The Convenience Store

"Hmm? Why do you say that?"

Jason looked at Sakura, who had just been talking about having no will to live, but now she seemed to think the world wasn't so bad after all.

"Just like you said, as long as we don't die, we can do whatever we want. We can live in seclusion or create our own little kingdom and do whatever we please," Sakura said with a smile.

"Well... Sakura, our team is a level-2 team right now, but we're still one person short. I was thinking of adding Galili to our team. What do you think?"

"Sounds good. Another sister to join us. But don't tell me you just think she's pretty?" Sakura scoffed.

"No, no, no. No one's as good-looking as you, Sakura. I'm purely basing my decision on her abilities and character," Jason quickly denied.

"Hmph! What if she doesn't want to join us?"

"She wouldn't have come down to help us if she wasn't interested," Jason replied confidently.

"Fine, do whatever you want," Sakura said with a nonchalant shrug.

After the first half of the night watch, Jason and Sakura woke up Simon and Hank. Jason tossed the remaining half of his cigarette pack to Hank before finding a spot on the floor and lying down.

Due to various factors, Jason hadn't had a proper rest in nearly 40 hours. The moment he lay down, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion hit him, and before he knew it, he had fallen into a deep sleep.

October 3, 2025 — Overcast

At 5 AM, Jason suddenly sat up, instinctively reaching for the gun at his waist.

He anxiously scanned his surroundings, only to find Simon and Hank chatting on one side of the rooftop, and Sakura resting with her eyes closed against the wall. He breathed a sigh of relief.

In such an environment, falling into a deep sleep was extremely dangerous, so it was a good thing nothing had happened.

"Yo! Captain, you're awake?" Simon called out when he saw Jason sitting up.

"Yeah, let's grab something to eat and then head to the restaurant," Jason said. Sakura opened her eyes and walked over.

After they ate, they picked three of the strongest students to take the lead and carry the food.

Of course, the selected students were reluctant. No one wanted to volunteer for such a dangerous task.

But in the end, they reluctantly agreed after seeing the gun in Jason's hand. The risk of going outside was far better than staying and dying here.

Jason walked over to Galili, handing her his knife for self-defense.

"Be careful. Stay safe."

After giving the warning, the group quickly packed up and cautiously opened the rooftop door, heading down toward the restaurant.

Since they had cleared out the zombies on the lower floors the day before, they only encountered one zombie on their way to the first floor. However, once they reached the first floor, they found more zombies. The lobby now had around ten zombies.

This caused the three students to freeze in fear, nearly letting out a scream.

Luckily, Jason had warned them to stay silent. They pressed their mouths shut, not daring to make a sound.

The ten zombies were quickly dealt with by Sakura and Hank, while Jason and Simon avoided firing their guns as much as possible. The reason was simple: their shooting accuracy was terrible.

Soon, the zombies in the lobby were dealt with with minimal ammo use. Jason couldn't help but admire their skill.

They made their way to the western sports field, where the corpses of the zombies they had burned the day before still remained.

"Up ahead is the restaurant!" One of the students said quietly as he caught up.

"Alright, when we get inside, we'll cover you. You just focus on grabbing as much food as you can," Jason instructed the students.

But the closer they got to the restaurant, the fewer zombies they encountered. This made Jason feel uneasy.

"This is strange," Jason suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Hank asked, puzzled.

"There are too few zombies here. It's a bit too abnormal!" Jason said, his eyes narrowing.

"Don't scare me like that, Captain," Simon said nervously.

"Find a spot to use the binoculars and check out the situation inside," Jason ordered.

No matter what, it was best to check things out first. Everyone took out binoculars and peered into the restaurant.

"Shit!" Simon shouted.

Through the binoculars, they could see that the restaurant was packed with zombies, all wandering around aimlessly.

Seeing this, it was clear that not only was it impossible to get inside and grab food, but they probably wouldn't even be able to approach the entrance.

"Is this a zombie nest? So many zombies!" Simon exclaimed.

"Heh, everyone comes here looking for food, but in the end, they all ended up like this," Sakura said with a hint of dark humor.

"So what now? Do we go back?" Simon asked.

"We'll figure out another way. Without food, they won't last long," Jason muttered, thinking deeply.

"Captain... I know of a place. There might still be some food there," one of the students suddenly said.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" Simon smacked the student's back.

"Well... it's a convenience store. It's stocked with snacks, and their warehouse is in the basement of a nearby apartment building," the student explained quickly.

"Are many people aware of it?" Jason asked, not wanting to walk into another zombie nest.

"No... not many. The store mainly takes orders online and delivers directly to the dorms. Very few people know about their warehouse."

"Good! Then we'll go there. But don't even think about pulling any tricks," Jason warned, pulling out a map and asking the student to point out the general location.

After confirming the location, the group changed their course.

The convenience store was located to the east, in a residential area.

Thanks to their experience from yesterday, the four of them moved carefully, shooting zombies from a distance without causing a commotion.

After a while, they reached the apartment building the student had mentioned. It was a row of slightly run-down high-rise buildings, with the basement entrance located on the ground floor.

They observed the area for a while, ensuring there were no immediate threats, before entering the building cautiously.

The hallway was dimly lit, so Jason switched on his chest light and led the group deeper toward the basement.

Clink

Jason threw a bullet down the hallway to the corner.

In areas with limited visibility, he always used a decoy to check for danger first.

As expected, when the bullet hit the ground, two zombies immediately growled and charged toward the sound.

Seeing the zombies rush out, the group quickly opened fire, taking them down.

The convenience store was at the end of the basement, and when they reached the door, Jason pulled on it. The door was closed, but there were no zombies inside—the two that had just attacked must have come from the outside.

"The door's locked. Should we break it open?" Jason asked, looking back at the group.

"Let me do it," Sakura stepped forward and pulled a piece of wire from her bag.

"You can pick locks?" Jason asked, surprised.

"Just a little," Sakura replied with a grin.

She crouched down and began working on the lock. After a few moments, there was a soft click, and the lock opened.

However, when Sakura tried to push the door open, it didn't budge.

She gave it another shove, and this time the door shifted slightly inward.

"Looks like we might need a bit more force," Jason said, preparing for what came next.