Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 39

Ye Zhou doesn’t feel anything when he jumps planes for the first time.

It is the day before the supermarket opens, and he is so excited that he sleeps in the supermarket. Since he has to get up at five in the morning on opening day, he takes melatonin before going to bed.

When he wakes up and opens the door, what greets him is a barren wasteland, desolate to the point that even birds won’t land there.

This time, Ye Zhou doesn’t feel anything physically, but he can see the scenery change through the window.

It is like being on a super high-speed train. The speed of the scenery outside the window isn’t measured in seconds but in milliseconds. The scenery shifts every millisecond, and the human eye can only catch a blur of it, unable to settle on a single frame.

If someone dares to step out of the supermarket door at this moment, they would certainly be torn to pieces.

It is like jumping off a speeding high-speed train, but the death would be far worse than leaping from one.

When the outside scenery begins to change more slowly, Ye Zhou realizes they are approaching their destination.

He assumes the system will drop him somewhere far from Luoyang Base, a place few people would go — after all, that has been the case in his previous planes.

Although business might be a challenge, at least it is safe.

About thirty minutes before landing, Ye Zhou reasons that although the system isn’t entirely reliable, it can still ensure the supermarket’s safety.

So it seems the system has some redeeming features after all.

That is—until the shifting scenery outside the window turns from sky to the face of a zombie.

Ye Zhou stares at the face of a zombie with a mole on it. Its vacant eyes still haven’t regained focus. He notices there are three hairs sticking out of that mole.

After being a zombie for so long, the eyes are gone, and the flesh in the sockets has already rotted away, yet the mole remains as firm as ever. It’s downright astonishing.

Ye Zhou and the eyeless zombie stare at each other for more than ten seconds.

He raises a trembling hand and points at the zombie’s face. Turning his head stiffly, he looks at Chen Shu and Zou Ming, who have stood up, guns in hand: “Can you count how many zombies are outside?” His voice is distant, as if his soul has left his body. “While we still have time, we could try writing a suicide note and bury it in the ground. Maybe someone will find it later and know that we, the unlucky ones, came all the way here to fill the zombies’ stomachs.”

Ye Zhou can’t think of any way they can escape.

“Boss, look over there,” Sarah points to the window on the opposite side. “It’s humans. They look like soldiers.”

Ye Zhou perks up instantly. Soldiers! Soldiers are good!

But when Ye Zhou sees the equipment the soldiers carry, he freezes.

This isn’t some ancient era, is it? Judging by the soldiers’ clothing, the tech level here seems pretty close to Ye Zhou’s original dimension. No one has long hair, and everyone’s bundled up tightly, with something wrapped around their wrists and ankles—looks like some hard material, probably to prevent bites.

But their weapons are something else entirely — axes, hatchets, and machetes.

Rather than preparing to fight zombies, it seems they are preparing for a village brawl.

Ye Zhou asks blankly, “Is this a local thing? Zombies here can only be taken down with melee weapons?”

Chen Shu smiles. “They’re probably out of bullets. In places like this, it’s not the weapons that are scarce, but the bullets. Guns can be reused, but bullets are consumable and can’t be recycled.”

“By the looks of it, their bombs are all used up,” Zou Ming adds. “It’s been a long time,” Zou Ming says. He is dressed in black, form-fitting clothes that are easy to move in. His strong figure, muscles easily outlined even through the fabric, makes him look like someone who can easily take care of himself in a fight.

However, Ye Zhou isn’t in the mood to admire Zou Ming’s handsomeness at the moment. His eyes only focus on the gun in Zou Ming’s hand.

Would such a machine gun — not even a heavy machine gun — be useful in this situation?

Even if Chen Shu is an excellent sniper, hitting zombies in the head every time, how many can she kill?

Ye Zhou glances at Sarah.

Sarah seems to understand what he is thinking and says, “I don’t know how to use a gun. I’m not accurate with them. I’d probably end up shooting my own people. I’d rather go ahead like this.”

