Global Game: I Have Portable Store

Chapter 299: Chapter 295: No-Man’s Land

Outside was not bright, hazy, with a bluish tint, and quite a number of zombies were wandering the streets, aimless and appearing lethargic.

Shen Jinxuan knew that traversing the street wasn’t an easy task, at least not for an ordinary person.

She was just an ordinary person.

Moreover, it was the tenth day of the apocalypse, and the zombies had strengthened considerably compared to the first day. For Su Changxing, this might be trivial, but for others, it was fatal.

An ordinary adult could have taken down a zombie with a weapon before, but now it wasn’t certain; a relatively strong body was needed.

The room seemed empty and chaotic, with many broken porcelain shards on the ground, evidently searched by others.

Shen Jinxuan, still holding a glimmer of hope, rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchen but found no food.

Her stomach growled even louder.

She hesitated for a moment, approached the door, took a deep breath, opened the slightly ajar door, and stepped into the hallway, only to be met with the sight of zombie corpses, their brains missing, and the black, decayed blood splattered across the hallway.

An all-too-familiar scene.

She estimated that, as before, there shouldn’t be many zombies left in the building, stepping through the gaps between the corpses, she descended a level.

This was an apartment building with four rooms on each floor. In front of her, three doors were open, and one was firmly shut.

Shen Jinxuan entered one of the brighter rooms, and her eyes fell upon a white, square shoe cabinet layered in thick dust. Old leather shoes lay scattered on the floor, surrounded by some long, white hairs, fine and soft, seemingly vanishing with a puff of air.

”Fallen from some animal?”

Shen Jinxuan frowned, sensing something amiss here, feeling a chilling unease creep up her spine, a silent watchfulness seemed to loom in the shadows.

Go, go, go...

A voice in her head urged her onward.

Shen Jinxuan leaned forward, noticing a large, roughly three-meter diameter hole in the living room floor, its edges jagged, forcibly broken open.

Listening carefully.

A heavy breathing sound emanated, something lurking inside, or rather confronting her.

Shen Jinxuan’s face stiffened, not expecting something this terrifying to be just below. A closer look at the living room walls showed them full of variously sized pits.

”Crack~”

She took a step back, her foot crunching on wood scraps, the sound crisp and piercing in the empty room.

Whoosh.

A white shadow burst from the hole, lunging at her with incredible speed, resembling a large, white rat, though not very big.

It’s over... Shen Jinxuan crossed her arms with a sword defensively before her, faced with such an extraordinary existence, seemingly resigned to her fate.

”Boom~”

The explosion’s aftermath still echoed, white hairs scattered everywhere.

In a momentary lapse, Shen Jinxuan saw the white figure hurled back, without hesitation, she turned and darted away.

A creature, resembling an ape yet with enormously large eyes, fell to the ground, its white fur tinged with fresh blood, watching Shen Jinxuan’s departing figure with a wary, almost relieved, gaze.

Shen Jinxuan ran all the way to the ground floor, relieved that the white creature hadn’t chased her, feeling lucky to have narrowly escaped.

The zombies on the street were relatively fewer, as she reached the street, not a single zombie seemed to notice her.

”Different, completely different...”

Shen Jinxuan’s eyes widened, noticing that the zombies here were entirely different from those before, their complexion pitch-black like sculptures, as if donning a layer of stone armor, heavy and imposing.

Much stronger too!

She didn’t know why she felt this way; it was simply an intuitive sense.

She looked up, the sky bright yet dim, with a snow-like substance descending from the sky, akin to feathers, gradually vanishing mid-air, like an illusion.

”What’s happening?”

Shen Jinxuan muttered to herself, feeling a prickling, bone-chilling pain on her skin, utterly uncomfortable, like falling ill.

Squatting next to an old car, she noticed her phone vibrating, a message from Su Changxing: Where are you now?

Shen Jinxuan scanned her surroundings, eyes wide, as if witnessing something unbelievable.

To the north, a hazy fog rose high, obscuring the sky, barely revealing a towering iron tower in the distance.

It seemed like a mirage.

”...”

She couldn’t immediately determine her location, even with a map, she needed a higher vantage point or a landmark to identify it.

Given the current situation, it appeared she was quite far, the weather drastically different, and the buildings here were sparse and low; she was likely in the city outskirts.

”I’ve somehow run so far...”

Shen Jinxuan marveled internally, analyzing the situation; if she were to return to the gathering point, it seemed impossible with her abilities.

So, she could only find a relatively safe spot nearby to stay for now.

Promptly, she replied to Su Changxing: I seem to be in the outskirts of the city, there’s a heavy fog in the sky, in the distance, I can see what appears to be an iron tower, though, it’s not clear, only the top is visible.

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An iron tower?

Su Changxing frowned, recalling Teng Beng had once mentioned that the Energy Station was essentially an iron tower, visible from the city’s edge.

Shen Jinxuan might be near the industrial area’s ”No-Man’s Land”!

This so-called ”No-Man’s Land” doesn’t refer to a specific area on the map, but a zone defined on forums based on maps, seeming uninhabited, or everyone there perished.

The city outskirts had vast No-Man’s Land areas, and they were clueless about these places.

Su Changxing couldn’t fathom how Shen Jinxuan reached that place; Jin shouldn’t head that way, even if lost, she’d circle within the city.

It must be Shen Xuan.

Recently, she’s had control over the body, seemingly causing some major stir in Chenxi.

But why would she go there?

Su Changxing involuntarily stopped, pondering, the group behind him, including Tao Yi leading the way, also halted.

Zhu Wenwu was momentarily stunned, asking, ”What’s wrong?”

Su Changxing turned to him, calmly saying:

”Things seem a bit off from what I imagined, we all want to survive, but in reality, some will die, none of us want to die, nor see our loved ones perish...”

Zhu Wenwu glanced at the clear sky, nodded, ”Yes, my main goal is for my sister, for me, for us to survive.”

This ”us” wasn’t large, merely a small group including Su Changxing, in an apocalypse, everyone bore cruelty, but within that cruelty, lay affection.

After all, we’re all human.

Su Changxing typed out a message: It’s dangerous there! You need to leave now, move in the opposite direction from the iron tower, and confirm your current location to me.