It's Hard to Be the Female Lead's Best Friend (Apocalypse) GL - Chapter 12
In the deep, dark warehouse, there was a “rustling” sound that was particularly jarring in the quiet, enclosed environment. The moment the roller shutter door opened, a dark shadow silently vanished.
“Food is the most important thing right now.”
Cheng Ziyu didn’t argue, because at this moment, she desperately needed food to soothe her hungry stomach.
Gu Qingli saw sweat beading on her forehead, and the strands of hair near her ears were slightly damp, making her appear frail and pitiful.
“It seems there’s no danger. I’ll go check.”
She tightened and then loosened her fingertips, nodding nonchalantly: “Be careful.”
Qin Qingyan observed for a moment and heard no zombie roars. She stepped through the doorway, looked up and around, and after confirming it was safe, opened a box on the shelf, taking out a bag of bread and tossing it to Cheng Ziyu: “You eat a little first.”
“Thank you!”
Cheng Ziyu took it and opened the bag. She was still thinking about the sound she’d heard earlier. After all, it wasn’t the first time she’d heard it, but looking at the others, they seemed unable to hear it.
Could it be her ability?
“Grab high-calorie food.”
After Gu Qingli and Shu Jingyun entered, they immediately started moving chocolates, bread, and other food items. Only Cheng Ziyu was idle, like someone just taking a free meal.
Cheng Ziyu’s gaze drifted towards the depths of the warehouse. The dark, oppressive shadows were like a deep abyss of purgatory. Her heart wanted to retreat, but she also despised her own fear.
Cheng Ziyu extended her foot, finally stepping into the shadow. She ate as she cautiously moved, humming a song to reduce her fear.
She wanted to find a usable weapon, even a kitchen knife would do. The screwdriver in her hand was genuinely inconvenient, and anything heavier she couldn’t lift.
The further in she went, the darker the light became. The few windows were high up on the walls, and their light couldn’t illuminate everything.
Aside from the smell of packaging paper, there was a faint, indescribable smell of decay, similar to a certain fruit.
Whoosh!
A dark shadow silently flickered past.
“Hmm?”
Cheng Ziyu looked back. She was the only one here. She calmed her heartbeat and walked a few more steps inward, but found no kitchen utensils.
She took another bite of bread.
With the bread filling her stomach, the pain in her abdomen lessened, and her tense nerves also relaxed slightly. She hadn’t had a stomach flare-up in a long time, because when she escaped that place, she was dirt poor and often went hungry.
Her stomach problems were ingrained from that time.
Cheng Ziyu’s lips curved downwards. She unconsciously touched the photo in her pocket. Why were they all family, yet they could be so quick to kick her when she was down?
It was just 800,000 compensation, wasn’t it?!
She sighed deeply, pulling herself out of her thoughts.
Still no discovery, she walked a bit further in.
Cheng Ziyu noticed that some of the goods on the shelves were damaged, or rather, they had been torn open.
Cheng Ziyu frowned and stopped: “Why would they be torn open? Is someone here?”
She looked around but found no one.
“Why were the employees lingering outside the warehouse instead of taking shelter inside? Is someone hiding alone?” The surrounding darkness pressed down on her heart. Cheng Ziyu suddenly realized, and she retreated a few steps.
If there was someone inside who wasn’t coming out, perhaps they were secretly observing them, or perhaps they had already turned into zombies.
If it was the latter…
[Food… food…]
Cheng Ziyu froze. This time she definitely heard it clearly. She instinctively swallowed, but the bread caught in her throat, making her cough into her hand.
“You two keep moving things, I’m going to check inside.” Gu Qingli gripped her knife and also walked further in, but she went to the other side.
For some reason, her fear didn’t decrease but rather increased.
This “food” sound was different from the “danger” sound; this sound carried an bone-chilling cold wind, as if it wanted to tear flesh and leave only bones.
Quiet!
Too quiet!
Cheng Ziyu’s heart pounded wildly. She retreated cautiously, and when she turned around, she found a man in a work uniform blocking her path. The warm sunlight filtering through the distant glass was blocked by the shelves, and shadow enveloped this tall man.
Cheng Ziyu’s pupils contracted. She didn’t understand when this person had gotten behind her, but he was clearly hostile.
The man took a step closer, and sunlight fell on his face!
He slowly lifted his head, staring with vacant, cold eyes.
His face was a bloody mess, half his jaw was gone, and the bl00d had dried, revealing some teeth. He gently opened his mouth, emitting a faint, low growl.
[Food… food…]
Was the zombie speaking?
Cheng Ziyu was stunned. Her trembling hand made the bread fall. Her other hand tightly gripped the screwdriver, her senses on high alert, as she tiptoed backward step by step.
There was no one else around, only her.
If she cried for help, would it make the zombie go wild?
Cheng Ziyu’s mind was in turmoil.
The zombie opened its mouth, its facial scraps of flesh stretched, and it stuck out its tongue, licking its lips, swallowing some of the shredded meat. A trace of sticky, saliva-like fluid remained at the corners of its mouth.
Clearly, it was extremely hungry. It gently approached its prey, seemingly afraid of it escaping.
Cheng Ziyu turned and ran. It instantly lunged.
Cheng Ziyu looked back and could no longer hold back a scream: “Ah—”
“What’s going on?” Qin Qingyan and Shu Jingyun put down their boxes and slowly walked inward.
Cheng Ziyu ran continuously, passing one shelf. Ahead was a wall; clearly, it was the end, with no escape route.
She decisively turned a corner and bolted outward. The zombie leaped onto a shelf, jumped in front of her, and blocked her path again.
