【I: Survive twelve hours in "Huirong" Supermarket (Countdown 9:37:25)】
At the entrance of "Huirong" Supermarket, through the gap between the white fog and the glass door, three figures were intensely pounding on the door.
As Gao Yi approached, it was easy to recognize them as the burly Fujimoto, the middle-aged office worker, and Ms. Najia, who had left about half an hour ago.
It was evident that their current condition was not good.
The suit-clad office worker's shirt was covered in knife-like cuts, and the bloodstains had already coagulated.
Fujimoto's muscles also had similar wounds, though not deep, they looked horrifying.
Their previously self-made weapons were nowhere to be seen, seemingly indicating that a battle had occurred.
The most tragic was Ms. Najia; she was being supported as she walked, one shoe on her right foot missing, revealing a swollen ankle.
Her sunglasses were also gone, revealing the panda eyes caused by a beating.
Inside the supermarket, Xiaohong, the gas station attendant who had run back and forth, was intensely arguing with the old hunter.
"Why can't we let them in! Are we just going to watch them die outside?"
A never-before-seen serious expression appeared on Xiaohong's face, and her agitated words made her clenched fists tremble uncontrollably.
"Can you guarantee they are still themselves? With so many terrifying monsters outside, how did they survive this long!"
The old hunter's eyes were tightly shut, but he wouldn't budge an inch.
The glass door's sound insulation was not good; outside the door, which was jammed by iron racks and goods, the three people's knocking and cries for help were clearly audible.
Gao Yi could see genuine pain and despair on their faces, but what the old hunter said was not without reason; the fact that they could return was inherently strange.
However, they might also possess important information.
From any perspective, they couldn't be left outside uncared for.
Gao Yi stepped past the two arguing individuals, approached the glass door, and loudly questioned those outside:
"Mr. Fujimoto, do you still remember my name?"
Fujimoto clearly hadn't expected Gao Yi to do something like this; he visibly froze for a moment, then hesitantly replied:
"Uh... I think it's Gao Yi?"
Nodding emphatically, Gao Yi exaggeratedly turned around and spread his hands, looking at everyone inside the supermarket:
"Everyone, no matter what, we can't leave them outside, can we? How about we ask them any questions once they're inside?"
【"Helpful Citizen" tag, Experience +300】
【Tag upgraded: Helpful Citizen Lv1 → Helpful Citizen Lv2】
【New skill acquired】
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Actually, the only opponent inside the supermarket was the old hunter. Seeing that everyone else supported letting them in, he stopped talking and went to a corner to silently smoke his pipe.
Once the three were sitting on the sofa, wrapped in bath towels, and had accepted the drinks offered to them, Gao Yi and the others inside the supermarket stood opposite them, listening to their account.
Their story was not complicated, in fact, it was surprisingly simple.
Half an hour ago, they were ready and stepped into the white fog.
After leaving the supermarket and entering the mist.
Soon after, the three lost their way.
They had planned to use the car key's unlock sound to navigate, but for some reason, the car key gave no response at all.
The three advanced for about half a minute, trembling with fear, but completely failed to find the expected vehicle.
In the vast white fog, they saw various dark shadows all around them.
Their hearts pounding, they quickly discussed and decided to return the way they came.
But they never expected that leaving was easy, but returning would be difficult.
"Such a big supermarket, it was as if it had completely vanished. We didn't dare to split up, and we wandered for who knows how long until we saw the lights here..."
Ms. Najia sobbed as she described.
Of course, what Gao Yi initially thought was a "battle" never occurred.
Their self-made weapons were simply discarded by themselves, and most of their injuries were sustained from tripping in the mist.
"Oh, it's all your fault for insisting on leaving such a safe supermarket... It's okay, everything's fine now!"
Manager Yamada's fleshy face jiggled, his tone revealing a sense of triumph, as if saying, "I knew it."
"So, did you encounter any monsters?"
Gao Yi ignored Yamada's resentful gaze, unceremoniously interrupting his self-satisfaction and getting straight to the point.
The fact that these three could all return safely was completely beyond Gao Yi's expectations.
If there was any breakthrough in this game, it would be here.
But unfortunately, Gao Yi's hopes were dashed once again.
"Only saw blurry dark shadows wandering in the fog, it was especially scary."
"I didn't dare to look up at all, only dared to follow Big Brother Fujimoto."
"Shadows, many shadows."
Replies with no information whatsoever.
Without needing to ask much, when asked, "Did you have any strange feelings in the white fog?", the answers were uniformly "No special feeling."
If there was any information, it was that the monsters' attack methods could be roughly deduced from the injuries on their bodies.
The iron racks and goods at the entrance had been restored, returning to a complete bunker state.
The failure of these three's attempt also extinguished the already minimal desire of the others to go outside.
The supermarket once again fell into confusion and negativity.
Scattering like the rest of the group, the female in the student couple suggested everyone find some blankets to use as mattresses, while the old hunter gathered a few men to arrange shifts for night watch.
Gao Yi stated that he wouldn't sleep tonight, so he didn't participate in the meeting.
With just over nine hours left on the countdown, under such circumstances, Gao Yi certainly wouldn't choose to sleep and rest.
Time, for him, was both a friend and a crisis.
Gao Yi was now repeatedly flipping through his notebook, scribbling and drawing, trying to find a way to break the stalemate.
He couldn't go outside the building, and there was no noteworthy information inside the building.
Then the problem, perhaps, lay with the people?
【Special Mission: Explore everything that happened in "Huirong" Supermarket, uncover the truth of the disaster (09:33:25)】
Gao Yi reread his earliest notes on the possible causes of the mist.
"Tech-side, some kind of leak or disaster?", "Mystic-side, a mountain god's curse?", "A conspiracy within the town?"
Looking up, Gao Yi turned his gaze back to the interior of "Huirong" Supermarket.
The student couple and Ms. Najia were tending to the sleeping child.
Manager Yamada and the burly Fujimoto were moving the sofas out of the employee lounge, intending to use them as temporary beds.
The middle-aged office worker was taking on the duty of observing outside the store, while Xiaohong was bringing out blankets from the supermarket and laying them together.
The old hunter and the old woman were still sitting quietly in a corner of the supermarket, and the blonde hot girl, whose phone seemed to have run out of battery, was idly playing with her nails beside them.
Excluding Gao Yi himself, there were a total of eleven other people in this suburban supermarket, each looking so ordinary.
Among them, could there be the culprit behind this mist disaster?
If all other possibilities were ruled out, then what remained undoubtedly contained the correct answer.
Putting his notebook away again, Gao Yi took a deep breath.
With a slight shift of thought, he noticed that the 【Helpful Citizen】 tag, which had just leveled up to 2, had a new skill.
Gao Yi immediately focused his mind to check it.
【Helpful Citizen Lv2 (Rare)】
【Experience: 1010 / 2000】
【Tag Abilities: ① Zootopia: Makes people unconsciously feel close and reliable, making it easier to gain trust and praise; ② Big Hero 6: When acting courageously, combat power will be enhanced.】
Upon seeing this skill, Gao Yi was slightly disappointed.
Increased combat power was not what he needed right now, let alone in a situation as hard to define as "acting courageously."
Of course, Gao Yi had experienced this kind of disappointment countless times before, so one more time didn't make much difference.
The special mission's countdown was still ticking away, minute by minute.
With nine and a half hours left until the twelve-hour mark, he couldn't expect this calm to last.
Before any changes occurred, Gao Yi decided to take the initiative and find a way to break the stalemate.
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