Gao glanced at me, paused for a moment, then said, “Sure.”
He agreed so readily that I almost couldn’t believe it.
I stood there stunned for a while before asking, “Really?”
“Mm.” He nodded seriously, then seemed to think of something.
“I honestly didn’t expect that a whole group like yours would actually survive.”
Han Xue and I exchanged a look, confused.
“A whole group? You know there are others who made it?”
Gao tilted his chin toward me.
“Every part of the base has…” he said, then pointed toward a corner.
Han Xue and I followed his gesture—surveillance cameras.
“So you’re saying… everything that just happened to us, you’ve been watching through those from outside?” Han Xue asked.
“Yeah.” Gao nodded, glanced outside, then shifted slightly aside. “Come on out.”
To be honest, if he had tried to stop us or make things difficult, we would’ve fought our way out no matter what.
But now that he was letting us go so openly, we hesitated instead.
He must’ve noticed, because he let out a mocking chuckle.
“You really don’t act like people from Suo Tian’s side—so timid. What are you afraid of? Go on, come out. The medical team will take you back for a safety check. If everything’s fine, you’ll be back in two days. This place will be completely cleared in an hour—no survivors.”
“What about our companions upstairs?” I asked.
Gao shrugged. “Not our problem. If they can make it out, they make it out. If not, they can say their goodbyes in there.”
Han Xue froze for a moment, then quickly asked, “Can we go back and bring them down?”
“Sure.” Gao nodded with a faint smile.
Hearing that, I grabbed Han Xue and turned to head back for Lili and the others.
We had only taken a few steps when Gao called out behind us, “Hey, Chen.”
I turned back. “What?”
“I’m curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know who killed that woman?”
I froze for a second before realizing—they had seen everything on the cameras.
Quickly I asked, “Who did it?”
Gao grinned. “So you don’t know. Then forget it. Go get your people—there’s not much time.”
“…”
Han Xue tugged at me, signaling not to waste time and to hurry upstairs.
As we ran toward the stairwell, Gao’s voice rose slightly behind us:
“Here’s a tip—don’t ignore anything subtle that feels off. No one does something for no reason.”
I glanced back at him from afar, puzzled why he’d suddenly say something that seemed unrelated.
Then his words started echoing in my mind—something off… subtle details…
What was he trying to imply?
Because some time had passed, Han Xue and I carefully checked the stairwell again before heading up.
When we reached the fourth floor, we could faintly hear a few walkers growling outside.
We exchanged a look.
I lowered my voice. “If any of them are down but not dead, you finish them off. Stay sharp—watch my back.”
“Got it.” Han Xue tightened her grip on the knife, swallowing hard, bracing herself.
Once she was ready, I slowly pushed the stairwell door open.
We crouched low and slipped out.
The growls were coming from farther away, probably near the central elevators—right across from the supermarket entrance.
Using the posters on the glass walls along the corridor for cover, I crept forward and peeked through a gap.
Three or four walkers were gathered at the supermarket entrance, clawing and growling—probably drawn by something the people inside had done.
“Let’s move slowly—don’t get spotted,” I signaled to Han Xue.
Keeping low, I hugged the wall along the poster-covered corridor and crept toward the supermarket entrance.
Where we were, the space in front of the elevators formed a large arch—so as long as we stayed crouched, the walkers wouldn’t see us.
We quickly closed the distance.
As soon as Han Xue caught up, I tightened my grip on the knife and burst forward.
The walkers were lined up against the glass door, clawing at it, and didn’t notice us at first—only the one closest to our side turned its head at the noise.
The other three kept growling at whatever was inside.
I brought the blade down hard on the first one’s head.
Splurt—its brain matter burst out like tofu, splashing across the glass.
The others finally noticed us, but I didn’t give them time to react.
I kicked the nearest one down and shouted to Han Xue, “You take that one!” then charged the next.
My first swing missed—I almost got grabbed.
