Chapter 201: No Way to Break the Glass
Chapter 201: No Way to Break the Glass
The layout of the mall is roughly as follows:
Coming up from the underground supermarket, the diagonal opposite is Glass Door No. 1. Directly across from Glass Door No. 1 is an escalator leading to the second floor. By the time Anran and her group rush up from the underground supermarket, the escalator area is already occupied by zombies crowding in from outside Glass Door No. 1.
Realizing they have no way up, they abandon the idea of reaching the second floor and instead run deeper into the mall’s main hall.
The entire mall is oval-shaped, with a car showroom situated at its center. The showroom isn’t very large, only big enough to display six cars at a time.
Anran, Doll, and Little Mint are currently holed up in a men’s clothing store located to the left of the showroom, slightly closer to Door No. 2. At this moment, zombies have also gathered outside Door No. 2, having been drawn over. However, unlike Glass Door No. 1, Door No. 2 is not made of glass. It is a large electric rolling shutter with an additional thick metal door behind it.
Zombies can’t break through it as easily as they can a glass door.
The wall of lilies forms a semicircle, resembling a protective barrier, enclosing the entrance of the clothing store and partially covering the door of the adjacent children’s clothing store.
Throughout the mall, in addition to the main entrances, some individual stores have also installed their own doors. Whether or not a store has a separate entrance depends on the owner’s personal preference. Stores confident in the mall’s security have left their storefronts open—like the clothing store Anran is in.
But those less confident have taken extra precautions, installing doors even sturdier than the mall’s main entrances—such as the children's clothing store directly in front of Anran.
The problem is, the main entrance of the children’s clothing store is outside the flower wall, made entirely of bulletproof glass, with the surrounding walls also constructed from the same reinforced material.
If Anran wants to enter the store, she has only two options: either break through the bulletproof glass or destroy the store’s main door lock from a distance. But the latter means competing for a few square meters of space with the zombies swarming outside—a process that would take precious time.
Anran sighs as she climbs down from the flower wall. Adjusting Doll in her arms, she turns back, reaches into the flower wall where human bones lay tangled among the roots, and brushes aside a few green leaves. She fishes out several crystal cores, holding them in one hand to absorb their energy.
As the crystal cores in her palm turn to white ash, Anran presses her hands—now dusted with that same ash—flat against the bulletproof glass.
Immediately, the waist-high lilies surge with growth, their white blossoms stretching toward the glass, tendrils creeping up the smooth surface.
But no matter how wildly they grow, they can’t break the glass for her.
Anran feels a wave of frustration. She stares at the children's clothing store, at the neat rows of baby clothes she so desperately needs, then glances down at Doll in her arms, whose diaper is already damp.
Just then, Doll lets out a faint whimper. Her little face scrunches up, and after a moment of struggling, she suddenly bursts into loud cries.
Anran quickly hurries back to the counter, loosening the sling on her back.
Little Mint steps forward, gently supporting Doll as Anran takes her off her back.
Seeing how she tensed up before wailing, Anran knows she has peed again. She places her in a makeshift nest of clothing, unzips her diaper, lifts her tiny legs, and checks under the dim, murky light.
Sure enough, the diaper is soaked through, and her little bottom is red and covered in patches of rashes. The diaper is completely unusable.
Without hesitation, Anran grabs it and hurls it over the counter, flinging it past the flower wall.
The urine-soaked diaper sails through the air—before landing directly on a zombie’s face.