Hearing what Jiang Li had done, everyone’s expressions turned unpleasant.
Gu Cheng slammed her chopsticks down in anger.
“That Jiang Li must be mentally ill. Why does she always drag me into everything? Did I dig up her ancestors’ grave in my past life or something?”
Wei Jiawen looked wronged.
“My chopsticks…” He paused. “She’s your cousin. That means you share the same ancestors.”
Gu Cheng immediately grabbed her coat and rushed outside. Worried she would act impulsively and lose out, Wang Che quickly followed her.
The moment the door opened, a wave of scorching heat hit them. The high temperature baked the ground. Gu Cheng immediately shut the door again in one smooth motion.
“It’s too hot. We’ll beat her up at night.”
The others, who had just started to follow, stopped mid-step…
And quietly sat back down at the table to continue eating.
Across the villa district, Chu Xiuyuan was in a particularly good mood that day. After tasting the feeling of victory the previous night, he had thought for an entire evening.
“Once we awaken abilities later, and with Ye Wen’s foresight ability, we can form a team. We’ll recruit other ability users and become the strongest force in the apocalypse. No base will dare provoke us. Even building our own base will only be a matter of time.”
Jiang Li looked at him with admiration.
Yesterday, Chu Xiuyuan had protected her. Now his ideas aligned perfectly with hers. She felt he was truly the most suitable man for her.
“Brother Xiuyuan, that’s wonderful. I completely support you. Ye Wen said I’ll awaken a rare healing ability in the future. I’ll definitely support you well and help you become the strongest.”
Then I’ll stand beside you and enjoy the highest honor.
Gu Cheng, I will definitely trample you under my feet and make you beg me for survival.
Zhou Tong unconditionally supported all of Chu Xiuyuan’s plans and continued eating silently.
Ye Wen, however, felt nervous. After all, her “foresight ability” was something she had made up. She only hoped she wouldn’t be exposed.
During the day, Wang—“Michelin Chef”—Che continued cooking at home, while the others helped out. They were not afraid of anyone coming after them for the smell—if anyone came looking for trouble, that was their own funeral.
The gangster who had been shot in the chest died without treatment. The one who took over was a young man named Guo Ye, heavily built with a muscular frame.
Guo Ye joined forces with several servants, killed a wealthy resident, seized food and women, expanded his team outside, and at night looted nearby small supermarkets.
For the “tumor” inside the villa district, the wealthy residents were angry but dared not speak. They had no ability to resist and could only tremble in fear, worried they would be next.
Only Wang Che’s group remained completely unbothered, spending their days cooking, training physical fitness, and practicing combat.
At dinner time, there was a knock on the door.
Everyone assumed it was Jiang Li and her group again. This time, no one bothered to open it.
Today it was Gu Cheng’s turn to take out the trash. Fully armed, she had just stepped out the door when, less than five meters away, two “beggar-like figures” suddenly rushed out from the shadow of the wall.
Gu Cheng screamed in fear.
“Help!!”
She turned and ran for her life, but after only two steps, her wrist was grabbed. Instinctively, she kicked out, but her ankle was caught.
She could only stand on one leg and shout desperately.
“Wang Che! Help me! Help!!”
One of the “beggars” quickly spoke.
“We’re not bad people! We’re here to find Wang Che!”
Gu Cheng was too frightened to process human language.
“Wang Che!! You bastard, where are you?! Help me!!”
The people inside finally heard the shouting and rushed out.
The moment the “beggar” saw them, he immediately released her.
Gu Cheng, suddenly freed, nearly fell face-first, but Wang Che caught her just in time.
She immediately hid in his arms and pointed at the two figures.
“There are two bad people attacking me!”
“It’s me,” one of the beggars said weakly.
Wei Jiawen nearly shouted in disbelief.
“Chen Chuan?”
Chen Chuan nodded and pulled the person behind him forward.
“It’s me. This is my younger sister, Lu Ning.”
Wang Che placed Gu Cheng into Wang Xin’s arms.
“Go inside and talk.”
He turned and walked in first.
After entering the villa, Chen Chuan and Lu Ning were hit by the cool air and froze for a moment, as if every pore had come back to life.
The clean interior made them hesitant to step inside—their bodies were far too dirty.
Wei Jiawen took them upstairs and let them choose rooms.
Gu Cheng brought out two sets of clean clothes for them.
Half an hour later, the siblings came downstairs.
The others stepped forward and hugged Chen Chuan—though earlier they had not dared to because he was too dirty.
They led the two to the dining room, where two bowls of hot porridge and two glasses of juice had been prepared.
The siblings looked as if they had been starving for days. They ate quickly—each bowl of porridge was finished in an instant, followed by the juice in one go. They even licked their lips, still wanting more.
Gu Cheng observed them curiously. After bathing, both of them looked refined and decent.
Wang Che spoke first.
“You probably haven’t had stable meals for a while. I didn’t dare give you too much at once in case your stomach couldn’t handle it. Start with porridge first, and you can eat more later.”
Lu Ning’s face turned red, feeling embarrassed. She truly had been starving—she had only eaten two slices of bread in the past two days.
Gu Cheng cut some apples for them.
Chen Chuan then quickly apologized.
“Sorry for scaring you earlier. I knocked for a long time, but no one answered. I had no choice but to hide in the shadows by the wall. After waiting so long, I finally saw someone come out, so I rushed forward out of excitement.”
Only then did everyone realize that it had been Chen Chuan knocking earlier. They all felt slightly guilty.
Gu Cheng, who had still felt a bit embarrassed after being scared, immediately relaxed after hearing the apology.
“It’s okay. I just got startled because I wasn’t prepared.”
She then looked at the siblings curiously, recalling the story from the book.
In the novel, during the extreme heat outbreak, Chen Chuan had struggled desperately to return home. On the way, he eventually met Wang Che’s group near a gas station close to the Tyrannosaurus Base. By then, he was already alone, surviving by killing zombies and scavenging for food. After meeting them, he joined them on the way to the Capital City Base. The details of what he had experienced in between were not described.
Wei Jiawen directly asked what everyone was curious about.
“Chuan, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?”
Chen Chuan’s expression darkened.
“I followed your advice and stocked up on supplies. My family lived quite well at first. But in the apocalypse, human nature is unpredictable. My father, stepmother, and my stepbrother thought the chaos was an opportunity. Because they had enough supplies, they gathered a group of people. But they couldn’t control them for long.”
“The subordinates wanted to rebel, and they took a liking to Lu Ning. My stepbrother wanted to hand her over to those people.”
“I couldn’t accept it, so I argued with them.”
“I later overheard that the next day they planned to send Lu Ning to a gang leader—a man almost the same age as my father, with two sons already.”
“Lu Ning may not be my biological sister, but she came to our house when she was three. I watched her grow up. She’s always been timid and well-behaved. I couldn’t bear it, so I took her and escaped while no one was paying attention.”
“During the day we hid indoors to avoid the heat. At night we traveled and searched for food. Fortunately, you left me a car. Even so, it still took five days to get here. Without the car, we probably would’ve died on the road.”
Lu Ning silently cried beside him.
Her own mother and brother had casually offered her up to men, while the person with no blood relation at all had saved her.