Li Nan sat outside the bedroom door for two hours without moving at all. Based on his previous experience, he had already prepared himself to wait until the following evening, or even until the third day.
The way Xiao Yu-ge had looked when he had just returned was truly frightening. His complexion had carried a bluish-gray pallor, and his eyes were bloodshot, making him look almost exactly like the monsters outside.
But Xiao Yu-ge would not allow him to treat him. He was truly too useless. He had said that he could help Xiao Yu-ge with his ability, yet when something had actually happened, he had seemed completely useless.
He had already lost his father. He could not lose Xiao Yu-ge as well. But what could he do? What could he possibly help with?
At this moment, Li Nan hated how young he was. He hated that he could not help with anything.
When Quan Xiaoyu changed into a clean set of clothes and opened the door full of vitality, what he saw was Li Nan’s helpless and self-blaming expression.
“Xiao Nan.” Quan Xiaoyu called out to Li Nan.
Li Nan abruptly raised his head and saw Quan Xiaoyu.
“Xiao Yu-ge, you—” Li Nan called out, but the rest of his sentence caught in his throat. He had originally wanted to ask, “Are you all right?” But seeing Quan Xiaoyu clean, neat, and full of energy, how could he possibly look like anything was wrong?
“Why are you squatting by the door? Get up.” Quan Xiaoyu went over, pulled Li Nan up from the floor, and casually rubbed his head.
“I wanted to wait here until you came out. If you didn’t come out for a long time, I would go in.” Li Nan spoke in a low voice.
His words made Quan Xiaoyu’s nose sting slightly, but he merely patted Li Nan firmly on the shoulder and said, “I’m fine. I’m doing great! I’m just a little hungry.”
“Mm-mm, I cooked and waited for you, but it’s cold now. I’ll go heat it up.” Hearing this, Li Nan smiled.
He remembered that before Xiao Yu-ge entered the room, he had still been covered in blood. His shoulder seemed to have been injured, but now he did not look injured in the slightest. It wasn’t as though he had no doubts in his heart.
He was a big boy now, and already had the ability to think things through completely. So he knew that besides the space, Xiao Yu-ge definitely had other secrets.
But if Xiao Yu-ge didn’t say anything, that meant the secret was extremely important!
Therefore, as Xiao Yu-ge’s younger brother, and as someone who could not help with anything, what he needed to do was not get to the bottom of things, but think of every possible way to guard the secret and make absolutely sure that outsiders never learned about it.
The less he knew, the safer Xiao Yu-ge would be. Even if he were captured by someone in the future, no one would be able to learn Xiao Yu-ge’s secret from him.
“I’ll go with you. I can talk with you while we’re at it.” Li Nan did not ask him about his wound. Instead, he gave him complete trust, and Quan Xiaoyu was grateful for this from the bottom of his heart.
There were too many things on him now that he could not speak about, yet he did not want to lie to the people close to him. Therefore, Li Nan not asking was the greatest trust and tolerance he could give him.
Between family members, there was no need to express gratitude for such things. They only needed to protect one another with all their strength, and then they would not betray such trust and affection.
“Xiao Nan, what happened while I was gone?” Quan Xiaoyu still remembered that when he returned, Li Nan had been hiding in the basement.
According to their agreement, Li Nan would only hide in the basement when danger occurred.
Li Nan placed the heated food on the table, one serving for each of them—steaming-hot steaks.
“In the morning, after you went out, I locked the door and started preparing lunch. When the food was almost ready, I heard gunshots outside. So I ran to the third floor and looked outside through the small window.” That small window was an observation window. It had been left during the initial construction, serving as a reserved opening for observing the outside situation after the power went out and the defensive system was fully activated.
“Then I saw vehicles moving around in the community. They stopped next door, and they all had guns on them. Two people also came to our front door. At first, they knocked, and they seemed pretty polite. Later, when no one answered, they started prying the door open.”
Of course, their front door certainly could not be pried open. Quan Xiaoyu already knew they had failed without needing Li Nan to say so.
“And then?”
