I couldn't tell whether her smile was genuine or fake.
In any case, that smile of hers eased my troubled heart quite a bit.
"Hahaha, I'm going to die laughing! This guy is being bullied by Big Face Girl like a noodle! Mei Jing, you should look at this, I have another one here, it'll definitely make you laugh until your stomach hurts!"
Suddenly, Yangyang burst into exaggerated laughter, startling me quite a bit.
Noticing our gazes, Yangyang sheepishly shrunk his neck, casually tossing another book to Mei Jing.
Yangyang flashed me a grin, then quickly turned around and ran to join Suo Tian and the others to continue reading the comic, probably afraid I would stop him.
I helplessly shook my head.
At times like this, how could I not let him read comics?
The next morning, when I got up, Shen Xue had already cooked a big pot of porridge on the induction stove.
At breakfast, Shen Feng looked at his bowl of porridge in disbelief and joked with us, "I can't believe Xiao Xue made breakfast for all of us, I really can't believe it. Do you guys think I'm still dreaming?"
"Brother!" Shen Xue called out unhappily.
Zheng Rongrong was wrapped in layers of clothes like a ball, stretching her neck with great difficulty to drink the porridge.
Mei Jing pulled her sleeve back and turned to Suo Tian, asking, "When we act later, should we go together or split up?"
Suo Tian, holding a piece of biscuit, glanced at her and replied, "Split up, to save time."
"Have you and Shen Feng decided on where you're going yet?"
"Yeah, it's pretty much settled. When we meet up with Brother Li's group later, we'll discuss the details." Shen Feng, having burned his mouth with the porridge, spoke with a lisp.
"If it's inconvenient, don't bother getting me maternity clothes. I can wear the loose clothes from Wang Jun's side." Lili looked at me with some concern.
Because I had told her before bed yesterday that I would find her some maternity cotton clothes today.
Even though times were tough now and we lived in constant fear, a mother carrying a child shouldn't be neglected.
"It's fine, don't worry~ It won't take long. Right now, you should focus on taking care of yourself and getting strong to welcome the little baby. Leave the rest to us." I smiled at her.
"But... Wang Jun and I are freeloading here, eating and drinking for free. We've been causing you all this trouble and haven't been able to help with anything..." Lili felt a bit embarrassed.
"Since you say it like that, Big Sister-in-law, we..." Yin Shangtang and Jun Di, who were nearby, lowered their heads with a bit of discouragement.
"Alright, alright, stop saying things like that. In times like these, why bother with such thoughts? As long as we can live happily together, everything will be worth it."
As soon as I finished speaking, Shen Xue quickly chimed in, "We're a family, so don't talk like we're strangers. Shang Tang, Didi, if you feel like you can't help, you two can train with Brother Suo Tian. After some time, you can go out and fight walkers, right?"
"Don't call me 'Didi' like that." Jun Di's face turned a bit red.
"Alright, let's get going." Suo Tian finished his last bite of biscuit and scanned the room.
It seemed like every time Li Jianguo's group sent people out to fight, there was always Li Jiaqiang and Blondie.
To be honest, I admire Li Jianguo for this—he and Sister Sun are quite fair in this regard.
Blondie is Sister Sun's son, and Li Jiaqiang is Li Jianguo's brother—both are their blood relatives.
But they didn't give them special treatment by keeping them in safe places.
Instead, they sent them out to the front lines, fighting for everyone and bringing back supplies.
In this sense, they've done better than I have.
Li Jiaqiang and the others brought six people with them, and we had four, making a total of ten.
Suo Tian divided us into two groups:
Group 1 : He, Mei Jing, Gu Hui, Shuang Zi, and Blondie in one group.
Group 2 : Me, Shen Feng, Li Jiaqiang, and two others named Zhao Hui and Wang Yongqiang in the other.
Zhao Hui used to be a high school PE teacher.
He's tall and looks like he could be a good helper.
After Suo Tian confirmed the route with us, we set off immediately.
This time, we didn't take Jun Di's sports car.
Suo Tian and Mei Jing's group went to the county's biggest bedding store to get quilts, while we went to a down jacket specialty store.
Both stores were not far from the shopping mall we had been at before.
When the car set off, Wang Yongqiang, who was new to the group, seemed a little nervous.
He drank a whole bottle of water along the way.
Li Jiaqiang and the other big guys clearly didn't know how to comfort him, so I had to keep cheering him up.
"Brother Wang, those walkers move so slowly, and they don't know how to fight back. With your build, it's basically one strike per walker, smoother than slaughtering a chicken. Look at me, I'm only about 1.6 meters tall, and I can knock them down. You're even bigger, so why be scared?"
Wang Yongqiang wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked me up and down: "Little sister, everyone has their first time. It's just that I'm not sure about this, you know?"
"Don't worry about that. We've got so many people, and we all have weapons in hand. Just stick behind us and watch how we deal with them. I guarantee you'll learn it in no time."
