Jiang Miaomiao had been coveting the private pool in the suite for a long time.
The pool area wasn’t very large, about twenty square meters, enclosed within the balcony with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides, making it almost invisible.
The pool was tiled with sky-blue ceramics, and when the sun was shining, swimming in it felt like swimming in the sky.
Despite no one taking care of the suite for half a year, the pool’s water remained clear and transparent, resembling a huge sapphire.
Jiang Miaomiao had wanted to take a swim or have a bath in it, but she couldn’t bear to.
The pool was so beautiful, and if it got dirty, it would be ruined. Leaving it unused at least made it a pleasant sight to behold.
But after staying in the room for a few days, the two of them decided to indulge themselves and go swimming in the pool.
Lu Qiming brought a bottle of coconut juice and two tall glasses, placing them on a small table beside the pool.
Jiang Miaomiao took a sip of the coconut juice and lay on the edge of the pool, gazing at the vast cityscape, letting out a contented sigh.
If every day could be as leisurely as this, it would be perfect.
As the water rippled, Lu Qiming swam to her from behind and kissed the nape of her neck.
She reached back with her hand to make sure he didn’t plan on repeating it, then continued to relax.
Lu Qiming laughed and sighed, “Are you searching for eggs back there? You touch them and let go.”
She shrugged, “What can I do? It’s because you never wear pants and act shamelessly all day. I worry that one day, Meatball will mistake you for a sausage and take a bite.”
“If he takes a bite, you’ll be the one who feels the pain.”
Jiang Miaomiao sneered, “Me feel pain? I’ll celebrate with fireworks.”
“Is that so?”
Lu Qiming smirked, mimicking her voice from the previous night, “How did you say it last night? So comfortable, faster… You seem to enjoy it so much, are you sure you can bear to stop?”
She couldn’t compete with his rhetoric and couldn’t match his thick skin.
Frustrated, Jiang Miaomiao prepared to turn around and bite him, but looking at his naked body in the water, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Lu Qiming had quite a few scars.
The most prominent was the long one on his leg, which still looked fierce even after months of healing.
There were several on his stomach, a few on his chest, and slightly fewer on his back, while his arms, hands, and palms… not a single part had unblemished skin, except for his face.
As for herself, she had also been injured, but they were all very minor.
Once the scabs fell off, they became inconspicuous, and you could only notice them if you looked closely and compared them to the surrounding skin tone.
The original novel portrayed both the female and male leads, including many supporting characters, like Lu Qiming with this appearance.
They had sustained many injuries during the fights with the zombies, and even if they survived until the end, they would be left with a body full of poorly healed old wounds.
The reason why she could still be healthy and lively, even half a year after the zombie outbreak, was entirely because Lu Qiming had shielded her from most of the dangers.
Suddenly, she felt a little melancholic, and her nose tingled with sadness.
She loosened her clenched fist and touched the scar on his chest gently, leaning against his shoulder.
“Lu Qiming, can we keep on living?”
“Of course we can.”
Lu Qiming patted her head, his eyes shimmering with determination.
With a splash, water splattered all around.
The two turned around and found Jiang Rou Rou also jumping into the pool.
Lu Qiming was fed up, “Silly dog, get out!”
“Woof woof woof!”
Jiang Rou Rou barked back, skillfully paddling with its limbs to dodge his hand and swim towards Jiang Miaomiao.
The previously calm pool was now a mess.
The next day, the two decided to end their impromptu vacation in the suite and get back to work.
Lu Qiming searched around and found decaying flesh dropped from zombies in the fire escape, confirming that it crawled up from there.
They planned to seal off the fire escape; they wouldn’t be going out anytime soon. They just needed to carefully consider what materials to use for the seal.
It had to be something they had on hand and strong enough to keep the zombies out.
They searched the building for a long time, attempting to find cement or bricks to build a direct blockade on the fire escape.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find any after searching around. Finally, Lu Qiming’s attention fell on the endless chairs in the office building.
Since they couldn’t handle it through hardness, they would deal with it through technique.
