“I’ll take all of these books. Will a bundle of sausages do?”
A bundle contained eight sausage sticks.
There were around a dozen books in the stack.
The middle—aged man froze for a moment. He hadn’t actually expected anyone to trade for them.
Though it pained him to part with them, compared to an empty stomach, books could only nourish the mind.
Now that he had completely run out of food, no amount of spiritual nourishment could compete with the growling hunger in his belly.
“Are you serious?”
The man looked at her in disbelief.
He had always assumed no one would ever want to trade for his books.
“Absolutely.”
Wen Lan’s eyes sparkled.
Finding books nowadays—especially good ones—was incredibly difficult.
She wanted every single one of them to read to her baby.
As she looked through the collection, she noticed one book that only required scanning a QR code to activate an AI voice narration.
That would make things much easier.
“Alright. Alright.”
Afraid she might change her mind, the man hurriedly packed every book for her.
Wen Lan handed him the bundle of sausages.
She had gathered a great deal of food in her storage space. Back when they had raided the supermarket, she had taken all the rice and flour.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, those weren’t the first things people grabbed while fleeing, so plenty had been left behind.
She had stored it all away.
Besides, Wen Che brought food back every day.
Su Han had also given her all the rice and flour he found, and Wen Lan always used what they had on hand to prepare the best meals possible.
Hugging her newly acquired books, Wen Lan happily headed back.
The uncle also left delighted, clutching the food tightly against his chest.
The people nearby watched the exchange.
There really is an idiot willing to buy those.
Better remember what she looks like.
Carrying the stack of books back to the dormitory, Wen Lan attracted the attention of several family members of the Special Squad.
“Must be nice having someone to support you. No need to go out and kill zombies—you can waste food trading for a pile of worthless books. Well, who told her she has such a wonderful brother?”
“Look at my sister. I’m disabled, and I still can’t even eat my fill every day!”
Wang Hui’s younger brother, Wang He, looked on with envy.
“She only brings back that little bit of food every day. There are four people in our family. Who’s supposed to get full on that?”
“I’m sure my sister eats while she’s out searching for supplies. That’s why she only leaves us this much.”
The more Wang He thought about it, the more convinced he became.
His resentment toward his sister only deepened.
Why couldn’t he have a brother like Wen Lan did?
That evening, Wen Lan prepared a pot of rice porridge with finely diced sweet potatoes.
She served it with pickled vegetables and steamed several large buns.
By now, most animals had mutated.
No one dared eat the meat of mutated beasts.
Who knew what would happen after eating it?
Would it cause food poisoning?
Would consuming mutated meat make people mutate as well?
Nowadays, simply having a hot meal was already a blessing.
Many people were surviving on expired bread.
When Su Han and the others returned, he conducted his usual routine.
As always, he used his psychic ability to scan Wen Lan.
She had long since gotten used to it.
Perhaps Su Han had already discovered that she possessed a spatial ability.
What Su Han hadn’t expected was that Wen Lan’s energy field was growing stronger every day.
She had absorbed the fewest crystal cores among everyone.
Yet somehow, the energy surrounding her continued to increase.
That alone made Su Han rather curious.
Food had become harder and harder to find lately.
Most of the nearby supplies had already been scavenged clean.
To find more resources now, they would have to venture into county towns or major cities.
As for the villages, they’d already been picked over long ago.
At present, the Dragon Nation had established only three safe zones.
Only military bases possessed enough strength to create such secure refuges.
Outside those areas, unattended farmland had withered and died.
Some people even considered venturing deep into the mountains to search for food.
But without transportation, the journey took too long and cost too much.
Searching cities was still far more efficient.
Besides, there was no guarantee the mountains even contained anything edible.
Wen Lan’s life remained remarkably comfortable.
To outsiders, however, the reason seemed obvious.
She had an exceptionally good brother in Wen Che.
The next day…
Zhang Yuan had almost completely adapted to fighting zombies.
After discovering how to absorb energy crystals, his abilities had indeed improved.
Once he absorbed a crystal, he could maintain his Steel Body ability for much longer.
Zhang Meng, on the other hand, genuinely didn’t want to go anymore.
Before the apocalypse, she had been nothing more than an ordinary high school senior who had just graduated.
Now she not only had to survive the apocalypse, but also stab open zombie corpses.
Brains splattered everywhere.
