Chapter 90: Survivors

When Huo Zaiyuan finished laying the barriers, Long Zhanye has already brought the villagers into the mall, leaving the three vehicles outside. For additional protection, Huo Zaiyuan sticks on another Aura Concealment Charm on the entrance doors of the shopping mall after closing it tight.

"We'll rest here for the night. I have already laid arrays all throughout this entire first level. As long as you don't run amock, no matter what other dangers lurk in this building, nothing will be able to harm you. We will be able to reach the safe zone tomorrow, so bear with this for a while longer." Huo Zaiyuan states blandly.

"Little Yuan, you are saying..there are still some man-eating monsters in here?" The village chief's complexion turns slightly green after listening to the youth's words.

For the entire journey since they left Y Town and reach X City's outer district, they didn't come across any zombies. However, he is still very much terrified of those man-eating monsters, and even more afraid of becoming one of those freakish things.

"I don't know. We've just finished killing all the zombies in this mall and discovered a locked door in the underground basement. It wouldn't open no matter how hard we hit it but we suspect there may be survivors or zombies within." Huo Zaiyuan answers.

"Then..then what should we do? If there are survivors inside, we cannot simply leave them there. But if it is monsters.." The village chief hesitantly gives his opinion.

"Little Yuan and I will handle this matter. Village chief Uncle, you and the villagers just focus on protecting yourselves. It's already late and we've been on the road for the whole day. Go and have something to eat. Don't starve yourselves." Long Zhanye walks up beside Huo Zaiyuan to reassure the middle-aged man.

"Okay." Hong Wangcai nods his head. "The old madam of the Chen family made some delicious cornmeal biscuits. I'll ask her to bring you some later."

"Thank you."

After the group of people finish their meal, Huo Zaiyuan, Long Zhanye and Li Qing prepare to head down to the underground basement and take a look at the locked room, leaving Qin Jun behind to rest and recuperate from driving for the entire day.

The trio comes to a halt before the tightly shut steel door. Standing on either side of it, Huo Zaiyuan and Li Qing ready their weapons while Long Zhanye lifts a hand to knock the door lightly.

Shortly after the noise rings out, a faint sound can be heard from the other side. Even as it dies down near instantly, it is pretty evident that something inside was alarmed by the knock. But that split-second isn't enough to determine if zombies or humans lay within.

Exchanging a mutual glance and a nod with Huo Zaiyuan, Long Zhanye knocks on the door again, then inquires. "Excuse me, is someone in there? Answer if there is."

If the beings inside are human, they will definitely reply once they hear another survivor's voice. If it is a zombie, there will be no answer since the undead cannot understand speech, which will negate the need to get this door open.

"There is. There's someone in here. You..are you here to rescue us?" A tiny voice drifts out of the gaps between the door, but it is impossible to tell if the speaker is a male or female due to their hoarse tone. "Outside..those monsters.."

"Those monsters have already been slain." Long Zhanye replies.

"Slain..slain..that's good..very good..quickly move those things. We're going out."

The voice fades, replaced by the sound of things being moved. Very quickly, the steel door is pulled open, revealing the sickly pale face of a frightened man.

"You..you are.."

"We are just passing through here and are resting in this shopping mall for the night. We discovered this room's door locked shut and so decided to take a look, that's all." Long Zhanye explains in a flippant tone. "Are you all the staff of this mall?"

"Eh..a few of us are staffs, the rest are customers. When..those monsters appeared, we ran into this mall, but they appeared in here as well so we..finally hid in here.." That man explains in a small voice. "Those..just what kind of creatures are those things? Why would a human turn into that?"

"We also do not have a clear answer to this question. There are a few villagers outside with us who will be heading to X City's safe zone tomorrow. Do you want to come along?" Long Zhanye asks.

"Vi - villagers..of course, of course. We will come along."