The Chef Rules the Last Days

23: Chapter 21: Supermarket 23: Chapter 21: Supermarket What’s rare is that the glass door of the tea shop was intact, with a thick layer of dust on the surface and a U-shaped lock hanging between the doors.

Su Mo wiped away the dust at a corner of the glass with her hand and peered inside.

The shop was small, consisting of three large counters, and she could faintly make out various pre-packaged teas.

No one was around, and there was no sign of looting.

She looked at the door and then gestured backwards with her hand, whispering, “Jianxiong, come and tear off the lock.”

Jianxiong stepped forward, his massive hand grabbing the lock, and with a forceful tug from both sides, the lock clattered to the ground.

“You have five minutes,” Lu Chen stood outside on guard.

“Okay.”

As the door opened, a faint scent of tea mixed with a whiff of dust rushed over them, and Su Mo entered with Tang Blade in hand, followed by Jianxiong.

Just by the door, two bags of loose tea leaves lay open, their tops covered in a layer of dust, with cockroaches scurrying inside.

She shook her head in pity.

Such large bags would have lasted her a long time, and now they were infested by a few roaches.

Turning her attention to the counter, she saw various types of canned teas, all nicely packaged.

She used the hilt of her blade to smash the counter and directly grabbed a tea can, and the description popped up before her eyes.

[Item] Biluochun Tea Medium Quality

[Attribute] Level 2 Essential Ingredient

[Whether to store]: Yes/No

She opened the system mall, flipping from the first to the last page, but found no recipes related to tea.

Was this thing only obtainable through random system distribution?

After looking all around, she didn’t find Jasmine Tea, so she reluctantly took 5 cans of Biluochun, occupying a slot in her backpack.

“Sigh, why isn’t there any Jasmine?” Su Mo exhaled in disappointment, not planning to take more since what she just collected might not even yield anything good.

“If you ask me, we should head to the supermarket first.

Doesn’t that supermarket also sell flower tea?” Jianxiong interjected.

Su Mo nodded and said immediately, “Let’s go.”

Just as they were about to leave, Lu Chen at the entrance pushed them back in and pressed their heads behind the counter, crouching down and making a silent gesture.

Jianxiong’s massive body squeezed behind the counter, his back pressed against the wall, struggling to catch a breath.

Footsteps from outside came to a stop right at the tea shop’s door.

The sounds came from two men.

“I remember this place wasn’t locked before, right?” a male voice questioned with doubt.

“Probably those murderers opened it,” another voice replied, sounding impatient.

“What do they want tea leaves for?”

“Oh, stop fussing.

Just grab the supplies and let’s go.

It’s getting late, Leader Mo is hurrying us,” the voice became more urgent,

“Got it, got it.

Let’s go.”

Their footsteps gradually receded.

After the noise outside had died down, Su Mo cautiously stuck half her head out, “No one’s there.”

Jianxiong, all hunched behind the counter, stood up with the help of the wall and took a deep breath, only to be choked by the dust in the air and coughed a few times, “Cough cough, are they the ones clearing this street?”

“Probably,” Lu Chen frowned and stood up, his voice grave, “Let’s check out the supermarket.”

Jianxiong and Su Mo took the lead and walked out.

Lu Chen followed at the rear.

He glanced at the smashed counters, pondered for a moment, and ultimately, with a sweep of his hand, took away most of the tea leaves.

Despite the shade that covered the harsh sunlight, Su Mo and Jianxiong were still sweating profusely, their bodies smelling fishy and stinky.

She turned to look at Lu Chen.

Apart from his clothes being dirty and disheveled, there wasn’t a single drop of sweat on his face, and she fanned her face with her hand while asking, “Lu Chen, aren’t you hot?”

The man shook his head.

Ever since he acquired his Ice Ability, his body temperature had tended toward the cold, so the sunlight didn’t affect him much.

Su Mo wiped the sweat off her face, her small face already looking like a mess.

“Damn this godforsaken weather, it hasn’t rained for more than half a month,” Jianxiong’s broad face was covered in blood.

He wiped off his sweat, his hand smeared with a mix of black and red.

