The six people hiding inside the Beauty Salon all gathered in the same partitioned room.
The curtain was pulled aside by about thirty to forty centimeters, allowing everyone a clear view of the outside.
Each of them, just like Tang Siqing, was struck silent by the shocking changes beyond the window.
Although the fog had dissipated, their phones, internet, and landlines still had no signal and were unusable.
Somewhere inside the Mall, noises arose.
The Red Tongue Monsters, which had been quiet outside the door, were now agitated, running around and banging into things.
The corpses on the ground remained in their original positions and had not infected or transformed into the same monsters.
Yet, their chests and abdomens had swollen at some unknown time, not only bulging but occasionally twitching slightly.
The last night shift guard, Zhang Xin, was the first to notice this.
Terrified yet compelled, she took out her phone and recorded the scene.
But clearly, compared to what was happening inside the building, the situation outside was even more shocking.
Before dawn, Zhang Xin had indeed heard noises from within the fog outside—sounds resembling light earthquakes causing concrete to crack.
But since the building itself was not compromised, she didn’t wake the others.
Looking back, the changes outside now were likely related to those sounds.
Inside the partition, Zheng Ying finally found her voice: “What exactly are those things? It’s been only one night…”
Silence followed; no one could answer her question.
Because no one could explain what their eyes were seeing.
Those creatures, like the Red Tongue Monsters, defied all scientific logic, as if two objects from different dimensions had been bizarrely “grafted” together…
Tang Siqing looked at their pale faces and reminded them, “No matter what, the fog has cleared.”
Their minds snapped back.
Right! No matter the current situation outside, the thick fog was gone, and the Military’s Rescue Team should have already been dispatched.
No matter what was happening outside, as long as the rescue had begun, their salvation was not far off.
Besides the humanoid Red Tongue Monsters, no other Strange Creatures were visible outside, and no flying monsters had appeared.
For those trapped on the third floor of the building, this was good news.
Once everyone regained their composure, Tang Siqing recalled a piece of information they had overlooked.
After everyone finished eating the small amount of food they had, she played the monster video on her phone again.
Though shaky, the footage clearly showed Red Tongue Monsters attacking people.
At the Mall’s entrance plaza, several people scattered in panic upon witnessing the bloody deaths and monsters, while some only managed a few steps before their legs gave out, falling and remaining motionless on the ground.
The Red Tongue Monsters attacked those who screamed and fled, chasing after the fleeing few while bypassing the person who had fallen and stayed still.
She had thought the monsters were first attracted by the noise, but upon reflection, typical bloodthirsty creatures are indeed drawn to the screams of their prey during a hunt.
However, once the chase begins, they tend to focus their attack nearby, attracted more by the scent of flesh than by sound.
So why did they all bypass the person who had fallen motionless?
First, their sense of smell was likely not very acute, or that person would have been the first to die yesterday.
Second, could they not see that person?
Were they more sensitive to sound or perhaps their vision was poor?
No.
Yesterday, after the Beauty Salon’s glass door was locked, they made no noise inside, only struggling to pull at the Crystal Rolling Gate, yet still drew the monsters to repeatedly attack the glass door after circumventing the curved fence.
They could see.
Therefore, rather than being sensitive only to sound, they were sensitive to both sound and movement.
That fallen person was so scared they couldn’t move or make noise, and was thus ignored.
This trait reminded Tang Siqing of frogs, whose retinas are unique—they only respond to moving objects and ignore stationary insects.
“So, these Red Tongue Monsters don’t have keen smell but are attracted by noise and movement.
Conversely, silent and still humans might be ignored?” Zheng Ying summarized their discussion and then looked at Tang Siqing.
“That’s my guess too.
But the key question is how much are they ignored?”
Meaning, if no other noises or movements were present nearby, would a silent, motionless person within their sight be targeted?
And how long would one need to remain still for this effect to take hold?
Those questions could only be answered through testing.
But clearly, no one else was willing to risk doing such a test—they were still hoping for Military rescue.
However, by that afternoon, no rescue vehicles or personnel had appeared.
Outside the Mall was deathly silent.
Apart from twisted trees and buildings and wandering monsters, there was not a single human figure.
Due to the eerie quiet, when the people hiding inside cautiously opened the ventilation window to peek outside, they faintly heard sounds from the city district.
