Chapter Thirty-Four: Chaos. Night

Standing outside the door was a woman who, despite her years, still possessed a certain charm. The skin exposed to the cold was delicate and pale, her face clouded with worry and sorrow. “Hello, big brother. I’m Xiao Ai.”

“Uh, may I ask, what brings you here?”

Xiao Ai tugged at her scarf, braving the chill to reveal a slender neck. “Could we talk inside? It’s freezing out here.”

“Teacher, what’s going on? Who is this?” Xiao Yi’s face appeared behind his master. “Do you know this auntie?”

The corners of Xiao Ai’s mouth twitched—Auntie? For heaven’s sake.

She was only thirty-nine; why call her that?

“I don’t know her. She seems to want to come in.”

Xiao Yi, instantly recalling the supplies they hadn’t yet moved into the apartment, refused her without hesitation. “If you have business, please say so. We still have work to finish.”

Receiving a cold reception, Xiao Ai bit back her anger and stated her purpose. “It’s like this: the supplies I received last time ran out yesterday. I came to ask if you could spare me some. I’ll return them when the next distribution comes.”

Both of them knew there was no way the base would hand out food and drinks for free anymore, so they refused her outright. “We don’t have any either, sorry. I’m closing the door now.”

With that, they both shut the door with a bang.

Are you kidding me? Yesterday, when Xiao Yi picked up his senior brother, the first thing he did upon returning was to sit down with his teacher and talk things over. Everyone at the base was well aware of how dire things had become. To lend someone supplies was tantamount to giving them away. Before the disaster, perhaps you could help a pitiful soul, but now, survival was all they could manage for themselves. Playing the good Samaritan was out of the question.

“Big brother, I saw you carrying a pile of stuff just now. Please, just give me—no, lend me a little. I can’t go on like this, big brother!”

Ailing banged on the door for a while, but when there was no response and her hand began to hurt, she furiously kicked the door. “Are you even a man? So heartless, so cruel—what kind of expert are you, anyway? Bastard.”

Ailing went back upstairs. The man she’d teamed up with temporarily was eyeing the little dog she kept. She rushed over and scooped the dog into her arms. “Back off. If you so much as think about my baby again, you can get out.”

His gaze darkened, though he managed a smile as he stood. “Of course not. I just think it’s cute. By the way, did you get any food?”

Ailing sat down on the sofa, clutching the dog. “No luck. Those two have hearts of stone.”

“You didn’t try working your charm? Before the catastrophe, you had no shortage of admirers—nutrition supplements, fruit, snacks, clothes, bags. All you want now is a little food.”

“Enough. Why don’t you go try for yourself? A grown man who never joins the property team’s supply runs—starting today, your rations are cut in half.”

“No need to be so cruel. If I’m not fed, how can I take care of you?”

“You’re so annoying. Move aside.”

Eventually, under a barrage of sweet words, Ailing let her guard down, enjoying his attentive flattery.

Night fell.

Snowflakes continued to drift silently down, and the temperature surely plunged below minus thirty degrees. Everyone had long since shut their doors and windows, retreating to their bedrooms. On the fifth floor of Building 2, the apartment was pitch black.

A match struck—its flame flickered, nearly dying, but the man hurriedly used it to light a candle, its weak glow barely illuminating the small bedroom.

Ailing was bound and gagged, letting out muffled cries, but no one in the building stirred from their sleep.

In front of her, the man held the little dog. Without a flicker of emotion, he drove a utility knife into its body, then skinned it and dropped the meat into a pot. The white flesh, seasoned only with a little salt, he swallowed bite by bite.

Ailing’s eyes were swollen from crying, her heart filled with regret. Why, oh why, had she let this man into her home when her husband was away at sea? If only she hadn’t succumbed to loneliness.

She had no idea how much time had passed before he finished eating. Then, knife still in hand, he moved toward her…

Jiang Huan rose, dressed, and planned to exercise first thing. But she realized that the morning temperature was scarcely warmer than at night and shivered, deciding to skip outdoor training today.

She climbed up to the twenty-first floor, entered her apartment, and couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “Thank goodness we installed the heating yesterday. The supplies were worth every bit.”

Inside, she did a simple forty-minute aerobic workout, cracked the window for a breath of fresh air, then went downstairs to knock on her brother’s door.

Jiang Xi was sluggish. He’d stayed up late under the covers reading comics and was slow to get moving until breakfast appeared.

“Stir-fry, seafood congee, and chive turnovers!”

Brother and sister ate until they were eighty percent full, set aside the leftovers, and Jiang Huan gathered up the trash—this time not discarding it, but breaking it up and putting it into the closed stove as fuel.

The snow had yet to stop, so Jiang Huan stayed indoors, practicing archery with her crossbow in the shooting room, while her brother pedaled the exercise bike for a while before drifting over to her.

Jiang Huan glanced at him. “Want to give it a try?”

Jiang Xi nodded and pointed at the darts, then walked over and tried throwing them at the target.

Bullseye.

Jiang Huan watched in amazement as he hit the bullseye eight times out of ten, only missing twice. She couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up in praise.

Proud of himself, Jiang Xi moved on to the slingshot, with fair accuracy, but when it came to using the crossbow, he lacked the strength and skill.

Still, being able to use two weapons was impressive. Jiang Xi rummaged around and found the composite carbon steel slingshot. According to the manual, it could be used over five thousand times. He also found a bag of steel pellets. Watching as he gradually got the hang of it, Jiang Huan took him out to the corridor.

The ten-meter hallway was clearly more challenging. Jiang Xi got competitive with the target, but by the time he finished the bag of steel pellets, only a handful had hit the bullseye.

His fingers were trembling, so Jiang Huan quickly stopped him and massaged his hands to loosen the muscles. “No rush, let’s take it slow.”

“Okay.” Once his hands felt better, Jiang Xi went to pick up the steel pellets, some of which had bounced down the stairs. He insisted on retrieving every single one, so Jiang Huan accompanied him down the steps, floor by floor.

When they passed the fifteenth floor, they saw two children peeking around the corner.

No adults were in sight. Liu Ling came out after closing her door and asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Qiuqiu,” said one.

“I’m Lanlan,” said the other. “Hello, auntie.”

The two children didn’t seem like troublemakers, and were unusually polite. Liu Ling grew curious about why they were out on their own.

“I’ve come to trade for food. Can I swap this for some meat soup?” The child held out a string of Barbie necklaces, the kind with brightly colored plastic beads.

Liu Ling smiled. “We do trade here, but only for items made of gold or silver—not Barbie bead necklaces. If you want to trade jewelry, it needs to be the kind worn by moms and dads, not plastic beads for kids.”

“These are Barbie jewels, not plastic beads!” Lanlan retorted angrily, clearly displeased that her beloved beads had been dismissed as plastic.

Liu Ling didn’t argue with the child, just waved them home.

Yet Qiuqiu stayed behind as Lanlan headed downstairs. “My mom is sick. She needs meat and soup. Auntie, if you don’t want my sister’s beads, can I use my parents’ rings to trade?”

“If they’re gold or silver, certainly,” Liu Ling replied.

With this confirmation, Qiuqiu gripped the handrail and hurried down the stairs, passing by Jiang Huan and Jiang Xi.

Jiang Huan felt as if those names sounded familiar.