After leaving the compound, Su Shuang’er and Mu Yingying did not leave the town immediately. Instead, they drove their newly acquired black SUV to the shops on the edge of town. They had abandoned all their supplies earlier to escape with their lives, so they needed to find some food and water.
The SUV came to a smooth stop in front of a small supermarket. Mu Yingying turned off the engine and pushed open the door, a solid steel pipe gripped in her hand. Su Shuang’er followed her out, her hands encased in the cold, metallic gleam of the Alloy Fighting Gauntlets.
The two of them pushed the bicycle inside. The glass door of the convenience store stood wide open, and the interior was dimly lit. They walked in cautiously, only to find that the shelves were remarkably well-preserved. Though covered in a thick layer of dust, rows of mineral water, vacuum-packed cooked food, beef jerky, and even several unopened boxes of self-heating hot pots lay there quietly.
Mu Yingying’s eyes lit up. She found a large hiking bag and prepared to stuff things inside. However, Su Shuang’er did not move. She had been bending over with her plump rear tilted up, ready to pack, but when she saw the dust on the food packaging, her brow furrowed deeply and her movements stopped.
Looking at the large, fleshy rear dazing out in front of her, Mu Yingying’s hand itched. She reached out and gave it a direct slap.
*Slap!*
The elasticity was incredible!
“What are you doing!? Do you want to die, Yingying!?”
Su Shuang’er jumped in fright. After realizing it was Mu Yingying, she glared at her in shame and annoyance.
Mu Yingying, fearing a punch, quickly smiled apologetically. “Good Frost, don’t just stand there dazing. Let’s finish searching and get out of here. I feel like this place is dangerous, so I was just giving you a little wake-up call.”
“Yingying, do you feel the danger too?” Su Shuang’er’s voice was very low.
“Yes, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from yet,” Mu Yingying nodded.
“Don’t you think… it’s too strange here?” Su Shuang’er looked around, pointing at the dust-covered supplies. “It’s been a while since the Apocalypse broke out. There are clearly so many ordinary survivors in this town driven mad by hunger. Just now, those people were willing to attract zombies just to fight over a piece of moldy bread.”
Su Shuang’er’s fingertips lightly brushed across a shelf, picking up a smudge of dust. “If that’s the case, why hasn’t this well-stocked convenience store been looted by survivors? There isn’t even the shadow of a single zombie. And where did those zombies come from?”
As soon as those words were spoken, Mu Yingying’s muscles tensed instantly. Indeed, in the doomsday, anything abnormal was an omen of evil.
At the same time, White Night felt a surge of palpitations. It was a shiver coming from the depths of his soul, as if he were being stared down by some terrifying existence.
**[Auntie Frost. Auntie Ying. Move faster, get out of here. I feel like this place is wrong.]**
White Night’s voice rang out urgently in their minds, carrying a slight tremor.
**[My feeling is that this place is getting weirder and weirder.]**
“Pack the things quickly. We’ll grab some food and water and leave immediately,” Su Shuang’er decided decisively.
The two were not fools. In the Apocalypse, greed often invited death. They quickly filled two hiking bags, pushed White Night along, and rushed out of the convenience store without looking back, diving into the SUV.
*Vroom—*
Mu Yingying stepped on the gas. The engine let out a low roar, and the massive vehicle surged forward.
Just as the SUV had traveled less than 100 meters away from the commercial street, the originally clear sky suddenly darkened. It wasn’t that dark clouds were obscuring the sun, but rather a thick, black mist that permeated the entire town.
“Damn it, the fog is rolling in.” Mu Yingying jerked the steering wheel and turned on the headlights.
But those two powerful beams of light could only penetrate a distance of less than five meters. The familiar abandoned streets and dilapidated buildings were all swallowed by the black mist, leaving nothing but darkness and silence.
A chill slowly crawled up their spines and into their brains.
“The Eerie Black Fog…” Su Shuang’er’s face was pale, her fists clenched tight.
“That bastard Wang Ziming.” Mu Yingying gritted her teeth, her hands gripping the steering wheel. “Did he sense the danger ahead of time and run away with the core convoy? Never mind. I remember the road. We’re leaving now. We can’t get trapped in this hellhole.”
The SUV moved slowly but steadily through the thick fog. Ten minutes, twenty minutes…
Cold sweat broke out on Mu Yingying’s forehead. Her sense of direction was excellent. Based on their speed and the time elapsed, they should have driven out of this small town long ago. However, outside the windows, there was still nothing but the endless black mist.
*Screech—*
Mu Yingying slammed on the brakes, and the black SUV came to a halt in the fog.
“What’s wrong?” Su Shuang’er asked alertly.
Mu Yingying pointed to a broken road sign on the left side of the window, her voice dry. “We’re… going in circles. This sign that says Zhennan Road is the third time I’ve seen it. We’ve hit a Ghost Wall; this entire space has been folded.”
