"Disgusting..." Jo Jiajin frowned as he looked at the filthy things on the floor. "With this overpowering stench, could it be... feces?"


    Feces?


    Zhi Xia suddenly turned and looked at Jo Jiajin.


    It was an interesting perspective.


    In other words, there were others here besides the nine of them and the people wearing animal masks.


    Or rather... other "things."


    These "things" must have been living here for a long time, or else they wouldn''t have left such a mess of excrement behind.


    The group began searching around, but found no needles or gauze. Outside the convenience store, there was no pharmacy or clinic. If they blindly searched, Han Yimo probably wouldn’t last long.


    "What now...?" Officer Li stood with his hands on his hips, helplessly looking toward Dr. Zhao, as if seeking his opinion.


    Before Dr. Zhao could respond, there was a noise from behind the cashier''s counter, and the door to the staff break room slowly creaked open.


    The nine of them jumped in shock and quickly stepped back, staring at the slowly opening door.


    A frail figure slipped out from behind it.


    Upon closer inspection, it was a girl, so thin she seemed almost skeletal, her age impossible to discern.


    Her cheeks were deeply hollowed, her eyes bulging out, as if the flesh had been completely drained from her face.


    She pressed her cracked lips together and looked at them with curiosity.


    After a brief moment of stunned silence, she seemed to snap back to reality, quickly straightening her tattered and soiled clothes. In a raspy voice, she said, "Welcome..."


    "Welcome...?"


    Officer Li carefully processed the meaning of her words and seemed to understand.


    "You''re... the shop assistant?"


    The girl nodded.


    The group fell silent, as this situation felt entirely unnatural.


    Let’s not even discuss why there were other humans here; even if she was a "shop assistant," why would she be working in a completely ruined convenience store?


    Seeing that the group wasn''t responding, the shop assistant tentatively added, "Please, feel free to pick whatever you''d like."


    Although she said that, there was no space for "picking" anything.


    The shelves were mostly empty, and the few remaining items were all rotting and covered in filth.


    The shop assistant’s eyes were vacant as she stared at them.


    The gaze unnerved a few of the women.


    Stolen story; please report.


    "Do you have needles and thread?" Zhi Xia asked, her expression unchanged as she addressed the shop assistant.


    "Needles... thread?" The shop assistant’s lifeless eyes barely moved. Then she extended her hand, mimicking the action of threading a needle. "You mean... something like this?"


    Only then did the group notice that her hands were stained with dried, pitch-black blood, which was quite horrifying.


    Zhi Xia took a step forward and said, "Yes, that kind of needle and thread. Do you have any for sale?"


    "You''re a liar... you..." Jo Jiajin, who had once thought of himself as the boldest person on earth before meeting Zhi Xia, now hesitated to speak to this woman. "Can''t you see? This woman is insane."


    "So what if I see that?" Zhi Xia said calmly. "Our situation couldn’t be worse than it is right now."


    The shop assistant stood motionless for a moment, then suddenly swung open the counter’s partition and rushed out.


    Only then did the group see her fully.


    She was wearing a dirty, oversized white shirt, which looked completely out of place, like it was hanging on a clothes rack.


    The shirt was smeared with something—something that resembled oil, or perhaps blood.


    The shirt nearly reached her knees, and it appeared as though she wasn’t wearing any pants, with dried blood all over her thighs.


    Zhi Xia frowned slightly and took a step back, but the shop assistant grabbed his wrist with surprising strength.


    His wrist felt like it was being wrapped by an old vine—dry and painfully tight.


    "I have it here!" the shop assistant shouted, showing her yellowing teeth. "I have the ''needle and thread!'' Come with me!"


    She pointed insistently toward the staff room, as though trying to get Zhi Xia to follow her inside.


    The group was clearly frightened by her, and given her behavior, following her inside was obviously not a good idea.


    "Forget it... We won’t buy it!" Jo Jiajin stepped forward, attempting to pull the woman''s hand off. "Let go of him."


    But the shop assistant didn’t seem to hear him. She pulled Zhi Xia along with great force, a wide grin on her face.


    "There’s ''needle and thread'' in there! Come on!"


    Her strength was so great that it felt as though it surpassed the combined strength of both Jo Jiajin and Zhi Xia.


    "Hey!! Someone, help!!" Jo Jiajin shouted.


    Officer Li and Dr. Zhao snapped out of their daze and hurried over.


    The shop assistant increased her pace, dragging Zhi Xia along effortlessly.


    The distance to the staff room wasn’t far, and within just a few steps, they had entered the room.


    Dr. Zhao and Officer Li tried to pull Zhi Xia back, but unexpectedly, the shop assistant suddenly released his wrist.


    "Ah!"


    A cry of alarm erupted, and a few of them almost lost their balance.


    Once they regained their footing, they saw that the shop assistant wasn’t paying them any attention. Instead, she had turned around and was rummaging through a box in the room.


    The men quickly scanned the room, still shaken.


    The room was slightly cleaner than the outside, with a folding bed in one corner, the bedding already yellowed.


    There was a large pool of blood on it, looking quite fresh.


    In another corner, a rusty iron pot was simmering on a makeshift stove, with something bubbling inside.


    The shop assistant seemed indifferent to everything, continuing her search in an old box.


    "Where is it... the needle and thread..." She kept tossing things out of the box—cans, old magazines, pots, and pans.


    Jo Jiajin rubbed his nose and glanced at the pot.


    "Now that you mention it, I am a little hungry," he said quietly to Zhi Xia. "If she weren’t such a crazy woman, I’d ask her if she could let me have a bite."


    Zhi Xia glanced at the iron pot. Inside, something white was boiling.


    He too felt a pang of hunger.


    "Are you really going to eat something here?" Officer Li asked. "Who knows how filthy that food might be..."


    "But it smells pretty good," Jo Jiajin replied.


    He wasn’t wrong. Thanks to the pot, the room was filled with a fragrant aroma that masked the earlier stench.


    "What’s cooking?" Jo Jiajin asked boldly, clearly hoping to get a taste.


    "Piglets," the shop assistant answered.


    "Piglets?"


    Jo Jiajin became interested and was about to move closer to the pot, but the shop assistant suddenly let out a shout.


    "Ah! Found it!"


    She turned around, holding something in her hands, and excitedly presented it to the group.


    "Look! Needle and thread!"


    Officer Li stepped forward and looked, his face showing discomfort.


    This wasn’t "needle and thread," but a rusty fishhook and a small bundle of tangled fishing line.


    He turned and gave Dr. Zhao a look, signaling him.


    Dr. Zhao thought for a moment before staring at the fishhook and fishing line and asking, "Miss, do you have any other needles and threads?"


    "No," the shop assistant shook her head. "This is all I have. Do you want to buy it?"