Inside dorm 835, the four grown men held their half cobs of corn as if they were holding bars of gold.
Chen Yiyi took a bite, and the sweet juice of the corn burst inside his mouth. Tears immediately streamed down his face.
“Sweet, warm, it’s so good. I’ve never thought corn tasted this amazing before.”
Shen Lingfeng, squatting beside him, sighed repeatedly in agreement. Then he suddenly changed the subject.
“The girls across the hall are seriously loaded. They actually traded hot sweet corn for that stuff. I seriously don’t understand what’s so good about it. Just hearing about it makes my stomach turn sour.”
Even Qi Yanche, who usually did not like complaining, rarely chimed in.
“Seriously. The thing we traded them doesn’t taste good at all, but they still wanted it.”
Lu Yuan ate the fastest. All that remained in his hand now was a bare corn cob. Putting on an all knowing expression, he said, “That’s just what you guys think. You have no idea how much good stuff girls keep stocked in their dorms. They can totally turn that into a gourmet dish.”
Without even blinking, Qi Yanche picked up an empty corn cob and threw it at Lu Yuan.
“You brat, you’re a lifelong single guy. Why do you sound like you know so much about girls’ dorms? Tell the truth, have you been peeping on girls’ dorms or something?”
Lu Yuan did not get annoyed. He tossed the two corn cobs to Shutiao to chew on.
“Brother Yan, how could a pure and innocent college guy like me peep on girls? Couldn’t it be that girls who like me told me during our chats?”
Shen Lingfeng looked at Lu Yuan with complete disdain.
“This guy’s talking nonsense again.”
Chen Yiyi nodded while chewing on his corn. Taking a moment, he smacked Lu Yuan.
“Bro, don’t twist right and wrong here. If you became a simp, just say it. We won’t laugh at you.”
“…”
Lu Yuan felt like he was going insane. These two idiots really did not believe him at all.
“Brother Yan, say something fair. Girls do like me, right?” He turned toward Qi Yanche, seeking one last shred of comfort.
The moment the two looked at each other, Qi Yanche stayed silent for a long while before finally squeezing out a response.
“When I first met you, you looked like a homeless person. Honestly, you didn’t seem capable of attracting the opposite sex.”
Lu Yuan: “…”
Qi Yanche, do you really have to explain reality so seriously?!
Meanwhile, room 806 had already barricaded the door again. Sitting at the mahjong table, Master Xiao peeled and sliced up small green mangoes into a bowl, then sprinkled sour plum powder and chili powder on top.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks and took gentle bites.
The flavor exploded instantly. Sour with sweetness, sweet with spice, it immediately awakened their taste buds. The green mango juice filled their mouths, leaving an endless aftertaste.
All four immediately raised their thumbs in approval. When it came to eating fruit, Xiao Feiran truly knew what she was doing.
Cheng Zhi picked up another piece and asked while eating, “You definitely knew from the start that their dorm had green mangoes, right? When did you find out?”
Xiao Feiran looked smug. The blame lay entirely with dorm 835 for being too careless. Around two in the morning, they had eaten green mangoes plain, and they had gotten so sour they kept yelping. Xiao Feiran had good hearing and heard everything clearly.
Huang Yiyi’s mouth was stuffed full. She looked extremely satisfied with the five little green mangoes they had traded for two corn cobs.
“We both got what we wanted.”
“By the way, where did they even get green mangoes? The water’s almost flooded up to the third floor already.” Zheng Wan looked at the mangoes in front of her and voiced her confusion.
Cheng Zhi smiled and pressed her lips together.
“You guys really never paid attention around campus, huh? Our school has tons of fruit trees, mangoes, lychees, bananas, jackfruit, all kinds of stuff.”
Immediately, everyone froze.
Chen Siyu wore a blank expression. After a long pause, she finally said:
“So we’re eating landscaping mangoes?”
Cheng Zhi had just been about to comfort everyone, but before the words could leave her mouth, everyone’s chopsticks moved again.
“At a time like this, having food at all is already good enough.”
“Dirty food builds strong bodies.”
Cheng Zhi: “…”
Amazing. 5G really was fast. Everything spread quickly.
After eating and drinking their fill, everyone returned to their own spots and resumed what they had been doing.
Little White Rabbit had already given birth to two babies and was still working hard. After settling things on Little Yellow’s side, Chen Siyu hurried over to look after Little White. Rabbits generally did not require much human intervention while giving birth, so the only thing Chen Siyu could really do was make the rabbit nest warmer.
Across from her, Huang Yiyi was also seriously studying her medical books. After many days of learning, she seemed to have finally sensed a tiny bit of the profound depth of traditional Chinese medicine. Her attitude toward studying had become much more serious now.
Cheng Zhi exercised on a yoga mat, using Huang Yiyi’s pink dumbbells to train her upper body strength. She hoped that in the future, even without a weapon, she could still punch bad people to death with one hit.
Zheng Wan and Xiao Feiran went through all the supplies in the space together. The two made a list, recording items they had little of or lacked entirely. That way, the next time they went out, they could target exactly what they needed instead of searching blindly.
Once they had nearly finished the list, Xiao Feiran returned to her spot and tried searching through books and reference materials for clues about how to steal a car.
Their upcoming journey depended entirely on that vehicle.
She had to get it.
By dinnertime, Little White finally gave birth to her last baby.
Looking at the litter of little white rabbits, not a single one black, Cheng Zhi could not help marveling at how favored Little White Rabbit seemed to be by genetics.
Chen Siyu rubbed Little Black Rabbit in her hands. Human and rabbit stared at each other as she slowly said:
“Blackie, tell me honestly. Was Little White already pregnant before getting together with you? Were you just the guy who took over afterward?”
Little Black Rabbit: “…”
Cheng Zhi: “…Stop spreading rumors, okay? Little Black’s just naturally not very capable. The babies are definitely his.”
Little Black Rabbit: “…”
Please stop talking to me already. If I were human, if I didn’t curse you two to death, my surname wouldn’t be Hei!
Zheng Wan called them several times, but neither responded because they were too focused on the rabbits. As she walked over, she happened to hear the two spreading rumors about Little Black.
She immediately smacked each of them once with her chopsticks and said in a pretend fierce tone:
“Stop it. Eleven baby rabbits were born today. Little Black contributed a lot to this dorm, and you’re still treating him like this.”
“Hurry up and wash your hands for dinner. If you two still want to stare at rabbits, then tonight you can eat grass too.”
After saying that, Zheng Wan turned and walked away without looking back.
Cheng Zhi and Chen Siyu obediently followed behind her. Looking at the dishes on the table, sliced boiled pork in chili broth, stir fried tomatoes and eggs, blanched choy sum, and corn, carrot, and pork rib soup, they nearly started drooling.
Cheng Zhi scooped up a spoonful of soup, blew on it to cool it down, then drank it and immediately gave Zheng Wan a thumbs up.
“If the apocalypse ever ends, Sister Wan absolutely has to open a restaurant. This cooking skill would be wasted otherwise.”
Zheng Wan smiled calmly.
Life in the apocalypse was difficult, and ingredients were hard to come by. All she could do was make sure none of the food went to waste, turn it into meals people could eat, let everyone in 806 eat their fill, and continue living well.