25: Chapter 23: Mother and Daughter Zombies 25: Chapter 23: Mother and Daughter Zombies After a long wait in the car, Zhao Xiweng was relieved to see them finally return.
“How’s the situation?
Did you find supplies?” She leaned out of the car window and asked the trio.
“Yeah, we found some.
We’re staying here for the night,” Su Mo said as she opened the car door to help Zhao Xiweng out.
They found a room on a street that was a must-pass to get to the supermarket.
It was located above a clothing store directly opposite to where Su Mo fetched the tea leaves.
In this kind of district, the first floor was for business while people lived on the second floor.
Jianxiong forcefully pried off the U-shaped lock on the door, opened it, and let everyone in.
The passage to the second floor was behind the cashier’s desk; Jianxiong strode up the wooden staircase, which creaked and bent under his weight.
“I’ll go up and check.”
The second floor was divided into a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
No sooner had Jianxiong ascended the stairs than he heard a series of bangs from the bathroom at the end of the hallway, the telltale signs of something hitting against the door.
He clenched his fists and walked over, standing beside the door, the hissing noise from within clearly audible.
There was a zombie inside.
“Little thing, just watch how I twist your head off.”
He gripped the doorknob, pulled the door open from behind, and a young zombie, dressed in a pink dress and a small hat, burst out.
Jianxiong paused, a child?
He stood behind the door, momentarily unsure of what to do.
The little zombie stood in the hallway, holding a doll, mechanically tilting its head as its keen nose sniffed the air.
It turned and locked onto where Jianxiong was hiding.
With halting steps, it began to move toward him.
Jianxiong knew he shouldn’t be soft-hearted, but as he watched the little zombie lunge towards him, all he did was lift its head with one hand and pin it against the door, allowing it to struggle in his grasp.
So young, yet turned into a monster.
His heart filled with pity for a moment, oblivious to another adult zombie that had emerged from a room and stepped through the darkness, closing in on him from behind.
There were several footsteps on the ceiling, yet Jianxiong did not come down for a while.
Lu Chen felt something was off, his expression suddenly turned cold as he headed upstairs: “I’ll go check.”
Su Mo, supporting Zhao Xiweng as they sat on the ground, took a knife and ran upstairs: “I’ll go see what’s going on as well.”
Seeing the two disappearing upstairs one after the other, Zhao Xiweng hated for the first time that she was injured, biting her lip and striking her thigh with frustration.
As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, they saw Jianxiong with his back to them, standing next to the bathroom holding a zombie’s head, unaware of another female zombie creeping up behind him, its sharp teeth about to bite through his neck.
Dodge!” Su Mo shouted in panic.
Lu Chen’s Ice Blade quickly formed in his hand and hurled forward, piercing the zombie’s head in an instant.
Following Su Mo’s cry and the sound of a heavy object falling, Jianxiong finally snapped back to reality, dropped the head he’d twisted off, and turned to see the close zombie corpse behind him, feeling a chill.
It turned out to be a mother and daughter who had both mutated.
“What are you dazing out for!” Su Mo walked over, stood on her tiptoes, and forcefully smacked his shoulder, scolding: “Do you have a death wish or what?”
“There was a little zombie.
I just couldn’t bring myself to do it,” Jianxiong said, scratching his head, feeling guilty since this was his first encounter with a small one.
Only then did Su Mo notice the separate corpse of a zombie about seven or eight years old on the floor, holding a doll, its flesh decaying all over.
She turned her eyes away, unable to bear looking at it.
Lu Chen said with a cold face to Jianxiong: “You’ve only got one life; take care of yourself before feeling sorry for others.”
“Understood,” Jianxiong replied, his head bowed, as if in penance.
If they hadn’t arrived in time, he would have either been dead or mutated.
Outside, the sky was completely dark.
Jianxiong carried the two corpses upstairs down to the first floor and carried Zhao Xiweng upstairs horizontally.
Su Mo, who followed down, stared at the corpses for a while before she carefully placed the child’s head next to its mother and pulled a few clothes off the rack to cover the faces of the mother and daughter.
Lu Chen stood at the stairway and watched her for a good while before he spoke, “Aren’t you coming up?”
Startled by his sudden words, Su Mo’s hand shook, and she mumbled, “Coming, coming.”
She groped her way upstairs in the dark.
In the room, the curtains were drawn, and a candle was lit.
A small bed was tidied up neatly, and there was a table against the wall.
Zhao Xiweng sat on the bed with several plastic buckets Lu Chen had given her in front of her.
She released most of her superpower to fill four buckets with water.
Seeing Su Mo, she called out,
“Grab two buckets and go wash up in the bathroom first.”
Su Mo winked at Lu Chen, full of praise; he was smart to have found some containers to store the water.
The man obviously knew her tricks.
He took her suitcase out of the Space, tossed her shower gel and shampoo, and said disdainfully, “Hurry up and go, you reek.”
Cheerfully carrying two buckets of water, Su Mo left the room and headed for the bathroom at the end of the corridor.
Jianxiong sat on the floor, opened a can of potato chips, and mumbled unclearly, “I’m starving to death.”
“Wait for her to finish, then I’ll put in some water for you to wash too.
How long has it been since you changed clothes?” Zhao Xiweng said, nudging the large man on the floor with her uninjured foot.
She could hardly stand the pungent mix of sweat and the smell of blood any longer.
“Alright, alright,” he agreed.
Fresh from her bath and dressed in clean clothes, Su Mo felt refreshed, the cool scent of mint wafting from her.
She threw her bloodstained clothes into the trash bin and carried the empty buckets out.
As she passed by the small kitchen, she walked inside to try the gas stove.
She pondered for a while and then turned back to the room.
Lu Chen threw a set of brand-new clothes to Jianxiong, and the two men divided the remaining water between them.
Su Mo took out a sleeping bag, sat cross-legged on it, and placed a Flat Pot on the ground along with a bag of salt and a jug of peanut oil she took out from the supplies section.
Seeing her sequence of actions, Zhao Xiweng asked with a puzzled face, “Can we still use the gas?”
“Then what are you doing all this for?”
Su Mo winked at her mysteriously and said, “You’ll find out soon.”
The two who went to take a bath came back one after the other.
They were greeted by the sight of the items Su Mo had placed on the floor as soon as they entered.
Lu Chen seemed to know what she was planning and kept silent.
He took out two more sleeping bags, tossed one to Jianxiong, and sat down beside her.
“Sis, what’re you doing with the Flat Pot?” Jianxiong asked, scratching his head before spreading out the sleeping bag and sitting down beside her.
“Can I trust you guys?” Su Mo asked with a smile.
We’ve faced life and death together, haven’t we?
I’m not like those traitors,” Jianxiong thumped his chest and promised with wide eyes.
Zhao Xiweng sat on the bed and immediately said earnestly, “I’m different from Ye Lei.
I’m always loyal to the Jiang Residence, following…” She paused, her expression darkening, before adding, “following Boss Lu.”
They all saw the expressions on each other’s faces.
With her heart somewhat at ease, Su Mo smiled and said, “We can’t keep eating this unappetizing food forever.
I have a way to let everyone enjoy a hot meal every day.”
“Really!?” Jianxiong and Zhao Xiweng exclaimed in unison.
Could it be that she had more than just a Space superpower?
While Jianxiong and Zhao Xiweng were skeptical, Su Mo had already scooted over to Lu Chen’s sleeping bag where he was seated.