The gas station was dead quiet, with several cars parked haphazardly about. Some of the vehicle doors were left wide open, making it easy to imagine how panicked their owners must have been at the time. Through the glass doors, people could be seen peering anxiously outward. Parking his vehicle right beside a fuel dispenser, Xiao Yan hopped out first, telling Mu Li to remain inside the car. The moment his feet hit the ground, however, two zombies stumbled clumsily toward him. Judging by their clothes, they had been gas station attendants. Just as Mu Li pressed frantically against the car window, preparing to warn Xiao Yan to be careful, he watched Xiao Yan draw the dagger strapped to his thigh and execute a clean, decisive slash that severed the heads of both zombies.
After opening the fuel cap and topping off the vehicle, Xiao Yan pulled two large plastic drums from the trunk, filled them completely with gasoline, and sealed the caps tightly. He knew this resource would grow increasingly scarce. With the apocalypse having just begun, spatial ability users had not yet emerged, and ordinary people had no way to transport large quantities of fuel. He needed to stash away all the gasoline here before anyone else realized what was happening.
The people trapped inside the gas station had been too terrified of the zombies to venture out. Seeing a car arrive and watching the man step out to dispatch the monsters, they perhaps concluded that the danger had passed. They unlatched the doors, though they still hovered warily near the entrance.
Ignoring them entirely, Xiao Yan climbed back into the car and closed the doors so outsiders could not see inside. Slipping into the back seat, he transferred the two drums of gasoline into his spatial realm, swapping them out for two empty drums of the same size. Then, pulling several large barrels out of the space, he instantly packed the entire rear interior of the vehicle to the brim. Placing Little Green onto the driver’s seat, he instructed the plant, “You saw how I handled that earlier. Take advantage of the night to fill up all these remaining barrels.”
(Let me offer a quick explanation here: it was a large, seven-seater SUV where the back rows can fold completely flat, allowing someone to move directly from the driver’s seat straight into the back by bending over and crawling through. I am mentioning this in case the scene is confusing, because my friend owns a car just like that. When the back seats fold down, it turns into a bed with a huge amount of space, and I can actually crawl all the way from his front passenger seat straight into the trunk area.)
Naturally, Xiao Yan had no intention of exposing his spatial abilities. If he wanted to secure all this gasoline, his only option was to let Little Green handle the work in the dead of night while everyone else was fast asleep. To acquire this fuel, he would be forced to spend the night here.
Whatever Xiao Yan did, Mu Li watched in quiet obedience. Once everything was settled, the two of them left Little Green behind in the car and stepped outside together. Xiao Yan shouldered a mountaineering backpack while Mu Li wore a small white crossbody bag at his waist. Both wore hiking apparel with daggers strapped to their thighs, instantly marking them as people not to be trifled with. The few individuals lingering near the gas station entrance merely exchanged glances and did not attempt to block their entry, having witnessed for themselves just moments earlier how effortlessly the tall man had dispatched two zombies.
Xiao Yan led Mu Li inside by the hand. The room was not occupied solely by the men from the doorway; more than a dozen other people, men and women alike, were gathered inside. Among them was even a couple with a young child, sitting about in small groups on the floor. As the two newcomers entered, everyone lifted their heads to look in their direction. Experiencing the scrutiny of so many gazes for the first time made Mu Li somewhat self-conscious. Keeping a firm grip on his hand, Xiao Yan guided him into a corner and found a quiet spot shielded from the crowd’s view by a structural pillar in front. Taking a square, folded camping mat out of his backpack, he spread it flat on the floor, placed the pack on top, and pulled Mu Li down to sit beside him. Reaching out, he checked Mu Li’s forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“I am fine. Big brother, are we really going to spend the night here?” Mu Li shook his head and leaned comfortably against Xiao Yan’s chest, his complexion looking noticeably better than it had on the road earlier.
“Mhm, we will rest here for the night.” Xiao Yan retrieved a bottle of water and a soft, fluffy piece of cake from his bag, handing it to Mu Li as he asked, “Are you hungry? Have something to eat.”
Unwrapping the cake, Mu Li broke it in half, handing one piece to Xiao Yan while keeping the other for himself. To be honest, he had very little appetite, but he did not want to make Xiao Yan worry.