“Then they started shooting at the door and windows. At that time, the male owner next door suddenly started fighting with their people, so those two went over to help. Later…” Li Nan’s voice faltered. “The male owner of the house next door died… I saw them drag the body into the grass, and they… they also smashed his head.”
When Li Nan reached this point, he suddenly lost his appetite, and the motion of cutting his steak stopped.
“They probably smashed his head to prevent the corpse from mutating into a zombie.” Quan Xiaoyu explained, trying to lessen the impact that scene had on Li Nan.
Originally, at ten years old, in the right time and place, even fake violent movies were things he should not have been exposed to, let alone witnessing the most genuine, perverse violence and gore firsthand.
But this was the apocalypse. Protecting him blindly was useless. Quan Xiaoyu hoped Li Nan could adapt to all this more quickly.
“Mm.” Li Nan nodded. “After that, they dragged away the woman next door, and several more vehicles drove past. Those two people came back again and kept shooting, but our house activated its defenses. They probably realized it was useless, then whispered to each other for a while and left.”
“I was afraid they would go back, think of some other way, and come again, so I followed the agreement we made beforehand and hid in the basement until you came back. But I was also afraid they would catch you, and I didn’t want you to come back…”
“In the end, you came back covered in blood… and I couldn’t help you.”
“Aren’t I fine now?” Quan Xiaoyu said with a smile. “As long as we’re both safe, that’s the best outcome.”
Li Nan fell silent. After quite some time, he finally asked, “Who were they? Were they the ones who injured you?”
Quan Xiaoyu shook his head. “I don’t know who they were, but it’s already been dealt with. Maybe we’ll know tomorrow.” Tomorrow, he would go over there and see how the doctor handled those people and the situation.
With the doctor’s and Chu Tian’s abilities, they should be able to figure out those people’s background very quickly.
Thinking of Chu Tian, Quan Xiaoyu suddenly remembered that the packet of medicine he had brought for Chu Tian was still with him. He would take it over tomorrow as well.
“Tomorrow?” Li Nan had no idea what had happened during the day, so he was full of confusion about Quan Xiaoyu’s words.
“Yes, tomorrow. I’ll take you with me tomorrow, and then you’ll understand.”
“Can I go too?” Li Nan asked somewhat excitedly. He had always been afraid of becoming a burden to Xiao Yu-ge, so he had never dared to ask to go outside.
Quan Xiaoyu saw what he was thinking. He gently rubbed his head and said, “Of course. You also need to understand the outside world and the situation here. From now on, as long as I’m not going somewhere too dangerous, I’ll take you with me. Once things inside the park stabilize a little in a couple of days, I’ll teach you some combat techniques. You have to practice hard. Only then will you be able to protect yourself and deal with those zombies outside.”
“Mm!” Li Nan nodded hard, his face full of a happy smile.
“All right, finish your food. In the apocalypse, food is extremely precious, so we can’t waste it. Finish eating and go get some rest. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take you outside.”
“Okay.” Li Nan happily agreed, stuffing the rest of his steak into his mouth. Nothing could stop him from being happy and content right now.
Quan Xiaoyu watched the childlike appearance of Li Nan, his heart warming.
In this life, having family members by his side and not having to struggle alone for survival in the apocalypse like he had in his previous life was truly wonderful!
The bald man’s villa.
Under the doctor’s command, the scene was quickly cleared. Those who had already died were all dragged outside to the grass beside the road, where each of them was shot in the head.
There were already more than a dozen corpses piled up here. They were probably all people that Brother Zheng’s group had killed over the past few days.
As for the ordinary people, the doctor did not allow them to return to their respective homes either. He still followed Brother Zheng’s previous arrangement and had them stay in the villas on the left and right. However, he did not force the men and women to separate, allowing them to choose for themselves which side they wanted to stay on.
Thus, the crowd gradually divided into two groups: one group that had come together from the hospital, and one group made up of the original residents.
They each chose a villa and moved in. No one dared to resist, and no one dared to say anything.
As for Brother Zheng’s group, they were still firmly bound by plants outside the house. The doctor had no intention of dealing with them for the time being.
Instead, right in front of them, he directly shot Brother Zheng dead. His face was blown beyond recognition by the gunshot.
