Chapter 8 No Free Riders

Before the man could finish speaking, Su Xiaomu interrupted him, "Don't you eat, drink, piss, and shit? Those are normal human functions. If you can't even do those, then you're no different from a zombie..."

The others stared at the young man in astonishment, clearly not expecting him to retort like that.

"Su Xiaomu! Don't think this is the pre-apocalypse world anymore! Your money is worth less than dung to us now!" the young man shouted, his face flushed with anger.

Su Xiaomu countered coolly, "At least I had dung. Did you?" Now he knew this body shared his name. Fortunately... fortunately... If it had been any other name, he'd have had to find a way to change it.

"Pfft..." The arrogant man in the group chuckled in the tense atmosphere...

"Zhang Yi, bringing him along will just hold us back!" Another thin young man chimed in.

Su Xiaomu's face remained expressionless, but internally he pondered what terrible things his predecessor had done to earn the dislike of two out of these five people. The other two seemed to be enjoying the show, while the man named Zhang Yi was completely inscrutable.

"Who's holding back whom remains to be seen?!" Su Xiaomu sneered coldly, narrowing his eyes like a proud peacock awaiting others' submission...

Zhang Yi raised a sharp eyebrow. "You have ability?" He silenced the others' attempts to refute with a glance.

Su Xiaomu lifted his eyes haughtily. "Try me..."

"Fine, you can join us," Zhang Yi said, pausing deliberately. "But..." He drew out the word. "We don't carry free riders. If we're surrounded by zombies, we won't save you." His tone was cold, stating a fact.

"Likewise." Su Xiaomu hadn't expected rescue anyway. He just wanted to understand the current situation. Once an opportunity arose, he'd find another team.

Su Xiaomu didn't believe he could survive the apocalypse alone, even with his space. Besides being a bit stronger, he had nothing right now. He needed to train, to enhance his abilities.

"Hand over the food first..." the young man demanded, hand outstretched, his voice mocking.

Su Xiaomu said nothing. He pulled out two packs of dried noodles and a piece of bread from his backpack and handed them over... Without ability or food, in a time where everyone in the apocalypse only looked out for themselves, there was no way they'd take you along.

"That's all?" Zhao Sheng snatched the backpack directly from Su Xiaomu's hands and dumped its contents out. "Tsk tsk! Carrying so many clothes in the apocalypse?!"

Suppressing his anger, Su Xiaomu clenched his fists, controlling the urge to swing. "Done looking?" His voice was tight with tension. Right now, he had to guard not just against zombies, but more importantly, against human hearts.

"Here!" The backpack was tossed back. The clothes on the ground were ignored as the group walked away.

Sui Xiaomu picked up his backpack, gathered the clothes from the ground, saw they were already far ahead... He mentally cursed but said nothing, hurrying to catch up.

Zhang Yi was walking last. Seeing the thin youth catch up, he leaned close to his ear and whispered, "In the apocalypse, you can only rely on yourself. As for others... heh...!" His eyes held scorn and contempt.

Su Xiaomu's lips moved, wanting to retort, but he held back. Zhang Yi wasn't wrong. When you were useful, you were a comrade; when you were useless, you were bait for the zombies.

The group headed towards a large mall, likely to scavenge for food. Judging by the stuff on their backs, it was probably provisions or useful weapons.

"Zhao Sheng and Yan Qing, clear the surrounding zombies. The four of us will search for food." Zhang Yi gave orders to the others, then quickly dashed inside.

Zhao Sheng looked displeased but didn't argue, clearing zombies that suddenly appeared in the mall. "Crash...!" Shelving units toppled over towards Su Xiaomu due to the zombies...

Sensing danger, Su Xiaomu flashed sideways, landing in a corner just as the shelving crashed to the ground with a loud bang. Zhao Sheng said, "Sorry, didn't know you were there..." His tone held not a shred of apology.