Directly across from the steakhouse was a cozy book café. Tang Cheng pushed the door open and walked in.
Let’s find something to eat first. After all that running earlier, he was starting to feel hungry again.
“Hey, Brother Zhang Pi, that zombie punk ran into the store across the street!” Li Dan called out warily as he watched Tang Cheng walk into the shop next door.
“No problem. As long as he doesn’t come in here, we’re fine.” Zhang Pi waved his stick with a showy air and said with bravado, “Once he turns into a zombie, I’ll smash his head in with one swing!”
Standing by the door, Tang Wanyue still looked toward the store where the boy had disappeared, her expression full of guilt.
“What are you staring at? Take your damn medical kit already!” Zhang Pi snapped as he shoved the box toward her, clearly annoyed to see her still standing there.
“O-Okay…” Tang Wanyue took the medical kit with trembling hands and quickly retreated to the back.
“Little miss, give me the medical kit.”
The female veterinarian took the kit from Tang Wanyue, then noticed that it contained blood bags of various types, along with AB antigen serum.
“This kid really came prepared. He even brought AB serum for blood typing. I was just worried I wouldn’t know this guy’s blood type.”
Unable to stop herself from giving Tang Cheng some credit, the vet began disinfecting the wounded man’s injury, removing shrapnel, bandaging the wound, and rigging up the transfusion equipment to begin emergency treatment for shock.
The veterinarian’s name was Wu Mei. She was a pet doctor—usually she just administered vaccines to sick dogs and such.
“Will… will he survive?” Tang Wanyue asked worriedly, watching the uncle on the ground who was barely clinging to life.
“That’s up to him now. But honestly, the odds aren’t good…” Wu Mei looked grimly at the man, who had already fallen into shock. In times like these, food and water were scarce enough—serious injuries like this were rarely survivable.
Tang Wanyue’s eyes filled with guilt as she carefully tended to the unconscious man.
When the zombie outbreak started, Tang Wanyue had been in this very department store buying props for the student council’s upcoming event. The two classmates who came with her were already dead. She had survived only by hiding in the steakhouse on the second floor.
Wu Mei and the other five survivors had also taken refuge here. The steakhouse kitchen had bottled water and some food supplies, allowing them to stay alive for over a week.
That is, until today—two convicts escaped from prison and barged in. Armed with guns, they immediately set their sights on the beautiful Tang Wanyue. The bespectacled uncle had tried to save her, only to get shot in the right leg and fall into a pool of blood.
What followed was Tang Cheng’s heroic rescue, just moments ago.
“I wonder who that student was…” Tang Wanyue looked toward the store across the street, trying to recall Tang Cheng’s face.
She hadn’t dared to look too closely earlier—Tang Cheng’s left profile was so terrifying that it had startled her badly.
Meanwhile, Tang Cheng was quite at ease inside the store. It was a high-end book café, and he found plenty of coffee beans, tea leaves, and snacks stored in the back refrigerator. Feeling indulgent, he began brewing himself a cup of coffee. Since the building had no running water, he had to use bottled mineral water to boil it.
“Even if I’m destined to become a zombie in the end, I should at least enjoy a cup of coffee and some bread—experience what it’s like to be rich, right?”
After brewing the coffee, Tang Cheng crossed one leg over the other and casually pulled a comic book off the shelf.
Since it was a book café, the shelves flanking the seats were filled with all kinds of books—from literary classics to science and tech books, and quite a few manga as well.
“Whoa, it’s the latest issue of ‘Fallen into Another World as Her Royal Highness’s Slave’!”
He checked the update date—just one week ago.
“Sigh, I wonder if the author, Ye Xiaoxing, has already been bitten by zombies…”
Worried for the author’s fate, Tang Cheng eagerly opened the comic. This chapter just happened to be when the male lead unleashed his ultimate magic spell—Iceburst Abandon-Heal Slash!
“What the hell?”
“The male lead actually suffocated under Her Majesty the Queen’s chest clamp…”
Is the author asking to get bombarded with razor blades? (TL note: Refers to angry fans sending “razor blades” as a meme.)
Just as Tang Cheng was about to turn the page, a loud argument suddenly erupted from the steakhouse across the street. The noise of chairs being overturned quickly followed.
“What the hell is with all the yelling? Can’t a guy enjoy his chest clamp in peace—wait, I mean, can’t a guy read a book in peace?!”
Frustrated, Tang Cheng walked out of the café.
Inside the steakhouse, the two young thugs were now savagely beating a balding middle-aged man on the ground with sticks.
“Ahhh! Stop hitting me! Please stop!” the man begged, curled up on the floor and shielding his head.
“You still dare to fight us over water? From now on, we decide who gets to drink!” Zhang Pi declared, pointing to the last remaining half-barrel of bottled water beside him, posturing like a gang boss.
“From now on, this water is under our control!” Li Dan shouted, waving his stick to intimidate the others.
“Why should you two be in charge?” a woman cried out in anger. She clutched a nearly empty bottle and glared at them. “We’re left with barely any water, while you two hoard more than half a barrel. What gives you the right?!”
This was the same woman who had lost her husband earlier.