Li Jiaqiang turned around and smiled at us, saying, "Yongqiang, our Miss Chen is quite skilled. She cuts down walkers faster than us, so make sure to watch closely and learn well."
Shen Feng, who was driving, glanced at us through the rearview mirror with a smile: "Our Chen Yang may be tough, but let's not treat her like a man."
"Hahaha," everyone in the car laughed, and Wang Yongqiang joined in.
His nervous tension seemed to have eased a little.
The car soon arrived at the destination.
The down jacket store was located in a pedestrian street just to the right of the shopping mall.
The street was quite wide, with stores on both sides selling bags, clothes, and shoes.
Normally, this place would be bustling with people.
Since the two locations weren't too far apart, Suo Tian's group and ours parked the cars along the side of the road.
The bedding store was not far from the pedestrian street, facing the main road.
After exchanging greetings, the groups split up and headed to their respective destinations.
The pedestrian street was very quiet.
It was a narrow alley, clean and empty with no walkers in sight.
Most of the shops had their doors closed, but a few were open, and inside, it was a mess.
As we passed by, we could faintly hear the cries of walkers inside.
We didn't intend to provoke them and walked straight toward the down jacket store.
From a distance, we could see the glass doors of the shop, with shards of glass scattered on the ground.
The once closed door had long lost its function.
Shen Feng and I exchanged a glance, then turned around to signal to Li Jiaqiang and the others to cover our backs.
After that, we quickly moved into the store, one in front and one behind.
Inside the store, clothes and racks were scattered everywhere, obstructing our view.
Before we could fully survey the store, I almost tripped over a rack on the ground, stumbling forward several steps before finally stopping.
At the same time, the scattered racks I bumped into emitted a sharp scraping noise, which startled me, causing me to catch my breath.
Shen Feng glanced at me, and after I gave him a reassuring look, he turned his attention back to carefully inspecting the store.
It was a while before he turned back to us and nodded, saying, "It's safe. Hurry, grab the items, as many as you can."
Except for Wang Yongqiang, who stood guard at the entrance, the rest of us quickly grabbed down jackets from the racks that hadn't fallen over.
While I was grabbing a jacket from a rack, I noticed the price tag.
It wasn't cheap, and I wondered how much profit the owner made per jacket.
But right now, we didn't have to pay for any of this.
I guess this was one of the few perks of life at the moment.
Soon, each of us had several large bags of clothes.
The down jackets were lightweight, so carrying them wasn't too strenuous.
Just as we were about to head out, Wang Yongqiang, who had been standing at the entrance, nervously pointed toward the alley and said, "W-walkers... there's... there's a lot..."
As soon as he finished speaking, I heard the snarls of the walkers, and just by the sound, I could tell there were quite a few of them.
Damn it, they must have followed the vehicle here!
"Quick! Drop the stuff, let's take them out first!"
I tossed the bags of clothes I was holding aside, drew my dagger, and shouted at them, while quickly running toward the door.
The moment I looked out, my scalp tingled in fear!
Why are there so many?!
At least dozens of walkers had already flooded into the alley, and more were still trickling in from behind.
"Retreat! Retreat! There are too many, we can't kill them all!"
Shen Feng shouted, retreating to the other side.
Li Jiaqiang and the others didn't put down what they were carrying, instead grabbing their things and quickly running toward the exit on the other side of the alley with Shen Feng.
I didn't follow them.
Instead, I ran back into the store to grab the bags of clothes I had left behind on the floor.
By the time I came back out, the first few walkers had already reached the door.
I quickly freed one hand and swung my dagger, taking down the two nearest walkers.
However, the rest of them surged forward like a tidal wave.
Looking at the blocked door, I regretted it so much.
Chen Yang, you fool, for two bags of clothes, you didn't even care about your life!
I dropped what I was holding and was forced to retreat.
The toppled shelves inside the store had become my saving grace, tripping up the walkers at the front.
Taking this chance, I quickly backed away, trying to find a fitting room or somewhere I could hide.
I believed that if Shen Feng and the others didn't see me, they would come back to save me.
I ran to the very back of the store and, to my surprise, found a small attic with a retractable ladder.
By this time, the walkers were gradually catching up, growling and crashing into the shelves, making a racket.
I didn't dare look back and quickly climbed up the retractable ladder, reaching a small square opening at the top.
Just as I was about to pull my legs up, one of the walkers grabbed my foot from below.
I was so scared that all the blood in my body seemed to freeze.
Instinctively, I struggled and managed to free my foot after some effort.
But the ground below was already surrounded by walkers.
The retractable ladder wouldn't come back down.
And now, some of the walkers had started to climb up the ladder.
Damn it! These things can climb ladders too!
I gripped my dagger tightly, my eyes locked on the walkers below.
This place was easy to defend but hard to attack, and the small entrance wouldn't allow many walkers to climb up at once.
All I needed to do was take down each walker one by one!