The zombies were strong and agile but had mediocre intelligence, especially when it came to manual tasks.
In the past, whenever they wanted to enter somewhere, they would smash the door or window with their heads and charge right in. They didn’t even know how to use doorknobs, so moving tables and chairs was probably out of their capabilities.
They searched many offices and collected nearly a thousand chairs, stacking them in the fire escape from the fifteenth floor to the twentieth floor, one after another. The gaps between them were so small that even a cat couldn’t crawl through.
The chair legs faced outward, so if the zombies tried to use brute force to break in, the metal legs would directly poke a hole in their skulls.
Lu Qiming even dismantled a few shelves and wedged them against the top layer of chairs, securing them firmly into the walls on both sides.
With this setup, not only zombies but even elephants would find it difficult to barge into the supermarket.
After finishing this, Jiang Miaomiao was still a little uneasy.
“What if some of the windows in the supermarket are broken, and the zombies crawl in from the outside?”
Lu Qiming said, “Which floor are we on now?”
“The twentieth floor.”
“The zombies were human beings before, not Spider-Man. Although they’ve become stronger now, there must be limits to their abilities. Even if we invite a professional rock climber to climb twenty floors barehanded, it wouldn’t be an easy task to achieve, and the same goes for the zombies.”
Jiang Miaomiao pondered over his words.
He then added, “However, just to be safe, we should still cover the broken windows. Also, starting from today, we’ll patrol around the windows every three hours to see if any zombies are climbing. If there are, we’ll be prepared in advance.”
“Okay, let’s start covering the windows now.”
Jiang Miaomiao pointed to the pile of dismantled shelves beside her, “Should we use these materials?”
Lu Qiming nodded, picked up an electric saw, and prepared to cut them into appropriate lengths.
However, after a few “grinding” sounds, the electric saw stopped working.
The two looked into the issue and came to a frustrating conclusion—the electric saw had run out of battery.
This was their most effective weapon against zombies, and now they couldn’t find a place to recharge it.
Would they have to face the zombies empty-handed from now on? Or maybe use a mop?
Since the electric saw was unavailable, they still needed to cover the windows.
Lu Qiming found a small steel saw and started cutting with great effort.
Their work efficiency dropped significantly, even with Jiang Miaomiao’s full help. It took them a full two days to deal with all the materials.
After that, it took them another two or three days to install everything. Fortunately, no zombies appeared during that time, so they were temporarily safe.
Sometimes Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t help much, so she stood by the window and looked down, overlooking the buildings and roads.
Occasionally, she could see a few zombies flashing by. Their speed was fast, but the number had significantly decreased compared to before, making it hard to detect their presence without careful searching.
The abandoned city had become a hunting ground. They were the hunters, not the helpless prey.
After finishing their current work, the two decided to look for new weapons.
There were no suitable ones in the supermarket, and there were still fifty to sixty floors above them unexplored.
So one morning, after they finished breakfast and left Jiang Rou Rou in the safe presidential suite, they carried water and biscuits for lunch and set off.
The upper floors of the hotel were offices, occupying about thirty to forty floors. They found everything in the offices to be the same after looking at them for a long time.
Computers, printers, office desks, and chairs were all necessary items that the original occupants had spent a lot of money on. But they were of no use to them.
Occasionally, they would find a Swiss Army knife or a lighter, but they were still impractical against zombies.
They needed something with powerful killing ability, preferably something that could blow off a zombie’s head right away, to avoid getting injured during a fight.
It took them a day to search ten floors, and they couldn’t rest. They accelerated their pace and searched for five days in one go.
Starting from the seventieth floor, they no longer saw offices but instead found some high-end restaurants and private residences.
They found quite a few flamethrowers used for cooking in the restaurants. They had a much higher temperature than ordinary lighters and were more durable, making them valuable items.
Lu Qiming filled two large bags with them and then focused on searching the private residences.
Most of these residences were large flats with an area of over a thousand square meters. The doors were equipped with high-end smart locks.
