“What is this?”
The husband and wife looked at each other.
“Could ‘freezing space’ be referring to the refrigerator I mentioned just now?”
Chen Qingqing ventured.
“It’s possible.” Lin Bai nodded. “But what does the progress afterward refer to?”
The two of them could not come to any conclusion, so they had no choice but to set the matter aside for the time being.
At that moment, Xiaohuan, sitting on the upper bunk, stuffed the last box of medicine into the storage rack and clapped his hands. “Xiaohuan has completed his mission!”
Chen Qingqing gave him a thumbs-up. “Xiaohuan is amazing!”
The couple took the children out of the spatial realm, tidied the cellar up a little, then locked the cellar, locked the villa, and locked the main gate as well.
Only then did they prepare to go home.
On the way home, Chen Qingqing kept practicing and testing how to use the spatial realm.
After practicing the entire way, she was finally able to smoothly take whatever she wanted out of it.
Before getting upstairs, Lin Bai walked around to the trunk and took out four large machetes.
“I originally wanted to buy a crossbow or a stun baton, but I couldn’t find any after looking everywhere.”
“We’ll have to make do with these for self-defense for now.”
Chen Qingqing took a machete and swung it twice.
During the three years of the Apocalypse, not everyone could get their hands on dangerous weapons.
She had often used close-combat weapons like these for self-defense. These sharp machetes were far more effective than wooden sticks, wrenches, and the like.
Chen Qingqing took the two children upstairs first.
She boiled a kettle of water to prepare a bottle of infant formula for Shuoshuo, and Lin Bai returned just after parking the car.
“I made a round through the underground parking garage and spoke with the owners whose spaces were near the garage entrance. I switched parking spaces with them,” Lin Bai said.
Leaving the car outside would be very dangerous once the Apocalypse arrived.
But if they left it in their original parking space, it would be difficult to drive out after the underground garage descended into chaos.
So parking not far from the garage exit was the best choice.
“You’re making formula? Then I’ll cook something.”
Lin Bai handed Chen Qingqing the clean, drained baby bottle.
Xiaohuan came running over from the sofa and hugged Lin Bai’s leg. “Dad! I want braised pork ribs!”
Lin Bai affectionately rubbed Xiaohuan’s head. “All right. How about cola chicken wings too? Does my little glutton want some?”
Xiaohuan nodded repeatedly.
Chen Qingqing put the baby bottle into the bottle shaker, then turned back to look at the father and son, her eyes filled with contentment.
On the way, she and her husband had decided to stay home until the water and electricity were completely cut off a month later.
That was because, during the month after the Apocalypse began, the entire world would descend into utter madness.
During the first week, the internet was still functioning, and the water and electricity supply could barely be maintained. But as the zombie virus continued to erupt and the people around them suddenly mutated, the citizens fell into panic.
However, with the authorities calling on everyone to stay home as much as possible, the cities still appeared relatively calm on the surface.
During the second week, the internet went down, and the centralized power supply collapsed.
Some buildings had their own power-generation facilities, though, and could still guarantee an electricity supply.
But with no means of communication, people became increasingly terrified. Many ran out of their homes without any precautions, only to be infected soon afterward.
During the third week, the water-purification systems also failed. The first armed groups to venture out looted all the major supermarkets and shopping centers. Everyone finally realized that the Apocalypse had arrived, and people began frantically gathering supplies.
By the fourth week, most of the supplies had been swept up by those who had acted early. Those who had finally come to their senses began fighting viciously over the tiny amount of supplies that remained.
A world without order or morality had officially arrived. Bloodshed over a little food became increasingly common.
It was not until a month later that the street brawls gradually decreased—because by then, people had either died or been infected.
The streets were filled with nothing but zombies.
Those who remained either hid in their homes or formed teams, fighting the zombies as a group while robbing people wherever they went.
Some people also left the cities and fled to the countryside.
As a result, a month later, the countryside would become a second city.
That was why Chen Qingqing had not chosen to return to the countryside.
Even if they went back, they would only have one month of peaceful living.
After that month, the countryside would be packed with people and zombies. Unlike cities, with their high-rise buildings to hide in, the open, level villages offered nowhere to take cover.
The zombies could spot humans at a glance.
Fortunately, having experienced the Apocalypse, Chen Qingqing was able to lead her family in avoiding these dangers ahead of time.
Lin Bai had rented the villa—far from both the countryside and the city center—only after hearing Chen Qingqing’s descriptions.
Now that she thought about it carefully, Chen Qingqing also noticed some clues she had overlooked at the time.
For example, the people who had followed Lin Bai home in her previous life and stolen all their supplies and the jade pendant had come from a spontaneously formed Apocalypse survival team.
But what kind of people could rapidly form an Apocalypse survival team and begin robbing others on the second day, when the situation was still completely unclear?
Could they also be reborn?
Although this was merely a guess, those people truly were dangerous.
Regardless, Chen Qingqing would not let her husband cross paths with them again.
Chen Qingqing held the baby bottle near Shuoshuo’s mouth to tease her. The moment Shuoshuo saw it, her eyes lit up, and she immediately began waving her little hands anxiously.
Xiaohuan stared at his sister longingly and became anxious as well. “Mom, give it to Little Sis already! She’s hungry!”
Xiaohuan was a responsible older brother. Whether before or after the Apocalypse, he would always fight to take care of his little sister.
When his sister left, he cried for several days and nights.
Lin Bai brought the cooked dishes to the table. “Dinner’s ready!”
Xiaohuan quickly finished a large bowl of rice, then eagerly reached for his sister. “I’ll feed Shuoshuo. Mom, you eat first.”
By the time Chen Qingqing finished dinner, her daughter had also drunk her fill. Chen Qingqing held her drowsy daughter and did not immediately return to the bedroom. Instead, she sat on the sofa with Xiaohuan.
After Lin Bai finished clearing away the dishes and chopsticks, he came over and sat beside Chen Qingqing. With one arm, he embraced Chen Qingqing and their daughter; with the other, he wrapped it around Xiaohuan.
Xiaohuan vaguely sensed the atmosphere growing heavier. He did not know what had happened, but he quietly curled up in his father’s arms.
Chen Qingqing and Lin Bai raised their heads to look at the clock on the wall. The second hand ticked forward one beat at a time. The only sound in the room was Shuoshuo’s babbling.
Chen Qingqing gently patted her daughter and slowly rocked her.
“Bang!”
A tremendous crash came from the distance as vehicles collided, followed by the sounds of a chain-reaction accident. The string of crashes set off the alarms of the electric scooters in the residential complex, and the quiet space was instantly filled with noise.
“Waaah—”
Shuoshuo squeezed her eyes shut, scrunched up her little face, and began to wail.
Screams and the chaotic din of crowds began rising from the streets.
The overture to the symphony of the Apocalypse had officially begun.
Chen Qingqing held her daughter tightly. Amid the symphony that resounded through the heavens, she hummed over and over again, without tiring, the lullaby her mother had once sung to her.
Holding Xiaohuan, whose whole body had gone stiff, Lin Bai imitated his wife and gently patted their son’s back.
“Dad…”
Xiaohuan lifted his head.
“Will it always be like this from now on?”
Lin Bai pulled his wife and children closer. “Yes.”
“But our whole family will stay together.”
“Forever.”