Ye Zhou is a bit nervous. “The zombie virus doesn’t affect you?”

Sarah thinks for a moment. “Shouldn’t be a problem. We vampires aren’t much different from zombies. They don’t even have brains. We’re way more advanced.”

Ye Zhou blinks. “…”

Sarah waves her hand. “Boss, don’t worry. I might be more useful than they are this time. After the fight, you’ll treat me to hot pot,” Sarah says, licking her lips.

She can only taste spicy food. Eating chili peppers without taking a mouthful is just a snack for her.

Ye Zhou can’t handle spicy food at all. His lips would swell if he ate even a little bit.

Sarah never expects them to lose, even with the overwhelming odds.

“By the way, those soldiers are knocking on the window,” Sarah points outside again. “Should we let them in?”

—

“Try knocking on the window,” the woman turns to the young man. “Maybe they’ll let us in.”

The young man looks tense, his lips pressed into a straight line. “Don’t you think it’s strange?”

A supermarket falling from the sky, and she actually wants to go in?

Were they hallucinating together, or is this world just crazy?

The woman shrugs. “When the zombies first appeared, I thought it was a collective hallucination too. I thought it was unscientific. But wasn’t it explained by science later?”

The man stares at her blankly. “Alien creatures invading the Earth is also called science?”

The woman shrugs again. “Exactly. Since it hasn’t been proven that aliens don’t exist, they could. And if they do exist, then it’s scientific.” She continues, “Anyway, we can’t go back alive. We’ll die wherever we are. Why not see if the people inside will let us in?”

This time, the man doesn’t respond.

Though all of this seems absurd, they don’t seem to have any better options.

The supermarket is sitting right between them and the zombies, right in front of the second defensive line. If the zombies breach the second line, this supermarket won’t survive either.

Still, the man clings to a faint hope—if this supermarket is some alien construct, then it must have a way to deal with zombies.

Maybe… they won’t have to die after all?

The man’s mind spins. The more he thinks about it, the more it seems like a bizarre illusion. Maybe this is all just a cowardly fantasy. When he wakes up, perhaps he’ll find himself back on the battlefield, with zombies right in front of him.

The woman knocks on the glass again.

This time, someone walks toward them through the shelves.

It is a little girl, less than 1.4 meters tall. She wears short sleeves and long pants, her curly blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She walks toward them while yawning.

The girl opens the window a crack and stares at them with slightly red eyes.

The woman smiles. “Little girl—”

The girl cuts her off. “Which one of you actually talks business? Boss said only one of you can come in.”

The woman reflexively looks back. The teammates who had been stunned by the sight of a supermarket falling from the sky have snapped out of it and are now approaching the window too. She quickly says, “Me! I do! I’m the one talking!”

The girl frowns. “Only one can come in.”

The woman begs, “Little sister, be flexible! If two of us come in, we can explain things better, right? And we don’t have guns. We’re no threat.”

The girl looks at her, sensing something odd about the woman. Her gaze shifts, assessing her, calculating her worth like a predator.

Sarah picks up a walkie-talkie. “Boss, is two okay?”

A distorted male voice comes through. “Yes.”

Sarah opens the window. “Come in. By the way, you’d better tell the others before you enter. If they try to break the door or windows and force their way in…” Sarah bares her sharp teeth at the two men. “No need to wait for the zombies. I’ll take care of them myself.”

The two men freeze.

There is no need to elaborate.

Sarah stands by the window with her arms folded, waiting for the woman to relay her message loudly before letting the two men in.

“It really is a supermarket,” the woman says in awe as she walks past the shelves.

There are places in the base that sell daily necessities, but now everything is rationed and distributed with vouchers according to need.

Food has long ago become mostly cornbread—the highest-yield product. Cornbread even functions as currency now. The government never officially recognizes it as such, but there’s no stopping barter systems among civilians.

This also shows that the people have lost faith in traditional currency.