Blackened, greenish intestines spilled across the ground.
Corpses lay scattered all around.
The stench of decay saturated the air.
She felt as though even breathing would infect her.
Her entire body constantly smelled rotten.
Even so, Zhang Meng’s ability was quite impressive.
Her Mist Barrier provided a certain level of defense.
Strangely, however, she progressed very slowly after absorbing the transparent energy crystals.
“Captain, Wen Lan is also a member of the squad. Shouldn’t she be going too?”
“There are three of us reserve members. We can each take turns covering one day.”
“Otherwise, I don’t think it’s fair.”
Before Su Han could respond—
Wen Che refused outright.
“No.”
“Why not? Just because she’s your sister?”
“Brother Wen, I’m even younger than your sister!”
Standing off to the side, Wang Hui watched everything coldly.
If Wen Lan refused to go, she wouldn’t even need to stir up trouble herself anymore.
Others were already doing it for her.
She refused to believe Wen Che could protect his sister forever in this apocalypse.
“My sister isn’t in good health.”
Wen Che frowned slightly.
“Not in good health? Your sister has glossy black hair, smooth flawless skin, rosy lips—she looks healthier than I do, and I’m only eighteen!”
Zhang Meng was furious.
Wen Lan was only two years older than she was.
And he was claiming she wasn’t healthy?
Everyone had eyes.
Anyone could see that Wen Lan lived comfortably.
Inside the safe zone, who could honestly say they ate their fill every day?
Everyone else looked worn down and haggard.
But Wen Lan…
“…”
“In any case, my sister isn’t going.”
Wen Che’s tone left no room for argument.
“Brother… I’ll go.”
Hearing the commotion, Wen Lan stepped outside.
She didn’t want to make things difficult for him.
“No. I won’t allow it.”
Wen Che rejected the idea without hesitation.
“My sister is not going. And I haven’t taken an extra share of the food we’ve collected either!”
“Wen Che, aren’t you being a little unreasonable?”
Wang Hui frowned, her fingers curling tightly into fists.
“Are you really protecting your sister?”
“Or do you think you can protect her for the rest of your life?”
“There will always come a day when you can’t stay by her side.”
“Are you protecting her—or hurting her?”
“You’re far too controlling as a brother.”
Wang Hui spoke bluntly.
Yes, she disliked Wen Lan.
But Wen Lan had volunteered herself.
That proved she wasn’t completely hopeless.
“Exactly! Everyone else goes. Why shouldn’t Wen Lan?”
Zhang Meng chimed in.
As long as Wen Lan went, she could skip one more day herself.
The other men remained silent, choosing to watch.
“Wen Che, why not let Wen Lan come? As her honorary older brother, I’ll protect her too.”
Lately, whenever Wen Lan wasn’t with them, collecting energy crystals had become much slower.
With her around, everything became much easier.
It saved both time and effort.
“My sister is pregnant.”
Wen Che clenched his fists.
His face had turned ashen.
His eyes burned with restrained fury.
Even more than that, he was furious that the man who had wronged his sister still hadn’t been found.
The room fell into stunned silence.
“W—What…”
“Preg… pregnant?”
Zhang Ye stared at Wen Lan.
She didn’t look pregnant at all.
No wonder Wen Che had been so protective of her.
“Yes.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Things had already reached this point.
There was no point hiding it anymore.
In a flash, Wang Hui appeared beside Wen Lan and grabbed her wrist.
She immediately took her pulse.
Everyone knew Wang Hui had graduated in traditional Chinese medicine.
“It’s a slippery pulse. Her heart rate is elevated.”
“She’s a little over three months pregnant.”
“The baby’s pulse is incredibly strong.”
“It’s the strongest pregnancy pulse I’ve ever felt.”
Wang Hui verified it on the spot.
Wen Lan hadn’t been lying.
Everyone wore expressions of complete shock.
Wen Che suppressed his anger.
As for Su Han, there wasn’t the slightest hint of surprise in his eyes.
Perhaps Wen Che had already told him.
“Then… where’s the baby’s father?”
“He died.”
Wen Che answered through gritted teeth.
If he ever found out who that man was…
Death would be the only ending waiting for him.
Wang Hui rubbed her nose awkwardly and said nothing.
Now that Wen Lan was pregnant…
For a moment, no one knew what to do.