Warning! The evil god's minions are invading the eerie dungeon.

Chew, chew, chew...

"Well……"

After chewing a few mouthfuls of the scalding hot mushroom, Qi Xie's face stiffened, and his puffed-out cheeks froze on the spot.

It's not poisonous.

It just tasted awful.

It tastes absolutely awful!

How can I describe it?

Because he didn't have enough to eat when he was a child.

Therefore, they have very relaxed requirements when it comes to food.

Even if it's West Lake Vinegar Fish mixed with canned herring and topped with a bowl full of Old Beijing Douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), he can still eat it with a frown.

But this thing.

First of all, the skin, which was roasted to a golden brown, was actually powdery underneath, with a disgustingly chewy texture and no flavor at all.

But don't worry, once you bite deep inside, the sticky, slippery, glue-like juice will flow out, and that's all the flavor you'll get.

It tastes sour, bitter, spicy, and salty, but not sweet, and it even has a slightly burning sensation on the tongue...

"I should have known... Mushrooms growing on corpses and monsters can't possibly taste good..."

Qi Xie's face twitched slightly, and even he, who never liked wasting food, felt like vomiting.

After a long silence, he casually shook his cheeks, chewed twice, and swallowed.

He then looked at Chen Mu, who was staring blankly at him.

He gave a thumbs up:

"It's delicious! You should try some!"

Chen Mu remained expressionless:

"The strange entity I was controlling just now sensed your malice."

Qi Xie's expression froze.

Chen Mu gave a smug, cold laugh:

"These mushrooms are obviously problematic. I, Chen Mu, would rather starve to death outside, jump off a cliff, than eat a single bite... Ughhhhhh!!"

Qi Xie scooped Chen Mu up and forcefully shoved the last roasted mushroom into his mouth:

"Enough with the nonsense, I can't eat this awful stuff all by myself..."

……

……

A dozen minutes later.

The two passed through the third-floor residential area using the out-of-service single-story elevator.

Chen Mu couldn't find mouthwash, so he grabbed a bottle of toilet cleaner and poured it into his mouth.

"I mean, are you serious...?"

Qi Xie was both amused and exasperated by what he saw.

Chen Mu tilted his head back, blue liquid bubbling in his mouth.

"Glug glug glug... Ugh! It tastes worse than shit, and it's stickier than shit too..."

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and concluded, his face ashen.

"I'm a seasoned foodie."

Qi Xie gave Chen Mu a thumbs-up in agreement.

Because the mushrooms tasted unexpectedly bad, the two agreed to find the floor where the food section was located and make that floor their place for the night.

According to the map, the first floor is a collection of common restaurants and fast food areas.

However, there is usually no food that needs to be stored for a long time, so there are no large cold storage rooms to store food.

Of course, even if it did, after such a long power outage, it must have turned to dust long ago, just like the food in the breakfast shop where the two found the mushrooms.

Therefore, their target was packaged foods in the food section that could be stored for a long time.

However, as they walked along, the two were surprised to find that each floor was damaged to varying degrees, filled with bloodstains, bullet holes, and traces of explosions from various unidentified objects.

This made the two of them worry that the food section might also have been vandalized.

According to the map instructions.

The second floor is the clothing section, the third floor is the household goods section, and the fourth floor is the food section.

So the two of them took the out-of-service single-floor elevator to the fourth floor again.

However, the moment the two stepped onto the fourth floor, they suddenly stopped.

"Ding ding dong..."

A faint, ethereal melody drifted in, clear and melodious.

This sudden turn of events caused the two of them to stop instinctively.

Then he slowly raised his head and looked up at the sky.

"The fifth floor?"

Chen Mu gently reminded him:

"I remember the fifth floor was... the musical instrument section?"

With Chen Mu's reminder, Qi Xie also remembered what the voice sounded like:

"piano?"

Why is there piano music coming from this long-abandoned shopping mall?

He was certain the travelers wouldn't have the leisure to play music and show off in the apocalypse...

Well, Jiang Zhengyi might have some ideas if he were here, but he might not necessarily play it.

Chen Mu was already in the zone, his expression serious. He slightly tilted his ear as if sensing something, then turned to Qi Xie and whispered:

"The distance is too great for us to sense any malice."

Qi Xie pondered for a moment and said:

"Check the fourth floor first. If the sound above is dangerous, then going up and triggering the danger might cause the danger to spread to the fourth floor and ruin the food."

Search all four floors first, and once you have enough food, then go up and check.

Chen Mu nodded, agreeing with Qi Xie's arrangement.

The two then walked inside.

However, they were stunned when they saw the view from the fourth floor.

The massive four-story building was damaged to an unprecedented degree.

Numerous shelves and cash registers were overturned or broken, and there were signs of destruction everywhere. The density of bullet holes on the ground and guns, as well as the black marks left by the explosion, far exceeded that of other floors. In some places, the damage even caused the ground to collapse to the lower floors.

"Holy crap... Was there a war here? The ground looks like it's been plowed by bullets."

Chen Mu couldn't help but swear.

The scene before me was so horrific that it looked as if two fully armed teams were engaged in a fierce battle.

But that's not the most concerning thing...

The strangest thing is...

"Where's the food! Where's the food?!"

Chen Mu looked at the mess on the fourth floor, where there was not a single piece of food left, and felt it was somewhat absurd.

There were some empty packaging bags on the ground, as well as some crushed potato chips and other convenience foods that had turned black from being left out for too long, but they were obviously no longer edible.

Apart from that, there was not a single packaged, edible food item to be seen on the surviving shelves.

Qi Xie looked at this scene with a puzzled expression, but relying on his superior skills and boldness, he stepped inside.

Chen Mu hesitated for a moment, then checked again to make sure no 'malicious warning' appeared in his mind, before bracing himself and following along.

Qi Xie's eyes searched the ground.

Since there are bullet holes, it means there's a gun.

Sure enough, not long after, he discovered more than one gun of the same style as those in the real world.

Not being a military enthusiast, he couldn't recognize the firearms, only able to roughly distinguish them as rifles, pistols, shotguns, and so on.

These guns were scattered everywhere—behind the containers, in the corners, behind the cash registers… I estimated there were more than a dozen.

"So many guns..."

Chen Mu asked in confusion:

"But aren't these ordinary weapons supposed to be ineffective against the supernatural? Surely no team would be foolish enough to bring in so many guns?"

"They are not necessarily travelers from our world."

Qi Xie pointed to a black rifle behind the counter.

Its entire gun body was almost shattered, and the barrel had been cut in half by something.

"They're all covered in dust. It's probably a native tactical squad that hid in this world when the disaster struck, but they were all wiped out here, and their bodies were dragged away by the monster... Hiss, but that doesn't explain why the food is gone too. The monster shouldn't need these things..."

"I see!"

Just then, Chen Mu suddenly spoke:

"Is it possible that two groups of survivors from this world fought here over resources? That's why all the corpses and food disappeared? And the victorious side took them?"

Qi Xie pondered for a moment and then shook his head:

"In that case, they should have taken the guns that still looked usable with them."

He pointed to several guns that looked fairly intact, but were without magazines and bullets.

"Aren't these weapons, which can be used in real combat, more important than the corpses of our comrades?"

"Well……"

Chen Mu was speechless for a moment.

"It seems we won't be able to find food here for the time being."

Qi Xie didn't linger and turned to leave:

"Let's go, perhaps the piano music on the fifth floor can give us some clues."

……

……