Apocalyptic Calamity: My Proficiency Panel

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Neighborhood Supermarket!_1

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Neighborhood Supermarket!_1

In matters of life and death, great terror exists. When an ordinary person living in a peaceful and pleasant environment faces life and death, scenes that completely defy ordinary life concepts can deliver a severe shock to the mind and spirit.

The most typical instance is when a person, driven by courage and fearlessness, gets weak at the knees once they reach a place of safety.

Just like Li Ming right now – he felt an instant loss of strength.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself for several days.

In Li Ming’s mind, the horrifying images of zombies on the seventh floor kept flashing. He rested his head on Zhang Yuan’s thigh, his hand grasping randomly. After burying his head there for a while, he finally released Zhang Yuan, leaned back, and took a deep breath.

He then slowly exhaled the air and gradually opened his eyes.

“Phew, this little bit of water isn’t enough. I’ll take another trip to the shop!”

After glancing at the water in the room, a firm determination flashed in his eyes. Li Ming got up from the chair, went to the restroom, and came back carrying an empty backpack and holding a long sword and spear. Once again, he walked out of the room.

“Be careful.”

Zhang Yuan’s timid call followed him. As she watched Li Ming leave the room, her heart pounded.

Since the apocalypse began, every night she endured the torment amidst the growls of the zombies. Today, Li Ming’s decision to face the zombies head-on felt like a brutal blow deep into her soul, confronting those fears.

As she sat in the living room watching Li Ming leave, she then thought to close the door, standing beside it. She returned to her room and looked out the window that faced the apartment building straight across.

“Honey, the power’s out, it’s the real end of the world!”

When Zhang Yuan returned to the room, Peng Zhi was still in bed, seeming to be in a trance. It wasn’t until Zhang Yuan’s movement caught his attention that he reacted, turning his head to look at his wife and spoke anxiously.

Upon speaking, Peng Zhi who had just woken up, noticed that his wife’s skirt and blouse were disheveled and stained. But he didn’t pay it any mind, thinking perhaps she had been working and dirtied her clothes.

Now his mind was full of the shock of waking up to find that the lights didn’t work. He tried several methods, all ending with the same fact: the power had gone out!

The terrifying consequences of a blackout made Peng Zhi’s scalp go numb. He couldn’t help but drawl out his words in complaint at his wife.

“I know the power’s out, lower your voice. Also, the water’s out as well, be frugal.”

Her husband’s words filled Zhang Yuan with impatience. But his gaze reminded her that perhaps she should change her clothes. After some thought, Zhang Yuan changed into a short skirt and a new blouse, looking neat and refreshed again.

Then she went back to the window and waited anxiously.

“No more water, it’s over, it’s the end of the world, the real end is here. Humans can survive seven days with water but without food, but also only three days without water…”

“Oh right, we still have one bucket of purified water, phew, thankfully I was clever enough to get two spare buckets before. That kid Li Ming should be out of water by now. Once he runs out, I’ll make his life hell and take all his food. Him making me eat leftovers every day…”

Peng Zhi muttered to himself, looking left and right. After a moment of panic, he lay back in bed and turned on his phone.

He wanted to continue playing games, but considering the power outage, it would consume too much power, so he opened a novel instead and continued laying there.

Zhang Yuan glanced at her irresponsible husband, then thought of Li Ming’s determined appearance. She pursed her lips and anxiously peered out the window, waiting for a glimpse of Li Ming.

……….

“Beep beep beep…”

The marble bounced off the floor, attracting three zombies who roared and moved towards the noise. When they got close enough to the human scent, the three zombies, like mad dogs, rush towards the staircase in front.

“Zombies can detect human smells from about three to four meters away.”

Standing at the stair turning place, Li Ming clearly watched the zombies’ reactions. He squinted his eyes, observing the three zombies charge dumbly in his direction, then fumble on the stairs and fall over.

With a firm grip on the spear, Li Ming quickly took two steps forward, thrusting the spear forward three times quickly and accurately.

“Hiss hiss hiss…”

Three piercing sounds echoed as the tip of the red-tasseled spear punctured the zombies’ eye sockets. Heads exploded in an instant.

