Sixteen Years

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Going forward was like entering a tiger’s den, and retreating was like entering a wolf’s lair. If you could navigate the tiger’s den successfully, there was still a chance of survival. But if you fell into the wolf’s lair, you would be going right into the jaws of danger.

In an instant, Fu Yan made up his mind. He tore the little girl off himself and pressed her into Fang Sining’s arms, shouting at him, “Run!”

Fang Sining had never seen such a situation before and was momentarily stunned. He instinctively asked, “Where should we run?”

Before Fu Yan could answer, he crouched low, found a gap, changed his grip on the knife, pushed off the wall, and rolled on the ground, swiftly moving in one direction.

The zombies inside the building reacted to the noise and almost immediately started converging on him.

Fang Sining finally grasped the situation and stopped asking where to run. He hugged the little girl and turned to follow Fu Yan.

Fang Sining lagged behind Fu Yan by several seconds, and most of the zombies were drawn away by Fu Yan. Occasionally, some zombies noticed Fang Sining and the little girl, but they were quickly distracted by the commotion Fu Yan was causing.

Fortunately, the supermarket was quite large, and apart from the sports and electronics sections, the rest was an open public area with shelves that could provide some cover, allowing people to play hide and seek inside.

Fu Yan didn’t dare to stop for even a moment. He was afraid of being cornered or leaving Fang Sining and the little girl vulnerable. He moved swiftly, and his knife quickly became coated in a thick layer of blood. Fu Yan casually shook it to remove a string of blood droplets.

Fang Sining wasn’t sure how these creatures identified humans, so as he passed the household goods section, he grabbed two bottles of floral water from the shelves and poured them over himself and the little girl, turning them into two large mosquito repellent sticks.

The little girl seemed to be more familiar with the surroundings than he and Fu Yan were. When they first entered, she screamed in fear at the sight of zombies all around, but in just a short time, she had adapted and was urgently patting Fang Sining’s back.

“Over there!” the little girl pointed to the ceiling.

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Fang Sining, running while glancing in the direction she was pointing, noticed that the supermarket had lost power, and the ceiling was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.

“What’s over there?” Fang Sining asked.

“Away from here,” the little girl said, “The ducts!”

Fang Sining finally understood what she meant. In large supermarkets, the suspended ceiling had reinforced steel frames to support central air conditioning and lighting. If there were gaps in the suspended ceiling, one could crawl through.

Zombies could run but not jump, and certainly not climb into tight spaces. So, hiding in such a place was much safer.

Fang Sining looked at the ceiling and saw a suspended ceiling panel hanging in the corner of the freezer area. Beneath it, there happened to be a freezer about a person’s height. Fang Sining estimated that he could give it a try.

He silently praised the little girl for her quick thinking, thinking she had been a great help. Then he popped his head out from behind a shelf and shouted to Fu Yan.

Fu Yan turned around and saw Fang Sining pointing at the ceiling in the direction of the freezer area. He immediately understood and nodded, then turned and ran in the opposite direction with his “large army.”

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It was a somewhat comical scene if you looked closely. The zombies were strong but lacked intelligence. When dealing with ordinary people, they were like fierce ghosts, but in Fu Yan’s hands, they were like a group of little monsters being playfully avoided. Fu Yan’s running angle was clever, and he often flipped over shelves, causing the pursuing zombies to bump into each other and eventually roll into a pile due to their force.

However, human stamina was inferior to these monsters. Although Fu Yan moved quickly, the virus-enhanced zombies were also fast. There were a few times when they almost surrounded him in a corner, but Fu Yan’s quick reactions saved him.

He seemed to have some experience in dealing with such situations. He would hide if possible, only taking care of the zombies that got too close. If he couldn’t eliminate them within three moves, he would give up and move on.

But not all zombies followed Fu Yan. Fang Sining scrambled left and right on the shelves in distress. Once he didn’t pay attention and came face to face with a zombie. If it weren’t for him toppling the nearby shelf in panic, he would have probably lost a hand.

However, that zombie had one leg flattened by the shelf, yet it still relentlessly stretched its arm out to grab him. Fang Sining felt a chill, and his feet turned into a spinning wheel.

He even felt that he had run more today than in his entire life.

He ran, crawled, and stumbled through most of the public area, with the cold storage area just a stone’s throw away. But before he could catch his breath, he suddenly heard the little girl on his shoulder scream.

Immediately after that, he felt a powerful force push him from behind, nearly causing him to fall onto the tiled floor. He tumbled into the cold storage area in the blink of an eye, crashing onto a freezer, but he wasn’t a fool. He instinctively stepped on the freezer, lifted the little girl up, and stuffed her into the overhead vent.

Only then did Fang Sining have the time to turn around and take a look, but as soon as he did, he broke into a cold sweat. When he had come over earlier, he hadn’t noticed the situation nearby. From who knows where, a zombie had appeared, and now it was lying on the ground with Fu Yan pressing it down, trying to claw its way towards him with both hands and feet.

