Human Nature

On the fourth day of coming to the Apocalypse World, An Yang spent the entire night cultivating with dozens of crystals in his hand, feeling thoroughly refreshed. With so much vital energy, he had no idea how much faster his cultivation speed had become.

Opening his eyes and eating breakfast, he still took Chen Yafei to clear out zombies, as if he had placed all his focus on the task and completely forgotten about the Second System far away over seven hundred kilometers away.

The tenth floor had already been occupied by Liu Chengjun's survivor squad. An Yang did not compete with them for it, heading straight to the ninth floor instead. After half a day, the zombie crystals he acquired were not many, but he discovered three survivors one after another: a young couple and a young, pretty woman who Chen Yafei said was even a mildly well-known singer.

The two directly directed the young couple toward Liu Chengjun's survivor team, telling them that they could be accepted there and that there was food and drinking water.

As for the second young celebrity, no matter how reluctant Chen Yafei was or how tactfully he tried to persuade her, An Yang still directed her toward Liu Chengjun's survivor team. After telling her that there were police officers there, she hurried over.

At noontime, their presidential suite was already piled with a lot of food, at least enough for the two of them to eat for half a month. When An Yang prepared to wash his hands, he was shocked to discover that the water was cut off!

No natural gas, no electricity, and now even the water was cut off!

Chen Yafei said, "Today is already the seventh day since the Great Calamity happened. I reckon the hotel didn't store much water to begin with, and this morning I heard that the next-door neighbors were hoarding water in large amounts. I bet they've hoarded it all!"

An Yang paused. "Then why didn't you say so earlier? We should have hoarded some too."

Chen Yafei had already realized that under normal circumstances An Yang was actually quite easy to talk to and very gentle. At the moment, he was biting into a chicken drumstick, his words muffled and unclear.

"Who would have known those bastards would act so ruthlessly? Couldn't we all just use it together? Anyway, there aren't many people left in this building, and how much can just the two of us use? I wanted to mention it this morning, but I ended up getting scared and forgetting because of a zombie."

"Scared and forgetting because of a zombie? I think you were too soul-stirred and distracted seeing that little celebrity!"

"No way, Brother An, I'm her fan..."

"Oh... a fan. Sing one of her songs for me to hear."

Chen Yafei startled. "...I forgot the lyrics."

An Yang waved his hand. "It's fine, humming works too."

Chen Yafei scratched his head. "I forgot the tune too."

An Yang chuckled softly, lying on the sofa and looking down through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The figures of zombies were almost no longer visible on the streets, but that did not mean they had disappeared; they were simply hiding in more dangerous buildings.

Under circumstances like this, he could consider leaving the hotel.

After a hard-earned moment of relaxation in this last-days world, Chen Yafei asked again, "Brother An, now that water resources are scarce, what do we do?"

An Yang was silent for a moment and said, "Since they acted ruthlessly, we won't let ourselves be bullied either. This afternoon we'll go clear out the lower floors and take all the drinking water from the empty rooms."

Chen Yafei's eyes lit up. "Good idea! Should we take the food along with it too? I've heard for a long time that they have a lot of people and not enough food, and they've been going hungry these past few days. If we take the food, they'll only be able to eat dirt."

An Yang thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Forget it, we don't need that much food. To be forgiving when one can is the best course."

Chen Yafei grinned. "Alrighty."

After eating lunch, the two of them should have rested in the suite for a while, but neither of them could sleep. No matter how much they joked around, this was, after all, a zombie apocalypse. An Yang was still unable to sleep in peace, let alone Chen Yafei.

In the afternoon, close to departure time, Chen Yafei strolled around Liu Chengjun's place. He always possessed extreme adaptability and social skills, and was especially good at finding amusement for himself, sometimes even entertaining himself when no one was around.

"Tsk tsk tsk, there are so many beauties next door, especially Yang Zi, and that female college student."

"You might as well go over there then, since there are beauties every day."

Chen Yafei's head immediately shook like a rattle-drum. "Not going. Following them has no future; Brother An is still the most reliable, at least we get to eat our fill."

An Yang hoisted his battle saber, walked out the door, and said, "In troubled times, women can only end up as accessories. As for the end of the world, I don't know if they will be reduced to playthings."

He also knew that when Liu Chengjun broke through the zombie horde, he encountered several female college students. There was indeed a campus-belle-level beauty among them, and besides her, there were several other young women in the team who also looked quite good.

However, in this world where zombies ran rampant and eating one's fill was an extravagant hope, their beauty was worthless and might even bring them immense trouble, because they were too weak.

For the whole afternoon, the two of them collected nearly three boxes of purified water piecemeal, along with a larger variety of beverages. As for food, they only took the vacuum-packed meat products, leaving the rest for Liu Chengjun's group.

When they returned in the evening, faint singing drifted from the room opposite. An Yang stood and listened for a moment; the singing was beautiful and lingering, and it should have been that singer named Yang Zi. This vocal talent could be considered quite good even among professional singers.

