The connection was lost, and An Nuan and Luo Luo blinked.
"It seems it's really not just one person."
"I don't understand this. Black Smoke is two people? The one with the amazing hacking skills is definitely today's, so what's the other one for?"
"Maybe it's also a team combination like us."
An Nuan thought of the fangs and Adam's apple from that day. If Black Smoke was a team, then who was he really...
An Nuan thought for half the night, which led to insomnia and Fu Yunlei getting beaten up by his brother.
The next day, the weather was excellent, a rare clear and sunny day since the apocalypse.
An Nuan got up before five, had a simple meal with Luo Luo, and left the villa area on their silent electric bikes before the girls opposite them woke up.
Once they reached deeper water, they immediately switched to an assault boat and headed for their destination.
Jun Hua Building was in a worse state than they had imagined.
The water had reached the fourth floor, and there were bloodstains sprayed on the outer walls of the building, with rotten limbs hanging in some places.
Luo Luo first used the satellite infrared scanner on the building. Indeed, some zombies were detected, but no mutated ones.
Juanzi also showed no abnormal reactions.
If there were only zombies, things would be easier.
An Nuan jumped onto the sewage pipe on the fifth floor first, with Luo Luo following closely.
Without even a hint of breathlessness, they easily climbed to the thirteenth floor.
As soon as they entered the apartment, they were hit by a strong smell of blood and various other foul odors.
Luo Luo, not used to such a dirty environment, immediately felt nauseous and almost threw up.
An Nuan, however, was relatively fine.
The shelters in her past life were not much better than this.
Small shelters housed tens of thousands of people. The kitchen waste generated by so many people eating, the discarded items from daily life, the waste produced by people themselves, and the smell of over a hundred days without bathing – that was truly overwhelming.
Shelters built above ground were somewhat better, with ventilation and less intense odors.
The underground ones were a living hell.
Luo Luo covered her mouth and nose, forcing herself to adapt to the smell of the apartment building.
They walked towards apartment 1325.
Along the way, they saw many doors with dents and countless smaller marks.
"Xiao Nuan, we're here."
Luo Luo knocked on the door, "Lan Mi, are you inside?"
As she spoke, half the corridor echoed with the sound.
An Nuan shushed her and pointed at the doorknob.
Luo Luo nodded and hacked into the electronic lock.
The moment the door opened, a pair of scissors lunged towards her forehead. An Nuan reacted quickly, kicking out at the attacker's abdomen.
"Wait!"
Luo Luo immediately used her vines to entangle them both.
If that kick had landed, Lan Mei would have been crippled, if not worse.
"Luo Luo? An Zong?"
Lan Mi's eyes were unfocused, bloodshot, and her hair was disheveled.
Upon seeing familiar faces, tears instantly streamed down her face.
She quickly pulled them both inside, re-closed the door, and barricaded it with several stacked stools.
"Lan Mi, your place is quite a spectacle!"
The studio used to be very clean, always giving a comfortable impression.
Now it was completely transformed. Garbage was piled into small mountains in the corners, emitting a foul odor.
On the other side, a small nest was made of towels and other fabric items, along with a yellowed long down jacket.
An Nuan smelled a strange odor upon entering.
"What's so pungent?"
"It was too cold the last couple of days, so I used hair styling products to make a simple heating device. It was warm for a while. Luckily, I thought the shop's supplies were old and I bought a large batch of towels. Last year's down jacket was also stuffed in the corner without being washed, which saved me for now."
Using chemical products for heating explained why her current physical condition looked so poor.
An Nuan saw wrappers from small bread packages and various crackers scattered everywhere, as well as empty bottles of small mineral water.
They were likely purchases meant for guests.
It was fortunate she had these food and water supplies, otherwise she wouldn't have lasted this long.
Lan Mi was both excited and thrilled to see familiar faces and offered them the last few bottles of water.
"I'm so sorry I almost injured you just now. I thought someone was breaking in!"
An Nuan asked, "I saw some doors were smashed, and others were broken open. Was it the zombies?"
Lan Mi shook her head.
"It was those crazed people. At first, no one wanted to go out. Then, someone with children and elderly people knocked on doors asking for help. I didn't open it, but a family opposite did, and several people immediately rushed in and... "
Lan Mi felt like throwing up at the memory.
Later, they even pressed their eyes against her peephole to look inside.
Lan Mi was so scared she couldn't move.
It was likely that many people knew her place was a studio, not a home like others, and thus had more food and supplies.
Furthermore, since she had previously installed a high-security anti-theft door, others didn't waste time trying to break into her unit.
Lan Mi said, choking back sobs.
"After that, screams and sounds of madness could always be heard in the building. Later, there were monsters. Everyone was afraid to open their doors. Now, I don't know what the situation is like outside."
"Have you been here all this time? What about your employees?"
Luo Luo remembered there were other employees here, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"We have Mondays off. Those two young lovers went out to play, and it happened to be the day the heavy rain started. When I came back to inventory things, it started raining heavily. I was trapped for over half a month. I don't know how they are doing now."
Lan Mi took a few deep breaths and swallowed her tears.
Luo Luo patted her shoulder, "Everyone has their own fate. Perhaps they are living very well!"
"That's true, maybe we'll meet again in the future."
Lan Mi forced a smile and generously took two bottles of mineral water from the remaining five for them.
"You must be thirsty too. I don't have much water, please take these."
An Nuan and Luo Luo exchanged a look.
Lan Mi was a good person. Reliable.
Lan Mi said, "How did you two find me? It's not safe here. There are dozens of households on this floor. What if someone attacks you along the way? You need to find a safe place to hide!"
"We've already found a relatively safe place, but we're missing a Tony instructor, so we came to invite you to join us. Are you willing?"
"What?"
Lan Mi didn't understand.
An Nuan didn't explain. She conjured a lot of food out of thin air and then put it back into her space.
Lan Mi stared, dumbfounded. "What is that? It's like a magic trick!"
"This is my space. It contains a large amount of food and supplies. If you're with us, you won't have to eat bread every day anymore."
Luo Luo added, "Thanks to Xiao Nuan, we have meat and rice every day, as well as clean water and electricity. Give us your answer, are you coming with us?"
Meat and rice, electricity, and now such a place, it was paradise.
Why hesitate when going to paradise? Let's go!