With the weapons in our hands upgraded significantly, both Han Xue and Lili had already personally hacked at walkers.
After I took the lead and split open the first walker’s skull, they quickly got into the rhythm.
Holding the kitchen knife, I felt an overwhelming surge of confidence.
Especially after landing a clean first strike, it boosted my morale even more.
For a moment, it felt like I was on a roll—every swing was ruthless.
After Han Xue and Lili worked together to bring down two walkers, I had already knocked the remaining three to the ground.
Mimicking Suo Tian’s cool finishing move, I wiped the knife on a walker’s clothes, then glanced upstairs.
After confirming no more walkers were coming down, I returned to the supermarket with Han Xue and Lili.
The woman was still blocked outside the door.
Sister Hua frowned, hesitating as she looked at her.
When she saw us return, she immediately spoke uncertainly, “Can we maybe let her—”
“No. She’s already infected.” I cut her off before she could finish.
Looking down at the woman, I spoke bluntly despite how cruel it sounded, “She’s going to die.”
Hearing that, the woman’s whole body began trembling.
Her voice was hoarse as she said, “I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”
Sister Hua looked at her, then said to me, “What if we let her in for now? If something happens later…”
She hesitated, glancing at the woman on the ground before continuing, “…we’ll deal with it then.”
“Sister Hua, do you realize you’re risking everyone else’s lives? Bringing a ticking time bomb into the room—what do you think we just fought so hard for?” Zhang Ting said, clearly unhappy.
“But…” Sister Hua looked conflicted, about to explain further when the woman rasped again, “Let me come in and sit quietly for a while… just a little while, okay?”
Looking at the middle-aged woman—disheveled, covered in blood—my mind suddenly flashed to my mom’s face, always smiling.
She used to call me “Yangyang, my little baby,” and “my big baby,” over and over again without ever getting tired of it.
Realizing I was starting to soften, I felt a surge of irritation toward myself.
Chen Yang, you’re always like this.
Never fixing this bad habit—one day your damn sympathy is going to get you killed!
The woman seemed to notice my hesitation.
Her expression changed abruptly, dropping the pitiful look.
She scanned us all and shouted, “Let me in for just a few minutes! Just a few minutes! Let me clean myself up and die properly, okay?!”
“Chen Yang…” Han Xue was the first to waver.
“There are so many of us. Let her come in for a bit. If anything happens, we all have knives—it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah… let her come in for a while…” Chen Jiaojiao also showed sympathy.
I glanced at them helplessly, then said to Sister Hua, “You’re responsible for keeping an eye on her. If anything goes wrong, tell us immediately. Otherwise, you’ll be the one paying the price.”
Sister Hua nodded repeatedly, then, together with Chen Jiaojiao, helped the woman into the supermarket.
Following behind them, I let out a long sigh.
After giving them one more look, I scanned the surroundings again before stepping inside and locking the glass door tightly.
Although Sister Hua was wary of the woman, it was clear she still cared about her.
She sat with her, unwilling to touch her but still chatting occasionally.
When the woman asked for water or food, she went to get it without hesitation.
To be honest, the woman was quite lucky.
Neither of her wounds had hit a major artery—otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived this long.
Most of the walkers downstairs had turned so quickly because they died from excessive blood loss and then reanimated.
At first, everyone remained cautious, keeping an eye on the woman.
But as time passed and nothing happened, the air grew quiet.
Aside from the occasional soft conversation between Sister Hua and the woman, no one spoke.
Before long, people began to doze off one by one.
I sat there, staring blankly at nothing for a while, before gradually feeling drowsy myself.
I had no idea how much time had passed since we entered the mall.
Combined with everything we’d just gone through, exhaustion hit hard.
Watching the others fall asleep, I felt so tired I could barely keep my head up.
…..
When I woke up again, it was to Sister Hua’s soft, tearful cries.
I opened my eyes groggily, and it took me a moment to realize I had actually fallen asleep.
I rubbed my face and turned to look—Sister Hua was crouching beside that woman not far away, sobbing.
I immediately jumped to my feet and rushed over.
I grabbed a kitchen knife on the way.
If Sister Hua was crying like that, the woman probably wasn’t going to last much longer.
But when I reached her side and was about to pull Sister Hua away to check on the woman, I froze the instant I saw her.
