Joy Turns to Misfortune

The girl outside faintly heard someone shouting inside.

"Who knows what's going on in there? I clearly smelled meat just now. Do I still have my steak?"

She tried struggling twice, but it was useless.

Thinking about her current predicament, tears of frustration flowed from the corners of her mouth.

"Wooo! Roar!"

A zombie howled nearby, probably drawn over by the voices of the people inside.

The girl tied to the tree was terrified. She muttered softly:

"Don't come over! Big brothers, hurry up and take me back! I'm willing to scrub toilets every day!!!"

The only response was the occasional scream and curse from the three people inside.

In the brightly lit room, a young man took a sip of cola and let out a satisfied burp.

"She's filthy, and I can't even see what she looks like. Should I save her or not?"

Smacking his lips, the young man helplessly shook his head again.

The outdoor camera showed a zombie from the neighboring house staggering over.

"I don't really want to meddle, but throwing a human flesh party in my yard is going too far."

"And the smell of blood and flesh will attract even more zombies. Then I won't be able to sit quietly on the second floor and enjoy the view."

He skillfully wrapped himself in three layers of thick cotton clothing,

then put on a suit of Iron Armor,

slipped into thick padded shoes,

put on leather gloves,

donned a windproof helmet,

and clumsily walked outside with an Iron Pickaxe in hand.

A while later,

in an inconspicuous corner of the villa's first floor, an intact brick wall suddenly had an entire brick smashed open.

The opening was perfectly smooth, as though it had been machine-cut!

Its dimensions were exact—precisely 1m by 1m!

"Biu~"

A soft sound rang out, and another brick shattered.

A rectangular hole measuring 2m by 1m was revealed, and an excessively bulky young man stepped out from within.

His figure could not be seen clearly, and his face had been completely shut away.

At first glance, there was definitely something wrong with him. If this were peaceful times, sending him to a psychiatric hospital would hardly be a misdiagnosis.

Shen Jin picked up two small brick models from the ground and muttered softly:

"If I come out from here, no one outside can see it. After I bring the young lady in later, I'll arrange for her to stay in the basement first. Hmm."

"No, that's not reasonable. A wall with such a huge hole in it would look strange no matter whose house it was. Then..."

Smack!

The young man tossed out a small model. The instant it landed on the ground, it expanded into a wooden door!

It fit perfectly, with part of the wooden door even embedded into the brick wall.

It simply defied the laws of physics!!!

"This is much more reasonable." Shen Jin nodded clumsily.

Shen Jin came up directly from the girl's blind spot behind her.

At first, she had looked dirty and not particularly attractive.

But now that he was closer, she actually looked pretty good. At the very least, judging by her skin and figure, she was the kind of beauty who looked stunning from behind.

Rip~

The nylon rope behind the girl was cut apart.

"Mmph."

Although the girl was terrified, the past few months of life had taught her not to scream casually. That would only put her in an even more horrifying situation.

Covering her mouth, she turned around and found an Iron Man holding a small knife in one hand while the other was outside his helmet, making a shushing gesture.

A thousand alpacas stampeded through the girl's heart, but she did not say anything unnecessary at this moment.

It was bizarre to be saved by an Iron Man, but it was still better than being eaten by zombies.

The young man gave the girl a surprised look. She was quite obedient.

"Come on. Follow me inside first. The zombies are scratching at the door."

Then the girl heard:

"Wula wula wula wula, huff huff."

This helmet's sound quality had really hit rock bottom!

Shen Jin led the girl into the villa, then entered the villa's basement through a hidden passage on the first floor.

The basement was completely different from the empty exterior.

It was stocked with all kinds of daily necessities. Though it was not bright, at least several candles had been lit.

There were sofas, a television, a refrigerator, and everything else.

There's no electricity in the apocalypse. Why keep so many appliances? the girl grumbled inwardly.

"All right, now we can talk."

Was that a dialect, or an alien language? The girl looked confused as she listened to a string of "wula wula wula wula" coming from the helmet.

After a while,

Shen Jin took off his Iron Armor and helmet, and human language began working again.

After they chatted briefly, the surprise in the girl's eyes grew stronger and stronger.

"Ah! I remember now!"

The girl swept aside her unevenly grown bangs, revealing a grimy little face that somehow still gleamed with oil. She said in delight:

"Uncle Shen Jin, it's me! I'm the daughter of your uncle's cousin's niece's older brother's sworn brother's... classmate—Li Moxiao!

We met before at a parent-teacher conference!"

What kind of uncle does that make me? And are you sure you remembered that right??? Shen Jin's face darkened.

Still, Shen Jin had remembered who the girl was.

Although they had only met once,

the memory was unforgettable.

It had been an afternoon that summer, two months before the zombie virus outbreak.

At the request of a distant relative, Shen Jin had attended his little niece's parent-teacher conference.

He had arrived early. While he was leaning against the railing on the fourth floor of the school and spacing out, a tall "young" woman walked over beside him.