After the power was cut, the doors would automatically lock, and one needed to enter a password to activate the backup battery to open them.
Jiang Miaomiao stood in front of a door and tried several passwords for several minutes, but none of them were correct.
Lu Qiming took out a Swiss Army knife from his waist and handed her the bag, asking her to step back.
She gave up her position and held the bag, watching him insert the knife into the lock. The seemingly seamless lock was pried open by him.
He gritted his teeth and inserted it further inside, cutting off the wires or activating some mechanism. With a “click,” the door opened.
She was stunned.
“Where did you learn this skill? Teach me.”
Even after he locked her in the room before, she couldn’t pry open the door no matter how hard she tried.
Lu Qiming put away the Swiss Army knife and returned it to his pocket, giving her a smile with a crooked mouth.
“Skill? I just need violence.”
…Well, having great strength is impressive.
The two walked into the house, one after the other.
Since the apocalypse, Jiang Miaomiao had searched for supplies everywhere and had been amazed by the decorations in wealthy households countless times.
This house didn’t look particularly special at first. It had the typical European luxurious style, with sofas and curtains embroidered by hand, and the floor seemed to be made of pure gold.
But when she opened a door, she couldn’t bear to leave anymore.
A dressing room, larger than the living room in her previous home!
An entire wall of the massive wardrobe was filled with beautiful clothes, while the other wall displayed various types of high heels.
The angle of the floor mirror was just right, making the person in the reflection look tall and fair, as if it had its own beauty filter.
The original owner who lived here must have been a very exquisite fairy, right?
Lu Qiming saw that she hadn’t come out for a while and walked over to take a look. He found her deeply engrossed in touching a pair of shoes.
“You’re not thinking of staying here again, are you?” he asked.
Of course, Jiang Miaomiao wanted to, but there were nearly sixty floors between here and the supermarket. It would take a whole day to make a round trip, and climbing so many stairs would be exhausting.
Compared to dressing up, eating was obviously more important.
Reluctantly, she placed the shoes back in their original position. As she prepared to leave, she noticed a beautiful crystal embedded in the wall and curiously touched it.
Clank!
A sound came from the wall, and she quickly ran back to Lu Qiming, asking cautiously, “Did you hear that? Is there a zombie hiding here?”
Lu Qiming stared seriously at the location where the sound came from. After a few seconds, the shoe cabinet completely turned around, revealing a deep red cabinet door hidden on the back.
He walked over and opened the cabinet door, and inside were four neatly arranged guns.
One was a mini pistol that could fit in a pocket.
One was a standard-sized handgun.
Two looked slightly different, but she couldn’t tell the difference between them. They were submachine guns.
There were also many accessories like silencers, scopes, and magazines.
Jiang Miaomiao: “…”
Did God know she hadn’t watched movies in a long time and specially let her have an eye-opening experience?
Lu Qiming wasn’t too surprised. He casually took a submachine gun, loaded a magazine, and fired a shot at the mirror.
Bang!
The bullet instantly shattered the mirror.
Jiang Miaomiao was caught off guard, and her body trembled.
Lu Qiming quickly asked, “Did it scare you?”
She shook her head, and he felt relieved. He counted the number of bullets.
“50 rounds of handgun bullets, 100 rounds of submachine gun bullets. We won’t have to worry about encountering zombies for the next few months.”
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t understand. “Why would there be such things in the dressing room?”
Could it be that the original owner wasn’t some gentle fairy but a dark and bloodthirsty violent Barbie?
Lu Qiming handed her a business card.
“I found this in the study when you were drooling over the shoes.”
She looked down and saw the name on it – “Gu Changzhou, Chairman of Changzhou Security Company.”
Gu Changzhou… it sounded familiar.
Wait! Isn’t this the second male lead from the original story? She actually ended up at his home!
Gu Changzhou used to be a veteran soldier and worked as a personal bodyguard for celebrities and business tycoons.
Because of his sharp mind, he started his own business early, and his security company was one of the best in the country.