In this apocalyptic world, having this kind of pastime to relieve depressed moods wasn't bad either.

Yet he did not know that Yang Zi had been completely forced by several individuals to finish singing this song. The gazes those men cast toward her had gradually changed, filled with desire, greed, and madness.

After a week of depression and fear, human nature finally began to warp and cast aside all restraint!

The night passed peacefully!

Early the next morning, the moment An Yang opened his eyes, he heard a commotion coming from next door. Thinking that someone had been infected by zombies again, he frowned, pulled open the door, and listened for a while before discovering that it was actually a hoodlum looking to vent who had gone after Yang Zi and almost raped her.

Although the attempted rape failed, the uproar next door continued nonetheless. Yang Zi's helpless cries could be heard, and several young men and women advocated for severe punishment for the culprit, while the hoodlum's friends shielded him to the utmost, sparking a fair bit of quarrelling.

"Didn't nothing actually happen? Everyone's a survivor, and there are zombies outside too. This is precisely the time when people are needed, so why don't we turn a big issue into a small one and let the third brother apologize to Yang Zi? We can just consider this matter over; she didn't suffer any real grievances anyway."

"What do you mean she didn't suffer any grievances? Her clothes were torn to shreds, and look at the palm print on Yang Zi's face! I honestly can't believe there's scum like this in our team, attempting to rape a woman in broad daylight!"

"What scum? Don't make it sound so ugly. The matter has already happened, and he apologized too. What else do you want?"

"Troubled times call for heavy codes! I don't know if you've ever heard of that!"

"Well said! This kind of person must definitely not be condoned, or else how will we girls dare to stay here anymore? Wouldn't we fall victim to your vicious hands sooner or later?"

"Ha, truly college students, it's just that you still haven't seen this cruel world clearly. Let me spell it out for you straight: there are no laws anymore, and it's even uncertain whether the country still exists. So many people have died outside, and no one would know whenever you died either. Laws are constructed by people, and as for you women, you really are bound to fall victim to vicious hands—either be eaten by zombies, or be eaten by strong men!"

"You guys are simply insane!"

"Haha, just think about it. If we leave, relying on a few book-stupid college students like you and trash who muddle along in companies, can you compete with zombies for food?"

"I'm telling you women, don't think you'll be safe just hanging out with this bunch of fools. Sooner or later, they won't be able to hold back either. You don't dare fight zombies, so aside from using your bodies to please men, what reason do they have to risk their lives to feed you?"

Hearing these words, the women around froze instantly, a chill rising from the depths of their hearts.

Chen Yafei chugged a mouthful of mineral water and said, "Those bastards! If I ran into them, I'd have to kill them!"

An Yang sneered. "The only ones capable of fighting zombies are these few hoodlums. If they die, what will this group of people do? Rely on Liu Chengjun and Chang Hui, those two?"

Chen Yafei stunned for a moment and said incredulously, "No way, Brother An, do you mean to say that they almost raped a woman and actually won't face any consequences? Liu Chengjun is a police station chief, after all!"

An Yang shook his head. "Hard to say. Even though he's a police station chief, he needs to survive all the more, and he also needs to secure his own authority. If he doesn't severely punish these people, human nature will warp; if he severely punishes them, they won't be able to survive."

Chen Yafei quickly figured out the twists and turns involved and spat out a mouthful of saliva. "What a bunch of people each harboring their own hidden agendas. Good thing I ran into Brother An!"

An Yang stepped forward and walked downstairs. The door to the neighboring suite was not closed, and as he passed by, he glanced inside, discovering that Yang Zi's light purple long dress was already torn, with several bloody scratches on her fair skin, her hair disheveled, her eye sockets red, standing helplessly in place.

There were still quite a few people standing in the room, including a dyed-hair, tattooed hoodlum. Chang Hui stood holding a sharpened steel pipe, the ferocity on his face deterring a few of the hoodlums, and the two factions argued with distinct lines drawn between them.

Liu Chengjun stood inside the room in silence, wearing a crisp police uniform.

"It seems there are quite a few small circles within this little team too."

Yang Zi's peripheral vision swept across a shadow and she hurriedly turned her head, only to see a back carrying a long saber disappear into the dimness of the hallway.

An Yang glanced at the kitchen knife tucked at Chen Yafei's waist, pretended to grope behind his back, produced a Cold Steel 26SXP folding-handle knife, handed it to him, and said, "From now on, use this knife."

Chen Yafei's eyes lit up. He took the folding-handle knife, flicked open the blade, waved it through the air a few times, and immediately said, "Good knife! Brother An, this was your original weapon, right?"

An Yang's eye twitching, he said, "That's right, I've used it to kill countless people, and today I'm giving it to you."

Chen Yafei was overjoyed and said, "Don't worry, Brother An, I will definitely not betray your trust. I will surely use it to kill a lot of zombies."

"—No need. Just use it properly to slice open zombies' heads and remove the crystals."

"Ah? Alright..."