As the first person to refuse stepped forward, more and more people followed suit.
Their eyes fixed on the man before them, they declared, "We want to leave here." Each word was firm and resonant.
Seeing this, the man realized he could no longer control the situation.
He looked at Xu An's face, smudged with dust and devoid of expression.
Gritting his teeth, his killing intent palpable, he accused, "You did this on purpose?"
Xu An found it laughable but maintained an appearance of complete ignorance.
She gazed at the man's furious face and innocently asked, "I don't know what you're talking about. We should all hurry and escape this place. None of you want to die by the zombies' mouths, right?"
Zhou Haimei, standing nearby, chimed in.
"That's right, as long as we can all escape, we'll definitely be able to wait for the rescue team. Brother, don't block our way."
Zhou Haimei winked at Xu An.
"We've shared half of our food with you. I believe we can definitely escape from here and wait for rescue, right?"
As Zhou Haimei spoke, she deliberately glanced at the handbag the man was holding. This action undeniably pushed the "dagger man" into the spotlight.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei watched as the crowd increasingly closed in on the man, successfully retreating. Who couldn't play the innocent victim? It was easy to shift the conflict onto the man.
Initially, Xu An didn't want to resort to such a self-serving tactic.
But the moment the door was opened.
Xu An had seen naked desire and greed in the man's eyes.
Although she had heard from Liu Liu before to be careful of this man, Xu An had merely dismissed him as the cowardly sort who feared for his own life.
She never expected this man to be such a ruthless bandit.
Adding to that, a faint, almost dissipated scent emanating from the man, which Xu An still managed to detect. Even if it was just a guess, Xu An would rather err on the side of caution and eliminate any possibility.
That scent was too familiar. It was a scent she could never forget, even in death.
It was the smell she had encountered every day when, in her previous life, Xu An was imprisoned by those starving, inhuman people.
It was the smell of cooked humans.
The scent was so distinctive that even from a distance, Xu An could pinpoint its origin.
That hellish experience had not been forgotten by Xu An.
More often than not, her brain acted with a self-preservation mechanism, actively suppressing that memory, keeping it from resurfacing.
However, with even the slightest trigger, those memories would sprout rapidly, taking root firmly in her mind.
But at this moment, Xu An's anger far surpassed her fear.
She was no longer the Xu An who could only watch Gou Dan die before her eyes.
Now, she had her mother by her side, and her close friend Zhou Haimei.
She even possessed a cheat-like spatial ability.
Therefore, when faced with these people once more, Xu An felt no fear.
As soon as Xu An confirmed that the man had indeed consumed that substance, she quickly devised a series of schemes targeting him.
Diverting trouble was just one of them.
Their objective was simple: to instigate conflict within the convenience store and then escalate it.
Then, amidst the chaos, they would take Xu Yan and Yue Yue with them.
Of course, Xu An's claim about the zombies coming was not a joke; it was the truth.
They had actually opened that vial of agent.
Even though Xu An and Zhou Haimei had carefully calculated the dosage, they themselves were unsure how many zombies it would attract.
If you're going to put on a show, go all the way.
Without the actual zombies arriving, how could the scene appear more realistic?
As everyone was arguing heatedly, heavy footsteps could be heard in the distance.
It sounded like countless ants crawling, a dense multitude, emitting low growls.
Xu An's expression changed, and Zhou Haimei was also startled.
"An'an, I have a feeling we've gone a bit too far."
Xu An's eyesight was much sharper than ordinary people's, so she could see and hear much more clearly than Zhou Haimei.
Zhou Haimei's worry was justified. When Xu An saw the dense horde of zombies a kilometer away, even she felt her scalp tingle.
"It seems we really have gone too far."
Xu An didn't dare to delay, she even forgot about acting.
"Stop arguing, can't you hear that? Hurry and run, or do you want to become one of the zombies?"
While everyone was focused on the man with the scar, Xu An had secretly contacted Xu Yan.
She had also given Xu Yan a meeting point.
With that said, Xu An completely ignored the gazes of those around her and, pulling Zhou Haimei along, prepared to leave.
If this trend continued, that wave of zombie legion would flatten this place within an hour.
But at this moment, that peculiar mother and son duo suddenly rushed out.
"You two little jinxes, you think you can come and go as you please? It's all your fault, if you two hadn't shown up, this person wouldn't have died."
Everyone understood the woman's implication.
If this man hadn't died, there wouldn't have been any blood. If there was no blood, the zombies wouldn't have been attracted, and they wouldn't be in a situation where they had no place to stay.
Xu An looked coldly at the woman before her, her eyes icy, as if she were looking at a dead person.
She had heard from Liu Liu before that this woman's shamelessness was beyond belief.
She actually wanted to snatch food from Yue Yue, an eight-year-old child, to feed her own son, who was nearly thirty years old.
"Watch your mouth, or you won't know how you died."
Zhou Haimei stepped forward directly.
They knew what was about to happen. The most important thing now was to escape.
Yet, these sycophantic people were still trying to smear others and shift blame.
The woman was intimidated by Zhou Haimei's demeanor, but she quickly regained her composure.
Perhaps Xu An and Zhou Haimei's act of appearing weak had been too convincing.
So, when the woman saw that Zhou Haimei was just a young girl, she didn't take her seriously.
She immediately tried to grab Zhou Haimei's arm, her eyes filled with calculation.
"I don't care, this is all because of the two of you. You're not getting away with this."
Zhou Haimei's expression could no longer hide her impatience.
"Then what do you want?"
The woman, with the critical eye of someone haggling at a market, scrutinously appraised Zhou Haimei from head to toe.
"Since you're quite good-looking, why don't you come with my son, and hand over all the food you have."