An enemy capable of posing a threat absolutely could not be given another opportunity.
Brother Zheng’s swelling ambition and grand ideals were strangled in their cradle by the doctor before he even had the chance to display his talents.
Ignoring the group’s reactions, the doctor went straight into the bald man’s villa.
The bald man had been rescued. At this moment, Bai Mingxi was in the living room, using a towel he had somehow dug out from somewhere to press against the bald man’s wound.
Chu Tian was sitting on the sofa, cleaning the wound on his foot.
A seductive woman wearing an extremely revealing nightgown sat collapsed on the floor. Trembling in fear, she was still trying to force a smile at the doctor who had walked in.
That heavily made-up face and twitching facial muscles almost scared the doctor into stumbling backward. He forcibly restrained himself before he could fling a vine over and pierce the woman’s head.
Just what kind of bizarre taste did that Brother Zheng have?!
The doctor clicked his tongue in amazement inwardly.
There was still one person tied up on the floor of the living room. It was the middle-aged man who had previously attempted to kill the bald man.
Even now, despite being bound hand and foot, his eyes were still blood-red as he glared hatefully at the bald man.
The doctor did not want to look at that woman anymore, so he walked over, kicked the half-dead bald man, and said, “Come on. Now you tell me what happened.”
The bald man did not dare disobey. Forcing himself to stay conscious, he explained the entire chain of events in fits and starts.
The bald man’s name was Lin Ziqiang. He was forty-six years old and had originally been a fairly prominent figure locally. He was the biggest real-estate developer in the city.
He had risen from humble beginnings and was not highly educated. After becoming rich overnight, it was inevitable that he developed the habits of a nouveau riche. And that seductive woman was precisely the little mistress he kept.
The more money one had, the more people one could buy favor from. The more people who fawned over him, the more domineering he naturally became.
But in some situations, money and connections alone were not enough. One also needed people who could fight.
That was when Lin Ziqiang met Brother Zheng.
Brother Zheng’s real name was Tao Zheng. He operated a bodyguard company. According to what he himself claimed, he was a discharged soldier, and so were the people under him. But the bandit-like air about him and the manner of those underlings really did not look the part.
But they could fight!
That suited Lin Ziqiang’s needs perfectly, so he spent a huge amount of money recruiting them.
And Tao Zheng indeed did not disappoint him. During several conflicts with other people, he performed great services, causing Lin Ziqiang to rely on Tao Zheng more and more.
As Lin Ziqiang accumulated more and more money and his net worth grew higher and higher, Tao Zheng’s group knew how to handle matters and could fight. Lin Ziqiang consequently became more and more arrogant and domineering, and even his little mistress became unbearably haughty.
In the end, under Tao Zheng’s encouragement and through his connections, Lin Ziqiang actually managed to acquire a batch of firearms.
Thinking about it carefully, Tao Zheng had clearly been planning something bad for a long time. It was just that Lin Ziqiang had become too arrogant at the time and failed to notice it at all.
However, not long after they obtained the firearms, the apocalypse arrived.
Regardless of what Tao Zheng had originally intended to use those weapons for, once the apocalypse came, his original plan had probably gone up in smoke. But those firearms instead found an even greater use.
Tao Zheng awakened a lightning-type ability during the early stages of the apocalypse. He immediately felt that he was no ordinary person.
His mind had always been full of schemes, and he thought that heroes emerged in chaotic times. He actually developed the ambition to contend for the world.
The first place he chose was the villa Lin Ziqiang used to keep his mistress.
Tao Zheng had come here many times before. Basically, whenever Lin Ziqiang came over, Tao Zheng was the one who escorted him. Occasionally, on Lin Ziqiang’s orders, he would also bring the mistress named Ma Jingjing back here.
No one knew Lin Ziqiang’s whereabouts better than Tao Zheng.
Therefore, as soon as the apocalypse began, Lin Ziqiang set his sights on this villa community.
This villa community was large, sparsely populated, and inhabited by wealthy people who were afraid of death. It would be easy to control.
