Chapter 18 Lu Wei's WeChat
At her workstation, Lin Xi had no interest in working; her mind was preoccupied with planning how to design a safe house.
About a month after the zombie outbreak, power and water supplies were cut off, so solar panels, water filtration systems, and air purifiers needed to be installed. However, she wasn't very knowledgeable about these things, and since she had 30 days to prepare, she needed to do her research before buying them, rather than making a hasty decision.
As for daily necessities and, most importantly, food reserves, she has some experience with these. Once she solves the solar charging problem, she can store more fresh food in the refrigerator.
There's also the door. Her house has an old-fashioned security door that isn't very sturdy. In her previous life, she only had one day to prepare and didn't have time to replace the door. Now, she has to solve this problem properly.
During her lunch break, she did some research and booked an appointment online to have the door replaced with a sturdier and soundproofer one.
As a spineless slacker with no will to survive, she knew she wasn't suited for combat. But deep down, she held onto a belief:
The zombies will surely be defeated by the resilient humans.
The fact that she doesn't get attacked and turn into a zombie, thus causing more trouble for people, is already a contribution to humanity.
As the old saying goes, "When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when successful, one should benefit all under heaven." She is best suited to stay at home to avoid hardship.
Lin Xi was preoccupied with her thoughts and was so dazed that she didn't even taste the food when Li Sijia and the others dragged her to a fusion restaurant near the company.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out among the people at the table.
"So handsome!" Li Sijia exclaimed.
Lin Xi followed the gaze and saw a tall, slender figure. The white shirt on him did not look stiff; instead, it made him appear rather aloof.
That figure looks familiar.
His name was almost etched in Lin Xi's mind when suddenly she saw the man's gaze sweep over her. Startled, she instinctively turned her back to him.
Oh no! It's Lu Wei. How could this jinx be here?
Recalling the terrible fates Lin Xi had suffered at the hands of Lu Weidu in her previous lives, her scalp tingled, and a bad premonition rose in her heart. She screamed inwardly as she thought about it:
There's still almost a month until the zombie outbreak, so why did I run into Lu Wei now? Am I going to die again?
Every time Lu Wei appears, she unlocks a new way to die. This time, the zombies didn't come, so how will she die?
"What's wrong with you?" Wei Shuhan asked curiously, noticing Lin Xi's pale face and cold sweat on her head.
Lin Xi hunched her shoulders, praying she wouldn't run into Lu Wei, while wiping her sweat and frantically shaking her head at Wei Shuhan.
However, Wei Shuhan didn't share this understanding and didn't know what had happened. Just as she was about to ask, her gaze suddenly turned to the table.
The stool next to Lin Xi was pulled away a little, and someone sat down next to her.
Those fair cheeks and cold eyes belonged to Lu Wei. And the young man with captivating peach blossom eyes beside him was Liang Hui.
...
Lin Xi's face turned deathly pale: Oh no, that jinx is sitting right next to her.
Unbeknownst to her, her overreaction had attracted the attention of Li Sijia and others. Those around her, lacking her experience of rebirth, were unaware of the consequences of encountering Lu Wei.
The fusion restaurant they were in featured delicious and visually appealing food at a great price. It was conveniently located near office buildings, and employees from many other companies, tired of the cafeteria food, would come here for a special meal and to socialize.
Therefore, seats are in high demand during mealtimes, and sharing tables is a common occurrence.
Lin Xi's phone vibrated; it was from three other girls in the group chat expressing their thoughts on sharing a table with handsome guys.
[Wei Shuhan: I didn't expect the handsome guy to choose to share a table with us]
[Li Sijia: What should I do? I want to ask him for his WeChat. Lin Xi, could you switch seats with me?]
Looking at the gossip in the group chat, Lin Xi thought helplessly: Help! Who's going to get rid of this jinx?
Whether it was due to excessive nervousness or something else, she felt Lu Wei's gaze glancing in their direction almost imperceptibly.
Lin Xi subconsciously looked at herself. She was wearing a light blue striped T-shirt, the same clothes she wore on the day she became a zombie in her previous lives.
Realizing this, Lin Xi gripped the ground with her toes.
But she calmed down: at this time, the zombie outbreak had not yet occurred, Lu Wei did not know her, and would not associate her with zombies. She was just a factory worker from the next factory who happened to be sharing a table with her.
She tried to remain calm, unaware that Lu Wei's gaze was indeed fixed on her.
Lin Xi ate half a plate of spaghetti with great unease, not paying attention to a single word of the conversation between the three people beside her. Just as they were paying the bill and getting up to leave, Lu Wei's voice suddenly rang out:
"Hello."
The people at the table suddenly stopped talking. Li Sijia and the others looked at Lu Wei, while Liang Hui followed Lu Wei's gaze to Lin Xi.
Lin Xi opened her eyes, slowly raised her finger and pointed at herself, just like that classic meme, and asked in surprise: Me?
Lu Wei stared at her intently, took out his phone, and said in a cold tone that was inconsistent with his usual demeanor, "Can I add you on WeChat?"
"..."
"..."
Liang Hui looked at Lu Wei in surprise, then at Lin Xi.
