The earthquake lasted for another ten-odd minutes before finally stopping.
However, both Yu Yao and Luo Mei were cautious people. They didn’t immediately go back inside the house, instead patiently staying in an open area to observe.
Sure enough, several aftershocks followed one after another.
The curses and screams in the villa complex—sounds that had barely quieted down—kept erupting again and again.
They practically became the background music of the earthquake.
Fortunately, although this quake lasted a relatively long time, its overall intensity wasn’t very strong.
The damage was limited mainly to household decorations and those shoddy, substandard “tofu-dreg” constructions.
In Yu Yao’s eyes, it felt more like a provocation aimed at humanity, or an opening act revealing the terrifying side of the apocalypse.
Because after this painless, almost teasing earthquake, what followed was something far more dreadful—acid rain.
Those black raindrops, capable of slowly corroding even metal, could easily eat away at human flesh and even bones.
The corpses left outdoors would soon be completely dissolved in this bizarre black acid rain.
Even zombies had to find shelter and wait for the acid rain to pass.
Thinking of this, Yu Yao packed up their things and urged Luo Mei to head back into the house with her.
The two of them worked together to clear out the living room.
Once they were settled, Yu Yao took out two boxes of self-heating rice from her backpack compartment.
It wasn’t that she was being generous—she simply didn’t want to starve herself just to hide supplies!
She had so many resources!
How could she let herself go hungry?!
So she pretended she had picked up some food along the way while escaping.
Even so, Luo Mei was delighted.
She hadn’t planned on constantly taking advantage of Yu Yao, but since she already owed her, she didn’t mind owing a bit more.
She didn’t rush to grab one. Instead, she waited until Yu Yao picked the braised beef brisket first, then naturally took the remaining Cantonese clay-pot rice.
While pouring water in and letting it heat, Luo Mei somehow produced a strange-looking phone from who-knows-where and started fiddling with it.
Unfortunately, by the time the self-heating rice was ready, she still hadn’t managed to get anything out of it.
Seeing her puffed-up, frustrated look, Yu Yao asked, “Satellite phone?”
“Yeah. No idea how they’re doing,” Luo Mei said dejectedly.
“They?”
“My brothers.”
Yu Yao didn’t know who Luo Mei meant by her “brothers,” and she didn’t ask further.
Given Luo Mei’s abilities, her companions were definitely not ordinary people. As long as their luck wasn’t terrible, nothing serious should happen to them.
Before Yu Yao could offer any comfort, Luo Mei had already adjusted herself.
Muttering that they were so capable there was no way anything could go wrong, she lifted the lid on the heated rice.
Whether she was trying to turn worry into appetite, or she truly trusted her brothers that much, it was hard to say.
……
Half an hour after the earthquake, the sound of large raindrops suddenly began pattering outside, without any warning.
Hearing it, Luo Mei immediately carried her food over to the window to take a look.
Only then did she realize that the rain wasn’t just an eerie black—it was also corroding everything in the courtyard. Even the large iron gate was emitting sizzling sounds, occasionally releasing wisps of white smoke.
She couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath—only to inhale a grain of rice into her throat.
“Cough cough cough cough—damn! Cough cough! Acid rain! And it’s black!!”
Even while choking to the point of tears, her face red and neck thick, Luo Mei didn’t forget to “report the situation” to Yu Yao.
Yu Yao sighed and asked helplessly, “Are you okay?”
Luo Mei coughed a few more times until she finally hacked out the rice grain that had nearly gone down her windpipe.
She waved her hand and said several times in a row, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
After that, she leaned on the windowsill, eyes wide as she stared at the black rain outside, still shoveling food into her mouth.
After a long while, she sighed dully, carried her lunchbox back to the sofa, and the worry she had just barely suppressed rose again.
“Don’t know how they’re doing.”
“They’ll be fine,” Yu Yao offered a dry bit of comfort.
“Yeah, definitely fine. A little acid rain—how could that stump them?”
Comforting people wasn’t Yu Yao’s strong suit. After responding once, she focused on eating.
Luo Mei, on the other hand, seemed lost in thought, frequently zoning out.
Finally, after finishing her meal, Luo Mei couldn’t hold back anymore and said, “Sis, if we find them, why don’t you join us? Our squad is really strong—seriously, super strong!”
Luo Mei looked at Yu Yao, her bright fox-like eyes full of hope.
Yu Yao raised an eyebrow and asked with a light smile, “Since you’ve already said it’s a squad, can you personally decide whether I join or not?”
Luo Mei answered seriously, “I can’t—but I’m sure they’ll like you.”
“Really?”
“Really! You’re so good-looking, your personality’s so nice~ And you cleared an entire villa area of zombies by yourself—you’re strong! Who wouldn’t like you?”
Earlier, while chatting, they had mentioned how Yu Yao, Ji Yan, and Ye Ziang had cleared out the zombies in the villa complex.
Luo Mei knew exactly what kind of ability that required.
Looking at the earnest Luo Mei, Yu Yao laughed softly but didn’t answer the question about whether anyone wouldn’t like her.
Plenty would.
Whether it was her or the original owner of the body, neither had ever been universally loved.
“I already said—someone helped me.”
“Even so, you’re still strong. I trust my intuition!”
Someone this capable—she was certain their boss wouldn’t let her slip away.
And Luo Mei, well… she was a terminal looks-lover. Completely incurable.
She loved Yu Yao’s face—the more she looked, the more she liked it.
To the point that every time she stared too long, she felt like going hiss—ha hiss—ha!
In this godforsaken apocalypse, if she could look at a face like that every day, she’d probably live ten more years at least!
……
Luo Mei’s invitation was sincere, but Yu Yao didn’t dwell on the topic for long.
She truly didn’t plan on being a lone wolf forever.
Based on her experience gaming in her previous life, she knew that the items dropped from killing monsters were generally distributed according to the killer’s attributes, aptitude, traits, and level.
If she fought alone for too long, the equipment attributes and categories would become increasingly narrow and limited.
She had suffered greatly from this in her previous life due to being too isolated.
Now that she had another chance, she definitely needed to change that.
Besides, could the experience points and loot from a whole group really compare to what she could get alone?
……
That said, finding teammates wasn’t easy in itself.
If Luo Mei’s teammates were reliable enough, she wasn’t opposed to joining them.
Building her own team had too low a cost–performance ratio.
She’d have to invest a huge amount of energy helping others level up and grow. As a leader, she’d have to worry about too much and make too many decisions.
She’d even need to devote a lot of attention to protecting others.
That would only delay her own progress.
She wasn’t someone with a strong “main-character syndrome,” obsessed with being the boss in charge.
If possible, she just wanted to temporarily find a dependable team, work together to kill as many zombies as possible, and level up quickly.
To smoothly get through that awkward early phase of being a support-type.
……
Without a clear answer, Luo Mei felt a little discouraged.
But she didn’t give up. If Yu Yao wouldn’t join them, then she’d follow Yu Yao herself!
By now, Luo Mei had already quickly accepted the arrival of the apocalypse and adjusted her mindset.
But as the rain fell heavier and heavier, lasting longer and longer, the entire world became battered and ruined under the onslaught of acid rain.
Luo Mei’s state visibly grew more irritable. She spoke less and less.
Yu Yao also inexplicably felt a trace of unease, as if somewhere deep down, some unknown danger was silently brewing within this acid rain.