The convoy did not return to the ’Monster’s’ house immediately.

Instead, Commander Li had the vehicles slow long before the residential block came back into view. His attention was fixed on the stretch of road ahead as if the answer might reveal itself through repetition alone.

The route had not changed, he had made sure that they were following in his previous footsteps. The distance had not changed. The conditions had not changed. Every variable remained exactly where it should have been, and that was precisely the problem.

"Stop here," Li announced, his voice cutting through the tension in the truck. There were three convoys this time. They weren’t looking for survivors, they wanted supplies. They wanted their supplies.

The lead vehicle halted and the rest followed in sequence, their engines idling low as the maintained their formation. No one forgot about the zombie horde that attacked them a few hours ago in this same area.

Li stepped out of his truck without hesitation, turning back along the road they had just taken. His gaze tracked the ground with deliberate precision, not scanning randomly but searching for disruption—any indication that something had gone wrong during transit.

He found nothing.

"Spread out," he ordered. "Check both sides. Every hundred meters."

The soldiers moved immediately, fanning out along the roadside and into the shallow ditches that lined it. They worked methodically, each section of ground given the same level of attention as the last. Li continued forward on his own path, stopping at regular intervals, reassessing, then moving again.

There were no broken crates.

No scattered rations.

No drag marks.

No signs of impact or loss.

Nothing had fallen. Nothing had shifted. Nothing had been taken.

By the time they reached the midpoint of the route, the absence of any supplies had become its own answer.

Li stood still for a moment, his gaze lifting from the road to the convoy behind him. The trucks remained intact, their structure unchanged, every external detail exactly as it had been when they left the house.

Except for the fact that they were empty.

"Resume," he said quietly. He knew that it had been a long-shot... thinking that maybe the supplies had just fallen out of the truck when they were racing away. But it was the only logical explanation. Supplies don’t just vanish into thin air.

They need to be somewhere. The only question was...where?

No one questioned his command. The soldiers quickly filed into their vehicles and the convoy started to move again.

The rest of the route passed without incident simply because there was nothing left to check. Every logical explanation had been tested and discarded.

Which left him with one option.

The last place the supplies had been seen.

The convoy slowed as the house came back into view.

Nothing had changed.

The yard still carried the marks from the last time they were here. Dark stains cut through the grass where both human and zombies had fallen, and the ground remained uneven where vehicles had turned too quickly during withdrawal. The house itself stood quiet, as if no one was home.

But Li doubted that very much. Letting out a long sigh, not wanting to deal with these people at all, he stepped out as soon as the vehicle stopped.

"Perimeter," he ordered, not bothering to soften his orders. If he had his way, this would be an in-and-out mission. He was not in the mood to fuck around.

Two men broke off immediately, moving to establish visual coverage along the outer line. The rest fell in behind him without needing further instruction as he moved up the steps and knocked once against the door.

After a few minutes of waiting, someone finally came to the door, opening it up just enough for Li to see the man on the other side.

He was the one from the kitchen. The one that didn’t say anything.

His expression didn’t shift as he looked at Li, and for a moment neither of them spoke, each one waiting for the other to back down first.

Li let out another sigh and swore under his breath. He really didn’t have time to play games like this.

"I don’t think I properly introduced myself last time," he said, keeping his voice even. "I’m Commander Li Wenqiang of the Hope and Mercy Compound. And you are?"

The man’s gaze didn’t change.

"Not interested," he replied, already turning away.

The door started to close but Li’s hand came up, stopping it before it could fully shut.

"Look," he continued, his tone sharpening just enough to carry authority without raising his voice. "I know you don’t want to leave. I understand that. But I have a job to do. The least you can do is be civil. You don’t want to burn any bridges in this new world. You don’t know when you might need mine or my base’s help."

There was a brief pause before a voice carried from deeper inside the house. "Just let him in."

Li couldn’t see her, but he recognized the tone immediately. Casual. Unbothered. As if the decision had already been made and the rest of them were simply catching up to it.

"And he is Jian Yuche," she added lightly. "Try to play nice. Remember, you are just guests here."

The man at the door didn’t react to the introduction, but he didn’t close the door either.

He stepped aside, giving Li and his men enough room to enter the house.

The room hadn’t changed at all. Not that he had really expected it to.

The television still cast a steady glow across the space, the sound low but present. The faint scent of something recently eaten lingered in the air. Nothing had been changed. Nothing had been destroyed by zombies. It looked like a house that had simply continued after they left.

She was exactly where he expected her to be.

Still on the couch.

The woman didn’t sit up fully when he entered. She glanced at him once, then let her attention drift back to the screen, as though his presence required acknowledgment but not engagement.

"You again," she sighed and Commander Li felt it in his bones. "I am starting to think that you can’t live without me." She sounded mildly irritated, and it seemed to put a small smile on Yuche’s face.

Ignoring her words, Li took in the rest of the room without breaking stride while behind him, the door closed.

Jian Yuche didn’t move far from it, settling back against the frame in a way that didn’t block the exit but made it clear it wasn’t unguarded either. His attention remained on Li, steady and unreadable.

"We need to search the house," Li announced, his eyes going to the other three men in the room. The man by the wall shifted slightly. The one in the chair smiled slightly, and Jian Yuche didn’t move at all.

The woman exhaled slowly. "You people are exhausting," she complained, pushing herself up just enough to look at Li directly. "Do you always come back to a place you already swept through, or is this a new habit?"

"This is not optional." Li’s voice was harsh. He wasn’t willing to go twenty rounds with this woman. Not when there were so many supplies on the line.

"Everything is optional," she replied calmly with a shrug. "You just have to decide how polite you want to pretend to be about it."

The space held for a moment and then she waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Go ahead," she said after a moment. The men that surrounded her seemed to stiffen at her words like they had something to hide, but the woman just continued to stare at him with her icy cold eyes.

Li didn’t wait for her to change her mind.

"Move," he ordered.

His men spread through the house, controlled and efficient, opening doors and clearing rooms with the same precision as before. No one rushed. No one spoke unless necessary.

And nothing changed.

No supplies.

No evidence.

No explanation.

Li remained where he was for a moment longer, watching the room, watching the people in it, measuring what wasn’t being said as carefully as what was.

Something wasn’t adding up.

It was a tingle at the back of his neck, a warning system that had followed him throughout his military career when things just didn’t add up.

And ere, nothing was adding up either.

Not the house.

Not the occupants.

Not the result.

Behind him, Jian Yuche’s gaze hadn’t left him once.

Rouxi shifted slightly on the couch, her attention drifting back to the room as though the outcome no longer interested her.

"Relax, take a seat. They won’t find anything," she said lightly, getting comfortable again.

Her gaze slid toward Jian Yuche, giving him a look that Commander Li couldn’t quite identify.

"Did you?"

He watched as Jian Yuche’s eyes narrowed on the woman. But he didn’t say a single word.