirt with all her might."