It was the distinctive noise of ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars—signs that the city’s Police Force was finally mobilizing.
Inside, everyone grew restless.
Without any network, they had no way to know what was happening in the city or other parts of the country.
Logically, these Red Tongue Monsters didn’t transmit infection through wounds, and the disaster shouldn’t be rapidly spreading.
Even if the city Police Force had limited firepower, the Military’s armed forces should easily suppress the outbreak and begin rescue.
So why had no help arrived yet?
By evening, vehicles began arriving from the city district direction.
Everyone eagerly gathered by the glass, only to see cars zigzagging along the Highway Bridge, forcefully ramming vehicles blocking the way, and passing through crash sites before disappearing from sight.
Those were ordinary family cars—people from the city were beginning to flee.
The first vehicle passed smoothly over the nearby Highway Bridge.
Following that, the second and third vehicles came from the city and left the area even more smoothly.
The Red Tongue Monsters also prowled the Highway Bridge, especially near the accident site—they were likely responsible for the massive chain collision the previous day.
But with the fog gone and visibility improved, those fleeing the city had probably encountered the Red Tongue Monsters before and were mentally prepared.
So even when colliding head-on, they neither avoided nor braked but forcefully drove through the scene of the incident.
Still, compared to the city’s population, the number of vehicles escaping was very small.
An estimated ninety-five percent or more of the city’s residents remained hidden at home, awaiting rescue.
Though those inside the Mall envied the few vehicles fleeing, they dared not leave their hiding spots.
The Mall was huge, with many blind spots.
Each floor was occupied by an unknown number of monsters.
Some had arrived by bus and had no transportation.
Others who came by car could theoretically drive away, but the parking lot was also full of roaming monsters.
They could not reach the Highway Bridge from their position.
The ground-level roads were jammed with far more vehicles than on the Highway Bridge.
They had no idea about road conditions outside and would not risk it.
By midday on the third day, the sky above Shopping City was gloomy.
With no signal or network, no rescuers in sight, and isolated for two days, the world felt utterly dead to them.
Inside the Beauty Salon, the few remaining meal replacement bars were evenly distributed by Zheng Ying.
Nearby, Chu Yi opened his mouth to say something several times but ultimately held back.
Tang Siqing had spent the previous two days consuming the visible food from her backpack.
Besides water, she hadn’t taken any food from the Beauty Salon.
But after these days, her own supplies were nearly exhausted.
Not wanting to arouse suspicion, she accepted the meal replacement bar with thanks.
She tossed it into her backpack and returned her attention to cutting the Beauty Salon bedsheets into strips, tying them tightly together.
She tied large knots at intervals, leaving footholds on the side—holes on both left and right at different heights to facilitate alternating foot placement.
This was survival knowledge she had studied from her documents.
To ensure she could skillfully make the survival rope, she had reviewed the downloaded materials several times beforehand.
After Zheng Ying finished organizing supplies, she came over to help make the escape rope.
With no rescue arriving, they decided to save themselves.
At first, Zi Jiang and Chu Yi disagreed—they didn’t want to leave the safety of their hiding place.
But the changes Zhang Xin had captured in the corpses swayed them.
After one more night, the corpses appeared even more swollen, and more frighteningly, the things causing the swelling seemed alive…
No one knew what they were, nor what might happen in the next day or two.
Would those things burst out of the corpses?
Having watched some disaster and horror films, even imagining this terrified them.
So, the six quickly reached consensus and planned their escape.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xin and Zhang Yu had finished repairing a small Drone that Zheng Ying found in the storage room.
The Drone was originally purchased when the Beauty Salon first opened for delivering advertising flyers.
It had some load-bearing capacity because it carried a glass box for the flyers.
At the Beauty Salon entrance, Zi Jiang and Chu Yi, who were on watch at the Crystal Rolling Gate, signaled the others.
Tang Siqing exchanged looks with the others, and everyone quickly took their positions according to the plan.
The Crystal Rolling Gate curtain was temporarily removed.
Zheng Ying and Zhang Yu first surveyed the surroundings to confirm no Red Tongue Monsters were nearby.
They then grasped the bottom of the gate on opposite sides and carefully pushed it upward, slowly and quietly.
