BC Chapter 20

Chapter 19

No matter how fractured the useless foursome was, Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan couldn’t see it. Because they separated from that group early, they weren’t affected or implicated at all.

Moreover, they were currently being enthusiastically hosted by Sun Tai, who insisted they eat with him. Having spent nearly ten days in abnormal circumstances, Lu and Zhou’s eyes were practically glued to the hot food in front of them. Lu Ziming still had some self-control, but Zhou Yuanyuan was so excited that she started swallowing frequently. After all, as a Chinese person, one might have a short-term desire to try those high-calorie sweets, lured by their aroma, but having grown up mainly eating rice, living on bread and biscuits was acceptable for a day or two, but not for long. It felt like these things couldn’t really replenish physical strength.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Sun Tai placed the food on the small table in the middle, and asked when he saw that neither of them had moved.

“Gurgle…”

“Gurgle gurgle…” Even with Lu Ziming’s self-control, she couldn’t control her body’s instinctive reactions to the feedback from hunger. Her and Zhou Yuanyuan’s stomachs rumbled almost simultaneously, instantly making them both blush.

“Haha, why be so polite? We basically have everything here. I know where the generator is, so I’ve kept a freezer running over there. The refrigerator is full of vegetables, and the fish, meat, and eggs are in the freezer. So you see, we’re not lacking anything. As for snacks, they’re all on the shelves over there, and there’s a lot of rice, flour, oil, and water in the warehouse behind.” Before that day came, Sun Tai was just an ordinary employee struggling to make a living and save on lodging costs by applying to stay in the warehouse for his shifts. Now, he felt like he was the owner of this supermarket floor. Although he had to stay here because of the dangers outside and the lack of food, it wasn’t a big difference for him. He had been living like this anyway; he couldn’t even remember how long it had been since he saw the sun. So, to remind himself of the time, he deliberately found a 24-hour digital clock in the supermarket and placed it beside him to remind himself to continue living a regular life. For him, whether or not he was rescued probably didn’t make much difference, unless the day came when everything here was eaten and drunk. But then, he would think about it then. Sun Tai was too lazy to make so many plans, not wanting to think about tomorrow’s affairs today. He never had any profound ideas about life; wasn’t it just about living? Sometimes choices were really simple, it was just that some people thought too much. If you purely combined desires into one word, wouldn’t it be living? Was there anything else? No.

“Wow, there’s enough stuff to eat for so long…” Zhou Yuanyuan’s face was full of envy, impossible to hide. When she was just a carefree student, her desire for a meal might not have been as great as winning a game, but now, she didn’t even know where her phone was, and she didn’t know if her parents and relatives were alive or dead. Her friend had turned into a zombie in front of her and tried to eat her. If Lu Ziming hadn’t rescued her in time, she might have become a lump of meat in a zombie’s stomach. But this fulfilled the joke her friends often made, “I’m so hungry I could swallow you whole!” But Zhou Yuanyuan couldn’t laugh at all now, watching the absurd joke become reality, and she was the victim. And then the reality was that even if you experienced these things, life directly deprived you of the time to be sad, upset, or regretful, forcing you to continue running for survival.

So now, she could give up her life for a meal. In fact, that was the case; without this meal, she could only starve to death. So choosing to follow Lu Ziming became natural. And now, because of a meal kindly given by a stranger, her eyes became moist, a sob stuck in her throat, and the emotions in her chest surged like waves.

“Oh dear, why is the little girl crying? Don’t be like this, all I can do is this much. In times like these, it’s not easy for anyone to survive, and there’s no need for people to make things difficult for each other. You look about the same age as my older sister. She went to the provincial capital to study, and I don’t know how things are over there now. I used to take the bus home and go to the provincial capital to see her, but now there are no drivers, no one to drive, and we can’t leave. And if we go out now, we might get eaten by those man-eating creatures outside after just a few steps. I’m also… afraid.” Sun Tai could comfort Zhou Yuanyuan logically at first, but as he spoke, mentioning his family touched his sore spot, and tears began to fall unconsciously. Especially when he mentioned the zombies outside, his whole body started to tremble slightly involuntarily. There are many ways to die in life, but people probably never imagined that they might die from being eaten—and being eaten alive.

