The horrifying scene of those corpses had all been dealt with, and the room looked much tidier.
The potato seedling had grown up, now quietly sitting in its pot, as if sleeping.
On its pot, there were two clean, newly unearthed potatoes, round and chubby, very cute.
Fu Erdie approached cautiously, gently lifting the potatoes, and then hugging the pot to her chest.
This was truly a huge surprise.
Her food supply was secured!
The potato seedling and the spider plant both needed time to rest and grow after eating their fill. During this time, they couldn’t “work”.
So, Fu Erdie found the spider plant again and asked if there were any other mutated crops at home that could be taken out.
The spider plant spun around and picked out a seed from the seeds Fu Erdie brought back yesterday.
This seed had not sprouted yet, it looked ordinary, Fu Erdie felt it resembled millet, but she wasn’t sure.
Because it was too primitive and weak, Fu Erdie didn’t sense any movement from it.
But since it was selected by the spider plant, it must have its own special characteristics.
There were no extra flower pots at home, so Fu Erdie decided to plant it in the large flower pot in apartment 16-7, which she couldn’t move.
After desensitizing herself yesterday, Fu Erdie searched through the areas on the 16th floor she didn’t dare to enter yesterday, where there were severed limbs and debris.
This time, she found quite a few things that could be used as flower pots.
Mutated plants like the spider plant and the spiderwort could survive with just a thin layer of soil. Since there were no other mutated crops, Fu Erdie considered taking the spider plant, spiderwort, and other plants out to eat.
And also to clean up.
After confirming that the 16th floor was cleared, Fu Erdie began to enter the 17th floor.
Similar to the 16th floor, only three households on the 17th floor still had their doors closed and had not been breached.
This time, Fu Erdie brought the spiderwort with her when she went out.
The spiderwort was much more active than the potato seedling and had a bigger appetite.
Fu Erdie hadn’t finished searching one of the rooms yet, but the spider plant was already happily preparing to clean the next room.
Fu Erdie had to pay attention to the spider plant’s situation at all times. If it showed signs of wandering, she would handle it like taking care of a naughty child, putting it in a safe place to continue feeding.
In the first two rooms, Fu Erdie had to face the corpses herself.
In the following eight rooms, when Fu Erdie entered, they were already clean, with little dust left.
The spider plant had eaten its fill and even wanted to burp.
Fu Erdie quickly carried it back to apartment 16-1 and placed it back on the balcony. Then, she went back to cleaning the 17th floor.
The next day, she took the gardenia to the 18th floor and repeated the process.
On the third day, she took the succulent to the 19th floor.
This day didn’t go too smoothly.
The succulent was cute and short. Its roots were also short and couldn’t extend far.
Fu Erdie placed the small square box beside a corpse.
It took the succulent an hour to slowly extend its thick but inflexible roots.
Fu Erdie went about her own business, not worrying about it getting excited and jumping into danger.
After she finished searching a floor, the succulent finally finished eating the corpse the size of a water bottle.
Fu Erdie thought for a moment, then placed it next to a larger corpse, and went home to pick up the recovered potato seedling to eat and absorb the remaining garbage on that floor, finally getting three potatoes.
Fu Erdie was very happy. She exchanged the spider plant and the gardenia, and cleared the 20th and 21st floors overnight, making sure there were no zombies or other dangers on these floors. Then, she placed the succulent in the room with corpses to slowly absorb them.
Fu Erdie made mashed potatoes that night and shared them with the dog.
On the balcony, ten kumquats had ripened, and fifteen new ones had sprouted.
The other potato seedlings planted earlier had not yet yielded results, but there were already two sweet potatoes, which Fu Erdie picked up and stored.
The peach and cherry trees had grown in the special mutated environment of the balcony. Although they weren’t tall and sturdy, they looked strong and had begun to bear fruit. It was estimated that in four or five days, there would be mature fruits.
The crops planted with homegrown fruits and grains at the beginning of the apocalypse were all thriving.
Only the tomatoes and cucumbers were growing on vines and seemed to be fighting. Fu Erdie had seen them entangled and twisting around each other more than once. She didn’t know if it was plant instinct or if they had mutated like the spider plant, showing intelligence.
After sweeping the floors every day, Fu Erdie would act like a kindergarten teacher, separating them and adjusting their vines’ direction, making one go left and the other go right.
But the next day, they would entangle again, fighting fiercely.
Fu Erdie had considered planting them in flower pots like the millet, but they refused.
The spider plant tried to pull them away, almost breaking their vines, but it didn’t make the cucumber and tomato leave the balcony flower bed.
Fu Erdie could only give up helplessly.
Just like a person might be able to live normally in a room with a temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius every day. But if they could stay in an air-conditioned room, why wouldn’t they?
The tomatoes and cucumbers didn’t want to leave, probably not just because of the temperature, but also because 16-1 was safer and the air was fresher there.
