Doomsday Grocery Store – CH282

Chapter 282

“Do we really still have hope?”

At the entrance of the northern bridge, the soldiers stationed there to hold back the mutated creatures were moving the last remaining explosive packs, preparing to blow up the final bridge.

This bridge was originally their last hope. However, with the recent discovery that the mutations had become contagious, they had no choice but to destroy it, to prevent more people from being infected.

But doing so would also mean cutting off their final link to the outside world.

“Will support really come?”

Hearing the soldier’s question, Chen Jianjiang, the officer in charge of this demolition task, fell silent.

He wanted to say yes, of course it will—but… wouldn’t that just be deceiving himself?

And then—

“Look! What is that?”

Amid the rising commotion, Chen Jianjiang followed everyone’s gaze—and to his astonishment, a flying craft was coming from across the river!

“Is it support?”

“Are we saved?”

“What model is that fighter jet? It’s so cool—I’ve never seen one like it!”

With everyone watching in anticipation, the aircraft circled over the northern part of the city, seemingly surveying the situation below.

More people noticed the flying craft.

Finally, the aircraft came back around and slowly descended onto a clearing near the defense forces.

At first, they thought the aircraft was there to drop off supplies. But seeing the small size of the cabin, Chen Jianjiang realized he was probably wrong.

Though a bit disappointed, he was still encouraged—any contact with the outside world was a huge morale boost.

He halted the demolition of the bridge and had the rest of the soldiers continue guarding while he took two men and approached the landing craft.

In Chen Jianjiang’s mind, those aboard the aircraft would be a well-trained special ops team. But as the hatch slowly opened, what came out instead was…

A masked man and woman. And the man had a bizarre look—was that… a pillow attached to the back of his head?

“Who are you?” Chen Jianjiang and his men immediately went on alert.

“Haha, I’m Golden Mango of the Peace Trading Company! So many people still alive—nice, nice!” Tang Sheng said cheerfully.

Although he’d missed the chance to claim a better name in the employee forum and had to go by “Pillow Superman” and “Power Girl,” he and Tang Xueyun still gave themselves names similar to Dark Moon’s.

“Peace Trading Company. Dai Yi,” Tang Xueyun said as well.

Chen Jianjiang looked over their strange attire, frowning slightly in confusion.

But seeing the aircraft behind them, he kept a friendly attitude and nodded. “Hello, I’m Chen Jianjiang, deputy commander of the temporary northern refuge.”

“Forgive my ignorance, but before today, I’ve never heard of an organization called Peace Trading Company…”

He listed off a few companies, all of which were denied.

“It’s fine. Just know we mean no harm,” Tang Sheng said. “You’re the deputy commander of the refuge?”

Chen Jianjiang nodded.

“Then I’ll keep this brief,” Tang Sheng said. “We at Peace Trading Company hope to open a grocery store here. We need land ownership. Whatever compensation you want, name it.”

Though they came to offer support, Tang Sheng didn’t plan on giving everything away for free.

After all, he needed experience points and credits to exchange for more supplies and level up faster.

But his words clearly left Chen Jianjiang a little confused.

“A… grocery store? In our refuge?”

“That’s right.” Tang Sheng nodded. “We can provide resources—drinking water, food, salt, and of course, medicine.”

“But for long-term cooperation, we hope you’ll offer a fair price. As for the land we need…”

Tang Sheng gestured with his hands. “From here to there—this entire row.”

“Trust me, giving us that whole row will be beneficial to you in the long run.”

The population in the northern city likely exceeded 100,000. Even if they upgraded Branch 14 to Level 3, the number of overnight slots wouldn’t be enough.

So after discussion, they decided to build the store between the bridge and the refuge to form a buffer zone.

That way, it could block off mutated creatures, protect the refuge, and avoid running out of sleeping slots.

As for the overnight rules…

This wasn’t a total wasteland—people here were still civilized. The fact that the refuge had held on for this long without falling apart proved its order and discipline.

Chen Jianjiang looked at Tang Sheng in confusion, just about to respond, when he suddenly heard the sound of battle from behind—

Another wave of mutated creatures was trying to break through!

