He was about to make a scene!

With that, the three of them immediately ran toward the factory building. It was a wild ride from start to finish, with them running ahead and lightning striking behind them, the thunder never letting up.

Qin Luo hoisted Xu Duoduo onto his shoulder again and sprinted with a hand supporting her waist. Chen Xiaofei and Bai Shu ran like the wind. At last, the three men and one zombie ducked into the factory building and hauled the doors shut behind them.

Boom! The loudest thunderclap yet crashed outside, followed by another bolt of lightning that instantly lit up the entire building. Another blast of thunder followed, making the ground seem to shake and frightening several survivors into screaming.

Wang Weihu roared, "What are you screaming for? Shut up! Nobody touch anything that might conduct electricity unless you want to get electrocuted! Stay quiet. Does everyone understand?"

His angry rebuke brought the survivors into line, and they hurriedly covered their mouths and nodded.

He was a little harsh.

But it was for their own good. They had already lived through several days of the apocalypse, and Survival Handbook headquarters had sent out a mass notification, yet these people still screamed every so often. Didn't they know screaming got you killed faster in the apocalypse?

The factory building's lightning protection held up well. After they endured the worst few minutes of the thunderstorm, a torrential downpour suddenly started outside, adding to their frustration.

They would have to spend the night here.

Everyone shared food in silence. This factory happened to process canned fruit, and there was still plenty of leftover fruit and canned goods that hadn't made it to the warehouse in time.

Wang Weihu had warned them not to eat the exposed fruit because it was already contaminated, though the fruit sealed inside the finished cans was safe to eat.

Meanwhile, the people singled out earlier to prepare food had also made a huge pot of instant noodles.

There were barely more than a hundred survivors from the entire residential complex, which had previously housed nearly two thousand people.

Qin Luo took Xu Duoduo on a patrol around the factory grounds, eliminating potential hazards, such as shutting and locking all the doors.

Their group was staying in the packing workshop, alongside the finished canned goods.

Everyone found a corner to sit in and eat. Some even worked up the courage to ask Wang Weihu what exactly was going on. At last, some of them had calmed down.

Wang Weihu found that rather reassuring and took the initiative to give them a brief explanation.

In short, someone higher up had been able to predict the apocalypse. The authorities had actually been preparing in secret all along, but the news couldn't be made public, so they had kept it under wraps. A coordinated announcement had only gone out three minutes before the apocalypse began, to prevent an early warning from triggering riots.

At that, the survivors couldn't help cursing. "What damn good was sending it that late?" "Exactly! Who would've thought it was real?"

Most people had assumed it was a prank. A smaller number hadn't received the message because of signal issues and had been left completely in the dark.

People buried their faces in their hands and began sobbing again. Thinking of their dead loved ones and a future they couldn't see, anyone would have felt lost. Yet none of those who had made it this far wanted to die. The pain was simply unavoidable.

Wang Weihu sighed as well. "Raise your hand if you didn't receive the Doomsday Survival Manual. I'll give you a physical copy. Ordinary electronics will pretty much be useless from now on, and your phones won't work either. You'd better get used to it."

It would probably be some time before their former communications capabilities could be restored.

They all had to hang on.

Meanwhile.

Chen Xiaofei was opening his rations, tearing into the packaging while glancing toward the survivors. "Old Wang really is made for this sort of thing."

Wang Weihu was the father figure of their squad, handling everything from the tedious business of reassuring survivors to sewing clothes for the other three back in the day.

Bai Shu nodded in wholehearted agreement. It wasn't that he and Chen Xiaofei refused to help. The main problem was that he was tall, thin, and scholarly-looking, while Chen Xiaofei had a baby face. Whenever they tried to communicate with people, no one listened to either of them.

They still needed Wang Weihu to keep everyone in line. At over six foot three, his hulking frame was intimidating enough just standing there, and ordinary civilians were more willing to listen to him.

When it came to managing people, he struck just the right balance between a gentle touch and a firm hand.

As for Qin Luo-their Brother Qin, their Goddess of Luo-he was their main damage dealer, slaughtering everything in his path. Beating people up was fine, but getting him to reassure civilians like this wouldn't work either. Besides, his face was far too eye-catching.

It was liable to land him in romantic trouble.

Wang Weihu could only resign himself to becoming the squad's liaison.

Xu Duoduo found the way the four of them divided up the work rather interesting. She had always known they were close, but she hadn't expected them to join the military together.

Chen Xiaofei took out their rations. The four of them had bread, bottled water, and a chocolate energy bar, with one portion for each man.

"Ah, I really want something hot to eat." Chen Xiaofei's baby face was full of misery.

"Having anything to eat is good enough. Give it a while, and we won't even have rations." Bai Shu chewed his energy bar while looking at his tablet, filling out a report on the thunderstorm footage they had taken earlier. It would all be uploaded together shortly.

Qin Luo didn't eat just yet. A question suddenly occurred to him: What did zombies eat?

As soon as he lowered his head, he saw Xu Duoduo reach out and conjure an 800 ml insulated flask out of thin air, then offer it to Chen Xiaofei.

Chen Xiaofei looked a little bewildered. Biting into his bread, he asked blankly, "Huh? What? Brother Qin, why's Little Class Monitor giving me a flask? Does she want me to open it?"

Qin Luo was briefly baffled too. "How would I know?" Still, he took it and opened it for her. Seriously, he was right here. Why go to someone farther away?

Xu Duoduo immediately grew agitated, but after thinking it over, she quieted down again.

Then a thoroughly confused Qin Luo opened the flask, revealing the century egg and lean pork congee inside. Its aroma drifted straight out, making Chen Xiaofei and Bai Shu whip their heads around. Both stared in stunned disbelief and blurted, "Holy shit!"

The flask contained congee Xu Duoduo had cooked. It was particularly thick, packed with century egg and lean pork, and looked generously loaded with ingredients. Its texture was creamy, fragrant, and smooth.

Xu Duoduo patted Qin Luo, signaling for him to hurry up and hand it to Chen Xiaofei.

For a moment, Chen Xiaofei was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. "Oh my god, thank you, Little Class Monitor. Wait, how do you even have congee? Damn, it smells amazing."

Babbling incoherently and practically drooling, he hurriedly took it.

Bai Shu caught the delicious aroma too and swallowed hard. Suddenly, the energy bar in his hand had lost all appeal. "Little Class Monitor is playing favorites," he drawled, reaching up to push at the bridge of his nose, only to find nothing there again.

Xu Duoduo took another insulated flask from her storage space, this one dark blue. She might not have had much else, but she had plenty of insulated flasks and jugs of every kind. The one she had given Chen Xiaofei was pale green, while the one she handed Bai Shu was dark blue.

"Thank you, Little Class Monitor. I was wrong, Little Class Monitor. You're the fairest person in the whole world!" Bai Shu hurriedly thanked her and took it. Upon opening it, he found century egg and lean pork congee inside as well.

Then Xu Duoduo stopped moving.

Qin Luo had been secretly looking forward to his turn. After waiting a few seconds, he grew anxious. "Where's mine? You're not seriously going to play favorites like this, are you? I carried you all this way, at least! Don't I get any?"

He was about to make a scene!