The mutated house could adjust many things. Perhaps the soil conditions in the flower bed were also within the room’s control range. Otherwise, how could it be explained that even someone as clueless about farming as Fu Erdie could make all the crops thrive?
The millet in 16-7 was a case of intelligent mutation. When it was taken out, it was small and had no room to resist. Now, it was growing strong and resilient in the flower pot, but it still looked pitiful with just a few sprouts.
To comfort it and to conduct an experiment, Fu Erdie would come to water it on time every day.
She wanted to know if planting intelligent mutated plants outside her home could expand the area protected by the house.
At the moment, there was no such trend.
Fu Erdie could only keep trying.
Starting from the bottom, Fu Erdie had already cleaned up to the 23rd floor.
One more floor cleaned, and she would have cleared a path from the 16th floor all the way to the top.
Whether she had gotten used to it or cleaning really was effective, she felt that these floors didn’t smell as bad anymore.
The 24th floor, which hadn’t been cleaned yet, was also not as painfully foul.
Dressed in her beggar’s attire, with the gardenia in hand, she began cleaning from 24-1 as she knew how.
Everything was going smoothly until she reached 24-4, when she suddenly heard some commotion from 24-5.
She immediately stopped, gripping the hammer tightly in her hand.
The stifling air seemed to freeze in an instant as she looked toward the direction of 24-5, gently stepping back out of the line of sight from the peephole.
The gardenia, diligently at work, also sensed Fu Erdie’s unease and paused, camouflaging itself as an ordinary potted plant.
However, in the sweltering, post-apocalyptic world where clean water was scarce, even an ordinary gardenia in a pot seemed highly unusual.
Neither the gardenia nor Fu Erdie moved, and the unknown creature causing the disturbance in 24-5 also remained still.
The hot weather quickly drenched Fu Erdie’s clothes with sweat, dripping onto the floor.
After a long while, Fu Erdie decided to retreat with the potted plant.
The door to 24-4 was diagonally opposite 24-5’s, so if she left, she might be seen in the corner of the other room’s eye through the peephole.
However, things weren’t very clear through the peephole. As long as she moved fast enough, the other party might not react in time.
She turned sideways and darted out like a flying arrow.
Objects around her blurred as if they were remnants left behind.
Fu Erdie widened her eyes. Her speed… seemed much faster than before.
Leaving the hallway, Fu Erdie went straight downstairs, ready to give up on the entire 24th floor.
But behind her came a hoarse voice from the hallway.
“Excuse me, is there anyone there?”
The voice didn’t reveal whether it belonged to a man or a woman, but it was definitely weak. Very weak.
Fu Erdie’s heart eased a bit, but she was also afraid it might be the protection of someone with abilities, so she continued downstairs.
The voice sounded urgent, as if someone was labouring to draw breath.
“I just need a little water, just a little bit, is that okay?”
Fu Erdie kept going downstairs.
However, her descent became slower and slower. By the time she reached the 22nd floor, she stopped in her tracks.
If that person wasn’t a zombie, nor someone with abilities, but just an ordinary person, the help Fu Erdie could offer now might just help them get through this difficult situation.
She had water at home, fruit, and even potatoes still producing. She even had chili peppers and scallions planted from before the apocalypse. Giving some of these things to her neighbour might just help them survive, right?
These were things she didn’t lack.
But if she gave them away and then got caught up with this person, would her experiments, her room’s secrets, be exposed?
The moral obligation to help clashed with the instinct for self-preservation.
Fu Erdie descended a few steps, but ultimately ran back home—
She filled a bottle with water, grabbed a kumquat, and set out again.
She walked very slowly, feeling the temperature of the kumquat and water slowly rise until they reached room temperature, then she slowly made her way to the 24th floor.
The 24th floor was silent, devoid of any commotion.
Fu Erdie walked cautiously, step by step. Before turning corners, she opened her phone’s camera to capture the situation on the other side.
Upon inspection, she found a dirty old lady lying by the door.
She quickened her pace, walked over, and lightly tapped the old lady’s calf with her toe.
Slowly, the old lady opened her eyes.
Her dry lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find her voice.
Fu Erdie, no longer concerned about caution, unscrewed the bottle and held it to the old lady’s lips, gently pouring water in.
The old lady slowly regained some strength and grabbed the bottle, guzzling it down.
Half the bottle was gone in no time.
For someone who was dehydrated, drinking a whole bottle was just a matter of minutes.
But with half the bottle left, the old lady looked at Fu Erdie. “Girl, if I finish this bottle, will you be left without water?”
Fu Erdie shook her head. “I still have some.”
She handed the kumquat over. “Here, take this.”
The old lady, who smelled foul and hadn’t bathed in a long time, wasn’t as bad as the zombies or the rotting corpses. It was bearable.
Trembling, she took the fist-sized kumquat and took a bite. It was a bit sour, a bit sweet, but it could save a life.
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