Fang Sining was terrified for a moment and felt like he was spinning. He hadn’t noticed his surroundings earlier, so he was lucky that Fu Yan had pushed him out of the way; otherwise, he might not have made it.

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Fu Yan had arrived rather hastily and had been paying attention to the movements on Fang Sining’s side from the corner of his eye. However, the angle at which the zombie had appeared was too tricky. He had to borrow strength from the shelves and roll over with the zombie still underneath him, saving Fang Sining from danger.

In general, he rarely opted for such close encounters with zombies. After all, these creatures were walking virus incubators. You couldn’t predict when you might get infected.

Fu Yan was determined to end the battle quickly. He gripped his knife with the blade ready to thrust into the back of the zombie’s neck. However, before he could smash the creature’s brain, he heard Fang Sining’s sharp shout.

The next moment, the shelves beside Fu Yan collapsed with a loud crash. He was pressed down by the zombie, unable to let go, so he quickly smashed its head. Instinctively, he bent over to protect his vital areas.

The heavy shelves fell on top of him, making a lot of items on the shelves fall to the ground with a clatter. The bottom of the iron frame couldn’t bear the weight and instantly opened up a deep and narrow gap right behind Fu Yan.

Fu Yan gritted his teeth, trying to stand up. But he couldn’t muster any strength, and he knelt heavily on the tiled floor. Blood flowed from his wound, dripping onto the snow-white tiles. Nearby zombies seemed to smell the blood and became restless, moving chaotically towards him.

The air was filled with the stench of decay, accompanied by terrifying roars. Fang Sining’s heart raced like a drum, and his blood flowed into his heart, pumping quickly throughout his body. His limbs felt weak, and he struggled to breathe.

Fu Yan gasped for air, looking over his shoulder at Fang Sining. “You go first.”

The odor in the air grew stronger, but Fu Yan was trapped between two rows of shelves, so he couldn’t see anything. However, Fang Sining could see clearly. Those mindless zombies couldn’t navigate, relying solely on their sense of smell for the scent of blood. They insisted on heading straight for it, crashing into the shelves along the way and reaching out to grab whatever they could.

The fragile shelves creaked, and Fang Sining, feeling a sudden burst of courage, rushed back. He cleared the bottles and cans off the ground and tugged at Fu Yan’s arm to pull him out.

Fu Yan didn’t ask what Fang Sining was doing. He used Fang Sining’s help to stand up, then pushed the shelves in the opposite direction and whispered to Fang Sining, “Go!”

Seeing Fu Yan free himself, Fang Sining turned and rushed back to the cold storage area. He climbed onto a freezer with all limbs and squeezed into the overhead vent.

Fu Yan deliberately stayed behind to cover their retreat. The zombies, still attracted by them, swarmed towards the area. One of the zombies, the fastest among them, nearly grabbed Fu Yan’s ankle.

With a slight push, Fu Yan clung to the ceiling’s framework with one hand, and with the other hand, he thrust his sharp knife through the air, nailing it through the zombie’s neck from front to back. He left only a shallow handle sticking out.

The zombie paused briefly, and Fu Yan had already climbed up from the overhead vent and stepped onto the steel frame.

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Surprisingly, the little girl they had brought in was still here. She was lying on a steel frame, staring at him with her eyes wide open.

Fu Yan frowned slightly, thinking she had nowhere to go. He was about to ask her, but the little girl timidly asked him, “Are you going to turn into a monster?”

Fu Yan: “…”

He turned to look behind him and found that his earlier movements were too intense. Blood was flowing out of his wound and dripping onto the steel frame.

“No,” Fu Yan replied. “I’m very careful and haven’t touched any zombies.”

“That’s good,” the little girl sighed in relief. Then, she turned around familiarly, clung to the steel frame, and climbed in a certain direction. “Follow me.”

The little girl led the way, and their destination was not far. They climbed for about five or six minutes, and she easily lifted another movable ceiling panel, jumping down from above.

Fang Sining followed her, only to discover that this was actually a “secret base” of the survivors.

This child, Fang Sining couldn’t help but be amazed; she was too easy to fool. When Fu Yan said he wasn’t infected, she believed him. What if he were a bad guy? Wouldn’t they all be in trouble?

Apparently, besides the little girl who had brought them here, the others in the room had the same thoughts.

However, Fu Yan’s proactive attitude had surprisingly put these people at ease. Until he had treated his wound, there was no sign of any hostility from them.

Fang Sining felt that it was understandable that they were being scrutinized in this environment. However, being watched so closely made him feel awkward. He looked around, coughed awkwardly, and tried to strike up a conversation with Fu Yan.

“What do we do next?” Fang Sining asked.

“We wait,” Fu Yan replied.

“Wait for what?” Fang Sining asked, puzzled.

“Wait for rescue,” Fu Yan said.