The billboard of Jiahe Supermarket was getting closer, and the three of them were on high alert.

The first place they reached was the broad entrance of the supermarket, where corpses lay haphazardly on the ground, giving off a foul stench.

Su Mo walked straight towards the entrance.

Lu Chen squatted in front of a corpse, where several bullets lay scattered, reflecting a golden light under the sun.

He picked one up for a closer look: a metallic casing and a bullet head that was slightly reddish.

Jianxiong recognized the origin of the bullets at a glance, “Aren’t these the homemade bullets from the Jiang Residence?

Aside from the military zone, only the prison would have these.”

“Hmm,” Lu Chen tossed aside the bullet, dusted off his hands, and stood up, “Let’s go inside and take a look.”

The supermarket’s main entrance was secured by a large steel shutter door.

As Su Mo walked around the door, she discovered a pile of zombie corpses heaped up high in a corner, as if covering something.

She struggled to move aside the corpses, revealing a small hole half a meter tall.

She immediately waved them over, “Quick, come here, I’ve found an entrance.”

The opening had been manually created, and it was too dark inside to see clearly.

“I’ll go in first,” Lu Chen said, bending over to crawl in first.

Jianxiong followed, but when he tried to get in, half of his body got stuck.

“Sister Su Mo, give me a push.”

“Coming,” Su Mo tried to suppress her laughter, tossed the Tang Blade into the System Bag, and pushed him firmly by the arm, squeezing him through before crawling in herself.

It was pitch-black inside the supermarket.

Lu Chen pulled out several flashlights and tossed one to each person.

He turned on his light and swept it around, saying in a grave tone:

“This place has been cleaned out.

Go and grab the essentials.

We’ll meet up in one hour.”

“Roger that,” Jianxiong said, taking big strides up the escalator.

Su Mo turned on her flashlight and scanned the area.

It was messy with scattered packaging bags, seasoning jars, and some corpses here and there.

Seeing that Lu Chen had already left, she stepped over the mess and followed the hanging signs to the seasoning area.

The first floor mostly sold frozen foods, and the meat products in the freezers had long since rotted and stank.

Pinching her nose, she walked past seven or eight counters before finally reaching the seasoning section.

Three rows of large shelves, half of which had been emptied.

It seemed that the group from before often came here to take things.

Since discovering the God Chef System, Su Mo had never neglected to add seasonings to her seasoning shelf.

She aimed the flashlight at the rows of shelves.

Varieties of seasonings were placed on the shelves.

There was a roll of plastic bags on the ground.

She put the flashlight in her mouth, tore off a plastic bag, filled it with a dozen packets of table salt, tied a knot, and tried to toss it into her seasoning shelf.

[Seasoning]: A large bag of table salt

[Attribute]: Level 2 essential seasoning

[Whether to store]: Yes/No

“It actually works!” Su Mo mumbled with her mouth full, smiling as she stored the salt away.

She repeated the action and packed various types of seasonings into her seasoning shelf—10 slots in total, each slot fitting 5 large packs—and she quickly filled up the shelf.

However, Chinese food is profound and extensive.

She only packed some essentials, and since there were others she didn’t understand or couldn’t fit, she reluctantly left them behind.

Seeing some hot pot base scattering on the floor, Su Mo’s mouth watered instantly.

She took the flashlight out of her mouth, licked her lips, and bent down to pick up two packets and shoved them in her pocket.

There wasn’t much left on the first floor.

There used to be a few rows of instant noodles shelves, which were now utterly empty, not even a single packet left behind.

Su Mo stepped onto the escalator to go upstairs.

The second floor was the snack area, which was also about half-empty.

She saw Jianxiong coming down from the third floor with a backpack on his shoulder, so she thought for a moment and headed to the third floor as well.

The third floor was the department area for sanitary and clothing items, which was largely intact with few items missing.

Su Mo stopped directly in front of the shelf for women’s necessities.

She placed the flashlight on the ground.

And packed her beloved Sophie into 10 big bags.

“What are you doing?”

Lu Chen’s icy voice came from behind.

Su Mo’s cheeks turned slightly red, and without turning around, she protected the bags and threw them one by one into the System Bag, “Nothing.”