Why was the rolling shutter door down?
Who closed it?
Could zombies have done it?
No, impossible!
Zombies definitely don't have that kind of intelligence.
They only follow their instinct to hunt humans.
Stel didn't rush into the supermarket.
Instead, he walked around the store, peering through the windows to check the interior.
He found a spot where he could see inside through the glass.
He closed one eye,
And carefully observed.
Empty!
Dark!
Silent!
There were no zombies or humans inside.
Not even the lights were on.
It was completely quiet.
"Could I have imagined it?"
Seeing this, Stel began to doubt himself.
Was the shutter door originally open?
Or was it always closed?
...
After a moment of silence, Stel walked back to the shutter door.
He bent down,
Grabbed the handle with both hands, and lifted it forcefully.
"Zzzz!"
The shutter door instantly rolled up.
After opening it, Stel didn't rush inside. He first dealt with the surrounding zombies.
This supermarket was going to be his food supply warehouse.
He didn't want it overrun by zombies.
The stench from zombies would attract flies and other pests,
And the smell would seep into the food, affecting its taste.
Swish, swish, swish!
After clearing out the surrounding zombies, Stel felt safe enough to enter the supermarket.
As soon as he stepped inside,
Stel inhaled a thick cloud of dust.
Cough, cough!
He coughed lightly, the dust making his throat feel dry.
"It seems like no one has been here for a while..."
All the curtains in the supermarket were drawn, making it dark even during the day.
Stel found the light switch for the store.
"Click!"
As the switch was pressed, the lights on the ceiling instantly illuminated, brightening the entire supermarket.
The supermarket wasn't very large.
It sold items to meet the daily needs of the local residents.
Stel didn't waste time and headed straight to the food section.
He first went to the produce section.
One look, and a bitter expression crossed his face.
It stank! Damn, it reeked!
Unlike the stench from the zombies, this was the smell of rot.
The vegetables and fruits had been rotting for who knows how long.
Bacteria and insects had accelerated the decay.
In the supermarket's environment, the rotting process was quick.
By now, the vegetables and fruits had turned into a pile of black, mushy sludge.
"Damn! What a waste!"
Stel felt a pang of heartache seeing the moldy produce.
In the apocalypse, eating fresh vegetables would be a dream come true.
However, as he looked through the rotting mess,
He noticed some shriveled seeds.
Strange?
Why were there seeds in the produce section?
Without time to ponder, Stel grabbed the seeds and stuffed them into his pocket.
Then he turned and walked to the instant food section.
Since fresh vegetables and fruits were out of the question, he needed to take all the other edible items.
He had to admit,
This supermarket was well-stocked.
Canned food, instant noodles, compressed foods, you name it.
"Wow!"
Seeing the neatly arranged instant noodles,
Gulp!
He quickly swallowed his saliva.
He immediately picked up a container of instant noodles and checked the production date.
"Good, it's not expired..."
But after the zombie outbreak, survivors were lucky to have anything to eat.
Even boiling down leather belts to make them edible was a necessity.
Compared to that,
Instant noodles were a delicacy!
Just smelling the familiar fried scent from the noodle packaging was almost unbearable for Stel.
He was tempted to rip open the packaging and devour them immediately.
Previously, he and Elsie had been surviving on compressed biscuits.
After obtaining Bobby's supplies, they could at least eat canned food,
Which ensured a somewhat balanced diet.
But the taste of canned food was far from pleasant.
Sometimes it even sent Stel running to the bathroom.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Stel didn't care about the flavor; he just stuffed as many instant noodles as he could into his backpack.
He also grabbed nearby sausages and other ingredients.
"I need this, and a bit of that too..."
In no time, his backpack was crammed full.
Once it couldn't hold any more, Stel stopped.
Hefting the heavy bag, Stel prepared to head back to the apartment.
But after taking a couple of steps,
He suddenly remembered something.
Right!
Elsie had asked him to bring back some sanitary pads!
Elsie was currently on her period,
And the incident that morning would continue happening.
If he didn't want the room to reek of blood, it was best to get her some sanitary pads.
"Such a hassle!"
So Stel set down his backpack and returned to the aisles.
He went to the section with female hygiene products.
"Huh?"
Stel walked up and down the aisle several times.
He looked at every item on the shelf.
Facial cleansers, moisturizers...
Everything was there.
Except for sanitary pads!
This really frustrated Stel.
How could such a large supermarket not have a single sanitary pad?
Suddenly, Stel remembered the closed rolling shutter door.
Some thoughts started forming in his mind.
Could it be that the shutter door was closed by someone?
The fact that the only thing missing in the supermarket was sanitary pads—did the person who closed the door take them all?
With this realization, Stel's expression turned serious.
He became instantly alert.
"Could it be that after the zombie outbreak, someone took all the sanitary pads and escaped?"
"But of all things, why take sanitary pads!"
Stel frowned deeply.
He considered abandoning the search for sanitary pads and just heading back.
He paused, thinking it over.
"Sigh, I guess I'll have to go farther and find another supermarket to get them."
So Stel set down his backpack.
He went to the cashier area and found a city map.
He located the nearest supermarket.
It was a large chain supermarket.
If this large supermarket didn't have sanitary pads, Stel could be sure that the entire city was out of them.
"What's this...?"
Just as Stel was about to leave, he noticed some plastic balloons at the cashier counter.
A look of delight crossed his face.
He didn't expect to find such treasures here!
Condoms!
Given Elsie's current menstrual cycle, this reminded Stel that ignoring this could lead to unwanted issues later.