“If you have an opinion, keep it to yourself. After all, I won’t necessarily listen even if you tell me,” Pei Huaiye said. Finishing his words, he carried the “koala” clinging to his body downstairs with one arm.
At the dining table, Cheng Lichuan had prepared breakfast—mantou, baozi, millet porridge, and some pickled vegetables. It was very simple.
Pei Huaiye peeled an egg and handed it to Ning Ran. Ning Ran happily hugged his face and gave him a kiss.
In an instant, the dining room became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Aside from the sound of breathing, there was only shock.
“Brother, eat!” Ning Ran held the egg up to Pei Huaiye’s mouth.
“Eat it yourself,” Pei Huaiye didn’t give her a chance to curry favor with him, taking a bite of a baozi on his own.
“Bo… Boss, the little idiot kissed you…” Xu Sui, who was usually calm, dropped his jaw in disbelief.
“The little idiot’s mind doesn’t work like a normal person’s. No need to pay attention to it—this is just her way of showing gratitude,” Pei Huaiye said nonchalantly.
“Huaiye-ge, how could you…” Xu Wei looked at him with red eyes, finally unable to hold back her tears as she sobbed out loud, stood up, and ran back to her room.
“Wild-ge, your attitude changed a bit too fast!” Han Chao looked at him with a complicated expression. Just a moment ago he was on the phone with his girlfriend, and in the turn of an eye, he accepted a kiss from the little idiot.
What an absolute scumbag.
“Speak your mind directly!” Pei Huaiye gave him a cold look.
“About that Shen Shuhe…” Han Chao spoke in a low voice, terrified of touching a sore spot.
“Shen Shuhe has a boyfriend now. What does that have to do with me?” The reason he answered the phone earlier was simply to confirm whether Zhou Xu was with Shen Shuhe before the apocalypse. As it turned out, that was indeed the case.
And to think he still had a conscience left and wanted to give her another chance.
Hearing his words, Han Chao uttered an “Oh” and let his heart settle back into his chest. As long as the Boss no longer pined for that Shen Shuhe, it didn’t matter even if he stayed with a little idiot.
After breakfast, the three of them were heading out.
Pei Huaiye wanted to leave Ning Ran behind at the villa, but she refused to let go no matter what, so he had no choice but to stuff her into the car as well.
Outside the villa, quite a few fully armed people were driving toward the city center.
Zombies were certainly terrifying, but under the threat of starvation, there was nothing that couldn’t be overcome.
Pei Huaiye sat in the back seat, watching the scenery rapidly retreat, slipping into a rare silence. In his past life during the apocalypse, he had evolved both Space and Wood superpowers. He hadn’t expected that after being reborn, these superpowers would return with him.
Crucially, he had also evolved a Water superpower in this life. With three “cheat codes” at his disposal, he was all the more fearless.
The car sped all the way toward the city center, destination being the large shopping malls and the like.
Those places had a complete selection of goods and were the favorite spots for survivors. However, they were also teeming with zombies, making them a great opportunity to slay zombies and practice their skills.
Ning Ran’s fluffy head rested against Pei Huaiye’s chest, her mouth munching on a biscuit, crunching like a little hamster.
This made Han Chao, who was driving, constantly glance back with an expression of wanting to speak but holding back.
“Boss, can’t you manage the little idiot? She’s like a big rat, eating non-stop ever since we left,” Xu Sui voiced what Han Chao wanted to say.
“Manage what? If you want to eat, I’ll get you some.” Pei Huaiye snapped out of his thoughts. Looking at the biscuit crumbs scattered all over his chest and pants by the little idiot, his forehead throbbed.
He reached out, took the remaining half of the biscuit from Ning Ran’s hand, stuffed it into his own mouth, crunched it up, and swallowed it.
A good man shouldn’t waste food.
Especially food during the apocalypse.
Even though he had stored a massive amount of food in his spatial storage.