When the zombie outbreak occurred, he was very clever in organizing an escort team to protect many big shots and their families, evacuating them to the base and obtaining the first batch of resources in the post-apocalyptic world. His high status in the base and cooperation with the government followed.
The female lead and him met through a rescue mission, and he fell in love with her at first sight. He had been trying to bring her under his command, but she didn’t buy it.
Since this was his home, having firearms wasn’t surprising, after all, he was one of the few in the country legally allowed to possess them.
As for why there was a women’s dressing room in his home…
According to the original story, Gu Changzhou was already in his forties. When he was twenty, his first girlfriend got pregnant unexpectedly.
Because of their average family background, the girlfriend’s parents didn’t agree to their marriage. After the child was born, they threw the baby to Gu Changzhou and took the girlfriend away. They never saw each other again.
He took care of his baby daughter while working, going through a difficult period in life.
Just when his company was finally starting to thrive, his daughter was kidnapped and drowned by a bribed nanny from the opposite family.
After that, he never got married again. No matter where he lived, there was always a room in his home for his daughter, with clothes, shoes, and even skincare products, all prepared according to what she would have at her age.
Reading this part, Jiang Miaomiao felt sorry for him for a long time.
Now she was standing in the room he had prepared for his daughter, recalling the various descriptions from the original story. In her mind, she couldn’t help imagining the scenes of him living here.
Lu Qiming looked at her for a while but couldn’t understand her expression.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“If you had a daughter, how much would you love her?” she inquired.
“Why would I have a daughter?”
Lu Qiming was puzzled, and then he thought of a possibility, and his expression changed slightly.
“You’re not thinking of having a child, are you?”
Of course, she didn’t want to. Only a lunatic would have a child in such an environment.
But what was that expression on his face?
Jiang Miaomiao suddenly felt a bit irritated and turned around, saying, “Let’s go home.”
Climbing over sixty floors to get back to the supermarket was not any easier than crossing mountains.
When they arrived home, night had already fallen. They had some food, took a shower, and quickly lay down in the hotel.
They had been climbing stairs for several days, and Jiang Miaomiao’s legs felt like they were not her own. Walking was like noodles, and she felt weak.
As she lay in bed, she saw Lu Qiming come in and thought of asking him to massage her legs.
But before she could speak, he handed her something.
She took a look and didn’t understand. “Why are you giving me a gun?”
She didn’t know how to use it. From childhood to adulthood, the only time she touched a water gun was in elementary school, and she was often chased around the classroom by her classmates.
Lu Qiming said, “I’ll teach you how to use it for self-defense.”
“Why didn’t you give me the smallest one? This one is heavy for me to hold.”
The gun was already large, and it wasn’t easy to hold it with one hand; she had to use both hands.
With the bullets, it probably weighed five to six pounds. It felt like carrying a mother hen, and her wrists would get sore after a short while.
He shook his head. “No, that one has difficult aiming and low power. It’s only effective if you manage to hit the zombie’s head; otherwise, it doesn’t have much killing power.”
“What about this one?”
“You just need to aim at the opponent’s chest. Even if you miss slightly, you can blow up their entire chest cavity.”
Behind the chest cavity is the spine. As long as you also blow up the spine, even if the zombie is still conscious, it won’t be able to move. It’s perfect for you.”
Jiang Miaomiao was taken aback by his words and got excited.
“What are we waiting for? Teach me now!”
With the current number of zombies in the city, once she learns how to use it, she can take them down one by one and walk freely.
Lu Qiming raised an eyebrow, a hint of playful smile on his lips.
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
“Yes!”
“Alright, let’s go to a larger area.”
There was a gym in the hotel, and the larger one could be used for basketball.
Lu Qiming brought a table and placed three beer bottles on it.
Following his instructions, Jiang Miaomiao stood about ten meters away from the table, ready to shoot.
“Wait.”
He made a pause gesture. “Didn’t I tell you to lie down?”
“Lying down is too low, and it’s hard to aim.”
Lu Qiming shook his head, walked over quite seriously, and adjusted her posture.
