For the next stretch of time, everyone sat back in their original spots, silent.
At one point I got up and checked the shelf where the kitchen knives were displayed, but I couldn’t remember whether that dagger had been there before.
I found nothing and could only return to my seat in frustration.
No one dared to sleep anymore—no one could sleep.
Lili refused to put Xuanxuan down again, holding her tightly in her arms while sitting close together with Taozi and Han Xue.
At least that was something to be thankful for—those of us who had been together all along still trusted each other.
Time passed like this, wordless, for several more hours.
Outside, aside from the occasional growls of wandering walkers, there were only the occasional bloodcurdling screams—from people hiding somewhere above or below, being bitten.
The D Team still hadn’t come.
By now, it was obvious that everyone had begun to believe what Han Xue had said earlier without thinking—no one was expecting rescue anymore.
After a while, Chen Jiaojiao, who was sitting across from me, suddenly cleared her throat and asked, “So… are we just going to sit here like this?”
“Yeah, we’ve been sitting here for hours. Are we going out or what? At least give us a plan,” Zhang Ting added with a frown.
I glanced outside through the shelves.
“Wait a bit longer. Let the walkers downstairs disperse some more.”
“It’s already been so long. If they were going to disperse, they should’ve by now,” Chen Jiaojiao said.
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I took Xuanxuan from Lili, held her in my arms, and gently played with her for a moment before saying, “It’s pretty safe hiding here. Why are you all so eager to leave?”
Xiao Rong, sitting beside me, froze for a moment.
Even Sister Hua, who had been leaning against the shelf, suddenly lifted her head and looked at the two girls with a strange expression.
Chen Jiaojiao hesitated before replying, “I just think… we worked so hard earlier to escape on our own, but now we’ve been staying here for so long. It feels… a bit off.”
“Can’t people rest for a bit? Chen Yang’s sick, you know. If you’re following, then follow—why so much nonsense?” Han Xue snapped, clearly irritated.
Lili lightly smacked her.
“What’s wrong with you? Did you swallow gunpowder or something? Can’t you talk nicely?”
Han Xue pouted and didn’t reply.
She glanced at Lili, then turned away and started whispering to Taozi.
I stood up, brushed off my clothes, and said to the others, “Stay here. Han Xue, come with me to check downstairs. Bring a knife.”
“Huh?” Han Xue clearly didn’t expect to be picked.
She pointed at herself blankly.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
I bent down, picked up a knife from the ground, and told Sister Hua to lock the door behind us.
As I passed by the woman’s body, I paused, looked around, then found two towels and covered her face.
Han Xue looked nervous, but after snapping at someone earlier, she didn’t want to back down now.
She gritted her teeth and followed me.
The two of us first stayed behind the supermarket shelves and quickly scanned the visible area outside.
After confirming there was no immediate danger, we opened the door and dashed out.
Sister Hua and the handsome guy locked the door behind us.
I gestured to them, then signaled Han Xue to avoid the escalators.
Instead, we moved toward the green emergency exit in the corner and planned to go down through the stairwell.
The escalators were in the center of each floor—going down there would expose us from all directions, like walking around in the dark with a spotlight strapped to ourselves.
Stairwells, on the other hand, were usually tucked into corners, with doors at the exits—much less likely to be noticed.
Han Xue was clearly tense, clutching tightly at my clothes.
I glanced back at her, then simply grabbed her hand.
“It’s fine. We’ve got big knives—what’s there to fear from those things that refuse to die?”
She squeezed my hand back.
“I’m not scared… just a little nervous.”
I let out a small laugh, scanned the surroundings again, and we quickly slipped into the stairwell.
We checked above and below—completely silent.
Not a single sound.
Good choice coming this way.
When chaos breaks out, people run around like headless flies.
No one’s going to crowd into a stairwell.
Even so, we didn’t dare relax.
One in front and one behind, I took the lead while Han Xue covered the rear as we slowly made our way down.
When we passed the third floor, I faintly heard low growls from inside.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make Han Xue tense up completely behind me.
I waved the knife in my hand at her, signaling her not to panic, then stayed alert and continued moving downward.
The second floor was relatively quiet.
But as we made our way toward the first floor, even I couldn’t help getting tense.
This wasn’t a joke anymore…
I just hoped the walkers had dispersed…
As we got closer to the stairwell door leading to the first floor, Han Xue whispered, “What do we do when we get down there?”
