Rip—
The off-road vehicle braked in front of a sports stadium.
Su Su held onto Xiao Hei, while Pang Cancan carried a pile of supplies. The two of them rushed toward the stadium in a hurry.
As they approached, the main entrance was tightly shut.
Pang Cancan ran up to the metal gate and shook it twice. A resistance that no normal human could pull open came from the inside.
“The door is locked from the inside!”
Su Su immediately reacted, “Could there be someone inside?”
The two exchanged glances, but the “pursuers” in the distance did not give them time to think—the deafening roars had already erupted.
“Let’s go, check the back!”
They ran to the other side of the stadium and found that the back door was also locked. Only a skylight, more than two meters above the ground, was left slightly ajar with just a few centimeters of gap.
Pang Cancan suggested, “We can climb in.”
Su Su hesitated. “…That might be a bit difficult for me.”
“No worries! I’ll go first, then pull you up!”
Pang Cancan pressed one foot against the wall and shot up over a meter high. With a strong reach of her arms, she hoisted herself onto the window ledge using nothing but arm strength.
As the window opened, it let out a dull creaking sound.
“Sister Su Su, come on, I’ll pull you up!”
Pang Cancan reached out a hand, her smile lively and full of energy. Su Su instinctively extended her own hand… Their fingertips were mere centimeters apart when, at the critical moment, a snake tail struck mercilessly, knocking away the outstretched hand.
“Xiao Hei?”
Xiao Hei had already slipped out of Su Su’s arms, climbed up onto the window ledge, and wrapped its falling tail around her waist.
Su Su didn’t even need to exert any effort—within the blink of an eye, she was pulled inside the stadium.
Pang Cancan was still on the window ledge. Seeing this, she felt both bitter and amused.
“Sister Su Su, it really doesn’t want me touching you at all!”
Su Su’s delicate face flushed red.
She had witnessed Xiao Hei’s possessive behavior several times before. Though it was a little embarrassing, deep down, she couldn’t deny the slight joy bubbling within her.
That kind of joy came from the long-lost feeling of being valued and needed.
“Lock the window from the inside,” Su Su clumsily changed the subject. “Hurry and come down.”
“Okay!”
Pang Cancan firmly locked the window before jumping down.
The stadium spanned an area roughly the size of three soccer fields. The spectator stands on all four sides were in plain sight, yet there were no signs of any survivors or zombies.
If it weren’t for the fact that the front and back doors had been locked from the inside, they might have thought that no one had entered this stadium since the outbreak of the apocalypse.
“We should search the backstage lounge area. There might still be zombies hiding in there.”
“Alright!”
The two of them crossed the stadium and arrived at the only enclosed backstage area. There were more than a dozen lounge rooms and two gender-separated restrooms.
Pang Cancan and her venomous insects stood guard at the rear.
Su Su walked at the front. Her ability was unique— even if a Tier 3 zombie suddenly jumped out at close range, she had ways to temporarily control it.
The heavy, long python had also returned to her arms, its tail swaying in a steady rhythm. Its deep green vertical pupils calmly surveyed the surroundings.
Su Su felt even more at ease.
She used a metal pipe she had picked up to push open one lounge door after another, but each room was empty.
Until the last one.
Su Su subconsciously relaxed her breath but heightened her vigilance.
Creak— The door opened.
The room was in complete disarray. Clothes were casually spread across the floor, forming a makeshift bedding.
Various food packaging bags were scattered everywhere, along with half-eaten instant noodle bricks that had been hastily discarded.
At that moment, Su Su didn’t need to say anything—Pang Cancan had also realized it.
Someone had been living here!
And they might have just left not long ago!
“The restroom. We haven’t checked the restroom yet.”
Su Su turned toward the male and female restrooms outside. She wasn’t sure whether the person was hiding in the men’s or women’s restroom, so she hesitated and glanced back.
Pang Cancan immediately caught on. “Sister Su Su, let’s split up! If anything happens, just shout!”
“Mm.”
Su Su, still holding Xiao Hei, entered the men’s restroom. As soon as she stepped in, the black snake in her arms seemed to catch a scent of something and started to wriggle, but she held it even tighter.
“You’re not going down!”
In this kind of environment, there was no way she would let it move freely.