A small dagger was buried deep in the woman’s throat.
Blood had soaked half her body, spreading out in a dark red pool.
More horrifying was her face—there were at least ten deep gashes, cut so hard they exposed bone.
It was obvious the blade had been used with brutal force.
How could this be? Did she kill herself?
The thought flashed through my mind, but I rejected it almost immediately.
No… that didn’t make sense.
She had begged so desperately to come in because she didn’t want to die.
Why would she suddenly commit suicide when she was finally somewhere safe—and mutilate her own face like this?
And with those severe bite wounds on her body, how could she possibly have had the strength to drive a dagger all the way through her own throat?
Besides… she didn’t even have a dagger when she came in.
This weapon… could only have come from inside the supermarket.
The moment that realization hit me, I sucked in a sharp breath.
She couldn’t have killed herself.
Which meant… she had been murdered while still alive.
Before I could think further, the woman on the ground let out a hoarse, rattling growl.
The instant her eyes snapped open, I brought the knife down hard onto her head.
Brain matter splattered everywhere.
The blood that flowed out was no longer bright red—it had turned into a sickening dark black.
I stood there in silence for two seconds, staring at her body.
Then I slowly turned around to face the others, who had all gathered behind me.
Pointing at the corpse, my lips trembled for a long time before I managed to speak:
“Who… killed her?”
The moment the question left my mouth, Han Xue’s face changed drastically.
She stumbled back several steps, grabbing Lili as she spoke in a shaken voice:
“Chen Yang, don’t say things like that—you’ll scare people to death. She must’ve known she was going to turn and couldn’t bear it, so she killed herself, right?”
I glanced at her, frowned slightly, then looked at the others—whose faces had also changed—and asked again:
“Who did it?”
……..
The group remained eerily silent.
The only sound filling the space was Sister Hua’s sobbing.
A sudden chill spread through my entire body.
Here we were, hiding in this enclosed place with a group of people who all seemed harmless and timid.
Maybe everyone had softened, or maybe just a few had agreed to let that woman spend her final moments in relative peace.
But… someone had taken it upon themselves, without anyone knowing, to brutally kill a defenseless person who was already dying and had no way to resist.
I looked at each person one by one.
There was a wolf disguised as a sheep among us.
Lili patted the still-sleeping Xuanxuan, glanced at the woman on the ground, then frowned and turned her face away before asking me,
“Chen Yang… could it be that she broke down mentally, went crazy, and did it to herself?”
Taozi nodded beside her. “Yeah, maybe you’re overthinking it.”
Xiao Rong, who had been standing at the back of the group, frowned and quickly glanced at the corpse lying in the pool of blood before speaking:
“She didn’t kill herself.”
Everyone turned to look at her.
“How do you know?” the handsome guy asked.
Xiao Rong pointed at the woman.
“The wounds on her face were made after she died.”
Almost no one dared to properly look at the woman’s face—it was simply too horrifying.
“Are you a doctor? How can you be sure?” Han Xue asked.
“No.” Xiao Rong shook her head.
“I’ve watched every episode of Detective Conan many times.”
…
I glanced at Sister Hua, who was crouched on the ground crying.
After thinking for a moment, I crouched down and asked, “Sister Hua, where did you go just now?”
She turned to look at me, her voice hoarse, and pointed toward the restroom at the back of the supermarket.
“I couldn’t handle cold water… upset stomach. I went to the bathroom for a while. When I came back, I saw…”
At that point, she instinctively tried to turn her head toward the woman, but seemed too frightened halfway through.
She stiffly held her neck in place and broke down crying again.
From the very beginning, I hadn’t suspected her.
She was older, and if she were the one who did it, then insisting on letting the woman in earlier would’ve made no sense.
After another pause, I finally spoke slowly to the silent group:
“Whoever did this—I don’t care what your reasoning was. Whether that woman was infected or whether you thought you were helping everyone—using such a cruel method is enough to prove something is wrong with you.”
“From now on, no one leaves anyone else’s sight.”
“I won’t pursue what happened to her. But if you try anything like this again, you’d better drop whatever twisted thoughts you have. Because if I catch you… I’ll kill you.”
After I finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in silence.
It was obvious—aside from Taozi, Lili, and Han Xue—the others now had a trace of suspicion and fear in their eyes as they glanced at one another.
— The end of the Chapter–
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