Wu Bin opened the rice cooker in front of everyone. But the moment he did, all three of them were left dumbfounded. There was no longer any sign of rice and dishes in the pot. It had truly become a pot of rice topped with food—only the toppings had been mixed in rather thoroughly.
Zhao Tianlei immediately said awkwardly, "Uh, I suppose it happened because I carried it on my back while running all the way here. The road was too bumpy, and there were simply too many zombies back then. I didn't have time to worry about this. Let's just make do with it."
Seeing his embarrassed expression, Ye Sitong quickly consoled him. "Tianlei, how can you still care about this at a time like this? If you hadn't risked yourself to find food for us, Wu Bin and I would still be starving. The food may not look very appetizing, but that doesn't stop it from being delicious. Look, there's meat and fish in here too. For us, who were starving, this is practically a sumptuous feast."
Wu Bin chimed in, "Exactly, Tianlei. I've never thought a meal could smell this good. Don't overthink it. Let's hurry up and eat."
"All right, let's eat."
With Zhao Tianlei's word, the three of them immediately found a suitable spot, each picked up a spoon, and sat on the floor around the rice cooker to eat. At first, Ye Sitong felt somewhat shy eating from the same pot as two grown men, but these were the end times. If she wanted to fill her stomach and have the strength to carry on, she could no longer behave as she had before the apocalypse.
After everything that had happened in the library that morning, Ye Sitong had already come to understand the dark side of human nature in the apocalypse. Just as Zhao Tianlei had said, her old temper really did need to change.
The three of them completely disregarded their appearance and focused only on filling their stomachs. They finally stopped after eating until they were all somewhat overfull. At that point, Zhao Tianlei suddenly remembered that eating all this food had left their mouths rather dry. There was still some water in his backpack.
He hurriedly opened the backpack, took out a bottle of water, and handed it to Ye Sitong. "When I went out this time, I clearly noticed that there are more and more zombies outside. It'll probably become very difficult to go out looking for food in the future. So from now on, we have to conserve our supplies, especially water. It's even more important than food. This backpack is full of snacks, and there are four bottles of purified water. We have to ration them. Sitong, you're a girl, so you drink first. After you've had enough, Wu Bin and I will drink."
Ye Sitong and Wu Bin clearly agreed with Zhao Tianlei. Seeing how thoughtfully he had planned everything, Ye Sitong felt somewhat moved. She took the bottle, drank two mouthfuls, and handed it back to Zhao Tianlei, but he didn't take it. Instead, he told her to drink a few more mouthfuls before accepting it. The three of them consciously deferred to one another, each drinking roughly a third of the bottle before passing it on. Not one of them drank even a mouthful more than the others.
If Zhao Tianlei had asked to drink a few extra mouthfuls, Ye Sitong and Wu Bin would not have objected at all. After all, Zhao Tianlei had risked his life to find these supplies. He deserved to drink more, but he didn't do so. That small gesture moved the two of them even more, making them trust and rely on Zhao Tianlei more deeply.
"Tianlei, we've eaten our fill, but there are still many students inside who are starving. Are we really not going to do anything for them? Some of them are our classmates too." After they finished eating, Ye Sitong couldn't help speaking to Zhao Tianlei in a quiet voice.
Her voice was very soft, clearly showing that she knew her question was somewhat inappropriate. However, torn inside, Ye Sitong still couldn't help asking tentatively.
Hearing Ye Sitong's words, Zhao Tianlei didn't fail to understand her. After all, Ye Sitong had been the class monitor and a member of the student council, and she had always helped others at school. Asking her to suddenly become indifferent to everyone might indeed be somewhat cruel, but Zhao Tianlei had to make her face reality.
"Sitong, you know that this pot of rice and food may look like a lot, but it's only enough for the three of us. After what we just ate, there's less than half a pot left. It's enough for us to eat tonight, but if we divide it among the students inside as you suggested, do you think there'd be enough for so many people to have even one bite each? Are you going to help just one person, or help everyone? Once we finish eating today, all we'll have left are these snacks. Once those are gone, we'll be starving too. If we want to go out looking for food, we'll probably have to trade our lives for it."
Ye Sitong listened to Zhao Tianlei and immediately nodded. "All right, I understand what you mean. I'll do as you say. I'm still very grateful to you. You've not only saved me and helped me out of trouble twice, but you've also given me food and water. I'll repay you someday."
Wu Bin overheard her and quickly joked with a grin, "How is the class monitor going to repay him? By marrying him?"
Ye Sitong immediately stomped her foot and glared at Wu Bin through gritted teeth. "Wu Bin, what are you saying? You're awful."
"All right, I was wrong. Please calm down, Your Excellency the Class Monitor."
Seeing the two of them, Zhao Tianlei quickly tried to smooth things over. "All right, let's go back inside. We hid here earlier, but if we don't return for too long, someone might discover us and come steal our supplies."
Wu Bin couldn't help pointing at the rice cooker in Zhao Tianlei's hands. "Tianlei, you're not planning to carry that rice cooker inside, are you? Aren't you afraid of drawing attention?"
Zhao Tianlei rolled his eyes at him. "Tch, do I look that stupid? If I carried this rice cooker inside and everyone smelled the food, there are so many of them that even if I were holding a fire axe, I probably couldn't stop them from rushing over to grab it. We'll just hide the rice cooker. When we're hungry tonight, we can come back and keep eating. The food will be cold by then, but that's still better than starving."
After hearing Zhao Tianlei's explanation, the two of them agreed that it made sense. But when they looked around, they saw that aside from the stairs, there was nowhere to hide anything in the corridor. Just as they were wondering where Zhao Tianlei planned to put it, they saw him carefully open the door leading outside while holding the fire axe in one hand. He poked his head out and checked that there was no movement outside. Only then did he turn around, pick up the rice cooker, put the lid on it, and set it outside before closing and locking the door again.
Seeing what Zhao Tianlei had done, Wu Bin exclaimed in surprise, "Tianlei, that's a brilliant move. No one would ever think we'd hide the food outside. The people inside are scared half to death just looking at those zombies. They wouldn't go outside to look for food even if you beat them to death."
Zhao Tianlei flashed them a grin. "Heh, sometimes you have to think things through for the sake of safety. All right, let's go inside. When we're hungry tonight and no one's around, we'll come back and eat."
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