NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 8 - Has Someone Else Gotten There First? More Than 20 Survivors?
Chapter 8: Has Someone Else Gotten There First? More Than 20 Survivors?
Huarong District was located more than 50 kilometers north of the city center of Shangbin City.
Originally, taking the highway would have only taken a few dozen minutes to get there, but now, with the outbreak of the zombie crisis, Jiang Cheng was forced to take the roads, which ended up taking over five hours to reach the area.
And that was considered fast!
Without Jarvis constantly recalculating routes to help him avoid all the blocked roads and large groups of zombies, who knows how much longer it would have taken?
He might have even driven straight into a horde of zombies, only to be torn to pieces along with his car!
“Daxi Street Supermarket should be in this Huarong District, right?”
After a perilous but successful journey to the area, Jiang Cheng, enduring the intense hunger pangs in his stomach, finally saw the outline of a bustling area ahead. He felt a slight sense of relief.
It was now 5:47 PM. The sun had already set for about ten minutes, and although it wasn’t completely dark yet, it would be pitch black in no more than twenty minutes.
Vroom—
The massive armored vehicle slowly cruised down the road.
Daxi Street Supermarket was located in the northern part of Huarong District, situated in a commercial area. To the east, across a street, was a three-story food plaza, and further east was a residential complex.
To the south was an eight-lane main road, and beyond that was another residential area, enclosed by a high wall.
Two streets northward, there were office buildings, and to the west was an artificial lake, which posed no significant concern.
Driving the armored vehicle through these deserted streets, Jiang Cheng stood out like a beacon in the night, catching the attention of many survivors who had managed to take refuge in the buildings.
Seeing the vehicle, which bore a striking resemblance to an armed riot control vehicle, the faces of the lucky survivors lit up with excitement. However, fearing that they might attract the attention of nearby zombies, they didn’t dare make any noise to call for help.
Instead, they desperately waved their clothes or large signs with messages like “SOS,” silently pleading for rescue.
Jiang Cheng, however, shook his head and chose to ignore them. He could barely protect himself at the moment, with no place to stay, so there was no way he could help others and burden himself further.
Five minutes later!
Following the navigation route on the vehicle’s system, Jiang Cheng stopped at an intersection, about a hundred meters away from his destination.
Daxi Street Supermarket!
However, Jiang Cheng didn’t drive over immediately. Instead, he observed the surroundings and the supermarket, frowning slightly.
The situation around the supermarket was similar to what he had seen earlier on the road. The area was in disarray, with abandoned vehicles either crashed into each other, spontaneously combusting, or overturned. The ground was also stained with blood everywhere.
As for zombies, there weren’t many in sight. Perhaps the initial chaos had passed, leaving only a few zombies wandering around, while the rest had gone elsewhere, making the street seem eerily quiet.
For Jiang Cheng, this was actually good news, as it meant there wouldn’t be any major disturbances.
But what really caught Jiang Cheng’s attention was that the five-story Daxi Street Supermarket, with multiple entrances, was now completely sealed off!
All the rolling shutters and iron gates had been lowered and locked!
The rolling shutters used by Daxi Street Supermarket were electrically operated and could only be closed by activating the switch from inside!
“Has someone else gotten there first?”
The scene in front of him clearly indicated that there were survivors inside the supermarket.
“Jarvis, can you check the current situation inside Daxi Street Supermarket?”
Releasing the brake, Jiang Cheng began driving the vehicle in circles around the supermarket, searching for an entrance while asking Jarvis.
“Apologies, sir, the surveillance cameras inside the supermarket are not connected to the network, so I cannot access them to view the interior. However, there are other network signal sources inside that I can access. Would you like me to do that?”
Just a second after Jiang Cheng asked, Jarvis’s voice came through the car’s speakers, reporting back to him.
“Other network signal sources?”
Although he didn’t fully understand what that meant, as long as these sources could help him see inside the supermarket, it didn’t really matter.
“Access those signal sources!”
“Understood, sir!”
Two seconds later, Jarvis’s voice rang out again.
“Sir, I’ve successfully accessed all network signal sources inside the supermarket …”
Listening to Jarvis’s report, Jiang Cheng quickly understood what was going on.
It turned out that these “other network signal sources” referred to mobile phone signals. According to Jarvis’s scan, there were over 200 mobile phone signals inside the supermarket.
But after hacking into the phones to access their cameras and microphones, Jarvis discovered that the owners of these 200-plus phones had all become zombies!
Moreover, most of them were gathered on the first floor!
On the second floor, there were eight individuals, seven of whom were zombies and one was a survivor!
As for the remaining phone signals, they were all clustered on the fifth floor, with about twenty in total. Based on the camera and microphone data, these were also survivors!
“More than 20 survivors inside, huh?”
Jiang Cheng had a rough idea of the situation.
He then drove the armored vehicle to the supermarket’s parking lot, raising his gaze to a window on the north side of the second floor.
This was the only entrance he had found after circling the supermarket! However, the window was four or five meters above the ground, making it impossible to enter without some assistance.
But that was only true for others—Jiang Cheng wasn’t constrained by that.
“Jarvis, proceed with the plan!”
After parking the vehicle under the window and stabilizing it, Jiang Cheng gave the order. He then unbuckled his seatbelt, put his phone in his pocket, and took out a Bluetooth earpiece, putting it on. He also retrieved a 20-centimeter-long short knife with a sharpened blade that he had picked up from a zombie earlier.
“Yes, sir!”
Jarvis responded promptly, gaining control of the armored vehicle and opening its sunroof.
Jiang Cheng pushed himself up with both hands, climbed through the sunroof, and onto the roof of the vehicle.
His plan was simple: use the nearly three-meter height of the armored vehicle as a platform. Standing on it, with his 1.8-meter height, he could easily reach the four-to-five-meter-high window and climb inside. Meanwhile, Jarvis would take control of the armored vehicle using its automatic driving function, driving it away to a hidden, safe location.
And the plan went off without a hitch!