No Trespassing

Lu Bai didn't chat with Wu Ya for long before he saw Ke Jiangni and Tian Wang walking toward this tent, each carrying a tray.

"Classmate Lu! I didn't expect to find you here too."

Tian Wang looked just as excited when he spotted Lu Bai.

Even setting aside Lu Bai's absurdly reliable combat power, just running into someone familiar in a strange place was enough to lift anyone's spirits.

Tian Wang handed the tray in his right hand to Wu Ya, then slapped his forehead. "Classmate Lu hasn't eaten yet, right? I should've grabbed an extra tray."

Lu Bai waved his hand to indicate it wasn't necessary. Though their bond wasn't deep, he had spent some time with Ke Jianghao's group.

He looked over the three of them—all with limbs intact—and felt a twinge of emotion. "Just the three of you left, huh."

Hearing this, Tian Wang let out a long sigh, a hint of dejection spreading across his round face.

"If only I'd been braver back then."

Lu Bai reached out and patted Tian Wang's shoulder twice.

In the process, he noticed Ke Jiangni keeping her head down the whole time, but he didn't feel it was his place to say much.

After all, family and classmates carried different weight.

Forcing words of comfort would just sound like someone preaching from a high horse.

Just as the atmosphere between them started to turn somber, a broadcast crackled from the small speaker overhead.

"Attention: passage will be prohibited in ten minutes. Citizens are reminded of the relevant precautions during the prohibition period. This prohibition period will last one hour, during which facilities will be inspected and cleaned, and tents disinfected... Please try to avoid moving around during the prohibition period. I repeat..."

A week into the zombie virus outbreak, people's understanding of it was still shallow. All they could do was fall back on the safest conventional prevention methods.

As for how much good the disinfection actually did, no one really knew.

Still, the surviving citizens had no complaints. At least seeing medical staff in protective gear coming and going gave them some psychological comfort.

"I'll be going now."

Lu Bai smiled warmly and added, "If anything comes up, you can find me in District 7."

This temporary shelter, converted from a military base, now housed tens of thousands of survivors.

To make management easier, forty zones had been set up as residential areas. Even so, each zone held over a thousand people, pushing the shelter close to its capacity.

Because of that, the managers of each zone couldn't possibly remember who belonged to theirs.

Lu Bai understood this.

He used the same trick to slip past the soldiers on guard duty, smoothly returning from District 21 to District 7.

With the temporary ID card issued by the staff, he found the tent assigned to him.

Of course, under these circumstances, a private room was out of the question.

Lu Bai stepped into the tent and scanned the interior.

The tent was about ten square meters, but six bedrolls were laid out on the floor.

With a small folding table set up as well, he almost couldn't find a place to stand.

A frail young man sat at the small table, carefully eating from his tray.

Meanwhile, three rough-looking, shirtless men surrounded him, watching him eat like they were supervising.

Some new kind of bullying?

Lu Bai didn't get it, so he just picked an unused bedroll and sat cross-legged on its edge.

Just then, the man with an over-the-shoulder dragon tattoo—clearly the leader—slapped the table in annoyance. "Can you eat any faster?"

The frail young man flinched and hurriedly sped up.

The Over-the-Shoulder Dragon rolled his neck, then, a moment later, knocked the tray out of the young man's hands. "I asked you a question. Answer it."

The other two snickered, watching the frail young man's reaction with amusement.

"O-okay... I... I understand."

"Tch."

The Over-the-Shoulder Dragon pressed a hand to his shoulder, then grabbed a handful of rice that had fallen onto the table and slapped it onto the young man's face. "Don't waste food. Show some basic respect for it, alright?"

Done with that, he stood up and brushed the grains off his palm.

As if just noticing Lu Bai, he turned around in exaggerated surprise. "Oh, a new face."

"Your acting's a bit over the top." Lu Bai commented with a smile.

The Over-the-Shoulder Dragon didn't mind. He strolled over to Lu Bai, crouched down in front of him, and pointed a thumb back at the frail young man without looking. "That kid's got no sense. Only grabbed one tray of food for himself. Being that selfish won't fly."

Lu Bai kept his harmless smile, meeting the tattooed man's gaze evenly.

His attitude was a bit odd, making the Over-the-Shoulder Dragon pause. "Little brother, you haven't eaten either, right? Go grab us a few more trays."

By now, the other two rough-looking men had also walked over.

Hearing the Over-the-Shoulder Dragon's words, one of them casually draped an arm over Lu Bai's shoulder like they were old friends.

"Get moving already."

"Isn't this the curfew period?"

Lu Bai scratched his head, and throughout the motion, the smile on his face didn't change in the slightest.

It was like he was wearing a human-skin mask with a fixed expression, paired with his calm tone—eerie enough to send chills down one's spine.

Over-the-Shoulder Dragon suddenly raised his palm; from the motion alone, it was hard to tell whether he meant to intimidate or actually strike.

Suddenly, the corner of Over-the-Shoulder Dragon's eye caught a team of figures in protective suits outside the tent, and he naturally lowered his hand.

"Haha, I can grab food later anyway."

Two medical staff in protective suits walked into the tent, ignoring whatever had been going on, and began their disinfection work as if nothing had happened.

Then, a man dressed like a staff member followed closely into the tent.

The man swept his gaze over the situation inside, frowned, walked over, and helped the Frail Youth to his feet.

He turned and snapped at Over-the-Shoulder Dragon: "Gao Pangzi, you looking for trouble again?"

"How could that be, Brother Zhou? I'm a law-abiding citizen."

Over-the-Shoulder Dragon grinned: "I was just joking around with the kid."

Zhou Zongming's face was stern: "You behave yourself! Cui Qing, if you get bullied again, come find me."

That last sentence was directed at the Frail Youth.

In response to Zhou Zongming's promise, Cui Qing only trembled and nodded.

Lu Bai propped his chin on one hand, watching the drama with keen interest, not bothering to speak up and make his presence known.

The tent gradually filled with the harsh smell of disinfectant.

The medical staff were already well-practiced in the disinfection routine; in less than a minute, the two of them picked up their equipment and headed to the next tent.

Zhou Zongming comforted Cui Qing for a moment, then quickly left as well.

He was in charge of over a thousand people in District 7, with countless trivial matters to handle—he couldn't waste time on a single person.

Watching them leave, Gao Pangzi—that is, Over-the-Shoulder Dragon—sat down beside Lu Bai with a grin.

"Little brother, let's keep chatting."