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But inside this apartment, for this little bit of time, they had peace. They had a child who laughed too easily, a mother who cooked for them, and the ordinary comfort of being able to sit together without worrying about every second. Yan Cijin lowered her eyes and smiled a little.

..

..

Bai Li slept until after 5 pm. When she woke up, she stretched and felt refreshed, but her hands were still a little sore. Bai Li touched her forehead and was relieved. She did not have a fever, but she still decided to take some more anti inflammatory medicine. She had learned long ago that it was better to be careful than to be sorry later, especially now when every small wound could turn into a bigger problem if she ignored it. Thinking this, Bai Li got up and took some medicine. She stood for a moment in the quiet room, feeling the weight of the long day settle into a calmer shape. The apartment was still and neat around her, with the curtains half drawn and the evening light coming in soft through the window. Outside, the world was already changing. Inside, she had this one small room, her computer, her crossbow, and the steady habit of checking everything for danger before she allowed herself to relax.

She sat down at the computer and looked at the screen, pulling up the surveillance footage. Everything in the hallway was normal, with only a few scattered zombies. Bai Li checked the surveillance footage outside the building entrance and saw quite a few zombies in the community, probably those who had followed her there earlier. Even after seeing that, her face did not change much. She just kept looking in a slow, careful way, memorizing where the movement was heaviest and where the hallways were still clear enough to use later. She remembered that there was still a lot of stuff at the convenience store downstairs, but her hands were currently inconvenient. She would use her spatial storage to bring back more items from the convenience store when her hands were free in a few days. For now, she could only wait and plan. It was not ideal, but Bai Li had never been the type to panic over what could not be done right away. She was the kind of person who stored the problem away, looked at it again later, and solved it when the time came.

After that, she took out her phone and checked the group chat. At first, everyone was tagging her, but when she did not respond, they started talking about monsters. Bai Li smiled with contempt. She had already expected this kind of noise. When people were scared, they always wanted to drag other people into their fear and make it sound like concern. They would type fast, talk loud, and pretend they were doing the right thing, when in truth they were just trying to see who had more and who could be pushed. Bai Li swiped through WeChat a few more times and saw that many people wanted to add her as a friend. She declined them all. They were all just trying to get supplies from her, and there was no point in adding them. She had no interest in wasting time on people who only reached out when they wanted something. If they had not spoken to her before, then there was no need to open the door to them now. She set the phone down for a moment, then picked it up again, more out of habit than curiosity, and went back to the group chat one more time. The more she looked, the more she saw the same pattern repeating itself. Some people were begging. Some were acting righteous. Some were pretending to be fair. Some were just waiting to see which way the wind would blow. Bai Li had seen enough of human nature over the years to know that fear often made people very ugly, very fast.

After finishing that, Bai Li found a self heating lunchbox. Her hand was currently injured, so she should listen to Yan Cijin and focus on healing her injury first. Otherwise, it would be inconvenient to go out and fight zombies with a wound. She sat down with the lunchbox in her lap and waited while it warmed up, the quiet in the room only broken by the faint sound of the heater and the small rustle of the package. Ten minutes later, the self heating lunchbox was almost ready. Bai Li opened it and started eating. She ate a braised pork rice, but the taste was terrible. The rice even had a plastic taste. She figured she would just have to make do. It would fill her stomach, and right now that was enough. She had eaten worse things in worse times before, so the plain, slightly strange taste did not bother her much. Bai Li thought to herself and ate heartily. Even if it was not good, warm food was still better than an empty stomach. Her body needed strength. Her hands needed time. So she kept eating with a steady, practical calm, as if she were simply going through another task on a list.

Yan Cijin’s family was preparing to cook porridge that afternoon, and for the side dish, they were making cucumber and shrimp stir fry. The smell was light and clean, and the little apartment had that comfortable home feeling that always made Yan Cijin’s shoulders drop a little when she came back inside. Yan Cijin thought of Bai Li again, took out her phone, and saw that Bai Li had rejected her friend request. What did Bai Li mean by this? Was she pretending to not know her anymore? Yan Cijin looked at the screen for a second longer than she needed to. Her expression shifted in a small and subtle way, part puzzled, part faintly hurt, and part annoyed that she was even feeling this way over something so small.

.

. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

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TO BE CONTINUED,