Days

Luo Xiyun's foot had not fully healed yet, so Chen Xu did most of the moving. He did not bring everything down; with the heavy rain, it was far too inconvenient. He only took down some daily necessities.

This was a two-story villa, lavishly furnished and fully equipped, with a sizable yard outside. A house like this was something Chen Xu could never have afforded in his entire life.

Of course, what he cared about more was the villa's value as a commodity—how much it was worth. As for living here, he was not particularly willing to.

At heart, he was a rather lazy person. He usually did not like going out, preferring online shopping and frequently ordering takeout. If he lived in this mountain-top villa, whether delivery drivers could even get through the gates of the residential complex would be a major problem. If he had to go all the way down the mountain to pick things up himself, he might as well go out to eat.

The first thing Chen Xu did after entering the house was turn on the generator. Unlike the one at the restaurant before, this was a gasoline-powered generator. It was much quieter and did not need water added so often, with many advantages.

Naturally, it had some drawbacks as well. Its output was relatively low, gasoline was more expensive, and it burned through fuel faster.

Of course, none of that had much impact on Chen Xu.

Once the generator was running and the villa's lights were switched on, it felt as though they had returned to modern society. It was much more comfortable.

Their first day at the villa was spent mostly cleaning.

On the second day, Chen Xu went out again and soon returned driving a fuel tanker, using it to build up reserves. After returning, he did not linger and went back out. It was not until evening that he came back in a large cargo truck.

For several days in a row, he kept going out, mainly gathering all kinds of supplies. Water made up the largest share, along with all sorts of food.

The heavy rain showed no signs of stopping. Flooding in the city became increasingly severe, and more and more roads were submerged. Chen Xu discovered that with each passing day, fewer routes remained passable, while the time he spent on the road grew longer.

As long as a stretch of road began to collect water, by the next day it would be deeply flooded. He did not dare risk driving through it. If the vehicle stalled in the floodwater, it would be dangerous.

By the fifth day, he stopped going out. The supplies he had brought back were enough for the two of them to survive here for a year or two.

And so, they settled into the villa.

Early in the morning, Luo Xiyun woke up on time as usual. As she climbed out of her warm bed, the piercingly cold air made her shudder.

The weather that year had been highly abnormal. The winter that should have arrived long ago swept in at a speed that caught everyone off guard after the typhoon had brought twenty consecutive days of heavy rain.

Even more abnormal was the fact that this province at the southernmost tip of the mainland had actually begun to snow. It snowed for an entire week, and now it seemed as though the whole world was covered in ice and snow.

She did not know whether this city had ever seen such heavy snow in its history. At any rate, in her memory, nothing like this had ever happened.

But after going through so much, she had become used to it—or perhaps numb to it.

Five months ago, when she discovered that everyone around her had vanished, her world had already collapsed. At the time, her only thought was to find Grandma.

Along the way, she had not encountered a single person. When she returned to Grandma's place and saw the empty house, even the bracelet Grandma never took off had been left on the floor. In that instant, all hope drained from her.

She had always thought of herself as a strong person. But when she discovered that she was the only one left in the entire world, she realized that she was far more fragile than she had imagined.

If she had not heard Chen Xu's broadcast in the car, she would have driven straight into the river and ended it all.

But when she learned that there were still people alive in this world, she was ecstatic. She rushed back to this city in one go. The moment she saw Chen Xu, her emotions surged so intensely that she lost focus, causing the car to go out of control and crash into a vehicle by the roadside. She was injured and lost consciousness as well.

When she woke from her coma and saw another person, she finally found the courage to keep living again...

As Luo Xiyun thought about these things, she put on a thick down jacket. While washing up, she heard two gunshots from outside—"Bang, bang."

She was not surprised in the slightest. She knew Chen Xu was practicing with his gun.

Shooting was one of Chen Xu's hobbies. Ever since she had become his neighbor, she had heard gunshots every day. She had no idea why he was so interested in it.

Only during the recent stretch of heavy rain had he been forced to pause the activity. Once the rain and snow stopped, he began going outside every morning to shoot again.

After washing up, she tied on an apron and went to make breakfast.

She cooked porridge, stir-fried some luncheon meat, and made some fried peanuts to go with it.

When they had first moved into the villa, she had made sandwiches for breakfast. But after discovering that Chen Xu's stomach was not very good and that he had to eat hot food in the morning, she switched to making porridge.

Come to think of it, before the apocalypse, she had never cooked before. She had never imagined that one day she would cook for a man. Yet after moving into the villa, everything seemed to happen naturally.

When only two people remained in the world, no matter how they got along, over time they would become indispensable to each other.

But in the beginning, that had absolutely not been her mindset.

Involuntarily, she recalled when she had first met Chen Xu. Once she had calmed down, she recognized him too, and she had been somewhat disappointed.

She was the director of the company's Personnel Department and was quite familiar with Chen Xu's file.

Chen Xu was two years older than her. He had graduated from some junior college, and his work ability was average. He could handle his duties well enough, but there was nothing particularly outstanding about him. He was somewhat introverted and seemed a little unsociable.

To put it bluntly, in her eyes, he was a qualified employee, but one who was entirely dispensable.

As for his appearance and bearing, ordinary was the best description.

A man like that did not meet her standards for a partner at all. Before the apocalypse, she would not have spared him a second glance.

Yet this man had become the only person like her left in the world. What else could she do? Even if she was reluctant, she could only accept it.

Still, one had to be wary of others. She knew exactly what men were like, especially in an apocalypse like this, where there were no longer any restraints of law or morality. What if he became completely deranged? So from the very beginning, she had adopted a tougher attitude to protect herself. At the same time, it was a test, to observe how he would react.

The result had let her breathe a sigh of relief. Chen Xu had not displayed the dark side of human nature.

But what happened next was beyond her expectations.