“What are you doing?”
Jiang Yanxin panicked the moment she saw Chen Wan pick up Yang Yang.
Yang Yang was her biggest motivation to keep going in this world.
Without Yang Yang, Jiang Yanxin might have given up long ago.
Yang Yang pouted, tears welling up in her eyes, but she held back from crying loudly, only daring to whimper softly.
“Mommy, please don’t throw Yang Yang away, okay? Yang Yang will be good, won’t eat a lot, and won’t be naughty. Mommy, don’t give Yang Yang to the monsters, Yang Yang is scared~” After living in such an environment for over three months, even a child had learned not to make loud noises, as it would attract monsters.
Jiang Yanxin had stopped the original owner from throwing Yang Yang away several times, but it had left a deep psychological scar on Yang Yang.
So when Chen Wan picked her up, Yang Yang instinctively thought she was going to be thrown away again.
Chen Wan hadn’t expected the child to be so understanding.
She softened her tone and said to Yang Yang, “I’m not going to throw you away. You’re still small and walk too slowly. Mommy is afraid that if bad people come, they’ll catch us. If I carry you, we can move faster. We need to leave here quickly.”
Chen Wan was explaining to Yang Yang, but also to Jiang Yanxin.
She had noticed that Jiang Yanxin could no longer carry Yang Yang, so she quickly picked her up.
After all, they were running for their lives.
“Let’s go.”
Chen Wan said, holding Yang Yang and glancing at Jiang Yanxin.
Jiang Yanxin looked at Chen Wan with suspicion.
She felt that Chen Wan was acting particularly strange tonight, almost like a different person.
But given the current situation, she didn’t have time to think too much.
Following Chen Wan might be their only chance of survival, so she hurriedly followed her.
Fortunately, this area had been cleared of zombies by Zhang Qiang’s people once before.
Apart from the zombie they encountered earlier, they didn’t run into any more.
After about ten minutes, the three of them arrived in front of a tall building.
The building still had some pre-apocalypse advertisements, faintly visible in the moonlight.
Most of the nearby low-rise buildings had been burned down to their skeletons, with a few intact residential buildings remaining, but they didn’t seem safe either.
Chen Wan had two options: find a place to hide outside the building, avoiding the unknown risks inside but risking being discovered by Zhang Qiang’s people, or enter the building and find a place to hide, though she couldn’t be sure what dangers awaited inside.
Chen Wan thought for a few seconds.
She didn’t have time to waste.
Clearly, entering the building offered a higher chance of survival and the possibility of finding some supplies.
With that in mind, she decisively entered the building.
She and Jiang Yanxin tried to keep their footsteps as quiet as possible.
The entire building was pitch black, and even Jiang Yanxin couldn’t help but move closer to Chen Wan, slightly tugging on her sleeve.
Chen Wan activated the system’s scanning function, carefully observing her surroundings while trying not to make any noise.
She led Jiang Yanxin up to the fourth floor via the emergency exit stairs.
In the corridor, they encountered two zombies.
Thanks to the system’s scanning function, Chen Wan handed Yang Yang to Jiang Yanxin, whispered “shh,” and then cautiously approached the two slow-moving zombies with an axe.
The closer zombie was a female.
It was unclear what had happened to her, but her neck was twisted to one side with a large wound.
She moved very slowly.
Chen Wan took advantage of the wound on her neck and swung the axe down, decapitating the zombie.
Her body collapsed to the ground.
However, the noise alerted a tall male zombie near the fourth-floor emergency door.
He turned and slowly approached Chen Wan.
Fortunately, the initial zombies moved slowly and weren’t much of a threat.
Chen Wan waited until he was on the landing between the third and fourth floors before kicking him in the chest.
Unfortunately, her current body was very weak, and the kick only pushed the zombie against the wall.
Taking advantage of this, Chen Wan gripped the axe handle tightly and swung it at the zombie’s neck.
But the male zombie’s skin was tough.
The axe only cut halfway through, getting stuck in the zombie’s spine.
Chen Wan tried to pull it out but couldn’t.
The male zombie had regained his footing and was reaching for Chen Wan.
Thinking quickly, she took off her jacket and wrapped it around the zombie’s outstretched arm.
She used all her strength to hold onto the jacket, preventing the zombie from breaking free.
With one foot braced against the zombie’s chest, she pulled the axe out with all her might.
Finally, using the leverage from her leg, she managed to free the axe, splattering foul-smelling blood everywhere and covering herself in it.
Worse, she slipped and fell to the ground.
Though the zombie moved slowly, it was close enough to Chen Wan that it lunged at her as she fell.
By the time Chen Wan realized what was happening, the zombie was already on top of her.
The stench was overwhelming, making her almost vomit.
The male zombie’s jaws were wide open, ready to bite her face.
