"Hah... hah..." Inside Longxing Pharmacy, Tan Hui's chest heaved violently.
Catching his breath, he looked at Yue Hao beside him. "I didn't expect it to be this easy. Way simpler than I thought!"
Since leaving the Yingbin Restaurant, they had sprinted to Longxing Pharmacy in almost a single breath, only pausing briefly behind two spots of cover.
Aside from a pair of zombies that chased them right as they breached the pharmacy entrance, the run had been remarkably smooth.
Yue Hao's footwork was exceptionally fluid, revealing considerable experience.
Yue Hao took several deep breaths and offered a bitter smile. "Don't get cocky. Those things outside might lack brains, but their hearing and vision are terrifyingly sharp. If there are more of them, it won't be this simple."
"Hey, what did you do before all this? You move like a pro."
"I spent some time in the military... Watch behind me and use the flashlight to light my way. It might not be safe inside."
With a brief command, Yue Hao led Tan Hui deeper into the pharmacy.
Longxing Pharmacy was spacious.
Rows of shelves held medicines and health supplements, and there was a sizable area selling medical equipment.
The two men moved cautiously, one behind the other.
They swept the entire first floor without finding a single trace of another living soul. Only then did they finally relax.
Tan Hui pulled several plastic bags from his pockets and began collecting medicine from the shelves.
Yue Hao stood guard, his vigilance unwavering as he suddenly asked, "Tan Hui... do you have a death wish?"
Tan Hui's hands paused for a fraction of a second before resuming their work. "Why would you ask that?"
"You're the healthiest one among our group, always running yourself ragged to help everyone else. I know you're a good person, but this is overkill. You're exhibiting an overcompensating stress response."
"I... I don't want to die... I just don't know how to live anymore..." Tears welled in the corners of Tan Hui's eyes, though his hands never stopped collecting medicine.
"Everyone's dead. I've lost contact with my family, my friends... the entire country is gone. What are we supposed to do? I really don't know. I can't stomach seeing another dead body. I can't... I can't survive alone."
At that, his composure cracked, and tears streamed silently down his face.
Yue Hao rubbed his temples, his voice softening with sorrow. "It will get better. The country will come to save us. The disaster hit hard and fast... but those walking corpses are no match for a modern army. Plenty of military bases are enclosed; they wouldn't have been exposed to the rain."
"Once they hear what happened outside, they'll launch operations to retake the cities. Longshan will surely be an important target. As long as we hold the line, there's hope."
"Yeah." Tan Hui choked back a sob and nodded.
They quickly finished scavenging the essential drugs on the first floor.
They hurried toward the second floor, Yue Hao taking point with his knife drawn.
Just as his boot hit the landing of the second floor, Yue Hao's expression drastically warped. He threw an arm back to halt Tan Hui. "Freeze!"
"What's wrong?"
"I think I saw a shadow flash past. Did you see it?"
"I didn't see a thing." Tan Hui instantly tensed, sweeping his flashlight erratically across the dark room.
"Fall back! Ditch the loot, we're leaving right now!"
Trusting his gut, Yue Hao spun on his heel and physically dragged Tan Hui back toward the stairs.
But before they could take even two steps down, a sound paralyzed them both.
The faint sound of a child crying drifted from the second floor.
"It's just a kid." Tan Hui looked at Yue Hao pleadingly.
Yue Hao thought for a moment before nodding and slowly creeping back up the steps.
Pressing his back against the wall, he used the flashlight beam to slice through the darkness between the aisles.
Near the center of the floor, the beam caught the small silhouette of a child collapsed over a dead body.
Yue Hao deliberately swept the beam past the child, prioritizing a sweep of the remaining aisles and blind spots.
Only after fully clearing the perimeter and confirming the child was the sole living entity on the floor did his shoulders finally drop.
"Alright... It must have been the kid I saw darting around. It's just him. Let's check it out."
The two men approached, the scene coming into sharp focus.
It was undeniably a child in children's clothes, crying over the corpse of someone who appeared to work at the pharmacy.
It looked perfectly safe. After all, zombies couldn't cry.
Both men crouched simultaneously, and Tan Hui gently reached out to touch the child.
"Hey there, kiddo— Urgh!"
Before the words fully left his mouth, everything changed!
The child's slender arm blurred, plunging into Tan Hui's heart. Yue Hao didn't even have a fraction of a second to react before the tiny figure opened its mouth and lunged at his throat!
The mouth was small, but the teeth were razor-sharp.
