Chapter 23: Coarse Grain Flatbread and Wood-Fired Chicken

Screech.

The off-road vehicle slammed to a halt in front of a stadium. Su Su clutched Little Black to her chest while Pang Cancan carried a pile of supplies, the two of them rushing hurriedly toward the venue.

Upon arrival, they found the main entrance tightly shut. Pang Cancan ran to the metal doors and shook them, but they held firm with a resistance no ordinary person could overcome.

"The door is locked from the inside!"

Su Su reacted immediately. "Could there be someone in there?"

The two exchanged glances, but the "pursuers" in the distance gave them no time to ponder; the sound of roaring had already grown deafening.

"Let’s go, check the back!"

They circled to the other side of the stadium, only to find the back door locked as well. The only way in was a skylight, still cracked open a few centimeters, located over two meters above the ground.

Pang Cancan suggested, "We could climb in."

Su Su replied, "...That might be a bit difficult for me."

"It’s okay! I’ll climb up first, then pull you up!"

Pang Cancan pushed off the wall with one leg, vaulted over a meter high, and with a fierce reach, used the strength in her arms to hoist herself onto the windowsill. As the window opened, it let out a dull, creaking sound.

"Sister Su Su, come here, I’ll pull you up!"

Pang Cancan reached out a hand, her smile vibrant and full of life. Su Su instinctively reached out... but just as their fingertips were centimeters away from touching, a snake tail struck the outstretched palm without mercy.

"Little Black?"

Little Black had already slipped from her embrace and climbed onto the window ledge. The descending tail coiled firmly around Su Su’s waist. Before she could even exert any effort, she was whisked into the venue in the blink of an eye.

Pang Cancan, still standing on the sill, watched this scene with a mix of envy and amusement.

"Sister Su Su, it really doesn't want me to touch you!"

Su Su’s face flushed red.

She had witnessed Little Black’s possessive behavior a few times before. Though she felt a bit embarrassed, deep down, she honestly felt a flicker of joy. It was the long-lost sensation of being valued and needed.

"Lock the window from the inside," Su Su said, awkwardly changing the subject. "Hurry and come down."

"Alright!"

Pang Cancan locked the window securely before jumping down.

The stadium was about the size of three football fields. The seating areas on all sides were clearly visible, yet there was no sign of any survivors or zombies. If not for the main doors being locked from within, they might have assumed the stadium had been abandoned since the apocalypse began.

"Let’s search the backstage lounge. There might still be zombies hiding in there."

"Right!"

The two crossed the arena and reached the only enclosed area: the backstage, which contained over a dozen lounges and two restrooms. Pang Cancan and her venomous insects took up the rear.

Su Su walked in the lead. Her abilities were unique; even if a Tier 3 zombie were to leap out at her, she had methods to temporarily contain it. The heavy, long python was back in her arms, its tail swaying rhythmically, its dark green vertical pupils scanning the surroundings with cold precision.

Su Su felt more at ease.

She used a steel pipe she had picked up to push open door after door, but every room was empty.

Until the very last one.

Su Su subconsciously eased her breathing, her guard raised to its highest level.

Creak. The door opened.

The room was in complete disarray, with clothes spread haphazardly on the floor to form a makeshift bed. Scattered about were various food wrappers and half-eaten instant noodle cakes discarded in a hurry.

At this, without needing Su Su to point it out, Pang Cancan realized: Someone was still living here! They might have only just left!

"The restroom. There’s still the restroom left to check."

Su Su turned and walked toward the men's and women's bathrooms. Unsure of which one the person was hiding in, she hesitated and looked back.

Pang Cancan caught on. "Sister Su Su, let's search separately. If anything happens, just shout!"

"Okay."

Su Su carried Little Black into the men's restroom. As soon as she entered, the black snake in her arms seemed to sniff something and started to squirm, but she tightened her grip.

"Don't you dare get down!"

In this environment, Su Su wouldn't dream of letting it loose. The black snake tried to bite her arm, but was intimidated in the next second.

"The floor is filthy; there might be traces of human waste. If you get that all over yourself, I won't hold you anymore!"

The black snake froze, not daring to move again. Before its intelligence had fully awakened, it wouldn't have cared about filth, crawling past animal feces without a second thought. But now... it stayed obediently in her arms, its tail twitching toward the final stall.

Su Su understood.

She pondered for a few seconds, then decided to call out directly: "Come out. We’re just here to take shelter, we mean no harm."

No answer.

Su Su waited patiently for a while before speaking again: "We’ll be here for a while. You can’t stay in the bathroom forever, can you? Besides, if you don't come out, we won't be able to rest easy."

Still, no reply.

Su Su had no choice but to walk up to the stall. "If you don't come out now..."

