Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 41

Carloads of bullets are transported to the “city wall.” Most of the soldiers, who have been prepared for close combat with the zombies, are unaware of the situation and do not rush to the supermarket. After receiving orders from headquarters, they immediately retreat.

No one wants to die if they can avoid it.

Zhang Yao and He Zihao also follow the convoy back to the “city wall.” Though Zhang Yao had been able to speak freely in front of Ye Zhou earlier, she is now in a daze. It seems she has finally realized that everything that has happened isn’t a dream—it’s all real.

“Pinch me and see?” Zhang Yao asks, still staring blankly at He Zihao.

He Zihao twitches the corner of his mouth. “I thought you really believed that the supermarket was just an ordinary place.”

Zhang Yao doesn’t wait for He Zihao to pinch her, so she does it herself. The pain makes her tears come out, and she sighs in relief. “No matter if it’s ordinary or not, the bullets are in our hands now! When the superiors ordered us to go to the front line, I was almost scared to death,” she says, rubbing her face. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. If I die, even if the base isn’t breached, my parents will probably only receive the minimum living allowance. They won’t starve, but they won’t be full either.” Zhang Yao smiles bitterly. “If they could get into that supermarket, they’d probably cry.”

The supermarket seems too ordinary, and yet it is this very ordinariness that makes it feel as though it belongs to the apocalypse. That supermarket is too ordinary—but precisely because it is ordinary, it makes people feel like they are back in the world before the apocalypse.

There are no zombies, no viruses. People are simply living their lives, not worrying about what they will eat next or whether they’ll survive the next wave of zombies.

They line up to receive their bullets.

The soldiers are silent as they receive and load their weapons. “No grenades?” someone in front finally asks.

“No explosives either?”

On the battlefield, guns and bullets are not as effective as artillery, grenades, or bombs. With guns, hitting a zombie’s vital spot depends on luck. Even the best snipers, capable of headshotting a zombie with each bullet, can only kill so many in a day.

What they need most are weapons capable of inflicting mass damage without endangering the base.

But with the former unavailable, the latter is a fortunate alternative.

Zhang Yao hears this and chuckles. “Why don’t you ask why there’s no artillery? We were about to be sent to our deaths just now—having bullets is already a win.”

Hot weapons are still better than cold weapons, after all.

Anyone who wants to fight zombies in close combat can go ahead; she won’t accompany them.

He Zihao uses a semi-automatic sniper rifle that can load five rounds at once.

He is part of the Vanguard Battalion and has one of the best guns. The sniper rifles used by ordinary snipers are technically just burst rifles with scopes. They aren’t as powerful or stable as his.

He Zihao strokes the cold gun body. He had originally thought he’d never get to hold this gun again.

The officer with the loudspeaker shouts, “Those who’ve received bullets, go over there! Snipers, to the city wall!”

He Zihao grabs his gun and follows his comrades to the city wall. With plenty of bullets, his hands steady.

Zhang Yao and her comrades, armed with rifles, have to go to the front line. Only snipers can hit the zombies from the city wall.

They can’t go beyond the barbed wire. Nor can they get too close to the zombies. Members of the Vanguard Unit have steady hands—they won’t damage the wire.

When the gunfire breaks out outside, Ye Zhou, who has been having lunch, nearly jumps out of his seat.

He looks at the bowl in his hand but finds he has no appetite. If Cao’er’s mother hadn’t brought the food in, he probably wouldn’t have even remembered it was time to eat.

But everyone else seems fine.

Even Zhou Yuanhe, who appears the weakest, buries his head and eats heartily.

Sarah only eats the spicy chicken that Cao’er’s mother has made for her.

“Can’t eat?” Zou Ming sets his bowl down and notices Ye Zhou’s face.

His voice is almost drowned out by the gunshots. “What did you say?”

Zou Ming raises his voice. “You have no appetite?!”

Ye Zhou nods and leans close to Zou Ming’s ear, whispering, “I really can’t eat. My mind is full of zombies.”

Whether his eyes are open or closed, the face of a zombie without eyes keeps appearing in his mind.

He always feels something is moving in the zombie’s empty eye sockets. Could it be maggots?

