Chapter 23: A Guest Arrives at Your Door
On the final day of February, the ambient temperature spiked another ten degrees.
Inside God’s Supermarket, Little Meat Bun and Gaha had each grabbed a clean rag and were currently engaged in a fierce competition to wipe down the shelving racks. Truthfully, the shelves were entirely spotless, without a single speck of dust to be found, but both the bear and the zombie girl were desperately seeking a chance to show off their worth and prove their utility to the manager.
As for Song Yuqing, after outfitting the new staff quarters with fresh, premium bedding, she had lazily collapsed onto the sofa in her own room. She was currently lost in thought, brainstorming exactly how she wanted to decorate her private space. She pictured a fuzzy area rug on the floor, a warm yellow reading lamp by the bed, a vintage poster on that wall, a vibrant potted plant in the corner…
Before she realized it, her mental shopping list for the upcoming dimension-jump had swelled to over a hundred items. It was a mix of essential retail inventory and personal gifts she wanted to buy for Little Meat Bun and Gaha.
“Gaha! Gahaha!”
Gaha’s loud, urgent chatter echoed down the hall.
Sighing, Song Yuqing peeled herself off the comfortable cushions to go investigate.
Out on the shop floor, Little Meat Bun and Gaha were wedged tightly between two display racks, actively shoving against each other as they aggressively fought over the same patch of clean metal. Naturally, thanks to his sheer, mountainous bulk, Little Meat Bun easily maintained the upper hand in the shoving match.
The moment he spotted Song Yuqing walking out of the back corridor, Little Meat Bun immediately dropped his head, assuming a posture of intense, focused scrubbing. Gaha, meanwhile, threw her rag onto the floor, holding her hands up as she began counting off her grievances on her fingers.
“Gaha, gaha, gahawu… gaha!”
Song Yuqing felt a massive headache coming on. Seriously, she wondered, can I find some kind of universal translator device during my next trip to the parallel world?
“Little Meat Bun, were you bullying Gaha just now?”
Little Meat Bun completely ignored her, continuing to scrub the spotless metal with manic focus. Oh wow, look at this invisible smudge right here! Better wipe it down again just to be safe!
Song Yuqing slapped a hand against her forehead. Are they seriously resorting to inventing chores just to stay busy?
“Alright, listen up, both of you!” she announced. “Gaha, you’re officially in charge of indoor maintenance and inventory stocking. Little Meat Bun, you are assigned to front-door duty to welcome incoming customers.”
Welcome customers? The panda tilted his head in confusion. What customers?
Reading his puzzled expression, Song Yuqing replied confidently, “They’ll come.”
“Gaha!” Gaha pumped a fist in the air, thoroughly satisfied with the division of labor. It made perfect sense to her. She only had to handle the comfortable, behind-the-scenes logistics, while Little Meat Bun had to stand out in the heat and play the public mascot.
Song Yuqing dragged Little Meat Bun out into the new bamboo grove and began running him through a rigorous, step-by-step tutorial on how to pose and act cute.
“No, look—like this! Raise your paws up and frame your cheeks!”
She had it all mapped out in her head. The sight of a massive, adorable giant panda playing obediently within a cool, refreshing bamboo thicket was a striking visual designed to catch the eye of any passing scavenger. More importantly, it established a high-end, dynamic security perimeter for the shop: the mutated apex predator, the supernatural flora, and the store’s absolute invulnerability field formed a flawless defense matrix.
Little Meat Bun’s mind was in absolute turmoil. What is happening to my life? I am a proud, apex predator! You want me to smile and act goofy for strangers?!
“Come on, put some effort into it. The customers will start rolling in soon, don’t worry,” Song Yuqing said, though she was mostly just trying to reassure herself. Since the day she opened God’s Supermarket, practically zero organic foot traffic had naturally stumbled upon her door.
But as the old saying goes: speak of the devil, and he shall appear. The very first unprompted customer was currently making his way toward the storefront.
“Manager Song!” a loud, booming voice called out.
Song Yuqing turned around to see Xie Hao jogging up the alleyway. The one-armed guard was marching toward her shirtless, the massive golden broadsword resting casually across his bare shoulder. He was drenched in sweat, his shoes worn completely through at the toes.
As he got closer, Song Yuqing’s eyes locked onto his bare chest. Centered squarely on his pectoral muscle was a massive, vibrant tattoo of Hello Kitty—a visual that clashed so violently with his rugged, thuggish demeanor that she almost choked.
“Oh? Look who it is! What brings you out here?” Song Yuqing asked, managing to suppress the overwhelming urge to comment on his ink.
“Man, it’s a long story…” Xie Hao panted, aggressively wiping the sweat from his brow as he hurried toward the entrance. “I need to buy a massive bulk order of—”
He suddenly froze mid-stride.
Huh? Why is it suddenly so cool right here?
The sharp drop in ambient temperature hit him like a wave, causing his tense muscles to instantly relax. He spread his single arm wide, taking a deep, shuddering breath of the crisp air.
Standing nearby, Little Meat Bun stole a quick glance at Song Yuqing, swallowed his pride, and made a fateful decision. He twisted his thick neck, wiggled his paws, plastered a goofy, adorable smile onto his face, and slowly ambled over to Xie Hao to act cute.
Xie Hao blinked, utterly stunned. What is this…
Seeing that his initial charm offensive hadn’t elicited a reaction, Little Meat Bun doubled down, maximizing his cuteness. He tilted his head, blinking his large black eyes. Look at me! Am I cute or what?!