Xiao Hei had just been about to bite her arm, but in the next second, it froze as she threatened it—
“The floor is filthy. There might even be human waste left behind. If you get yourself covered in it, I won’t hold you anymore!”
The black snake stiffened and didn’t dare to move.
Before gaining intelligence, it never cared about dirt— it could crawl right past wild animal droppings without a second thought.
But now… it obediently stayed in its human’s arms, only twitching its tail slightly toward the last stall.
Su Su understood instantly.
She pondered for a few seconds before deciding to speak directly.
“Come out. We’re just here to take shelter. We mean no harm.”
No one responded.
Su Su patiently waited for a while before speaking again, “We’re going to stay here for a while. You can’t hide in the restroom forever, can you? Besides, as long as you don’t come out, we won’t be able to feel at ease.”
Still, there was no answer.
Su Su had no choice but to walk up to the stall. “If you don’t come out…”
Before she could finish her sentence, the stall door suddenly swung open, and sharp ice spikes shot straight at her.
At the same time, a short and thin black shadow darted out swiftly, making a break for the restroom door.
“Wait!”
Ignoring the ice spikes, Su Su’s hand moved fast, grabbing the figure by the collar.
The lazy black snake in her arms opened its mouth slightly. The moment the ice spikes touched the blue flames, they melted and then evaporated into nothingness.
As for the shadow, it was pulled back by Su Su.
“You…”
Seeing the person’s face clearly, Su Su was momentarily speechless.
It was a boy, around twelve or thirteen years old, so thin that he was nothing but skin and bones. His small face barely had any flesh, yet his large, frightened eyes stood out vividly. The moment he made eye contact with a stranger, he trembled uncontrollably.
Su Su’s heart softened. “Where are your parents?”
The boy’s lips quivered, but he refused to answer.
“Forget it.”
“We mean no harm. We’re just taking shelter here. There’s a horde of zombies outside—don’t run around recklessly.”
After speaking, she let go of the boy, allowing him to dash out of the restroom.
“Who are you?!”
As luck would have it, the moment the boy ran out, he bumped into Pang Cancan, who was coming out of the women’s restroom.
She instinctively stepped back several paces, missing the best opportunity to grab him. Instead, she could only shout, “Sister Su Su! He’s here!”
Su Su stepped out of the restroom. “I see him.”
“Then… then… aren’t we going to catch him?”
“This is his territory,” Su Su recalled the half-eaten pack of instant noodles in the lounge. “We’re the ones intruding.”
Pang Cancan thought about it and nodded. “That’s true.”
A huge stadium, and yet the only one hiding inside was a scrawny boy. It was obvious that something had happened to his parents.
But the boy was too wary of them, and there was nothing they could do.
Su Su temporarily set aside her thoughts about the boy and instead began to worry about the zombie horde outside.
With the time they had wasted here, the horde should be approaching the stadium by now, right?
Logically speaking, this massive zombie horde, moving forward for unknown reasons, should also pass by the stadium, shouldn’t it?
If they stayed here for a while and waited for the horde to move away completely, they should be able to leave safely, right?
Su Su had her suspicions, but for some reason, an ominous premonition surged in her heart.
Boom!
A sudden loud noise erupted outside the stadium, followed by the violent collision of metal doors.
Su Su and Pang Cancan exchanged a glance, both sensing that something was wrong. Without hesitation, they sprinted out of the backstage area.
As soon as they reached the stadium grounds, they saw—
The tightly locked stadium doors had been violently forced open, the chains that had been securing them now snapped and scattered across the floor.
Two groups of people rushed in against the light.
After entering, they finally had the sense to lock the doors again. Once everything was secured, the two groups immediately split apart and stood facing each other in confrontation.
“Zhao Zhenyu! You’re here too?!”
Though the distance made it hard to see clearly, the familiar voice and the name being shouted instantly made Su Su recognize who they were.
It was Lin Weiran, Zhao Zhenyu, and the ability user squad that had betrayed Pang Cancan.
Pang Cancan also saw them clearly and gritted her teeth in frustration. “Damn it! The two groups I hate the most are here together! Did they follow us all the way here?”
“They probably did.”
While the two quietly exchanged words, the two groups at the entrance were already at each other’s throats.