Still, whenever he recalled the memory of being too starved to get out of bed in his past life, he couldn’t help but hoard even more supplies.
After all, seven years had passed back then, and the apocalypse had still not ended. Moreover, animals and plants had all mutated, and even underground water couldn’t be drunk directly.
Countless people died from a lack of supplies; the scene was practically hell on earth.
“Brother…” The little idiot watched with wide eyes as he finished her food. Wanting to cry but not daring to, she looked utterly aggrieved.
“Eating too much will give you a stomachache.” Pei Huaiye frowned as he looked into her eyes, unconsciously softening his voice: “Be good. When it’s mealtime, I’ll give you something delicious.”
Upon hearing there was delicious food, Ning Ran’s tears were instantly held back, replaced by a brilliant smile: “Brother, good person!”
“Gosh, this makes me want to commit a crime!” Han Chao cursed from the front seat and stepped on the gas of the off-road vehicle.
The group arrived at the largest department store in the city center. As soon as the car came to a steady stop, zombies swarmed around them, their howls rising and falling in waves.
Pei Huaiye remained seated. In the front, Han Chao had already unleashed his Lightning superpower. Several zombies near the car were electrocuted, twitching wildly as if they had Parkinson’s, spreading outward ring by ring…
“Brother, they are so ugly and smell so bad!” Ning Ran burrowed her head into his arms.
“Then just stay in the car and don’t get down.” Pei Huaiye settled Ning Ran in place, while his own left hand quietly opened up. A faint green light swirled in the palm of his hand—the Wood superpower could force-grow plants to weave defensive barriers as well as refine medicinal agents, making it a rare auxiliary superpower in the apocalypse.
Meanwhile, his Space superpower not only stored vast amounts of supplies from his past and present lives, but also allowed instant teleportation, making it a supreme life-saving tool.
Under the dual attack from him and Han Chao, the zombies surrounding the car quickly collapsed, with the remainder no longer posing a threat.
“Let’s go, get out of the car.” Ning Ran was still wearing Xu Wei’s clothes, which looked a bit awkward on her.
Besides a supermarket, this mall housed the largest women’s clothing and footwear store in the city, which was one of the reasons he drove here.
More importantly, he would run into Shen Shuhe and Zhou Xu here. In this lifetime, without him acting as their pawn, he wanted to see what kind of lives they would lead.
After stepping out of the car, the surviving zombies rushed over howling. Pei Huaiye waved his left hand, and numerous thick vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, binding the zombies’ limbs like poisonous snakes and pinning them firmly in place.
“Boss, awesome!” Xu Sui followed behind Han Chao and gave him a thumbs up.
Seeing the zombies immobilized, Han Chao channeled his Lightning superpower and slammed it hard into the zombie crowd.
With a loud “BOOM”, lightning struck, instantly tearing the zombies at the impact site into pieces. Black blood splattered everywhere, and the smell of burning filled the air.
“Brother, stinky!” Ning Ran scrambled up Pei Huaiye’s body with all four limbs, burying her head in the crook of his neck to breathe in his pleasant scent.
“Han Chao, you really are…” Pei Huaiye couldn’t bring himself to finish—he was almost driven to vomit by the stench as well.
The group walked into the shopping mall, which was considerably cleaner inside. They first went to the supermarket section, collecting almost everything into the spatial storage except for a small portion.
They had enough supplies for themselves; leaving some for latecomers meant not driving things to absolute extremes.
Shortly after they went upstairs, someone else entered the market. Spotting the remaining items, they frantically began gathering them up.
The second floor was the women’s clothing section. Pei Huaiye found a set of clothes suitable for current wear and stored all the rest into his space.
“Huh? Gone?” Ning Ran looked at the disappearing items, her mind freezing for a moment.
Just like her—things disappear all by themselves.
She clapped her hands, just about to giggle, when Pei Huaiye covered her mouth with his large hand: “Change your clothes. We’ll have other fun things to do in a moment.”
He assumed she was happy simply because she thought it was fun.