“Whoa! Boss Song, this panda is absolutely adorable! When did you get him?” Xie Hao laughed, reaching out a sweaty, calloused hand to vigorously rub the bear’s head.
Little Meat Bun was internally revolted by the grime on the man’s hands. He had to summon every ounce of his patience, desperately repeating the retail mantra—The Customer is God—to resist the overwhelming urge to slap Xie Hao halfway down the street.
Song Yuqing offered an awkward smile. “His name is Little Meat Bun. He’s my newest clerk here at God’s Supermarket.”
She turned to introduce her second employee, but quickly realized Gaha had completely vanished into the back rooms.
Xie Hao pursed his lips, shooting Little Meat Bun a deeply respectful thumbs-up. Incredible. Even a giant panda understands how to hustle in this world! Whether you’re human or animal, in the apocalypse, you’ve got to earn your keep!
Song Yuqing ushered Xie Hao inside the cool interior of the shop and tossed him a cold bottle of water. He was her first organic walk-in customer; she was more than happy to offer a complimentary perk.
Xie Hao guzzled the entire bottle in a single breath, smacking his lips, clearly still parched.
“Boss Song, can I get another bottle? I swear to God, I haven’t had a single drop of water in three days.”
“Three days? Why?” Song Yuqing asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. Base No. 27 possessed a fully stocked internal market and housed multiple water-type mutants. It was impossible for the camp to be so destitute that a ranking guard was dying of thirst.
Song Yuqing was dead wrong. Inside Base No. 27, any civilian or psychic who had picked the wrong side in the brewing civil war could no longer afford a single drop of clean water.
Ever since Song Yuqing’s night-market operation outside the gates, the crippling starvation plaguing the base laborers and low-tier hunters had been temporarily alleviated. Whispers of God’s Supermarket had spread rapidly through the lower sectors of the camp, eventually reaching the ears of Xie Zetian—the supreme founder of the stronghold.
Xie Zetian was Xie Hao’s older cousin, and before the apocalypse, he had been a notoriously ruthless, self-made syndicate boss. He had initially invited Lin Han into the upper echelon and granted him control of the base supermarket for one simple reason: Lin Han possessed a rare, high-capacity spatial void, which made managing the camp’s logistics infinitely easier.
However, Xie Zetian wasn’t a fool. He had fully anticipated that once Lin Han’s power matured, the spatial user would inevitably make a play for supreme authority. Hoping to preempt the coup, Xie Zetian had laid a complex political trap, intending to cripple Lin Han and firmly subjugate him.
Unfortunately for Xie Zetian, Lin Han was secretly receiving tactical guidance from an unknown, expert advisor. Not only had Lin Han effortlessly sidestepped the trap, but he had aggressively counter-attacked, dealing a devastating blow to Xie Zetian’s faction.
When the deadly heatwave suddenly struck a few days ago, the balance of power completely fractured. Leveraging his monopoly on the remaining unspoiled food reserves held within his spatial void, Lin Han openly challenged Xie Zetian for control. He successfully bribed and coerced every single water-type psychic in the compound to defect to his side—with the sole exception of Liu Xiaona. By hoarding the water supply, Lin Han forced the remaining neutral psychics to swear fealty to him, officially declaring himself the new supreme commander of Base No. 27.
Seeing the writing on the wall, the vast majority of Xie Zetian’s original loyalists immediately abandoned ship, defecting to Lin Han’s banner to secure their own survival.
With his authority broken and his life in imminent danger, Xie Zetian was desperately grasping at straws to stage a counter-offensive.
“Look, my cousin Xie Zetian sent me all the way out here to purchase a massive bulk order of combat supplies from you,” Xie Hao explained, greedily gulping down his third bottle of water.
“Wait, what about Liu Xiaona?” Song Yuqing asked. Hearing that the base had devolved into an active warzone, she immediately grew terrified for the burly man’s safety.
“…I haven’t seen him in days,” Xie Hao admitted, looking away. “Because he explicitly refused to bow to Lin Han, he’s been permanently barred from entering the underground bunkers to escape the heatwave. And since his physical body isn’t mutated for thermal resistance… his water-type ability alone isn’t going to keep him cool forever. I’m afraid his situation is incredibly grim.”
Song Yuqing’s expression instantly darkened. “I specifically asked you to keep an eye on him. What happened to our agreement?”
“Look, once I haul these supplies back and secure my position, I promise I’ll go scour the camp for him!” Xie Hao backpedaled quickly, desperate to excuse his negligence.
Standing by the doorway, Little Meat Bun listened to the exchange. He couldn’t quite grasp the complex nuances of human politics and power struggles, but the tense tone was enough to give him a headache.
“I drove a heavy transport truck out here, and I took out dozens of walkers along the highway. Since they’re strapped to the flatbed, it’s a bit inconvenient to haul them all inside manually. Boss Song, do you mind walking out to the road to appraise the haul?” Xie Hao asked, looking at her with a pleading, sincere expression. “The corpses I brought today are strictly to pay for this bulk supply order. As for the prosthetic arm we discussed… I’ll have to come back with a separate haul for that in a few days.”
“Bring them inside yourself,” Song Yuqing said, her voice ice-cold.
“Wait, there are dozens of them! How am I supposed to haul all of that inside with one arm?!” Xie Hao sputtered, thoroughly stunned. He clearly remembered that Song Yuqing possessed a spatial ability—it would take her literally zero effort to just sweep the corpses into her void directly from the truck!
“Figure it out.”
Even though Song Yuqing knew she couldn’t entirely blame Xie Hao for Liu Xiaona’s persecution, the sheer anger burning in her chest refused to let her make things easy for him.
