Ah... Turns Out She's a Woman

Back at the apartment complex.

He diligently arranged every trash bin, placing them back in their original positions. There were bins in front of and behind each building. Each had its own, and the other buildings also needed two bins each.

Whether the other buildings still had residents or not didn't matter.

That wasn't the point. The trash bins were public property. Even if no one lived in those buildings, the bins still had to be placed. This wasn't wasteful—it was part of the previously established rules.

Without rules, there's no order. Without a framework, there's no harmony in the Duong Quang apartment complex.

After setting up the trash bins, he left the complex to go shopping for supplies.

Old man Vuong and his wife, old man Chu and his wife, and Ly Mai and her daughter had all entrusted him with their bank cards. It was his duty to buy the necessary supplies for them.

He walked along the desolate road.

And entered the food market.

Standing at the entrance, a strong stench hit him in the face.

"Ugh—"

He couldn't help but gag.

It wasn't that he wanted to puke, but the stench here was overwhelmingly strong—truly unbearable.

"Ai, what a shame…"

Inside the gloomy market, everything was silent. Apart from the stench of rotting food, there were no other smells. There wasn't even the sound of zombies growling. Perhaps even the zombies couldn't stand the odor and had left long ago.

"I really want to clean this place up properly, but there are still too many things I haven't done yet."

He stood at the entrance silently for a few seconds.

As expected, without an environmental sanitation department, society is unsustainable.

He turned and left.

Without pausing.

He walked on and soon arrived at a supermarket.

He stopped and calmly observed the situation in front of him. A zombie crouched in a dark, secluded corner, feasting. Backlit, its silhouette appeared wild and terrifying.

"Ahem…"

He cleared his throat softly.

The zombie, gnawing fiercely, froze at the sound. Slowly, it turned its head. Its mouth was covered in blood, its hands gripped some unidentifiable organ, and its milky-white eyes swiveled. Unsteadily, it stood up and let out a ferocious roar.

Then rushed toward him at high speed.

Swish swish!

A flash of sword light, and the corpse was split apart, collapsing with a heavy thud. Judging from its uniform, it had probably been a delivery worker.

"Some people spend their whole lives eating, and even after turning into zombies, they're still eating."

He entered the supermarket.

This was the closest large supermarket to the Duong Quang apartment complex. It had everything—snacks, toys, clothes, vegetables, meat… whatever one could think of.

Inside, the supermarket was a mess. The floor was stained with dried blood. Apparently, a major incident had occurred here. Normally, anyone bitten by a zombie would turn into one too, unless they were extremely unlucky and encountered a red-flow zombie that ripped out their organs and shattered their body, making transformation impossible. They became zombie food instead.

Perhaps that's why he hadn't seen any bodies on his way here.

They had all become zombies.

He didn't dwell on it.

There were shopping carts at the entrance. He grabbed one and pushed it up the motionless escalator to the second floor. The escalator had stopped, so he had to exert effort, and it made a heavy sound. Anyone else would have been extremely cautious to avoid drawing attention from zombies.

Soon, he reached the second floor.

This was the food section. All kinds of edible items could be found here.

"Excuse me, is anyone here?"

He asked softly into the silent second-floor area. Aside from his own breathing, there wasn't a single sound.

The silence made him a bit uncomfortable. In the past, supermarkets were crowded and bustling, every customer smiling as they shopped.

But now… all of that had vanished.

"Oh!"

There were several headless corpses on the ground.

One!

Two!

Three!

Even without heads, he could tell from their chest shapes that they were three men. They had backpacks and carried weapons.

An axe.

A machete.

Their necks were severed, and blood still flowed. Judging from the scene, they hadn't died long ago.

"They probably came here to shop, were about to leave after paying, then something went wrong." Lam Pham glanced around and noticed their backpacks were bulging—definitely full.

He looked to the side and finally saw their heads.

"Ai."

Lam Pham sighed, stepped forward, and picked up their heads, placing them back with their bodies. Returning the fallen leaves to their roots—they were all Hoang city people. Even in death, they shouldn't be left incomplete. He couldn't resurrect them, but at least he could place their heads back on their bodies.

"Why is this one a female head?"

He looked at the head in his hand, then at the nearby corpse, and finally realized—

Turns out he had misidentified it.

This woman had a small chest and was wearing a bra, which made her gender less obvious.

After taking care of the bodies,

He continued walking through the supermarket.

He started with the freezer section, which was stocked with all kinds of frozen dumplings, sweet glutinous rice balls, wontons, etc. Electricity hadn't gone out yet, and the freezers were still running, helping to preserve the food longer.

"Three-flavor dumplings, mm, tastes pretty good. Two bags for Ly jie, four bags for the four elderly."

"Wontons aren't bad either. Let's grab a few bags."

He quietly selected items. Every time he picked something, he checked the preparation method, production date, and expiration date. That had always been his habit.

Although it was a supermarket, many liked to place near-expired items in front to sell them quickly.

Vegetable section.

All kinds of vegetables were wrapped in fresh-keeping film, sold in portions. The price was certainly higher than the food market. Of course, this wasn't just about price, but also preservation, quality, and packaging.

Green vegetables, green peppers, ginger, spinach, carrots, potatoes, and so on.

"Phi Phi is still young, needs to supplement nutrition. Let's get some nutritious food."

"The four elders are old, can't have too much oily food. Got to balance nutrition properly."

He moved like a seasoned nanny, choosing vegetables with sincere care and attention. Some vegetables weren't wrapped, meaning they might've gone bad during this time, so he had to be extra picky.

"Ah, right, still need to buy MSG, salt, oil…"

There were just too many things to buy. He muttered as he pushed the cart, as if afraid to forget something. Shopping in a supermarket was mentally exhausting. Even if it brought joy, buying too many things always meant forgetting one or two.

In the supermarket, only Lam Pham pushed a cart, slowly examining items on the shelves, unhurried in his selections.

Sometimes, when he saw fallen goods on the ground, he would pick them up and put them back in place.

Doing what he could.

No bad habits.

"The elderly replace calcium slowly, and bones degrade faster. Should probably choose high-calcium milk. Ai ya, not sure if the four elders have high blood pressure or diabetes. Hmm… Better go with sugar-free high-calcium milk."

"Phi Phi's still a child, probably likes flavored milk. This one should be good."

Suddenly.

A faint sound was heard.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He looked toward the direction of the sound. In the currently quiet atmosphere, any noise would be unnerving to anyone.

He saw what made the noise.

And laughed.

It was just a basketball.

But… why did the basketball suddenly move?

He looked around.

The window wasn't closed. Was it the wind?