"Captain Xu, Monkey wants to drink water," Yun Wujiu said with a heavy expression.
Monkey was the member who had sustained the worst injury; he had his leg chopped, and also had two broken ribs.
In the post-apocalypse, where medical resources were scarce, everyone knew what the consequences of a chopped leg and two broken ribs would be.
Xu Jiaoqin passed over her water canteen, which was hanging at her waist, "Take it and give it to him, don't save any."
Their team didn't have a Water Element Superpower User, and water was a very precious resource. They had used quite a bit of water earlier, and now in their entire team, only she still had half a canteen of water left.
Monkey looked like he was a goner, and as the team leader, she couldn't even let him have a good meal before he passed. The least she could do was let him have a few more sips of water.
The name Xu Jiaoqin might sound "sentimental," but the person was not sentimental at all. She had a neat short haircut, was skilled and nimble, and had strong superpowers; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to become the leader of Cheetah Team.
Cheetah Team was one of the highest-ranking teams in the entire base.
Even she hadn't expected that Fierce Tiger Team, who had always been weaker than them, would dare to go back on their word.
Yun Wujiu delivered the water to Monkey, then came back and punched the vehicle, "They've got some nerve to go back on their word. Aren't they afraid we'll settle the score with them once we return to the base?"
Xu Jiaoqin ruffled her short hair, feeling a bit annoyed. She wanted to smoke.
But cigarettes, being a rare commodity, were not something she could have whenever she wanted. If there were any, they would have been used to barter for supplies long ago.
She only got the chance to have a smoke occasionally, and even then, it was the worst kind, self-rolled.
"They probably have some connections with someone at the base."
"Lin Muxue?"
"Yeah."
"What should we do, then? Are we going to let the sneak attack on our brothers go just like that?" He couldn't swallow his pride.
"Of course not. If we can't do it openly, we'll do it in secret," Xu Jiaoqin said with a slightly bloodthirsty smile. They really thought they could bully them so easily.
"Captain Xu, ahead… ahead…" Malu, who had gone out to scout, ran back panting heavily, pointing forward as he gasped for breath.
"What's up with ahead?"
"There's… a supermarket! A five-story tall supermarket!" Malu seemed as if he had seen a ghost.
"So what if there is one." Yun Wujiu was unimpressed. Before the apocalypse, there were plenty of supermarkets, and supermarkets had the most supplies after the apocalypse began.
But that was ten years ago; now, any supermarket would have been looted clean. The ones left over were empty, decaying, and possibly even littered with human bones.
"But it's an intact one, with lights on!" A supermarket like one from a dream!
When Malu saw it, he thought he was dreaming. Once he confirmed he wasn't dreaming, he didn't bother scouting further and immediately ran back to notify Xu Jiaoqin.
"You can't be joking, right? How could there be a complete, lit supermarket in this deserted place?" Yun Wujiu gave him a skeptical glance.
"It's true, I'm not joking. I saw loads of snacks through the glass!"
"Let's go, bring Monkey along, and have a look."
Cheetah Team hadn't been resting for long before they started moving again, heading in the direction Malu pointed.
The other team members made fun of Malu, suggesting he was still half asleep or his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"It's real!" Malu was insistent.
He was afraid that his eyes were deceiving him and had pinched his own thigh several times.
No one believed Malu's words.
Not until they saw it for themselves, at which point they also doubted whether they were hallucinating.
Yun Wujiu touched the glass in front of him and looked at the snacks inside, his mouth watering. It had been so long since he had seen packaged snacks intact.
After the apocalypse, only the little princesses of high-ranking individuals in the base had snacks, like Lin Muxue.
Some of the more impulsive ones even wanted to smash the glass with their superpowers, but Xu Jiaoqin stopped them.
"Is there no other way in?"
This large supermarket had remained so well-preserved after the apocalypse, it must have an owner. To simply smash the glass would be nothing but looting, right?
Xu Jiaoqin didn't consider herself a good person. Good people don't survive the apocalypse. But she was someone with principles.
"That's right, we're not like the members of the Fierce Tiger Team."
"Exactly." The person who had initially thought of breaking the glass realized their mistake.
After Cheetah Team pushed open the doors to the supermarket, their first sensation was the chill from the air conditioning, followed by the sight of Su Yinhe seated at the cash register, playing on a tablet.
Finally, after such a long time, there were customers. They were open for business!
Su Yinhe gathered up the tablet with a hint of excitement.
Galaxy Supermarket was about to make its first sale.
"Welcome!" Su Yinhe's face was adorned with a professional fake smile.
Years of being a wage slave had made this skill indispensable.
"You... hello. This is... a supermarket?" Xu Jiaoqin gazed at the bright lights, the tempting snacks, and the hot, fragrant oden. She found it hard to believe.
"What else?"
The enticing scent of the oden beckoned to every member of Cheetah Team. Having consumed so much mutated plant and meat, now having a bowl of oden right in front of them made each of them salivate.
Even Monkey, who had been heavily injured and unconscious, was roused by the aroma.
There was only one woman in the supermarket, dressed neatly, appearing somewhat frail.
But Xu Jiaoqin wouldn't underestimate her. To run such a large supermarket with ample supplies during the apocalypse, this woman was definitely no ordinary person.
Xu Jiaoqin's vigilance instantly spiked.
"Are you here alone?"
"Buy if you want to buy, leave if you don't." After having her professional smile on for quite a while, and noticing Xu Jiaoqin's wary gaze, Su Yinhe suddenly remembered she was running a supermarket in the apocalypse, not in the old world.
Customers were no longer always right. Those with the supplies were the true gods. Why was she being so polite?
Realizing this, Su Yinhe sat back down and once again took up the tablet.
She could still access the internet, although she was unable to post comments, videos, or messages.
But she could still browse videos and read the news.
"May I ask... what do you trade with? Crystal Cores?" Xu Jiaoqin still wanted to give Monkey a good meal before hitting the road. She glanced at the steaming oden and decided to make a deal with Su Yinhe.
For every departing member of Cheetah Team in the past, Xu Jiaoqin had always managed to give them a good meal.
With Monkey, they had had no choice before. But now that they had unexpectedly found a supermarket, albeit a peculiar one, Xu Jiaoqin still wanted to buy something for Monkey to eat.
Crystal Cores?
Su Yinhe shivered with disgust; she had no intention of dealing with items dug out of zombies' brains.
She only wanted gold, something that could be exchanged for money.
"I don't want those. I want gold."
Xu Jiaoqin pursed her lips. They had ventured out in search of Muxue with only weapons, food, water, and Crystal Cores on them; it was impossible that they had brought along gold.
Gold wasn't worth much now. A gold bar couldn't even be traded for a pack of cigarettes.
The atmosphere grew tense for a moment.
Someone approached Xu Jiaoqin, speaking in a low voice and hinting with their eyes, "Captain, why don't we just..." take it by force.
"No." Xu Jiaoqin glanced at him, feeling the urge to curse.
Why would they rob this place? It was clear this was no place for commoners.
"I have a pendant, will that do?" A female member of the team pulled off a small necklace from her neck and handed it over.