Chapter 75: Chapter 70: Come Out!

“Damn, these shitty mushrooms actually cost ninety-nine a bag? That’s a robbery…”

Zhang Su walked to the pile, picked up a bag of dried mushrooms, looked at it, and shook his head repeatedly.

“Bro, stop picking, we have so much stuff here already, just load it up.”

Zheng Xinyu squinted with her uneven eyes at Zhang Su.

Zhang Su was amused by Zheng Xinyu’s funny expression, and pretended to be angry: “Do you want a spanking? I’m telling the truth, nothing else!”

“I meant load it in the car, bro!”

Zheng Xinyu rolled her eyes at Zhang Su, grabbed two twenty-pound bags of flour, and headed out, with a baseball bat tucked in her backpack strap, looking particularly comical.

“Load it in the car… Of course, we should first load the instant food, why are you bringing the flour? Wait, I remember there was a lot of water here for sale, where did it all go?”

Zhang Su frowned, and looked around suspiciously, feeling something was off, only to realize that the shelves and piles that were supposed to hold water were empty.

“Someone must have taken it. The water’s off, so everyone’s definitely grabbing water. Hey, open the car door for me!”

Zheng Xinyu felt her analysis was on point, and walked out of the convenience store arrogantly, carrying flour.

“No reason to just take the water… I need to hit the bathroom, you guys sort out the supplies here, take as much as you can.”

Saying that, Zhang Su walked toward the small door next to the counter, remembering there was a back door leading to a restroom. Although no one would be peeping him pee in these times, he kept his basic habits.

However, just as Zhang Su stepped into the small door, his ear twitched, and he halted.

Swish.

A machete was gripped in his hand.

“Come out.”

Zhang Su said in a deep voice to a desk piled with bottled water, while taking a defensive stance.

Outside, Zhong Xiaoshan and Wang Guangjun, who were collecting supplies, heard Zhang Su’s voice and rushed to his side. Zheng Xinyu, who was loading stuff into the car outside, had no idea what was happening inside the store.

Someone??

Zhong Xiaoshan looked at Zhang Su with an inquiring gaze.

Zhang Su nodded and said again, “I’ll count to three, come out, or I’ll set this place on fire!”

“No, don’t, please!”

As he spoke, a disheveled middle-aged woman peered out from beside the desk, with a classic perm hairstyle, wearing who knows how many layers of gas station uniforms, looking at Zhang Su and the others in terror.

“Come out, stand up straight!”

Seeing it was just a middle-aged woman, Zhang Su felt a slight relief.

With his current hearing, he was surprised he hadn’t noticed someone hiding in the convenience store, only marveling at how patient the woman was.

Nonetheless, he had heard faint breathing when passing by. If someone else passed by without moving the water bottles, they probably wouldn’t have noticed someone hiding behind them.

The middle-aged woman got up timidly, accidentally bumping into a pile of bottled water, watching helplessly as the bottles collapsed.

Zhang Su stopped Wang Guangjun, who instinctively wanted to steady the water bottles, and quietly waited for the final bottle to settle before saying coldly, “I advise you not to cause any more trouble. Are there any accomplices? Shout them out!”

He suddenly wasn’t so confident in his hearing after all. If someone just stayed quietly hidden, they’d be hard to detect.

“No, no, sir, it’s just me here!”

The middle-aged woman waved her hands repeatedly, leaning against the wall, looking quite miserable.

“Hey, you guys… what’s everyone doing here, is there someone?”

Zheng Xinyu returned to the convenience store and found everyone gathered at the door of the employee office, quickly running over.

“Someone misjudged, the water is all here.”

Zhang Su pointed at the bottled water on the floor and continued, “Take her outside and ask her some questions. I’m heading to the restroom. Old Wang, stay on guard!”

“Don’t worry, Brother Zhang.”

Wang Guangjun nodded heavily.

“Come on out, lady, let’s talk!”

Zheng Xinyu quickly drew her baseball bat, striking a tough pose.

Zhang Su found Zheng Xinyu’s imitation of a delinquent girl amusing, shaking his head as he continued walking to the back, though now more cautiously, ears pricked attentively. Since one person could hide, several might be concealed too!

“Looks like the plump lady wasn’t lying, that’s good… hmm?”

Zhang Su had just reached the restroom, without even having time to pull his pants down, when subtitles flashed in his mind.

[How to handle the female gas station employee: A. Kill, B. Recruit, C. Drive Away]

[00:01:29]

“What makes this woman special enough to trigger a challenge? How bizarre…”

Zhang Su was puzzled, but quickly focused on the choices.

“Is this a test of humanity?”

Zhang Su frowned; randomly killing survivors was clearly not his intention.

“Hey, boss, what’s the criteria for recruiting?”

He asked in his mind.

As usual, there was no response.

“Alright then…”

Zhang Su shrugged, assuming recruitment meant making her a teammate to travel with.

“Recruitment or driving away… there’s no need to recruit, but why is driving away a C? C is too low!”

Zhang Su was deeply conflicted, but time was ticking away second by second.

Suddenly, Zhang Su’s eyes lit up, his lips curled up slightly as he said, “B, I choose B, recruit.”

The dead can’t come back to life, but recruited team members can be dismissed…

People come together and apart, apart and together again, that’s quite normal.

[How to recruit: A. Coerce and entice, B. Sincerely invite, C. Ruthlessly compel]

Zhang Su glanced at the three options, and happily chose A.

He knew that using ruthless methods to compel the middle-aged woman would be easy, but that wasn’t his style, and it was also the lowest-scoring option, quite unsuitable.

Zhang Su didn’t know why coercion and enticing had the highest score, but he felt it was the easiest approach.

[Challenge completion timeline: A. One day, B. Five days, C. Ten days]

“Hmm…”

This setting left Zhang Su a bit indecisive. Unlike the previous two tasks where he was confident, the issue was not about completion but the duration needed.

Take Wang Guangjun, for example. He intended to recruit him, and Wang Guangjun was willing, but Old Wang had important matters to settle before he could join with peace of mind.

This vastly increased the time involved, making it very unpredictable.

“Take a risk, one day? No, no…”

Zhang Su mumbled, then said, “Forget it, let’s compromise with five days. If it’s done in five days, great; if not, a few more days won’t matter much…”

If the woman needed to find a son studying abroad, like Wang Guangjun, time would be irrelevant, and Zhang Su wouldn’t risk his life for a challenge.

“Okay then, I choose B!”

[Challenge generated: Recruit the female gas station employee using coercion and enticement within five days, difficulty level: B, countdown begins 119:59:59]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep