The second and third floors were connected by a central elevator, and from the front of it you could directly see into the restroom area on the second floor.
By now I was almost certain the sound had come from there.
My mind raced, and I thought back to the man and woman I had seen going in earlier… now that I recalled it, there had been something off about that man.
A few of the customers on the second floor—probably having stayed in this place too long, or maybe never experiencing the chaos on the streets before—were peeking around and slowly gathering in small groups toward the restroom where the sound had come from.
The dozing security guard on the third floor had also been startled awake.
He adjusted his cap and, trembling, gripped his rubber baton as he hurried over to where I stood by the elevator.
"W-what happened? What was that sound?"
I glanced at him. "A scream. It was that clear—how could you not tell?"
I stayed where I was, not going down, since I had no idea what exactly was happening.
"How could there be a scream?" The guard looked at the people gathering outside the restroom on the second floor, showing no intention of stepping forward.
Shifting my gaze, I focused on the large mirror facing the restroom entrance on the second floor, hoping to catch any movement through its reflection.
After a moment, the screaming suddenly stopped.
The people gathered at the entrance all looked confused.
A few of them hesitated and didn't dare move closer, but two bolder individuals cautiously stepped toward the restroom.
The guard, perhaps feeling it wasn't appropriate to just stand there watching, cleared his throat, stiffened his face, and stepped onto the elevator going down.
Just as he had descended halfway, I caught a flash of movement in the mirror.
The moment I saw it clearly, I shouted in alarm, "Get back! There are walkers!"
The two bold ones had already reached the doorway.
As soon as I shouted, they instinctively turned their heads—but in that instant, two staggering figures lunged out from inside, grabbing them and biting hard into their necks and shoulders.
The two victims immediately erupted into screams of pain and panic.
The overwhelming agony kept them from breaking free from the walkers' grip.
The one bitten in the neck only managed a couple of cries before falling silent as blood gushed out, his eyes wide as he collapsed to the ground.
The other, bitten on the shoulder, had his entire face drenched in the spraying blood.
In just a few seconds, the area around them was soaked red.
Everyone nearby—including the guard who had reached the second floor—froze in place.
They could only stand there, staring as the two people were dragged down and bitten.
"Ah——!" A sharp scream from a woman suddenly broke the silence, and the customers on the second floor instantly went into a frenzy, scattering in all directions.
The guard reacted the fastest—snapping out of it and running back toward the third floor.
Two young women followed closely behind him, while the rest rushed down toward the first floor.
Before they even reached us, two more walkers staggered out of the restroom.
Their abdomens were torn open, intestines tangled and hanging messily from their bodies.
The two young women who had followed the guard up noticed my expression change and turned to look behind them.
One of them—a long-haired girl in a dress—let out a scream and collapsed weakly at my feet.
The other, a delicate-looking girl in a pink outfit, covered her mouth and gagged at the sight.
As the long-haired girl fell, she hurried forward to try to help her up.
The two walkers behind them were drawn by the scream and lifted their heads, preparing to come upstairs.
I quickly told the guard beside me to help the fallen girl and retreat.
Gripping the mop tightly in my hands, I braced myself—ready to take down these two newly turned walkers.
Before they could even reach the elevator, another scream from the second floor caught their attention.
Their heads turned stiffly, and they immediately changed direction, moving toward the mall area on the second floor instead.
Seizing the opportunity, I signaled for the other three to stay quiet.
We slowly backed away to a spot out of the walkers' line of sight, then I waved them over to follow me back to the shoe store.
Han Xue leaned out, spotting me returning from afar.
Before I even reached her, she hurriedly asked, "What happened? What's going on? There was so much screaming downstairs just now!"
I shushed her, gesturing for the three behind me to enter the shop first.
Only then did I lower my voice and say, "There are walkers on the second floor. They've already bitten people. Right now, there are four that can still move. The two who were bitten will probably get back up soon. Stay quiet for now—don't draw them up here."
After saying that, I glanced around at everyone, then pointed at the security guard and Xiao Rong's boyfriend.
"You two grab something like brooms and come with me. We'll go down and deal with the walkers near the stairs, then get out of here."
"What?!" The man exclaimed sharply. "You want me to go down there? No way."
I frowned at him. "Then which woman here do you think would be more suitable to go instead?"
I had only meant to provoke him, but he actually looked around seriously, then pointed at Taozi. "Him—he's a guy, isn't he? Why not send him?"
Taozi's face instantly turned pale.
I sighed in frustration, glanced at the two of them, and said to the guard, "Then it's just the two of us going down."
"What?!" The guard took two steps back. "Just the two of us? …Do you even know how many walkers are down there? How could we go?"
"It's doable. Don't worry—you just assist from the side. I'll handle the rest."
"No, no, no." The guard waved his hands repeatedly. "Let's just wait for the rescue team. Team D will receive the alert and get here quickly."
Just as he finished speaking, another scream came from downstairs.
Everyone froze, their faces turning grim as they looked at each other.
A few seconds later, yet another scream erupted.
I tightened my grip on the mop and glared at them. "I'll go by myself!"
"Chen Yang!" Taozi and Han Xue rushed over and grabbed me.
"No—you can't go down alone! It's not like before, when you had a dagger or when Suo Tian and the others were around to help. There are so many walkers—how are you going to deal with them with just that broken stick in your hand?"
"Yeah, yeah, miss," Sister Hua added quickly, trying to persuade me.
"I'll lock the shop door. Let's just stay put and wait for Team D to come."
Before I could respond, through the glass door of the shoe shop, I saw several men and women in store uniforms coming down from the upper floors, drawn by the noise.
They craned their necks cautiously as they descended.
Seeing how timid and nervous they looked, I immediately had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the moment they turned the corner and caught sight of the scene on the second floor, they all screamed and bolted back like headless flies—running and screaming all the way.
Their pounding footsteps and shrieks echoed down from around the fifth or sixth floor.
Damn it!
I cursed under my breath and quickly stepped forward with Sister Hua to shut the glass door.
But since this was inside a mall, the shop didn't have any rolling shutters to block the view.
If any walkers wandered over, they'd spot us instantly.
After thinking it through quickly, I turned back and looked at the terrified faces in the room.
My head felt even heavier.
Rubbing my temples, I glanced toward the elevator and asked Sister Hua, "Sister Hua, is there anywhere here we can hide?"
She froze for a moment, then thought about it. "There are a few offices on the sixth floor."
"Are the doors and windows sealed?"
"Yeah." She nodded, clearly calmer than the others. "Why do you ask, miss?"
"We'll go hide on the sixth floor for a while." I swept my gaze across everyone again.
It was obvious I couldn't rely on them.
Without weapons, I had hoped to find a couple of strong men to help, but unfortunately, everyone here was a coward.
The only option now was to try and persuade those men who had just come down from upstairs.
"No, no, no—we're absolutely not leaving this shop!" That man immediately understood what I meant.
He shook his head repeatedly and backed away, knocking over a row of shoeboxes.
Xiao Rong, who had been standing beside him, shot him a look of disdain and muttered under her breath, "Useless."
Then she turned to me and nodded. "Alright. As long as we can get out of here safely, we'll follow your lead."
I gave her an approving look and waved my hand. "Just stay close and don't make a sound. No need to follow anyone's orders—just remember, absolutely no noise!"
Lili had already taken Xuanxuan out of the stroller.
Together with Han Xue and Taozi, they moved to my side.
After exchanging glances, they repeated something Suo Tian once said to the others in the room: "If you don't want to go, you can stay."
Then we pushed open the glass door and stepped out first.
Since we had to keep our footsteps quiet, we couldn't move quickly.
I glanced back once during the process.
Aside from that one man, everyone else had followed us.
As we were about to reach the elevator, I took a couple of deep breaths, preparing to peek out and check whether any walkers had come up.
But before I could even lean forward, two walkers stumbled up with the elevator.
Someone behind me let out a startled gasp—quickly suppressed within a second—but it was enough to catch the walkers' attention.
Their faces, smeared with blood and bits of flesh, turned toward us.
Before they could even open their mouths to howl, I lunged forward and kicked one of them hard.
It was already unsteady, and the force sent it tumbling straight back down the elevator.
The other walker seized the moment and lunged at me with a snarl.
I couldn't dodge in time, so I braced the mop against it to block.
Without proper leverage, I was forced back two steps.
Gritting my teeth, I shoved hard, pushing it back just enough to create an opening—then delivered another kick.
It staggered, and with the movement of the elevator behind it, it too tumbled down.
Right at that moment, a huge wave of shouting and commotion suddenly erupted from the first floor.
It was as if, in an instant, something had set the entire mall into a frenzy.
— The end of the Chapter–