Li Jiefan looked around as they rode past half the city. She could see signs of life, banners and fabric hanging out of high-rise buildings, blood on the street and the occasional wandering zombie that was to slow to catch them. They had rode non-stop, not speaking and simply enduring the discomfort. Chen Liechu distracted herself by focusing on the changing landscape, from suburbia to apartment buildings to high-rises as they got closer to the city centre while Li Jiefan focused on her plans and the future.
After thirty minutes of straight riding Chen Liechu was so relieved to finally see the sign, " Xingaung Mall". They rode into the parking garage and leaned their bikes near the exit on the first floor. When Chen Liechu got up her bike she was surprised to find she was way less tired than she thought she would be. She expected to be exhausted, so exhausted that she could barely walk and would be standing on shaky legs but instead she felt tired but fine overall, like she took a brisk three minute walk. Chen Liechu was an athlete and did have better stamina than other people but this was unusual even for her. ' Maybe it is the adrenaline' She thought, she dismissed the feeling and looked over at Li Jiefan who was looking around the parking garage.
Li Jiefan could feel her body's increased stamina and her increased strengh, the awakening must be almost complete. She was unsure if her powers had appeared yet but she would have time to find out later. The appearance of her awakening did leave her feeling more confident in herself and more prepared to fight.
The girls gave the garage a quick look around and then walked into the mall. The electric sliding doors still opened, so maybe a generator was still operational in the building. It would be good if there was as it would allow them to charge their phones.
Li Jiefan and Chen Liechu went up the mall level by level and inspected any store that felt like a promising temporary shelter.
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Li Jiefan walked down the aisles of a camping store with her friend she noticed empty spaces in some of the aisles, she thought nothing of it at first as she felt that no person would be willing to leave their home at this point of the apocalypse, still holding onto hope for the government to come save them or sort the situation out. Li Jiefan suspicion of other people being venturing into the mall grew as she went to the back room of the store in search of a wider arrange of stock. She expected the door to be locked as the apocalypse happened during the night when the store was closed but it was surprisingly opened. Inspecting the door closer she saw the lock was broken and the door frame had some damage. Someone had forced the door open. 'Does that mean there is someone in the mall currently or has the person already gone.' Li Jiefan thought. She couldn't answer these questions and the mall was big so even if there was another person they may not run into each other. It was no use to worry about things she couldn't change, worrying did not solve anything, so she focused onto to the task at hand.
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Chen Leichu walked through the big grocery store looking for more preserved food. She looked through the aisles at all the different food options, canned meat, rice. Everything seemed normal until she reached the instant ramen section, half of the shelves with instant ramen were empty. ' Maybe the shelves were not fully stoked before the store closed or it closed in a rush?' Chen Leichu thought as she looked at all the other shelves,' No they are all stoked.' Chen Leichu immediately went to all the aisles of interest. In the beverage aisle, a bunch of water bottles were gone, in the pharmacy, some painkillers were gone and in the barbeque section a bunch of matches and lighters were gone.
One instance could have just been the result of a negligent employee but the consistent disappearance of survival supplies meant that someone was taking them. Chen Leichu walked quicky to the home goods store next door where she found Li Jiefan in the blankets area. She tapped her friends shoulder and said," I think we are not the only people who thought about coming here. A lot of items in the store were gone."
Li Jiefan looked over at her friend," I know."
" You know?" Chen Leichu looked over at her surprised.
Li Jiefan nodded and said," In the camping store I saw the door for the back room was forced open."
Chen Leichu looked surprised, and kinda hurt," And you didn't tell me, I thought we were in this together."
Li Jiefan had grown very sensitive to the slightest changes in other people's moods due to her neglectful childhood home so she immediatly noticed Chen Leichu's change in expression," I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was not thinking. I just did not want us to worry unnessacarily."
Chen Leichu's expression softened, " It's fine, I am a very forgiving person."
Li Jiefan looked around the store and said,"Look, I think this store would be a good place to stay the night. The gate works, there is already blankets here and we can sleep in the bed displays. How about I go to the tech store to get the radio and the portable battery banks while you set up for tonight."
"Hmm, well I guess I have to do the heavy lifting in this group and secure the fortress while you dally." Chen Leichu said after faking thinking it over.
Li Jiefan smiled and handed Chen Leichu the blankets she had chosen," Here you go. I'll go now but just know I want the blue bed display on the right."
Chen Leichu nodded," You can have it, you know I want the pink one, and mentioning pink if there is a pink portable power bank I call dibs on it."
Li Jiefan nodded and smiled softly as she walked out the store. The tech store was on the same floor, just a few stores down so it did not take long for Li Jiefan to walk to it. The store was very organised and once she walked to the back it was not hard to find the portable radio's, She grabbed two, one for each of them. Li Jiefan could not find any on the portable power banks she wanted in the back but she remebered seeing some in the front of the storager roomn. She was paying to close attention to the labels as she moved across the aisles so she did not see the man standing behind her.
Li Jiefan imediately stood in alert and turned around with her knife in her hand and noticed the man in question was in a similar position but with a metal bat in hand. It looked like she had found the other person in the mall.