What Should I Do If I Wake Up and It’s the Apocalypse? (GL) - Chapter 8

Very soon, the three of them sat down in a dark corner of the little shop.

There were three small stools, all merchandise from Fatty’s shop. Now that he was using them himself, he did not feel the least bit distressed.

Fatty closed the shop door before sitting down and looking at the woman and child in front of him.

“At a time like this, instead of hiding properly at home, you two ran out here looking for death?!”

His voice was a little hoarse, and he sounded not at all polite. Yet he casually took out a packet of candy, opened it, and handed it to An Qi.

“There are zombies everywhere outside. I only opened the door earlier because it was too stuffy inside and I wanted to let in some air. Who would have thought that in such a short while, a little thief would sneak in?” At this point, Fatty even gave Mu Xiao a sarcastic sideways glance.

“I need to cross that main road. I saw there was no one in the shop, so I wanted to come in and look for a lighter and cigarettes,” Mu Xiao confessed honestly. She glanced at Fatty’s arm. “Just now, I thought you were a zombie, so I didn’t control my strength. How’s your hand?”

“Do you even need to ask? It hurts!” Fatty rolled his eyes and snorted twice. “You’re quite strong for a young girl. But I also almost hit you as a zombie, and I was aiming for your head, so we’re even.”

As he spoke, Fatty spread both hands. “But still, a woman and a child wanting to cross that road? Have you lost your minds?” As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed a bag of potato chips nearby, tore it open, and stuffed them into his mouth.

“Fatty Uncle, Mu Xiao Sister is going with me to find my mommy. My mommy is at Xinlin Hospital.” An Qi looked at Fatty with wide eyes, faint tears glimmering in them. “I don’t know how Mommy is doing, and I can’t get through to her phone.”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t look at me like that.” Fatty quickly reached out, trying to block An Qi’s gaze. “I’m most afraid of little kids looking at me like that.”

Mu Xiao could not help the twitch at the corner of her mouth. She simply picked up from An Qi’s words. “I’m her neighbor. I happened to run into her by accident. To be honest, now that things are like this, even if hiding in an apartment is safe, what happens when the food runs out? I’m taking An Qi to check on her mother. I also want to gather some information and see where we should go next.”

Mu Xiao’s tone was sincere. Fatty also put away his joking attitude and silently chewed his potato chips.

For a while, the only sound in the little supermarket was the crunching of potato chips.

After a while, Fatty tossed the empty bag onto the ground and let out a long sigh. “It’s not like I haven’t thought about it. It’s just… maybe the country will take corresponding measures? Look, with the food, drink, and necessities in my shop, I can hide for two or three months without any problem. But once I go outside…” He grabbed a handful of fat at his waist and revealed a melancholy expression. “I’m just afraid the zombies will think I’m too plump and delicious, and they’ll keep chasing me.”

“…”

Mu Xiao felt that communicating properly with this Fatty was a little impossible.

At this moment, Fatty stood up and patted off the potato chip crumbs that had fallen onto his clothes. He glanced at Mu Xiao. “But what you said isn’t wrong either. While things still aren’t too terrible, it’s not bad to look for a safer place. As for going to the hospital…” He glanced at An Qi, then at Mu Xiao, and reluctantly said, “I have a small truck. Help me load the goods, and I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Mu Xiao was somewhat surprised, but she quickly showed joy. No matter what, going there by car was much better than the two of them running over.

“No need to thank me. Let’s make this clear first. I’ll only send you to the hospital. Once I drop you off, I’ll leave. Don’t expect me to go in and help you find anyone.” Fatty raised his hand to stop Mu Xiao from speaking, making a fierce expression. “What kind of place is a hospital? The people who went crazy earlier were all inside. I’m not going in there looking for death!”

“Sister…” An Qi was startled by Fatty’s gloomy words. Then, hearing how he described the hospital, she immediately cried. “Wu—Mommy will be fine, right?”