He had abilities, guns, and people. Establishing himself as the king of this place would definitely make things twice as easy with half the effort.
So he acted decisively. As soon as the apocalypse began, he led the brothers he had cultivated since the days of his bodyguard company all the way here, killing anyone who stood in their way.
Things went just as smoothly as he had imagined.
Those cannibalistic monsters were not nearly as frightening as they appeared. They were stupid and slow. As long as one mastered the techniques, dealing with them was even easier than killing people.
When Tao Zheng arrived at Lin Ziqiang’s home, before the old man could put on the airs of a boss, Tao Zheng beat him savagely and knocked him to the ground.
After following the old man for several years, he had long since had enough of being bullied. His brothers had also disliked Lin Ziqiang for a long time. They had only continued flattering him because of the money.
Now that money had become worthless, fortunes had changed. Naturally, they could torment him to death!
And then there was Lin Ziqiang’s little mistress, Ma Jingjing. Normally, she acted as though her eyes were growing out of the top of her head and did not even spare these bodyguards a glance. When ordering them around, she was incredibly imperious.
The brothers had been holding onto this resentment for a long time as well. Watching her coquettishly and seductively serve that damned bald man every day, Tao Zheng had been itching to pin the woman to the floor and have his way with her.
Taking advantage of the situation, he naturally took this woman for himself as well.
Lin Ziqiang had been beaten senseless. How could he have imagined that the people he had raised would turn out to be a pack of ingrates?
He had originally been counting on hiding in the villa and waiting for these people to come rescue him. Instead, the moment they arrived, they knocked him to the ground first.
And so, his long and miserable life of abuse began.
Those people stripped him naked and tied him up in the bathroom. They forced him to drink urine and water from the toilet, forced him to lick the toilet clean, burned him with cigarette butts, refused to give him food, and whenever they were in a bad mood, they would beat him viciously to vent their anger.
The more he begged for mercy, the harder they beat him. Every day, he lived worse than an animal, wishing he were dead.
As for his little mistress, Ma Jingjing, she was extremely perceptive. She immediately fawned over Brother Zheng with coquettish cries of “Brother Zheng, Brother Zheng,” desperately trying to please him. In the end, she managed to protect herself.
Originally, Brother Zheng’s plan had been proceeding smoothly. Everything was within his calculations. Before he had even had time to become carried away with himself and fulfill his ambitions, he encountered the doctor…
That was the entire story.
After finally finishing his account, Lin Ziqiang collapsed to the side, breathing out more than he breathed in.
“Why… does he look like he’s about to die?” Bai Mingxi said somewhat worriedly.
The doctor couldn’t be bothered to care whether Lin Ziqiang lived or died. He still intended to live in this house in the future. The man had better not die in here and dirty up his house.
That’s right.
His house!
“Hey—you. What about you? What grudge do you have against him?” The doctor raised his chin and kicked the furious middle-aged man again.
“He! He got my wife and child killed—” the middle-aged man roared hoarsely. “He deserves to die! Die! I want to kill him! Drag him out and feed him to the zombies! And that woman! That woman—”
His furious gaze turned toward the seductive woman, Ma Jingjing, who was sprawled on the floor.
“Oh.”
The doctor responded indifferently, picking at his ear with his little finger.
“You’re too noisy. I’ll think about whether I should listen to you finish your story or just deal with you right now.”
Under the doctor’s gaze, the middle-aged man finally regained his reason.
When he remembered what kind of person the doctor in front of him was, he could not help shivering.
Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi were also looking at him now, waiting for him to tell his story.
Lin Ziqiang had just forced himself to tell his story even while barely clinging to life, so there was no way he could refuse.
Therefore, he organized his thoughts and began recounting what had happened that day.
It turned out that the man’s name was He Gang.
That day, after Quan Xiaoyu drove away,
He Gang had originally wanted to imitate Quan Xiaoyu and pry open a car to drive away with his wife and child.
He smashed the window of a car and managed to open the door, only to discover that without the key, he could not start the vehicle.
In his panic, he saw Lin Ziqiang and Ma Jingjing driving their own car and preparing to leave, so he brought his wife and child over and begged them to give them a ride.