Chapter 36 — Steel Slide
Just as they were feeling relieved over the few precious watermelon seeds, a sudden commotion came from the back door they’d entered through.
“Run! Run!”
“Close the door—close it!”
“Wait, wait—don’t close it yet!”
“Damn it! What happened? Why are there so many?!”
The seven of them exchanged worried looks, the same bad thought flashing through everyone’s mind—could their escape route have just been cut off?
Luo Xun, the one with the most apocalypse experience, immediately made a decision. “To the second floor! Now!”
With stairs and an elevator between them and the first floor, they’d have at least a little time even if zombies flooded the ground floor. From the second-floor windows, they could also get a better look at the situation outside.
They turned and sprinted toward the escalator, but Luo Xun’s heart sank—it was a slope-style escalator without stairs, which meant it couldn’t stop zombies from following them up.
Still, they had to move. Their position was close to the escalator anyway, so when the noise started, they reacted fast. They rushed up to the second floor—only to collide head-on with a group of survivors coming down after scavenging.
“What’s going on?”
“Zombies! Someone downstairs drew them in!”
“What? Zombies got into the supermarket?!”
“Damn it, who the hell did that?! No conscience at all!”
Whether anyone had a conscience didn’t matter now. Luo Xun quickly scanned their surroundings—the second floor had far fewer zombies, most of which had already been taken down, but that didn’t make things much safer. He hurried to a window and peered outside. There were already twenty or thirty zombies gathered near the back entrance, with even more coming from further away. He cursed under his breath—how were they supposed to get out now?!
Then he checked the front entrance—it was even worse. In this world, the sound of one zombie banging on a door would draw a second, a third, and soon a horde. The front entrance was completely overrun.
“What do we do now?” Li Tie and the others were panicking. Jumping down from the second floor crossed their minds, but this wasn’t a normal two-story building—jumping from here would shatter bones. The nimble ones might survive the fall, but someone like He Qiankun would end up as a bloody puddle.
And there weren’t any nearby buildings close enough to jump across to, either.
Luo Xun’s eyes darted around below. He pointed. “We’ll open a way through here later—jump onto that bus roof! For now, split up and look for useful supplies.”
Li Tie brightened for a second—then froze. “Supplies?”
“Household items!” Luo Xun snapped. “What do you think we came here for?” Thieves never leave empty-handed. The zombies hadn’t made it upstairs yet, so they still had a little time to grab whatever they could. If the second floor hadn’t been better stocked than the first, he wouldn’t risk scavenging right now—but missing this chance might mean they’d never find another like it. Supplies in the city were only going to get rarer.
Yan Fei glanced at the escalator. His fingers twitched—he wanted to tamper with it, maybe make it slippery—but he stopped himself. There were still living people downstairs. He wasn’t cruel enough to kill humans along with zombies. Besides, there were four wide escalators in total, and his power probably couldn’t cover that much area anyway.
He quickly followed Luo Xun, grabbing whatever useful-looking items he saw.
Unlike the empty first floor, the second floor still had plenty of stock. But Luo Xun noticed right away that the clothing section—including the kids’ clothes—had been completely cleaned out, and the kitchenware section had no weapons left at all, not even ladles or spatulas.
They scoured the home goods aisle, finding some plastic bins and storage boxes. Luo Xun stuffed half a backpack with mop heads and rags, then blew his whistle to call the others back. It was time to go—the survivors downstairs were already flooding up.
He Qiankun ran clutching a box that clattered with every step. Li Tie wore his backpack on his chest, tugging desperately at the zipper. Han Li had several large plastic baskets hanging off his arms. Wu Xin and Wang Duo each carried a big cardboard box, still half-unpacked.
“Hurry! The good stuff—pack it fast!” They dropped the boxes and frantically stuffed their backpacks.
One glance told Luo Xun they’d struck gold—a box of socks and another full of men’s underwear! Who would’ve thought they’d find something this practical?
“Where’d you get these? Wasn’t that section empty?” Li Tie asked while helping pack.
“Top shelf—untouched, probably restock inventory! There are a few more boxes; we just grabbed the men’s stuff.” If things weren’t so dire, they’d have gone back for more. Women’s underwear, well… in desperate times, no one would complain.
That thought barely formed before a loud crash shattered the air. Everyone’s heads snapped up just in time to see a massive glass window break open—a group of survivors, chased by zombies, were jumping straight out!
“Damn it! Seriously?!” Luo Xun swore. The broken window was close to the spot they’d planned to use, but with that noise, both the upper and lower floors would soon be swarming with more zombies.
The survivors below leapt out one by one, and though the distance wasn’t far from where Luo Xun’s group had planned to escape, the sight of the zombies surging after them made him swallow hard and abandon the idea. But what now? Run somewhere else? Find another window to jump from?
“Over here.” Yan Fei, who’d been silent most of the time, suddenly pointed in the opposite direction.
He was pointing to a small storage room on the second floor, not far from where they stood.