"Guh... hk..." Yue Hao's eyes bulged from their sockets as blood burst from his throat.
The sickening squelch of tearing flesh was immediately followed by the sound of bone breaking.
The infected child buried its entire face into Yue Hao's throat, violently gnawing straight through the bones in his neck.
Tan Hui was still clinging to his final seconds of life. He watched in horror as Yue Hao was decapitated, his head left dangling by only a thin strip of skin on the back of his neck.
As Yue Hao's head flopped uselessly onto his back, the last glimmer of light faded from Tan Hui's eyes, and the pharmacy was plunged back into a suffocating dead silence.
....
Back at the Yingbin Restaurant, Ding Jia peered anxiously through a gap in the window blinds.
Over ten minutes had passed. Realistically, they should have grabbed the medicine and rushed straight back.
But the street was completely silent... Had something gone wrong?
Ding Jia cast a desperate glance outside, then looked back at her mother, who was still unconscious.
Every passing second was pure torture.
Suddenly, her pupils dilated. A car drove into view and stopped right in front of the Longxing Pharmacy.
Three heavily armed men stepped out of the vehicle, some with bows on their backs, others with guns.
The man leading the group turned to speak. Through the gloom, Ding Jia caught a blurry glimpse of his face, and her heart nearly hammered out of her chest.
Losing all self-control, she spun around and screamed, "The aliens are here! The aliens came to save us! They— Mmph!"
"Shut your fucking trap! You threw those basins and drew all the zombies over!" Tattooed Arm lunged forward, violently clamping his hand over Ding Jia's mouth. "Stupid bitch! Do you have to throw a psychotic fit every goddamn hour?!"
"Mmph! Mmmph!" Ding Jia clawed frantically at the thug's arm, wrenching his hand away just enough to gasp, "They're right outside! If you don't believe me, look for yourself!"
Tattooed Arm shoved her aside and squinted through the crack. Seeing the empty street, he glared fiercely at Ding Jia. "Where the fuck is anyone? Listen here, just because you're a crazy cunt doesn't mean you get a free pass. Spout that nonsense again and I really will slap you!"
...
"I explicitly ordered you to equip the helmets. Why bring them if you won't wear them?" Su Jin demanded, his voice echoing coldly through the pharmacy.
"You aren't wearing yours either, Director," Cheng Du grumbled, rolling his eyes. "That thing is suffocating and ruins my peripheral vision. Plus, I can't spit fire with it on. We're just hitting a pharmacy; it isn't very dangerous here. We'll put them on when we hit the hospital, alright?"
"Yeah, Director, stop fussing about it. We're different from you; you're the only one who needs a helmet," Fu Hu chimed in.
"Hah. You two bastards are trying to drive me mad..." Su Jin massaged his temples in sheer annoyance. "Flick your flashlights on! We hit the second floor, grab the medicine, and leave."
"We aren't stocking up on general supplies?"
"We found more than enough back in the residential complex. Taking more common medicine would waste time and space. You two take point. I'll watch from behind."
The two men took the lead.
Su Jin trailed slightly behind. He opened the carry bag at his chest with his left hand.
Extending his right arm, he casually swept a whole row of unfamiliar medicines into the bag with a series of loud clatter-clacks.
He had made room in the bag before they left.
Hearing the suspicious clatter behind them, both Cheng Du and Fu Hu snapped their heads around, staring at Su Jin in sheer confusion.
"I brushed against something. It’s fine. Let’s go." Su Jin barked without missing a beat.
The trio pushed toward the second floor. However, right as they hit the landing, they stopped together, then looked tilting upward.
"Is that a kid crying? A survivor!" Fu Hu didn't hesitate. He immediately bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Su Jin's brow pinched into a hard line. He leaped up, pushed off the wall, and landed squarely on the second-floor landing, physically blocking Fu Hu's path.
"Control yourself! Let me clear the area first."
"But Director, it's just a little kid... What could possibly go wrong?"
"Shh," Su Jin said. "Check for danger first."
Falling into formation, the three of them pressed against the far wall, their flashlights aggressively sweeping through the dark aisles.
They eventually converged on the center of the pharmacy. Three flashlight beams focused directly on the child lying on the floor and crying.
There were three corpses clustered around the child. The blood all around them suggested they had died recently.
"Damn, this kid is incredibly lucky we showed up!" Fu Hu sighed in relief. He turned to Su Jin. "Director, we have to extract him. We could put the child in the trunk."
Su Jin stepped forward, his cold, deadpan gaze locked onto the crying child, while his other hand rested on his gun grip...