Without Yu Hanjiang, what would have happened to everyone today? Deep down, no one knew what to do. After blowing up Infected's head and discovering that the Zerg could fuse and upgrade, everyone would probably have panicked and only wanted to escape as quickly as possible.
However, Yu Hanjiang, with his rich combat experience and calm command, managed to suppress the Zerg, allowing his teammates to divide the work and wipe out all 50+ Infected in the supermarket!
Everyone was still shaken, and they truly admired Captain Yu from the bottom of their hearts.
After the battle, everyone's tense nerves relaxed slightly, but there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be any stragglers in the supermarket who might try to launch a sneak attack. Yu Hanjiang glanced at his teammates and said, "Pack up the supplies and get out of here quickly."
Pushing the shopping cart was inconvenient, so Xiao Lou immediately made a decision: "Let's take scissors, open all the boxes, pack them into backpacks, and everyone can carry their backpacks."
Ye Qi, Liu Qiao, and Qu Wanyue conscientiously took out scissors and immediately opened the boxes of milk, chocolate, and cookies. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang then took out eight books.
The bags were unzipped and laid out in a row on the ground, while Long Sen, Lao Mo, and Shao Qingge were responsible for sorting and packing them.
Everyone worked together and quickly filled each backpack to the brim.
"If it can't fit, just throw it away. We can't bring too much stuff and it will affect our operations." Yu Hanjiang said decisively.
After the bags were full, Yu Hanjiang picked out a few light ones for Liu Qiao, Qu Wanyue, Ye Qi, and Xiao Lou to carry, while the other four heavier bags, which contained milk, mineral water, and other items, were carried by four muscular men.
After everyone shouldered their backpacks, Yu Hanjiang, leading the group, gave them a wink: "Let's go!"
Eight people lined up in a long queue. Yu Hanjiang kicked down the checkout barrier and quickly left the supermarket with his teammates.
***
At this moment, at the supermarket entrance.
A team of ten pushed a shopping cart in. The leader, a middle-aged man with a beard, frowned slightly and said, "Why is this supermarket so cold? Something seems off."
A curly-haired woman next to him said, "That's definitely not right. There are no staff members weighing the fruits and vegetables in the produce section, and no one is in the prepared food or raw meat sections either. This supermarket is clearly open for business, so how come we can't see a single employee?"
The group exchanged glances, looking at each other in bewilderment.
The empty supermarket was freezing cold, making everyone shiver.
The bearded man whispered, "Everyone, be on guard! Grab the supplies as quickly as possible and get out of here!"
The group followed their captain into the supermarket, but they couldn't see a single person along the way. Instead, there was a burnt smell in the air. They quickly grabbed supplies from the daily necessities section, but when they reached the checkout, they suddenly stopped.
Because they witnessed an extremely horrific scene!
The ground was a mess, with countless shards of glass scattered around, several insecticide bottles lying on the ground, and fragments of supermarket employees' clothing hanging on some shelves... There were charred corpses everywhere, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had taken place.
The bearded man speculated, "It must be that the Challenger team encountered the Zerg and wiped them out."
The Zerg would never set fire to humans; their parasitic methods involve scratching and biting, spreading through blood to turn the victim into "one of their own."
The scene was littered with charred bodies; clearly, these supermarket employees had been burned to death by the formidable Challenger team.
Curly-haired Woman pondered: "Why use fire? Do they have cards that can be used for fire attacks?"
The bearded man said with a grim face, "I think it's more likely that these Challengers discovered the Zerg's weakness and could completely eliminate them by burning them. Look at the scene, you can't even find a single Zerg corpse; they're obviously dead."
Curly-haired Woman said, "It must have been a powerful elite team from another guild. They wiped out more than fifty Infected members without even causing a fire in the supermarket or damaging it. They kept the battle within this small area. The person in charge was calm and strategic; he's a ruthless character."
The bearded man said, "Could it be someone from the Distant Place Association?"
The woman frowned: "Possibly."
A short boy next to him said, "Sister Hui, don't you happen to have a fire attack card? If you encounter an Infected, just burn it down."
The woman nodded: "We can try, everyone hurry up and get out of here."
The team of ten left the supermarket and headed towards the elevator.
Just then, they noticed two teams seemingly facing off ahead. The atmosphere was tense, and the group immediately stopped and hid in a corner, observing them warily.
The two sides in the standoff consisted of a team of 10 girls on one side and a team of 8 people, including both men and women, on the other.
—It was the girls' team from Luoying Pavilion and Xiao Lou's team.
