Stockpiling Supplies&Raising a Child in a Post-Apocalyptic World by DrawingCards

Chapter 13

Lin Ran didn’t care about his reaction. She swung her sword at the zombie's neck, then kicked his chest hard, quickly extracting the sword and swinging it again. The male zombie soon collapsed, motionless.

The noise attracted the other four zombies, who began moving towards her. The convenience store's many shelves created a maze-like environment. As they moved forward, Lin Ran maneuvered around to their rear, slashing down on the last zombie from behind. Unprepared, the zombie fell quickly to her second blow.

By this time, the three remaining zombies had turned around, seemingly trying to determine if Lin Ran was one of them by her scent. Lin Ran didn’t give them time to think. She attacked, catching them off guard. Given her lack of a living person's scent, the zombies showed little interest in fighting back, allowing her to easily finish them off.

"Congratulations, host. So far, you've collected 50 zombie crystals. Keep it up!" the system's jarring voice rang out again.

But Lin Ran was exhausted. Despite her strength and fighting skills, she had used up most of her energy. Coupled with the revolting smell, she was on the brink of fainting.

She checked the small store once more to ensure no other zombies were present, then locked the door and barricaded it with two wooden chairs by the glass door. This way, she would know if someone broke in.

Lin Ran headed straight to the supermarket's bathroom, turned on the faucet, and started washing her face. Outside, she could endure the stench due to the extreme danger. Now, knowing she was temporarily safe, she felt the urge to vomit.

After rinsing her face with water, the smell remained strong. She took off her still-bleeding denim jacket, leaving only a black vest, her arms showing well-defined lines but no obvious muscles, giving an impression of strength.

However, Lin Ran wasn't in the mood to admire her physique. She pulled off her hair tie, smelling the strong stench from her hair. For the first time, she felt a breakdown coming. Even in her previous life, no mission had been this disgusting. No wonder the zombies ignored her; she reeked of blood and death. The mere act of breathing made her want to vomit.

Plain water couldn't wash away the stench, but she was in a supermarket. She grabbed facial cleanser, shampoo, and body wash, heading to the bathroom. After washing her hair four times with shampoo, the blood finally started to come out, and she began to feel a bit more like herself.

Immediately after, Lin Ran washed her face twice with facial cleanser, and after rinsing with clean water, she finally felt alive again.

She thought for a moment, then reopened the bathroom door and started rummaging through the small supermarket. This supermarket was open 24 hours, and there should be a place where the employees kept their clothes. She felt sticky and smelled bad, and she thought it might not be healthy to keep wearing clothes soaked with zombie blood, so she wanted to change her clothes as soon as possible.

She searched behind the counter and found a light baseball jacket. Lin Ran quickly put the jacket on the counter and continued searching, but this time she only found two short-sleeved shirts that looked like men's clothes, which she also placed on the counter.

Then Lin Ran walked further in, looking for an employee changing room, and she actually found one. There was a small door on the side of the counter, and when she opened it, the room inside was only about three square meters. One side had six sets of double-door metal lockers, and the other side barely had enough space for a person to stand.

Lin Ran checked and found that only two sets of lockers were unlocked; the rest were locked. Afraid of making too much noise and attracting more zombies, she only opened the two unlocked lockers. The third locker from the top seemed to belong to a male employee, with three different colored short-sleeved shirts inside, one of which was still in its packaging with the tags on.