Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Shield Company

Su Changxing found three cans of red canned food, two cans of natto, and one can of tomato meat under the conference room table.

He picked up the canned tomato meat to inspect.

Shelf life: 200 years

Expiration date: 3151

The food preservation technology in this world is beyond imagination, far ahead of Su Changxing’s world, as the food in the cans can be preserved for hundreds of years.

This technology is unimaginable, and it can also be inferred that the overall technology of this world should surpass that of Su Changxing’s world.

The side of the can had a blue shield emblem with the words “Shield Company protecting you” written beneath it.

“This kind of food with such a long shelf life does give a sense of security. Presumably, this woman also saved the food with the longest shelf life for last, but unfortunately, she still didn’t get to eat it.”

Su Changxing put these three cans into his pocket, planning to eat them himself. Such canned food would definitely be considered a luxury in the apocalypse.

Vegetables and meat ensure a balanced nutrition within the body. Eating only bread might allow survival, but the body could likely develop problems.

“Hmm, holding them like this is a bit bulky. I need a backpack.”

Su Changxing found that carrying these cans in his pocket affected his movement. Normally it was fine, but if he were to fight zombies, this impact would be magnified.

So he put the cans back in the conference room, continuing to scavenge other rooms, planning to return for them later.

With this side mission, Su Changxing paid more attention to any textual information, hoping to get some clues for completing the mission.

Unfortunately, he didn’t find any useful information. Looking through some tattered magazines and newspapers, most of what he found were social issues.

For example, factory strikes, certain politicians stepping down again, tense relations between countries…

Finally, in the employee locker room, Su Changxing found a thin notebook.

This should have been left by an employee, and a passage on it caught Su Changxing’s attention.

[July 7th, Shield Company is recruiting employees.

If either Xu Yi or I can get into Shield Company, our future days will be secure, so I took a leave on the 7th for the interview.]

On the surface, this seemed like a normal job change, but Shield Company gave off a different vibe. Su Changxing had seen its name on many newspapers and magazines.

Su Changxing inferred that this company has great influence in various domains and holds significant power in society.

“It might be a supercorporation that monopolizes multiple sectors, possibly even controlling the nation’s political decisions. Is this the ultimate product of a capitalist society?”

Su Changxing made this judgment from the fragmented information and vaguely felt that the apocalypse’s birth couldn’t be unrelated to this company.

Apart from this information, Su Changxing didn’t find any other useful resources on this floor, but discovered a barely usable pink ladies’ handbag.

“Although not as useful as a backpack, it’s more convenient than stuffing them in the pocket. I can drop the bag on the ground to fight if zombies appear.”

With a saber in one hand and the pink bag in the other, Su Changxing descended to the next floor. He estimated that little good could be scavenged from this floor too, but the zombies still needed to be cleared.

The zombies on the sixth floor hadn’t been stimulated by humans, and they were sparsely distributed. Each zombie had its own territory, without disturbing one another.

They seemed to retain some habits from their human days.

This gave Su Changxing the opportunity to defeat them one by one. Facing a single zombie posed no danger to him, allowing him to continuously gain points and hone his combat skills.

There were more zombies on this floor than on the seventh, about seven or eight. It took Su Changxing over forty minutes to clear them all.

“It seems the closer to the ground, the more zombies there are on each floor, so the fifth floor may have more than ten zombies.”

Su Changxing calculated as he rested. It was already close to noon. At this pace, he might not clear the first floor by evening.

Then, he spent another half an hour scavenging this floor but truly found nothing useful.

“There’s not even a hair left here. It seems this place has been scavenged multiple times in the past. Could this mean that in the early days of the apocalypse, many humans didn’t turn into zombies?”

In his mind, Su Changxing had given up on scavenging the lower floors. It was a thankless task and wholly different from what he had originally anticipated. The city was likely severely lacking in resources too.

The value of food was even more precious than Su Changxing had previously estimated.

After finishing scavenging the sixth floor, Su Changxing relaxed slightly. He felt a noticeable hunger, having spent the entire morning in relentless combat, consuming a lot of energy.

Su Changxing used his steel saber to open a can of natto, and exchanged two points for a 1L bottle of water and a large loaf of bread that couldn’t be grasped with both hands.

The natto can was similar to what he had eaten before, made from soybeans, sweet, stringy, with a lingering texture, and wrapped in bread, provided a considerable sense of layering.

Shortly, Su Changxing quickly finished a large loaf of bread, a whole can of natto, and half a bottle of water.

His food intake visibly increased.

In the past, Su Changxing would have been full after eating just half of such a large loaf of bread.

After the meal, with blood transporting from his brain to his stomach, Su Changxing felt slightly drowsy and found a relatively clean room to sit in a corner and take a nap.

Su Changxing suddenly opened his eyes, checked the time on his phone, 13:50.

“I slept exactly forty minutes, my body feels a bit stiff.”

He pushed himself up with his hands and moved around the room to get his blood circulating throughout his body.

The noon temperature was slightly high, somewhat hot.

Su Changxing noticed that the number of zombies wandering on the street outside was significantly reduced, and they moved more sluggishly.

“As expected, the sun does somewhat suppress zombie activity, so noon is actually the best time to clear zombies.”

Su Changxing immediately realized the key point; noon is when zombies are weakest, and midnight is when they’re strongest. He then grabbed the steel saber and bag and headed to the next floor.

As he descended the stairs to the fifth floor, even before entering the corridor, he smelled a heavy stench of rot, causing his steps to halt immediately.

Judging by this stench, the number of zombies on this floor probably far exceeds Su Changxing’s expectations, and with more zombies, their distribution would definitely be denser. So he might face multiple zombies simultaneously.

Su Changxing facing multiple zombies wasn’t out of the question, but the risk factor would increase significantly. This wasn’t a game, after all, and death meant total failure with no chance for a redo.

After repeated consideration, Su Changxing rationally decided to abandon the thought of clearing the fifth floor. Although possible, it wasn’t necessary. His goal was to survive, not to kill all these zombies.

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