"Hurry up, open the door and let us in!" Zheng Lanxin, holding Tonton in her arms, nervously urged.
Although the zombies in the gas station had been cleared, the nearby banging on the door was still eerie and unsettling.
The two people inside the door exchanged glances. The male staff member hesitated for a moment but eventually opened the iron grille.
As soon as the door opened, Zheng Lanxin walked in with the child. Inside, there were rows of shelves with items placed somewhat haphazardly, but there were plenty of snacks and other goods.
"What would Tonton like to eat?" Zheng Lanxin asked lovingly.
Tonton, however, turned to look at Jianyi by the door. After receiving her nod of approval, she reached out with her small finger and pointed to the small raccoon yogurt in front of her.
With a warm smile, Zheng Lanxin took down the yogurt for the child to drink and then packed the rest into her backpack as if taking her own belongings, completely natural.
The male staff member, seeing this, was at a loss for words, but Chen Junsheng interrupted his thoughts.
"We need to clean up those monsters outside. Care to join us?" Chen Junsheng extended an invitation with an indifferent expression that left no room for refusal.
With a somewhat youthful face, it was clear that he wasn't very old. But when those dark eyes looked over, the male staff member's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, feeling like he was being stared at by a wild animal.
Uncomfortably, he averted his gaze from those eyes, looking towards the bodies of the monsters in the gas station. After taking a deep breath, he nodded.
"There are carts for hauling goods in the store. I'll go get one."
"That would be great." Chen Junsheng smiled at him, releasing an air of friendliness that didn't seem very sincere to Jianyi.
In her eyes, Chen Junsheng's fake and insincere smile was worse than not smiling at all. Seeing how frightened he had made the man, she couldn't help but find it amusing.
Inside the store, there were only the male and female survivors. The shelves were either collapsed or the goods were scattered around, and there was no third person.
Long Xiaohu settled his mother in the store, and together with Chen Junsheng, they went out to deal with the monster corpses. Chen Junsheng had said they needed to bury them, and Long Xiaohu quickly added, "I have a few tools in my truck. I'll go check if there's a shovel. I remember there should be one; I wanted to plant a small fruit tree on the roof before..."
Muttering to himself, he climbed into the pickup's bed and indeed found the shovel he had left there before, along with a small hoe. In addition, there was his usual toolbox with most of the maintenance tools, as well as two spare tires.
Seeing these tools, Long Xiaohu felt much more at ease. With these tools in hand, he wasn't afraid of not surviving. Even if he had to repair cars for a living, he could still make ends meet.
The three men worked together. Long Xiaohu dug a pit in the small empty space next to the gas station, while Chen Junsheng and the male staff member handled the monster corpses.
These creatures had very tenacious vitality. Even if they had only one head left, they would still stare at you with hungry eyes and occasionally startle the male staff member.
Chen Junsheng chuckled when he saw this and asked, "What's your name?"
"I'm Zhang Ming, and you?"
"I'm Chen Junsheng, and this is Long Xiaohu." Chen Junsheng introduced himself and then gestured towards the tall, sturdy young man working in the open space.
Zhang Ming nodded, smiled at him, and seemed to feel that working together had brought them closer, so he became less guarded.
"Where do you guys plan to go?" Zhang Ming tentatively asked.
Chen Junsheng shook his head and said, "We don't know. It's not safe in the city right now, but we also don't know where we can go. We'll take it step by step. Fortunately, this service area has food and drinks, so we should be able to stay for a few days."
"Are you planning to stay here?" Zhang Ming asked in surprise.
Chen Junsheng didn't answer, but he used the lever principle to flip the cart over and dumped the ugly monster corpses into the pit.
Long Xiaohu asked, "Can you still communicate with the outside world here?"
Zhang Ming sadly shook his head. "The phone lines are down, and the repair kit is in the employee's office next door, which has more than a dozen monsters inside."
No need to say more. Long Xiaohu sighed in disappointment and stopped talking.
The three of them worked together for nearly an hour before returning. They were covered in blood and the stench of the creatures. Both mothers were worried about their sons. One took out a bucket of drinking water for her son to wash up, while the other pushed her son back into the motorhome and quietly used her ability to fill the water tank with water, allowing her son to take a hot bath.
When they came back clean, it was already getting dark outside.
The store's electrical circuits had some issues, and Long Xiaohu, who had already eaten, took it upon himself to inspect the wiring.
Chen Junsheng surprised everyone by bringing a steaming bowl of clear noodle soup to Jianyi. The green onions were sprinkled on top of the noodles, emitting a tempting aroma. A perfectly fried egg covered the noodles, its yolk glistening with oil, making it look very appetizing.
Even Zheng Lanxin, who had already eaten her fill, couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. She watched her son serve Jianyi attentively, almost losing her breath with frustration.
"Can you still cook in your motorhome?" the young woman asked in astonishment.
Her name was Hao Zhenzhu, and she was an e-commerce business owner. When the virus outbreak occurred, she was on her way from her hometown to Yang City. However, halfway there, her husband suddenly turned violent, infecting her and her in-laws.
Hao Zhenzhu had been fortunate to be in the driver's seat at the time. She quickly parked the car at the service station and sought help while carrying her son.
But to her dismay, her son was infected as well, leaving only her as the sole survivor among her family of five. She was now trapped in this service station.
Among the monster corpses that Chen Junsheng and the others had buried earlier were her family members.
Seeing her gaze fixed on the large pit, silently shedding tears, Zhao Na, who had also lost her husband, empathized with her. She approached and struck up a conversation with her, and the two women quickly became acquainted.
When Hao Zhenzhu asked this question, Zhao Na also felt tempted. Having eaten cold food for so long, she longed for something hot.
The two of them stared hopefully, but Jianyi remained unmoved. She elegantly finished her noodles, leaving about half a bowl of soup, which she fed to Tonton. The steaming soup turned out to be even more delicious than they had imagined. Tonton, with a surprised and delighted smile, his cheeks plump and round, made Jianyi unable to resist gently hugging her and kneading her two soft, plump cheeks.
Chen Junsheng automatically cleaned up the dishes, and he brought a small solar-powered lamp from the motorhome to illuminate the increasingly dim store.
"You're really well-prepared," Hao Zhenzhu said in a teasing tone, still upset that she hadn't tasted the hot noodle soup. Her mood was surprisingly good, considering she hadn't had a sip.
Jianyi gave her a polite smile, and Hao Zhenzhu could only roll her eyes in frustration, sitting in a chair and speaking quietly to Zhao Na, who was sitting across from her.
"Sister, are you tired? I'll go get the folding bed and set it up. You can sleep in the store tonight," Chen Junsheng said as if he were asking for Jianyi's opinion, but he had already begun to act according to this arrangement.
While the bed in the motorhome was undoubtedly comfortable, the store was safer. Chen Junsheng didn't want her in a dangerous place.