Twisting open the water bottle, Xiao Yan coaxed Mu Li into drinking a little. The two of them sat leaning against each other, chatting quietly while Mu Li half-reclined in Xiao Yan’s arms, absentmindedly toying with Xiao Yan’s fingers as he recounted amusing stories from his childhood.
Some people were quietly observing them. Initially, these onlookers assumed the two were brothers, but witnessing their intimate posture made it obvious they were a couple. Same-sex marriage had already been legalized before the apocalypse, so no one found it particularly shocking. Yet, far more than their relationship, these onlookers were fixated on the large black backpack resting behind Xiao Yan. Although the pillar blocked the view for most, a few sharp-eyed individuals had caught a glimpse of Xiao Yan pulling food and water straight out of the pack. For people who had gone hungry for the past two days, this was an agonizing temptation, and greedy eyes kept darting hungrily toward them.
Neither of them was oblivious to those covert glances, but they simply could not be bothered to care. After resting quietly this way for two or three hours until the time ticked past one o’clock in the afternoon, Xiao Yan took a small camping alcohol stove and a miniature cooking pot out of his mountaineering pack, setting them up to boil instant noodles. Traveling outside was never easy, but his kid was delicate, and he could not bear to feed him cold, hard rations indefinitely.
Once the noodles were boiling in the pot, Xiao Yan tossed in some braised beef he had prepared beforehand. He had vacuum-sealed the beef, dividing it into small individual packets stored inside his spatial realm. He still could not fully figure out how his space operated; time inside the realm seemed frozen, meaning items placed within it emerged looking precisely identical to when they went in. However, fruit seeds scattered across the soil grew and matured, while rabbits and hamsters thrived without issue. That little brook, in particular, had yielded miraculous results when tested on plants and animals. Though he had personally tasted the water afterward and noticed no dramatic effects, he deduced that its properties likely centered around strengthening the body and vitality. While its impact on humans was minimal, it worked wonders for flora and fauna, which explained why he now used that stream water for their daily cooking and drinking.
Aside from the noodles themselves, all the ingredients were already cooked, so the contents of the small pot only needed a brief simmer before they were ready. A rich aroma soon wafted through the air, completely driving away any remaining gloomy memories of the morning for Mu Li. Holding a small stainless steel bowl and chopsticks, he stared at the pot of noodles before him with eyes full of eager anticipation.
The scent of food also set the other survivors on edge. Thanks to Xiao Yan’s earlier display of force, however, none of them dared to approach rashly. These people were ordinary citizens; while they feared the zombies, they feared a fellow human capable of executing zombies with his bare hands even more.
Adults harbored complicated schemes, but children did not. Just as Xiao Yan finished dishing out a bowl of noodles for Mu Li, who was happily chewing on a tender piece of braised beef, a shadow fell over them. A childish voice piped up, “Big brother, can I trade my Tiga toy for a piece of your small bread? My mom is sick and needs food.”
Mu Li looked up. Standing before him was a fair, chubby child of only five or six years old, clutching an Ultraman action figure in his hand. Large, clear black eyes blinked up at him with sparkling innocence. As the boy’s gaze swept over the bowl of noodles in Mu Li’s hand, he swallowed hard before dutifully shifting his eyes away, as if aware that staring at someone else’s meal was impolite.
The moment the child approached, Xiao Yan had already noticed him, but seeing that it was only a kid, he chose not to intervene. Nor did he speak up when the boy offered a trade, preferring to see how Mu Li would handle the situation while remaining entirely open to supporting whatever decision his partner made.
Before Mu Li could open his mouth, a couple hurried over. The man looked relatively composed, but the woman’s face was deathly pale. Pulling the child protectively into her arms, the two of them bowed their heads in immediate apology. “I am sorry, I am sorry. The child does not know any better and has disturbed you.”
With that, the pair turned as if to leave, but Mu Li called out to them, “Wait. Give this to the baby.”
Setting down his bowl, Mu Li pulled a package of bread and a carton of milk from his bag and handed them to the man. Though the man hesitated to take them, one look at his ailing wife and child forced him to accept the items with a look of profound shame, pressing his head down even lower. “Thank you! Thank you!”
