In the apocalypse, some people eye the supplies on the shelves, while others eye the supplies in the hands of their neighbors.

While Chen Ye was inside the grocery store scavenging, he wasn’t alone.

Jiajia and Qiangzi had been watching his every move.

Between the two of them, they only had a single bicycle and one backpack. Even if they risked their lives scavenging, their haul would never compare to what Chen Ye could carry on his modified tricycle.

Envy breeds theft.

Just as Chen Ye entered the shop, the pair crept up to the storefront. They quietly pulled the glass door shut and jammed a wooden stake through the exterior handles, sealing him inside.

At that moment, Chen Ye had been frantically sweeping goods into his bag, completely oblivious to the treachery unfolding outside. Had he seen them, he would have undoubtedly put a crossbow bolt into each of them without hesitation.

“Jiajia, by doing this, I’m afraid we’ve offended Chen Ye to death!” Qiangzi whispered, his voice trembling with worry as they backed away from the sealed door.

“You useless thing! Are you really that afraid of him? Wasted that big frame of yours!” Jiajia scoffed, looking at him with disdain. “This tricycle is infinitely better than your stupid bike!”

She patted the seat of the stolen vehicle possessively. “Besides, he went in there to scavenge on his own. If his ride gets lost, can he really blame us? Even if he comes looking for us later, we just deny it. What can he do to us?”

Her voice took on a malicious, cheerful lilt. “And that’s assuming he even makes it out alive!”

“If this were before the apocalypse,” Jiajia added with a sneer, “I wouldn’t even take this tricycle if you begged me.”

Seeing Jiajia’s confidence, Qiangzi swallowed his fear. He approached the vehicle, running his hand over the handlebars. The thrill of acquiring such a valuable asset began to outweigh his dread of Chen Ye.

“Chen Ye’s luck really is insane,” Qiangzi muttered, admiring the modifications. “This tricycle is no worse than a small car. No gas, no charging needed!”

CRASH!

The sound of a heavy display case falling over inside the shop shattered their celebration.

The pair whipped their heads around. Through the grimy glass door, a face stared back at them.

It was Chen Ye.

His expression was perfectly calm, devoid of anger or panic. But beneath that tranquility lay a cold, palpable killing intent that made both thieves shudder involuntarily.

Chen Ye stood in the fading light near the entrance. Behind him, deep in the shadows of the shop, a small, indistinct figure lurked.

“Qiangzi, let’s go! Now!” Jiajia shrieked, panic cracking her voice.

Startled by the intensity of Chen Ye’s gaze, Qiangzi didn’t argue. He jumped onto the tricycle, stood on the pedals, and pushed off. To his surprise, the vehicle moved with effortless grace, the power-assist system propelling them away from the storefront at speed.

Qiangzi had reason to fear. Like Chen Ye, he had escaped from Jiang City. During their flight, he had witnessed Chen Ye cripple a small-time thug—breaking his limbs—and throw him to a pursuing Anomaly as bait to secure his own escape.

That thug had spent days calling Chen Ye “Brother Chen,” clinging to him like a sycophant. Chen Ye hadn’t hesitated for a second.

Sure, the thug had been a bad apple, guilty of plenty of nasty deeds during the escape. But… Qiangzi couldn’t shake the chill of seeing how easily Chen Ye had discarded a human life.

Beneath that scholarly, sometimes playful exterior, Chen Ye was a ruthless operator. Qiangzi knew that in a real fight, despite his muscles, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

If not for Jiajia constantly whispering in his ear, egging him on with promises of romance, Qiangzi would never have dared to cross Chen Ye. But lust had overridden his survival instincts.

Now, remembering the coldness in Chen Ye’s eyes, regret began to gnaw at him.

I shouldn’t have listened to this stupid woman.

…

Inside the shop, Chen Ye watched his tricycle disappear down the street without saying a word.

The theft was annoying, but the Anomaly hiding in the darkness behind him was the immediate crisis.

Blocking his escape was the glass door, barred from the outside.

These commercial doors could be surprisingly resilient. Sometimes a kick would bounce off; other times, a light tap would shatter them. He didn’t have time to experiment.

