Chapter 36

"Come on, let's go and take a look!"

Li Fatzi chambered his pistol, and the five of them got up and walked towards the Mexican restaurant.

The door to the restaurant was unlocked, and it was very quiet inside. It was unclear where the Asians from earlier had gone. Li Fatzi gestured for everyone to be careful and pushed open the door to the restaurant.

The restaurant was decorated in a Mexican style, giving it a distinct exotic feel. The restaurant was very clean and neatly arranged, showing no signs of the apocalypse.

"Looking at the state of this place, it doesn't seem like it's been ravaged by zombies," Alex said cautiously, holding the crossbow in his hand.

"I used to come to this Mexican restaurant with friends. The food was terrible, and there were always few customers," Si Yao said, gripping a machete and carefully looking around.

"Restaurants like this usually close around 9 or 10 PM. When the disaster happened, there was probably no one in this place, so it makes sense that it hasn't been damaged," Li Fatzi said, walking to the cash register and looking inside. There was no one.

"Strange, where did that person hide? Yan, did you see wrong?" Arthur was clearly getting impatient.

"I didn't see wrong. There was a clear figure crouched by the door, watching us," Yan Zekun replied with certainty.

"Arthur, calm down. If we find this person, we can ask about Mike's whereabouts. There might be some clues," Li Fatzi patted Arthur's shoulder, hoping to calm him down.

"Alright, Li," Arthur nodded and walked to the bathroom door.

He tried the handle, but it wouldn't open.

"Li, the bathroom is locked from the inside!"

Hearing Arthur's call, the five of them quickly gathered in front of the bathroom. Li Fatzi knocked on the door and asked in English, "Is anyone in there?"

No one answered.

"Is anyone in there? If no one answers, we'll break the door down!"

Li Fatzi asked again.

Finally, a voice came from the bathroom.

"Who?"

Recalling the Asian person Yan Zekun mentioned, Li Fatzi could clearly hear the Chinese accent and switched to Chinese, "We are also Chinese, we won't harm you. Open the door, please!"

There was silence inside, and the person didn't respond.

"Don't worry, we keep our word. We are looking for someone and just want to ask you a question. We'll leave after that," Li Fatzi said, seeing that the person was still wary.

Finally, the door handle turned, and the door opened.

Inside was a middle-aged man, already somewhat bald, with a Mediterranean hairstyle. His belly was round, as if he were seven or eight months pregnant.

He was not very tall, about 1.7 meters, wearing a gold-rimmed glasses, giving him a somewhat official look.

"Hello, I'm Li Fatzi."

Li Fatzi put away his gun and extended his hand to the middle-aged man.

The man hesitated for a moment before shaking Li Fatzi's hand.

"My name is Hong Taiping."

Looking at Hong Taiping, Si Yao couldn't help but think. The name sounded familiar, and the person looked familiar too.

But he couldn't quite place it, so he shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

"Since the disaster broke out, have you been hiding here, Brother Hong?"

Hong Taiping nodded in response to Li Fatzi's question.

"Brother Hong, I have a question. Around 3 or 4 AM today, did you hear any noise?" Li Fatzi asked directly.

"3 or 4 AM today...?" Hong Taiping thought for a moment.

"Your friend got lost?"

"Exactly, we are looking for him. If you know anything, please tell us," Arthur said with urgency.

"Before dawn today, I did hear some noise. I got up and saw someone... he was dodging zombies and running in that direction," Hong Taiping hesitated for a moment before pointing towards Morrison's direction.

"Did he look like me?" Arthur asked quickly.

"At that time, it was too dark to see clearly. If you need help, I can assist you in the search. I know this area quite well," Hong Taiping said, seeing that these people were not bad and wanting to join them, as it was impossible to survive alone in this apocalypse.

People who would risk their lives to find a lost companion were definitely not bad.

After hearing Hong Taiping's words, Li Fatzi and the others exchanged glances.

"Alright, Brother Hong, come with us. After all, more people mean more strength."

"Brother, just call me Old Hong. I can't bear the title of Brother Hong," Hong Taiping said.

"Alright, Old Hong. I mean, Old Hong."

The group then returned to the front of the restaurant. Si Yao briefly introduced their team's situation and their base to Hong Taiping.

Hong Taiping nodded, impressed by the group's strength, thinking they were a reliable team.

"It's almost dark now, and we don't know if that person is Mike. Let's check the cinema first, then head back to Wonderland."

Seeing everyone nod, Li Fatzi took off his backpack.

"Take all the food. By the way, Old Hong, is that okay?" Li Fatzi remembered Hong Taiping was there and politely asked.

"Little Li, just call me Old Hong. Take whatever you need. We're family now," Hong Taiping said generously.

Indeed, being a large restaurant, the kitchen's fridge contained a lot of food. However, since Wonderland didn't have a kitchen, they couldn't take the ingredients back to cook a good meal.

Still, Li Fatzi had everyone carry a few pieces of raw meat in their bags, just in case they needed it for emergencies.

As they came out of the kitchen, Li Fatzi noticed that Hong Taiping had a chair leg in his hand. Li Fatzi and the others were traveling light and didn't carry extra weapons, so Old Hong would have to make do with the chair leg.

The six of them briefly checked the nearby shops, which were mostly locked and lifeless.

Now only the cinema was left.

The glass on the cinema's front door was dark, making it impossible to see inside from the outside, but one could see outside from inside.

Li Fatzi led the way to the cinema's door. Since the disaster happened in the early morning, there shouldn't have been anyone in the cinema. Without much thought, Li Fatzi pulled open the door.

"Shit!"

Li Fatzi cursed and turned to run. The others, who had just arrived, saw Li Fatzi running back, with a large wave of zombies following him!

Without a word, everyone started running as fast as they could!

"Shit! Shit, you old man! Throw! Throw the pork!"

Li Fatzi, while running, took the pork from his backpack and threw it hard behind him.