Surviving the apocalypse with a wife and a system! [GL]

Some people were still too slow to realize it, and some were only pretending not to know because the truth was too ugly to look at directly. Bai Li shut the browser down after a while and opened the group chat messages for Building 9. The little red notification number was even more annoying now because there were so many people tagging her.

Bai Li started reading from the beginning and found that there were quite a few messages tagging her. She scrolled up and down, her expression becoming more and more indifferent as she went.

Zhang Ming2001: @Bai Li, Sister Lin, I beg you, I really have a craving for cigarettes. I’ll give you anything in return, I’ll kneel down and kowtow to you.

302 Wang Hao: @Bai Li, Sister Lin, I usually live alone and order takeout. I’m really out of rice and flour at home. Please, please help me.

Wu Qi 1104: There are three people in my family. My son is only 12 years old. You can’t bear to see a child starve to death, right? @Bai Li, you can’t be so selfish. Since you have the ability, please save everyone.

Wang Dong 704: @Bai Li, I even helped you with the surveillance camera installation. Bai Li, could you please help me out of that and give me some food?

There were other people too. Some were crying poor. Some were pretending to reason with her. Some were using old favors and half fake pity. Some were acting like they were standing on high ground and had suddenly become very righteous because they were hungry. Bai Li looked at the screen and nearly rolled her eyes.

These people had not been this enthusiastic when they first got enough food to last a while. They had not been this eager when they still believed the situation could be contained. Now that the building was running into real trouble, now that the taps were dry and the stores were closed, they suddenly remembered she was the person with the ability to move supplies. Suddenly they all had something to say. Suddenly they were all family, all neighbors, all helpless citizens who needed kindness.

Bai Li scrolled down a little more and saw even more messages. One person said they had just one bag of instant noodles left. Another said their child had not eaten properly in two days. Another said they were willing to pay, though the amount they offered was so ridiculous that Bai Li almost wondered if they were insulting her on purpose. One person even sent a message full of threats hidden inside soft words, saying everyone should help each other in this kind of time, otherwise the whole building would not be able to stay peaceful.

That one made Bai Li’s lips curl.

Peaceful?

She had seen enough of human nature by now to know that when people said peaceful, they often meant they wanted someone else to give them what they wanted without making noise. Once that failed, the so called peace would vanish first from their mouths, then from their hearts. People like that were the ones who smiled at you today and tried to rush your door tomorrow night with a wrench and a thick face.

Bai Li closed the chat for a second and leaned back in the chair. Her eyes were calm, but her mind was moving quickly. The building had to be watched closely. Lin Lei and his mother were already circling like rats. Zhang Ming looked rich, but rich people could be even more desperate when they were used to getting everything they wanted. Wang Hao had the tone of someone who wanted to squeeze every last drop out of other people’s kindness. As for Wu Qi, Bai Li could already tell he was trying to use a child as a shield. That kind of person made her feel even colder than the rest.

The only reason she still had any patience left was because she knew Yan Cijin and Yan Laojin were here, and because the little girl was here too.

If she was alone, she would have been even less polite.

From the bathroom, water kept running. The sound was faint and steady, and somehow it made the room feel safer. Bai Li glanced toward the bathroom door without thinking. Yan Cijin was in there with the little girl, helping her wash her hair and probably trying to keep her from splashing water everywhere. Bai Li could almost picture it. The little girl making little noises, Yan Cijin trying to stay serious while secretly softening every time LiLi laughed, and then both of them getting a little wet because the child definitely was not going to sit still for long.

A small smile slipped onto Bai Li’s face.

She did not really know when it had happened, but Yan Cijin’s presence had already become something she looked for without meaning to. It was not loud, not obvious, not the kind of thing that could be claimed with a big speech. It was just there. A little bit of warmth at the edge of her thoughts. A little bit of concern. A little bit of wanting to keep seeing that woman safe, even when the world outside was falling apart.

Bai Li understood her own feelings well enough, but she also understood what those feelings meant in a place like this.

Love was not the same as liking someone pretty. Love was not just excitement or a flutter in the chest. In the apocalypse, love had to survive fear, danger, hunger, loss, and the ugly truth that people could die at any second. If she really wanted Yan Cijin in her life, then she had to be sure she could keep her safe. Not in some empty promise way. Not in some halfhearted saying. She had to know she could protect her with everything she had. She had to know she would not betray her trust.

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TO BE CONTINUED.

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