…

The trio finished searching the fifth floor and decided not to continue upwards, but followed Wu Hao down to the first floor.

It turned out that Wu Hao’s idea was the same as Lu Ziming’s. So even the search routes were the same, until he saw the curtain escape rope left by Lu and Zhou when they fled, and realized that someone had already escaped from here before them. He turned on his watch, and the green light showed 23:48.

There was still enough time, but not much. They had to take advantage of the deep night to reach the next target building, as it was safest to move under the cover of darkness and night, which could minimize the chance of being besieged by zombies.

So the three did not hesitate and directly escaped the building along the rope left by Lu and Zhou. Wang Dong, Hu Ying, and the other four were still hiding in their respective rooms, trembling in the night, silently praying that Wu Hao and the others would not come to their door.

…

Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan felt full of hope for their next steps after eating the hot meal, but she ultimately couldn’t stay with Sun Tai for long. And although it wasn’t her intention, Dai Qianya and her son were still waiting for her to bring food back to the warehouse. But she couldn’t keep taking care of them forever; she would eventually leave one day. If she could get them to live with Sun Tai, that would naturally be the best option. But she didn’t know what Sun Tai thought, and whether Dai Qianya would agree to her suggestion was also a problem.

“Do you mind if two more people live here with you?” Lu Ziming thought for a moment and decided it was better to ask, after all, she couldn’t completely give up hope. And if Dai Qianya and her son couldn’t be separated, she wouldn’t be able to come out to find food, so the two of them starving to death was only a matter of time.

“Sure.” Of course Sun Tai agreed. He was going crazy being cooped up here alone. Although there were a lot of supplies, there would be no one to help him if he had to go out one day. So it was better to start cultivating camaraderie now, so they could help each other in case of trouble. But he might have misunderstood, thinking that Lu Ziming had changed her mind and was going to stay.

“I need to go back and ask. If she agrees, I’ll bring her over. You can lock the door in the corner first. I’ll knock on the door when I come here tomorrow night.” Sun Tai understood at this point that Lu Ziming wasn’t talking about herself and Zhou Yuanyuan, but that was okay too. It would be good to have someone to take care of each other.

“Okay, then you must be careful.” Although he had been hiding here without going out, Sun Tai understood the danger outside. Moreover, Lu Ziming and Zhou Yuanyuan didn’t look like they were good fighters. Even though he was worried, all he could do was help them pack up the food and bring some rations and water. The rest was just to pray that they would be safe.

Lu Ziming looked at her watch and knew it was getting late. She stopped talking to Sun Tai and left with Zhou Yuanyuan. As for why she didn’t let Zhou Yuanyuan wait here, it was because she wasn’t sure what Dai Qianya’s plans were. If she insisted on not coming here, Lu Ziming couldn’t force her. She could only leave this last batch of food and leave. The shortest route from the Wutong District to the neighboring Linfeng City in Qingshui City was the route, and there was a highway directly to Linfeng City. If they were lucky enough to find a good car with good performance and a strong body, they could quickly reach Linfeng City.

Secondly, this decision was also Zhou Yuanyuan’s own wish. She was afraid that after Lu Ziming went back, if the Dai Qianya she spoke of didn’t agree to come to Sun Tai’s place, Lu Ziming would leave on her own and wouldn’t come back to pick her up. After all, Lu Ziming was bringing her along not out of some adult sense of responsibility, but only because she, Zhou Yuanyuan, was shamelessly following her.

So the two set off again while the night was dark. Although the two had walked this road from Walmart to the building where Dai Qianya and her son were more than once, they were still cautious. After all, they were operating outside, and they could lose their lives if they weren’t careful.

However, returning the same way was much smoother than the previous two times. It was also possible that they had accumulated some experience from walking outside at night more often, and their speed of travel had greatly improved, and they also tried to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

Soon, the two arrived downstairs.