There were many of them. If Qi Yue resisted, it wouldn’t end well for him. Besides, his stored water was running low, and the remaining rice, flour, and cooked food he had left couldn’t all be carried away anyway. It would be smarter to act generous, give them some food, and earn goodwill. Besides, the easy-to-spoil items like meat and eggs had already been cooked or made into dishes and stored inside his space. Those supplies alone were enough to last him more than a year.
But thinking about that “space” still made him furious.
What kind of useless space ability was this? It could only store kitchenware and food. Sure, space-type abilities were rare, but in his previous lives he’d heard of people with all kinds of amazing ones. Some could store anything, some could grow crops, some had spiritual springs that strengthened the body, and some could even hide people inside to avoid danger. The most powerful ones could attack zombies directly through the space!
But his? His could only… keep food warm.
Just thinking about it made his face twist with frustration. What an injustice.
“Forget it,” Qi Yue finally said. “You can come in. I still have some food left.”
He looked at the one who seemed to be their leader, the tall young man named Liao Feifan and added, “But you’ll have to make sure I get out of here safely.”
“Then welcome to our team!” Liao Feifan replied enthusiastically, smiling with great sincerity. “I’ll never abandon anyone in my group!”
The others were surprised. Just a few minutes ago, the boy had seemed reluctant to cooperate and now he was inviting them in.
Qi Yue pulled the door wide open. The group gaped, there were indeed plenty of supplies inside: bags of rice and flour piled on the floor, boxes of instant noodles, and various cooked dishes scattered across the coffee table in front of the sofa.
The family of four from upstairs, the ones who had been crying earlier, immediately shoved past everyone, rushed inside, tore open the food packaging, and devoured it like wild animals.
The others swallowed hard. In the first few days after the apocalypse began, they could still eat hot food at the university cafeteria. But once the power went out, they had to survive on cabbage, radishes, and whatever biscuits or bread they could scavenge. They’d been lucky, the apocalypse had broken out late at night, and most students who turned into zombies were trapped in dorms or on the playground. Only a handful made it to the cafeteria. If more people had survived back then, even eating would’ve been a luxury.
Now, faced with this spread of food, everyone’s stomachs growled uncontrollably. Qi Yue chuckled and motioned for them to come in.
He called over the two girls from the opposite apartment and helped move all the supplies they’d collected earlier into his home. With the power out, they chopped up the furniture and beds for firewood. Cao Xiner, who had a water ability, handled cooking easily, and together they made a hot meal and ate to their hearts’ content.
During dinner, they exchanged introductions, and Qi Yue finally learned more about them. They had heard from a radio broadcast that the government had expanded the province’s largest safe zone, S Base. One of the girls’ fathers was the city mayor and held a leadership role there. With “connections on the inside,” everyone agreed they should head for S Base together.
When they fled the university, they had two vehicles. But during their chaotic escape, they got separated. Their car had crashed into a storefront, shattering the window, and the glass had punctured the tire. After several twists and turns, they’d ended up here, at Qi Yue’s building.
Among them:
- The sunny, righteous-looking one was Liao Feifan.
- The constantly grinning joker was Sun Ling.
- The most strikingly handsome one was Tang Ke.
- The alluring girl with sharp features was Cao Xiner.
- The soft-spoken one was Du Mengyao.
- The middle-aged man from the fourth floor was Brother Zhou.
- The chubby one was Xu San, who fancied himself some kind of hero.
Qi Yue learned Xu San was around thirty and had worked as a campus security guard. There was also another thinner guard who stuck close to him. Both had abilities, but Qi Yue found them shifty-eyed and unreliable, not good people, despite their previous jobs.
As for the family upstairs, they were even less dependable. None of them had awakened abilities; only Brother Zhou was easy to deal with. The other three were picky and sneaky, constantly hiding food in their bags.
Though they’d lived in the same building for years, Qi Yue had rarely interacted with them, he was a homebody, after all. They all felt like strangers.
He sighed inwardly. Once I leave with this group, I’ll have to find my own way to the base. Otherwise, they’ll just drag me down.
When Qi Yue said he was twenty-five, everyone burst out laughing, clearly disbelieving. The two girls teased him relentlessly, calling him Little July and asking if he had a brother named August.
What nonsense. Qi Yue thought helplessly. My name literally means joy and peace of mind.
Tang Ke, leaning lazily on the sofa, smirked to himself. ‘Joy and peace of mind,’ huh? I’m definitely feeling joyful right now but when will my ‘body’ get to feel that peace? The thought alone made his blood stir. Qi Yue, oblivious, didn’t realize someone nearby was already harboring impure thoughts about him.
When asked why he had stockpiled so much food, rice, flour, and even toilet paper, Qi Yue vaguely explained that he’d been planning to open a restaurant but since the shop was still under renovation, he had stored everything at home. Then the apocalypse hit unexpectedly. Everyone exclaimed about his incredible luck.
Night soon fell completely. To avoid attracting the zombies downstairs with light or noise, they decided to wait until morning to make new plans. They organized a night watch in three shifts, each group taking two hours.
