CH 15

Since the flashlight has a limited power, Jiang Miaomiao has also brought in the solar power bank, but it can only last up to three days.

They didn't know how long it would take to live like this. In fact, just two hours after she came in, she started to feel bored.

Under the quilt, she curled up with her eyes closed and took a nap. She blinked in the dark and couldn't help shouting.

"Lu Qiming."

"En."

She was relieved to hear the familiar voice in her ears.

"Are you sleepy?"

"Not sleepy."

"Come to chat?"

Lu Qiming chuckled softly and the low laughter echoed in the cramped basement.

"Are you afraid?"

She pouted, "I don't have one."

"Then why did you take the initiative to chat with me?"

Lu Qiming felt that the relationship between them was quite strange. He could say that it's either good or bad.

When she's in danger, she is very willing to listen to his commands and will cooperate with him regardless of everything to get rid of the danger together.

But after returning to safety, they would always quarrel after less than three sentences.

Jiang Miaomiao was upset by his question, "If you don't want to talk, you don't have to. Someone thinks he's rare, humph!"

1

Next to the shelf was a pile of food, she groped in the dark, found a pack of pickled chicken feet and nibbled it up alone.

The squeaky sound kept ringing, like that of a little rat.

Lu Qiming's voice was eerie.

"Have you heard the story of the chicken feet?"

1

Jiang Miaomiao was at a loss, "What story can chicken feet have?"

"Once upon a time, there was a boss of a food stall, whose business has always been very bad. When he was about to close down, he met an expert's advice and turned to selling chicken feet, and suddenly became popular."

"His chicken feet are so unique that you can't have that taste anywhere else, but they are only limited to 100 servings per day, which was very difficult to buy."

"One day, another shop owner wanted to steal his recipe and hid in his kitchen, only to find him dragging a man out of the cabinet. He chopped off the man’s hands and feet, and then threw them into the pot to cook..."

Jiang Miaomiao immediately felt that the more she ate the chicken feet, the more disgusting she felt and she vomited them out.

Lu Qiming was still talking in a deadpan tone: "...He was so scared and sweaty that he wanted to run. Then the boss suddenly bent down and said to him with a smile, tomorrow's chicken feet were found..."

"Ah!"

Her scalp went numb and she threw herself into his arms with a cry of surprise, and punched him in the chest.

Lu Qiming laughed at her while touching her hair, "Coward."

She was so angry that she opened her mouth to bite him and screamed.

2

"Do you still want to continue?"

"No, let me go."

Only then did she let him go.

Lu Qiming touched the wound on his chest and complained incessantly.

"It's a pity that you're not a zombie. Fortunately, I'm not a girl, otherwise I won't be able to milk after that bite."

2

Jiang Miaomiao sneered, "Who let you deliberately scare me? You deserve it."

She returned to her previous position and lay down, but she didn't stay there for a long time. She kept thinking about the story he just told. She panicked and moved closer to him.

Lu Qiming was also bored. He leaned against the concrete wall and suddenly began to sing.

1

His voice was deep and sounded so safe.

The lyrics he hummed were so vague that after Jiang Miaomiao listened for a long time, she couldn't hear what he was humming.

She wanted to ask him what he was singing, but it was too comfortableㅡquiet, dark, his temperature and his singing.

Only a few minutes later, she fell asleep.

When she woke up, there was light in front of her. Jiang Miaomiao rubbed her eyes and looked closely. She found that Lu Qiming was cooking.

The gas tank was too heavy and could explode, so they didn't move it down here.

1

Lu Qiming made a simple diesel stove with an iron bucket. The pot was placed on top and the oil was at the bottom. It was very convenient to use.

The oil stove gave out a flickering light. Due to environmental constraints, it's not convenient to cook. Thus, he only cooked two packs of instant noodles.

After the water was boiled, he put the noodles and seasonings, and the fragrance spread quickly.

Jiang Miaomiao sat up slowly while looking at his back with joy.

If he hadn't come to this Villa, she must have committed suicide long ago and she could never be here right at this moment.

It's just that in the apocalypse, it's not necessarily a good thing to be alive.

Lu Qiming filled the bowl with noodles and looked back at her with a surprise in his eyes.

"Awake? Are you hungry?"

She nodded and Lu Qiming handed her the bowl of noodles and filled a bowl for himself. He extinguished the stove and sat side by side with her in the dark to eat the noodles.

"We don't know when the zombie tide will end. It's going to be tough for us, but there should be enough supplies in the basement to support us."

"What about after it passes?"

"En?"

"Are you going to find your friends?"

Lu Qiming was silent for a few seconds and then added:

"I can take you with me if you like."

Jiang Miaomiao shook her head and remembered that he couldn't see it, so she said:

"No need, that's your friends, not mine. It's not like I can't do anything, I'll just eat what's left. Even if the world is still in peace, isn't it just a drag to run at this time? I better live alone."

Lu Qiming said: "It doesn't matter. I'm strong and I can take care of you."

3

Jiang Miaomiao still refused and continued to eat her noodles.

2

This fragrant noodles doesn't seem to be as good as it smells.

She chewed the noodles that tasted like vine pepper in her mouth and missed eating roasted duck, fried chicken, trotters and even a plate of boiled green vegetables.

Lu Qiming fumbled on the shelf, found a pack of something and tore it in half.

"Do you want some shredded kelp?"

