"Shen Yi, ignore those messages in the class group! They're all bastards trying to take advantage of you!"
Xu Wanting had seen the messages too.
There was no way she wanted Shen Yi risking his life to deliver food and water to anyone else.
It was dangerous outside. What would she do if something happened to him?
Xu Wanting was thinking of herself, but she wasn't wrong.
What a bunch of bastards!
"Of course I'm not giving them food or water," Shen Yi said with a sneer.
Back when Jin Rui and his roommates had bullied him, he'd gone to his academic advisor for help. The advisor had told him they were all classmates and there was no need to fall out over something so minor. He'd even asked why his roommates picked on him instead of anyone else.
That kind of outrageous talk sounded like an internet joke, but people really said it, and more often than you'd think.
Shen Yi had heard it himself.
So he had no fondness for that self-righteous advisor.
Given the chance, he'd make the advisor find out what it felt like to hear, Why do I only pick on you and no one else?
With that thought, Shen Yi took several bottles of water and a roast chicken from System Space. He arranged some other snacks on the table, snapped a photo, and sent it to the group.
Shen Yi: "That's right, I still have plenty of food and water. But I'm a bad person, so I don't want to give you any. Mad?"
Jin Rui: "@Shen Yi, what the fuck is wrong with you? Who are you showing off for? Just you wait!"
Group member Jin Rui has been muted by an administrator for 29 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes.
Academic advisor Wang Jiaxing: "Shen Yi, don't mind Jin Rui. I've muted him. How about this? I'll pay you a thousand yuan to bring us that chicken and those bottles of water. I promise I won't deduct any more of your course credits!"
Campus heartthrob Lin Yu: "Holy shit! You've even got chicken? And it's still steaming. Did it just come out of the pot??? Shen Yi, bro! Share some with me! I've never done anything to offend you. I've always looked up to you!"
Wang Lili: "Jin Rui is awful! Shen Yi, don't listen to her!"
Wang Lili: "Could I have a little of that chicken? I can come find you..."
Qin Haoran: "Shen Yi, I know you're not like a bad student such as Jin Rui. Help me now, and when my dad gets here, I'll pay you back tenfold! My dad's a bureau director. I'm not lying!"
Xu Wanting: "All of you, shut up! Shen Yi isn't giving you any food!!"
Wang Lili: "What's it got to do with you, Xu Wanting? You're the one who should shut up! Shen Yi would never be as selfish as you!"
Ma Hong: "Xu Wanting, looks won't do you any good when you're this selfish... Someone with no morals won't live long."
Qin Haoran: "Exactly!"
Xu Wanting was furious.
When Shen Yi didn't object, she posted an intimate photo of the two of them in the group to prove how close they were.
A bunch of outsiders thought they could insult her?
She wouldn't stand for it!
Wang Lili: "??? Xu Wanting, you're with Shen Yi??"
Ma Hong: "Uh, this photo... Are you two dating?"
Sun Bowen: "Heh. Who knew Shen Yi could get our class beauty into bed with a few bottles of water? She sure came cheap. Bet he's worn her out by now."
Campus heartthrob Lin Yu: "@Sun Bowen, quit yapping! Who my bro gets with is none of your business!"
Sun Bowen: "You pathetic bootlicker!"
Campus heartthrob Lin Yu: "Fuck off! You think I don't know you're with Jin Rui? Are you trying to get under Shen Yi's skin for him? Heh. Who's the bootlicker here? Looks to me like you're Jin Rui's!"
Group member Sun Bowen has been muted by an administrator for 29 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes.
Campus heartthrob Lin Yu: "@Shen Yi, bro, don't let that idiot Sun Bowen get to you. If you ever run into trouble, I'll be the first to help!"
Campus heartthrob Lin Yu: "@Xu Wanting, could you put in a word with Shen Yi? Ask him to help us classmates out."
Qin Haoran: "+1. Help me out, Shen Yi."
Teacher Qi (associate professor): "Shen Yi, for the sake of an old teacher, please help me. I still have children at home to look after..."
Shen Yi ignored the fair-weather crowd and left the group.
Qin Haoran and Lin Yu were especially shameless. Those two idiots had taken the moral high ground to attack him in other groups, and now they'd changed their tune.
Pathetic!
Instead of wasting time on that trash, he might as well add more contacts. Maybe he'd unlock another couple of kinds of supplies.
Still, the way his classmates had changed their tune showed how hard life had become for the survivors.
They were begging him for a sip of water and a bite to eat. They were practically on their knees.
Even the usually stern, unsmiling Teacher Qi had been reduced to that.
Disaster really was the great equalizer.
In the blink of an eye,
more than two hours passed.
During that time, Shen Yi added dozens of contacts. Every one was either a man posing as a woman online or a very small woman who didn't meet the system's standards.
The worst was a guy who dressed as a woman. He even sent photos of himself in women's clothes and said that, if Shen Yi didn't mind, he could bring his own lubricant...
Fuck!
Shen Yi called him an idiot and blocked him.
What is the world coming to?
Every kind of weirdo was crawling out of the woodwork.
Quite a few people also tried, directly or indirectly, to find out where he lived.
Shen Yi wasn't stupid. He didn't keep talking to them; he blocked and deleted them on the spot!
"What a bunch of idiots. What's the point of trying to get my address? For a few bottles of water? Why not use that time to look in a supermarket?" Shen Yi grumbled as he deleted yet another person fishing for his location.
He couldn't understand it. Did these people have no brains?
What would knowing his address accomplish?
Instead of spending all that time coming after him, they could search a supermarket or convenience store. There were bound to be drinks and snacks inside that hadn't been contaminated.
Yet for some reason, they were fixated on getting his address.
Apparently, by the sixth day of the apocalypse, everyone's IQ had gone to shit!
"It's been ages. Why isn't your friend here yet?" Shen Yi asked Xu Wanting.
Even coming from another campus, she should have made it on foot within an hour. Had something happened?
"I'll call her and ask." Xu Wanting started dialing.
Shen Yi went back to accepting friend requests.
But
while they were busy,
the lights that had been shining suddenly went out with a pop.
The phone he'd been charging stopped charging too.
Was this...
a power outage?
Shen Yi and Xu Wanting exchanged a glance, their expressions darkening.
No electricity!
That meant no light at night from now on.
Worse, once their phones ran out of battery, they wouldn't be able to charge them again.
No, there were ways. They'd just be much more troublesome.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Suddenly,
a phone rang outside the door.
Xu Wanting glanced at her phone, then at Shen Yi. "I think they're here."
"Hang up first."
Shen Yi went to the dorm room door, quietly opened it a crack, and looked outside.
Before you continue