Before she could finish, the stall door flew open, and sharp ice spikes came hurtling toward her face.

As a distraction, a short, thin black shadow darted out with agility, bolting for the restroom entrance.

"Wait!"

Su Su ignored the ice spikes, her hand moving fast to grab the black shadow by the collar.

In her arms, Little Black lazily opened its mouth. The moment the ice spikes touched the blue flame, they melted and evaporated instantly. The black shadow was dragged back by Su Su.

"You..."

After seeing the person's true face, Su Su was momentarily speechless.

It was a boy of about twelve or thirteen, so thin he was nothing but skin and bones. His face, no larger than a palm, held a pair of terrified, wide eyes. Upon realizing he was in the presence of a stranger, he trembled with fear.

Su Su’s heart softened. "Where are your parents?"

The boy's lips trembled, but he refused to answer.

"Never mind."

"We don't mean any harm. We just found this place to take refuge. There’s a horde of zombies outside; don't go running around."

With that, she released the boy, letting him scramble out of the restroom.

"Who are you?!"

As luck would have it, the boy ran straight into Pang Cancan, who was emerging from the women's restroom. She jumped back several steps, missing the perfect chance to grab him, and could only shout, "Sister Su Su! The person is here!"

Su Su walked out of the restroom. "I saw him."

"Then... shouldn't we grab him?"

"This is his territory." Su Su recalled the half-eaten noodles in the lounge. "We are the ones who are intruding."

Pang Cancan thought about it. "That's true."

In this massive stadium, only one skeletal boy remained. It was easy to guess that his parents must have met with an accident. But the boy was too guarded; there was nothing they could do.

Su Su temporarily set aside her concerns about the boy and began to worry about the zombie horde outside.

With the time they had wasted, the horde must have reached the stadium by now, right? Logically speaking, would this group of zombies, driven by some unknown force, simply pass by the stadium? If they stayed here for a while until the horde moved far away, they would be able to leave, right?

That was her hope, but for some reason, an ominous premonition welled up in Su Su's heart.

BOOM!

A loud crash erupted outside the stadium, followed by a violent collision against the metal doors.

Su Su and Pang Cancan exchanged looks, sensing disaster, and immediately ran out of the backstage.

Just as they reached the arena, they saw it—

The tightly locked stadium doors had been forced open, and the chains used to bolt them lay snapped on the ground.

Two groups of people rushed in, bathed in the light. Once inside, they finally remembered to lock the doors again. Only when safety was restored did they split into two factions, confronting each other.

"Zhao Zhenyu! I never expected to see you here!"

It was hard to see clearly from such a distance, but the familiar voice and the name called out immediately revealed their identities to Su Su.

It was Lin Weiran, Zhao Zhenyu, and the ability team that had betrayed Pang Cancan.

Pang Cancan also recognized them, her voice full of frustration. "Damn it! The two groups I hate the most are all here! Did they follow us here?"

"Most likely."

As they whispered to each other, the two groups by the entrance were already at daggers drawn.

Lin Weiran glared at her former teammates with cold hatred in her eyes. "You actually have the nerve to show your face in front of me!"

A flicker of awkwardness crossed Zhao Zhenyu’s face at the sight of his old acquaintances.

But soon, he discarded the weak, useless feeling of guilt, a mocking sneer curling his lips. "I didn't expect to run into you either. What? Still haven't found any new supplies?"

"Zhao Zhenyu!" a teammate roared.

"Do you have no shame? Si Zhe had just led us away from a Tier 4 zombie's pursuit, and in the blink of an eye, you scavenged all the food and vanished! That was all of our spoils!"

Zhao Zhenyu scoffed. "All of yours?"

His gaze swept over Lin Weiran and the pale-faced Si Zhe, the mockery in his eyes deepening.

"If I hadn't carried off those two boxes of instant noodles and that bag of rice before leaving the town, you wouldn't have anything to eat at all! Not a single grain!"

Lin Weiran was so furious her chest heaved. "If you want to be technical, those supplies belonged to the entire team! If Si Zhe hadn't pressured the town mayor, do you think you could have escaped that town? Besides, all spoils are shared equally! We treated you well!"

The more she spoke, the more Zhao Zhenyu wanted to laugh.

"Shared equally? Then let me ask you: that Tier 3 crystal—did you share that equally?"

"That's because Si Zhe contributed the most..."

"Bah! What a load of crap!" Zhao Zhenyu spat. "I'm a Tier 2 ability user, too. When we were suppressing the zombies, I faced off against a Tier 3 zombie myself! What? Did I contribute less than Si Zhe?"

"There was no share of the Tier 3 crystal for me, and I had no say in the Tier 2 or Tier 1 crystals either. These Tier 1 users, none of them are as strong as I am, yet they got the same share as me!"