Chen Wan couldn’t afford to be squeamish.
She used both hands to push against the zombie’s lower jaw, but its strength was too great.
Despite her combat training, she couldn’t maneuver with the zombie pinning her down.
She was running out of time.
Jiang Yanxin watched Chen Wan struggle with the zombie, her heart in her throat.
She disliked Chen Wan, but if Chen Wan died, she and her daughter likely wouldn’t survive long either.
Jiang Yanxin placed Yang Yang in a corner of the third-floor stairwell and whispered, “Yang Yang, stay here. Mommy is going to help.”
She knew the child was obedient and sensible, so without giving too many instructions, she grabbed a broken wooden stick from the corridor and quickly rushed to the platform between the third and fourth floors.
Jiang Yanxin saw that Chen Wan’s arm was already bulging with veins, knowing that if they waited any longer, the three of them might not survive.
She immediately raised the wooden stick in her hand and fiercely struck the zombie on the back of its neck.
It had only been three months since zombies appeared on Planet R2.
Fortunately, the zombies were still in the early stages and lacked intelligence.
The male zombie lying on the ground was no exception.
Being struck on the neck completely enraged him, and he slightly loosened his grip on Chen Wan’s shoulder, slowly standing up.
Jiang Yanxin also noticed the male zombie’s movements.
She ran up a few steps, looking down at the zombie from above, tightening her grip on the wooden stick.
Jiang Yanxin knew very well that the stick in her hand posed no real threat to the zombie.
If Chen Wan didn’t act, her own situation would be dire, especially since her daughter was still on the third-floor staircase, making Jiang Yanxin even more anxious.
Chen Wan had almost been bitten by the male zombie just now.
At this moment, she was covered in a foul stench, and her shoulder hurt from the zombie’s grip.
But she didn’t have much time to think, as the male zombie was already slowly stepping towards the stairs, and Jiang Yanxin was standing not far above.
Chen Wan picked up the axe, ran a few steps, and used the momentum to leap forward, pressing her legs firmly against the zombie’s waist and back.
Taking advantage of the zombie’s momentary lack of reaction, Chen Wan swung the axe in her hand, furiously hacking at the zombie’s spine.
After four strikes, the zombie beneath her legs finally stopped struggling.
Chen Wan was splattered with foul-smelling blood, to the point where just smelling it made her want to gag.
She quickly got up from the zombie and whispered to Jiang Yanxin, “It’s dead. Go get the baby. I smell too bad and don’t want to scare the child.”
After speaking, Chen Wan frowned and went downstairs first, waiting for Jiang Yanxin on the small platform.
Jiang Yanxin was still in shock.
The reason they had survived for more than three months in the apocalypse was mostly by hiding and running when they encountered zombies.
This was the first time she had fought a zombie, and her hands were still trembling.
However, danger was everywhere, and they could encounter zombies at any moment.
Jiang Yanxin didn’t dare to delay.
She threw away the broken wooden stick and picked up her baby.
Her arms were still trembling, and they hadn’t had a full meal in days.
Those people had given them spoiled and rotten food to force her to comply.
Holding her baby now was purely out of willpower.
The baby’s face was covered in tears, but she held back from crying out loud.
Now that her mother was holding her, she whimpered softly in her mother’s arms.
She had just seen the bad man pinning her mother down, trying to eat her.
She was terrified.
Even though her mother had tried to abandon her several times, she had just held her, and she didn’t want anything to happen to her mother.
The baby snuggled in Jiang Yanxin’s arms, looking at Chen Wan, who was covered in blood under the moonlight on the platform.
She whimpered softly, “Mom, is mommy going to die because she’s covered in blood? I don’t want mommy to die~”
“Your mommy is fine. The blood on her is from the monster. Don’t be afraid, Yangyang.”
Jiang Yanxin comforted the baby a few times and hurriedly walked up.
Chen Wan vaguely heard the baby talking to Jiang Yanxin but didn’t pay much attention.
The most urgent task now was to find a safe place to spend the night.
Chen Wan walked to the fourth floor, quietly opened the fire door of the mall, and stepped inside to take a look.
Seeing that it was safe, she signaled Jiang Yanxin to follow.
The fourth floor of the mall was a food court.
Chen Wan cautiously looked around.
After staying in the dark for a long time, she could now see a few things.
The place was large, and walking in the corridor for too long was dangerous.
Chen Wan stopped in front of an imported snack shop.
She whispered to Jiang Yanxin beside her, “I’ll go in and take a look. You wait here. I’ll be back soon.”
Jiang Yanxin looked at the blood-covered Chen Wan and whispered back, “Okay.”
Her arm was completely out of strength, so she made a shushing gesture to the baby and put her on the ground.
The baby saw that her mommy really wasn’t dead and stopped crying as much, holding her mother’s hand nervously while waiting for her.