The second, with everything I had behind it, finally put it down.
Han Xue had already finished off the one on the ground.
Only one remained.
I stepped back a bit and gestured to her. “You try. I’ve got you covered.”
She nodded.
She’d done this before, so she wasn’t too afraid.
Gripping the knife, she rushed forward.
The blade came in horizontally, with full force—half the walker’s head was sliced clean off.
Unfortunately, I was standing in the worst spot; that severed half flew straight into my chest.
Caught completely off guard, I jumped.
“Sorry, sorry…” Han Xue said, wanting to help but with nothing in her hands, she just stood there awkwardly.
I waved it off. “Back then I was covered in this stuff every day. It’s nothing.”
Then I walked to the glass door, knocked lightly, and called, “Lili? Taozi? Come open up!”
The shelves we’d been hiding behind earlier were a bit far from the door.
Maybe my voice was too low—no one came.
After a while, Han Xue motioned for me to watch our surroundings, then banged on the door and shouted, “Open up! Where is everyone? You think the doorway’s a safe place to hang out? Hurry up and open it!”
I looked at her, a bit stunned, but I could hear faint movement inside—the people had heard her.
After a pause, I asked, “What’s with you today? You’ve been… off.”
She glanced back at me. “Nothing. Just annoyed.”
“Annoyed? About what?”
“What do you think? We come to a mall once in a hundred years and run into this crap. Just our luck. We’re not Conan—why does something always happen wherever we go?”
“…When you put it that way, yeah.” I forced a laugh.
No wonder she was in a bad mood—what was supposed to be a casual outing had turned into a nightmare.
Not only did we not get what we came for, we almost lost our lives.
Turns out I really had been too quiet earlier.
With Han Xue taking charge, Taozi immediately ran over and opened the door.
Back inside, Taozi couldn’t wait to ask, “So? What’s it like down there? Can we get out?”
We walked back to the shelves where everyone else was.
Only then did Han Xue answer, “D Team is downstairs. As long as we get down there safely, we’ll be fine.”
Sister Hua didn’t look relieved.
Instead, she frowned, worried. “They ignored us for so long, and now they’re just letting us out? Could something be wrong?”
“No,” Han Xue said.
“The captain of B Team is down there in person. That means this situation is serious. If he said it, he’s not lying. Let’s pack up and head down.”
She bent down, helped Lili to her feet, and took Xuanxuan into her arms.
Zhang Ting and Chen Jiaojiao still seemed upset about what happened earlier.
They stood up reluctantly, pouting.
I glanced at the two of them—and in that instant, it felt like I caught onto something…
“Something off… something off… something off!”
I scanned the people who had just stood up.
A flash of realization struck my mind.
I immediately turned and fixed my gaze on one person—I thought I had found the “unnatural detail” Gao was talking about.
Clearing my throat, I turned and asked, “Xiao Rong, about how long were Han Xue and I gone?”
“Huh?” Xiao Rong froze for a second, then quickly replied, “I don’t have a watch, so I’m not sure… but it must’ve been at least half an hour.”
“Oh…” I nodded, then looked at Sister Hua.
“Sister Hua, while Xiao Rong and I were downstairs, did anyone leave everyone’s sight?”
She immediately shook her head. “No. I’ve been sitting right here the whole time. Not a single person left.”
“And before Han Xue and I went down—between the time your sister-in-law had the incident and when we left—did anyone step out of sight? I can’t remember clearly.”
“No, no one moved.”
“Are you sure? This isn’t something to joke about.”
Seeing how serious I was, Sister Hua thought carefully again, then shook her head with certainty. “No. No one left. I never fell asleep—if anyone moved, I would’ve noticed.”
“Then that means… for the past few hours, you haven’t moved at all either.”
Sister Hua froze.
I narrowed my eyes and asked, “Weren’t you having diarrhea?”
— The end of the Chapter–
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