Chapter 95: New Visitors
Song Yuqing looked at the chattering crowd in front of her and let out a quiet sigh. Her mind felt completely clouded, as if a plastic bag had been wrapped around her brain, squeezing it so tightly she could barely think straight.
“Um, Manager… can we buy some food on credit?” Zhang Hua asked, sheepishly rubbing his flat belly.
Song Yuqing nodded wearily. She pulled out a few bento lunchboxes for Zhang Hua and his companions, neatly logging the debt in her small inventory notebook.
“Let’s all get some sleep first,” she suggested, rubbing her eyes. “We’ll figure out a solution tomorrow.” She stretched her arms outward, trying to physically push the mounting troubles away from her chest.
Grateful for the meal, Zhang Hua and the other water-type espers happily snatched their boxes and scurried back to the adjacent room to eat.
With the customers handled, Liu Xiaona, Little Meat Bun, and Gaha returned to the kitchen to continue brewing the Truth Soup. Song Yuqing walked over to the windows, breaking up some tea cakes into fine crumbs to feed the resting carrier pigeons.
“Eat your fill so you can fly fast tomorrow,” she murmured.
The birds rolled their small, round eyes, letting out a barrage of rhythmic clucks.
Song Yuqing hissed softly. “Quiet down, guys, you’re being a bit too loud.”
She reached out to gently adjust the tiny helmet fastened to one of the pigeons’ heads. Nanjiao had mentioned that these helmets were equipped with hidden surveillance cameras, but she had no idea how to access the playback footage. If she did, she might have been able to identify exactly who was operating the vehicle out on the main street.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, a sudden, blinding beam of headlights sliced through the front window. Song Yuqing quickly leaned over the counter to peer outside. A heavily modified car was navigating the tight alleyway, driving slowly toward the supermarket entrance.
However, the alley was far too narrow. Before the vehicle could cover even a meter, it jammed itself tight between the concrete wall and the adjacent building.
What an idiot, Song Yuqing thought. There’s no way that’s Wan Youzhi or Lin Han…
Standing on tiptoe to get a better vantage point, she noticed a long convoy of other cars idling out on the main street, lined up directly behind the stuck modified vehicle.
“Xiaona! Gaha! Little Meat Bun!” Song Yuqing shouted toward the back.
“We’re here!” Liu Xiaona answered, rushing out of the kitchen with a tray of freshly brewed Truth Soup, with Little Meat Bun and Gaha trailing closely at her heels.
Song Yuqing pointed out the front glass just as a chorus of ecstatic, boisterous shouting erupted from the alley.
“Ohhhh!!! It’s real! It’s actually God’s Supermarket! We finally made it!”
Perfect, Song Yuqing relaxed. Crisis averted.
Liu Xiaona set the heavy tray down on a nearby table and hurried out to the porch to investigate. Seeing the car wedged solidly between the walls, she couldn’t help but furrow her brow. “What are these people thinking? Who tries to drive a full-sized car into an alley this tiny?!”
The doors of the modified vehicle groaned open, and passengers began spilling out one after another.
“We’re so sorry! We couldn’t see the path clearly in the dark~” a soft, melodic voice called out.
Hearing the sweet, apologetic tone, Liu Xiaona’s irritation vanished instantly. “Oh. Well, who are you…?”
“Excuse us, we traveled all this way specifically to find God’s Supermarket.”
The speaker was a remarkably cute girl, her face painted with a look of pure, sincere apology.
“Hey, I remember you. You’re from Base 35, right?” Song Yuqing said, recognizing her as she stepped out onto the porch. She distinctly recalled the chaotic night Base 35 had been raided by Lin Han and Wan Youzhi—this specific girl had rushed into the fray wielding a bundle of bamboo and a massive kitchen knife. Her name was Xiaoyi, and they had briefly chatted back then.
“Yes! That’s me!” Xiaoyi nodded vigorously, her face lighting up. “And look—representatives from Base 9 and Base 30 came along with us too~” She gestured toward the crowd gathered behind her.
The accompanying survivors smiled warmly, waving hello to the store staff one by one.
“Well, don’t stand out there in the cold, come on inside!” Song Yuqing invited.
“Thank you! We all agreed to form a joint caravan the second we watched your promotional broadcast.”
As the large influx of visitors poured through the front doors, the startled homing pigeons were forced to take flight, fluttering up to the high rafters and storage shelves to find a safe place to roost. The sudden flurry of feathers and activity amplified the birds’ distinct scent. Little Meat Bun immediately held his breath, pinching his nose as he quietly retreated into the back room to avoid the smell.
The newcomers explored the interior of God’s Supermarket with wide, curious eyes. Their faces bore the deep exhaustion of a long, treacherous journey, but their eyes held an irrepressible excitement.
“We even brought a few zombie corpses along with us,” Xiaoyi smiled, a pair of adorable dimples framing her mouth. “We really wanted to experience a live transaction for ourselves.”
“Say no more!” Liu Xiaona cheered, immediately rolling up her sleeves. “Where did you park the haul? I’ll help you carry them over.”
“Oh, thank you so much~”
“We appreciate the help! We’ll go start unloading them too,” several of the visiting espers chimed in, quickly trotting ahead to guide Liu Xiaona toward their cargo vehicles.
Left at the counter, Song Yuqing studied the cute girl. “So, your name really is Xiaoyi?”