Lin Weiran glared coldly at her former teammate, her eyes filled with resentment. “You actually have the nerve to show your face in front of me again!”
At the sight of his old companions, a flicker of unease flashed in Zhao Zhenyu’s eyes.
But he quickly shoved aside the useless feelings of guilt, curling his lips into a sneer. “I never expected to run into you again. What? Haven’t found new supplies yet?”
“Zhao Zhenyu!”
A teammate beside Lin Weiran roared furiously.
“Do you even have any shame? Si Zhe just risked his life to lead us away from a Tier 4 zombie, and the moment we turned around, you ransacked all our food and vanished without a trace! That was the entire team’s loot!”
Zhao Zhenyu let out a cold laugh. “The entire team’s?”
His gaze swept over Lin Weiran and the pale-faced Si Zhe, his expression turning even more mocking.
“If I hadn’t taken those two boxes of instant noodles and that bag of rice before leaving town, would you people even have food to eat? Not a single grain!”
Lin Weiran’s chest heaved with anger. “If you want to talk about fairness, those supplies belonged to our whole squad! If Si Zhe hadn’t held down the town chief, do you really think you could’ve escaped? Besides, all the spoils were meant to be distributed evenly—we treated you well!”
The more she spoke, the more Zhao Zhenyu wanted to laugh.
“Evenly distributed? Then tell me, was that Grade 3 crystal evenly distributed?”
“That’s because Si Zhe contributed the most—”
“Ha! Bullshit!” Zhao Zhenyu spat fiercely. “I’m a Tier 2 ability user too! During the zombie siege, I also fought against a Tier 3 zombie! What, my efforts were worth less than Si Zhe’s?”
“The Grade 3 crystal wasn’t mine, and I didn’t even get a say in the Grade 2 and Grade 1 crystals either. Yet these Tier 1 ability users, who are weaker than me, got the same share as I did!”
“Higher-grade crystals are yours to keep, but lower-grade crystals have to be evenly distributed? Lin Weiran, is reason always on your side?”
Zhao Zhenyu’s furious outburst left Lin Weiran speechless.
“…If you were so unhappy, why didn’t you tell us?”
“I couldn’t be bothered,” Zhao Zhenyu said disdainfully. “The supplies were taken by me, so they belong to me. Let’s just pretend we never knew each other and go our separate ways. And don’t even think about slapping the label of ‘traitor’ on me!”
His words were utterly ruthless, making it clear that he had completely severed ties with his former teammates.
Lin Weiran was unwilling to accept this. “Zhenyu, it was just a minor conflict. Why do you have to take it so seriously?”
Zhao Zhenyu had no interest in arguing with her any further. He led his newly joined ability user squad to a random spot and ignored whatever Lin Weiran had to say, treating it as nothing more than background noise.
“Weiran, that’s enough.”
Si Zhe coughed twice, his face growing even paler, though a cold indifference flashed in his eyes.
“This was his choice. No one can interfere, and our team doesn’t need a traitor.”
His words jolted Lin Weiran out of her frustration and discouragement.
That’s right. The team had only suffered a temporary setback, and yet Zhao Zhenyu had been so eager to abandon them. How could someone like that ever be considered a truly trustworthy teammate?
“You’re right.”
Lin Weiran forced a smile. Though she still felt somewhat downhearted, she had already regained her composure.
“We’ve been running non-stop without resting. Let’s find a place to settle for now and wait for the zombie horde outside to pass.”
She led her teammates to find a spot as far away from Zhao Zhenyu’s group as possible. But before they had gone far, they spotted another familiar face—
Su Su, standing there, gazing back at them calmly.
To say she was surprised would be inaccurate.
After all, Lin Weiran had followed Su Su’s vehicle all the way to the stadium, so she had already known Su Su was inside.
What she hadn’t expected was that Su Su would have overheard everything that had just happened.
Lin Weiran’s face suddenly burned.
A strange sense of embarrassment and an inexplicable awkwardness welled up in her heart.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.
She was supposed to handle everything with ease, not end up in a mess where her teammate betrayed her, their supplies were stolen, and the man she loved was seriously injured and unconscious—especially not with all of it being laid bare in front of Su Su.