In the lobby of the Beauty Salon, all the main lights had been turned off, leaving only the two dim embedded light strips on the walls, just enough so the people inside wouldn’t bump into things and make noise in the dark.
On the Crystal Rolling Shutter Door that separated the inside from the outside, Tang Siqing and the others had hung curtains taken from the partitioned rooms, making a makeshift drape.
The screams from outside came in fits and starts, sometimes near, sometimes far, lasting for a long time. Occasionally, there would be the sound of the outer glass door being struck—so close that each bang reverberated inside, making everyone’s hearts tremble.
Inside the Beauty Salon, a few people were scattered in corners around the reception bar, sofas, and coffee tables, sitting on the floor in silence, listening with grim faces.
No one knew how much time had passed before the commotion outside finally faded away. Tang Siqing stood up and carefully lifted a corner of the curtain to peek outside.
The mall outside was still brightly lit. The corridors on both sides were a mess—overturned shelves, scattered goods, shoes, bags, and coats dropped by people running, food and drinks spilled everywhere. Here and there, a few corpses lay sprawled, with blood seeping out from under them.
The survivors must have all gone into hiding. There were no signs of the Blood-Tongue Monster nearby, though that could also be because her vantage point was limited, making it impossible to see clearly.
Compared to the previous chaos, outside was now deathly silent—so quiet it was frightening.
Tang Siqing suppressed her racing heartbeat brought on by nerves, took out her phone, and glanced at the time.
It was a weekday with few customers. Inside the Beauty Salon, besides Tang Siqing and the brother and sister who had escaped in from outside, there were only three staff members: a male beautician who had been so frightened he couldn’t move, one who had fainted from fear, and a short-haired beautician who had closed the shutter door.
At first glance, Tang Siqing had thought all three staff were women, but once the chaos passed, she realized one of them wasn’t wearing a pink dress but pink pants. This person had delicate, androgynous features, about her height, but was definitely a man.
The three staff members were all quite young. The short-haired beautician’s surname was Zheng. Tang Siqing heard the male beautician call her Zheng Team Leader, and anxiously ask her what to do about the beautician still unconscious on the ground.
Clearly, among the three, Zheng Team Leader was the backbone.
What should we do? Zheng Team Leader wanted to ask that herself. She had no idea what was happening, as if she’d suddenly fallen into a nightmare she couldn’t wake from.
She thought for a moment and looked at the person standing by the shutter door. That girl was wearing a light gray waterproof outdoor jacket, matching dark gray loose hiking pants and shoes, with her hair in a ponytail and a backpack on her back—a neat, outdoorsy look.
Even though she wore a mask, it was clear she was very young. Her brow bone and eyes were strikingly beautiful, her long brows and deep eyes with a hint of mixed heritage. Her gaze was calm and cool—she looked to be the calmest person in the room.
She walked noiselessly to Tang Siqing’s side, speaking in a low, barely audible voice as she followed Tang Siqing’s gaze to peer outside, “What are you looking at?”
Tang Siqing turned to look at her. She was about 1.68 meters tall, considered tall among girls. The other was much shorter and, since she stood behind Tang Siqing, didn’t dare get too close to the shutter door and couldn’t see outside clearly.
Tang Siqing thought for a moment, pulled down her mask, and made a “shh” gesture, then made room for her.
Zheng Team Leader had prepared herself mentally, but when she saw the corpses and the blood-stained chaos outside, her pupils shrank in terror. She instinctively covered her mouth, afraid she’d scream.
The brother and sister by the sofa noticed their actions and came over for a look as well. Afterward, Tang Siqing carefully closed the curtain and gestured toward the lobby’s connection to the corridor.
This spot was a bit farther from the entrance, so they could speak a little more freely. The four of them quickly moved over.
“It’s been about an hour since those people outside were attacked, and they’re still just corpses.” Tang Siqing indicated the time on her phone. “Those Creatures might be different from zombies—their attacks don’t seem infectious. Zombies… you all know, right?”
She briefly outlined the ways zombies infect people in movies and the different incubation periods. Fortunately, everyone was young and had played zombie games or seen such movies, so her explanation wasn’t difficult.
Zheng Team Leader nodded, then added, “But if they’re not moving now… maybe it just takes longer for the infection to take effect. We’d better not go out for now…”
Tang Siqing hadn’t planned on rushing out anyway. She intended to check the windows in the partitioned rooms at the end of the corridor. Just as she was about to leave, the man spoke up, “So, when you came over earlier, you were checking if my sister had been attacked by the Creatures?”
Tang Siqing turned and met his eyes, nodding at him.
“So if my sister really was injured, would you have kicked her out?”
Tang Siqing frowned in confusion. “Why kick her out? We could just tie her up and keep her under observation.”
The man’s tightly knit brows suddenly relaxed.