Li Sijia and the others watched this scene with a mixture of shock and gossip.
A flurry of thoughts flashed through Lin Xi's mind, but she didn't react in time. Before she could refuse, Lu Wei opened the scan function and waited for Lin Xi to show her QR code.
"..."
Lin Xi is someone who is not good at saying no.
Under the watchful eyes of several people, she slowly opened the QR code.
On the way back to the company, Li Sijia and the others couldn't help but tease Lin Xi, while also being curious about Lu Wei's WeChat Moments.
Not only were they curious, but Lin Xi was curious too.
Clicking on Lu Wei's profile picture, which was completely black, revealed a horizontal line in his Moments, indicating that he hadn't posted anything or had blocked Lin Xi.
Wei Shuhan, who had just cast an envious glance at him, clicked her tongue, but still said sourly, "You're just lucky."
Lin Xi: "Do you want this luck?"
Who knows what the consequences will be if I add this jinx on WeChat?
-
Lin Xi drifted through the day until she got off work, then followed the navigation to Gu Yixuan's house.
Gu Yixuan's family lives in Zone C, which is not as densely populated as Zones A and B, but it is well-developed and close to the city center, making it a wealthy area in Nanhua.
Gu Yixuan's home, just as she subtly showcased in her social media posts, was a large villa with a sizable courtyard. Unlike other villas with small gardens, Gu Yixuan's home featured an ecosystem designed by her researcher father, complete with numerous fruit and vegetable plants, right at the entrance.
Looking at the small plantation in front of the villa, Lin Xi couldn't help but think of an old game: Plants vs. Zombies.
Lin Xi didn't forget why she came here. After changing her shoes, she entered the house, which was a place she was already very familiar with, even though she had never been there before—Gu Yixuan had posted about it on her WeChat Moments too many times.
Automatic feeders and automatic litter boxes were installed in several places, and Lin Xi put food in and cleaned them one by one.
She knew that Gu Yixuan had installed many cameras at home to keep an eye on the cat, so she didn't dare to look at them casually, otherwise she would look sneaky on the monitor.
Actually, she just wanted to visit the water filtration system and the power generation system.
An advantage was that a cat bed was also set up in the sunroom, and when Lin Xi went to clean it, she saw what she wanted to see in the sunroom.
Just as she thought, the skylight in the sunroom can be opened to collect rainwater, so the water filtration system is installed here. Since the sunroom lets in light, the solar charging device is also installed here.
She had originally planned to install these things in her own sunroom.
The water filtration system is not currently in operation. Lin Xi can tell that this water filtration system uses a distillation filtration method, and the filtered water directly meets drinking standards.
She couldn't understand the solar charging device; the system didn't look very big and shouldn't generate much electricity. But Lin Xi remembered that Gu Yixuan had lived quite comfortably even after the water and power outages in her previous life.
Could it be that this system contains secrets she doesn't understand, making it extremely efficient to use?
But she didn't know anything about it, and simply observing didn't help her.
After feeding the cat, Lin Xi left Gu Yixuan's house.
Just as I was pondering how to find a reason to inquire about these two systems from Gu Yixuan, Gu Yixuan sent me a message:
"You went back?"
Lin Xi: "Mm."
Gu Yixuan: "Why didn't you take a bag of cat food with you?"
Lin Xi: "No need to be so polite." Anyway, she doesn't own a cat. Why would she save that stuff for herself when there's no food left in the apocalypse?
Gu Yixuan: "Oh. Then I'll treat you to dinner when I get back."
Although Gu Yixuan loves to show off, she has good upbringing and won't take advantage of others. She felt embarrassed watching Lin Xi running around taking care of the cat on the monitor, so she could only offer to treat him to a meal.
This was exactly what Lin Xi wanted to hear; she could just subtly ask Gu Yixuan about it when they arranged to have dinner together later.
Lin Xi replied, "Okay, how's the weather there today? Did they say when you can come back?"
Gu Yixuan did not reply.
-
It was already dark when we arrived at the urban village in Zone D; the temperature wasn't high on an April night.
Back in her nearly destitute home, Lin Xi ordered a bowl of rice noodles for dinner.
The bone broth was flavorful and delicious, and the addition of a touch of chili made it even more refreshing. Lin Xi hadn't tasted this kind of delicious food for almost four months, especially since she hadn't had water or electricity for the last two months of her previous life, and had only eaten bread and dry rations for two months. It was a great satisfaction for her.
After finishing her rice noodles, Lin Xi looked at her home, now completely furnished, and drew simple plans in her notebook, detailing the layout of both floors, including the sunroom:
A water filtration system and solar charging panels were installed in the sunroom, along with two large water tanks. Although Nanhua is rainy, it cannot be guaranteed to rain every month, so storing more rainwater is necessary.
The washing machine was moved to the room closest to the sunroom, making it convenient to collect water and dry clothes.
The other two rooms in the attic were mainly used for storing rice and daily necessities.
Once the power generation problem is solved, Lin Xi can buy a large freezer to store fresh meat, which will greatly improve the quality of food during the refugee period.
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