White Night, in the trunk, listened with a racing heart.
**[Auntie Ying, try driving to the right. There seems to be light over there.]**
White Night had suddenly and keenly captured a slight abnormality deep within the black mist. Mu Yingying bit her lip, jerked the steering wheel, and drove to the right.
As the car moved forward, the black mist ahead miraculously began to thin out. But in its place was a scene that made everyone’s skin crawl.
In the center of the dense fog, where there should have been a deserted civic square, a massive hotel now stood out of thin air. It was a European-style building that looked very luxurious and was brilliantly lit. The magnificent lights poured out from huge floor-to-ceiling windows and crystal chandeliers, actually forcing the rolling black mist back by over a dozen meters, forming an eerie vacuum zone.
Melodious classical jazz music drifted faintly from inside the entrance, creating an absurd contrast with the silence of the Apocalypse.
“What… what kind of ghost thing is this?” Mu Yingying’s eyes widened, her throat tightening.
If the black mist represented unknown danger, then this clean, tidy, luxury hotel abruptly appearing in the center of the ruins represented true horror. In this doomsday where Weirdness ran rampant, the more perfect and warm something appeared, the more lethal it usually was.
**[Don’t go over there… Auntie Frost, Auntie Ying, whatever you do, don’t go near it.]**
White Night’s voice trembled violently in their minds.
**[The feeling this hotel gives me is that it’s waiting for prey to walk into its trap.]**
Su Shuang’er took a deep breath, forcing down the fear in her heart. “Yingying, turn around. We’ll keep looking for an exit in the fog. Even if we starve to death in the mist, we cannot enter this hotel.”
“Okay.”
Mu Yingying shifted into reverse and stepped on the gas. The SUV plunged back into the thick black fog.
Half an hour later, the SUV’s lights pierced the mist, and that magnificent hotel appeared once again directly in their field of vision. No matter how Mu Yingying changed her route or direction, ten minutes later, they would always return to this square, back to the front of this hotel’s entrance.
When they returned for the third time, they found they were not alone. On the wide square in front of the hotel, twenty or thirty survivors had already gathered.
What was most eye-catching were the familiar black off-road vehicle and heavy truck parked in the center of the square. Wang Ziming had not abandoned everyone and fled; he was here too.
Mu Yingying parked the SUV next to the off-road vehicle. She lowered the window halfway and looked at the grim-faced Wang Ziming outside, her tone mocking. “Oh? If it isn’t Boss Wang. Where’s your Navigator?”
Wang Ziming adjusted his cracked gold-rimmed glasses. His usual composure had vanished without a trace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave everyone trapped here either. This Eerie Black Fog erupted directly without any warning.”
Wang Ziming’s face was unsightly. “Now… we are all trapped. I hope we can work together to overcome this difficulty.”
Many survivors echoed his sentiment. Mu Yingying rolled her eyes; this guy was really good at playing the “good person.”
Right then, accompanied by the melodious jazz music, the hotel’s massive, ornate brass glass doors slowly swung open to both sides.
*Creak—*
Everyone’s gaze was instantly drawn toward it, and the hair on their bodies stood on end. Two Waitresses in red uniforms walked out from inside the doors.
They were tall, wearing spotless hotel uniforms with their hands folded over their lower abdomens in an elegant posture. What was hair-raising was that these two Waitresses looked exactly the same, as if they had been carved from the same mold. Even the expressions on their faces were identical.
The corners of their mouths were pulled up into a stiff arc, revealing eight neat, white teeth. Their eyes were entirely black, with no distinction between pupil and sclera. They simply smiled, quietly watching the crowd on the square.
“Honored guests, good evening.”
The two Waitresses spoke simultaneously. Their voices were sweet and clear, but their tone lacked any inflection, like perfect dolls with preset programs.
“Welcome to the Abyss Inn. The wind is strong and the fog is thick outside. Please enter the hotel, guests. We will provide you with the most sumptuous dinner and the most comfortable dining environment.”
The square was deathly silent. No one dared to move. Even those survivors whose stomachs were growling with hunger did not dare to take a single step toward the warmly lit restaurant inside.
Any fool knew there was danger. Once they stepped through that door, there would likely be no chance to turn back.
“Can… can you tell us how to get out?” a female survivor asked boldly, her voice trembling.
The smiles on the two Waitresses’ faces did not change in the slightest; even the arc of their mouths did not shift by a single millimeter.
“Please come inside to dine, guests,” they repeated mechanically.
This unknown fear finally crushed the nerves of some.
“To hell with this! What kind of trickery is this!?” A punk with yellow hair and a violent temper pulled out a machete and roared as he stepped forward. “I’m asking you how to get out! Do you not understand human speech!? Do you think I won’t hack you to pieces!?”
He shouted as he raised the knife, trying to use violence to mask the terror in his heart.