“Looks like you’re in trouble,” Tang Sheng said. “Let’s take care of those mutants first—then we’ll talk!”

With that, he and Tang Xueyun rushed toward the bridge.

They moved so quickly it was like they vanished in the blink of an eye. By the time Chen Jianjiang and his men caught up, Tang Xueyun had already kicked a mutant creature off the wall.

She then fearlessly leapt over the defense wall—and as for Tang Sheng…

When Chen Jianjiang climbed up the barricade and looked outside, he saw Tang Sheng already lying flat on the ground!

As their eyes met, the man with the pillow-head shouted, “Quick! More people—come hold me down!”

Before Chen Jianjiang could ask what was going on, several soldiers jumped down to help, thinking he was in trouble—but instead, they saw the woman with the purple-marked mask swinging a scythe, mowing down a whole swath of mutants.

Still stunned by the sight, they heard the man on the ground shout again: “Quick! Grab my hand! That way she can charge even farther!”

Though they didn’t understand the connection, the confused soldiers obediently did as told.

They grabbed Tang Sheng’s hand, about to pull him up—only to hear him urgently yell: “No! Don’t pull me up! The protective field will deactivate!”

Realizing that was key, the soldiers quickly lay him back down again.

They also noticed that the woman wearing the purple-patterned mask seemed to possess an indestructible body. No matter how fierce the attacks from the mutated creatures were, they didn’t affect her at all.

Extremely hot flames sprayed across her body.

She walked through the fire—not only was she unscathed, but even a single strand of her hair wasn’t burned.

Facing the siege of hundreds—thousands—of mutated creatures, she calmly pulled out all sorts of weapons they had never seen before, efficiently cutting down the creatures one after another.

The soldiers stared in stunned silence. Even Chen Jianjiang felt like he was in a dream.

Finally, after a certain number of mutated creatures had been killed, those crowding the bridge began to retreat. The scent of mass death spread among them, intimidating the rest and stopping them from approaching.

Tang Xueyun was already gasping for breath and exhausted, but…

It felt amazing!

Thanks to the equipment Tang Yu’an had recently upgraded for her—and with her strength having increased again—this battle, aside from one or two higher-level enemies, was a total one-sided massacre.

And she didn’t have to worry about getting infected by the mutations.

Psychic-powered individuals already had a low chance of being infected, and before Zhou Qi left, he had left behind three Fire Spirit Worms—one for each of their family.

With the deterrent of the Fire Spirit Worms, mutated creatures didn’t dare implant eggs into their bodies.

That’s why Tang Xueyun could face the mutations so fearlessly.

And to the watching soldiers in the north, it was a shock too overwhelming for words.

When Tang Xueyun walked back from the heap of mutated corpses, she was met first by total silence—then by thunderous applause.

At the same time, Tang Sheng—who had been lying on the ground—finally pushed off the soldiers holding him down and got to his feet.

“That was amazing!” Tang Sheng said.

Tang Xueyun high-fived him. “Thanks for your hard work.”

Without Tang Sheng lying there under pressure, keeping the protective field active, she would never have been able to achieve such a result.

Tang Sheng smiled. Hearing the fatigue in her voice, he quickly said, “Go get some rest—leave the rest to me!”

They returned to the refuge. Tang Xueyun went to the aircraft to rest, while Tang Sheng resumed his negotiation with Chen Jianjiang.

“Alright, now that there are no more mutated creatures to bother us…”

Tang Sheng said something that, to Chen Jianjiang, sounded ridiculously showy—but if he could, he wouldn’t mind having a few more chances to act like a badass like this.

“Miss Dai Yi is truly powerful!” Chen Jianjiang said with shining eyes.

Of course, when he met Tang Sheng’s gaze, he coughed lightly and added, “And your actions on the battlefield were… also very brave!”

He had seen everything from the wall and heard Tang Sheng’s shouts, so he understood that his bizarre behavior was all to generate a protective barrier.

Though he didn’t know the full effect of the barrier, it had to be important, right?

Tang Sheng smiled. He was used to people giving him weird looks.

Compared to his wife’s safety, a little embarrassment meant nothing.

