Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 535 - 528: A Night of Terror

The convoy traveled westward, covering a distance of about 20 minutes. The road sides gradually became desolate.

The survivors reached the suburbs again. Old Xu checked the time. After an entire day of struggles, it was now close to 4 PM.

Considering that it gets dark earlier in late autumn, Xu Renjie drove onto a side road. After crossing two streets, the group finally chose a relatively quiet alley to enter.

There weren't many zombies in the alley, with small shops on both sides, probably serving the surrounding neighborhoods.

Tang Xiaoquan looked around for a while, then said to Xu Renjie in the driver's seat, "Old Xu, let's spend the night there."

Xu Renjie glanced at the location pointed out by the young man, nodded indifferently, and then drove over at a low speed.

Parked and got out, Tang Xiaoquan had chosen a spot in the middle of the alley.

The reason for choosing this place was mainly its central position, making it easier to observe both ends of the alley and avoid being surrounded by zombies suddenly appearing.

Additionally, the shop had two floors and a solid rolling shutter door, with the key hanging halfway in the lock. So everyone could be secure for the midnight by just entering the store and pulling down the roller shutter door.

"Wow! A Gentlemen's Salon!" Wang Qiang looked up at the shop sign after getting out of the car and thought to himself, "Another beauty and hair salon!"

Recalling their last trip to a hair salon, if it weren't for his brother Tang Xiaoquan's help, he might have ended up as zombie food.

"Alright, Qiangzi, stop wasting time. You and Dazhuang stay outside on guard, and the rest of you follow me inside to scout."

After speaking, Xu Renjie took the lead, feeling a hunter's fury as he stepped into the beauty salon.

The shop was large, about 80 square meters, with two rows of professional hairdressing chairs and dressing tables lined up on both sides, cluttered with small scissors and combs for hairdressing. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from the long absence of cleaning.

In the front, an area was partitioned into a shampoo room with four luxurious lying shampoo sofas.

Various equipment for perming, dyeing, and styling were scattered around.

One could say that this place was much more upscale than the hair salon they visited on their first trip to the city.

This amazed everyone, wondering if such a high-end beauty salon in a suburban county could be profitable.

However, the survivors soon found the answer.

Old Xu quickly scanned the surroundings, fixing his gaze on a shriveled corpse. Judging from the sunken cheekbones and the wide-open eyes, it's easy to infer that he died in great agony.

"This guy should be an employee of this shop." Hu Xiaodong stepped forward and lifted the employee badge next to the corpse, which had the number 009 engraved in red: "Looks like this shop had a lot of employees. Let's be careful!"

The group nodded, then spread out to thoroughly check every corner of the shop.

After finishing the inspection of the first floor, Old Xu ordered, "Li Zhong, Xiao Zhang, you two take the corpse outside, Xiaotang, Xiaohu, let's continue to check upstairs!"

After over four months of drying up, the corpse on the floor was shriveled to skin and bones. The horrid sight was indescribable, and the exposed wrinkled skin was full of holes. Fortunately, it wasn't hot summer; otherwise, the internal maggots would have hatched and crawled all over the place.

But even so, it was still stomach-churning.

Bypassing the cash register, Old Xu led Hu Xiaodong and Tang Xiaoquan to pull open a concealed door inside.

Recalling the curtain attack incident at the archery range previously, Hu Xiaodong stopped Xu Renjie as he was about to open the door.

After preparing with bows and arrows, he signaled Xu Renjie to open the door.

Everything was normal behind the door with no abnormal noises.

Thus, Hu, Xu, and Tang proceeded upstairs.

As soon as they reached the second floor, a musty smell of mildew rushed towards them, making the three of them uncomfortable.

Trailing behind, Tang Xiaoquan hastily opened the window at the end of the corridor, and the fresh air made their suffering lungs feel much better.

This area was where the beauty treatments were done, with a corridor over ten meters long divided into six separate rooms. Each room had a bed, and the wall next to each bed was covered with price lists for various treatments.

Of course, for people like Xu Renjie, they naturally didn't know what these treatment terms meant, but one thing was certain: they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor tonight.

The three of them carefully inspected the entire second floor, and after confirming everything was okay, Old Xu called the others to move in the necessary living supplies.

Then they closed the rolling shutter door, plunging the entire first-floor area into darkness.

But the survivors, used to such conditions in the post-apocalyptic world, were unsurprised by it.

Once inside, the survivors rested individually, while Old Xu took out an outdoor survival pot to cook ramen for everyone.

Time passed by the minute, and the night gradually deepened. The beauty salon, already unusually dark, remained pitch-black except for the scattered light from the stove under the survival pot.

Hu Xiaodong took out candles from the supply bag, lit two, and placed them in the middle of the hall.

The small flames immediately brought some light and warmth to the cold, desolate midnight.

Soon, the smell of noodles wafted through the room, causing the hungry survivors to swallow saliva involuntarily.

They enjoyed the meal a lot, and during it, Old Xu arranged the watches for the night.

Afterward, he took some bottles and cans from the shop, placing them irregularly behind the rolling shutter door. This was to prevent any unwanted "rats" from sneaking in at midnight.

Although the probability was minimal, habit dictated caution. Xu Renjie's long military career had ingrained such a careful style in him.

Given the darkness, he couldn't assign someone to guard the first floor alone.

At the same time, those on guard duty upstairs couldn't guarantee they wouldn't nod off or be distracted after nightfall.

If an intruder attacked then, it would cause big trouble.

So, these small traps downstairs served as excellent unstaffed surveillance devices.

If any "intruder" dared to sneak in at night, "they" would surely be surprised by the little gift Xu Renjie prepared. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)