At the moment the woman picked up the cleaver, Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli could have intervened, but neither of them did.
A tattooed woman, someone who believed in true love, wasn't worth saving.
After the woman hacked the tattooed woman to death with several blows, she collapsed to the ground.
Then she started sobbing.
Hearing the cries, several other women joined in wailing.
They wept for their tragic fates, for their uncertain futures.
Looking at this group of women, powerless to resist in the apocalypse, subjected to the abuse of others, Zhang Xiaoli felt a knot in her heart.
"Let's go after we've gathered our things," Qin Shilei didn't know how else to comfort them.
"I'd rather die," Zhang Xiaoli said, out of context.
"What are you thinking? If anyone's going to die, it'll be someone else," Qin Shilei patted Zhang Xiaoli's head and smiled.
"Mhm, will you help me kill them?"
"Of course, we kill anyone who messes with us."
"Good, scum like that, we'll kill every one we encounter."
Zhang Xiaoli, who usually wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken, now spoke of killing without a trace of emotion.
Leaving a small portion of their supplies for the other women, the pair headed to a restaurant on the food street.
It was almost five o'clock, and they planned to make something to eat here and also map out Zhang Xiaoli's route home.
The live fish in the restaurant hadn't been eaten by zombies.
Qin Shilei then released Xiaoqiang, feeding it its first meal of meat.
Xiaoqiang's wounds had already scabbed over, and in a few days, it would be soaring through the blue skies again.
After eating, the two sat down with a map to plan their route.
Zhang Xiaoli's home was in Tongquan City, Laishan Province, one province away from Ancheng, separated by Guangqing Province.
It was 1200 kilometers from their current location.
"Should we take the provincial road or the highway?"
Looking at the short distance on the map, Zhang Xiaoli felt a bit dejected.
"Both routes will be congested. The highway passes through more forests, and mutated animals are more terrifying than zombies. Let's take the provincial road."
The game-like system had only been in place for two days, yet eagles had evolved to be so formidable. Qin Shilei was wary of the forests along the highway.
After deciding on the route, Qin Shilei loaded about twenty to thirty motorcycles from a nearby motorcycle shop.
One of them, a "Thunder Dragon," could reach a maximum speed of 320 kilometers per hour.
Qin Shilei fell in love with it at first sight.
Unfortunately, the current road conditions wouldn't allow him to enjoy such a thrilling ride.
Ancheng University was located on the outskirts, and to the northwest was Guangqing Province.
After walking a long stretch of road blocked by abandoned cars, Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli finally found the provincial road to be relatively clear ahead.
A roar echoed as the Thunder Dragon was started.
"Hold on tight," Qin Shilei warned Zhang Xiaoli behind him.
"Mhm," Zhang Xiaoli leaned forward, tightly hugging Qin Shilei's waist.
Feeling the softness behind him, Qin Shilei's heart stirred, and he nearly crashed into a car that had been in an accident ahead.
There weren't many zombies on the road, but the numerous wrecked vehicles and abandoned cars prevented the Thunder Dragon from picking up speed.
The Thunder Dragon weaved left and right through the various vehicles.
Occasionally, they had to stop, dismount, and walk a short distance.
As for the zombies outside the cars, as long as they didn't impede their progress, they were ignored.
Two hours later, as dusk began to settle.
The pair arrived at Donglin Town, only to find they had traveled less than sixty kilometers.
Upon entering the town, Qin Shilei and the others felt it was eerily quiet.
"Why don't we see any zombies on the street?" Zhang Xiaoli looked around, but couldn't find the zombies that were everywhere else.
"Perhaps the people in this town have already killed all the zombies," Qin Shilei guessed.
"Ah, rats," Zhang Xiaoli pointed at a group of rats walking from the street corner and shouted.
"It's not even dark yet, and rats are swarming the streets. They're getting more and more brazen," Qin Shilei was also surprised by the boldness of the rats.
The group of rats stopped when they heard their voices and squeaked at Qin Shilei and the others.
A short bow instantly appeared in Qin Shilei's hand, and with a *whoosh*, he shot one of the rats.
The other rats then scattered.
"Let's go, we'll check out the supermarket in town."
There's never too much supplies, Qin Shilei started the Thunder Dragon and looked for the town's supermarket.
...
Huimin Supermarket.
An Qian took the instant noodles handed to her by Zhang Yong and began to eat them in small bites.
"I've eaten instant noodles for days. I'm about to puke every time I see them now."
Zhang Yong picked up his own bowl of instant noodles, stirring them aimlessly, but had no appetite.
"You don't want it? Then give it to me."
A boy of twelve or thirteen nearby, swallowing his saliva, reached out for the noodles.
"Get lost, who said I don't want it?" Zhang Yong waved him away grumpily.
"What's so great about you? If you hadn't saved Little Huz and the others, you wouldn't even get a seasoning packet," the boy muttered and walked away.
A woman nearby said apologetically, "Actually, there's still rice and flour in the supermarket, just not many vegetables. I thought the instant noodles tasted better, so I made them for you. Should I go and make some porridge for you right now?"
An Qian quickly interjected, "Aunt Zhang, don't bother. Instant noodles are fine."
Aunt Zhang politely said it again. Seeing An Qian insist, she walked away.
There was rice and flour in the supermarket, but not much gas. Making porridge specifically for them would be a waste.
The residential houses around the supermarket had gas, but without any special circumstances, no one was willing to leave the supermarket.
There were too many rats in the town; one could be bitten at any moment.
This afternoon, her son and some other children had run out to play and were almost eaten by a group of rats.
Fortunately, An Qian and the others had just arrived and driven away the rats, saving Little Huz and the others.
"Huz's father, Zhang Hu, is quite a man. He actually led the survivors in town to kill all the zombies!"
Donglin Town was the only human settlement they had encountered that was free of zombies, and Zhang Yong couldn't help but admire them.
"Zhang Hu, the police station chief, is indeed doing a good job," An Qian also had a lot of respect for that public servant.
"It's just that the group we encountered when we first entered town were the absolute worst. They were lusting after your beauty. If you hadn't pulled me back, I would have killed those scoundrels."
The thought of the leader's lewd remarks made Zhang Yong's anger surge.
"Are you talking about another group of people in town?"
An older woman nearby chimed in, "That group were originally a bunch of thugs. When the zombie outbreak occurred, while Director Zhang was leading us in resisting the zombies, they took over the police station and took the remaining firearms inside."
"Later, they somehow obtained a batch of machetes and other weapons, and robbed another supermarket in town."
"Now they're demanding that we join their group, and it's all because they're coveting the beautiful young women on our side."
Hearing that the group had firearms made An Qian very thankful that she hadn't come into conflict with them.
She should be thankful that a large swarm of rats happened to pass by at that moment, causing that group to leave in a hurry, giving them no chance to be lecherous.
At that moment, in the supermarket's finance office, a police officer was reporting to Director Zhang:
"Director Zhang, Fei Biao just sent us a message. He said the newly arrived woman offended him and demanded we hand her over, or else they would start a war with us."
"If we hand over the other party, they will give us a batch of machetes, and also a few powerful cats."