Chapter 90: The Kitchen

"I'm really speechless. You're a reincarnator. Since you've cleared the game, you've seen the world. For a diamond necklace, I'm truly impressed…"

In the kitchen of the Western restaurant, Zhao Kuo listened to the commotion outside while complaining.

Tang Yingying took a high-quality steak out of the fridge to thaw and retorted, "I haven't awakened that many memories. Besides, something so shiny and big like this would make any girl stop in her tracks!"

"It's as big as a pigeon egg!"

"Pigeon egg…" Zhao Kuo rolled his eyes in exasperation.

The entire mall had descended into chaos. After arriving at the Western restaurant, the two of them immediately rushed into the kitchen, used kitchen knives to intimidate the confused chefs, and then locked the kitchen door behind them.

The good news was that the kitchen doors were made of steel and were exceptionally sturdy, so they didn't have to worry about zombies breaking in for the time being.

The bad news was that the kitchen had no windows, so the only way to know what was happening outside was by listening.

The mall had turned into a living hell. With its dense crowd, it had become the perfect breeding ground for the M virus. Through the steel door, Zhao Kuo could hear the screams and roars outside.

Just then, footsteps approached, and the kitchen door was pounded on.

"Is anyone in there? Please, let me in! Please, I'm begging you!"

It was a girl, likely a waitress from the restaurant. She cried and banged on the door, clearly desperate after being cornered by zombies.

Zhao Kuo and Tang Yingying exchanged a glance and then both shook their heads.

Now was not the time to be overly compassionate. If they opened the door and zombies rushed in, things would get much worse.

Sure enough, just a couple of seconds after the girl's plea, growls and her screams echoed from outside.

"You're pretty heartless. What if it was a beautiful girl out there?" Tang Yingying tested the induction stove. Fortunately, the power was still on, and it worked.

Zhao Kuo mimicked her expression and shrugged, "What does that have to do with me? Letting her in would just mean more food to share."

Zhao Kuo wasn't a cold-hearted person. If his skills and supplies were still usable, he might have tried to save her. After all, a single magic missile could take out a whole group of these small zombies.

Plus, with Xiao Bai and Nash by his side, he wouldn't have been scared.

But now, he wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person. Better for others to die than for him to perish.

Soon, the commotion outside stopped. It was unclear whether the girl had been eaten or turned into a new zombie.

Zhao Kuo temporarily lost interest in the noises outside. He pushed a fridge against the door to reinforce it and then carefully checked the kitchen's back door. After confirming it was securely locked, he finally relaxed.

Meanwhile, Tang Yingying had finished taking stock of the kitchen's ingredients. "Good news: these ingredients are enough to last us over half a month without needing to go out, and they're all high-quality. Bad news: after half a month, we'll be automatically wiped out by the system."

Zhao Kuo gave her a thumbs-up. "Great summary. So, we need to figure out a way to get out."

"What way? Our skills are unusable, we don't have guns, and we can't just fight those things with kitchen knives, can we?" Tang Yingying said as she picked up a knife and started cutting the beef on the chopping board.

The kitchen was full of knives—long, short, all kinds.

"If there's no other way, then that's what we'll have to do," Zhao Kuo said with a frown. Honestly, their current situation was very precarious.

With only knives at their disposal, breaking through the horde of zombies in the mall was almost impossible. And as Tang Yingying had pointed out, if they were trapped here for too long and missed the time to reach the next station, the consequences would be even more dire.

So, was this mall just a trap to lure people in and kill them?

Surely, not many people in the subway world could resist such a temptation. After all, everyone dreamed of returning to the real world.

The main issue was that they hadn't expected the system to disable their skills and supplies. Otherwise, forget about generous rewards—even if they were offered a mountain of gold, Zhao Kuo wouldn't have entered.

They still didn't fully understand the malicious intent of the subway.

Zhao Kuo pulled up a small stool and sat down, watching Tang Yingying, who was still humming a tune while busy.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Kuo said, "I think the subway world wouldn't give us a situation with no way out. Although there are many zombies outside, there must be some way to deal with them. When things calm down a bit, we can go out and take a look."

Tang Yingying nodded. "I think so too. Rather than sitting here waiting to die, it's better to take the initiative. And who knows, maybe the military or something will come to rescue us."

Zhao Kuo looked at her as if she were an idiot and didn't respond.

Although the Western restaurant kitchen was safe, it didn't offer a good view of the outside, which was a problem.

But Tang Yingying wasn't wrong. Instead of waiting here to die, taking the initiative was the only way out.

Without hesitation, Zhao Kuo spread a chef's uniform on the floor and lay down.

The kitchen wasn't very spacious, so lying down felt a bit cramped.

"What are you doing?" Tang Yingying poked her head over and asked.

"Resting to conserve some energy. Later, I'll go out, and you'll stay here to provide support," Zhao Kuo said.

It was easy to imagine that taking the initiative would be a fierce battle. Zhao Kuo needed to recover his strength.

Tang Yingying pursed her lips and didn't say anything, but the sound of her cutting the beef became much quieter.

As a reincarnator, she always felt she could play a bigger role, but her limited awakened memories had prevented her from reaching her full potential.

She had also been living under Zhao Kuo's protection.

Although the two often bickered, Tang Yingying knew she had taken advantage of Zhao Kuo's kindness—and not just a little.

So sometimes, the girl thought about how to repay him.

Unfortunately, offering herself was out of the question since he always avoided it. Her profession as a puppet master didn't give her any advantages in strength or physique in this environment.

Maybe she could do something else.

So Tang Yingying turned her attention to the extra lean meat sitting to the side.

Perhaps this could be useful?

She recalled some techniques she had read about in novels and started wrapping the lean meat in aluminum foil, then securing it with tape.

Fortunately, as a Western kitchen, there was plenty of random stuff like this.

After Tang Yingying's handiwork, a pair of aluminum foil and lean meat wrist guards were ready.

Actually, using books would have been better, but there were no books in the kitchen, so this would have to do.

Next, Tang Yingying started making a spear-like weapon using a short knife and a long stick. After all, when facing monsters like zombies, it was better to keep them at a distance rather than risk getting too close.

…