Mu Xiao quickly hugged An Qi, soothing her while glaring at Fatty. “No matter what, we’ll go find your mommy. Don’t cry, An Qi.”

Seeing the child cry, panic appeared on Fatty’s face again. After struggling with himself for a moment, he had no choice but to speak. “Hey, I was just saying that casually. Don’t cry. I… I can wait for you outside the hospital for half a day. Is that enough?!”

Fortunately, An Qi also knew that this was not the time to be willful. She had only been frightened by Fatty and worried just now. Soon, she stopped crying, though she was still sniffling a little.

Seeing that An Qi had stopped crying, Fatty finally let out a huge sigh of relief and chose to deal with Mu Xiao instead. “Let’s load the goods. The truck is right by the back door. You go check whether it’s safe. I’ll organize the things we need to take with us.”

Mu Xiao, who had been assigned the task, had no objections. Having a car was already unexpectedly good.

She had An Qi wait carefully here, then carried that clothes-drying pole and walked to the back door Fatty had mentioned.

It was an old-looking little wooden door, still locked with an iron bolt, so naturally, there was no hope of there being a peephole on it.

Mu Xiao took a deep breath. First, she pressed her knee against the door, then opened the bolt as carefully as possible.

Fortunately, the bolt was used often and was not rusted. Mu Xiao opened it silently.

She held her breath. After making sure nothing outside was pushing against the door, she cautiously pulled it open a crack.

Outside the crack, everything was quiet. The light was somewhat dim. Through the narrow gap, she could see the small truck Fatty had mentioned. It was what he usually used to restock goods. He drove it often, and it had only been bought a few years ago, so it was still fairly sturdy.

After opening the door a little wider, Mu Xiao swept her gaze over the area, then abruptly shut the door tightly, making a small sound.

Not far away, Fatty heard the movement and raised his head to look at Mu Xiao. “What’s wrong?”

Mu Xiao pointed outside. “There’s a zombie.”

Fatty’s small eyes immediately widened into circles. “Really?! I haven’t heard any noise at all. There’s really a zombie?!”

“Do you want to see?” Mu Xiao replied, pretending she was about to open the door.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Fatty retreated two or three steps in a row and bumped into the shelf behind him. He had no time to care about the few bags of snacks that fell from above and hit his head. He pointed straight at the door and stared at Mu Xiao. “You… you go!”

Before Mu Xiao could speak, An Qi’s voice came from behind. “Mu Xiao Sister has killed several zombies already. She’s much more amazing than you, Fatty Uncle!”

“…”

Fatty’s face was full of disbelief.

Mu Xiao now understood. Aside from his impressive weight, this Fatty could not be relied on for anything else. If she wanted to hitch a ride to the hospital, she still had to depend on herself.

Resigned to her fate, she took a deep breath and recalled the distance and position of the zombie she had seen just now. Then she abruptly opened the door, gripped the clothes-drying pole tightly, and stabbed toward the zombie.

That zombie had originally been wholeheartedly clawing at the small truck’s door. Caught off guard by the sudden movement, it was then stabbed hard by a pole and sent flying, crashing into the nearby wall.

After having stabbed zombies a few times already, Mu Xiao’s movements had also become smooth and continuous. Seeing the first strike work, she immediately followed up by aiming for the zombie’s head, waiting for the forked end of the clothes-drying pole to pierce through the zombie’s skull once again.

But a sudden change happened at that very moment.

Before Mu Xiao could thrust the clothes-drying pole very far, the zombie unexpectedly swung both hands violently and slapped Mu Xiao’s arm.

A zombie’s strength was much greater than that of an ordinary person. Mu Xiao was struck hard and sent flying, smashing heavily into the rear door of the truck with a clang before falling to the ground.

Before Mu Xiao could struggle up from the pain all over her body, the zombie had already pounced over. Its two hands clamped tightly onto Mu Xiao’s shoulders, and it opened its mouth wide, about to bite her.

