Yun Huacen sorted through the memories of this period once more, from the original owner luring the children into the villa, to nearly being killed by two unexpected intruders, and then using these people as test subjects. From start to finish, there was no trace of this cat. What was going on with this cat? Why did reality differ from the original owner’s memories?
At this thought, Yun Huacen suddenly realized a problem: the zombie virus had just broken out, and the original owner hadn’t conducted any live experiments yet. So why did he have memories of the original owner’s future? Could it be that the original owner had been reborn? But why was there no recollection of rebirth in the original owner’s memories?
A strange sound interrupted Yun Huacen’s train of thought. He looked up toward the window and saw the man lying on the ground suddenly move, his movements as stiff as a puppet’s, while a low, animal-like growl rumbled from his throat. The cat sat crouched nearby, watching as if admiring its own handiwork.
As this thought surfaced, Yun Huacen couldn’t help but pause in surprise before quickly realizing what was happening. He examined the man carefully and noticed bite marks on his neck, it was indeed the cat that had bitten him.
The zombie wandered aimlessly around the yard like a headless fly, while the cat sat there watching it stumble about. When it reached the edge of the flower bed, the cat suddenly stood up and let out a low growl. The zombie stopped, turned stiffly, and wandered back the way it came.
Yun Huacen watched in shock. When the zombie stopped, it seemed to tremble slightly, as if afraid. After observing for a while longer, Yun Huacen noticed that whenever the zombie was about to damage the yard’s decorations, the cat would growl to stop it, and the zombie would obediently halt, like a soldier following orders. This discovery left Yun Huacen utterly astonished.
The sky gradually darkened. Although there were lights in the yard, Yun Huacen didn’t dare turn them on. Ordinary zombies had poor eyesight, but mutated zombies were different, their vision, hearing, and sense of smell were all exceptionally sharp. He was afraid of alerting the cat outside.
Gurgle, gurgle. His stomach suddenly growled twice, reminding Yun Huacen that he hadn’t eaten all day. He checked the doors and windows again, confirming they were all securely locked, then turned and headed toward the kitchen. Since supplies had recently been restocked, the refrigerator was well-stocked with ingredients. The problem was, he had no idea where to start, after all, he’d never set foot in a kitchen before and had no idea how to cook. The original owner was equally inept, subsisting daily on boiled meat with salad, boiled eggs with instant noodles, or even just compressed biscuits when busy.
Gurgle, gurgle. The rumbling of his stomach grew more insistent, interrupting Yun Huacen’s thoughts. His gaze finally settled on the neatly arranged eggs, and he thought to himself: Boiling eggs shouldn’t be too hard, right?
Yun Huacen walked over to the stove and began searching through the original owner’s memories. Once he found the information he needed, he let out a sigh of relief. The original owner was indeed clever, he’d bought nothing but foolproof household appliances. According to the instructions, even a three-year-old could manage them. Yun Huacen opened the cabinet to find more than a dozen pots and pans of various sizes, along with a bread maker, an egg boiler, a rice cooker, a blender, and more, everything one could possibly need.
Yun Huacen confidently took out the egg boiler, carefully washed the eggs, placed them in the pot, added an appropriate amount of water to cover them, and then simply pressed the egg-boiling button. Ten minutes later, he would have perfectly boiled eggs. While waiting, he found a larger pot, opened a few packets of instant noodles, placed them inside, sprinkled in the seasoning packets, poured in boiling water, and finally covered the pot to let it steep for a while. By the time he finished these tasks, the eggs were done. Yun Huacen was quite pleased, but when he lifted the lid, he discovered that out of the ten eggs he had boiled, five had cracked.
Yun Huacen comforted himself: It’s fine, this way they’ll be easier to peel.
After peeling all the eggs, Yun Huacen lifted the lid of the noodle pot and couldn’t help but sheepishly rub his nose. The broth had been completely absorbed by the noodles, leaving them clumped together into one solid mass.
Yun Huacen consoled himself again: Live and learn. Next time, I’ll boil the eggs first and then prepare the noodles.
After a moment of hesitation, Yun Huacen poured some more boiling water into the pot and stirred it with chopsticks. Glancing at the peeled eggs beside him, he decided to toss them in as well. As he looked at the final result, the words “pig slop” flashed through his mind. He quickly shook his head, this was no time to be picky. Having something to eat was already a blessing.
Carrying the pot and a bowl, Yun Huacen made his way to the laboratory door. Instead of entering immediately, he opened the monitor on the door to see what was happening inside. As soon as he turned it on, a cacophony of noise assaulted his ears, crying, shouting, and the clanging and banging of objects being thrown around. Six of the seven children were causing chaos, while only the teenager locked inside remained quiet, curled up in a corner as if lost in thought.
Yun Huacen rubbed his ears. If it weren’t for the soundproofing in the laboratory, their noise would have carried for miles, attracting every zombie in the vicinity. To be honest, he really didn’t like children, boys or girls. When they were happy, they laughed and screamed; when they weren’t, they cried and wailed. They were like cicadas in summer, incessantly annoying.
