The two arrived at the small gate, and indeed, the bottom of the iron gate was secured by a thick chain, with each link tightly fastened to the gate.
Chen Xiao looked at the chain, thought for a moment, then grabbed and tugged it, maneuvering one of the links horizontally.
He stepped on the chain on the ground with one foot, pulled the other end with both hands, and slowly applied force. The horizontally placed link began to deform, and the gap grew wider and wider.
Lin Sinan watched from the side, completely stunned. She never expected Chen Xiao to be capable of such a feat!
“You’re so strong,” Lin Sinan exclaimed, looking at Chen Xiao. The scene before her was truly unbelievable.
Chen Xiao gave a sheepish smile, “Just a bit, just a bit,” without offering further explanation.
As he pulled the chain, he felt a sense of release in his body, a feeling of exhilaration. If he hadn't been so clearly aware of his surroundings, he might have even wondered if he had mutated too.
With a crisp 'bang!' his thoughts were pulled back. The stretched-open chain link, due to rust, actually snapped.
Chen Xiao quickly dropped the broken half of the chain, pulled Lin Sinan, and leaned against the wall downstairs. Fortunately, the sound of the chain snapping wasn't loud, and the heavy rain helped to mask it, so no one noticed them.
Under the washing of the rain, the iron gate didn't emit a harsh creaking sound when it was pulled open. Chen Xiao carefully looked to both sides of the street, confirming that the monster that had been hit earlier wasn't on this street, and only then did he feel relieved.
As Chen Xiao walked, he vigilantly observed the movements around the street, ready to pull Lin Sinan and flee at any moment. They carefully walked through three streets before safely arriving at the Supermarket.
This was a chain Supermarket, quite large. A sign at the entrance indicated that the first floor was the food section, with various snacks, fruits, fresh vegetables, beverages, and alcohol; the second floor sold clothing and home textiles; and the third floor had various daily necessities.
Moreover, at this time of day, there were very few people in the Supermarket, and everything was orderly. This meant he could shop much more easily.
Without any hesitation, Chen Xiao pushed a shopping cart directly into the food section. In this situation, the first things he thought of were compressed biscuits and canned goods, because these foods were easiest to preserve, highly filling, and often mentioned in movies and novels.
The compressed biscuits were completely cleared out by Chen Xiao. There weren't a particularly large number on the shelves, so he also grabbed some long-lasting snack biscuits nearby to make up the difference, filling one shopping cart completely.
Chen Xiao pushed the cart near the checkout counter and swapped it for an empty one, then took a good amount of various types of canned goods.
Under the shocked gazes of others, stacks of canned goods quickly filled this cart as well. At the same time, Lin Sinan also filled one cart with instant noodles and another with bread.
Four shopping carts were pushed to the checkout counter, startling the cashier girl. She had worked there for so long and had never seen anyone buy so much at once. It took almost ten minutes to check out, filling a total of seven large bags.
Chen Xiao paid, then rented three shopping carts at the entrance, scanned three shared umbrellas to stick into the carts, and together, the two pushed all the food back to their rental apartment.
On the way back, they retraced their steps, carefully observing the street and also paying attention to the residents on the upper floors of the Residential Area. Fortunately, the gloomy weather provided better concealment, and the heavy rain masked the noise from the shopping carts, preventing them from attracting attention.
Chen Xiao had Lin Sinan wait downstairs. He carried all seven large bags upstairs in just two trips. Then, the two returned to the Supermarket again, and on their second trip, they bought a lot of canned chili sauce and three full shopping carts of mineral water.
Chen Xiao suddenly remembered that both of them still had backpacks on. He was about to go in and buy more things to fill their backpacks when his peripheral vision caught sight of various chocolates on the shelves next to the checkout counter.
“Almost missed it,” he thought to himself. “High-calorie items like these are essential.”
He looked at the four checkout counters to his left and right, and didn't miss a single chocolate bar from the four shelves. He also grabbed a lot of chewing gum, completely disregarding the stares of those around him. He only stopped after filling both backpacks.
By this time, more people were gradually entering the Supermarket. The two dared not delay, and after checking out, they quickly took these supplies back to their rental apartment. Considering Lin Sinan's stamina, they took a short break.
Chen Xiao took out his phone and found that many apps couldn't load content, but fortunately, communication apps were still working for now.
Many people were asking about the situation in their social media feeds, and some were giving advice, telling everyone to prepare supplies and try not to go out.
Due to his work, Chen Xiao had many group chats on his messaging app, and at this moment, these chat groups were in an uproar.
“Did you all see it? It looks like zombies! This isn’t a movie, it’s too bloody!”
“There are a lot of people fighting with the property security guards downstairs in our Residential Area right now! No idea what’s going on.”
“My husband left for work this morning and I still can’t reach him!”
“Our city’s subway system has problems. It was urgently shut down this morning, and now all news is being suppressed.”
“Ah, I knew it! This morning, when I got to the subway entrance, why were there so many police officers blocking us? So that’s why.”
“The bus stop across from our community is surrounded by SWAT teams, and there was a gunfight! This is the first time I’ve heard gunshots in my life!”
“What happened?”
“Are you not online?”
“I just woke up, big brother, don’t keep me in suspense.”
“Then let me ask you, what does it feel like to wake up and find out it’s the end of the world?”
“???”
“Someone save me! I’m hiding in the bedroom, my wife is crazy! She wants to kill me! She’s eating my dog!”
“Everyone, don’t go out, there are so many monsters outside! So many people have died!”
“Run! The things from the subway are out! Our city is finished! If we don’t run, we’ll all die here!”
Subsequently, someone posted some screenshots and videos, the content of which was extremely bloody.
Then the group chat was blocked, displaying a message that the content violated regulations.
Chen Xiao looked at other groups; most were blocked, but the last chat messages were still there.
From these messages, it seemed that most areas of the city were already in chaos, and the chat content had gradually shifted from initial gossip to panic and unease.
The information available now was very limited, and he didn't know how bad the situation outside really was. At least for now, his immediate surroundings were still calm.
He opened his phone’s unread SMS message: “Due to escalating violence and the widespread transmission of an unknown virus in our city recently, police forces are now severely insufficient. All residents are requested to temporarily self-isolate at home and not go out.”
The message was received just ten minutes ago.
Chen Xiao quickly looked out the window. Sure enough, many residents in the Residential Area were already out with umbrellas, heading towards the Supermarket, and many vehicles were also appearing on the roads.
The notification did not have its intended effect; instead, it caused panic among everyone.
In fact, it wasn't that people didn't want to heed the official call, but after experiencing a large-scale epidemic a few years ago, everyone was now afraid and wanted to make preparations in advance.
The two quickly went downstairs again. They still had one last trip to make, to prepare some daily necessities and handy tools.