“Don’t worry. Since you all managed to get through the tide of corpses to get here, there shouldn’t be any problem,” Yang Minghao said, stepping forward to comfort them. “By the way, where did you park your car back then? Can you still get out from there?”
“We can’t get out,” Peng Zhixue sighed and shook his head. “The zombies are packed so tightly there’s no gap at all.”
Yang Minghao then indirectly asked who had the car keys. After getting the answer, he couldn’t help but frown. Whether those three came back or not didn’t really matter, but at least they should’ve left the supplies behind.
“Do you think the zombies there might have already dispersed?” Yang Minghao said while observing Peng Zhixue’s expression, trying to find out where the car was parked. “What if they went back to the parking spot, took the supplies, and drove off?”
People were always afraid of being abandoned and left alone.
Peng Zhixue’s heart tightened. “That… can’t be, right…”
“Ah, I was just guessing. Don’t overthink it.”
Seeing that he was already shaken but still not revealing more information, Yang Minghao was about to press further when the chain on the door suddenly rattled at an inappropriate moment.
Hearing Cheng Yan’s voice, Peng Zhixue quickly moved things aside to open the door. When they saw the three of them return safely carrying two large bags of supplies, everyone’s expressions became quite complicated.
After Song Jinhe and the others returned to the room and divided up the supplies, Peng Zhixue held the clothes his companion had specially brought back for him, feeling overwhelmed with mixed emotions, and repeated Yang Minghao’s probing word for word.
“They want to go to the shelter. Should we go with them when the time comes?” Zhang Yi looked at Song Jinhe.
“Once the floodwaters recede, I’m planning to leave the city,” Song Jinhe said, taking out a map.
The shelter in Minghai City didn’t last long. Once it fell, getting out would become extremely difficult.
It was also impossible to live long-term in a bathhouse. Right now they still had rainwater to use, but once the drought came, even basic survival would become a problem.
In the rest area, a few people were still talking while occasionally glancing toward where Song Jinhe and the others had gone.
“They brought back so much stuff, and even took noodles from Sister Zhou. They’re the only ones here who aren’t short on food or clothes. In weather this cold, they didn’t even think to bring back some clothes for everyone, just thinking about themselves.”
“It was normal for them to trade with Sister Zhou before when they didn’t have food. But now they have so much. Sister Zhou even has a child. I heard that medicine they didn’t even need themselves. Isn’t that just a small favor they could’ve done?”
“But once something’s given away, you can’t just ask for it back,” Sister Zhou said from the side, looking troubled.
A passerby couldn’t help but say, “Why didn’t anyone help Sister Zhou go to the pharmacy back then to get medicine? If it were truly life-saving, they wouldn’t just be asking for that little in return if they were trying to take advantage of the situation.”
“Xiao Li is right,” Sister Zhou said awkwardly, turning her gaze away.
Originally, she hadn’t thought much of it, but after seeing them bring back so many supplies and then thinking about the little she had left, it felt like a thorn had been driven into her heart, she grew increasingly uncomfortable the more she thought about it.
Song Jinhe had only been in bed for a few hours when she was woken by knocking at the door. When she opened it, besides Cheng Yan and the others, there were several more people standing outside, including someone who had brought a child.
“I heard you found a lot of food yesterday?”
Before the familiar woman could continue, Song Jinhe calmly said, “You want to ask where we found it, right? It was the shopping mall next door. There’s still quite a lot left, you should go sooner rather than later.”
The smile on Tian Hui’s face froze. Who was asking about where to find supplies? Going out there was dangerous!
Originally, they hadn’t even come looking for Song Jinhe, but for Zhang Yi and Cheng Yan next door, who seemed easier to talk to.
Unexpectedly, those two said the supplies were found together and they couldn’t make the decision on their own, which led them to come to Song Jinhe instead.
The man beside Tian Hui cleared his throat. “Xiao Song, what we mean is… could you spare us some food first? The kitchen supplies we originally split weren’t much to begin with, and after so many days… sigh. You capable ones can find food outside, but we really have no way.”
“We know it isn’t easy to go out and find food. We adults can eat less, it’s fine. But there are children too, that’s why we’re embarrassed to ask you.”
A faint trace of ridicule flashed in Song Jinhe’s eyes. She really couldn’t see where their embarrassment was.
“Look, how about this, we’ll treat it as borrowing. Once we find food later, we’ll return it to you.”
“You should be able to spare some food,” Sister Zhou said softly, avoiding eye contact.
She hadn’t really wanted to come, but she was also afraid that if others took everything, she would end up with nothing by not coming at all.
Seeing that Song Jinhe still didn’t respond, Tian Hui pulled the half-grown child forward and spoke gently, “Xiao Han, go ask the older brother and sister if they can share a little food with you, okay?”
“Don’t ask. No.”
Song Jinhe’s cold tone made everyone freeze for a moment. They didn’t expect her to be so unyielding, she had two large bags of supplies and still refused to give even a little to the child. Wu Dayong was right after all; these people might as well have died outside.
“The location of the supplies has already been told to you. I still need to rest.”
If they wanted to cooperate to move the remaining food from the restaurant back to the bathhouse and then distribute it fairly, that was fine. Four people couldn’t carry that much anyway, and her storage space was already full.
But trying to take it for nothing, that wouldn’t work.
Watching Song Jinhe coldly shut the door, all of their expressions turned ugly. Tian Hui’s son even stepped forward and kicked the door twice in frustration.
Song Jinhe turned and opened the door, her tone cold. “Control him, or I won’t be polite.”
“She really has no sense of humanity at all. How can an adult argue with a child like that?” Tian Hui said irritably.
Having failed to get what they wanted from Song Jinhe, everyone shifted their attention back to Zhang Yi and Cheng Yan.
“Just help us, Cheng Yan. My child even calls you ‘big brother,’ and you’re a medical student, you can’t possibly bear to see a child go hungry and cold.”
Cheng Yan held out his hand, while a sentence kept echoing in his mind: persuading someone to study medicine will bring divine punishment.
“If you want to go out to find supplies, I can give you a route map. But we can’t spare any food.”
Once you give it once, there will be a second time, and a third. In the apocalypse, everyone lives on the edge of survival. With no relationship between them, no one could afford to indulge others. His experience in the hospital had already shown him how sinister human nature could be.
After wasting so much breath and still not getting a single grain of rice, the group left, not forgetting to make sarcastic remarks on their way out. Two hours earlier, however, some people had already set off with bags in hand, now that the weather was getting colder, they needed supplies.
Those who hadn’t left yet were either still observing the situation or still had enough supplies to hold out for a few more days.
By evening, seeing that those who had gone out had returned with food, Tian Hui’s group went out again with their families in tow. Seeing the child with wide, innocent eyes, Qiu Ling and the others felt embarrassed to refuse and took out a few pieces of handmade flatbread.
“Thank you so much. You’re really kind people, unlike Xiao Song and the others. If they didn’t want to lend us food, fine, but they even threatened to be unkind to a child!”
Tian Hui spoke enthusiastically. But once the door closed, the gratitude on her face vanished completely. “They brought back so many supplies and only gave us two pieces of flatbread. Hmph.”