“Let’s get back to the business we were discussing,” Tang Sheng said after a moment’s thought. “To be honest, we’ve already opened a store across the river.”

Chen Jianjiang’s eyes lit up. “There are still survivors in the south?”

Tang Sheng nodded. “Over ten thousand. Thanks to the Peace Trading Company’s supplies, their quality of life has greatly improved.”

“You’re able to supply that many people?” Chen Jianjiang asked in disbelief.

Tang Sheng nodded. “Not only that—we should be able to reclaim all of the southern territory soon.”

A strange light glinted in Chen Jianjiang’s eyes. “Really?”

“There’s no reason for me to lie to you,” Tang Sheng replied. “If you’d like, you can come see it for yourself.”

Seeing is believing. If he could bring Chen Jianjiang over to see it in person, it would make setting up operations in the north much easier.

Besides, after that battle, the mutated creatures wouldn’t attack the refuge again for at least a week.

And a week would be more than enough for him to level up to Lv21 and unlock the ability to deploy a protective barrier.

Chen Jianjiang already half-believed him on instinct, but he still said, “I’ll need to get approval from my superiors.”

“No problem!”

While waiting, Tang Sheng took out two boxes of compressed biscuits and water, handing them out to the soldiers who had been working hard to guard the refuge.

Looking at their young faces, Tang Sheng couldn’t help but think of An’an and Zhou Qi.

Fortunately, those two were strong enough now. Even in another world, they could protect themselves, so there wasn’t much need to worry.

Soon, Chen Jianjiang’s request was approved.

Even the highest-ranking leader of the refuge personally came to meet Tang Sheng.

Tang Sheng had never met someone of that level before, so to avoid saying the wrong thing, he just repeated what he had told Chen Jianjiang—and then asked to depart.

So, Chen Jianjiang boarded the aircraft with him and returned to the southern base.

*

While Tang Sheng and his wife were in action, their comms stayed on, so Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had a clear understanding of what was happening.

“Looks like Mom and Dad’s mission went really well,” Tang Yu’an said.

Zhou Qi nodded. “Once the northern branch is established, Uncle Tang’s level will increase much faster.”

Level 25 shouldn’t take long now.

Tang Yu’an nodded. “It’s just too bad there’s still no clue about the Plane Locator Stone.”

He had already used up all his 7-Day Special Refresh Cards, and aside from buying a bunch of weird furniture, upgrade materials, and robots, he hadn’t managed to pull the Plane Locator Stone.

“We’ll just have to be patient. That kind of thing sounds really rare,” Zhou Qi said.

The real worry was that the system might be out of stock entirely—which would explain why it never showed up.

Tang Yu’an let out a sigh. “I guess we’ll have to figure it out later.”

Zhou Qi reached out and patted his head, and Tang Yu’an immediately leaned into his arms.

Not only that—he wrapped both arms around him and buried his face against Zhou Qi’s chest, rubbing against it.

Zhou Qi froze for a moment, then slowly relaxed, cautiously placing a hand on the boy’s back, feeling the growing warmth in his palm.

“Brother Qi…”

Tang Yu’an’s muffled, unhappy voice came from his embrace.

“Hmm?”

Zhou Qi looked down as the boy lifted his head from his chest, clearly about to say something pitiful. Sensing what was coming, Zhou Qi quickly covered his mouth.

Tang Yu’an blinked, eyes full of confusion.

“Is the voice chat off?” Zhou Qi mouthed the words.

Only then did Tang Yu’an remember they were still on call with Mom and Dad. He hurriedly ended the conversation.

“How did you know I was about to say something they shouldn’t hear?” he asked, snuggling back into Zhou Qi’s arms, curiosity in his voice.

Zhou Qi sighed inwardly. Did he really have to ask? It was obvious—he just wanted to be all clingy and ask for a kiss…

Even though he knew Zhou Qi wouldn’t agree, he still tried every day, never giving up.

Tang Yu’an pouted, then grabbed his hand with a sly grin. “If I can’t kiss your lips, kissing your hand isn’t bad either.”

Then the boy pressed his soft lips to Zhou Qi’s palm and gave it a big mua~.