“Yes!” Xiaoyi confirmed enthusiastically. “And you’re the famous store manager, Song Yuqing, right?”
“That’s me.” Song Yuqing extended her hand, offering a warm handshake. The young girl possessed a gentle, graceful demeanor, looking like someone who had been deeply cherished and well-raised by her family before the collapse.
“There are exactly fifty of us in this caravan, you know—exactly fifty!” Xiaoyi added proudly, holding up an open palm to emphasize the number.
Song Yuqing tilted her head, slightly perplexed. Why did they place so much emphasis on recruiting exactly fifty travelers?
Then, a sudden realization struck her. Oh, no.
“Your promotional broadcast explicitly stated that the first fifty customers to walk into God’s Supermarket would each receive a free zombie protective suit!” Xiaoyi explained, her eyes darting longingly toward the sleek outfit Song Yuqing was currently wearing. “Is that the model? It looks absolutely amazing on you!”
Song Yuqing subtly shrank her neck back. Oops. In all the recent chaos, she had completely forgotten to update the digital shopping network to announce that the promotional slots had already been filled.
“Well… about that,” she started awkwardly. “Before your caravan arrived tonight, fifty local customers had already come in and claimed the promotion…”
“Oh, no!” Xiaoyi’s eyes widened with intense disappointment. “If I had known, I would have pushed the caravan to move faster. But Base 35 had just survived an enemy raid, so organizing a massive travel group took some time. We had to delay our departure.”
Seeing the sweet little girl look so genuinely crushed, Song Yuqing couldn’t bear it. “Tell you what—I’ll offer your group a special store discount instead. If any of you want to buy a zombie protective suit tonight, I’ll give you a flat twenty percent off!”
“Really?! Thank you so much!” Xiaoyi’s sweet smile returned instantly, looking thoroughly endearing.
A few minutes later, the first batch of harvested mutant corpses was hauled to the supermarket entrance. Liu Xiaona stood by the security gate, systematically tossing the bodies into the scanner one by one.
The intake log displayed a staggering tally: thirty primary-level zombies, ten intermediate-level zombies, and exactly fifty high-level zombies.
“Wow! You guys are incredible!” Liu Xiaona’s jaw dropped in absolute shock. “How did you manage to take down fifty high-level mutants?!”
Song Yuqing raised an eyebrow, a familiar theory clicking into place. “Let me guess… these high-level zombies weren’t really moving when you encountered them, were they?”
“Yes! Exactly! They were completely paralyzed when we attacked them!” a tall, muscular esper from the caravan echoed excitedly. “How on earth did you know?!”
Song Yuqing, Gaha, and Liu Xiaona traded a grim, knowing look.
“Those high-level zombies are currently undergoing an evolutionary upgrade, which locks them into a stasis cycle,” Song Yuqing explained to the crowd. “During that specific window, they are completely incapable of physical movement.”
“So that’s the secret…” Xiaoyi murmured, biting her lip. She had honestly thought her personal combat skills had just improved dramatically.
“Have you noticed a massive influx of these motionless zombies cropping up near your respective sectors recently?” Song Yuqing pressed.
The travelers tilted their heads, thinking back. “Not a massive amount, no.”
“Well, you guys might not have seen many, but our territory near Base 9 was crawling with them!”
“Base 35 had a decent cluster of them too,” Xiaoyi added, “but weirdly enough, every single one of them completely vanished over the last two days.”
“Yeah, now that you mention it, the ones near Base 9 disappeared overnight as well.”
Hearing their testimonies, the pieces of the puzzle finally assembled themselves in Song Yuqing’s mind. Chen Ke didn’t just flee; she’s actively recalling her evolving horde to a centralized location. What exactly is she planning to do with them?
“Alright, everyone! If you’re looking to exchange your kills for store supplies, please form an orderly line right here!” Liu Xiaona called out. She untied the apron she had used for brewing soup, tossed it onto the checkout counter, and instantly slipped into her role as the store’s charismatic cashier.
Time to get to work.
“Anyone interested in sampling our specialized ability coffee, please follow Gaha up to the second floor!” Song Yuqing announced, gently guiding the gargoyle forward. Gaha offered the crowd a shy smile, too timid to speak out loud. “Oh, and for those who wish to catch a glimpse of their own future, please deposit twenty zombie corpses and follow me up to the third floor.”
“Catch a glimpse of the future?”
The entire storefront fell into an immediate, stunned silence. The travelers froze, completely halting whatever they were doing to stare at Song Yuqing.
“What exactly do you mean by seeing the future?” Xiaoyi asked, blinking her large, watery eyes in bewilderment.
“It means you get to watch a ten-second cinematic sequence of what is to come.”
“As in, we can literally find out what’s going to happen to us?”
“Exactly.”
After a few brief seconds of breathless silence, the store erupted into a frenzy of excited shouting.
“Sign me up!” “Me too!” “I want a turn! Forget the rest of the supplies, I want to see the future!” “Yeah, if we pool our kills together, we have more than enough to cover twenty zombies! Let’s do it!” “Let’s gamble on it!”
Satisfied with the enthusiastic response, Song Yuqing led Xiaoyi and fourteen other selected guests up the spiral staircase toward the third-floor theater.
They divided themselves into groups of five, lining up outside the automatic doors. As she waited on the landing for the first screening to begin, Song Yuqing felt a sudden, intense knot of nervousness tighten in her chest.
