Lin Tingxue's eyes darkened as she glanced at them. She hadn't expected them to be so sharp—and sure enough, they had discovered the crystal core. She had hoped to pick it up, but when she went up, all that was left was the slit-open stem. If only she could get that wood-type crystal core, she might raise her ability a notch. What a pity.
It seemed she had to stick with Shen Hegui to gain more opportunities. After all, in her previous life, by the time Shen Hegui returned to Jing City, he was already incredibly powerful. But because they hadn't acted together the whole time, she didn't know what happened to them later.
Jiang Yuntan caught Lin Tingxue's gaze but pretended not to notice, following Shen Hegui as she walked out. As she passed Lin Tingxue, she saw the other girl's eyes scanning the empty counters.
Jiang Yuntan deliberately said, "What? You were mocking me for taking gold just now, and now you're thinking of doing the same, aren't you?" Her tone was sarcastic. "Lin Tingxue, don't tell me you're going to copy me? You looked down on me before, and now you want to imitate me—how embarrassing. I think instead of looking down on me, you should look down on yourself."
Lin Tingxue clenched her fists, feeling an overwhelming urge to punch the infuriating girl. She bit the inside of her cheek to control her emotions. "You're overthinking it. I was just wondering what kind of trash you took."
"Oh? You actually called gold trash? If gold is trash, then you must be animal dung," Jiang Yuntan laughed lightly. "If gold is trash, why are you wearing it in your ears?"
Only then did Lin Tingxue suddenly remember the gold earrings in her ears. Her face instantly turned ugly.
"Yuntan, let's go." Shen Hegui's low voice came from up ahead.
"Coming." Jiang Yuntan quickly followed. She had intentionally provoked Lin Tingxue to stop her from checking the stores on this floor. One store empty was fine, but all of them empty would be too suspicious. As she left, she glanced back at the shops she hadn't finished clearing. What a pity. With Shen Hegui and the others around, she didn't dare to take everything openly. But her ten-cubic-meter storehouse was almost full. When she had organized earlier, she found she only had about two cubic meters left. Still, she had collected quite a bit. No use grieving over what she didn't get; her safety mattered more. Looking at the mutated ivy, she felt she couldn't handle it alone. Why couldn't she have been transported to a natural disaster apocalypse without zombies or mutant plants? Then she could thrive on her own with the interdimension mall system.
Lin Tingxue saw the reluctance in Jiang Yuntan's eyes and smiled grimly. Why was she bothering to fight with a shallow girl like her? A spoiled brat like Jiang Yuntan wouldn't last long in the apocalypse without Shen Hegui and his father's protection. If she could make Shen Hegui dislike Jiang Yuntan and start appreciating her instead, then that arrogant girl would soon lose her protector.
Xia Chujing reluctantly looked back at the jewelry stores. She had wanted to go too. But with Lin Tingxue badmouthing Jiang Yuntan, if she went, it would be a slap in Lin Tingxue's face. So she had to follow unwillingly.
Shen Hegui put the bag of gold on the back seat of the Cullinan. Now the back seat was only Half empty. Lin Xuan and the others had come to their car and were loading the clothes they'd brought from upstairs. Lin Xuan walked over and asked, "This time, can we look for medicine?" They didn't seem to have much medicine, and it would take several days to get back to Jing City—that was the travel time before the apocalypse. Now, with fighting zombies all the way, who knew how long it would take. They had to stock up on medicine.
Shen Hegui nodded. "We'll rest in the car for half an hour, eat lunch, then head to the nearby pharmacy."
"Alright." Lin Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried Jiang Yuntan might cause trouble again and that Shen Hegui would indulge her. If so, he would have had to find medicine on his own. After all, he couldn't let Jiang Yuntan hold him back.
Just as they were about to get into the cars, the people who had gone up to the second-floor supermarket ran down in panic, zombies chasing after them. They screamed for help.
Shen Hegui glanced at Jiang Yuntan, signaling her and Xue Zhao to get in the car. He opened the passenger door and sat down. Seeing this, Yu Ke and Lin Xuan quickly got into their cars, knowing Shen Hegui didn't want to get involved.
Shen Hegui said over the walkie-talkie, "We're heading straight for the pharmacy. No rest here."
The woman in purple and the baby-faced girl were stunned when they saw Shen Hegui's group get into their cars. They sped up, heading for the main entrance. The baby-faced girl quickly closed the front door, temporarily blocking the zombies. Luckily, zombies couldn't open doors. They all breathed a sigh of relief, letting the plastic bags full of food fall to the ground. There had been five of them getting supplies; now only four were left. When they turned around, they only saw the departing taillights of the three cars.
The woman in purple said incredulously, "They didn't go with us to get supplies from the second floor, leaving us to face all those zombies alone. And now they just leave us to die?"
"They weren't obligated to save us," the baby-faced girl said, panting.
"But they saved us on the fifth floor earlier," the purple woman murmured. "We haven't seen any other living people these days. When they saved us, I thought they'd take us along when they left."
The baby-faced girl: ...
Inside the cars, everyone started snacking to stave off hunger. Xue Zhao was driving, so Shen Hegui handed him a bread roll. Xue Zhao joked, "Never thought I'd see the day the CEO serves me."
Shen Hegui: ...
Jiang Yuntan was surprised to hear that. In her memory, Xue Zhao was a man of few words and many deeds. She munched on her bread and took three yogurts from her space, handing one to each of them.
After Shen Hegui took it, he said, "Lin Xuan and the others don't know about your space. If you want to keep it secret, don't use it in front of them. And don't take out anything we haven't collected when they're around."
"If you're so worried about me being exposed, why not just kill them?" Jiang Yuntan made a throat-slitting gesture.
Shen Hegui was amused and annoyed. He retorted, "Am I a living Yama?"