Edge of the Apocalypse

Chapter 64: Chapter 60: Night Talk

Apartment 503 was a three-bedroom, one-living-room unit.

Yu Dong’s six-person team fit perfectly, with two people to a room.

Zhao Youcai wanted to room with Yu Dong, but Yu Dong chose to share with Zhou.

This was because the question he had today was crucial.

All that stuff Zhou mentioned about radioactive materials, the cause of the apocalypse... he had never told him any of it in his past life.

Seeing the serious look in Yu Dong’s eyes, Zhou burst out laughing.

"Of course it was fake. That Qiao Ping is very smart; you can’t fool her without coming up with something convincing. It was just a small project I researched a while back. I just tweaked it a bit and told her that."

"Don’t be fooled by her powerful family background and commanding presence. The more someone is like that, the more they believe in high-end hypotheses and concepts they don’t understand. They have blind faith in authority."

"This way, your secret about being a Reincarnator isn’t exposed, and we have a plausible explanation for everything... If it were real, do you think I’d be in any mood for a vacation?"

After hearing Zhou’s explanation, Yu Dong sighed.

’I was overthinking things...’

He had actually thought Zhou was involved in some secret project.

"Are we going to the 14th floor tomorrow...?" Zhou asked, a little hesitantly.

"Yes. Do you need to do it yourself?"

"No, no... I don’t have the guts."

"Alright, I’ll help you."

After speaking, Yu Dong paused, then asked, "Zhou, there’s something else I don’t get... We clearly agreed to meet on the 3rd floor at 6:30 PM, so why were you still ’connecting’ at 6:50? Do you really enjoy ’connecting’ that much?"

Zhou Jian Country’s old face flushed red.

"It’s not that I wanted to ’connect.’ I was dressed and ready to go downstairs at 6:25, but then Mei... she said I was handsome, tied up her hair, and got on her knees. You know it’s hard for a man to refuse in that situation... AHEM. Then one thing led to another, and we ended up ’connecting’ in the bedroom."

"I see... Her timing was really unfortunate. It’s a good thing we went looking for you, or you would have experienced the most hopeless way to die..."

Zhou pictured the scene... and couldn’t help but shudder.

After talking with Zhou, Yu Dong left the room, planning to use the bathroom and take a good shower.

He wouldn’t be able to wash up this comfortably in the future.

Just as he stepped out, he saw a red dot glowing in the darkness, a wisp of smoke slowly rising from it...

Behind the red dot, half a face was faintly visible.

"Can we talk?"

Recognizing the voice, Yu Dong realized it was Zhao Youcai. He asked in confusion:

"When did you start smoking?"

"Just found a soft pack. Be a waste not to smoke it... COUGH COUGH! Come on, let’s talk outside."

Slightly confused, Yu Dong followed Zhao Youcai to the main door.

They closed the apartment door. In the silent darkness, a few screams occasionally echoed... The two of them stared for a while at the world outside, where some lights still flickered.

Zhao Youcai spoke.

"Dongzi, tomorrow, I’m going to find a chance to ’send that old hag away’."

"’Send her away’ where?"

"Anywhere. Just not in this building anymore... You’re sick of her too, right? A stubborn, ungrateful old hag. She has no value. We saved her, and not only is she not grateful, she’s also being a fucking pain in the ass, causing trouble for the team... It’s a classic case of a mad dog biting Lv Dongbin!"

Zhao Youcai cursed viciously.

He had already had his reservations when Yu Dong decided to take these people in. And now... this old hag he had personally saved wasn’t just ungrateful, she was constantly spewing bullshit and throwing tantrums. This gave him a reason to abandon someone like her.

Yu Dong thought for a moment.

"Just because she yelled at us a few times, we should send her to her death?"

"Dongzi, this isn’t about whether she yelled or not! Are the things she said something a fucking normal person would say? Keeping this disgusting old fossil around is just going to cause us grief! Can you stop being so foolishly benevolent?!"

With no one else around, Zhao Youcai finally let out everything he had been holding in all day.

Yu Dong showed no impatience at this, nodding seriously.

"Youcai, I understand what you mean... Let’s just give her a little time. What happened today was very traumatic. It’s natural for people to lose control and have a stress reaction. We’ll see how she acts from now on."

"Fine! But if she’s still acting crazy tomorrow, we have to deal with her. Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. Otherwise, those other four... they won’t be obedient."

"Anyone who doesn’t align with our team’s principles will naturally be expelled. That’s what we agreed on. But... we won’t decide a matter of life and death so casually."

After saying this, Yu Dong nodded to Zhao Youcai and returned to his room.

Leaving only a single red dot and the occasional cough of Zhao Youcai in the hallway.