He’d been wary and cared a lot about her actions earlier, but hearing her speak so matter-of-factly, he was both relieved and a little embarrassed. He took the initiative to introduce himself, saying that since they’d have to share a room for now, it was better to exchange names.
“I’m Zhang Yu. This is my sister, Zhang Xin.” Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin were both locals of West City. Zhang Xin’s university was in the suburbs. She’d been sick and taken a leave to come home for an IV drip. Today, she was feeling better and planned to return to campus. Zhang Yu was worried, since they had no other elders at home, so he took leave to drive her himself. But they got stuck on the road under the overpass.
“I’m Zheng Yin. That’s Chu Yi, and the one still unconscious is Zi Jiang.” Zheng Yin was from out of town, working in West City. The Beauty Salon wasn’t big, but it was famous in West City, with several branches, good benefits, and staff housing. She’d been here for five years and just got promoted and a raise this year.
“Name’s Tang Qing. Just passing through West City by car, planned to pick up some supplies at the supermarket and leave, but…” Tang Siqing wasn’t deliberately lying—this was the name she used for online shopping deliveries. She habitually used it with strangers.
Zheng Yin gave some instructions to Chu Yi, then took the initiative to lead Tang Siqing to check out the partitioned rooms in the back. Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin followed.
This was a Beauty SPA Parlor. Besides beauty and skincare, they also offered full-body essential oil massages and traditional Chinese health treatments, so privacy was important. There were three partitioned rooms in the back, bigger than Tang Siqing had expected. Each had not only a beauty bed but also an en-suite bathroom, sofa, and coffee table—almost like small hotel rooms.
It was a weekday, and customers with appointments wouldn’t arrive until after three. But now, they certainly wouldn’t be coming at all.
The rooms were ready for guests, with floor-length curtains drawn and a soft yellow light glowing inside. The air was scented with lavender aromatherapy, and gentle music was playing. That was why the three staff hadn’t noticed the world outside had changed.
After going in, Zheng Yin turned off the music and blew out the aromatherapy candles.
Tang Siqing checked the windows behind the curtains. Sure enough, as Zheng Yin had said, they were all large floor-to-ceiling glass, but each room had a small outward-opening vent window. It was just big enough for a person to squeeze through. She had tools in her space that could break the glass if needed, so as long as there were windows facing out, escape was possible—they wouldn’t be trapped inside.
Also, this was a high vantage point. If outside rescue arrived, they’d be the first to get the news and be saved.
But hiding here meant considering another possibility: if the Creatures could climb exterior walls, or if there were even bigger or flying Creatures in the Gray Mist with enough attack power, they might break the glass and invade.
In an emergency, though, she couldn’t account for everything. This was already the safest plan she could come up with in a short time.
Zheng Yin followed Tang Siqing, watching her quietly check each room’s vent window, making sure each one was shut and locked, her eyes full of envy.
When the Creatures charged in earlier, her own mind had gone blank. It was the other girl who calmly shut and locked the glass door, giving the others a chance to catch their breath and giving her time to hit the electric door switch.
“You’re amazing. You don’t seem scared at all, and you even thought about infection…” Zhang Xin couldn’t help but sigh.
Tang Siqing said nothing.
How could she not be afraid? She was scared too. She just had a habitually expressionless face, so she looked calmer on the outside. Even though she’d discovered her space more than ten days ago, and had witnessed something that defied the laws of science, in the face of those terrifying and bloody Creatures, that space felt almost insignificant.
In the end, she had to thank the hundreds of apocalypse novels she’d listened to recently, and the dozens of doomsday movie edits she’d watched…
The four of them returned to the open space of the lobby and corridor, sitting directly on the carpet. It would have been more comfortable to rest in the rooms, but none of them were in the mood.
“We can’t just do nothing. At least we should try to contact the outside.” Zhang Yu said, and the others agreed.
By now, everyone knew their phones had no signal, and neither the mall’s Wi-Fi nor landlines worked. They’d have to try something else.
Zhang Yu fiddled with his phone, then said, “The FM Function apps really don’t work…”
Zheng Yin frowned. “The built-in AM Function doesn’t work either.”
“Satellite Communication on the phone is also down…” Tang Siqing sighed. Phones nowadays had all sorts of features—normally, even if you were stranded somewhere with no signal, you could still contact the outside world via Satellite Communication.
But now, even the satellite signal was gone. They couldn’t contact anyone or find out what was happening outside.
“The Gray Mist outside might be blocking the signals,” Zhang Yu guessed.
“If that’s the case, the mist is even more likely to be man-made. And those Creatures… With today’s advanced communication, if they appeared before the signal went out, there’s no way the internet would be completely silent.” Zheng Yin speculated.
So, as Zhang Xin had said earlier, the Creatures only appeared with the Gray Mist. That brought up another question: Was the mist the main cause of the Creatures’ appearance? If so, did a normal person entering the Gray Mist get instantly infected and become a potential Creature?