Manually pushing the rolling gate was far quieter than using the motor.
Their hearts pounded like drums, palms sweating as they controlled the curtain.
Any slight noise and they would immediately stop.
Finally, the gate was pushed all the way up.
Tang Siqing immediately stepped forward, stood on tiptoe, and quickly unlocked the latch at the top of one of the glass doors.
Then, together with Zheng Ying and the others, she carefully pulled the gate downward.
When the gate was about one-quarter closed, they stopped.
Zi Jiang, who had been holding tools nearby, lay flat on the ground and carefully used the tool tip to open the glass door outside the gate.
She then extended the tool toward a direction they had already scoped out.
Originally, Zheng Ying had planned to assign this task to Chu Yi.
Of the two men on-site, Zhang Yu was tall and sturdy, while Chu Yi was slender and more familiar with using the Beauty Salon’s tools.
But something Chu Yi said to Zi Jiang led to Zi Jiang volunteering, despite her fear, firmly stating she wanted to contribute and not stay behind.
Zheng Ying knew every employee in the Beauty Salon well.
In this female-dominated field, the rare men naturally drew more attention.
Chu Yi’s handsome, delicate features made him popular among female customers and staff alike.
Zheng Ying, being older and more perceptive, knew certain shortcomings that might be harmless under normal circumstances could become more problematic now.
Still, she didn’t refuse Zi Jiang’s initiative.
No matter the reason, at least her mindset was correct.
The tool was a modified mop handle combined with beauty tools.
If the angle was right, they could hook and pull objects lying outside into the Salon.
What lay outside was a severed arm.
Its owner had probably been caught by a Red Tongue Monster while fleeing and torn off by the horrific pull.
Several days had passed, and the blood on the ground was dry and dark.
But since it was autumn and temperatures weren’t high, the arm hadn’t begun to rot.
The flesh at the break was blue-black but likely still usable.
Zi Jiang was both scared and disgusted but had undergone practice drills under Tang Siqing’s guidance.
If she could ignore what she was hooking, the chance of success was high.
They finally hooked the arm, but pulling it back proved difficult.
The blood-soaked clothing seemed stuck to the ground.
Zi Jiang adjusted the angle and applied more force, but the metal mop handle struck the half-open glass door hard.
A sharp “buzz” sounded as the already cracked glass shattered completely, scattering shards everywhere—some falling on Zi Jiang’s head.
“Ah…” Chu Yi, who had been nervously watching, instinctively cried out.
Zhang Yu, nearest to him, quickly covered his mouth.
“Sorry!” Zi Jiang said guiltily and tried again to hook the severed arm.
Tang Siqing, watching outside the rolling gate, quickly warned, “Don’t move. At nine o’clock, a monster appeared.”
Zheng Ying, who had been about to help Zi Jiang pull the arm in, froze.
She slowly looked toward the direction Tang Siqing indicated.
About ten meters away in the corridor, they indeed saw a pair of withered feet.
With a “slap,” a long red tongue shot out, whipping against the nearby railing.
The hideous face swiveled, seemingly searching for the source of the noise.
Ten meters was close.
Zi Jiang’s hand was still half-extended outside, her whole body lying beside the shattered glass door—likely within the monster’s sight.
But even if the monster suddenly lunged, they had enough time to drag Zi Jiang back and pull the rolling gate down.
Zi Jiang involuntarily locked eyes with the monster, terrified enough to scream and run.
Fortunately, Zheng Ying was right beside her.
Zi Jiang felt Zheng Ying’s hand on her waist and her breath near her mouth whispering, “Don’t move…”
After a moment, unable to find its target, the monster lurched away.
“Now,” Tang Siqing whispered.
At the same time, Zheng Ying and Zi Jiang pulled together and finally hauled the severed arm inside.
The glass shards that had fallen on Zi Jiang clinked faintly.
Tang Siqing and Zhang Yu grabbed the curtain.
Ignoring any noise, they swiftly pulled the rolling gate down and locked it.
The continuous sound naturally attracted monsters again.
Two monsters charged from either side of the corridor.
But Zheng Ying had already pulled the curtain back up, blocking their line of sight.
Zi Jiang trembled and gasped for breath.
Though still frightened, she was happy.
“Sister Zheng, those monsters… really seem unable to see people who stay still.”