Just thinking about it makes Ye Zhou lose his appetite and feel nauseous.

In his previous plane, he often saw corpses, but most had turned into white bones, without any rotten flesh. While uncomfortable, seeing human skeletons hadn’t shocked him as much as seeing the decayed flesh of the zombies.

Ye Zhou whispers in Zou Ming’s ear again, “You guys eat first. I’ll go outside and take a look.”

His warm breath brushes Zou Ming’s ear. Zou Ming purses his lips, feeling his ears twitch slightly. After Ye Zhou moves away, Zou Ming raises his hand and touches his ear.

Very warm. It must be red already. Zou Ming thinks this with a straight face.

Ye Zhou stands up, grabs a pistol, and walks to the door of the supermarket, peering out through the anti-theft glass door.

Outside the barbed wire is a sea of corpses that stretches beyond his sight, while inside, a limited number of soldiers stand silently, conserving their strength for holding their guns.

Ye Zhou doesn’t want to look at the zombies—none of them are worth watching.

But there is one thing he can’t figure out: why haven’t the zombies decayed after so many years?

If they turned to bones and lost their brains, wouldn’t the virus cease to work?

He’s watched zombie movies before and thought they were illogical. Zombies need to scratch and bite to infect, and in most movies, they are slow and weak. Even with an army, ordinary people can easily escape once the zombie crisis starts.

Even the elderly, the sick, and the disabled can outrun them.

Even if these zombies are stronger than the ones in movies and TV shows, humans only need to build defenses and hide. In less than ten years, the zombies, having turned to bones, would no longer be a threat.

Humans have tanks, artillery, and missiles. In a real fight, zombies stand no chance.

Though the zombies in this world are more logical—they occupy the human body like parasites to reproduce, not to eat humans. They are fast, strong, and wouldn’t lose their ability to move unless struck in the brain or spine.

They also transmit viruses or larvae through wounds in the oral and nasal cavities.

The infection requirements are lower, making transmission more likely.

“Zhang Yao said the zombie crisis has been going on for thirty-two years. Why haven’t the zombies rotted?” Ye Zhou asks in confusion. “Is it because of the parasites? Are they preserving the human body? Then why did that eyeless zombie have maggots in its eye sockets?”

Zou Ming, who has walked over to him, pauses slightly. He leans close and says, “I don’t know. Maybe those maggots are there to eat the rotting flesh?”

Ye Zhou nods. “That makes sense.”

The war between humans and zombies continues well into the night.

Soldiers rotate in and out of the battlefield, resting for less than half an hour at a time.

During their rest, they drink water and eat to replenish their strength.

And what they eat are corn cakes.

With supplies running low, canned food is no longer produced, and the factory now produces mostly corn cakes and compressed biscuits.

Ye Zhou watches as soldiers sit on the ground after retreating, drinking water and eating biscuits in a hurry.

After finishing, they immediately pick up their guns and return to the front line.

This makes Ye Zhou feel uneasy.

He doesn’t even know if he can be as desperate as these soldiers.

“I don’t even have corn cakes back home,” Zou Ming suddenly says. “People at the bottom of the base can’t even get a biscuit. They can only eat edible soil—it’s enough to fill them up but won’t kill them. But eating too much will cause bloating and death over time. So people at the bottom do all kinds of business. Men and women sell their bodies. As long as they can survive, there’s nothing they won’t give up. To them, this place is paradise.”

Even with the constant threat of zombies and death, it is better than starving.

Ye Zhou looks at Zou Ming. He hesitates before asking, “Then you…”

Zou Ming smiles faintly, a rare, natural warmth in his expression. “I’m lucky. I meet a man who raises me until I can pick up a gun and leave. He also leaves me a lot of things.”

Ye Zhou feels something isn’t right.

If Zou Ming has so many supplies, why has he signed a contract with the system and been traveling between planes to accept jobs?

Moreover, Zou Ming’s earlier explanation was that only the money earned during the employment period can be used to purchase goods from the system. Ye Zhou had naturally assumed that Zou Ming signed the contract because of financial hardship and a difficult life. However, the reality now seems completely different from what he guessed.

