Outdoor Power Supply

When Wang Tao entered Apartment 201 and saw the mess inside, with bloodstains everywhere, he had more or less expected it.

But when he actually saw the rice scattered across a pool of blood in the kitchen, Wang Tao still felt heartsick.

"What a waste!"

Most of the rice was no longer edible. Judging from the traces on the floor, Wang Tao suspected that the Female Zombie had chased the male owner, who had tried to grab a kitchen knife. He must have thrown everything he could find at the zombie along the way. The bag of rice in the corner had probably been knocked over by him.

Unfortunately, judging by the state of the fight, it clearly had not stopped the zombie for long...

"No! My rice!"

The Balding Uncle clutched his head and burst into tears. He was genuinely crying—this was fifty jin of rice!

"Sort through it and see if any of it can still be eaten."

Wang Tao patted his shoulder.

"Mm..."

The Balding Uncle suppressed his grief and began carefully sorting through it.

The kitchen was covered in blood. There was no telling whether it belonged to humans or zombies. The woven rice sack had fallen to the floor, and the rice had spilled into the pool of blood. However, some rice remained at the very bottom of the sack. That should still be edible.

Looking at the rice soaked in blood, he swallowed hard but ultimately did not dare take it.

If it had only been human blood, then when he was starving to death, maybe he could have... But the problem was that there was zombie blood too. If he dared eat it, he would probably turn into a zombie in minutes! No matter how reluctant he was, he could only give it up.

Wang Tao rummaged through the other things. Most of the food in the kitchen had been contaminated, but the refrigerator door had not been opened. There were some wilted vegetables and eggs in the fridge compartment, while the freezer held a pleasant surprise: several jin of frozen beef.

Seeing this, the Balding Uncle's expression finally improved. At least they had not come for nothing.

After quite a bit of effort, they finally finished sorting the rice. Wang Tao and the Balding Uncle carried everything back to the Balding Uncle's home.

"Only six jin of rice left... Two jin of vegetables, five jin of meat, and twenty-two eggs, around two jin..."

There were fifteen jin of food in total. It was much less than they had expected, but it was still not bad. After doing some quick calculations with paper and pen, the Balding Uncle looked at Wang Tao expectantly. "As agreed, I get one-fourth. That's one and a half jin of rice, half a jin of vegetables, one and a quarter jin of meat, and five and a half—no, five eggs..."

Wang Tao was far stronger than he had imagined. He had thought Wang Tao would have a difficult fight with the zombie, but Wang Tao had taken care of it in a minute... If Wang Tao chose not to keep his promise, he would have no way to resist.

Fortunately, Wang Tao was a man who kept his word.

"Fine. Take yours first, then give me the rest."

"Sure! Thank you, little brother, thank you!"

The Balding Uncle hurriedly took his quarter, then helped pack up all the remaining food.

Wang Tao picked it up and stood.

"I'll head back first. I'll come over again tomorrow."

He had not yet fully learned the art of lockpicking. Wang Tao was determined to master this skill.

"Ah, sure! You can have these tools too. You can practice on your own..."

The Balding Uncle nodded quickly and pulled out some tools to hand to Wang Tao.

"Thanks!"

Wang Tao gave him a surprised look, then nodded and prepared to leave. But he suddenly turned back and asked:

"By the way, do you know what's going on with the two apartments downstairs?"

"Downstairs... I'm not too sure. When the virus first broke out, I was so scared that I didn't pay much attention to the neighbors..." The Balding Uncle looked embarrassed, but quickly added, "But I know that Apartment 101 has an elderly couple living there, while Apartment 102 is a family of three. Their Naughty Child was always incredibly mischievous..."

At the mention of the Naughty Child, Wang Tao remembered him.

During the previous winter break, that Naughty Child had thrown a small stone at him. When Wang Tao turned around, his terrifying scarred face had scared the boy into tears.

It had even gotten Wang Tao scolded by the Naughty Child's mother. If the other people in the courtyard had not found it unbearable and spoken up for Wang Tao, that mother would have tried to extort money from him! Later, the Naughty Child went back to school, and Wang Tao kept different hours from normal people, so they never ran into each other again...

"Then there might be five zombies in the two apartments downstairs... Alright, I'm heading back."

"Alright!"

After leaving Apartment 202, Wang Tao did not rush home. Instead, he went down to the first floor and lightly knocked on the doors of Apartment 101 and Apartment 102.

Before long, scratching sounds came from inside.

"Well, there are zombies in both."

Wang Tao went to find the Balding Uncle again and told him that there were zombies in both apartments downstairs, warning him not to pick their locks on his own.

If the Balding Uncle got a taste for it after today and tried opening those two doors, that would be trouble.

"Thank you, little brother. Don't worry, I wouldn't dare go in..."

Thinking of what he had seen upon entering Apartment 201, the Balding Uncle still felt lingering fear.

"As long as you understand."

After returning home, Wang Tao sorted and put away the supplies he had obtained today while analyzing the situation in the building.

Based on what he knew so far, there should only be four households of survivors in this building: himself in Room 501, his sister-in-law in Room 502, a stranger in Room 401, and the Balding Uncle in Apartment 202.

Then there were the rooms he had already looted: Room 602, Apartment 301, and Apartment 201.

There were also the rooms where he had heard movement after knocking and confirmed zombies inside: Room 601, Apartment 101, and Apartment 102.

Lastly were the rooms he guessed were empty: Apartment 402 and Apartment 302... Of course, his guess might not be accurate. Maybe the zombies had not heard him, or maybe there were sneaky zombies hiding inside. There was no way to know. Still, he felt there was probably no one there.

"Whether there's anyone there or not, I'll know once I take a look!"

Wang Tao clenched his fists, preparing to head out again.

Killing that zombie today had been fairly easy, and he had not used much energy. Even if there really were zombies inside, he could handle them! After eating a little and drinking some water, Wang Tao took his lockpicking tools and steel pipe outside again.

It was a little past three in the afternoon. Nightfall was still far away, so he had plenty of time.

He went to Apartment 402 first. Following what the Balding Uncle had taught him that morning, he fumbled with the lock for a while before hearing a click as the door opened.

He carefully stepped inside and checked the place over. Wang Tao let out a sigh of relief. There really was no one in this apartment!

But Wang Tao soon felt disappointed, because not only was there no one in the apartment, there were no signs that anyone had been living there.

The furniture was covered with plastic sheets, all layered with thick dust. It looked like no one had lived here for at least one or two months.

Still, since he was already here, he had to search the place. He could not return empty-handed.

Sure enough, the moment he entered the second bedroom, Wang Tao found some good stuff.

"This is... an Outdoor Power Supply! And a Diesel Generator!"

There was some miscellaneous junk in the second bedroom. Wang Tao spotted an Outdoor Power Supply at a glance, along with a Diesel Generator beside it.

"This family probably went traveling? Then I won't stand on ceremony!"