Judging by her bearing and clothing, she was definitely not a student, but she did not look like a parent either.

"Maybe she's like me, a student's older sister."

Bored out of his mind, single Shen Jin took the initiative to start a conversation.

Shen Jin struck what he thought was a handsome pose. "Nice to meet you, beautiful."

The woman's lips curved upward in a faint smile.

"How nice?"

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Shen Jin froze for a moment. After stammering "uh, uh" for ages, he finally managed to continue.

"Uh... very nice!"

The woman stared into Shen Jin's eyes. "Why not say how nice?"

It felt as if a fly had been stuffed into Shen Jin's throat. He forced a bright smile. "Well... if I say it, it won't be nice anymore."

The woman pressed him step by step. "If it's not nice, then you won't say it?"

Shen Jin's face turned bright red. "Cough, cough... no need to say it. I'm so happy I could die!"

The woman looked at Shen Jin's awkward expression and gave a cold laugh.

"Hehe."

So throughout the entire parent-teacher conference, Shen Jin never spoke to anyone else again.

That was not the key point. The most important thing was!

When the students were being commended, Shen Jin discovered in shock:

that this "young woman" was actually the classmate of his friend's daughter!!!

Shen Jin's mentality instantly collapsed!

He still remembered his friend's daughter's suspicious, astonished gaze, as if she were looking at some creepy uncle,

sweeping over him again and again,

until embarrassment made him want to claw out a three-bedroom apartment right there in the classroom.

Were kids these days really this calculating???

Yes, the girl Shen Jin had hit on was the pitiful Li Moxiao standing before him now.

Today, the tables had turned. Three months east of the river, three months west of the river—now it was your turn to come to my turf!

Hehe.

All sorts of scenes from web novels and Japanese anime appeared in Shen Jin's mind.

If he did not avenge this humiliation now, then when would he?

"Sorry, but it is difficult to see any evidence of current human evolution from your face. Why don't you use a small amount of life spring to clean the outer coverings on your skin first?"

Li Moxiao looked shocked. "I recognize every word you said, but why does it become gibberish when you put them together?"

Shen Jin coughed dryly. "Go wash your face in the bathroom."

"Oh." Li Moxiao looked resentful.

Shen Jin suddenly remembered something and hurriedly added:

"Um... clean water is hard to come by now. You can use at most half a bottle of Bottled Water."

The girl paused, then nodded solemnly.

"I understand."

Shen Jin's mind failed to catch up. You understand just like that?

No way, no way. Did she see through my plan to mess with her?

He carefully checked the ten packs of Bottled Water beneath the sofa. There did not seem to be any obvious flaw.

Were kids these days really this calculating?

Unbeknownst to him, Li Moxiao had recalled the past three months of the apocalypse.

The zombie virus had seeped into everything. The city's waterworks had already been contaminated, and the water from the taps was "dirty" water carrying the source of infection. It could not be used, though merely touching it with one's skin was not a problem.

After all, the people who had survived had relatively strong immune systems. Simple skin contact would not infect them.

But! If it accidentally got into their eyes or mouths, then they were finished!

The zombie virus would take root. It was just that the dosage would be smaller, so the outbreak would be slower.

Li Moxiao still remembered a pretty girl at the Gathering Place. Relying on her looks, she ignored everyone's warnings and insisted on washing her face with tap water.

A few hours later, blood flowed from her eyes, and she began frantically biting everyone around her.

That time, ten of them died.

So afterward, everyone used only sealed water sources.

And as time passed, the government rescue they had been waiting for still did not arrive.

A month ago, everyone had already stopped washing altogether.

Water was for drinking. It was life-saving.

She had not washed her face in a month.

I never thought that after I embarrassed him so badly back then, he would still treat me this well and be willing to let me wash my face with precious Bottled Water!

No! I understand now! That wasn't Bottled Water.

That was a life spring!

No wonder...

She seemed to have understood Shen Jin's strange wording.

The girl did not even want to waste this bottle of Bottled Water. She unscrewed it, put it down again, and finally hardened her heart and poured out half the bottle.

She carefully placed it in a basin.

No, I have to win over this creepy uncle with my beauty. This place doesn't seem short on food.

She carefully scrubbed her little face.

Shen Jin sat on the sofa outside and began pondering the two most important questions in life:

Why was the universe so vast?

And what should he eat for lunch today?

"Sigh, today I can only have some instant steak and frozen shrimp. I wonder when these boring days will end."

Li Moxiao poked her head out of the bathroom.

"Uncle, did I hear something about beef heads just now? Can I eat them?

()"

Shen Jin: ...

"Go wash your face. There's only a little rice left. Eat it or don't."

"Okay... ((/--)/"

Disappointed, Li Moxiao went back to scrubbing her fingernails over the basin.

You were so smug back then. Now you can learn how hard life is!

Shen Jin steamed half a basin of rice.

He kicked the ten packs of Bottled Water under the sofa farther in.

By then, the three people who had fallen from the first floor had finished cursing and calmed down.

