BC Chapter 19

Chapter 18

Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan, on full alert as they entered the fire door, didn’t expect the B2 level to not be pitch black. Instead, a corner was lit up, and the faint aroma of food wafted through the air. Having not had a hot meal in almost ten days, the two couldn’t help but take a deep breath together.

Were people seeking refuge here? Lu Ziming subconsciously tightened her grip on her weapon. Unable to determine how many people there were, Lu Ziming felt inexplicably nervous. She originally thought they were just grabbing some unclaimed food, but it seemed someone had already beaten them to it. If the people here considered the food theirs, then Lu and Zhou would have no choice but to either clash with them or admit defeat and go home empty-handed.

However, the two cautiously stood their ground and waited for a while, but no one appeared. They only faintly heard a rustling sound, like mice scurrying around.

But in less than two seconds, the two understood the source of the sound. A pair of green eyes appeared at the edge of the light from their flashlights.

“Woof.” A small but clear bark came from a tiny body. Only when it was fully exposed to Lu Ziming’s flashlight did the two realize that the creature was a small white dog.

“Aww, how cute!” Zhou Yuanyuan’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw the dog. She immediately squatted down and stretched out her hands. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, come, come to this big sister!” She was in a completely “my door is always open, embracing the world” kind of mood, a complete contrast to her attitude when facing the group of four earlier. She didn’t even give Lu Ziming time to tell her to be careful.

The dog, on the other hand, seemed to be in a good mood too. As soon as it saw Zhou Yuanyuan being so enthusiastic towards it, it immediately wagged its tail and ran over, licking and nuzzling Zhou Yuanyuan, as if it were a reunion between a pet and its rightful owner after a long separation.

Lu Ziming could only swallow the word “careful” back down.

“Tuantuan! Where did you run off to?” Sure enough, there was not just a dog here, but also someone else. Judging by the voice, it was a young man.

The little fellow in Zhou Yuanyuan’s hands had been wanting to act spoiled, roll around and beg for petting in Zhou Yuanyuan’s arms in the previous second. But the next second, upon hearing its owner call its name, it immediately kicked Zhou Yuanyuan, jumped to the ground, and ended up falling face-first due to an unstable landing. But it didn’t care, and stood up, shook its fur, and rushed towards the sound. Leaving Zhou Yuanyuan standing there, her hands still outstretched, looking lost and disappointed.

“Is there something over there? Tuantuan.” The man hugged the dog that jumped towards him and spoke to it gently. Having not seen another living person in almost ten days, the man could only talk to his dog every day. Otherwise, staying in this space where he couldn’t hear human voices, he didn’t know if he would go crazy. As he spoke, the man hugged the dog, walked around the shelves, and headed towards Lu Ziming and her.

“Let me see, what new world have you discovered?” The man talked to the little dog in his arms as if he were coaxing a child, never imagining that he would meet living people at this time.

“Oh my god! What’s going on?!” The man, who finally made eye contact with Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan, was so scared by the two motionless figures opposite him that he fell on his butt.

“You, who are you people?!” The man sitting on the ground hugged his dog tightly, scooted back a couple of times, and quickly distanced himself from the two.

As early as when she heard the man call the dog, Lu Ziming turned off her flashlight. In this situation, and since this wasn’t their home turf, it was better to take the initiative and make reactions that were favorable to them, with the enemy in the open and themselves in the dark. But the two couldn’t hide now. Without contacting the other party, there was no way to judge their intentions or whether they were good or bad. They could only face the other party head-on like this.

“Living people,” Lu Ziming said calmly, seeing that the other party’s performance was nothing to be afraid of, so she wasn’t so nervous anymore.

“Wow, how did you guys get in here? I remember I locked all the doors,” the man on the ground said, feeling a cold sweat breaking out on his back, as he slowly got up from the ground, filled with lingering fear.

Sure enough, Lu Ziming’s guess was correct. In the current situation where dangers always lurked outside, having such a place with sufficient food and being safe enough, there would definitely be people who would want to monopolize it and slowly wait for a period of time to see if they could get rescued by the government. Even if they didn’t get help, it was still better than going out and living a precarious life in fear.

“I’m Sun Tai, the warehouse manager here,” the man said, calming himself down after a few seconds, putting Tuantuan on the ground, and introducing himself to the two.

“Lu Ziming.”

“Zhou Yuanyuan.” Lu and Zhou looked at each other and politely gave their names as well.

…

“How is it? My condition is very easy to meet! Right? There are four of you now, you just need to leave one woman who doesn’t have much strength! If you agree, the other three can leave.” Yin Zhouhang still had that same demeanor, tilting his head and standing in place.