“Then why did you sign a contract with the system?” Ye Zhou asks, as it occurs to him.

Zou Ming’s smile fades. “There are other reasons.”

Ye Zhou understands that Zou Ming isn’t keen on elaborating, so he doesn’t press further. He simply nods, acknowledging that everyone has their own secrets, and there’s no need to pry into the details.

Zou Ming glances at Ye Zhou’s profile, his deep eyes drifting to where Ye Zhou’s gaze is focused.

By midnight, the soldiers are showing signs of fatigue, but the zombies don’t behave any differently from the daytime. They don’t rely on vision to “hunt”; perhaps they rely on smell or even human body temperature. In any case, they don’t seem affected by light at all.

Ye Zhou watches the exhausted soldiers and finally can’t help but say to Sarah and Zou Ming beside him, “Why don’t they come to me for some functional drinks or canned food?”

With the system, he can replenish goods easily. Fortunately, as long as the goods were originally available in the supermarket, the price at the time of replenishment is the price from his original plane, unaffected by the prices of different planes.

Mass-produced canned food isn’t expensive, especially with meat and soup, which are also self-heating.

Not only is it delicious and convenient, but the price is also low. Braised pork, elbow, fish—everything is available. And no preservatives are added.

Sarah yawns. “They’re lucky to have anything to eat at all. Boss, aren’t you going to sleep? Go get some rest. If anything happens, I’ll call you. If there’s danger, I’ll smash your computer first, and you can jump dimensions when you wake up.”

Ye Zhou isn’t feeling sleepy at all. “I can’t sleep. If you’re sleepy, go ahead.”

Sarah: “If you don’t sleep, then I won’t sleep either. I’ll watch over you and protect you.”

Ye Zhou: “… Actually, it’s not necessary.”

Zou Ming and Chen Shu are still here.

Though Sarah is more than 400 years old, her appearance is too deceptive—Ye Zhou occasionally forgets her true identity and treats her with more “leniency.”

Sure enough, looking young still has its advantages.

At 4:00 AM, a middle-aged man in uniform knocks on the supermarket door.

“General!” The soldier behind him can’t hold back any longer. “We still don’t know what this supermarket is! Your safety is—”

The general waves his hand. “General is just a title. If I die, another will take my place.”

The general looks at the people inside the glass door. The leader, dressed in a black coat, regards him expressionlessly, as if nothing in front of him can affect him.

The general, already on edge, feels his heart jump to his throat. He takes a deep breath and waits for someone to open the door.

After a mechanical, sweet “Welcome,” the automatic glass door slowly opens.

Inside is the old world, and also the new world they have longed for for decades.

“Hello.” The general walks up to the man.

The man nods. “Follow me.”

The general doesn’t ask where they’re going. As the highest commander of the base, he is the only one suited for this task. Though he knows it’s risky and he might not return, no one else is better suited for it. If the other party has malicious intentions, he needs to find out the firepower and personnel configuration of the supermarket and report back before his life ends.

The general clenches the miniature walkie-talkie in his hand and presses the button.

The conversation is broadcast to the base.

If possible, he hopes the other party is from the future, someone from a science fiction story who has traveled back in time to offer assistance and help humanity overcome this crisis.

His life isn’t important, but humanity’s fate is. He is even willing to strike a deal with the devil for that cause.

The general sits on the break room sofa, several guns trained on him.

He remains calm, staring into the man’s eyes. “My name is Yang Guoqin.”

Ye Zhou replies, “Ye Zhou.”

The general lets out a sigh of relief, but his expression remains serious. He speaks earnestly: “Mr. Ye, we mean you no harm. The base is in a critical situation right now. No matter where you’re from or who you are, as long as you don’t mean us any harm, we’ll do everything we can to satisfy your requests. I hope we can cooperate. You can stay here as long as you don’t endanger the base’s safety or harm the people here. I believe we can work together.”

After finishing his speech, the general nervously awaits Ye Zhou’s response.

He isn’t sure about the other party’s background. Instead of being tough, he knows he needs to show weakness. Even if he wants to stand firm, he needs to first gauge the other party’s stance.

And for now, he has to show all his sincerity until the zombies are driven back.