Meow. Meow. Meow.

The fat tabby cat circled around Qin Hua, even running back and forth, sneaking out from under her at times. 

Meow. Meow. Meow.

It curiously peeked at her from all angles, while she exercised her self-control and gnashed her canines, stopping herself from kicking the thing away like a football.

Why did this guy not go crazy like the other beasts? She didn’t understand.

[Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Let me ignore the cat bastard and focus on my super nose.] She tilted her head slightly back.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

They had been walking for about ten minutes now, going all the way from one end of the street to the other, but they hadn’t yet spotted a single zombie or a goblin or any other weird creature.

The street, as well, was a lot more quieter, as if everything alive had holed up somewhere deep inside for the night. The air around them was eerie and the unnatural silence was ominous.

Only the cat’s low meowing sounded clearly.

“Hey… girl… get your cat to shut up.” Luo Zu tapped Xu Meilin, who gave him a sleepy smile and nodded, pulling the tabby cat back into her arms.

Everyone had been extremely nervous and cautious at the beginning but now after seeing the empty street, they became a lot more relaxed. However, this also made them more sleepy and tired.

“Lu Chen” Guan Ye suddenly called out, breaking the silence. “I think we should head to the nearby supermarket and gather some supplies. We need more food for the coming days.”

“And the streets are empty. So this might be the best time to do it.”

“I also agree.” Lu Chen quickly nodded. What they had assumed, indeed turned out to be correct. 

Since there was no plague like infection spreading and wounds and cuts didn’t mean instant death, the presence of the mana zombies was in reality not that threatening.

Of course, they were only able to think like this because Qin Hua had risked her life and fought on their behalf massacring a shit ton of zombies.

“There should be a super market in the mall a couple of streets over. Let’s start with that store?” Lu Chen suggested and everyone silently agreed.

The group then cautiously started walking towards the mall. This time they encountered a couple of zombie stragglers and Alex took the initiative to kill them off, taking their mana cores as well.

After seeing how easily she handled them, the other people as well started taking more initiative. No one wanted to lag behind too much and miss out on the low hanging fruits.

The dagger which Qin Hua had given them was very effective and made the fighting a lot easier. They cleared about 20 zombies on the way without even breaking a sweat and finally reached the mall’s parking lot.

This place as well seemed to be just as deserted as the streets, except for the dozens of cars parked side by side. There were also a few trucks, mini vans and bigger vans.

“We should check if one of these is working and we can store all the food supplies inside.” Alex muttered.

“Yes. Yes. We cannot keep walking endlessly like this.” Luo Zu added, even though he himself was lean and considerably fit. Walking this much shouldn’t really matter to him.

[Lazy bum!] Qin Hua scoffed at him. In her mind, she had already labeled this guy as Nan Zhong number 2 and kept tabs on him at all times without fail.

While the group continued discussing their options and surveilling the surroundings to check if there were any zombies or weird monsters in the area, she started doing her own thing.

She was sniffing the air like there was no tomorrow.

Before they had stepped into the parking lot, she didn’t feel anything, but now that they had, Qin Hua felt a faint but distinct smell of something.

She slipped into the shadows scattered around and ran here and there, trying to figure out if this was the scent of mana and if so what was giving off such a strong scent.

After a few twists and turns, the scent trail eventually led her straight into the mall.

The smell had also become comparatively stronger. It was a fruity smell that she couldn’t associate it with any of the fruits she knew.

Qin Hua lowered her speed, now proceeding more cautiously as she entered the mall.

It was dark inside with none of the lights on, and that strangely made her feel very comfortable. She could see perfectly fine and moved around with ease.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

She once again sniffed the air in the mall and this time the smell was distinctly coming in from one of the shops on the higher floors.

[Woof! Woof! I am coming for you] She excitedly smacked her lips and ran at full speed towards the source of the smell.

Qin Hua was this excited because of a certain expectation she had. 

Earlier, she had tried sniffing out the zombies but their body odor over powered the mana scent so much and she wasn’t able to isolate the two.

But this time, she knew that the specific smell was not coming from a zombie. So what else could possibly contain mana?

[It has to be a mana core! There should be heaps and heaps of mana cores nearby! I am coming for you my babies. Woof! Woof!] 

Each and every mana core was extremely valuable and that was, without doubt, the quickest way to become stronger. So she ran towards the smell at full speed, with high anticipations of cheating her way to the top. 

She had to run back and forth a couple of floors but it didn’t take her long to isolate the source and within seconds, she was standing in front of a peculiar shop and staring at it with her eyes wide open.

[What the hell? Woof!]