Mu Xiao only had time to turn the clothes-drying pole sideways and wedge it in front of the zombie’s mouth. The zombie bit down on it.

These zombies had almost no intelligence. Once it bit the clothes-drying pole, it did not know to let go and bite from another angle, nor did it use its enormous strength to pry open Mu Xiao’s hands. It only stubbornly bit down on the pole.

In just two or three seconds, the stainless-steel clothes-drying pole actually began to deform from being bitten.

This was the most dangerous moment Mu Xiao had encountered since transmigrating. Seeing the zombie’s head constantly pressing down while its hands pinned her shoulders so tightly that she could not move at all, the desperate situation of approaching death made Mu Xiao’s heartbeat accelerate nonstop. Somehow, she squeezed out a bit of strength, bent her legs, and planted the soles of her feet against the zombie’s abdomen.

Her hands clutched the clothes-drying pole tightly, but after taking in a breath, she suddenly loosened both hands toward herself while kicking out hard with her legs.

The zombie, still biting the clothes-drying pole and refusing to let go, was kicked by Mu Xiao so that its feet flew upward and it smashed against the truck’s cargo door.

That was not all. While the zombie was being kicked away, Mu Xiao released her grip, used both hands and feet to roll to the side, and avoided the zombie’s head as it slid down from the cargo door upside down. Taking advantage of the moment when the top of the zombie’s head hit the ground, she snatched the wooden stool from Fatty’s hands and smashed it fiercely against the zombie’s head three or four times.

For a moment, the zombie’s already hideous head became a mangled mess of flesh and blood, leaving behind only a motionless corpse with gray, decayed skin.

Fatty, who had originally heard the commotion and come over carrying a stool as a protective tool to check the situation, remained standing there empty-handed, still holding the posture of carrying the stool, staring blankly at Mu Xiao’s actions.

When he had heard the first impact, he had hesitated a little. Letting a girl who looked to be in her early twenties face a zombie alone was something that, despite his fear of zombies, made him feel somewhat uneasy.

After finally finishing his mental self-persuasion and carrying the stool out to save someone, he had seen Mu Xiao kick the zombie flying, then immediately snatch his stool and hit the zombie several times.

That speed, that strength, that ruthlessness…

Fatty shuddered. Who was the one earlier who had said he would dump Mu Xiao and An Qi at the hospital and leave?

“Good thing you brought the stool over in time. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have known what to do.” Mu Xiao did not think that much. Instead, she smiled at Fatty and thanked him.

This Fatty had spoken rather coldly earlier, but it seemed he had deliberately pretended to be fierce. In this apocalypse, human warmth and coldness were both common. Mu Xiao still remembered some of Fatty’s unconscious little actions.

For example, he was afraid of children crying and would coax them.

For example, he had casually handed candy to An Qi.

“This zombie was clawing at your truck’s cargo door earlier. Is there something inside?” Mu Xiao asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Uh, no. There shouldn’t be. It should be empty inside.” Fatty came back to himself. Seeing that Mu Xiao did not mind what he had said and done earlier, and after witnessing Mu Xiao’s ability just now, he instinctively wanted to build a good relationship with her. His tone became much better as he followed Mu Xiao’s words and walked to the truck’s cargo door, taking out the key.

“Wait.” Mu Xiao stopped Fatty from opening the door. She picked up the clothes-drying pole from the ground. Although the middle had been bitten flat, at least it could still be used a little. “Open the door.”

Fatty immediately grew nervous.

After unlocking it and hearing no movement from inside, he glanced at Mu Xiao again before gritting his teeth and forcefully opening the door.

Because there were no goods inside, the not particularly large cargo compartment seemed rather empty.

However, in the middle of the compartment, there was actually a person lying there.

A long-haired girl.

She looked around the same age as Mu Xiao, her face pale and unconscious.