16. Big idiot

"Is he fucking crazy?!" The leader stared at the scene before him, his teeth itching with hatred, and cursed in a low voice.

It turns out that the corner from the 9th to the 10th floor was also piled with heavy objects, such as cement blocks and granite, which were piled up haphazardly. If you moved even one piece, the rest would probably all come crashing down and could bury them directly.

"Forget it, let's go..." Now, even the one who hadn't said they wanted to leave was having second thoughts.

The leader was so angry that the veins on his forehead were throbbing. Just as he was about to explode, the person who had previously tried to persuade him to leave grabbed him, and he reluctantly turned around.

But after taking only two steps, a cold female voice suddenly came from behind, "You think you can just leave now that you've come?"

The three of them shuddered, their steps halting simultaneously, frozen in place as if they had been frozen in time.

The one who was pulling the person turned around stiffly, only to find that the pile of things that could bury people had disappeared. In its place were two dark figures, standing above the steps, coldly watching them.

"A ghost!"

...

Shi Dong stirred the pot with a spoon, her face cold the entire time. She hated being disturbed while eating, even when she was about to eat!

Fu Yunong took the spoon, scooped up a little to taste the saltiness, and then nodded, "It's ready to eat."

Tonight's dinner is curry rice, though that's a bit of a stretch: Fu Yunong just bought a few cheap root vegetables from the system, cooked them until soft, mixed them with curry sauce, and finally added half a pound of minced lean meat and stirred it all together.

Shi Dong opened the enamel rice cooker, and the rice inside was already cooked. She scooped out a bowl, poured on thick curry, and handed it to Fu Yunong.

"Thank you." Fu Yunong took the rice, scooped out a spoonful, and put it in her mouth. She felt that the rice was a little too wet, making it soft and sticky, but it tasted especially good with the savory curry. She nodded to Shi Dong, "It tastes good, you should eat too."

Shi Dong responded coldly, and under several piercing gazes, she scooped up some rice with a spoon, put it in her mouth, and said softly, "It's delicious."

In response to her, besides Fu Yunong's smile, there were also a series of cooing sounds.

Shi Dong raised his eyes and swept them over, his gaze sharp and piercing. "Quiet down!"

The three figures huddled in the corner flinched simultaneously. One woman and two men, all seemingly young, with the exception of the woman, both men bearing fresh wounds on their faces. Their mouths were taped shut, and their hands and feet were bound with rope—these were the three clueless thieves.

At this moment, they were so hungry that their eyes were practically glowing green, and they could only watch helplessly as Fu Yunong and Shi Dong slowly ate their meal. It wasn't until Shi Dong scooped out the last bit of crispy rice from the pot, poured on the last bit of curry, mixed it up, and ate it all up that the last glimmer of light in their eyes was completely extinguished.

Why?! They have to be careful with even the pig feed, but these two women eat so well!

That wasn't all. Fu Yunong then took a bright red apple out of her backpack and handed it to Shi Dong. Shi Dong broke it in half with her bare hands, and the two of them ate it without a care in the world.

The crisp crackling sound made the three of them swallow hard.

After a hearty meal, Shi Dong stood up, twirling a dagger in his hand, and slowly approached the corner. "It's time to go."

The three of them trembled instantly, making whimpering noises, their eyes filled with fear.

Seeing that Shi Dong remained unmoved, the leading man's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he charged at her. He was tall and imposing, and at first glance, he was indeed quite intimidating. But Shi Dong simply sidestepped, dodging the impact, and at the same time, she raised her leg and precisely stepped on his back, without even giving him a second glance.

"Waaah!" The girl beside them was so anxious that tears streamed down her face. She struggled to kneel up and kept kowtowing to the two of them, her eyes full of pleading.

The man beneath his feet twisted his body desperately, but the foot on his back seemed to have the strength of a thousand pounds, and no matter how hard he tried, it was useless.

The other man sat there, completely panicked by the scene before him, forgetting even to struggle.

If I had known, I should have listened to my sister and not come!

Just as the three were in despair, Fu Yunong coughed softly behind them.

Shi Dong snorted coldly, kicked the man at her feet away, then grabbed the girl's arm and threw her to the side of the fire pit.

Fu Yunong pulled her up to sit properly, her tone calm yet authoritative, "We have something to ask you, so don't shout later, okay?"

The girl nodded, her eyes red and brimming with tears. Seeing this, Shi Dong reached out and tore off the tape from her mouth. When she did not make a sound, he threw the tape aside.

The two men, who had been eyeing each other with rage and ready to rush forward to fight, gradually relaxed when they saw that their sister was unharmed, though they still kept a wary eye on the two of them.

Fu Yunong sat down opposite the girl, looking at her leisurely. "Tell me, what brings you here?"

The girl glanced furtively at her two older brothers in the corner. Despite their frantic attempts to stop her, she bit her lip and obediently confessed.