“Hide there?” Wu Xin hesitated. “But it’s so small! Even if we fit, once they break the door down, we’ll be trapped!”
Yan Fei shot him a calm look. “There’s a window there. It faces the back alley—close to where we parked.”
“Right! We can climb down from there!” Han Li slapped his thigh and stood up.
After dividing up the remaining supplies, they hurried into the small room—only to find it disappointingly empty. Just some pots, pans, and bare shelves. The window wasn’t even covered by curtains.
Yan Fei walked straight to it, ignoring the others as they shut the door behind them. He opened the window and placed his hand on the metal frame.
From where they stood, Luo Xun could see the narrow street where they’d hidden their vehicles—and a few zombies wandering toward them. Luckily, there weren’t many near the cars themselves.
“You’re planning to…” Luo Xun began, realizing what Yan Fei was thinking.
Yan Fei raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth curving into a confident, unsettling smile. “Bring me all the metal.”
“Huh?” Li Tie and the others blinked, confused.
“We’re going to slide down.”
Whoosh. Five pairs of eyes turned to Luo Xun in disbelief, clearly thinking: Is your cousin okay? Did he hit his head while scavenging?
“Move!” Luo Xun barked, pushing all the metal cookware and shelves toward Yan Fei.
Yan Fei lifted his hand—and the window frame started to move.
The metal shook, then the entire window lifted free and floated into the room as if carried by invisible hands.
Li Tie and the others gaped in shock. They’d seen ability users before—fire, lightning, wind—but none like this. Those powers produced visible effects: heat, sparks, air currents. Yan Fei’s power was silent. Objects just floated.
In truth, he was manipulating metal, but since the glass was encased in metal frames, they all came along for the ride.
He gathered the metal around him, then snapped it free from the glass, which dropped softly to the floor without a sound.
Moments later, every metal object in the room began to shift, drawn toward the window. Starting from the frame, they fused together, extending downward—forming a long, gleaming metal slide stretching toward the alley below, ending near their parked cars.
Yan Fei had pulled in nearly all the metal within reach—even pieces from nearby vehicles—to form the structure. Only when it was complete did he exhale and wave them on. “Go.”
The five university students, still dazed, slid down one by one like dreamwalkers.
Luo Xun stayed last, standing beside Yan Fei. When the final man was gone, he whispered, “You okay?”
The others hadn’t noticed—too awestruck by the slide—but Luo Xun had been watching Yan Fei closely. He could tell the man wasn’t as calm as he looked.
Yan Fei met his gaze, his eyes deep yet faintly warm. “I’m fine. Just… a little dizzy.”
That wasn’t surprising—this metal slide had taken far more effort than the steel wall he’d built at Luo Xun’s home before leaving the base. He really was close to exhaustion.
Luo Xun quickly shoved something that had been clenched tightly in his hand into Yan Fei’s palm.
“Try this.”
“What is it?” Yan Fei looked down in surprise at the five or six tiny, translucent objects in his hand — they looked like miniature artificial diamonds.
“They’re… those things from the heads of the stronger zombies,” Luo Xun said, scratching his cheek a little awkwardly. “I noticed them when I was killing zombies. Maybe they’re like the crystal cores from zombie novels? They might give you some energy or something. Anyway—” He pointed toward the metal slide. “Let’s hurry and get down first.”
Outside the door, a few zombies had already been lured over by the faint scent of humans. There weren’t many yet, but if they waited any longer, this warehouse would soon become unsafe.
Yan Fei gave a slight nod, signaling Luo Xun to go first before following close behind him.
“Quick, into the cars!” Luo Xun shouted the moment he slid down, waving urgently to Li Tie and the others—those five idiots were still frozen in shock. They only snapped out of it at his voice and scrambled toward the two vehicles.
They threw their backpacks and supplies into the back seats. Luo Xun jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
In the passenger seat, Yan Fei closed his eyes, a flicker of astonishment flashing across his face. The moment he focused his mental energy, he could actually sense a faint power pulsing within the crystal cores clenched in his hand. More than that—the energy could replenish his nearly depleted mental strength!
The realization struck as soon as he felt it. That vigorous, flowing energy spread from his palm up his arm, surging through his body like a bubbling, endless spring—rich, soothing, and warm. By the time he came back to himself and opened his hand, the tiny crystal cores were completely gone.
Absorbed.
For a brief moment, thinking about where those things had come from made him feel uneasy. But that discomfort quickly faded. If he hadn’t met Luo Xun, he probably wouldn’t even have a proper bowl or spoon to eat with back at the base. And it’s not like he had actually eaten those things—so who cared where they came from?
*
Meanwhile, the Southwest Base of City A was a hive of activity.
Countless people were helping expand the outer wall—those with prior construction experience had already been assigned to work on the wall itself after brief instructions, while the new arrivals and unskilled workers were busy digging foundations, mixing cement, and handling other basic labor.
At the same time, the more experienced army engineers were working furiously within the inner zone—building new housing.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
