Sheng Ge: Since someone else is treating us, even if it’s not enough to eat, don’t say it out loud. That’s basic courtesy.
Ah Bao: Oh… okay.
The three of them ate the two dishes on the table while each harboring their own thoughts. Yun Yanwu continued introducing the situation of the base to Sheng Ge and Ah Bao, completely unaware that the Grandma Grandmaster-and-disciple duo had already started despising him for being stingy.
Right at that moment, a commotion suddenly broke out at the cafeteria entrance.
“Please, sir, just give me some leftovers. My daughter is starving to death. Please, sir, I’m begging you. Just a little bit is enough.”
At the entrance, a woman in a filthy shirt was kneeling before a cafeteria worker, clutching onto his leg as she begged desperately.
Passersby occasionally stopped to watch, whispering and pointing at her.
“I already told you there’s nothing! Hurry up and leave.”
The worker impatiently tried to yank his leg free from the woman’s grip. Though she looked weak and thin, she held on tightly. After several attempts, he still failed to shake her off.
“I’m begging you. My husband died while clearing zombies. My daughter is all I have left. I’m not asking for much—even spoiled leftovers are fine, even swill is okay…”
The woman continued pleading.
“Can’t you understand human language? I already said no, no, no! In times like these, where would there even be spoiled leftovers?”
Even if there were, they would not have enough for themselves.
The worker’s impatience grew stronger, and his pushing became rougher and rougher.
It was unknown whether the woman failed to hear him or simply refused to let go. She continued crying and begging while gripping him tightly.
Sheng Ge and the other two watched the scene through the glass window.
“It’s nothing serious. This is the only cafeteria in the base. People often come here begging for food.”
Yun Yanwu spoke as though he was already used to it.
“A lot of people in the base have nothing to eat?”
Yun Yanwu sighed.
“There’s no helping it. Although the base has the frozen storage building, it’s already been more than a year since the apocalypse started. Most of the food inside has already been consumed, and the crops from the plantation can’t meet demand.
“So the higher-ups are becoming stricter and stricter about controlling food. Even people who can go out and work are barely surviving, much less lonely widows and orphans like them.”
“So no one cares about situations like this?”
Yun Yanwu looked awkward for a moment.
“……The base has its own difficulties too.”
Sheng Ge fell into thought.
The other people inside the cafeteria had already lost interest and withdrew their gazes, continuing to eat their own meals.
“What’s going on here? Why is it so noisy?”
A gentle voice sounded out.
A woman dressed in a red dress walked in from behind the crowd.
The moment people around her saw her, they all made way for her. Even the cafeteria worker’s expression changed greatly as he looked at the woman respectfully and awkwardly.
“Miss Xu, hello. This… I’ll handle it immediately. I definitely won’t let this disturb you.”
As he spoke, the worker was about to drag the woman away by force, but the woman in red raised her hand to stop him.
“What are you doing? This elder sister is already so pitiful. Are you trying to kill her by pulling so hard?”
The woman in red frowned.
The worker awkwardly withdrew his hand.
The kneeling woman seemed to suddenly see a new glimmer of hope and lunged toward the woman in red.
However, she was blocked by the ability-user guards behind her.
The woman did not care about being blocked. She simply dropped to her knees and cried as she begged:
“Miss Xu, please save my daughter. She’s starving to death. She’s only three years old. Please give me some food. Just a little bit is enough, really, I’m begging you.”
“Ah, such a pitiful child.”
The woman in red sighed sympathetically before turning to the worker.
“Just give her some food.”
The worker gave an awkward smile.
“Miss Xu, it’s not that I don’t want to. There really isn’t any. The amount of supplies entering and leaving the base every day is fixed. Right now, the base’s resources are already extremely tight, so this…”
Hearing that, the woman in red sighed softly.
“Is that so? I nearly forgot…”
“Hmph. So fake.”
Inside the cafeteria, Yun Yanwu subconsciously snorted coldly while watching everything unfold.
“An enemy?” Sheng Ge raised a brow.
“Uh… not exactly. Mainly because our captain…”
Yun Yanwu was halfway through explaining when the woman in red at the entrance continued speaking:
“I know supplies in the base are becoming increasingly scarce, and many people are struggling to survive.
“But everyone should know that my father, Professor Xu, used to work at a research institute. He’s already working on ways to help the plant-type ability users in our base increase crop yields. I believe it won’t be long before our food shortage situation improves and gets resolved.”
Yun Yanwu’s expression instantly darkened.
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
“Professor Xu used to work at a research institute. He definitely can do it.”
“If our plant-type ability users can grow more food, does that mean our base won’t go hungry anymore?”
“Then why didn’t Professor Xu help the plant-type ability users earlier?”
The people gathered at the cafeteria entrance immediately began discussing excitedly after hearing the woman in red speak. One after another, they crowded around Xu Mengqi asking questions.
Listening to their discussion, Yun Yanwu’s expression became darker and darker.
“Isn’t this a good thing? Why do you look so angry?” Sheng Ge asked curiously.
“You don’t understand.”
Yun Yanwu irritably scratched his head.
“That woman is called Xu Mengqi. She’s our Base Chief’s… lover, and she’s always been at odds with Captain Song.
“And her father, Professor Xu, previously developed a method that helps ability users upgrade their powers faster, which allowed him to win over many ability users. Now he’s starting to interfere with the plantation too.
“If this continues, more and more people in the base will support him, which will be very disadvantageous for the Base Chief.”
“The things Xu Mengqi said here today were probably intentional on the part of her and her father.”
The more Yun Yanwu spoke, the more convinced he became that this was the case.
After all, when had Xu Mengqi ever come to a place like the cafeteria to eat? As the Base Chief’s lover, she always had specially prepared meals for herself.
Sheng Ge frowned.
“Oh, so… even during the apocalypse, you people are still fighting over power?”
Sheng Ge looked at Yun Yanwu with the gaze of someone looking at an idiot.
Yun Yanwu: “……Well, where there are people, there’s conflict.”
Sheng Ge merely replied with an “Oh,” but inwardly she truly could not understand it.
Humanity was already facing the survival crisis of an entire species during the apocalypse. What was the point of fighting amongst themselves at a time like this?
Would zombies suddenly spare them?
Would mutated animals and plants bow their heads in submission?
After being surrounded and questioned for a while longer, Xu Mengqi finally left under the protection of her guards. She never actually entered the cafeteria to eat.
That truly did make it seem as though she had deliberately come just to stage a performance.
As Xu Mengqi departed, the gathered crowd gradually dispersed as well. Only the woman who had been kneeling and begging remained slumped on the ground, completely ignored.
The cafeteria worker snorted coldly at the woman before heading back inside.
After witnessing everything, the woman laughed mockingly and then cried again. She knew there was no way she would get food today.
An endless sense of sorrow and despair welled up in her heart.
Just as she was about to stand up and try her luck somewhere else, two steamed buns suddenly appeared before her eyes.
The woman looked up.
An eight- or nine-year-old little boy stood before her, holding out the steamed buns toward her.