Taking a deep breath, Yun Huacen entered his fingerprint and iris scan to unlock the laboratory door. The noise abruptly ceased, replaced by an eerie silence that was just as intense as the earlier clamor. The children stared at him with wide, fearful, and resentful eyes.
Yun Huacen’s face darkened as he surveyed them with a cold gaze. In this apocalyptic world, even adults struggled to survive, let alone these children. Although Yun Huacen disliked kids, he couldn’t bring himself to drive them away. Still, if they were to stay, rules had to be established, otherwise, managing them would become impossible.
The timid children nervously averted their eyes and shrank back into their cages. Only the two older ones, despite their fear, tried their best to glare defiantly at him.
“Uncle, Lanlan is very obedient. Lanlan can work. Please don’t lock Lanlan up, okay?” A little girl with twin pigtails looked at him with tear-filled eyes.
From what he remembered, this little girl was named Shao Lan, the youngest among the children. Seeing her closest to him, Yun Huacen strode over.
“You scum! Bastard! Don’t you dare lay a finger on Lanlan! If you have the guts, come at me!” A boy around eleven or twelve years old clung to the bars of his cage, shouting at him.
“Silence!” Yun Huacen roared, startling the children, especially the boy who had just yelled. He swept a cold gaze over them and threatened, “All of you, keep quiet. If I hear anyone speak again, I’ll throw you out right now to feed the zombies!”
Shao Lan fearfully covered her mouth, her large eyes brimming with tears. She looked as if she wanted to cry but didn’t dare, a pitiful sight that tugged at the heartstrings.
Yun Huacen walked over to the cage, roughly scooped a bowl of noodles, and handed it to her. Shao Lan glanced at Yun Huacen, then at the noodles in the bowl, instinctively swallowing. She hadn’t eaten all day and was truly starving. After hesitating for a while, she finally reached out with her small hand.
“Lan…” The boy had just started to speak when a sharp glare from Yun Huacen silenced him. Though clearly resentful, he said nothing more.
Yun Huacen served each of them a bowl of noodles, and the full pot was soon emptied. Finally, he approached the slightly older teenager. From memory, his name seemed to be Yue Zirui, the original host had extracted antibodies from his blood and successfully developed a drug capable of killing the zombie virus. Yun Huacen also served him a bowl, but he seemed lost in his own world, disconnected from everything around him.
Yun Huacen tapped the cage with a spoon until Yue Zirui turned to look at him. “Are you eating or not?”
Yue Zirui stared at him silently for a long moment before reaching out to take the bowl.
Yun Huacen found it strange. The look Yue Zirui had given him was filled with intense hatred, fleeting but unmistakable. Yun Huacen had only locked them up and hadn’t done anything excessive yet, where did this hatred come from?
Although the children had taken the bowls, no one dared to eat because of what had happened earlier. They just stared at the noodles, swallowing their saliva, until Yue Zirui began to eat. Only then did they start devouring their food.
“I locked you up because I was afraid you’d get infected with the virus outside. If you don’t turn into zombies within two days, I’ll let you go.” This was the best excuse Yun Huacen could come up with.
The boy looked at him suspiciously. “You’ll really let us go?”
Yun Huacen retorted, “What use would keeping you serve, aside from feeding seven extra mouths?”
The boy was left speechless and resentfully lowered his head, continuing to eat the noodles in his bowl.
Yue Zirui looked up at Yun Huacen and asked, “If keeping us is useless, why did you let us in?”
“It was a moment of weakness,” Yun Huacen replied with clear impatience. “Stop talking and eat. I’ll let you go early the day after tomorrow.”
With that, Yun Huacen picked up the pot and turned to leave. After all the commotion, he hadn’t eaten a bite and was now starving. He deserved to treat himself properly. Back in the kitchen, Yun Huacen made himself another bowl of instant noodles, spicy beef flavor this time. Besides an egg, he added two sausages.
As a child, Yun Huacen had loved spicy food, spicy hot pot, mala xiang guo, spicy crayfish, all his favorites. He could hardly enjoy a meal without spice. But during his five years of illness, he hadn’t eaten anything spicy at all. Every time he came across food videos online, he’d salivate. Now that he had a new body, he could finally indulge again, though he’d overlooked whether this body could handle spicy food. The result was that the more he enjoyed the meal, the more his stomach ached.
The original host’s eating habits were extremely irregular. Once immersed in experiments, he often forgot to eat, leading to severe stomach problems. He couldn’t eat spicy or cold foods. So, if Yun Huacen wanted to enjoy spicy food, he’d have to cure his stomach issues first.
Yun Huacen took the medicine and endured a long, agonizing night in bed, finally falling asleep as dawn began to break. He slept until noon. When he opened his eyes and gazed at the snow-white ceiling, his emotions were mixed, part relief, part disappointment. He was relieved to have been given a second chance at life, yet disappointed that he was no longer in his original world and could no longer see his parents.
Yun Huacen walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down. The zombies were still in the yard, but the cat had vanished. The villa was completely sealed off, so the cat couldn’t have escaped, it must be hiding somewhere. Just as this thought crossed his mind, a shadow lunged toward him, startling him into stepping back hastily.