A little girl, alive, crying and trembling.
Chu Muge, still gripping her long knife, remained on high alert. With a smile, she asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The intruder questioned her like she was the owner of the mall.
Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as she whimpered and shook her head, unable to speak.
"If you don't tell me," Chu Muge paused, "I'll cut you down."
Such terrifying words!
Gu Yao initially thought Chu Muge was joking, but then she saw Chu Muge subtly adjust the angle of her knife as if preparing to swing.
...Oh my, she might actually be serious.
But it made sense. In such a large shopping mall, there were no zombies inside or out. While the migration theory might explain the lack of zombies outside, there should at least be a few stragglers wandering around. And inside the mall? Even more suspicious.
It was strange enough already, and now there's this girl.
Could it be that a survivor managed to wipe out all the zombies?
That wasn't likely. The girl trembled and stammered, "M-my name is Wang Qiqi."
Chu Muge raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to continue.
"I-I live at the top."
The girl nervously pointed upward with a shaking finger.
Chu Muge quickly looked up in the direction she indicated, but could only see darkness.
The girl continued, "The top floor, the fifth floor."
"You live there?" Chu Muge asked calmly.
Gu Yao, standing nearby and bored, began looking around.
"...We all live there," the girl cautiously added.
"We."
Chu Muge immediately caught the keyword and asked, "You all?"
"Yes."
Chu Muge frowned.
So the survivors went to the top floor?
Wait, how could they live in such a dark environment?
The girl seemed to guess what she was thinking and quickly said, "The fifth-floor ceiling is made of transparent glass. There's sunlight, and we can also go to the rooftop..."
Chu Muge was silent for a moment. "Take me there."
"What? N-no, no!" Wang Qiqi trembled as she looked at the long knife in Chu Muge's hand, but still gritted her teeth and said, "That man is very scary. It's best if you don't go..."
Chu Muge was a bit surprised. "Scary? What man?"
Wang Qiqi hesitated and stammered, "He... he can shoot fire from his palms..."
Iron Man, perhaps?
Chu Muge: ...Oh my.
Look at the juicy news she just got.
Chu Muge, as usual, said, "Is he scary because he often threatens you?"
This seemed to trigger some bad memories for the girl, whose eyes began to redden. "He’s also very strong. He... he killed my dad..."
Her voice was choked with sobs, as if she was about to cry.
Chu Muge, lacking any sense of empathy, covered her mouth to stop her from crying, her tone surprisingly gentle, "Don’t cry, don’t cry. Take me to him, and I'll help you get revenge."
As the girl hesitated, Chu Muge flashed her long knife. "Does he have one of these?"
Wang Qiqi hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, "N-no, he only has the knives from the mall..."
As they spoke, Gu Yao paused and looked in a certain direction.
Chu Muge chuckled, "I have this. So take me there."
The next second, her tone turned icy cold as she looked at the girl, speaking as if to an inanimate object, "Or, you can refuse, letting your father's death go unavenged while you watch helplessly..."
Is that something to say to a child?
Chu Muge smiled brightly, "What do you think?"
...
Once the girl finally agreed, Chu Muge turned and smiled at Gu Yao, who was standing dazed. She cupped her hands around her mouth and softly called, "Senior, let’s go."
Gu Yao heard her and slowly walked over.
Before leaving, she instinctively glanced back.
While the two talked, Gu Yao, having nothing better to do, had looked around the area.
Then...
She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she thought she saw something move when she glanced at a particular spot.
It was too dark. By the time Gu Yao focused her eyes, there was nothing but darkness.
...
It watched the three enter the safe passage, slowly emerging from the shadows.
–
“So, why did you come down?”
Tap, tap, tap.
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell.
“Because we needed to find food for him... I was supposed to go to the supermarket and restaurants on the second floor, but I heard your voices on the third floor...”
The safe passage connected all the floors. Chu Muge walked alongside Gu Yao, gently supporting her, and continued to ask, "There are plenty of supplies here, but they'll eventually run out. Haven't you thought about leaving?"
“We have...” Wang Qiqi spoke cautiously, clearly afraid of Chu Muge, “Most of the supplies from the second-floor supermarket and restaurant have already been moved to the fifth floor. Once they’re gone, we plan to leave...”
Surviving one day at a time, they didn't dare risk going outside.
Chu Muge frowned slightly.
She lived in this city too but had rarely visited the shopping mall, and never the fifth floor. Yet she distinctly remembered...
"Isn't the basement level also a place with food?"
As soon as she said this, the atmosphere suddenly grew tense.
Wang Qiqi's face showed a hint of terror. "N-no, we can't go there..."
Chu Muge raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
Wang Qiqi explained, "There's something... down there..."
Something?
Chu Muge chuckled. "What's there to be afraid of? You seem pretty brave to be in such a big shopping mall without fear of zombies."
Wang Qiqi shook her head. "It's different. There don't seem to be any zombies here."
Her tone was very certain.
Tap, tap, tap,
The three continued walking.
"My parents and I evacuated after the crisis had been going on for a while. We left with others from our neighborhood. That man was with us too..."
Wang Qiqi's voice was weak:
"The police never came through our area, and eventually we couldn't stay there anymore. We had to run."
"So you came here?"
"Yes..." Wang Qiqi hesitated. "We didn't plan to come here at first, but we couldn't find any food anywhere else. We had to take a risk and see if there were any supplies in the mall."
Only to discover that the mall was devoid of zombies.
"What is that 'something' you mentioned?"
Fear filled Wang Qiqi's eyes as she swallowed hard. "I'm not really sure. Some people searched the floors before, and a few who checked the basement disappeared. My aunt said she heard screams."
At that time, those twisted things had waved through the air, quickly impaling people and dragging their bodies through the door to the basement.
"Since then, that man didn't dare go down there. He just ordered us to go find supplies."
"Hmm..."
Chu Muge nodded thoughtfully, then stopped and looked at the tightly closed door.
Open it, and they would leave the safe passage and reach the fifth floor.
"Big sisters," Wang Qiqi hesitated for a long time before addressing Chu Muge, who was supporting Gu Yao.
Chu Muge instinctively shielded Gu Yao's eyes.
Those pupils were a pale gray, quite noticeable. In the previous dim light, the girl might not have seen it, but now it was uncertain.
However, Wang Qiqi wasn't concerned about that. Instead, she nervously bit her lip and said, "I have something to tell you..."
Bang!
Before she could finish her sentence, the door to the fifth floor's safe passage was suddenly flung open.
A figure rushed out, long, disheveled hair flying wildly like a ghost.
Chu Muge was so startled that she almost slashed with her knife, but Wang Qiqi's shout stopped her. "Mom!"
The woman, with tears in her eyes, collapsed to the ground after crashing through the door, a very visible slap mark on one side of her face.
Seeing the little girl, she froze momentarily before frantically cupping her face, choking out, "Qiqi, Qiqi..."
"Are you okay?" The woman, holding the girl’s face, asked with a hint of fear as she looked at her unharmed daughter.
Wang Qiqi, holding back her tears, shook her head as she looked at the slap mark on her mother's face.
Chu Muge, uninterested in their reunion, turned her head out of boredom and glanced through the open door, observing the fifth floor's scenery.
She raised an eyebrow.
Not far away, several figures were slowly approaching.