Living Together in One Room

Seeing the frightened look on Luo Xiyun's face, Chen Xu's hand stiffened. After a second's pause, he casually set the coat he had just taken off on the table, pulled out the chair in front of it, and sat down. "Sit down. There's something I need to tell you."

Luo Xiyun could not make sense of his attitude. She touched the edge of the bed and sat down, then asked quietly, "What is it?"

Chen Xu's gaze wandered around the room. Since moving into this villa, this was his first time entering this room. It was kept very neat, and a faint fragrance lingered in the air.

Seeing that he remained silent and merely looked around warily, Luo Xiyun felt increasingly uneasy, as though she were awaiting judgment. The feeling made her extremely uncomfortable. Just as she could no longer hold back from speaking, Chen Xu finally said, "The heating in my room is broken."

The heating was broken?

Her mouth fell half open as she stared at him blankly.

Chen Xu spread his hands and said, "The temperature outside is already tens of degrees below zero. Without heating, there's no way to sleep, so..."

So? Luo Xiyun continued staring at him blankly, suddenly seized by an extremely ominous premonition.

"I've decided to move in here."

Hearing those words, her scalp went numb. It took her several seconds to realize what they meant before she stammered, "But..."

Chen Xu had already stood up. "I'll go get my bedding."

As he walked out of Luo Xiyun's room, a cold smile appeared on his face.

He had truly wanted to lose his temper just now, but seeing how guilty she looked, if he really got angry, she might burst into tears on the spot. Then it would look like he was the one bullying her.

But if he simply let her off and swallowed this silent loss, he could not stomach it. So he came up with this method of revenge.

For a cleanliness-obsessed compulsive person like her, having to share a room with him would probably drive her crazy soon enough.

If you wouldn't let me feel good, then I wouldn't let you have it easy either.

With that thought, he returned to his room, unplugged the heater, rolled up his pillow and blanket, and went back to Luo Xiyun's room. She was still sitting on the edge of the bed, seemingly unable to process what had happened.

He shut the door behind him and spread a layer of bedding on the floor, arranged his pillow, then lay down and pulled the blanket over himself. Just as he reached out to turn off the lamp, he remembered Luo Xiyun was still sitting by the bed. He looked up and asked, "Aren't you sleeping? I'm turning off the light."

"Uh, okay..." Luo Xiyun answered, then moved.

With a click, the light went out, and the room sank into darkness.

It was the kind of darkness where one could not see a hand in front of one's face. Chen Xu had been somewhat afraid of the dark since childhood and was not used to such an environment. Ever since entering this dream world, he had always kept a small night-light on when sleeping.

Tonight was an exception. Perhaps because he could not see, his other senses became sharper. He could even hear Luo Xiyun's slightly constrained breathing.

Lying there and imagining her inner turmoil, he closed his eyes in satisfaction. As usual, he soon fell asleep.

The next day, Chen Xu woke up naturally. When he opened his eyes, the room was still pitch-black. He felt around beneath his pillow for his phone and checked the time. It was 5:09 in the morning.

By then, he was completely awake, but he did not want to leave the warm bed just yet.

Luo Xiyun should still be asleep. He could hear her long, steady breaths.

"What state is this dream world in when I'm asleep?" he suddenly wondered. Here, he had never dreamed. It seemed that the moment he closed his eyes and opened them again, an entire night had passed, and he could not feel the passage of time at all.

After lounging in bed for a while, he finally got up, packed away his bedding, and left the room.

Maintaining a life with water and electricity in this empty world was not easy. There was plenty of work to do.

He first went to the basement and filled both generators with fuel, then filled the water tank beside them. In weather this cold, keeping bottled water from freezing was quite troublesome.

It took him two hours to finish those chores, leaving him drenched in sweat.

By then, it was fully daylight. The weather was unusually good. Carrying a rectangular case, he walked to an open area several hundred meters from the villa.

At one end of the clearing lay a heap of shattered glass bottles. He picked out ten intact bottles and arranged them on the ground. After retreating more than ten meters, he opened the rectangular case, which contained two guns.

He took out a pistol, loaded it, planted his feet, took a brief aim, and fired.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

He emptied the pistol in one go, shook his hand that had gone slightly numb from the recoil, and looked at the six empty bottles that remained intact. He gently shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with the result.

During continuous fire, the recoil had too much effect on his aim. By the last few shots, he had no idea where the muzzle was pointing.

Over the past few months, he had practiced shooting almost every morning after getting up, firing hundreds of rounds a day. His accuracy had become quite good. At a distance of just over ten meters like this, he could not hit glass bottles every time, but his hit rate was at least ninety percent.

Fortunately, he had found an armory back then. Otherwise, he would not have had so much ammunition to squander or been able to shoot to his heart's content.

Of course, no matter how skilled he became with a gun, it would be useless after returning to reality. He was neither military nor police. He probably would not get another chance to touch a gun for the rest of his life.

He shot purely out of interest. In this apocalypse, where there was so little entertainment, it was practically his only pastime.

An hour later, after using up all the ammunition he had brought, he reluctantly put the gun back in the case and headed toward the villa.

When he returned to the villa, Luo Xiyun did not come out to greet him this time. She was in the kitchen instead. He secretly laughed but did not mind. After changing clothes, he walked to the table.

The moment he sat down, Luo Xiyun came out carrying breakfast.

Chen Xu noticed some bloodshot veins in her eyes and that the bags beneath them were a little swollen. He deliberately asked, "How did you sleep last night? I might snore when I sleep. I didn't keep you awake, did I?"

Then he saw her spoon-holding hand visibly pause.

After several seconds, she asked, "Can the heater in your room be fixed today?"

Chen Xu shook his head. "Probably not."

She paused for another two seconds. Only after filling a bowl of porridge did she say, "Then let's clear out the room in the corner."

There were three rooms on this floor altogether. Apart from the two rooms they occupied, there was another one being used as a storage room.

Chen Xu looked at her, nodded, and said, "Sure. But I'm a little tired and want to rest for a couple of days. We can do it in a few days."

With a blank expression, Luo Xiyun said, "It's fine. I'll clean it up myself."