The distance between the zombie and Cheng Ziyu was only one meter. It reached out to grab her, and she quickly dodged, instinctively thrusting the screwdriver into its eye socket.
“Thwack!”
The screwdriver lodged in its eye socket!
When Cheng Ziyu pulled the screwdriver out, a rotting eyeball was still impaled on it. The tiny pupil of the eyeball was still staring fixedly at her.
Cheng Ziyu swallowed again, staring at the zombie and backing away step by step. She saw the zombie motionless. She didn’t know if it was dead or not. The screwdriver was so long, it should have hit its brain, right?
Seeing the zombie still motionless, her heart temporarily settled.
Suddenly, the zombie gently shook its head, and a furious roar echoed through the surroundings. It lunged at Cheng Ziyu on all fours, scrambling on the ground.
Frightened, she dropped the screwdriver and turned to run wildly: “Ah… Mr. Zombie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, don’t chase me!”
“I’m not food… help!”
Cheng Ziyu looked back and saw the zombie running incredibly fast, catching up to her in an instant. It reached out, and its hand brushed her sleeve.
Her heart leaped to her throat!
In a flash, Cheng Ziyu pulled a shelf and turned, and the zombie couldn’t stop in time, crashing into another shelf. The tall shelf slowly toppled, pinning the zombie, and also knocking down the other shelves.
“Roar—”
Cheng Ziyu’s eyes welled with tears from fright, and her hands and feet felt light and airy. She ran wildly towards the outside, just as she collided with Qin Qingyan and Shu Jingyun, who had heard the commotion: “There’s a zombie inside, and it seems to have evolved. It’s so fast and strong, I almost got caught.”
Seeing her companions, she wiped away two tears!
This could only be a high-tier F-class zombie, but she didn’t know if they could defeat it.
“There really *was* danger! You jinx!” Qin Qingyan saw her sleeve was torn but without a wound. Her expression grave, she retorted.
Cheng Ziyu: “…” What did it have to do with her?
“Bang!”
The zombie pushed aside the shelves and stood up. It shook its head and let out a roar to the sky. It glared at Cheng Ziyu, seemingly enraged at being played by its food.
The zombie hunched and lunged.
The three of them unanimously pushed down the shelves on both sides, trying to hinder the zombie’s movement, but it leaped onto the fallen shelves and roared again.
This scared the group back a few steps.
Shu Jingyun tightened her grip on the hammer: “This zombie reacts so fast. How does it seem to have some intelligence?”
More than just that. According to the novel’s classification, SSS-level zombies should have the intelligence of a ten-year-old child.
The zombie licked the shredded flesh from its mouth again, lowering its body, poised to strike. Suddenly, a fleeting glimpse of Gu Qingli. She ambushed the zombie from behind, aiming a slash at its head.
The zombie instinctively rolled and lunged back. Gu Qingli’s knife struck its palm. She pulled out the knife and backhanded it towards its head again, but it bit down tightly on the blade.
“Crunch!”
The zombie bit the knife tightly and lunged back at Gu Qingli, forcing Gu Qingli to let go and retreat. Shu Jingyun swung her hammer at the zombie, hitting its forehead, but it didn’t cause much damage.
Gu Qingli retreated in front of them, her tightly furrowed brows as unyielding as an Arctic glacier: “How could it evolve so quickly…”
The zombie then cautiously took a step back.
Cheng Ziyu felt a growing sense of calm upon seeing the female lead: “Is it still not too late for us to escape now?”
The zombie, biting the knife, observed the group; but it didn’t look at Gu Qingli, seemingly uninterested in her.
“Here!” Qin Qingyan handed her the steel pipe.
Gu Qingli took it but didn’t answer Cheng Ziyu’s question: “How many supplies did you move?”
“Not much, enough for the four of us for two or three days at most,” Qin Qingyan shook her head.
Gu Qingli shook her head, tightened her grip on the steel pipe, and said with a flicker in her eyes: “Not enough. It seems we’ll have to get rid of it.”
Qin Qingyan nodded, picking up a blanket from the ground and shaking it out: “We’ll be responsible for hindering its movements.”
Hearing this, Cheng Ziyu grabbed the other corner.
“I’ll distract it. You two look for an opportunity,” Gu Qingli cautiously approached the zombie.
The zombie kept staring at Cheng Ziyu, its eyes conveying hunger, which made her feel slightly unnerved.
It was about to speak when it realized the knife was stuck in its mouth. It shook its head, but the knife remained firmly lodged. Gu Qingli seized the opportunity, raised the steel pipe, and struck the zombie.
It ignored the knife in its mouth and lunged directly at Gu Qingli, without dodging. With one blow, its head was knocked askew. Gu Qingli held the steel pipe upright and forcefully thrust it.
“Thud!” It hit its head directly.
Piercing it clean through, a blackish-red fluid mixed with white viscous liquid flowed down the steel pipe, dripping, emitting a disgusting odor.
Before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, it suddenly spread its five fingers, using its sharp phalanges to scratch at Gu Qingli.
Gu Qingli let go and retreated, but the zombie, like a madman, clawed at her with its other hand. Gu Qingli retreated again; but the shelf behind her was suspended, and she suddenly stepped into empty space, falling down and getting stuck on the shelf.
Gu Qingli pursed her lips, trying to push herself up.
“Oh no!” Cheng Ziyu exclaimed, waving one hand, trying her best to attract the zombie’s attention: “Over here! Over here!”
The zombie tilted its head and looked at Gu Qingli again.
Shu Jingyun saw this, kicked a shelf, and shouted: “Over here! Over here…”
Qin Qingyan also shouted along.
The zombie was dizzy from the noise. It shook its head, appearing somewhat agitated, and let out a high-pitched, excited long roar, then turned and lunged at…