...

Liu Ye’ye and Shen Xinyi sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at each other. A small, cozy lamp cast a warm glow from the headboard.

Shen Xinyi was the first to ask, "Did you know Yu Dong before?"

"He said we knew each other well in our past life..."

"What about me?"

"You died pretty horribly..."

"...You really believe that whole Reincarnator story of his?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Fine, whatever. But don’t you think Yu Dong is super mysterious and handsome? On the eve of the apocalypse, he descended like a divine soldier from the heavens to save me from a tomb surrounded by zombies... So romantic, right?! Do you think he likes me? Why else would he have planned to save me so early on?"

"Huh?"

Liu Ye’ye looked at Shen Xinyi in confusion, then said softly, "Actually, he came to me first..."

"Nuh-uh~ We met first. His clumsy attempt at hitting on me was so cute~"

"Did you get to eat ice cream?"

"What ice cream?"

"I did..."

"What about the ice cream? What ice cream? Hey!? Tell me!"

Then, with a hint of smug satisfaction, Liu Ye’ye lay down, letting Shen Xinyi press her for answers but refusing to say another word. It was her and Yu Dong’s secret.

Yu Dong had told her many details that she hadn’t shared with Shen Xinyi.

...

「Apartment 501, late at night.」

Qiao Ping knocked on Yan Yikai’s door.

Her loose-fitting pajamas concealed her large belly. At this moment, she looked plump yet elegant, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and exuding the unique charm of a respectable housewife.

Yan Yikai glanced at her and asked, "Is something wrong, Auntie Qiao?"

"Kai, can I sit in your room for a bit? I want to... see Nuonuo again."

"Oh, sure. Sit wherever you like."

Yan Yikai’s room happened to face the interior of the residential complex, offering a full view of the grounds.

Tonight, the streetlights in the complex turned on automatically as usual, illuminating the zombies standing below.

Among them, a little girl with a blood-soaked mouth was wandering aimlessly by the swing set...

When Qiao Ping saw her, she covered her mouth as tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

"Nuonuo... my Nuonuo... Mommy’s useless, I couldn’t protect you... You said all day you wanted to eat chocolate, and Mommy never let you... Are you hungry, it’s so late... Mommy really wants to cook you a bowl of noodles..."

Hearing Qiao Ping’s sobs, Yan Yikai felt uneasy as well. He tried to comfort her:

"Auntie Qiao, I saw Nuonuo eating half a thigh earlier. She probably isn’t hungry now."

Qiao Ping: "..."

After grieving for a long while, Qiao Ping wiped away her tears and gave Yan Yikai an apologetic smile.

"Sorry to have made a fool of myself, Kai."

"It’s okay, it’s okay. Auntie, how about we switch rooms? It would be more convenient for you to be here..."

"No. Besides seeing Nuonuo, I have something else to discuss with you tonight."

"Hm?"

"Kai, you’re very smart. You know how to assess a situation. We should be thinking the same thing right now... For the moment, joining Yu Dong’s team is the best choice. It will take time for my uncle to assemble the military and come here."

"Yeah, Brother Dong and Brother Huang are both really strong. I have to stick with them to survive."

"Exactly. But we have to prove our value... to make them take us seriously. So, we need to do as much as we can to prepare for things they might not have thought of."

"But we can’t go anywhere now. We’ve already missed the last window to hoard supplies. For now, all we can do is follow them and clear out the zombies in Building 1, right?"

"No... we still have the internet. We can still gather knowledge in advance to help the team."

As she spoke, Qiao Ping downloaded detailed, offline maps of all of Yanhai City.

Every shop, every street, and every residential complex in the entire city was laid out in full view.

Drawing on her work experience and some internal documents from her department, she conducted a comprehensive data compilation of Yanhai City—from its industry and agriculture to a population survey. With Yan Yikai’s help, she consolidated it all into a massive file, which she named:

[Yanhai City Situation Overview].

...

"Hmph!"

"What’s wrong, baby? Don’t be mad. It’s all my fault. I promise I won’t let anyone be mean to you again... I’ll go kill zombies tomorrow, and you can just stay home with Sister Qiao. I definitely won’t let you take any risks, baby."

After being lectured by Yu Dong outside, Yang Yi returned to her room and started sulking, making Zhao Wenjie comfort her.

He spent half the night consoling her, only for her to end up rolling all the blankets around herself.

"Go ahead and freeze! And you’d better reflect on how other people can predict things, but you can’t!"

Then, using the last of her phone’s battery, she started scrolling through apocalypse-related posts on Xiaohongshu, looking to see if any surviving "sisters" had good experiences to share.

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