Tang Xiaoquan gasped, his right hand clutching the cloth suddenly shrinking back, his black eyes revealing panic. Chapters fırst released on NoveI★Fire.net
"What’s wrong, Quan? What’s happening outside?" Wu Chao, who reached out to steady the nearly falling Tang Xiaoquan, asked with some confusion.
"Uh~" His mind went blank, Tang Xiaoquan stared at Wu Chao, a pair of bloodshot eyes flickering before his gaze.
Seeing the other’s panic-stricken look, the bewildered Wu Chao naturally thought of reaching out to lift the curtain to investigate.
But before he could move, the SUV’s car door inexplicably opened from the outside.
"Click!" The faint sound, barely audible, yet in the ears of the survivors inside the car, it was like the bell of hell ringing in their hearts.
Tang Xiaoquan jolted up from the leather seat, an icy chill immediately enveloping him completely.
He instinctively gripped the long spear tighter, and decisively made a stabbing posture, ready to pierce the head of that demon god once it appeared.
"Everyone, everyone come out, it’s, it’s safe outside."
A deep voice containing heavy breathing, as the car door continued to open, a face both familiar and strange appeared before everyone.
"Hu, Brother Hu?" Wang Qiang blurted out uncertainly, because the man dripping wet before his eyes was truly difficult for him to recognize.
"How did you end up ? Did you encounter zombies? Are you hurt? Oh, right, have some water first!"
Wu Chao promptly handed over the bottle of mineral water he held, and Hu Xiaodong took it without hesitation, immediately unscrewing the cap and gulping it down.
"Gulp, gulp~" The water made a faint swallowing sound at his throat, Hu Xiaodong drank urgently, clearly showing that the recent battle had worn him out.
"Phew~" Once the water was swallowed, Hu Xiaodong’s weary expression slightly recovered, he wiped his lips twice and then quickly urged:
"Alright, everyone, we’ll discuss the specifics later. Now get out of the car quickly, we need to seize the moment when those beasts are distracted to replenish our supplies. Uh... right, Xiao Tang, see how much time we have left?"
With his head lowered, glancing at the numbers on the screen, Tang Xiaoquan replied with furrowed brows, "Less than 10 minutes left, excluding the time to return to the car later, we have only 5 minutes to gather supplies!"
"What! Only 5 minutes?" Wang Qiang could hardly believe his ears.
Not only him, but the remaining few in the car also showed surprised expressions.
"If I had known this, we should have set a longer time earlier!" Wenquan Xin slapped his forehead, his frustration evident.
Tang Xiaoquan silently sighed at Wenquan Xin’s doubt.
To be honest, when initially setting the loop time for the song, Tang Xiaoquan did consider making it longer.
But he ultimately changed his mind, why? The reasoning was actually very simple, just three words: "Uncertainty!"
Yes, Tang Xiaoquan was uncertain about how long the phone’s ringtone would attract zombies, so for safety’s sake, he set the song’s loop time to 3 times.
To him, this count would be enough for the six of them to complete the gathering work;
Moreover, if during that time signs appeared troubling, and zombies seemed to be returning, they could use another phone to set new times and locations, then escape accordingly.
However, these reasons in his mind were clearly unsuitable to share with everyone at the moment.
"Alright, stop dawdling, get moving fast!" After several seconds of recovery, Hu Xiaodong’s somewhat rough breathing gradually calmed down, even his speaking tone began to sharpen.
In the car, people like Wu Chao were veteran survivors of life-or-death struggles, so they naturally knew what to do and what not to do in urgent moments.
Without wasting any more time, everyone sequentially exited the car, and followed Hu Xiaodong to charge into Meilizi Supermarket.
Inside the supermarket, 6 aisles of shelves lined up, displaying various drinks and foods, causing the survivors’ mouths to water.
With a swift hand killing the zombie cashier trapped behind the counter who raised its hands to greet them, Hu Xiaodong pointed to Wu Chao and Wenquan Xin beside him, instructing, "You two follow me over there, others go over there, Xiao Tang keeps watch on the zombies outside, did everyone understand?"
"Understood!" They all replied in unison, then each formed groups heading towards the ends of the aisles.
"Everyone watch out for any hidden zombies underfoot!" Suddenly remembering his earlier attack incident, Tang Xiaoquan hurriedly reminded everyone, also cautioning: "Remember, focus on collecting canned food, instant noodles, and other easy-to-store items, don’t forget to grab more mineral water too. Oh, and clothes."
Chattering away, Tang Xiaoquan seemed like a nagging parent, both warily observing the zombies outside and frequently turning back to caution.
Unfortunately, his comments didn’t register with the busy group at all.
"Damn, Brother Hu, we’re hitting it big today!" Casually picking up a can of luncheon meat, Wenquan Xin instinctively licked his lips, as if actually tasting it.
Wu Chao wore a similarly cheerful expression, his hands repetitively grabbing items as if on auto-pilot, tossing them into his bag incessantly.
Meanwhile, Wang Qiang on the other side of the supermarket wasn’t to be outdone, his impatient nature couldn’t endure the slow pace of gathering, so he raised his arms, and swiftly swept through, soon filling his bag completely.
However, Wang Qiang was evidently a bit unwilling with his harvest, since it took such effort to seize this rare chance, returning with just this amount seemed...
"Damn! There’s never enough bags when you need them!" He scanned the supermarket frantically and eventually his eyes settled on a burlap sack behind the checkout counter.
He ran over in a few steps, and Tang Xiaoquan on guard saw his returning comrade, immediately speaking out curiously, "What’s going on, Qiang, you finished already?"
"Mm~" Responding instinctively, Wang Qiang didn’t explain much, once he lifted the burlap sack, he turned and dashed back.
Time flew quickly, the 5-minute planned time passed swiftly, Tang Xiaoquan glanced at the bus where the zombies were dispersing, and decisively commanded: "Alright, brothers, pack up, we need to go!"