Jiang Miaomiao hurriedly handed out her bowl and ate the instant noodles with shredded kelp, and it finally had a bit more flavor.

After eating, she took the initiative to wash the dishes, which was rare.

Due to the fear of using water too fast, they were particularly economical when washing dishes. The used water was poured into the corner and the bowl was returned to the diesel stove.

After finishing all of this, she was about to lie down and suddenly thought of an embarrassing thing.

"How do we use the toilet?"

3

The basement is about 50 square meters, which has been filled with various supplies, leaving little room for their activities. Where can they make a toilet?

Lu Qiming also forgot about this and when she mentioned it, he thought about it and looked at the corner using the flashlight.

1

"Up here."

He moved the things around him, came back and said, "That corner will be used as our toilet in the future."

It’s fine to only live here for a day or two, but in case the zombies won't leave for half a month. If they were gonna spend half a month here and used that corner as their toilet, the picture of that corner... vomit!

Jiang Miaomiao almost vomited after thinking about it, she muttered: "It would be better to turn on the gas if I knew this earlier."

Lu Qiming didn't speak. She was full and sleepy. They became the most qualified pigs in the end of the world, so she continued to sleep.

Waking up again, she heard a knocking sound in her ears.

Jiang Miaomiao searched for the flashlight for a long time and there was a light in the corner.

Lu Qiming shone the flashlight at her. The light was so dazzling that she subconsciously covered her eyes and he immediately retracted the light.

Jiang Miaomiao asked: "What are you doing?"

"Digging a pit."

"Why dig a pit?"

"In this way, sewage and excrement won't flow around at least. I will pile up the excavated soil next to it and then we will use it to cover our waste. I'll use the rest of the wooden board as a cover later. No need to cover it normally."

1

Jiang Miaomiao ran over in surprise.

"But can this floor be dug?"

She had tried it before and broke all her hands, but failed to make a hole.

Lu Qiming looked proud.

"You see what this is?"

Jiang Miaomiao had already walked to his side. She looked in the direction of his finger and there was a pit about the size of a washbasin on the ground.

"I'll dig it a little deeper and it'll work."

Lu Qiming said and gave her the flashlight. He picked up the hammer and chisel again.

Jiang Miaomiao couldn't help holding his hands to examine them closely, she's suspecting that his bones were made of iron.

The other party's hands are very large and warm, because he was working, his skin was sweaty.

He said with a smile, "Are you adoring me?"

She immediately flung his hands away, "Come on, I'm just going to see how thick your skin is."

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "I was a small white face for a while and now I'm thick skin. I really have it hard."

Jiang Miaomiao said: "Who allowed you to always fool me and not tell the truth?"

Lu Qiming shrugged and diverted the topic.

"Go back and lie down. Don't block my light."

Jiang Miaomiao refused to leave, "I'll help."

"Not getting in the way here is your biggest help."

...Since he had said this, she was more comfortable being idle.

Jiang Miaomiao returned to her quilt and habitually wanted to get something to eat, but the ghost story he told appeared in her mind and her hand silently shrunk back.  She closed her eyes and counted the number of times he dug the soil.

1, 2, 3...

When she reached 453, Lu Qiming was done. He washed his face and hands with cold water, and came back to lie down to rest.

It didn't take long for the instant noodles to be digested and they started cooking again.

There was no sunlight in the basement and there was no way to tell between day and night.

The only one who could judge the time was Jiang Miaomiao's watch.

She would draw a line on the concrete wall every 12 hours. When she reached the 8th line, she felt that she's close to going crazy.

Before moving in, her life was boring yet tolerable.

Now there's no sunlight, no vegetables and even the air was turbid. The calligraphy and painting that she was tired of doing before has now become a luxury.

She stared at the bathtub and even fantasized the zombies pushing it and rushing in, so that she will have a reason to ignite all the diesel to end this life.

1

Lu Qiming was much calmer than her. He cooks, eats and sleeps on time every day, and even insists on lifting buckets to exercise every day. He's very adapted to this kind of pig like lifestyle.

When the mark reached the 11th line, Jiang Miaomiao leaned against the wall and began to talk to herself.

1

Lu Qiming put the buckets down, wiped his sweat and sat beside her with the peach blossoms.

"Let's make a bet."

"Bet on what?" She raised her head happily.

"Bet on how long the zombie tide will pass."

Lu Qiming was full of confidence, "I'm guessing that there are at most three days left."

1

Jiang Miaomiao raised her ears and listened to the movement outside.

Since she moved into the basement, she always heard something ringing on the ground and it's estimated that the zombies had entered the Villa long ago.

These days, the movements have gradually become larger and more frequent. Obviously, the number of zombies had increased and they were desperately looking for food.

She shook her head, "You can't talk so fast."

"How many days are you guessing?" 

Jiang Miaomiao estimated a number and was about to say that when she thought that the stakes weren't mentioned, she asked:

"If you win, what will you give me?"

Lu Qiming said: "I will bring you all the jewelry from the jewelry store."

The other party obviously likes jewelry. She's still wearing that necklace, but she just doesn't admit it.

1

Jiang Miaomiao was really moved, "I guess there are only ten days left."

"Well, what if you lose?"

She thought about it carefully, but found that she didn't have anything on hand, so she had to ask him.

"What do you want?"

Lu Qiming touched her head in the dark.

"I want you to think about what to do when you're in danger, instead of dying right away."