Chapter 82: The Three Pharmacies Are Connected
Chapter 82: The Three Pharmacies Are Connected
The emergency window on this pharmacy’s exterior is already open, with a skeleton hanging halfway through it. Its clothes are torn to shreds, with only a few scraps of flesh clinging to the bones. Dried blood smears the entire windowsill, suggesting that this is likely a pharmacy survivor who tries to escape but doesn’t make it. Before they can crawl out, they’re devoured by zombies.
The skeleton remains in a fleeing position, and on warmer days, flies buzz around it, adding to the disturbing scene.
An Ran endures the stench and gently pulls the decayed head, still attached to bits of rotting tissue, off the windowsill. She carefully places the remains on the ground nearby, arranging the head, arms, and legs in a respectful position on the grass beside the building. Despite everything, she wants to offer the dead a final bit of dignity.
Just as she stands up, An Ran catches sight of a zombie standing inside the window, staring at her with its cloudy eyes as if straining to identify the noise. When she moves the skeleton, it must have made a faint rustling sound, attracting the zombie’s attention.
An Ran’s pulse quickens, but instead of retreating, she moves forward. Standing on tiptoe, she hooks one arm around the zombie’s neck, pulls its head close, and with her other hand drives a fruit knife into the top of its skull, prying out a small diamond embedded in its brain.
Over these past days, An Ran develops a certain expertise in killing zombies with just a fruit knife—she’s gone through five or six of them. But those knives haven’t been sacrificed in vain. By now, she’s honed her skills to the point that she can sense the location of the diamond in the zombie’s skull through her knife’s pressure alone.
Most diamonds are located near the zombies’ foreheads, where the veins converge. By carefully inserting the knife a little deeper, a twist of the blade pops the diamond right out.
After dispatching the zombie in the window, the pharmacy seems clear. At the start of the apocalypse, only a few doctors are on duty in the emergency pharmacy, with the outpatient pharmacy closed for the night shift. One doctor is devoured by zombies, and An Ran has now taken care of the other.
She climbs through the window and steps into the emergency pharmacy, inhaling the overpowering scent of traditional Chinese medicine. Exploring further, she finds that this pharmacy is connected to both the outpatient pharmacy and the Chinese medicine pharmacy.
This layout is a stroke of luck—how convenient!
Satisfied, An Ran climbs back out the window, planning to fetch Hu Zhen to help gather the supplies. As she reaches the third floor, she’s greeted by the sound of a baby crying—a shrill, hoarse wail, as though it’s been going on for some time. She realizes that Chen Jiao must have brought Doll from the sky garden to the third floor, or she would have heard the cries sooner.
Her expression hardens as she pushes open the safety door. Inside, the baby lies on the floor, while Chen Jiao tries to soothe He Wen, who’s also crying. Turning at the sound of the door, Chen Jiao sighs with relief and calls out to An Ran:
“Quick, get your daughter. She won’t stop crying. I’ll take He Wen to find Hu Zhen.”