Relying on Each Other

Assembling a computer was child's play for Li Qingxiao. She quickly put one together, connected it to the workbench's power supply, and booted it up.

Li Mu Chuan had taken several used USB drives from Computer City for the operating system.

If he was not mistaken, they should have contained operating systems.

After all, when Li Mu Chuan had bought computers from Computer City before, he had seen plenty of them installed directly from USB drives.

Sure enough, after Li Qingxiao inserted a USB drive and performed a series of operations, the operating system was soon installed.

Once the computer was usable, Li Qingxiao took a necklace from around her neck.

Inside the clear pendant at the end of the necklace was a tiny USB drive.

Li Mu Chuan froze at the sight. He had not noticed before that Li Qingxiao wore such a thing around her neck.

After inserting the USB drive, Li Qingxiao immediately began working.

Li Mu Chuan saw her fully focused as she wrote line after line of code, occasionally opening files on the USB drive as though using them for reference.

Li Qingxiao worked until evening, yet she still had not finished.

Li Mu Chuan was already getting hungry. He had not eaten anything at noon.

After thinking it over, Li Mu Chuan got up to make something to eat. Though his injuries made moving inconvenient, he did not think he was delicate enough to lie around over it.

However, Li Mu Chuan had not expected that after only a few movements, his wounds would immediately be pulled open.

Li Mu Chuan let out a muffled groan, feeling as though his wounds had split open a little.

"Why are you getting up? Why aren't you resting properly?"

Hearing the movement and seeing Li Mu Chuan get up, Li Qingxiao's expression changed. She hurried over and pressed him back down.

She checked his wounds in passing and saw blood seeping through the gauze.

"With your condition, you need to rest properly. You can't move around recklessly, understand?"

Li Qingxiao seemed a little angry. With a cold expression, she snapped at Li Mu Chuan.

Li Mu Chuan looked somewhat sheepish. This woman was rather imposing when she got angry. "I saw you were so busy, so I wanted to make something to eat."

Li Qingxiao was stunned by his words, and the coldness on her face turned into slight bewilderment.

For a moment, she did not know whether to scold Li Mu Chuan for worrying over nothing or thank him for being so thoughtful.

After a moment of silence, Li Qingxiao turned her face away. "You must be hungry. I'll make something for you."

"With your condition, you should eat something light."

As she spoke, Li Qingxiao got busy. Li Mu Chuan lay nearby and watched her cook.

There was no meat or anything fancy, so it was impossible to make a particularly delicious meal. In the end, Li Qingxiao kneaded some flour and made hand-pulled noodles.

To be honest, they did not taste especially good, since there were not many seasonings or condiments.

They were barely edible, yet both of them ate with great relish.

"The light from the computer needs to be covered up. We can't let anyone outside see it."

Li Qingxiao held her bowl and nodded silently.

After eating, Li Qingxiao cleaned up, dealt with the computer's light, and then threw herself back into work.

Li Mu Chuan lay nearby, watching idly. He could not understand any of the code she was writing.

Still, even though he did not understand it at all, it somehow seemed impressive.

After staring at something he could not understand for so long, Li Mu Chuan gradually grew drowsy.

However, after he fell asleep, the pain from his wounds woke him from time to time.

Whenever Li Mu Chuan woke up, he would notice that the computer in front of him was still on and Li Qingxiao was still working.

The next day.

When Li Mu Chuan woke up, he saw Li Qingxiao asleep with her head resting in front of the computer.

Seeing this, Li Mu Chuan carefully got up and covered her with a blanket.

As for her computer, he did not dare touch it at all.

He then cautiously went to the window and looked outside. There were no zombies on the street, which meant they had not been discovered by the zombies here.

He did not know whether the guy he had killed yesterday had any companions.

However, it seemed some zombies had gone over afterward. As long as they had eaten him, even if he had companions, they would not realize Li Mu Chuan had killed him.

Come to think of it, yesterday had been Li Mu Chuan's first time killing someone, yet he had not felt much about it.

At the time, Li Mu Chuan's mind had been filled with anger. Even after killing someone, he had remained calm.

Perhaps it was also because he had been through a lot these past few days. While searching for supplies, he had seen so many zombies, things even more terrifying than corpses.

The visual impact of those things was far greater than that of a dead person.

Or perhaps killing two zombies earlier had given Li Mu Chuan some degree of tolerance.

Li Mu Chuan looked at the food nearby. There was no meat—otherwise, perhaps they could have made dumplings.

Without electricity, the frozen dumplings in the supermarket freezers had either spoiled or been taken by someone else.

Li Mu Chuan got himself a cup of water, washed up, and prepared to make something to eat.

However, at that moment, Li Qingxiao suddenly woke with a start.

When she saw Li Mu Chuan standing nearby, her expression immediately turned extremely unfriendly.

Seeing this, Li Mu Chuan hurriedly said, "I was just washing my face and brushing my teeth. That should be okay, right?"

Li Qingxiao looked at the toiletries in Li Mu Chuan's hands and only then refrained from berating him.

Li Mu Chuan shrank back a little. He always felt that Li Qingxiao had an inexplicably powerful presence. As expected of someone who had once been a commander.

Li Qingxiao got up, and the blanket slid off her body.

She casually caught it. Feeling that it still retained a little warmth, Li Qingxiao's heart warmed slightly, and her expression softened somewhat.

"What do you want to eat? I'll make it."

"Anything is fine. I'm not picky."

Li Mu Chuan replied. In an apocalyptic world, having a bite to eat was enough to be grateful for.

It was far better than going hungry during his first two days here.

"Oh, right. Has your modeling been completed?"

If Li Mu Chuan remembered correctly, she had not gone to sleep until very late.

Li Qingxiao shook her head. "It needs a little more time before the model can be completed."

Li Mu Chuan did not ask any further.

Breakfast was soon ready. As Li Qingxiao ate, her gaze drifted, probably occupied with work matters.

Sure enough, while eating, Li Qingxiao seemed to think of something and threw herself back in front of the computer to start coding again.

Only when she ran into some difficult problem did she shovel down a few bites.

Her whole body and mind were immersed in work.

Over the next few days, Li Mu Chuan truly witnessed what it meant to be a workaholic.

Li Qingxiao spent nearly all day in front of the computer, constantly writing code.

Even in the dead of night, Li Mu Chuan could see her busy figure. Sometimes when he woke at three or four in the morning, she was still at work.

At times like that, Li Mu Chuan would not say anything. He would simply take a blanket and drape it over her, then silently return to the bed and lie down.