“I want candy, I want candy…”

“Give me candy!”

The babbling, childish voice drifted from behind him, closer now.

Chen Ye could feel the unnatural chill radiating against his back. If he weren’t standing in the patch of sunlight—if the Anomaly didn’t have that one weakness—he would already be dead. An Anomaly versus an ordinary human was an instant kill.

But the sun was setting. The safety zone of light was shrinking by the second.

The distance between man and monster was less than a meter.

Soon, the shadows would swallow the entire shop.

Chen Ye glanced left and right. No heavy tools, no bricks.

He gritted his teeth, raised his leg, and unleashed a vicious kick at the center of the glass door.

BANG!

Earlier, when he had entered, the hinges had squeaked and groaned, rusted nearly through. He hadn’t paid it much mind then.

Now, it was his salvation.

The door shuddered violently under the impact, the frame groaning in protest. It was teetering.

Chen Ye didn’t hesitate. He chambered his leg and drove his heel into the glass again with everything he had.

CRASH!

The hinges snapped. The heavy glass door toppled outward, shattering into a thousand glittering shards on the pavement.

Chen Ye sprinted out of the store, his boots crunching over the debris.

The warm, golden sunlight of the late afternoon hit him, instantly dispelling the bone-deep chill that had settled over his body. It felt like stepping back into the land of the living.

He turned and looked back into the gloom of the shop.

The pale-skinned child stood just beyond the threshold of the light. The two circles of rouge on its cheeks looked like fresh blood in the darkness. It stared at Chen Ye with eyes full of boundless, toxic resentment.

“Lady Moon, shines on the coffin bed, little brother waits for candy, crying till his heart breaks…”

Safe in the sun, Chen Ye felt his fear recede, replaced by a cold fury.

He adjusted his backpack straps, turned his back on the monster, and looked down the road.

Qiangzi and Jiajia were heading toward the large supermarket deep in the town.

Chen Ye had originally planned to avoid that area, wary of the dangers lurking in the town’s center. But now, he had no choice. He had to retrieve his vehicle.

The sun was still sinking. He had to get the tricycle back before nightfall.

Shadows were lengthening across the street. Chen Ye could feel eyes watching him from the darkened alleys and broken windows. The arrival of the convoy seemed to have woken something in Apricot Blossom Town.

…

“Jiajia, I think I just saw Chen Ye come out!” Qiangzi yelled over his shoulder, pedaling furiously.

Jiajia glanced back, then slapped the back of Qiangzi’s head. “Seriously? You’re twice his size! Why are you such a coward?”

“So what if he got out?” she scoffed. “Can he outrun this tricycle on foot? Can he snatch it back from us?”

“If he catches up, just fight him! We’ll see who beats whom. And even if we go back to the convoy, what’s he going to do? Kill you in front of everyone?”

“Even in the apocalypse, you can’t just murder people casually!”

Qiangzi’s face twisted in bitterness. “He… he hasn’t killed a person, but…”

“Then what the hell are you afraid of?” Jiajia interrupted. “Qiangzi, I’m not trying to be mean, but if you’re this spineless, how can I ever be your girlfriend?”

Internally, Jiajia was already reassessing her options. Qiangzi was strong and handsome, sure, but his brain was size-small and his courage non-existent.

If Chen Ye didn’t exist, Qiangzi would be adequate. But after seeing Chen Ye’s cold competence, Qiangzi felt like a downgrade.

The problem was, Chen Ye never gave her the time of day. She had offered him a chance to be close to her, asking for a ride, and he had rejected her without blinking.

This broken tricycle… if it were before the apocalypse, I wouldn’t even spit on it.

Now, seeing Qiangzi trembling at the mere thought of Chen Ye, her disdain for the musclehead grew. Conversely, her intrigue regarding Chen Ye deepened.

If that dog of a man would just grovel a little, maybe I’d ditch Qiangzi… maybe I’d even give him his tricycle back.

Who told him to ignore me? This is his fault.

“Jiajia, where are we going now?”

“Where else? To the supermarket to gather supplies. Without food, do you want to starve me to death?”