The man did not utter any grandiose promises of repayment. In the chaotic reality of the current world, they could not even guarantee they would cross paths again.
Saying nothing more, Mu Li watched the family of three retreat into the distance. Only then did he turn back to Xiao Yan like a child caught in a wrongdoing, murmuring, “Big brother, I am sorry.”
Slowly swallowing the food in his mouth, Xiao Yan offered a faint, reassuring smile as he looked at Mu Li. “If you do not eat your noodles now, they are going to get soggy.”
“Ah? Oh!”
Picking up his bowl, Mu Li finished his meal and subsequently offered to wash the utensils, though Xiao Yan gently stopped him. Ruffling Mu Li’s hair, Xiao Yan said in a warm voice, “Our little darling does not need to apologize. You did nothing wrong.”
The apocalypse had no room for unearned kindness, and while Xiao Yan was entirely capable of operating with cold ruthlessness, his little darling did not need to follow suit. His precious kid was born pure and kind, and Xiao Yan would never blame him for that.
“I will not do it again next time,” Mu Li murmured, burying his face in Xiao Yan’s chest. His big brother had once taught him never to trust a single soul in the apocalypse, a lesson he had kept firmly in mind.
“Be a good boy and go play a game,” Xiao Yan coaxed, patting Mu Li’s head before fishing a fully charged tablet out of his backpack. Power grids had collapsed on the second day of the apocalypse, followed by a total internet blackout within half a day. Fortunately, their courtyard boasted a solar generator, and before packing the generator into his space, the two of them had made sure to fully charge every electronic device they owned. Although internet access was gone, the device came preloaded with numerous offline mini-games, which would keep Mu Li entertained and pass the time for hours.
Nodding obediently while hugging the tablet, Mu Li settled in as Xiao Yan carried the tableware into the restroom. Although the running water at the gas station had not yet been cut off, Xiao Yan did not dare trust it, so he pulled out a bottle of mineral water from his pack to carefully wash the utensils and the small cooking pot. As he stepped back out, he spotted the little boy from earlier sneaking over to shove his toy directly into his little boyfriend’s hands before scampering away in a flash, leaving Mu Li blinking in utter bewilderment. Covering his mouth to hide a chuckle, Xiao Yan walked over to his partner. “Since he gave it to you, you might as well keep it.”
Flipping the Ultraman toy over in his hands, Mu Li wore an expression of mixed amusement and helplessness. “This kid told me Tiga is light and will fight off the monsters outside for us, so he gave it to me for protection.”
Xiao Yan burst out laughing as well. True to form, it was pure, endearing childish innocence.
The rest of the day was spent cuddling together playing games until dusk settled. Xiao Yan prepared braised beef rice for dinner, and while he was in the restroom washing the dishes afterward, the little boy’s father slipped inside under the pretext of using the restroom. His true purpose was to offer a warning: the group of men who had been glaring at them near the entrance earlier that afternoon were plotting to wait until the two fell asleep to rob them. The man had overheard them discussing the plan by chance before dinner.
Located right along the national highway, this gas station did not operate like a major expressway rest stop stocked with commercial food and water; the building merely served as an employee break room. The people taking shelter here had fled in a panic, mostly consisting of local residents caught passing by while trying to get into the city, meaning none of them carried food or water supplies. Consequently, trapped here from the very beginning, most had endured continuous hunger—including the man himself, who had saved the only scraps of snacks he had to feed his child. Starving for two or three consecutive days had ultimately broken his wife’s health and driven her to fall ill.
The man harbored no ulterior motives; he simply wanted to repay the kindness Mu Li had shown his family earlier that day.
Without lingering after delivering his warning, the man turned and walked back outside, blending seamlessly with the others as though he had merely used the restroom.
Emerging from the restroom, Xiao Yan chose not to mention the incident to Mu Li. Those few scoundrels were hardly worth wasting his energy over. Still, he appreciated the man’s heads-up; ants might not pose a genuine threat, but getting bitten by one was still an annoyance. He certainly had no desire for his little darling to be startled awake while sleeping soundly.