Factories in the rear focus all their efforts on ammunition production. The world has fallen into a zombie crisis, with zombies increasing and the human population shrinking. Initially, they still have the capacity to assist smaller nations, but gradually, everyone begins to focus on their own survival.

The virus is widespread, and the connections between countries deteriorate.

Missiles and even nuclear bombs are deployed, but aside from leaving behind devastation and pollution, they achieve little.

The virus doesn’t die with the zombies. It lingers in the land and on plants, waiting for living creatures to carry it and reintroduce it into human bodies.

After each battle, soldiers dare not touch their mouths or noses. They must undergo strict disinfection procedures and be scanned by instruments before returning to the base.

Even when they return to the base, they can’t interact with others immediately. They must self-isolate for a day in their residences.

Each battle brings heavy losses for the frontline soldiers. If they are unlucky, zombie blood splatters and lands on their faces, making their chance of infection 100%.

Seeing a supermarket filled with goods like this makes them briefly feel as though they’ve returned to the time before the outbreak of the zombie virus.

The woman walks forward in silence, suddenly feeling like she’s in a dream.

The young man beside her can’t help but glance at the shelves. His keen eyes, honed as a sniper, easily spot the freezer nearby, filled with fat beef and whole chickens.

Next to him, there are ice creams, chocolates, and milk, all kept cold.

This is just like the big supermarkets in peacetime.

He starts to wonder—maybe he didn’t just see a supermarket fall from the sky. Maybe he actually traveled back in time to the time before the apocalypse.

“Little sister,” the woman begins, attempting to strike up a conversation with Sarah, “Where are you from? America? Italy? Or France?”

Sarah doesn’t stop or look back. She replies coolly, “Does it matter to you?”

The woman doesn’t feel awkward. She smiles and says, “I’m just curious. How did you get here? Are you aliens? Or do you have some kind of alien technology?”

Since the authorities claim that the zombie virus is an alien invasion, the woman now uses “aliens” to explain any unexplainable situations. “Is your supermarket open?” the woman asks. “Do you sell anything? How do you charge? Can I buy an ice cream?”

Sarah is finally fed up with the woman. Her expression turns cold. “There are zombies right across from us, and you’re in the mood for ice cream?”

The woman sighs. “I’m going to die anyway. I just want to eat a strawberry ice cream before I go.”

Sarah: “…Fine. Take one. It’s on me.” Sarah adds, “Take two. I can afford to buy two ice creams. After you’ve eaten them, stop with the nonsense.”

So, the woman grabs two ice creams. She hands one to the man who has been silent since they entered and opens the other, eagerly tearing off the wrapping and enjoying the sweet taste. The ice cream is as delicious as she remembers.

She keeps her eyes on Sarah, who is still walking ahead.

She recalls the two canine teeth Sarah showed earlier.

Too slender, too pointed. Where does she usually hide them? Don’t they pierce her lips?

Could she really be a vampire? That would explain the strange contrast between her appearance and the air of maturity she gives off, making her seem unsettling.

The woman almost laughs at herself for these thoughts.

Blaming things on aliens still feels somewhat plausible. But bringing vampires into it? That would make this world downright fantastical.

The supermarket is huge, filled with all kinds of goods. They follow Sarah for a long while before arriving at a door.

The door is slightly open.

The woman looks up, scanning the room’s interior. And then, she sees the man sitting on the sofa.

The man, dressed in a blue casual suit, has glossy black hair and amber eyes fixed on her, a faint smile on his lips, as though welcoming their arrival.

He is handsome, but his smile isn’t genuine—it’s cold and arrogant, making him seem distant.

Standing beside him are two people, a man and a woman, both holding guns and staring at the newcomers with sharp eyes.

The woman swallows nervously. She can tell instantly that these two are battle-hardened, with an intimidating presence. They look like they can kill her with a single move if she makes the wrong gesture.

The blonde girl who led them walks up to the sofa, leaning casually on the armrest, her expression as cold as ever.

The corner of the woman’s mouth twitches.

Why does it feel like she just walked into some evil organization and is now facing the final boss?