Zhao Laoda flexed his leg. Thanks to years of training, it was only an ordinary dislocation.

"Quit the damn noise. Who still has rope?"

"No."

Xiao Yang said, "Wasn't the only bundle of rope with you?"

At that, the veins on Zhao Laoda's forehead bulged.

Way to bring up the one thing he didn't want to hear!

After another round of discussion, they concluded that there was no way they could get out of this four-meter-deep pit.

Xiao Yang was fairly optimistic.

"Do all your pits have cameras?"

"Yes."

"Mine even fucking rotates!"

Xiao Yang's eyes lit up. "It rotates? That means there's electricity here? And the owner of the villa is probably watching us right now!"

Zhao Laoda was about to blow his top!

I fucking passed by your house, and three people got knocked underground.

What the hell did we ever do to you?

Did we rob you? Steal from you?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got!

Then he began raging helplessly inside!!!

But Zhao Laoda had spent a few years in the underworld, after all. He understood that sometimes a man had to bow his head under another man's roof.

There was no point talking tough now.

He painfully forced a smile onto his face and spoke humbly to the camera.

"Big brother inside, we brothers were reckless. Please don't hold it against us. Humanity needs to work together now; we can't turn on our own people. In the apocalypse, one more friend means one more life."

The middle-aged man followed suit.

"That's right, brother. We didn't come to steal food. We were just looking for people from our Gathering Place and happened to pass by here. I guarantee that once you let us out, we'll go straight back to our Gathering Place. We've got a supermarket there, and there are plenty of snacks and food!"

Xiao Yang gave a suspicious cry. "That's not right, Brother Meng. Didn't we finish all the snacks ages ago? All we have left now is rice and flour. Don't make things up out of nowhere—this is beyond saving!"

The first floor fell silent.

What a pig teammate!

Zhao Laoda and Old Meng's faces darkened. They had long thought something was wrong with this young man's thought process.

If he did not have some lockpicking skills, they never would have brought him out.

The girl came out after washing her face. She found a hair tie from Shen Jin and casually tied up her hair.

Her delicate, pretty face was revealed, brimming with youthful energy.

She was a little malnourished at the moment, and her complexion was not very good, but even so—

"Hisss~~"

Shen Jin sucked in a breath.

It was this girl! Embarrassing memories from back then surged into his mind. He had originally planned to fry her an egg.

Not anymore!

"Uncle, why do you keep staring at me? You don't really have that kind of fetish, do you? I'm still underage!"

As she spoke, she deliberately thrust out her flat chest.

Shen Jin fell silent for a moment. "You should smile more in the future."

Li Moxiao smiled shyly. "Uncle, are you saying that girls who smile often are never too unlucky? Meeting you really was good luck. You may be a little creepy, but you're much cuter than zombies."

Shen Jin sneered. "Your comprehension is fucking terrible. I told you to smile more so you can laugh yourself into a grave."

Li Moxiao:

Then Shen Jin placed half a basin of freshly steamed rice on the table and brought over a bottle of soy sauce.

"Eat."

"Uncle, aren't you eating?"

Don't you dare fight me for it. It's barely enough for me alone. Li Moxiao wore a fake smile.

"No, you eat it yourself. I'm not hungry."

Eat plain rice by itself? What a joke. Shen Jin put on the face of a good man.

"Huh?"

Li Moxiao watched as Shen Jin actually walked out of the basement step by step.

The teasing in her heart gradually faded.

He really wasn't eating? Was it... for me?

She knew how precious food was in the apocalypse.

Yet this former creepy uncle was willing to give her the most precious food of all, while secretly going upstairs to starve himself!

At that moment, her nose suddenly stung. Shen Jin's silhouette even seemed a little great.

In a corner of the first-floor kitchen, Shen Jin pressed an inconspicuous tile beside him.

The tile split apart, revealing a passage.

Following the passage, Shen Jin entered his real "home."

He took out a piece of Australian Hand-Cut Steak from the refrigerator.

"Sigh, when will this plain and boring lunch ever end?"

"Oh, right. I need to seal the door tightly, or the smell of the meat will leak out."

The three people trapped underground were feeling weak by then.

"I'm kind of hungry."

"Me too."

"Sigh, the food in the supermarket won't last many more days either."

"Forget that. We should think about how to get out."

Xiao Yang sniffed, then suddenly said, "Do you smell steak?"

Old Meng curled his lip. "It's over. Xiao Yang's so hungry he's hallucinating."

Zhao Laoda grinned. "Kid, you sure know how to dream. But we did eat steak for a few days at the beginning. That flavor, tsk tsk~"

"Yeah."

Xiao Yang also sank into his memories. When everyone had first been trapped in the supermarket, they had not held back with their food. They ate whatever they had, and there had still been electricity then.

Electric griddle, steak, black pepper sauce~

"Sigh, damn hallucination. Am I having a final flash before death?"

"But... it really smells so good. If there's a god, let me eat one piece of steak before I die!"