Huang Xiaolin, who had been singled out, couldn’t help but tremble. Her small face was pale with fear, and her expression made it seem like she was about to cry. Hu Ying, who was next to her, was still staring stubbornly at Yin Zhouhang opposite her, holding Huang Xiaolin’s wrist tightly with one hand. Regardless of Mei Ting and Wang Dong’s attitude, she would not easily push Huang Xiaolin out as a bargaining chip.

If it really came down to it… She looked at Mei Ting and the two who had not spoken or expressed their position for a long time, and changed her mind. Regardless of whether the two sides were in a standoff, she grabbed Huang Xiaolin and quickly turned around, running downstairs.

Wang Dong and Mei Ting were still thinking about how to resolve the situation peacefully, but neither of them were negotiation experts, and they really couldn’t think of any reasonable arguments. They were simply forced into a dilemma. Unexpectedly, at this time, they heard the sound of Hu Ying pulling Huang Xiaolin away behind them.

Mei Ting cursed inwardly, knowing things were bad. She couldn’t care about anything else, and hurriedly grabbed Wang Dong, following closely behind, running downstairs as if fleeing for their lives.

“Oh my? How can you survive with such little courage? When you meet living people or dead people, it’s just one word, ‘run’?” Yin Zhouhang didn’t chase after them, but pinched his temples, shook his head, and looked like he was lamenting their incompetence.

“I wouldn’t even bother robbing people like them back when I was in school! Each and every one of them, so promising! Bah! Not challenging at all! Oh, my ice cream!” Yin Zhouhang didn’t take the four of them to heart at all. He didn’t have the mind to rob a burden to keep around, enjoying things was something to do when you were idle in peaceful times, but definitely not now. Now what he had to do was snatch food from the mouth of Yin Suna, that ‘tigress’.

And the cowardly four-person team that had directly disintegrated because of the threat was still running frantically with their hearts in their throats.

Hu Ying, in the lead, led Huang Xiaolin straight to the third floor, hid in the training center’s office, and locked the door from the inside.

Mei Ting and Wang Dong, who were running behind them, also ran into a room in a panic and locked themselves in. Afraid of being chased down and retaliated against by Yin Zhouhang and the others, the four of them tacitly chose to cower in their rooms, terrified.

After Mei Ting and Wang Dong calmed down, they realized a very important point – the backpack full of food and water resources was on Hu Ying’s body. They only had half a bottle of water and half a bag of soda crackers that they had drunk and eaten before. The crisis of disbandment had now turned into a survival crisis for the two of them.

“With just this little food and drink, we’ll starve to death sooner or later!” Wang Dong hugged his head and squatted in front of the two empty backpacks, complaining in despair. “I told you, don’t trust anyone! Now it’s good, the food has been taken away, and because of them, we’ve offended that group of bullies and can’t move…”

“Bang.” Wang Dong didn’t expect that he would be kicked to the ground by Mei Ting before he could finish speaking.

“Are you even a man?! You can’t do anything but play games! Where’s that energy you have when you play games? You’re just complaining and acting like you’re going to die over such a small matter! Isn’t there still some food left?!” Mei Ting was already feeling upset and distracted because of the betrayal of Hu Ying and the two, and she was also worried about Yin Zhouhang chasing after them for revenge. Now that Wang Dong didn’t even have a word of comfort and only knew how to say depressing things, the fire in her heart shot up, and her feet uncontrollably kicked out.

…

While Mei Ting and the two were having conflicts, Hu Ying and the two weren’t doing much better. When Huang Xiaolin was stumbling behind Hu Ying, her mind was still blank. It wasn’t until Hu Ying pulled her into the office room, locked the door, placed her on the sofa, and squatted down beside her, asking with concern, “Huff… Xiaolin, are you okay?” When this sentence was asked, Huang Xiaolin’s eyes finally focused on Hu Ying’s face in front of her. Seeing Hu Ying’s panting but still concerned look, she seemed to finally come back to her senses, pursed her lips, and tears fell uncontrollably in strings.

“Wuwuwu…” Huang Xiaolin hugged Hu Ying and finally cried out in grievance. Fear, despair, near escape… A mixture of emotions surged, and Huang Xiaolin only wanted to cry non-stop.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t cry, don’t cry. Wuwu… We won’t cry…” Hu Ying saw Huang Xiaolin crying into a mess, and originally wanted to pretend to be strong to comfort her, but she didn’t expect that after comforting her for only a couple of sentences, she was influenced by Huang Xiaolin’s emotions and started crying along with her…