Initially, Pei Huaiye had contacted him first.
“Uncle Cheng, it hasn’t been that long—just a little over ten days.” After finishing, Pei Huaiye introduced his teammates to him: “Han Chao, Xu Sui, Ji Hengyuan, Wu Ci, Xiao Jinyang, and this…”
“I know, it’s his girlfriend…” Cheng Feng chimed in with a chuckle.
“Brother, what is a girlfriend?” Ning Ran looked up and asked with total innocence.
Cheng Feng’s laughter suddenly cut off. He looked at the young girl before him with a bewildered expression, sizing her up from top to bottom.
“Uncle Cheng, it’s a long story. By the way, is there something you wanted to find me for?” Pei Huaiye asked.
“Oh, nothing much, except that the virus arrived so suddenly that even with us making full preparations, we couldn’t stop people from getting infected. The higher-ups’ stance is to study the zombies, hoping to develop an antidote as soon as possible.” As Cheng Feng’s voice fell, the surrounding area plunged into silence.
According to Pei Huaiye’s experiences from his past life, not only would the zombie virus mutate and grow stronger, but some mutated zombies would even possess intelligence as high as humans and be extremely cunning.
Moreover, the living environment in the later stages would become increasingly difficult, and the depletion of energy would be the greatest obstacle to human development.
Not just zombies, but animals, plants, and water sources would all be severely impacted.
Although his rebirth had altered the fates of certain individuals, energy remained an inescapable hurdle.
“I know you have your concerns, but the squads within the base have already been dispatched. I called you here just to find out to what extent things will develop in the future. The higher-ups attach great importance to you, so you must mind your own safety.” Cheng Feng patted his shoulder: “You’re not going out again once you’re back, right?”
Pei Huaiye replied, “I still have to go out. I have friends in Huacheng.” He was referring to the few people left behind in the villa.
Besides, Shen Shuhe and Zhou Xu were still living perfectly fine lives—how could he not go out and witness their wretched states firsthand?
“You, oh well! For now, the base is relatively stable. Whenever you want to come back, you can return at any time. I’ll have someone clean your residence regularly. Will you rest for a couple of days before heading out again?”
Pei Huaiye nodded, and after bidding farewell to Cheng Feng, he headed toward his assigned quarters.
The place Cheng Feng assigned to him was a villa equipped with a complete self-power-generation system, meaning electricity and water usage were completely unaffected by the base’s conditions.
Even if the entire base suffered power and water outages, his place would experience no disruption whatsoever.
Furthermore, everyone living in this area consisted of wealthy and capable individuals from before the apocalypse, scientists, or people who had made major contributions to the country.
When the group arrived at the entrance of the villa, someone had just finished cleaning and came outside, freezing in surprise for a few seconds upon seeing them.
The villa leaned against a mountain, the interior of which had been completely hollowed out to house researchers and vital strategic supplies.
Pei Huaiye had never been inside there; his status was not yet sufficient to grant him entry into the mountain’s interior.
Opening the villa door, Han Chao collapsed onto the sofa: “Wild-ge, I never expected you to have perks like this?”
Getting to live in such an important place in his lifetime was all thanks to Pei Huaiye’s blessing.
“Rest up; we’ll leave the base tomorrow,” Pei Huaiye said as he headed upstairs.
“Boss, isn’t the base pretty good? Why still go to such a dangerous place outside?” Wu Ci asked with a puzzled expression. If it were him, he’d definitely be much more willing to stay in the base.
Pei Huaiye turned back, looking down at him from a condescending height: “The base is certainly good, but it’s not omnipotent. Zombies will mutate, energy will be depleted, and what if one day a zombie siege happens while you don’t even possess the slightest skill to kill a zombie? I ask you all: would you rather use zombies for target practice now, or just wait here in the base to die?”
The people downstairs fell silent.
What Pei Huaiye said was true; the base could offer peace and comfort, but the scenario he described wasn’t entirely impossible to happen.
Rather than being passively beaten, it was far better to go out and slaughter zombies to your heart’s content right now.
Ning Ran didn’t understand the thoughts of a bunch of grown men, pattering straight up the stairs behind Pei Huaiye.
