"Lingling, you don't need to be like this. Even if you girls are dirty, you're still much cleaner than us big guys. Don't be fooled by my clean clothes; I haven't showered in almost a month, and I missed that heavy rain yesterday!" Jack boldly sat down on their mattress, took the chopsticks from Lingling, and said, "Lingling, go boil some more water!"
Seeing Jack jokingly say he didn't mind their cleanliness, Lingling and Axue let out a sigh of relief. When they heard Jack ask for hot water, Lingling immediately grabbed a transparent glass from the bedside, picked up a small kettle, and said, "Brother Lin, do you want some water? We just boiled it and let it cool for you!"
"This is probably your drinking water for a few days, right?" Jack laughed as he took the water Lingling poured for him, turned around, opened his backpack, and pulled out several packs of instant noodles, along with several bottles of mineral water. He handed them to the stunned Lingling and said, "Let's change things up tonight; we're having instant noodles!"
"Yay~ That's awesome!" Lingling happily took the items and went outside to boil water. Once a food she could get sick of, instant noodles had now become a rare delicacy, a feast!
Jack sat on the bed chatting casually with Axue. Cao Mei, who had initially felt a bit awkward, was now kneeling on the bed, giving Jack a shoulder massage, truly fulfilling her role as a maid.
From Axue, Jack learned that every man in this basement had to take turns going out in teams to find supplies. As for the women, they didn't have to go out, but the premise was that they had to be able to support themselves. So, the women here had only two choices: either find a man to depend on for support or, like Axue and the others, who were unwilling to find a man, use their bodies to exchange for food.
The girl who had just peeked her head out next door was the same. It was said that she used to be an elementary school English teacher, and both her own qualities and the boyfriends she had were quite outstanding. However, because she looked down on the men here, she chose to exchange her body for food, just like Axue and the others. Her specialty was using fluent English to moan in order to attract customers.
Jack did not express much opinion on this matter; he has always maintained a neutral attitude towards such things. He believes that in an apocalypse, even women can rely on their own hands to survive better, rather than depending on men for everything. In desperate situations, the energy that women can unleash is no less than that of men.
Lingling's water boiled quickly, and she deftly took several large bowls to prepare instant noodles for the four of them. Before long, the long-missed aroma of instant noodles wafted through the air, and the three girls stared intently at the bowls, swallowing hard, looking as if they might even want to gulp down the bowls.
Jack chuckled at the sight of the women, pulled out a large vacuum-packed piece of meat from his backpack, and tossed it to Michael, who was lying on the ground. Then, under the envious gazes of the girls, he took out several hot dog sausages and handed two to each of them.
"Eat up, if it's not enough, I have more here. No hiding it away!" Jack seemed to have seen through Lingling and the others' intentions, lighting a cigarette while waiting for the noodles to cook.
Lingling and Axue blushed at Jack's words and carefully tore open the packaging of the hot dog sausages, taking small bites. In contrast, Cao Mei had no such reservations and had already torn hers open and started eating. Jack glanced at her indifferently; if we were to judge by looks alone, this woman was definitely the standout here, with her pair of ample breasts beneath that black veil enough to outshine the rest.
As they were eating, Jack, who was leisurely smoking, suddenly noticed that Lingling and the others were crying, and they were eating while crying. Jack asked in surprise, "Is it really necessary? It's not like it's dragon meat from the sky; can you really cry over a hot dog?"
"I... we haven't had hot dogs in almost a year!" Lingling wiped her tears and looked at Jack like a little kitten, saying pitifully, "I can barely remember that hot dogs even exist!"
"You really have defeated me; I should have known better than to give you any!" Jack chuckled while smoking. After a while, he saw the curtain next door being flung open, and the previously somewhat attractive English teacher came in, sniffing and stumbling over.
"Wow, it's actually instant noodles and hot dogs!"
The woman was now dressed, wearing a dirty, blackened red tank top and a pair of pure black cotton panties, with nothing else on. Moreover, a tuft of black hair was peeking out from her panties, giving her a fierce appearance that startled Jack.
As the woman wiped the sticky liquid off her face with a dirty cloth, she looked at the instant noodles in Lingling's hands, sat down next to her, and shook Lingling's arm, saying, "Good Lingling, do you have any instant noodles left? Can I try some? I can trade you two pounds of rice for it, okay? I'm about to die from craving!"
"Stop shaking, stop shaking, you're going to spill the soup in the bowl!" Lingling looked helplessly at the little woman clinging to her arm with a greedy expression, pointing at Jack beside her and saying, "Don't beg me, you know the food can't possibly be ours; it belongs to this Brother Lin!"
The woman's eyes lit up, and her beautiful body immediately seemed to lose all its bones as she leaned against Jack's leg, pushing her not-so-full chest forward, resting her head on Jack's thigh, striking a seductive pose and saying, "Good brother, please have some pity on your sister. If I don't eat something soon, these two little white rabbits on my chest are going to starve flat!"
"There are instant noodles and ham sausages; get up first!" Jack quickly urged the woman leaning on his leg to get up. It wasn't that she looked bad; to be honest, her appearance and figure were quite decent, enough to be a second-rate star before the apocalypse. However, the smell coming from her was unbearable—a strong fishy odor mixed with a distinctly male sweat smell. Even if she were a bit more beautiful, Jack couldn't muster any interest in her; that smell was truly terrifying, almost to the point of being off-putting.
"Yay~ I knew my brother was the best!" The woman, oblivious to her own state, threw a big flirtatious glance at Jack and said in a delicate tone, "If my brother still has the energy tonight, come over to my place. Not only will I eat ham sausages, but I'm also top-notch at licking them. I'm great at moaning in English too; I guarantee it'll be as pleasurable as with a Western girl!"
Jack shook his head in disbelief, smiling wryly as he took out instant noodles and ham sausages from his bag and handed them to the girl. Seeing her excited little face, Jack thought to himself that a people's teacher was indeed his preferred type, but if you didn't have that smell, maybe I could consider letting you lick my ham sausage. But that smell? It's really a deal-breaker!
After finishing the food and chatting with a few girls for a while, Jack prepared to rest. At Jack's request, Lingling and Axue gave up their plan to share a bed, leaving with some disappointment to squeeze in with the girl next door. Meanwhile, the attractive Cao Mei bit her lip, sitting there looking somewhat awkwardly at Jack.
"It's getting late; go to sleep!" Jack said lightly to Cao Mei, half leaning against the wall.
"I... I'm very clean today; I just washed myself with two days' worth of drinking water before you came!" Cao Mei, flustered, looked at Jack with a complex expression, her eyes carrying a hint of pleading.
"I can tell!" Jack nodded, agreeing, "You're not only clean but also very beautiful, more beautiful than the women here. But what does that matter? The apocalypse is not lacking in beautiful women. Go rest; don't think too much!"
Cao Mei bit her lip, standing up with a pale face. However, she still bent down to help Jack take off his shoes and placed them neatly by the bed. Then, without saying a word, she lifted the curtain and walked out, but kept looking back at Jack repeatedly.
At this moment, Jack couldn't help but let out a light sigh. How could he not understand Cao Mei's thoughts? She was no different from Lingling and the others, wanting to find a strong support in the apocalypse, using her beauty to beg Jack to protect them. However, Jack's own situation was much more complicated than it appeared on the surface. Otherwise, protecting dozens or even hundreds of people wouldn't be a big deal for Jack. After all, humans are social animals, and he didn't want to be the only one left in a world where everyone else had died. The legend of a single person is not as fun as it is portrayed in movies.