As expected, the woman trembled violently when she heard Shen Feng's voice.
Behind her disheveled hair, a pair of dull, lifeless eyes were revealed.
She was skin and bones.
"You guys…" Her voice was extremely hoarse, and she choked up halfway through the sentence.
It seemed she hadn't expected us to be living people.
I glanced into the house to make sure there was no one else besides her.
"You've been hiding here alone for the past half month?" I asked in disbelief.
"Mm…" The woman sniffled and, with trembling hands, tucked her hair behind her ears.
A young, beautiful face was revealed—though now gaunt and unrecognizable.
"Oh my god! How did you survive? What did you eat?"
"A few packs of instant noodles… and half a crate of milk…" Her voice quivered.
"Do you… have any food? Could you spare some… I haven't eaten anything in days."
The blond guy took a sausage from his pocket and handed it to her.
I stayed on the third floor to keep the woman company, while Suo Tian and Shen Feng continued the sweep with the others.
They also cleared out the other unoccupied floors, so the group could move in right away afterward.
Sitting inside a room on the third floor, the woman seemed to regain some strength after eating the sausage.
"What's your name?"
"Song Meijing." She paused, then continued, "You're Chen Yang, right? The elementary school teacher."
"How do you know me?" I asked, a bit curious.
"I heard the old ladies in the neighborhood talking about you before. I've seen you quite a few times."
"Really? What did they say?"
"They said you're sensible and capable. That even at a young age, you took care of your younger brother by yourself—playing both sister and parent role."
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Is that so? I didn't know I had such a great image in the neighbors' eyes."
Song Meijing also gave a dry, cracked-lipped smile.
"You guys planning to move into this building?"
"No, I'm staying with the two young men from earlier—well, I mean the two relatively normal ones… We live in the building across the street. The others will move into this one tonight. A few more women will be arriving later too."
Song Meijing lowered her head and fell silent.
After a long pause, she asked hesitantly, "Can I… move in with you guys over there?"
"Of course." I had said before—women's common weakness is a soft heart.
Looking at this utterly down-and-out person before me, I really couldn't bear to refuse any of her requests.
"But, Mei Jing… Is it alright if I call you that?"
"Of course."
"There are a few rules where we live. I should probably tell you in advance."
"Okay."
"Although you're very beautiful, your current look is… a bit scary. And we have kids over there, you know. To avoid influencing their future sense of aesthetics, we do have pretty high standards when it comes to appearance." I joked.
Hearing that, Mei Jing froze for a second, then burst out laughing. "So there's such a strict entry requirement?"
Seeing her smile, I secretly let out a breath of relief.
Looks like she's a strong girl.
When Mei Jing came out after her shower, Suo Tian and the others had already finished sweeping up the whole floor.
Only Li Jianguo and his younger brother Li Jiaqiang came up to the third floor.
The others were probably busy cleaning their own rooms.
"Brother Li, since everything's been cleaned up here, go ahead and bring over half of the food supplies later. From now on, we'll need to coexist peacefully."
Li Jianguo nodded and gave Suo Tian a glance—he seemed quite wary of him.
The arrogance he had shown earlier was completely gone.
"And what about this young lady?" Li Jiaqiang asked, pointing at Mei Jing.
"She's coming back with me. You already have plenty of people here."
A flash of disappointment clearly crossed Li Jiaqiang's face.
I chuckled inwardly—this old toad really thinks he can eat swan meat?
After we got back to the house, Mei Jing had a massive meal.
I stared at the seven empty cookie boxes and three empty beef jerky bags, my mouth twitching uncontrollably for quite a while.
After that, everyone got busy transporting half of the food over to the other group.
By the time we had them all settled in, I felt completely drained.
I slumped on the sofa, and Yangyang, trying to curry favor, started massaging my legs—probably feeling bad for not having helped out.
Shen Feng comforted Shen Xue for a bit, then went back to his room early to sleep.
Suo Tian sat on the sofa, back straight as a rod.
But the exhaustion on his face was impossible to hide.
"Suo Tian? If you're tired, go get some sleep. There's nothing else going on anyway."
He turned to look at me, lips pressed together, brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
It took a while before he turned his face away and said, "Nothing. I'm going to bed."
With that, he got up and went back to his room.
"Sis, what's up with Brother Tian?" Yangyang had noticed something too.
"I don't know… Go to bed now. Tomorrow, go with Suo Tian to get the stuff from the car at the alley entrance."
"Huh… Did I hear that right? You're actually letting me go out?"
"Yes, you heard right." I gave him an amused glare. "Now hurry up and go to bed."
"Alright then, I'm off to rest and recharge…"
Kids his age are always eager to prove themselves.
But… I wonder if Yangyang truly understands just how dire our current situation is?
I sighed, got up from the sofa, opened the door and went downstairs.
After checking to make sure all the doors and windows were locked, I finally returned to my room.
I slept straight through until morning.
Probably from exhaustion—I didn't even dream.
Slept like a rock, and it felt amazing.
After breakfast, Suo Tian and Yangyang brought back the stuff we'd left in the car yesterday.
I spent the whole morning in the kitchen, carefully preparing a feast.
Screw the so-called end of the world!
Eating well—that's what matters most.
