Chapter 17

A good Samaritan was enraged when he saw the security guard's pointless death. He picked up a glass bottle from the shelf and threw it against the man's head. The bottle hit the man's back and fell to the ground with a crash. The sound of the glass bottle shattering was almost like a trigger, setting off a burst of pure evil. The vicious man kicked over the shopping cart and turned around with bloodshot eyes. "Motherf*cker, who did that?" As he spoke, he picked up the steel pipe and swung it mercilessly at the heads of the people in front of him. With every swing, someone's brain exploded. The Good Samaritan was also frightened by the man's ruthlessness and kept backing away. Soon, he hid in the crowd. The splattering blood trickled down from the man's forehead. The blood made him look even more ferocious and agitated. He held the steel pipe and rushed towards the crowd like a madman, swinging it at their heads brutally. From afar, Jenny was unable to see what was going on over there. All she could hear was the shrill screams that sounded like a concert from hell. The fearful screams made her skin crawl. She instinctively grabbed Irene's sleeve and urged, "Irene, let's go." However, the rest of the crowd swarmed towards the exit, afraid that they would be the next to be struck in the head. Jenny staggered and almost fell. Irene quickly grabbed her arm and headed in the opposite direction. "There are too many people here. We could easily get caught up in a stampede like this. Let's leave later." Jenny was scared out of her wits, so she simply nodded and followed Irene to the corner of the pet supplies area. The increasingly intense talk of an apocalypse had everyone panicking. The price of daily necessities was getting higher and higher, which only made things worse. These days, there were clearly more people going out to buy supplies at night than before. That was especially true tonight! The man waved his steel pipe like a demon and approached the crowd. Everyone was forced to retreat step by step, rushing towards the exit. Soon, the door was jammed shut by a pile of bodies! Some people fell from the frantic shove, while others stepped on the heads of the people who had fallen to the ground and rushed out like locusts. Some people took advantage of the chaos to load things into their carts like madmen, while yet others robbed the people around them of their valuables at knifepoint. The air was filled with the thick smell of blood, as well as the stench of vomit and urine, squeezed out of the many bodies in the crush. Irene had made a prompt decision to retreat to a corner of the pet supplies area with Jenny as soon as the first group of people rushed over. Screams filled her ears. The wails were hoarse, ear-piercing, and as dense as thunder. People kept rushing toward the door, stepping on others' bodies as they made a mad dash for the outside. There were also other people wreaking utter havoc in the supermarket. It was a mess… Everything was in complete chaos. The large supermarket had turned into hell on earth overnight. Irene crouched sideways under the cover of the shelves. She held a sharp military dagger in her hand, her eyes sharp and alert as she looked out into the chaos. As expected, the few people with knives on their waists took advantage of the chaos to raid the supermarket. As the crowd fled in all directions, these people frantically threw supplies into small carts. Whenever anyone passed by in front of them, they raised their knives and slaughtered the innocent passersby without hesitation. Jenny thought last night had been terrifying enough, but she felt she would never forget what happened today. She clung to Irene, her whole body bathed in a cold sweat. She felt that she could already smell the scent of death around her. Irene could sense that Jenny was shaking like a leaf, but she had no intention of comforting her. This was just the beginning. In a few years, once resources became scarce, cannibalism would become commonplace. Still, the exits were completely blocked by the crowd now. How was she going to get out? Wait, what about the emergency exits? Just as she was planning her next move, Irene caught a glimpse of a figure sneaking up on her out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze turned sharp, and she stood up abruptly. She raised her dagger and hollered at the suspicious person, "What are you doing?" The man had not expected Irene to be this alert, so he was startled by her sudden yell. When he looked up and met her frosty eyes, his heart skipped a beat. Previously, he had only suspected that Irene might have had something to do with his brother's death. However, when he saw the ruthlessness in this woman's eyes, his suspicions were instantly confirmed. Irene definitely killed Dan and the other two! It was obvious, because she had the eyes of a killer! Dan was his older brother, the one who raised him. When Dave remembered that, his eyes turned red and bloodshot. "I'll kill you!" He took out the machete that was clipped to his waist and charged at Irene with a twisted expression on his face. Terrified, Jenny scrambled backward on her hands and knees, not forgetting to call out to Irene, "Irene, run!" Run? The thought had never once crossed Irene's mind. Just as Dave had recognized her, Irene had recognized Dave. After all, in her eyes, Dave was an old acquaintance of hers by now. In her previous life, he was one of the people who committed those heinous crimes in Celestial Gardens He was not as bold or as ruthless as Dan, and he looked harmless enough. However, Dave had cut off Irene's leg in her previous life. Irene's gaze turned cold. She had not thought to settle the score with Dave, but here he was, offering his head to her on a silver platter. In that case, she would be more than happy to oblige! Just then, however, the light above her head flashed twice and suddenly went out. The entire supermarket was plunged into darkness. It was a blackout! The darkness, along with the miserable screams and the strong smell of blood, made the supermarket feel even more like a living hellscape. Dave blinked hard. He could not yet adjust to the sudden darkness. Under these circumstances, Irene had a huge advantage as a regressor. She had lived through the eternal night of the apocalypse for a very long time. All those years surviving in the dark had given her the ability to see through the darkness in an instant. Just then, she quietly snuck behind Dave. While Dave was still waving his machete around, she did not hesitate to stab the dagger into the artery on his neck. "Sorry, my blade is faster." She was responding to Dave's furious threat from earlier. There was a cacophony of voices all around them, but Dave heard Irene's words clearly, accompanied by a sharp pain in his neck that he could not ignore. Blood spurted out of his artery. He reached out to stem the flow, but he could not stop it at all. As Irene watched, he staggered back and crashed to the ground again, his eyes opened wide even as he bled to death. Jenny could not see anything in the dark. All she could do was pull her knees to her chest and cry out endlessly, "Irene? Irene?" "I'm here." Irene walked over, gripped Jenny's wrist with expert precision, and lifted her off the floor. "We can't stay here. Let's go." If this was just an ordinary riot, Irene might consider staying here for a while longer until the police rescued them. However, Dave's presence rang alarm bells in her head. She had not forgotten what Dan's accomplice had said. They had looked into her and knew that she had two hundred million dollars in her hands. She did not care about those other three since they were dead, but Dave's sudden appearance here reminded Irene of the slimy, disgusting gaze she had sensed at the entrance to the supermarket. She was starting to think that she had a target on her back! It was too chaotic in here. Irene was worried that the enemy would surround her before the police could come to her rescue.