Watching Xu Hao's figure disappear at the end of the grass, Zhang Xiaoqiang was assaulted by the stench of rotting corpses the moment he turned his head. There were ten thick logs by the door. Each log was as thick as a person's arms, and they were nailed with steel bars as long as chopsticks. More than ten corpses hung from the steel bars with ropes around their necks. Some of the corpses were so rotten that only their skeletons remained, swaying in the wind. There were also some that were still very fresh. Fresh blood dripped from time to time, forming dark brown stains on the ground.
Zhang Xiaoqiang had smelled an even stronger stench of corpses two days ago, so he didn't mind it at all. He called for Li Caoyuan to walk inside. Li Caoyuan, on the other hand, was scared silly. He stared at the swaying corpses on the pillars, almost unable to move. Seeing Zhang Xiaoqiang walk far away and seeing many people around the door looking at him with cold eyes, he quivered and hurriedly chased after Zhang Xiaoqiang, walking on his toes.
Walking in the crowded market and passing by the people around him, Zhang Xiaoqiang felt like he was strolling in a market in a gathering place. However, the supply here was more abundant. The carpets were filled with all kinds of goods: knives, spears, arrows, clothes, bedding, toothpaste, soap, and all kinds of packaged food and candy. Of course, most of them were pancakes made from coarse grains and bottles of horse milk wine.
Zhang Xiaoqiang took a quick look. There were many things inside that made his heart palpitate. For example, pure white jade, bright red agate, and all kinds of hand-woven wool and handicrafts. Only Zhang Xiaoqiang was interested in them. Everyone else was still struggling to survive. Only Zhang Xiaoqiang had not suffered much.
Zhang Xiaoqiang walked forward quickly, but Li Caoyuan, who was behind him, pulled him back. Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at Li Caoyuan, but Li Caoyuan was looking at the shoes on the carpet beside him.
Zhang Xiaoqiang understood. Li Grassland's shoes had long been damaged during the past few days, and even his toes were exposed. If he wanted to buy a pair of shoes, the only thing he had on him was a kettle filled with water. Naturally, he would ask his boss for help.
There were many kinds of shoes on the stalls, but they were all second-hand goods. Many of them had worn soles. Perhaps they were taken off the feet of the victims.
"Choose a pair for yourself. It has to be sturdy."
Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't care about these things. No matter what they were, in Zhang Xiaoqiang's eyes, they didn't have much value, because they were gone. He just needed to find a town and kill the zombies, then he could take whatever he wanted. This was his usual practice, and only he didn't think that zombies were powerful.
Soon, Li Prairie chose a pair of hiking shoes. They didn't look too old, and the size was just right for him. Li Prairie immediately smiled.
"How do I pay?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang asked the boss. The boss was a woman in her thirties. She looked ordinary, had a high forehead, and a pair of bright eyes. When Li Prairie was choosing shoes, she didn't recommend the best one, but waited for Li Prairie to decide. From her words and actions, it could be seen that this woman had a good education before the apocalypse. At the same time, she was also a smart and capable person.
"These are all second-hand goods I bought. I don't need too many supplies. If you have food, you can take it for five catties. If it's dried meat, one and a half catties will do."
The woman spoke plainly, and Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't think it was too outrageous. He saw many people barefooted without wearing anything. Obviously, the lack of supplies here was a common phenomenon.
Zhang Xiao Qiang put Meow Meow down and let her stand on her own, while he rummaged through his bag. Just as he took out the jerky, before he could weigh it, a bright blade light flashed, and a shrill scream rang out beside him. A skinny boy rolled on the ground, fresh blood spurting from his broken wrist, and a black palm fell to the ground beside him.
Meow held the Rat King Blade and glanced at the boy on the ground. She let the blood drip from the edge of the Rat King Blade. Then she put the blade back into the scabbard. She acted as if nothing had happened, as if she didn't hear the boy's scream.
"What happened?"
Zhang Xiao Qiang didn't believe that Meow Meow would harm others for no reason, so he asked her about it. At the same time, he felt a little uneasy. His education of Meow Meow had always been normal, how did it end up being such a bloodthirsty shota?