Under his instructions, Jiang Miaomiao changed to lying down on the ground and inexplicably felt a bit afraid of him.
Usually, he was always joking and didn’t take things seriously. But when he became serious, she couldn’t help but think of her high school teacher.
Lu Qiming made another minor adjustment and then patted her shoulder.
“Alright, aim properly, and then you can shoot. Remember the method I taught you.”
After saying that, he stepped aside, crossed his arms, and watched her.
Jiang Miaomiao felt a sense of pressure, took a deep breath, and focused on adjusting the direction of the gun.
When she thought it was about right, she followed Lu Qiming’s instructions and squeezed the trigger with force.
Bang!
The gun didn’t have a silencer on it, and the loud sound exploded in her ears, making her head buzz, and she couldn’t hear any sounds clearly.
At the same time, a strong recoil hit her, and she almost couldn’t hold the gun. Her arms went numb, losing all sensation.
As the bullet rushed out of the barrel, a part of the gun hit her lips, causing her pain. She let go of the gun and cried out.
“Wuwu, my tooth…”
Lu Qiming hurried over, lifting her lips to check.
Tears streamed down her face, and she asked with unclear words, “Did I break my front tooth?”
There was a taste of blood in her mouth.
Lu Qiming pinched her front tooth and shook his head with relief.
“No, it’s not broken.”
“Really? Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s really not broken. Feel it yourself if you don’t believe me.”
He held her hand and pointed to her front tooth.
Jiang Miaomiao pinched it with her still not very obedient fingers and finally felt relieved. In these times, it’s hard to find a dentist. If she had broken her front tooth, even if it was repaired, she would forever be a toothless old lady.
Luckily, luckily.
She looked at the intact beer bottle and then at the gun on the ground, feeling scared.
“Is this really something people use?”
Lu Qiming picked it up. “How else can I let you practice? Once you get used to it, you won’t be so miserable. Want to try again?”
Jiang Miaomiao quickly shook her head, saying she’d do it another day.
If she tried again, her front tooth might not hold up.
Looking at her swollen lips, Lu Qiming couldn’t help but think they looked like a rabbit, and he chuckled twice.
She got annoyed, “Did you do it on purpose? That’s why you didn’t remind me before shooting.”
“If I did it on purpose, I’d have you stand up to shoot. The recoil would definitely make you fall on your butt.”
“Fine, you want me to fall, but I’ll bite you to death!”
Jiang Miaomiao pounced on him, but Lu Qiming dodged, lifted her waist, and carried her on his shoulder, easily carrying her into the bedroom and locking the door.
He tossed her onto the bed, and she quickly climbed to the headboard, hugging a pillow with a vigilant look on her face.
“Want to come again? Aren’t you afraid of kidney deficiency?”
“Who wants to come? Stop twisting my words.”
“If you don’t want to come, why did you lock the door?”
“Because it’s safe.”
“Why did you take off your clothes?”
“Because it’s hot.”
“And why did you take a condom?”
“Because…”
Lu Qiming approached her step by step, squatted at the edge of the bed, held her hand, and kissed her fingertips with a smile.
“Miaomiao, what should we do? It seems like I’m addicted to you.”
“Oh.” Jiang Miaomiao showed no expression. “I didn’t wash my hands after using the restroom.”
“…”
“I also touched a dog’s mouth.”
“…”
“I even picked up dog poop.”
“…Tomorrow I’ll stew that dog.”
After Lu Qiming said this in a sinister tone, he climbed onto the bed, about to kiss her when he suddenly sensed a pair of eyes staring at them intensely.
He stopped and looked out of the pitch-dark room.
Jiang Miaomiao asked, “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t speak, turned her face to the window, and let her see outside.
Under the vast summer starry sky, a severely decayed zombie lay outside the window, staring straight at them through the glass.
Jiang Miaomiao screamed and hid behind Lu Qiming.
However, he calmly patted her head and walked towards the glass.
“Are you crazy? Don’t go near it!”
“It’s okay, it can’t get in.”
