Chapter 19

The supermarket designated as a supply replenishment point was not far from the closed hotel where Xie Xishu was temporarily sheltering.

The supermarket wasn’t particularly large; it was the kind commonly found in cities, serving several nearby residential communities. However, it still stocked the usual items, and the supplies were relatively complete.

Moreover, the strange phenomenon that had struck City A this time was quite different from the zombie apocalypse scenarios Xie Xishu had read about in novels and seen in films. Many normal people had mutated into monsters before they even had time to react, and the rest had been devoured during the monsters’ “feast” last night.

Therefore, when Xie Xishu and Qi Wu entered, the supermarket looked only slightly disordered, likely due to staff who had mutated. Some goods had fallen to the floor, and a few shelves were crooked, but the supermarket still appeared well-stocked, showing no signs of looting.

Golden sunlight slanted through the broken glass doors, illuminating part of the supermarket’s interior. Without electricity, the ventilation system had long since failed, and a faint metallic scent of blood hung in the air. In the dark corners, deep red stains were visible; on a tilted shelf that had fallen over, Xie Xishu even spotted some pieces of flesh torn by sharp metal edges.

But he only glanced briefly before turning away silently, as if such scenes were normal in any supermarket—Qi Wu’s plastic bag from earlier bore the supermarket’s logo.

It was probably then that Qi Wu had casually dealt with the monsters wandering inside and outside the supermarket.

Hence, at this moment, both the supermarket and the surrounding streets appeared eerily quiet.

Yet, as Xie Xishu pushed the shopping cart, the faint rolling sound of the wheels against the floor echoing through the dim aisles, selecting the necessary supplies, a surreal, almost unreal sensation lingered.

“Want some Snickers?” Qi Wu suddenly asked, hands in his pockets, following behind Xie Xishu with a bored expression.

“Huh? Snickers?” Xie Xishu responded absentmindedly.

Before he finished speaking, a rip appeared on Qi Wu’s body. He extended a slender “tongue” and swept all the Snickers bars off the shelf, clattering them into Xie Xishu’s cart.

“The ones I brought you before? You ate them all. Didn’t expect you to like such greasy stuff.”

Qi Wu’s calm voice rang out in the silent supermarket, snapping Xie Xishu back to reality. His lips moved slightly, about to explain that he didn’t really “like” Snickers—they were just pure high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie food, providing the fastest energy replenishment, which was why he’d devoured so many in one go...

But the words caught in his throat.

“Yeah... Snickers are good for emergency rations,” he forced a bitter smile and said softly.

He couldn’t quite remember which book he had read that little-known fact in. Back then, he never dreamed that one day he would face all this in a bustling metropolis like City A—nor that he would quietly hoard such items to deal with mutated monsters.

When reading novels, Xie Xishu’s favorite scenes were always when protagonists, foreseeing disaster, decisively stocked up in supermarkets before the zombie crisis erupted. But now, it was his turn, and his heart felt unbearably heavy, his mind blank.

He didn’t even know exactly what he should be stocking up on.

In those novels and films, the protagonists usually had other human companions.

But at this moment, in vast City A, Xie Xishu’s only companion was also one of the monsters.

Even the survivor he’d seen yesterday was revealed by Qi Wu to be “not normal.”

Sometimes Xie Xishu even suspected he might be the last living human on Earth.

And that possibility—

Just thinking about it sent a wave of uncontrollable terror through him.

If the whole world was left with only one living person, did stockpiling supplies even matter?

What exactly was needed to survive like this?

Xie Xishu didn’t know.

He simply relied on faint memories to grab some long-lasting fruits like apples and oranges, which could also provide vitamins.

Then he picked up some filling foods—mostly packaged products—followed by toilet paper, disinfectants, salt, and sugar...

Finally, when he saw cases of bottled water on the shelves, his hand froze.

He looked at the heavy bottles, furrowing his brow.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Wu immediately noticed the brief hesitation.

Xie Xishu forced a bitter smile and explained, “In theory, clean water is very important in an apocalypse, but carrying too little is useless, and too much is too heavy—”

Before he could finish, he watched Qi Wu effortlessly toss several cases of water into the lower part of the cart.

The metal cart groaned under the weight.

“Xie,” Qi Wu took a deep breath and said in a dark tone, “...do you think I can’t carry a few cases of water?”

“...” Xie Xishu blinked, unable to figure out Qi Wu’s thought process, and finally squeezed out a dry “Thanks.”

“Tsk.” Qi Wu was clearly annoyed.

Xie Xishu shrugged inwardly—whether before or after the mutation, he was never good at dealing with Qi Wu’s unpredictable moods.

Just as he was about to push the cart forward, Qi Wu suddenly called out.

“Hey, wait up.”

Without warning, Qi Wu bent down and sniffed at Xie Xishu’s neck.

The tall boy wrinkled his nose, his eyes momentarily confused before darkening.

“The scent on you... seems to be about to leak out again.”

Xie Xishu froze.

“Is that dangerous?”

Images flashed in his mind of the monsters he’d seen this morning on the windowsill. Perhaps because of the brutal survival of the fittest among them, the monsters looked even more ferocious, strange, and terrifying than the night before.

Of course, they were also more nauseating.

If one day he were truly tracked down and devoured because of his scent... Xie Xishu found himself wishing he’d been eaten by Qi Wu last night instead.

At least Qi Wu, in many ways, still seemed like a real “human.”

*

The boy's once sweet and rich scent had now taken on a faint, bitter note of fear spreading through it...

*

Qi Wu stared at Xie Xishu for several seconds.

Xie Xishu almost expected Qi Wu’s face to split open, revealing that hateful tongue, to coat him with slime again.

But to his surprise, after a moment, Qi Wu inexplicably looked away.

“No need for now—I’m not that weak yet.”

After a pause, Qi Wu added awkwardly, “But those things are more numerous than cockroaches. Who knows when they’ll swarm back here? You smell so good... cough. Anyway, if you need anything, just get it quickly. Don’t dawdle or hesitate for so long—so annoying.”

“I know.” Xie Xishu nodded hastily.

Qi Wu’s intuition was indeed accurate.

Just as Xie Xishu hurriedly gathered all the essentials he could think of, faint rustling sounds came from the distant, otherwise silent street.

The monsters had detected the vacuum in this area. However, because Qi Wu had left a strong scent marker on the street, they lingered at the edges, not coming too close.

Still, it was enough to make Xie Xishu nervous.

After checking the cart’s contents, Xie Xishu planned to leave quickly.

But just as he was about to exit, a rustling sound suddenly came from deep inside the supermarket—

[“Zzzzt... zzz... this is an emergency broadcast...”]

[“Zzz... the city is currently facing... an unknown disaster...”]

[“All citizens... zzzzt... please proceed immediately to the nearest safe house or shelter... zzz... avoid any unnecessary outdoor activities...”]

[“Attention... zzz... please avoid contact with outsiders as much as possible... zzzzt...”]

Clearly, it was an emergency broadcast coming from a radio.

However, the signal was heavily disrupted, and only fragmented snippets could be heard.

Moreover, the sound lasted only a brief moment before abruptly stopping.

It was as if someone had quickly turned off the radio.

*

Xie Xishu stopped dead in his tracks, half startled, half hopeful, looking toward the supermarket’s depths.

But nothing was visible—the supermarket was vast, and the further inside from the small area near the door with outside light, the darker it grew.

Yet Xie Xishu was certain the sound had come from that pitch-black area.

Now the question was—

If someone had fully turned into a monster, could they still operate a radio so skillfully?