Night of the Apocalypse

“Let’s look for food. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here, so we need to survive first,” Shen Qiu replied quietly, keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings.

“Mm-hmm,” Tang Kexin nodded.

Two hours later, Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin were hiding around the corner of a building, watching a supermarket on the street ahead.

Neither of them made a move.

Clank, clank!

Two cleaning robots patrolled past.

Shen Qiu waited silently until the robots had moved farther away. He then gestured to Tang Kexin and, holding his breath, they carefully made their way toward the convenience store, needing to enter through the open front door.

Even though the patrolling cleaners were far away, if one were to suddenly appear from around a corner, they would be in danger.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin successfully snuck inside.

Inside the convenience store, half of the shelves had been destroyed, and the floor was cluttered with all sorts of items.

Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin didn’t start searching immediately; instead, they hid behind a shelf and carefully observed for any cameras and the situation outside.

After confirming that there were no anomalies, Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin began to assess the convenience store.

“Water!”

Tang Kexin pointed to several bottles of mineral water rolling on the floor not far away.

“Keep an eye on the outside!”

After instructing her, Shen Qiu dashed over and quickly grabbed five bottles of water.

He handed two bottles to Tang Kexin.

Tang Kexin took the bottles and inspected them carefully before saying, “The seals are good; drinking these should be fine.”

Shen Qiu couldn’t worry about much else at that moment—he was hungry, tired, and thirsty. He immediately twisted open a bottle.

Gulugulu~

He drank it all in one go.

After finishing the water, although his stomach was still very hungry, he felt a significant boost in energy from the hydration.

At this point, Tang Kexin also opened a bottle, but unlike Shen Qiu, she didn’t seem as thirsty and only drank a little.

Shen Qiu then looked up at the shelves around them and noticed many plastic-packaged snacks.

He grabbed a pack at random and tore it open!

Inside, there was only a pile of rotten food, and Shen Qiu raised an eyebrow.

He continued to take some other sealed items and opened them one by one!

As expected, they were all the same.

“Rotten. Judging by the level of decay, this city has been abandoned for at least several decades. Most of the food is probably spoiled. Even canned goods are likely to have gone bad; eating them could almost certainly lead to poisoning, unless they’re military rations.”

Tang Kexin glanced at the opened packs and then said.

Upon hearing her words, Shen Qiu responded, “I understand.”

“What are you going to do next? Are you going to look for military rations?”
Tang Kexin gazed at Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu put the remaining two bottles of water into his backpack, paused for a few seconds, and then said, “Don’t even think about it. Trying to find military rations in this city is like chasing a fantasy. Any blind confidence and wishful thinking is utterly foolish. And don’t delude yourself into thinking you can defeat them; in the face of absolute firepower, all beings are equal! There are no exceptions; even we could be shot down in seconds.”

“What should we do then?”

“I want to try to go back to the area where we first appeared.”

“That area is the most dangerous; there are likely many enemies entrenched there. Going back could easily be walking into a trap.”

“I know, but if there’s anywhere in this city where we can find food, it has to be that area. A large number of people were shot there. Some of those who were killed might have brought some supplies with them, so there’s a good chance we can find food. Most importantly, that area is where we started from. We might be able to find a way back from there, or at the very least, we might find clues.”

“Your analysis makes a lot of sense. Are we leaving now?”
Tang Kexin reminded softly.

“We’ll look for an opportunity to leave here and inch our way over. Then, when it’s completely dark, we’ll take a chance!”

Shen Qiu slowly stood up, peering out cautiously to observe the outside and quietly waiting for the patrolling clean-up robots to pass.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the two clean-up robots passed by again.

Shen Qiu silently timed the opportunity and then led the way out of the convenience store.

Tang Kexin nimbly followed behind him.

However, just a few meters after leaving the convenience store, a patrolling mini-drone suddenly flew past on the left side ahead. It stopped immediately, and its camera quickly locked onto Tang Kexin and Shen Qiu.

Tang Kexin heard the faint buzzing of the drone and abruptly looked around.

As soon as she spotted the drone, she shouted,
“We’re exposed!”

“Run!”

Shen Qiu felt a prickling sensation at the back of his head and immediately turned to run with Tang Kexin, veering into the residential area on the left side of the street.

He tried to use the complex terrain of the ruined neighborhood to shake it off.

However, the cleaner followed them closely like a sticky plaster.

No matter how Shen Qiu zigzagged, it was no use.

“We can’t shake it off, and the enemies around are probably on their way here,” Tang Kexin said to Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu found himself with no choice but to act. His expression changed as he looked at the gun in his hand.

He had checked the magazine earlier and found only three bullets left, and he had already fired three shots, so he was unsure if there were any bullets left in the chamber.

A hint of determination flashed in Shen Qiu’s eyes as he accelerated into a building, then exited through the back door, pressing himself against the rear wall and looking up at the sky.

Buzzing~

As Shen Qiu expected, the cleaner was still chasing them.

At the moment it appeared, Shen Qiu instantly pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The cleaner fell straight down.

“Awesome! Let’s hurry and run!”

Tang Kexin exclaimed, beaming at Shen Qiu.

“Wait, if I’m not mistaken, the enemies should be on their way here. We must take a gamble and go back, finding a more concealed place to hide. After the pursuing enemies have passed, we can leave.”

Shen Qiu shook his head in response.

“Okay! I’ll follow your lead.”

Tang Kexin didn’t waste any time.

Shen Qiu then ran a few steps forward and threw the gun into a more conspicuous spot.

After that, he led Tang Kexin back, looking for an inconspicuous residential building to hide in.

Just a short while after they hid inside, a large number of cleaner robots moved in from various directions, looking around before instinctively heading in the direction Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin had originally fled.

Inside the building, Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin crouched behind a cabinet, quietly listening to the sounds outside.

When everything finally fell silent, both of them let out a long sigh of relief.

“We’re safe for now,” Shen Qiu said wearily.

“Should we leave quickly?”

“Let’s hide here for a while longer and wait until it gets dark before we move. I have a very bad feeling about this.”

Shen Qiu said with a serious expression.

“What feeling?”

Tang Kexin asked curiously.

“The enemies we’re facing right now are probably the lowest level. But if we keep jumping around right under their noses, it might prompt them to raise their response level. At that point, we could attract more advanced enemies.”

Shen Qiu replied gravely.