Chapter 22: The Shop Assistant
“That’s disgusting…” Qiao Jiajin frowned at the filthy mess on the ground. “This stench is overwhelming—could it be excrement?”
Excrement?
Qi Xia suddenly turned to look at Qiao Jiajin.
That was a very interesting point.
In other words, besides the nine of them and the animal masks, there were other people here.
Or rather… other “things.”
This person or “thing” seemed to have been living here for a long time; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much excrement left everywhere.
Everyone searched around but couldn’t find any needles, thread, or gauze. There was no pharmacy or clinic visible outside the convenience store either. If they blindly went out to look, Han Yimo probably wouldn’t last that long.
“What do we do now…” Officer Li put his hands on his hips and looked helplessly at Doctor Zhao, as if seeking his opinion.
Before Doctor Zhao could speak, a noise came from behind the convenience store’s checkout counter, and the door to the employee break room slowly opened.
The nine of them were startled and immediately stepped back, staring at the slowly opening door.
A thin figure emerged from behind the door.
Looking closer, it turned out to be a girl so emaciated she hardly looked human, impossible to guess her age.
Her cheeks were deeply hollowed, and her eyes bulged outward, as if all the flesh on her face had vanished.
She pursed her cracked lips and looked at them curiously.
After a brief moment of shock, as if coming to her senses, she quickly straightened her dirty, tattered clothes and spoke in a hoarse voice: “Welcome…”
Welcome?
Officer Li tried to make sense of those words and seemed to understand.
“Are you… the shop assistant?”
The girl nodded. “Mm.”
No one said anything else, because the situation felt deeply wrong.
For one thing, why were there other humans here? And even if she really was a “shop assistant,” why would she be working in a completely dilapidated convenience store?
Seeing that they weren’t moving, the shop assistant tentatively said, “Please take your pick.”
As if there was anything left to “pick.”
The shelves were nearly empty, and the few items left were rotten and covered in filth.
The shop assistant’s eyes were vacant, fixed on them.
That gaze made some of the women uneasy.
“Do you have a needle and thread?” Qi Xia asked the shop assistant without changing his expression.
“Needle… thread?” The girl’s dull eyes shifted slightly, and she reached out, mimicking the motion of threading a needle. “You mean… this kind of needle and thread?”
Only then did everyone notice that her hands were covered in dried, blackened bloodstains—truly horrifying.
Qi Xia took another step forward. “Yes, that kind of needle and thread. Do you sell it?”
“Liar, you—” Before meeting Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin thought he was the boldest man alive, but now even he didn’t dare talk to this woman. “This woman isn’t right. Can’t you see that?”
“Even if I see it, so what?” Qi Xia said calmly. “Our situation can’t get any worse than this.”
The shop assistant stared blankly for a while longer, then suddenly pushed open the counter’s partition and rushed out.
Now everyone could see her fully.
She wore a filthy, oversized white shirt that hung on her like clothes on a hanger, completely disproportionate.
The shirt was stained with something—oil, maybe, or blood.
The shirt reached almost to her knees, and she seemed to have no pants on underneath; her thighs were covered in dried bloodstains.
Qi Xia frowned slightly and tried to step back, but the shop assistant grabbed his wrist in an iron grip.
It felt like an old tree root had coiled around his wrist—dry, hard, and painful.
“I have some here!” the shop assistant exclaimed, revealing yellowed teeth. “I have ‘needle and thread’! Come with me!”
She kept pointing toward the “employee break room,” as if urging Qi Xia to go inside with her.
Everyone was genuinely frightened by her. Based on her current behavior, going in with her was definitely not a good idea.
“Forget it… We’re not buying!” Qiao Jiajin stepped forward, trying to pull the woman’s hand away. “Let go of him.”
But the shop assistant acted as if she hadn’t heard him. She smiled happily as she tugged Qi Xia, dragging him along.
“The ‘needle and thread’ is in this room! Come on!”
Her strength seemed even greater than that of Qiao Jiajin and Qi Xia combined.
“Hey!! Come help!” Qiao Jiajin shouted back.
Officer Li and Doctor Zhao snapped out of their daze and rushed over.
The shop assistant quickened her pace.
Qi Xia felt an immense force pulling him, impossible to resist.
The distance between them and the break room door wasn’t far, and in just six or seven steps, they were already inside.
Doctor Zhao and Officer Li were pulling Qi Xia back from the outside, but to their surprise, the shop assistant suddenly let go.
“Ah!”
With a cry, the men nearly fell over.
After steadying themselves, they saw that the shop assistant wasn’t paying them any attention. Instead, she turned around and began rummaging through the room, searching for something.
The four men, still shaken, took a look around the room.
It was slightly cleaner than the outside. In the corner was a folding bed with yellowed bedding.
On it was a large bloodstain, still looking quite fresh.
In another corner, a rusty iron pot sat on a simple stove, bubbling and cooking something inside.
The shop assistant paid no heed to any of it, rummaging through an old box.
“Where is it… needle and thread…” She kept tossing things out of the box—soda cans, old magazines, pots and pans.
Qiao Jiajin rubbed his nose and glanced at the iron pot.
“Speaking of which, I’m actually pretty hungry,” he whispered to Qi Xia. “If only she weren’t a crazy woman—I’d ask if I could have a bite.”
Qi Xia looked at the pot. Inside, something white was cooking.
He felt a little hungry too.
“You’d dare eat something from this place?” Officer Li asked. “Who knows how dirty that stuff is…”
“But it smells really good.”
Qiao Jiajin was right. Thanks to the pot, the room actually had a pleasant aroma that overpowered the stench.
“What are you cooking?” Qiao Jiajin asked boldly, clearly hoping to get a share.
“A little piglet,” the shop assistant replied.
“A little piglet?”
Qiao Jiajin grew interested and was about to go check the pot when the shop assistant suddenly cried out.
“Ah! Found it!”
She turned around, holding something in both hands, and said excitedly to everyone, “Look! Needle and thread!”
Officer Li stepped forward to look and his expression turned troubled.
It wasn’t “needle and thread” at all—it was a rusty fishhook and a small bundle of tangled fishing line.
He turned to Doctor Zhao and gave him a meaningful glance.
Doctor Zhao thought for a moment, looked at the fishhook and line, and asked the girl, “Miss, do you have any other needle and thread?”
“No,” the shop assistant shook her head. “Only this. Are you buying?”