Lu Qiming approached the zombie and pressed his hand against the glass, covering its eyes.
The zombie’s head moved back slightly, and with all its strength, it rammed into him, shaking the entire glass wall.
Jiang Miaomiao was tense, worried that it would break through the glass like the previous zombie and sneak into the room. She discreetly held the gun in her hand.
At this close range, she should be able to hit it, right?
If she could survive, it wouldn’t matter if she lost her front tooth. She could simply stop looking in the mirror, leaving Lu Qiming to be the only one suffering from her appearance.
However, the glass was much stronger than she had imagined. The zombie repeatedly rammed against it seventeen or eighteen times, even breaking its forehead, but it didn’t leave a single crack.
A strong gust of wind blew outside, and with only three fingers of its right hand gripping the edge, the zombie’s body suddenly sank downward.
Jiang Miaomiao quickly ran over to check.
The zombie dangled in the air six or seven meters high, swaying with the wind, then climbed back up, grinning at them with its gray-black viscous drool dripping on the glass.
What should they do? It couldn’t come in, and it couldn’t get down. Should they just leave it be?
Sleeping at night would be quite uncomfortable.
As Jiang Miaomiao considered how to deal with it, Lu Qiming suddenly grabbed her hand and led her to the living room, knocking on the window there.
The zombie followed them, and he took out the rifle, slinging it on his shoulder, and said to her, “You stay here with Meatball. I’ll be back soon.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the supermarket.”
After saying this, Lu Qiming led the zombie downstairs and left the hotel.
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t let her guard down, so she secretly followed him.
She saw that both he and the zombie went to the supermarket and stopped at a window.
He lifted the gun without even aiming and casually pulled the trigger.
Phew…
A soft sound came from the suppressor, and the zombie’s head exploded like a flower. It fell backward and took a long time for the sound of it hitting the ground to reach them.
Lu Qiming got some zombie fluid on his clothes, frowned, wiped it off with a tissue, and took out tools to seal the window.
In an instant, he transformed from a cool nighttime assassin into a construction worker.
Jiang Miaomiao’s worries completely vanished, and she walked out with a smile.
“Where’s the zombie? Did the handsome and kind god take it away?”
Lu Qiming raised his head, and a drop of sweat rolled down his chin.
“It’s so hot. Get me a bottle of water.”
Jiang Miaomiao brought a bottle of mineral water and opened the cap to feed him. She couldn’t help but lean in and give him a peck on his neck as she watched his Adam’s apple move up and down.
Lu Qiming raised an eyebrow.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
She blinked innocently, “Hurry up and finish, I’m already sleepy.”
“…”
Lu Qiming smiled helplessly and increased his pace.
Good things always come together. The next morning, it started to rain early, and the temperature dropped several degrees, making it particularly cool.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t even have breakfast and rushed to check the vegetables she had planted.
With the hot weather, the seeds germinated quickly, and in just a few days, green and tender sprouts had emerged.
It was estimated that it wouldn’t be long before they could have fresh vegetables to eat again.
Thinking of this, she happily hummed a song.
“I’m going to school, and the flowers smile at me. The little birds say, early, early, early…”
Lu Qiming leaned against the door frame, drinking porridge, and when he saw her like this, he asked, “Are you considering changing your name?”
“Change my name? What name should I change to?”
“Jiang Silly Girl.”
“…Only fools like to call others silly girls. Are you admitting that you’re a fool?”
Lu Qiming shrugged, finished his porridge in one breath, and prepared to go downstairs.
Suddenly, Jiang Miaomiao sighed while squatting on the ground.
He stopped in his tracks, “What’s wrong?”
“If only it could stay cool like this every day. When the rain stops, the temperature will rise again, and from morning to evening, there won’t be a moment when our clothes are dry.”
Lu Qiming recalled the days before and indeed, the heat was unbearable.
But in these tall buildings, unless you turn on the air conditioning, the temperature won’t drop.
To turn on the air conditioning, they need electricity, and for such a large building, there must be backup power. Where could it be?
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