Chapter 51: One Durian and Three Pies
Chapter 51: One Durian and Three Pies
The door to Hu Zhen's ward is closed. Earlier, there was noise inside, attracting a cluster of zombies in the hallway who now circle the door, fangs bared. In contrast, only about a dozen or so zombies linger by the security door.
Assuming nothing goes wrong, Anran should be able to handle them all. Her days now revolve around feeding Doll and killing zombies; gathering supplies is secondary. After seven or eight days of this routine, with hardly any sleep, she has become quite adept at dealing with zombies. Each time she opens her eyes, it is a world filled with zombies and babies, and the business of killing zombies has become second nature.
Anran skillfully taps the security door with the medical scissors, making just enough noise to attract two or three nearby zombies.
The first zombie arrives, and Anran meets its gaze, suddenly smiling as she thrusts the scissors into its temple.
She then pries open the scissors and pushes upwards, widening the wound. As the first zombie falls, the second lunges at her. Unfazed, Anran continues to dispatch them, using the terrain to her advantage with growing expertise.
This "terrain advantage" involves pinning the zombies with the security door, leaving just enough space for their heads to poke through, rendering them immobile while she calmly stabs them in the forehead. This tactical approach allows her to easily take down the five or six zombies clustered around the security door. To prevent a pile-up of bodies, she drags a few into the safe passage and smashes the safety window's glass to dispose of the corpses outside.
Occasionally, when Doll and Chen Jiao’s son wake up and fuss, Anran quickly runs up the safe stairs, carrying the fruit basket and the baby carrier. This strategy of being able to advance or retreat allows her to wipe out the dozen or so zombies lingering near the security door with relative ease.
But she is an ordinary woman with no experience and has never fought with anyone in the past twenty years. With the babies being so young and not cooperating much, Anran spends two days dealing with various diaper issues and calming them to sleep before she can eliminate these zombies.
In these two days, Anran correctly estimates that the fourth-floor maternity ward is rich in supplies, filled with high-calorie foods suitable for new mothers. Even the zombies on that floor have some chocolate in their pockets. She discovers an entire box of mineral water, cookies, and egg yolk pies in a nearby ward.
Since many relatives come to visit new mothers after childbirth, families often stock several boxes of mineral water in the ward—one bottle per visitor as a gesture of hospitality. Furthermore, it is customary for visitors to bring gifts like fruits, making the fourth-floor maternity ward plentiful in fruit varieties. Anran finds two or three durians, the king of fruits.
There are also countless spoiled items like chicken soup and pig’s trotters that have gone bad, but since they are inedible, she decides to feast on the durians instead. One durian and three egg yolk pies are enough to help her produce plenty of milk.