The girl's name is Wang Xiaoqin, and she has just turned 18. The two men are her twin brothers, the older one is named Wang Xiaowei, and the younger one is named Wang Xiaogang. Their family lives in Building 13. Their parents used to work on construction sites outside the area, but they both died in an accident two years ago. The construction site gave them a sum of money and this apartment in the community as compensation, so the three siblings moved here with their paralyzed grandmother.

Back then, the property management company even took the lead in helping them raise funds, and the community residents would occasionally lend a hand. They always remembered these kindnesses, and even when the apocalypse came, they never harmed anyone in the community.

“This time… there’s really no other way.” Wang Xiaoqin’s voice trembled. “We’ve run out of food at home. If this continues, not only us, but Grandma will starve to death too.”

Fu Yunong thought she had misheard and asked for confirmation, "Grandma?"

"Yes!" Wang Xiaoqin nodded, her tone somewhat matter-of-fact. "She's still lying at home right now."

Fu Yunong and Shi Dong exchanged a glance, momentarily speechless. They were both amazed by the old woman's tenacious will to live and speechless at the young people who had left her alone at home. Leaving aside the potential dangers of an immobile elderly woman after they left, the weather alone was deadly. If the fire went out and they couldn't return in time, the old woman would most likely freeze to death.

Shi Dong lowered her eyes. Perhaps it was her dark side, but her first reaction upon hearing this was whether these young people had deliberately gone out together to freeze the old lady to death and get rid of this burden. But then she thought again, and that didn't make sense. If they really wanted to get rid of a burden, there were many more discreet ways. There was no need to risk breaking into someone else's home and putting themselves in danger.

From this perspective, they are simply brainless.

The disaster struck swiftly, and in the final moments, scientists desperately calculated that moving to higher ground might offer a glimmer of hope for survival. The government's remaining resources hastily organized the evacuation and, before communications were completely cut off, appealed to the public to evacuate voluntarily.

With the successive devastation caused by powerful earthquakes, natural fires, and acid rain, Zhongzhou was already littered with corpses and devastation. Then, a massive flood surged in, cutting the entire Zhongzhou in two.

Compared to the few survivors in the south, there were significantly more survivors in the north. It wasn't that they didn't want to cross south; there was simply no need. The survivors all knew that the wasteland was resource-scarce, and the south, having suffered severe damage, was known as the wasteland within the wasteland.

In contrast, the north had more resources, but there were more survivors. People fought each other to the death for resources, resorting to any means necessary to survive.

People like Wang Xiaoqin and his sister, if they were thrown to the north, would probably be devoured without a trace of bones in less than a day.

While Shi Dong was still pondering, Fu Yunong's voice interrupted her, "You are not as innocent as you say. You came here because you heard some rumors, but instead of making a deal with us, you tried to ambush us."

Wang Xiaoqin quickly explained, "We didn't mean to hurt you, we just wanted to find something to eat."

Fu Yunong glanced at Wang Xiaowei, disagreeing with what she said.

Shi Dong looked at her with a half-smile, "You don't dare to go find the zombies, but you come to us. Isn't that just bullying the weak and fearing the strong?"

Wang Xiaoqin lowered his head sheepishly, mumbled a few words, and dared not speak again.

Shi Dong glanced at the three of them, his tone turning colder, "Dare to provoke us and you'll pay the price."

Wang Xiaoqin was a little unconvinced and muttered under her breath, "You beat my brother and the others up like that, and you still..."

“Clatter.”

The sound of a bullet being chambered instantly interrupted her.

The three of them turned pale and swallowed hard.

Shi Dong was too lazy to waste words with them. He patted Wang Xiaoqin's face with the gun and said in a low voice, "There's a guy in your neighborhood surnamed Zeng who used to run a flour mill. I heard he still has some stock. Go and find it for us."

They wouldn't dare say a word against it. At this point, they would agree to anything, not just flour, but even if you asked them to pluck the stars from the sky.

Shi Dong swept his cold gaze over them. "I'll give you three days. Don't try anything funny, or you won't be able to bear the consequences."

After saying that, she threw the three of them out. They reeked of a foul, sour stench; if they stayed any longer, they would rot the entire room.

The three people fell in the stairwell, wincing in pain, but dared not linger, and stumbled down the stairs in the dark.

Fu Yunong quickly piled the heavy objects back up and then rushed inside.

"It's so cold!" She rubbed her shoulders and shivered, then ran quickly toward the brazier.

“The leader is dishonest,” Shi Dong said with certainty.

Even in the darkness, she could clearly feel the resentful and venomous look in Wang Xiaowei's eyes before he left.

Fu Yunong nodded knowingly, "I'll be careful, but why did you think of having them go find flour?"

Shi Dong smiled dismissively, "Why not take advantage of a free errand runner?"

Fu Yunong chuckled, "What if they can't find it?"

Shi Dong raised an eyebrow as if it were a matter of course, “This is a good excuse to beat them up again.”

At worst, she'll go find them herself later. She won't let free supplies slip away.

Fu Yunong chuckled, silently mourning for those young people in her heart.