Ch30- Something's Wrong, Everything's Wrong
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
Liu Jie supported Li Shanyang while Zhang Lu pounded on the fat man's security door.
The fat man knew this was a sensitive time, so he wouldn't open the door lightly.
But when he saw Liu Jie and Li Shanyang through the peephole, he couldn't resist his curiosity and cracked the door open a crack!
"What's up?"
His lecherous gaze then fixed on Liu Jie as he spoke with a smirk.
"Did you fall in love with the feeling of me fucking you? Have you come looking for me on purpose?"
Hearing this, Liu Jie recalled the earlier humiliation and desperately wanted to charge forward and beat the shit out of him.
But Liu Jie held back. The most important thing right now was to get food and fill their stomachs.
As for this guy, one day he'd make him wish he were dead.
"Well, how much can you trade for this?" Liu Jie asked.
The Fat Man's eyes lit up at the sight of Li Shanyang, bound and gagged.
"One box of instant noodles. Three days."
"Two boxes. You'll give him back after I'm done playing with him."
The Fat Man thought to himself: This family was truly entertaining.
Earlier, they promised a young woman, but delivered a young man instead. Now, out of nowhere, they'd sent a middle-aged man.
Still, the Fat Man couldn't help but swallow hard.
This delivery satisfied him greatly.
The middle-aged man had fair skin-leaving marks on him would be quite noticeable.
As for food, the Fat Man had plenty.
Two boxes of instant noodles for a satisfying plaything? The Fat Man considered it a bargain.
At the mention of two boxes of instant noodles, Zhang Lu's eyes lit up.
Since they'd been delivered anyway, whether he is played for one day or two, the outcome was the same. If he was going to be played, naturally, she'd choose the option with more food.
"Two boxes. He's yours." Without hesitation, Zhang Lu chose the latter.
Li Shanyang heard this and looked at Zhang Lu in disbelief.
He never imagined his wife could be so ruthless!
But to Zhang Lu, Li Shanyang was the truly heartless one.
She'd sacrificed everything for him-becoming wealthy, letting him pursue Meng Wan, watching him marry her-all while living as his secret mistress for years.
Yet she and Li Shanyang had met first, fallen in love first.
Now he showed such cruelty, striking her without warning and with such brutal force.
He deserved it.
Moreover, Zhang Lu found Liu Jie's earlier persuasion deeply tempting.
What if Li Shanyang was tortured to death by this fat man? Then, as Li Shanyang's legally wedded wife, wouldn't the Meng family's assets fall into her hands?
Wouldn't she have her pick of any man she wanted then?
This thought only strengthened Zhang Lu's resolve to send Li Shanyang away.
The fat man locked the door and brought out two boxes of instant noodles.
Money exchanged hands, goods exchanged hands.
Both parties left satisfied.
Back at the apartment, the three stared at the two boxes of instant noodles, their eyes sparkling.
Now that Liu Jie was the only male in the house, he'd have to be the one to step up if danger arose.
So Zhang Lu suddenly softened her usual harshness toward him and suggested they split the noodles equally.
Liu Jie understood Zhang Lu's little scheme perfectly well, but he didn't call her out on it. The three lived together peacefully.
With instant noodles now available, the trio no longer needed to rise early to queue for rations. Whenever one woke up, they'd fetch a portion to spice up their meals.
More often, however, they'd hole up indoors, either scrolling through phones or sleeping.
One morning, Meng Ci woke and opened the surveillance feed as usual-only to hear Liu Jie and Li Xiaoya's unpleasantly loud voices.
Meng Ci quickly shut off the feed.
Damn, these two have no shame.
In the apocalypse, when people can barely get enough to eat, they still have the energy for this?
And she remembered Li Xiaoya was half a year younger than him. Didn't Zhang Lu care?
Of course Zhang Lu dared not interfere.
Liu Jie was the only man in the household. In times of danger, they relied on him.
How could Zhang Lu dare to Interfere?
Day 11 of the apocalypse.
Three days had passed since Li Shanyang was sent to the Fat Man.
Meng Ci would secretly send the drone to check on him every night.
Li Shanyang had been tortured into lying in bed like a desiccated corpse. His wounds multiplied, his breath grew weaker.
Meanwhile, the Fat Man sat at his desk playing games. When he grew tired of gaming, he opened porn sites. When he grew tired of that, he vented his frustration on Li Shanyang.
When hungry, he fed only himself, ignoring Li Shanyang entirely.
He'd occasionally feed him a mouthful, purely to keep him alive for his amusement.
The Fat Man's room was cluttered with snacks and instant meals. After eating, he'd toss the wrappers anywhere in the room.
In the three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, the floors of two bedrooms were already buried under trash, with spilled liquids and food covering the ground so thickly that the original color of the flooring was indistinguishable.
If it were summer, Meng Ci could easily imagine the scene of flies swarming everywhere.
Day Twelve of the Apocalypse.
The floodwaters had already reached the second floor, prompting residents there to begin moving upward.
Some third-floor residents, seeing no end to the downpour, took preemptive action and started moving up as well.
That morning, during food distribution, a drone hovered overhead, broadcasting the latest updates.
"Attention all residents, attention all residents."
"Due to torrential rains, roads are blocked by collapsed buildings and fallen trees."
"After deliberation, it has been decided that food will be delivered every three days. Residents who have not yet collected their rations, please come down promptly to receive them."
"Residents who have not yet received food, please come down promptly to collect it." Something felt terribly off.
Could it be that someone else had truly entered the book with him, or been reborn?
Whether following the logic of the novel or the realities of the present world, in this society that placed people above all else, how could such a decision be made so lightly?
Moreover, the initial rations had been particularly stingy.
Everything felt deeply off.
"What's wrong?"
Shen Que noticed Meng Ci standing at the doorway, keys dangling from his hand, unable to insert them into the lock. He seemed completely out of it.
Meng Ci snapped back to reality, shaking his head. "Nothing."
"If you're worried about food running out, we can go out and find some."
This ration was supposed to last three days, but the portion was only slightly larger than before. Shen Que assumed Meng Ci was worried about running out.
"Alright." Meng Ci had never been that interested in zero-yuan shopping before. He figured he'd already stockpiled so much, there was no need to risk going out.
But now, all these signs pointed to the apocalypse being far worse than he'd imagined.
There was still plenty of space left in his storage, so taking another opportunity to fill it up wouldn't hurt.
With the power scheduled to go out tomorrow, surveillance cameras and such would be useless. Meng Ci and Shen Que agreed to go out again at ten o'clock tomorrow night to find food.
As for why they chose nighttime, it was obviously because neither of them wanted to be seen bringing food back.
Meng Ci returned to his room. After eating, he figured he had nothing else to do, so he entered his storage space to practice his shooting.
When he first acquired the gun, he'd had the man teach him basic handling, but never got around to practicing accuracy.
Setting up the target, a pistol didn't require much distance.
The recoil was too strong, though, so Meng Ci needed more practice. Grabbing a box of bullets, he began working on getting used to it.
Before he'd even fired half the cartridges, his arms felt like they weren't his own anymore.
This time, he didn't rush to leave the space. Instead, he returned to the room inside, grabbed a canister of gas from the kitchen, and began assembling it according to the instructions.
He wondered if installing it incorrectly might blow up the entire space.