The struggling zombies instantly fell still, collapsing on the stairs.

Li Ming used the long spear to push the bodies aside and strode over them, beginning a search on the third floor.

He descended from the fifth floor, finding the fourth floor still. Upon reaching the third floor, he found the presence of zombies. According to past experiences, the zombies in the corridors usually sprung from the tenants of that floor. He decided to try and scavenge for useful materials.

Eventually, Li Ming found two opened doors in the hallway. One was a single-person household, the other held a married couple. From those two rooms, he managed to collect bags of rice, flour, cooking oil, and numerous snacks. He organized them neatly beside the stairwell.

In the single-person household, he found a high-quality telescope, a powerful flashlight, outdoor rope, and a small knife. Li Ming took all of them.

In the couple’s residence, he discovered a drone, which he carefully kept. Along with it, he found power banks, bottles of pure water, and drinks from both homes. He arranged them nicely by the stairwell to collect later.

Other than that, Li Ming also found a set of car keys in the single-person residence. After a moment of thought, he pocketed it.

After finishing the search on the third floor, Li Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead and palms. He continued down the stairs, holding his red-tasseled spear, step by step.

When he reached the second floor, he tossed a marble downstairs. There was no movement.

As he picked up the marble, he looked around to ensure there was no danger. Li Ming slowly descended to the first floor, finding no zombies in the hallway, only tightly-shut doors.

Li Ming took a deep breath, his gaze was solemn as he held the spear and walked over to the entrance of the residential building, watching the area outside intensely.

Besides the green space on both sides, there was only a parked electric bicycle and a car. Everything seemed peacefully silent.

Li Ming threw a marble on the cement ground. The bouncing marble immediately attracted the attention of two nearby zombies, who staggered and snarled towards him.

Once they were about four meters away, they lunged at Li Ming with excitement. He firmly gripped his long spear, finishing them off with two swift blows to their heads.

“Marbles are indeed handy.”

Having retrieved the marble that had rolled next to the bushes, a smile appeared on Li Ming’s face. He then threw it back into the pocket filled with marbles and cautiously approached the direction of the small supermarket with his weapon ready.

Not until he saw a zombie did Li Ming stop in his tracks. By tossing a marble to attract its attention, he easily killed it using his spear technique.

Having carefully observed earlier, Li Ming had noted that there were only seven zombies between the residential building and the small supermarket. He decided to eliminate them in batches. By the end, he had killed nine zombies; two of them were hiding in the hallway. At last, he reached the front door of the small supermarket safely.

“Luckily, the door is open.”

Upon reaching the entrance of the supermarket and seeing the wide-open door, Li Ming let out a sigh of relief. After carefully checking his surroundings and ensuring there were no zombies in sight, he ventured within with his spear.

“Hehehe….”

Two zombie employees lurking within howled and charged him. Li Ming simply guided them outside and killed them. After that, he re-entered the supermarket, finding no more zombies inside.

Perhaps since the air conditioning had been left on, the supermarket was relatively cool, even without power. Surrounded by a wide variety of goods, Li Ming immediately got to work.

Firstly, he stuffed high-energy, easy-to-store foods like chocolate, White Rabbit cream candies, Alpine candies, and compressed biscuits into his backpack until it was full.

When his backpack ran out of space, he conveniently found a large, brand-new one for sale in the supermarket. Taking it for his use, he packed the rest of the chocolate and compressed biscuits into it.

After filling three large backpacks, Li Ming also took half the rice and flour from the shelves. He loaded five containers of cooking oil and ten large bags of noodles onto a shopping trolley.

Next, he took all the powdered milk, power banks, flashlights, machetes, ropes, bottled water, boxes of drinks, hot pot condiments, alcohol stoves, alcohol blocks….

Finally, he took all the cured meat, wrapping them in bags. He stripped the refrigerator bare of meat and instant food.

All these things were more than Li Ming could carry on his own. Fortunately, there was an electric tricycle parked outside with the keys inserted. Li Ming moved all of his loot into the vehicle, completely filling it. After one last search of the supermarket, he found a machine that brought a delighted grin to his face.