Could it be that she learned it from Yang Ke-er?
"He was going to steal my wine …"
At this time, Zhang Xiaoqiang finally saw the golden wine flask on Meow's waist. Meow didn't really care about the flask, but she cared about the horse milk wine inside. She was also a super thief, so naturally, she wouldn't let others get her hands on it. Plus, Zhang Xiaoqiang's education had failed, so when Meow attacked, she would either kill or cripple people. She was known as the bloody loli of the new generation.
"Oh, you should put the flask in your backpack. It would be weird if you left it outside …"
After Zhang Xiaoqiang knew the reason, he warned Meow to hide the flask, but he didn't care about the boy who was howling on the ground. This proved that his education was indeed a failure.
Meow was bloody and cruel, but Zhang Xiaoqiang was indifferent. Even the lady boss seemed to be used to it. She took the dried meat from Zhang Xiaoqiang and weighed it, not caring about the boy on the ground at all.
Seeing that no one around him had a trace of sympathy, only coldness and indifference, Li Grassland's heart suddenly fell into an ice cellar. For the first time, he felt that it was not a good idea to come out from a house where he didn't have to worry about food and clothing.
"What happened?"
Two men carrying rifles walked over. Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at the guns on them. They looked like type 56 submachine guns, but there were some differences. It seemed like the caliber was wrong.
"It's nothing, I was caught trying to steal something."
The female boss was in a good mood after making a deal, so she took the initiative to explain. The two of them saw the golden water bottle on Meow Meow's waist, and their eyes became greedy. Then, they saw the Type-92 pistol, the military knife, the strange dagger with a golden sheath, and the Type-95 rifle on her back. They could not help but restrain their greed. A child dared to strut around with so many valuable items on her body. If it was not because she had someone to rely on, then she had a powerful protector. They could not afford to offend either of them.
The two men dragged the child on the ground towards the camp gate. Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded at the lady boss and continued forward with Li Grassland. Meow's figure flashed and appeared on Zhang Xiaoqiang's backpack. Other than Li Grassland, who was used to this, the lady boss was shocked.
After walking for a short while, Zhang Xiaoqiang saw a place selling food. He remembered that he only had less than two kilograms of jerky, five bags of military rations, and five bags of compressed biscuits. It seemed like he wouldn't be able to eat the day after tomorrow, so he decided to buy some food.
Unlike other places, the owner of the food stall was holding an old Mosin-Nagan rifle. It seemed like the bullets were already loaded. Zhang Xiaoqiang could recognize this rifle at a glance because he had tens of thousands of replicas of this rifle in his base.
When Zhang Xiaoqiang saw the bloodstains around the stall, he understood the owner's actions. There would always be people who were hungry and wanted to rob. At that time, if he didn't want to suffer any losses, he would have to shoot first and kill the person. As long as he died beside the stall, there wouldn't be too much of a problem.
The owner was a Mongolian, and he spoke Chinese quite well. Although he had a strange accent, Zhang Xiaoqiang could still understand him. The owner only accepted two things, gold and bullets. Among them, the value of bullets was even higher than gold.
The food on the stall was very sumptuous. There were all kinds of dairy products, all kinds of jerky, fried rice, tea bricks, and some vegetables in flower pots. Among them, the most common were lamb jerky and beef jerky. There were also many piles of potatoes behind the owner.
These things were easy to preserve. If you wanted to eat fresh, you had to go to the restaurant to eat. However, the restaurant also only accepted gold and bullets.
Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't know the prices, but he wouldn't be a fool. He directly cut the price the owner quoted by half. He bought twenty kilograms of jerky, two tea bricks, some fried rice, and a bag of potatoes. In total, he paid thirty 5.8mm bullets. The owner seemed very happy. He gave two bottles of horse milk wine for free, which was divided between Meow and Meow. This made Zhang Xiaoqiang suspect that he had fed Meow a mouthful of wine and fed him a little drunkard.