Once you've had a good sleep, your mood naturally improves—and with a better mood, your outlook becomes more optimistic too.
When the food was served, that group of starved wolves—who hadn't seen meat in who knows how long—dug in immediately.
Aside from Suo Tian and Shen Feng, who at least made a small effort to maintain some manners, the rest just grabbed food with their hands.
Rongrong even stood up on a chair, and when she couldn't snatch food from Yangyang and Shen Xue, she resorted to acting cute—pouting and begging to be fed.
Unable to withstand the onslaught, Yangyang, Shen Xue, and Mei Jing all surrendered one after another, handing over their ribs and chicken legs to her.
It was clearly a lighthearted and cheerful scene—but I ended up scowling.
I'd worked my ass off for hours, and none of you thought to save me a damn thing?!
Mei Jing's emotional recovery ability was practically superhuman.
After lunch, she and Shen Xue sat on the sofa chatting about celebrity gossip.
They got so into it, spit was practically flying everywhere, and I sat nearby nervously watching the splash zone.
Those two clearly had zero sense of crisis.
But maybe it was for the best—if the two of them spent every day frowning and sobbing, how would we even go on?
The next few days passed in peace and even joy.
For a while, it almost felt like the world outside was still safe and prosperous.
Humans have a tendency to deceive themselves—and to do it with disturbing enthusiasm.
But what happened a few days later hit us like a sledgehammer, slamming us back into reality.
The world outside had long since become one of the walkers.
Rongrong, after all, was still a child.
No matter how mature she acted, deep down, her nature was to play and have fun.
Now she was stuck all day in this house—safe, yes, but more like a cage.
It was inevitable that she'd start feeling bored and restless.
Over the past few days, she'd grown noticeably gloomy.
That morning, Suo Tian was in the living room training Yangyang, Shen Xue, and Mei Jing.
The three of them had terrible stamina.
Especially Shen Xue—after just ten sit-ups, she burst into tears, whining that she couldn't take it anymore.
The veins on Suo Tian's temple visibly bulged.
He probably held back because she was a girl, managing not to explode.
But he still coldly insisted she complete all fifty, no exceptions.
Shen Feng wasn't the type to shield others just because they were close to him.
He stood on the balcony practicing his blade work, with an attitude that said: Out of sight, out of mind.
Yangyang's training had gotten a lot tougher.
But he didn't complain, quietly pushing through a set of push-ups off to the side.
I ended up heading to the balcony too.
Shen Feng had the right idea—if you didn't see it, you really wouldn't be as annoyed.
Looking down at the empty street below, I let out a relaxed sigh~
If life could just go on like this, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
"Ahhh!" A woman's desperate, blood-curdling scream suddenly rang out nearby—
Shattering the peaceful illusion we'd wrapped ourselves in.
I jumped in shock.
Suo Tian quickly came to the balcony, giving me a questioning look with his eyes, asking what was going on.
I shook my head, indicating I didn't know either.
I leaned out over the railing, trying to get a better look at the street.
Two women, covered in large splashes of blood, suddenly came sprinting around the corner.
Behind them was a massive horde of snarling, teeth-baring walkers, hot on their heels.
They howled at the top of their lungs, trying to let every hidden survivor—and every living being—know just how hungry they were.
The two women stumbled as they ran, screaming like pigs being slaughtered, their voices thick with panic and terror.
I frowned.
These two damn women!
Were they trying to make sure they didn't die alone?
Shouting like that would bring every walker nearby straight to us.
And then—one of them suddenly looked up and met my eyes dead-on.
My heart sank.
Crap—trouble!
The woman immediately lit up like she'd seen a lifeline.
Despite her hoarse throat from all the screaming, she wailed even louder in our direction, her voice cracking with desperation:
"Help us! Please, I'm begging you, save us!"
Hearing them scream with such raw fear and hopelessness, I felt a pang of sympathy.
But sympathy or not—even if I were the biggest fool in the world—I knew this much:
They were as good as dead.
Because I could clearly see now—a huge chunk of flesh was missing from one of their arms.
Even if we risked everything to save them now… they wouldn't survive.
The two women weren't ready to give up on their lives just yet.
They spotted the gate to our yard and began pounding on it with all their strength.
Their voices were dry and raspy from all the screaming.
But the walkers didn't care about that.
The sound of pounding drew their attention instantly.
They all started shuffling over.
Like a tide surging in.
In just moments, the front of our house was swarming—packed with a dense, black mass of walkers.
Their growls and snarls rose and fell like a chorus of nightmares.
Even from the fourth floor, just listening sent a chill deep into our bones.
We stood on the balcony the whole time, unmoving.
The two women, realizing their end was near, spiraled into madness and started screaming curses at us:
"You sons of bitches! Just wait, you'll die horribly too! Your guts'll be chewed out and swallowed whole! Not one of you will survive! You're all gonna die!!"
Then their words were cut off—replaced by shrill, gut-wrenching screams of agony.
The slow-moving walkers had finally caught up.
I watched as the women were slammed to the ground.
At first, they struggled, but it didn't last.
Their bodies were soon mangled beyond recognition, bellies torn open, their screams fading into silence.
Their innards were ripped out in seconds.
The walkers stuffed handfuls of intestines into their mouths… blood sprayed everywhere.
Too many walkers, not enough meat.