I replied quietly, “If we can handle them, we fight. If not, we run. Best case—no walkers at all.”
“…Professor Chen, that actually rhymes,” Han Xue joked, trying to ease the tension between us.
I raised the knife in front of me, shifted my body slightly, and slowly pushed open the stairwell door to the first floor.
The first floor was unexpectedly empty.
Not a single walker in sight—only pools of dark, foul-smelling blood on the ground, hinting at the horror that had taken place here not long ago.
We didn’t lower our guard.
Step by step, we carefully moved into the main hall.
The snack stalls were scattered everywhere in disarray.
At one fried-food stand, a pot of hot oil had been spilled over a corpse on the ground.
The body was covered in blisters and burned flesh—it was so grotesque that both Han Xue and I broke out in goosebumps.
As we passed by, the body on the ground suddenly twitched slightly…
Han Xue was terrified and immediately stumbled backward several steps.
Seeing the blistered, rotting walker, I instinctively wanted to retreat too—but noticing her reaction, I gritted my teeth and charged forward with the knife.
The oil had practically cooked it.
As it struggled to rise, even brushing against a table leg tore off chunks of its flesh.
The sight made my stomach churn.
I turned my head away, covering my mouth, took a couple of deep breaths, then hardened my resolve and brought the knife down on its head.
It took almost no effort.
Its skull split open like a fragile watermelon.
“Let’s go—now,” Han Xue rushed forward the moment it fell, grabbing my arm and pulling me along, clearly unwilling to stay here even a second longer.
“Wait.” I stopped her and pointed toward the main entrance. “Look.”
“What?” She followed my gaze—and her face instantly changed.
“How is that possible?!”
One of the main doors stood wide open.
Several men dressed in black were standing outside, holding guns.
They had been silently watching Han Xue and me for who knows how long.
Their uniforms were different from what Suo Tian wore—these were entirely black.
Their weapons were aimed directly at us, and not a single one of them moved.
Compared to facing walkers earlier, I found myself even more tense now under the cold, dark barrels of those guns—perhaps even more so than Han Xue.
We stood there frozen for a long moment.
My mind raced, but I couldn’t figure out what to say.
In the end, I could only stand there in silence.
Then, from somewhere behind us, came the low growl of a walker.
I tightened my grip on the knife, about to turn around—but two of the black-clad men turned first, raising their guns toward the source of the sound.
A flash of fire.
A dull thud followed.
I turned to look…
The walker that had been approaching us from a distance was now lying stiffly on the ground.
I turned back to look at the people by the door.
Their guns were probably fitted with silencers.
As long as she wasn’t facing walkers, Han Xue always had this inexplicable boldness.
Seeing that I wasn’t saying anything, she took the initiative and called out to them:
“Hey, who are you people?”
No one answered.
“Hey, I’m talking to you. The door’s open—can we go out?”
Still no response.
Han Xue started to get annoyed.
“Can someone at least say something? Can we go out or not? If nobody answers, we’ll take it as a yes… we’re heading out.”
As she spoke, she grabbed me and actually started walking toward the door.
“Don’t move!” someone finally shouted.
“You should’ve just answered earlier,” Han Xue replied.
Not being allowed out was pretty much expected, so she didn’t seem particularly surprised.
The group paused for a moment.
One of them spoke into the walkie-talkie on his chest, saying something.
Less than half a minute later, a familiar figure appeared at the entrance.
Captain Gao… from Team B.
Both Han Xue and I froze for a second, exchanged glances, and thought the same thing—this is bad.
From what we’d seen before, Suo Tian and the others didn’t seem to get along with Team B at all.
When Captain Gao saw us, he raised an eyebrow and let out an amused chuckle.
“The one surnamed Chen… looks like you’re everywhere.”
I paused for a moment before realizing he meant me.
“You know me?”
“Mm.” He nodded, one hand resting on his chin as he looked us over thoughtfully.
“Suo Tian’s woman. I’ve heard about you.”
“Since we all know each other, let’s not make things difficult. Let us out—there are walkers in here, it’s pretty dangerous,” I quickly seized the opportunity, putting on a flattering smile as I tried to negotiate, whether his friendliness was genuine or not.
— The end of the Chapter–
TL note : Join Patreon to support the translation and to read up to 50 chapters of the release :
https://www.patreon.com/DeCakraWnloverz
