CHAPTER 687: [681] QUEEN OF THE APOCALYPSE 17 (3 MORE)

Little White followed Reyas and the others on their hunting expeditions, and never took initiative to speak up or act. He would just stand on their vehicle, his gaze following the movements of the group, ready to intervene only if he spotted any danger. Thus, even now, the outsiders didn’t know he was a Zombie, thinking of him merely as a reticent but badass character since he didn’t even consider Reyas worth his attention—a testament to his formidable abilities.

But this time was different. Zhu Li stayed constantly by Zhao Yun and the two children’s side, with Little White inseparable from them. The others were left unattended. The women who had thought her spot seemed somewhat safer, had, at some unknown point, moved closer to them seeking Little White’s protection.

She saw through this but didn’t say anything. After all, women are innately the weaker sex and seeking protection is only natural.

However, she didn’t coddle them because she told Little White, "Don’t help us, I can kill these Zombies."

Before she even made a move, they were scared off by his glare. How would that do? If it went on like that, how could they improve their strength?

"Lili, there’s a supermarket up ahead," Zhao Yun said with a hint of excitement in his eyes. They were in a small county which they had reached after a whole day’s journey. Since they hadn’t been here before, the sight of the supermarket was rather thrilling, given the quantity of supplies it potentially housed.

But from the outside, the glass windows were shattered, indicating that inside, useful items were likely scarce, picked clean by looters.

True enough, upon inspection, they found that items such as bottled water, soft drinks, instant noodles, and various groceries were all gone.

Yet, they conducted a thorough search and gathered anything useful they could find: lighters, pots and pans, chopsticks, towels, toiletries, seasonings, etc.

Perhaps their noise attracted attention because, from the back warehouse, Zombies started banging fiercely on the employee entrance door.

Zhu Li asked the others to fall back, stepped forward, and with a forceful kick, flung open the door. Suddenly, about twenty to thirty Zombies poured out.

"Little White, keep an eye on the children!" she commanded and swung her axe, hacking away at the Zombies. When she entangled them with her vines, Zhao Yun and An Nuo chopped at the beasts like they were vegetable cutting, contributing to the fray. Initially content to watch, the four women joined the fight when they saw the action.

It took over an hour to deal with the group of Zombies, which also included a Zombie dog.

Afterward, when they entered the warehouse and saw the stockpile of grains and food supplies, they couldn’t help but marvel.

"What luck, if these Zombies hadn’t been guarding the place, perhaps we wouldn’t have stumbled upon such good fortune. Sister Yun, come on, let’s pack up all this grain and food to take back."

Zhao Yun was also thrilled because inside there was not only rice, flour, and oil but also instant noodles and bottled water – essentially all the stock that was missing outside was available here.

The milk powder and such were among her first picks, but she wasn’t sure if they had expired. They’d have to taste test at home before giving it to the children.

Having cleared out a supermarket, Zhao Yun and the rest were even more motivated. There were several restaurants in the vicinity, which likely had some stock, so they swept through each one, only to find that not much was usable – most had been picked clean.

She looked towards the residential building behind, "Let’s go up and take a look."

This was a high-rise community, with each building having more than twenty floors. In a small county, more than twenty floors was already considered tall. She randomly entered one and began inspecting from the first floor, one apartment after another. Not much was scavenged, but a considerable number of Zombies were killed.

The entire corridor reeked, with mutilated corpses and Zombie remains everywhere, bearing witness to the once vicious scene that had taken place here.

By now, however, they had long since become immune to such smells, as their noses would automatically filter it out.

Since there were too many bodies, unless it was their own living space, no one had the capacity to bury them, not even cremate them due to a lack of sufficient fuel.

With hundreds of apartments in one building, they only managed to search up to about the tenth floor by nightfall. Having split from the group, they decided not to descend that night, instead taking temporary shelter and sleeping in one of the relatively clean apartments.

Little White stood guard by the door that night, as they had broken the lock, worrying about Zombies wandering in. He took it upon himself to stand watch, granting the group a brief respite.

At night, Zhu Li entered her own space, starting with a shower using water from a watering can, then putting on a set of clean clothes. Afterward, she picked a fresh lotus root and crunched away contentedly. Then she stored walnuts and pumpkins in the warehouse, selling them for Gold Coins. Coincidentally, she advanced to Level 10, and her farmable land expanded to nine plots.

At Level 10, she could purchase strawberry and apple seeds, and also unlock a pasture. Looking at her Gold Coins, she chose not to cultivate more land but to open the pasture instead.

Starting with raising hens (initially only two), hens also required feed, so two plots had to be set aside to grow grass.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten an egg, but now with the pasture, she could at least satisfy her hunger.

The next day, as dawn barely broke, Zhu Li got up and distributed breakfast—a bag of instant noodles for each person. Without hot water to cook them, they bit into the dry noodles.

After finishing the noodles and drinking some mineral water, breakfast was concluded, and they continued upwards, resuming the sweep.

For three consecutive days, they cleared three buildings, filling their space completely before they had no choice but to return to their meeting point.

The other teams didn’t make them wait long either, also returning, then everyone headed home. They emptied their spaces of goods in the yard, amassing a mountain of food that filled everyone’s heart and eyes with relaxation and satisfaction.

They discarded any inedible food, storing all the rest in the warehouse. That night, their dinner was especially lavish, with vacuum-packed beef, chicken, pork belly, and cured meat supplementing the meal, finally satisfying everyone’s craving for some meat after many days of a vegetarian diet.

Afterward, they spent about two days repairing the prison before setting off together again. They returned to the same county to continue the unfinished search, and this time, brought back around ten Superpower Users and more than twenty ordinary people. Their number exceeded sixty for the first time.

With the sudden increase in people, to prevent chaos, they decided that Zhao Yun and Zhu Li would take turns staying behind when the others went out.

Reyas was the strongest among the Superpower Users, and Zhu Li, with the strongest Wood Element Superpower, provided stability to the prison. Unconsciously, a hierarchical relationship had formed. Due to Little White’s influence, Reyas was particularly indulgent towards Zhu Li. Did he have a choice? Little White alone could defeat all of them, couldn’t he?

So on the surface, men would look to Reyas while women would go to Zhu Li. But in reality, in this fledgling base, it was Zhu Li who called the shots.