Xie Ning deliberately parked in an inconspicuous, shady corner. Several other cars were parked haphazardly nearby, providing cover for their RV.

The mother and daughter shut the car windows, got out with swift movements, locked the doors, and headed toward a small side entrance of the seafood market.

The seafood market itself wasn’t very large, but because it was connected to a farmers’ market and a small supermarket, it was usually quite busy.

"Honey," Song You’ai said, looking at the shadowy figures of corpses swaying left and right inside the side entrance. She tightened her grip on her Metal Knife. "I feel like there are a lot of zombies in the market. If we just charge in like this, won’t we get surrounded?"

Xie Ning smiled and nodded. "Watch me."

She took an old, broken phone her grandpa had gotten rid of from her pocket, turned the volume to maximum, and set a two-minute timer.

Comrade Song You’ai watched this slick move of hers with a look of utter amazement.

Her daughter then ran to a tree in the greenbelt diagonally across the street, pushed off the ground, and nimbly climbed the tree in just a few moves.

After tossing the old phone into the tree, Xie Ning zipped back to Song You’ai’s side, pulled her mother, and they quickly ran to hide behind some cover.

Soon, the phone’s preset alarm suddenly blared.

Zombies from the main and side entrances of the seafood market, as well as from the adjacent farmers’ market and small supermarket, all heard the sound and came running out, frantically charging toward the greenbelt on the opposite street corner.

Xie Ning made a hushing gesture to her mother.

Song You’ai held her breath, clamping a hand tightly over her mouth and giving a tiny nod.

’This slick move of my daughter’s is absolutely brilliant...’

The zombies from the nearby markets and supermarket, hearing the explosive ringtone from the old clunker of a phone, all swarmed in that direction, letting out excited roars.

When Xie Ning saw the last little zombie run out of the side entrance, she quickly pulled her mother, and they stealthily slipped into the seafood market.

Meanwhile, in a six-story apartment building across the street, a man cursed, "Fuck!" He lowered his binoculars and slammed a fist hard onto the windowsill.

"Zhong, something’s happened over at the farmers’ market."

Lu Zhong hurried to his side, picked up the binoculars, and looked across the street.

One look was all it took for him to be greatly alarmed.

In the middle of the two streets, over a hundred zombies had gathered at some point in the greenbelt. They were swarming around it in a pack, circling and roaring as if looking for something.

Hiding on the sixth floor of the apartment building, they naturally couldn’t hear the ringtone of an old phone from across the street.

But this sudden gathering of zombies pacing in the middle of the street was a huge disadvantage for them.

Lu Zhong and his men had been lying low here for at least seven or eight days. They had planned to make arrangements and enter the farmers’ market across the street to get supplies after the rain stopped.

Who would have thought something like this would suddenly happen?

"Someone just slipped into the side entrance of the seafood market."

"Who!" Lu Zhong roared, his already dark face now flushing a deep, purplish-red with rage.

’Dammit, don’t tell me all our efforts are going to be for nothing?’

They had been watching this place for a very long time, constantly planning the most appropriate way to make their move.

Who knew someone would beat them to the punch?

"Looked like two women, based on their figures," Cao Fa said with a strange expression. "They came around from that alley over there. I wasn’t paying attention at first. By the time I saw them, they were acting suspiciously, hiding behind the base of a wall and doing something."

"They got that lucky?" Lu Zhong looked skeptical. "Or was this planned in advance?"

The zombies suddenly gathered at the greenbelt, and those two women just happened to be able to sneak into the seafood market?

’Could it be that those two were the ones who made the zombies move?’

"What do we do, Zhong?" The door to a small adjacent room was pulled open, and a young woman in a short tank top and a miniskirt walked out, drenched in sweat.

Lu Zhong glanced at her. The woman walked to his side, sidling up to him with a fawning smile. "Zhong, everyone in the complex who could escape has escaped. The rest—the old, weak, women, and children—are all packed into our building. If you ask me, we should just drive them all downstairs to feed the zombies. It would buy us time to get supplies from the farmers’ market."

"What do you know?" Lu Zhong shoved her sticky body away and gave her an impatient look. "Those people are still useful. Don’t you go causing trouble."

He thought about several of the women who were quite attractive, and a few young masters and misses from rich families. They might be useful later on.

"Let’s go. All of you, come downstairs with me and check it out."

Cao Fa shivered. The thought of the hundred-odd zombies circling the greenbelt below made him lose his nerve. "Isn’t it a bit rash to go down now?"

"Grab your weapons and let’s go." Lu Zhong picked up a fire axe and wiped his nose. "I’m not sending you down to die. We’ll act according to the situation."

"If you saw correctly and those two women really did get into the seafood market, they’ll definitely be able to bring some goods out," Lu Zhong said, his face dark.

One of the younger guys behind Cao Fa’s eyes lit up. "Zhong, I get what you mean! We’re gonna be the oriole behind the mantis, right?"

"Hehe, maybe we’ll be having fish for dinner tonight."

Thinking about the inhuman days they’d been living through, the thought of a braised crucian carp seemed like the most delicious thing on earth.

The group of seven or eight people hurried downstairs.

After a long while, the door to Apartment 501 opened a crack. An eye peered out for a moment before the door was gently closed. The person turned and said to the others, "They’ve gone downstairs."

Inside the room, five or six young men and women were either sitting or standing.

If Xie Ningruo were here, she would have instantly recognized one of them as her very familiar classmate, He Zhi.

He Zhi was sitting on a small sofa, squeezed in with three young girls whose faces were slightly pale.

"We should have made a run for it on the 14th," He Zhi said, her knuckles white as she clenched her fists. "I’m telling you, I saw military vehicles passing on the street. A lot of cars were following them, but you all hesitated."

Zhuang Xinyi, huddled next to He Zhi, sobbed and wiped her tears. "It would have been too late anyway! By the time we packed our things, rushed downstairs, and got a car, we probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up."

"A car? Where are we going to get a car now?" Zheng Feina said glumly. "Let’s think about what to do now. I have a bad feeling about that Lu Zhong, Cao Fa, and the others. They don’t seem like good people."

"Zheng Heng, what do you think we should do? You’re the only one among us who’s awakened a superpower, and it’s because your superpower intimidated Cao Fa and his men that they haven’t made a move against us all this time."

A tall guy leaning against the sofa turned to look at the slender young man standing by the window.

The young man turned his head. A trace of annoyance crossed his cold, sharp-featured face. "I think the probability of awakening a superpower is too low. And after being washed by the rain for several days, the zombies have clearly leveled up."

"If this continues, it’s hard to guarantee that humanity won’t be completely wiped out by them within the next three years."

Everyone stared with wide eyes.

’As expected of the top-student and campus heartthrob,’ they thought. ’While everyone else is worrying about how to get through these miserable days, he’s already thinking about the distant future and calculating humanity’s survival crisis.’

"Bro, don’t be so scary."