Liao Feifan and two other male students formed one group, the two security guards and Brother Zhou another. Originally, Zhou’s son was supposed to take the watch so Qi Yue could rest, after all, this was his home, and they’d need him alert to lead the way out. But the young man acted spoiled and foul-mouthed, and his family coddled him, so in the end, Brother Zhou took his place.
The third watch was Tang Ke, Sun Ling, and Qi Yue, scheduled for the middle of the night.
Qi Yue was half-asleep when he felt someone shaking him. He rubbed his eyes, it was Tang Ke, one of the students. A celebrity, actually, Qi Yue vaguely remembered hearing him sing before. The guy was handsome, Qi Yue himself was 178 cm, but Tang Ke was taller, maybe 185 cm. Lean but not frail, sharp-browed and bright-eyed, with fair skin and crimson lips, his presence was striking. His gaze always carried a teasing glint, as though he could see right through people.
Qi Yue blinked drowsily at him, not realizing how irresistibly cute he looked: flushed cheeks, damp eyes that shimmered from being rubbed. Bewitching, Tang Ke thought, his pulse quickening. Utterly enchanting.
Gender didn’t matter to him; what mattered was attraction. He’d played around with men before, so what if this one was male? The more he looked at Qi Yue, the more his heart itched. Although he wasn’t that old, but looking at Qi Yue, it would be better to clarify.
Sun Ling’s voice broke in cheerfully: “Our turn for night watch!” He glanced at Qi Yue and couldn’t help thinking, D*mn, even as a guy, my heart would be moved for this face. Thank god I’m a straight man and won’t be seduced.
Seeing Sun Ling’s gaze linger a bit too long, Tang Ke’s smile vanished. He coughed sharply, breaking the moment.
“How old are you?” Tang Ke asked casually but his tone was probing. He needed to make sure he wasn’t lusting after a kid.
“Twenty-five,” Qi Yue replied proudly, raising a brow with a grin. “You should be calling me older brother, right?”
“Yeah, right, Little July,” Sun Ling laughed, tugging playfully at Qi Yue’s cheeks. “Be serious, how old are you really? You don’t look a day over sixteen. Tall, sure, but come on, who’d believe twenty-five?”
“Don’t call me Little July! I really am twenty-five!” Qi Yue protested, glancing at Tang Ke for support. But when he saw Tang Ke also smirking in disbelief, he deflated and muttered, “Fine. Seventeen.”
Tang Ke chuckled, reached out to ruffle his hair, and said, “That’s better. Don’t pretend to be an adult. Come on, call me older brother.”
Qi Yue frowned, face crumpling, and whispered reluctantly, “Older Brother…”
Sun Ling burst into laughter, while Tang Ke nodded, satisfied.
Unbelievable, Qi Yue thought bitterly. Tell the truth, no one believes you. Make something up, and they swallow it whole. What kind of IQ is that…? And “Older Brother,” huh? If I add up all my lifetimes, I’m old enough to be your grandfather!
Everyone else was sleeping soundly, while the three of them sat together talking, getting more and more animated as the conversation went on. Although Qi Yue had been a homebody before the apocalypse, after experiencing so many cycles of rebirth, seeing, hearing, and witnessing all kinds of things, he actually had a lot he could talk about with them. Sun Ling naturally loved to chat and was good at setting the mood, and as for Tang Ke, that went without saying, coming from a wealthy family, being a celebrity, and having traveled to countless places, he had seen far more of the world than the others. The three of them felt like old friends who regretted not meeting sooner.
After a long while, it was the security guards’ turn to keep watch. Only then did they stop talking. The three reluctantly went to find a place to lie down and sleep. The beds in the room had been chopped up and burned as firewood when they were cooking, so everyone could only sleep on the floor. The two-bedroom apartment had two rooms: one for the girls, and the other for the remaining people. Whoever was on night watch slept in the living room.
Tang Ke lay next to Qi Yue. He turned over to face him. After a whole day of keeping his nerves taut, once he relaxed for even a moment, exhaustion washed over him, and he drifted off to sleep as he looked at Qi Yue’s bright, lively face. Meanwhile, Qi Yue lay on the floor, unable to sleep after talking so much, something he hadn’t done in a long time and especially since the conversation had flowed so well. He was excited, tossing and turning like a pancake. Turning his head, he saw that Tang Ke had already fallen asleep, facing toward him.
It was autumn, and the night was chilly. Tang Ke was lying very close to him. A gentle breeze blew, lifting the soft hair at Tang Ke’s forehead, drawing a graceful arc in the air. His black hair framed his now-closed dark eyes. His long eyelashes trembled lightly. His delicate features, so different from Qi Yue’s own, looked very handsome. His lips always carried a faint curve, and his breath brushed lightly across Qi Yue’s face, making Qi Yue suddenly feel his cheeks heat up.
He slapped his own face to break off the nonsense in his mind, closed his eyes, and got ready to sleep. Suddenly, he sensed that Tang Ke’s breathing had become rapid. His whole body was trembling, curling tightly into a ball. Qi Yue reached out to touch his forehead and found it burning hot.
Did he catch a cold from the chill?
He tried to wake Tang Ke, but by then Tang Ke had already begun vomiting uncontrollably and had slipped into unconsciousness.
