Chapter 205: Zombies and Outing.
One person muttered that if they had half that ability, they would have gone out long ago instead of sitting around and worrying every second. Another person immediately answered that it was easy to say that now, but when real zombies were in front of you, most people would probably pee themselves before they could even lift a knife. That made a few people laugh nervously, but the laughter did not last long. The next second, they all remembered that the same danger was still outside the glass, and the smile on their faces stiffened again.
Some of the residents started feeling embarrassed at how much they had been expecting Bai Li to bring back food for everyone. They had not said it out loud, but their eyes had already given them away. When people were scared, they always got greedy. When they were starving, that greed became even uglier. A woman near the side window kept staring at the bags in Bai Li’s hands, then at the shelves inside the supermarket, then back again, as if she was trying to estimate just how much could be left and whether there would be any chance to get a share later. Her face looked worried, but the worry was not really about Bai Li. It was about herself, about whether she would be able to keep surviving if the supplies kept getting tighter. The same thought was sitting in many minds outside. They knew it was wrong to covet someone else’s effort, but knowing something was wrong and not feeling it were two different things.
A few people were more open about it. Their envy showed plainly in the way they frowned and crossed their arms. They watched Bai Li with a kind of silent resentment, as if her strength itself was unfair. Why could she go out and come back alive? Why could she fight so cleanly and still keep her face so calm? Why did she look like she had everything under control while the rest of them were stuck behind walls, terrified of every sound? Some people could not stand seeing someone else do well when they themselves were struggling. Even though Bai Li was not taking anything from them, even though she was the one risking her life, they still could not help feeling uncomfortable. A few mouths moved as if they wanted to say something sour, but in the end they swallowed it back. Right now, nobody dared make trouble directly.
Then there were the hypocrites, the ones who looked the most righteous on the surface. They were the kind of people who would say things like it was dangerous to hoard too much, that neighbors should help each other in hard times, that everyone living in the same building should think about the bigger picture. Their voices sounded reasonable at first, but the meaning behind them was plain enough. They were not asking for fairness. They were asking for an excuse to get a share without paying the price. They had not stepped out into the stairwell. They had not faced the zombies. They had not held a knife with shaking hands while death was only a step away. Yet now they were the first ones thinking about community spirit and mutual support. Watching from outside the supermarket, a few of them even started to hope Bai Li and Yan Cijin would bring the food back upstairs and share it more generously. Their faces looked serious, but the greed underneath was impossible to hide.
At the same time, not everyone was thinking that way. A few residents looked at Bai Li with real respect. They were the ones who understood what it meant to go out in this situation. They had seen enough of the world collapse to know that courage was not cheap. One man, older and thinner than the rest, quietly said that Bai Li was probably the kind of person who would survive no matter how bad things got. That comment was not loud, but several people heard it, and some of them nodded without meaning to. There was truth in it. Bai Li did not act like someone waiting for luck to save her. She moved like someone who had already made a plan for every worst case. That kind of person was rare, and in this kind of world, rare people stood out more than gold.
A younger person in the crowd watched a little longer and then suddenly looked inspired, almost restless. Seeing Bai Li and Yan Cijin work together like that made them feel something stir inside. Maybe the apocalypse was not just about hiding and waiting. Maybe it was also about learning how to survive with your own hands. If someone as ordinary as a neighbor could become this capable after all this time, then maybe others could still learn too. That thought made them look down at their own hands, then toward the stairwell, then back again. The fear was still there, but there was a tiny bit of determination mixed in now. Not everyone became stronger in the same way. Some people only started to move after they saw someone else walking ahead of them.
A few others were simply stunned into silence. They had thought Bai Li was just the type who stayed quiet and kept to herself. They had thought Yan Cijin was only someone lucky enough to be near her. Now those same people were seeing a different side of them. Bai Li was not just calm. She was decisive. Yan Cijin was not just standing behind her either. She was helping, watching, carrying, and keeping up without falling apart. That changed the way some residents looked at them. The two women were no longer just building neighbors. They had become the kind of people others could not ignore. Even those who felt jealous had to admit that. Strength has a way of forcing respect, even from people who do not want to give it.
The small supermarket actually had a lot of alcohol and drinks, and the water supply might be cut off soon. Bai Li did not hesitate for even a second. In her eyes, bottled water was not something to think about twice over. Water was life in a disaster like this, and since she had space, there was no reason to leave it behind for someone else to snatch later. She reached out and put all the bottled water into her space first, then filled the remaining room with drinks. The empty spot where the water had been disappeared almost immediately, and the space that had looked so full a moment ago was suddenly cleared out again. Bai Li glanced at it once, then moved on without wasting any time. She already knew that if the city really started falling apart piece by piece, every bottle of clean water would become more precious than money.
Yan Cijin was not far behind her. Her backpack was already heavy, and she was carrying frozen ingredients she had pulled from the refrigerator, including shrimp paste, various bags of meatballs, frozen dumplings, and hand pulled pancakes. A lot of these were things people would normally buy without thinking, but in the apocalypse, they suddenly became treasures. Stuff that could be dropped into boiling water and turned into a meal in a few minutes was exactly the kind of thing that made surviving feel a little less miserable. Bai Li also carried a lot of frozen ingredients in her own backpack, and before long, both of their backpacks were packed to the limit. The straps looked tight, and the weight was enough to make the shoulders feel sore, but neither of them slowed down. They had come this far already, so it made no sense to stop when there was still so much left.
Yan Cijin looked around the supermarket and realized that even after carrying out so much, there were still many things left that they could move later. Shelves were still half full in places, and the refrigerators still had a few items that had not been touched yet. She paused and asked, "Should we come down again later?"
Bai Li glanced over the shelves too and gave a small nod. "Let’s come down again and see if there are any daily necessities we need. I can carry the rest myself using my spatial storage. Let’s go, let’s go back and put our things away."
"Okay." Yan Cijin nodded and quickly moved the chairs away from the door. Her movements were much smoother now than they had been the first time. At the start, every chair scrape and every small sound had felt tense, but now she was used to moving quickly and quietly. The moment the path was opened, the two of them slipped out with the same kind of practiced caution they had used coming in.
This time, the journey back was even smoother than before. The stairwell still carried the smell of blood and decay, but there were no new zombies blocking their way.
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To be continued.