When Xiao Lou and her group of eight walked out of the supermarket, they found that the people from Luoying Pavilion had not left. They were all standing at the supermarket exit with furrowed brows because the exit door had been locked. This supermarket could only be entered, not exited!
These insects were clever enough to leave the entrance passage open, pretending the supermarket was open for business, but they locked the iron gate at the exit.
The supermarket doors are very thick security doors; it's impossible to break them down by brute force.
Once someone enters the supermarket, they can forget about leaving.
In this way, their nests will grow larger and larger. And the humans who survive in the city will definitely come to the supermarket to buy supplies if they want to live. They just need to wait in the supermarket, and food will naturally be delivered to their doorstep.
No wonder they didn't bother chasing the girls from Luoying Pavilion when they ran away. They knew the girls couldn't escape. They only needed to deal with Xiao Lou's team first, and then it would be easy to take care of these girls.
Unfortunately, they didn't expect to encounter Yu Hanjiang, this devil, who burned them all to ashes!
The squeaking of the dying insect army must have been filled with resentment and unwillingness, right?
After leaving the supermarket, the girls from Luoying Pavilion found themselves unable to get out and were too afraid to go back the way they came, so they stayed there to think of a way. Ten minutes later, Xiao Lou and the others arrived at the door and found that they were unharmed. The girls from Luoying Pavilion were all a little surprised.
With so many infected people in the supermarket, how did those eight manage to get out safely?
The girls at Luoying Pavilion immediately tensed up on guard, after all, insects can disguise themselves! What if these eight were already infected, just disguised as Challenger, and took advantage of the moment they were talking to them to parasitize them? They would be in no condition to defend themselves!
Thus, a strange standoff ensued between the two sides.
There was a five-meter-wide vacuum barrier between the two teams, and neither side intended to take a step forward.
Seeing that the exit was locked, Xiao Lou said, "These bugs are clever; they've blocked the exit. It seems we have no choice but to go back the way we came."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Go back, go through the supermarket entrance."
Everyone turned to go back, just then, a girl from Luoying Pavilion suddenly asked, "Wait, what's going on in the supermarket?"
Xiao Lou said, " Infected has been killed. If you want to leave, you can go back the way you came."
The girls looked at each other, clearly in disbelief.
Xiao Lou said, "If you don't believe me, you can ask them."
He turned around, glanced in the direction where the other team was hiding, and said, "Come out."
Bearded Uncle led his teammates out and laughed, "Looks like a few experts burned all the bugs in the supermarket?"
Xiao Lou said, "That's right."
The people from Luoying Pavilion only believed Xiao Lou's story after seeing another Challenger team emerge from the supermarket unharmed. The team leader said, "Let's go, follow them, and get out of the supermarket first."
Xiao Lou and his team returned the way they came, followed closely by two Challenger teams.
The three teams, totaling 28 people, returned to the supermarket. The girls from Luoying Pavilion were terrified when they saw the charred corpses scattered all over the place.
The tall captain, his face pale, said, "You guys are really something. I didn't expect to use fire to burn Infected to death."
Xiao Lou explained, "Just blow the Infected's head off. The insectoids inside them will symbiotically coexist with their own kind nearby, and fuse to upgrade and increase their strength. Only fire can completely destroy the insects. This information is very useful. In the future, when you encounter Infected, try to use fire to wipe them out. Otherwise, they will breed a difficult boss to deal with."
The other two teams looked extremely grim upon hearing this.
They can even fuse and upgrade?! These Zerg are practically sentient!
Xiao Lou generously shared crucial information with the other two teams. Although cooperation among the Challengers in this escape room wasn't easy, they weren't competitors, and Xiao Lou hoped that more Challengers could survive.
Besides, indiscriminately killing Infected is not beneficial; if it eventually breeds a Boss, everyone will suffer.
Uncle Bearded said, "Thank you. We just came in from outside. Traffic in the city center is paralyzed right now, the epidemic is spreading extremely fast, and there are almost no normal people on the streets. Everyone must be careful when you go out."
Yu Hanjiang and his group stayed in the supermarket for nearly half an hour, never expecting that the situation outside would become so dire in such a short time.
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and their eyes met.
The two communicated via Telepathic Connection. Yu Hanjiang said, "Let's go back to Lao Mo's company first."
Currently, Mo Xuemin's company is the only safe place. There are no strangers there, and the key is in Lao Mo's hands. Everyone can temporarily use it as a base to carefully study the strategy for the next few days.