Upstairs were a master bedroom and guest rooms, all cleaned sparkling clean.
Ning Ran walked around inspecting circle after circle, her brows knitted into a tight knot.
“What’s with that expression?” Pei Huaiye asked her.
“There are no puzzle blocks or toy trains. When can they come back to accompany me in playing puzzles?” Ning Ran stared at him without even blinking.
Pei Huaiye let out a cold laugh: “Playing by yourself isn’t enough, you still want to drag others into it?”
“It’s no fun alone.” Ning Ran kicked off her shoes and sprawled across the soft, huge bed: “Brother, will you play puzzles with me, please?”
Standing on the balcony smoking a cigarette, Pei Huaiye didn’t even raise his head upon hearing this: “In your dreams.”
Feeding her, drinking with her, sleeping with her, and now he had to play games with her too—normally people were companions for three things, but he had to be a companion for four.
“Hmph, stingy-pats drinks cold water, I’m ignoring you.” Pulling the quilt over her head, Ning Ran ignored Pei Huaiye in a huff.
“I won’t be responsible if you suffocate in there.” Stubbing out his cigarette, Pei Huaiye walked over and tugged at the quilt: “It’s not even dark yet, what are you sleeping for? Get down here, I’ll play puzzles with you.”
Hearing this, Ning Ran brightened up and stepped down barefoot.
There was a table and chair set on the balcony. Pei Huaiye retrieved her puzzle set from his spatial storage, scrambled the pieces, and placed them on the table: “You play first, call me if you get stuck.”
Having said that, he sat to the side and watched her rummage and sort through the pile of cards, picking out matching pieces to snap together.
However, the further along she got, the more impatient she grew, pulling little disgruntled expressions and puffing out her cheeks in anger.
“If you can’t find it, search slowly—what are you getting so worked up for?” With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Pei Huaiye fished out the exact piece she needed from the pile: “Isn’t it right here?”
Ning Ran instantly beamed with joy: “Brother is so amazing, you found it right away.”
Pei Huaiye: “…” How come I’m suddenly immune to compliments?
Going downstairs in the evening, Han Chao had already finished cooking a meal using the supplies delivered over—a full table of dishes, featuring both meat and vegetarian options.
Standing nearby, Xu Sui practically praised Han Chao to the point of floating in the air.
Ji Hengyuan, Xiao Jinyang, and the others addressed him as “brother” with every breath, making Han Chao beam with joy while modestly saying: “No, no, compared to Lichuan, I’m way far off.”
Cheng Lichuan was a cooking expert; the man was a professional, whereas Han Chao could at best be considered an amateur.
It was possible he couldn’t even be counted as an amateur, but at least having hung around Pei Huaiye for so long, making edible food wasn’t an issue.
Having eaten either plain greens or dry biscuits for two consecutive days, Ning Ran’s eyes glowed red the moment she saw meat.
Her mouth watered with craving.
“Such a glutton!” Pei Huaiye picked up a piece of meat and placed it in front of her, making Ning Ran so happy that she cupped his face and gave him a couple of kisses.
This caused Han Chao and the others to collectively freeze, instantly turning their heads away and pretending not to see anything.
It also successfully caused Pei Huaiye’s face to darken.
Unfortunately, the culprit of the misdeed, Ning Ran, showed zero reaction, picking up the meat with her chopsticks and eating it with absolute gusto.
“Wild-ge is quite blessed…” Han Chao laughed mischievously from the side.
“If you don’t want to eat, you can step outside,” Pei Huaiye’s face sank, instantly making Han Chao behave.
“Don’t be mad, Wild-ge, just joking around,” Xu Sui stood up to smooth things over.
“Really not worth getting mad over.” Watching Ning Ran eat with such sweet satisfaction, Pei Huaiye instantly lost his temper, resigning himself to picking out and feeding her meat.
“Hmph, an idiot is an idiot, never growing any brains at all,” he muttered with a cold snort toward Ning Ran.
If Ning Ran were capable of processing all that, she wouldn’t be an idiot in the first place. Across the entire dining table, she was undoubtedly the one eating the most carefree of them all.