In that moment, the neighbour’s chaotic eyes seemed to gleam, like a lion spotting fresh meat, and pounced suddenly.
Fu Erdie swiftly closed the door, locked it, secured it with a chain, pushed the table, and did it all in one go, leaving the zombies outside banging on the door but unable to get in.
Five minutes later, the zombies changed their target and walked away, one heavy and one light.
Fu Erdie breathed a sigh of relief but suddenly realized a problem.
Her own door opened outward.
Damn it, she was pushing against the door from the inside and accomplishing nothing!
Feeling a mix of fear and annoyance, she ended up laughing at herself.
She sluggishly dragged the sofa and dining table back to their original positions, then took her fourth shower of the day.
After showering, she closed the windows, turned on the air conditioner, and lay on the sofa eating fruit, while continuously calling her family and a few close friends.
Perhaps due to exceptionally good luck, she managed to connect to her eldest uncle’s phone, which was the most urgent call she needed to make.
Her eyes lit up. “Uncle, are you okay now?”
On the other end, it wasn’t particularly noisy. She could hear her aunt and cousin-in-law speaking anxiously in the background, as well as the sound of car horns from the road, but not much else.
Uncle spoke with some difficulty, “We’re okay. We’ve already left the Dongye District through the Jiuhui Tunnel.”
In that moment, it became quiet around her uncle, and Fu Erdie became quiet as well.
After a brief pause, her uncle explained, “We took this tunnel, which is not on the way to your place, so we didn’t come to find you. Go find your younger uncle instead and see if he can take you out. If not, just stay at home and wait for rescue.”
Her cousin sounded apologetic, “I’m sorry. But the road conditions are complicated, and we’re near the Jiuhui Tunnel. If we detour to your place, we’ll lose the advantage of taking the lead on the road. We’re really sorry. Go find younger uncle; it’s on the way.”
Fu Erdie opened her mouth, hearing herself say, “It’s okay, take care of yourselves and have a safe journey.”
The air conditioner blew with a soft humming sound, and the gentle breeze at 26 degrees Celsius wasn’t cold.
She touched her arm and raised the temperature by one degree.
Actually, it was quite fine.
After all, they were family. Besides her parents and grandmother, who would want someone like her with zero practical knowledge and only capable of eating?
Fu Erdie scrolled through her call history and saw that she hadn’t yet reached her younger uncle, hesitating for a moment.
But then she dialled the number.
After another five minutes of dialling, she finally got through.
Her cousin, answered the phone, “We’ve already left. Don’t blame us for not finding you; it’s just that we didn’t want to take a detour!”
Faintly, she could hear her younger uncle’s scolding voice.
Her uncle shouted, “What else could we do? We didn’t even have time to collect our belongings. How could we go find someone? And why should we go find her? It’s been hours since the incident happened, if she dared to take the risk and come out, she would have already come to us! She’s too scared to come out, so why should we pick her up!”
“You say that again!”
“That’s how it is!”
Aunt, who was driving, couldn’t help but yell, “Stop arguing! If you’re going to fight, get out!”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, her uncle grabbed the phone and apologized, “Child, don’t panic. Just stay at home and wait for government rescue, okay?”
Fu Erdie fell silent, finally getting a chance to speak. “Actually, I wanted to say that you don’t have to look for me. I have food and water at home and can hold on. Just take care of yourselves. Goodbye.”
She hung up the phone and let her hand rest weakly on the sofa.
Her cousin was right.
If she could run out and find them, there might still be a chance.
But what had she done? First, she was forced to retreat by a zombie, then she dawdled at home, slept, and didn’t help Zhao Xiaolu, who she still didn’t know the whereabouts of, nor dare to go out and search for her family among the zombies.
She was afraid of the zombies, but were they not afraid?
Even if they were a whole family, with more people, there was no guarantee they could all escape unscathed.
Fu Erdie lowered her gaze, her mind in a mess, and dialled her grandmother’s number while thinking.
Her grandmother lived with her aunt and cousin. Her aunt had a car, so if they could leave, they should do so.
She could stay here alone, just one person.
The dog whimpered and licked Fu Erdie’s hand.
Fu Erdie smiled. “And my adorable little doggy too.”
She couldn’t reach her grandmother by phone, and there was no news from her aunt or cousin.
Cen Xiyang, who worked the night shift, was also an unknown.
And of course, the most critical point was that Zhao Xiaolu was likely already dead.
She glanced at the surveillance camera in the hallway. The number of zombies didn’t decrease but increased due to the crowds coming and going.
She took stock of her supplies.
First was instant noodles. She had two boxes, with 24 packets in each box, totalling 48 packets. Just instant noodles could sustain her for a month.
In the refrigerator, there were still some vegetables and fruits that needed to be consumed in the coming days, or they would go bad.
When paying the property management fee in the community earlier, they gave her a bag of 10 kilograms of rice for the Chinese New Year. Combined with the remaining 5 kilograms she hadn’t finished, she could eat for another two months.
But that was just in theory.
She only knew that rice needed to be cooked and eaten, and cooking rice required a rice cooker or natural gas. However, water, electricity, and gas were bound to be cut off in the future. What could she do with raw rice?
Fu Erdie was clueless.
So, the rice should be eaten early as well.
There were also several jars of pickled vegetables that her mother had prepared for the Chinese New Year. They should go well with rice and wouldn’t be too difficult to endure.
As for the dog, she had 20 kilograms of dog food, which would be enough for two months given the dog’s appetite.
Fu Erdie touched the head of the well-behaved dog. “We’re in this together.”
The dog whimpered and nuzzled her hand.
Fu Erdie felt a mix of resignation and determination about her approximate time of death.
But looking at the remaining fruits, sweet potatoes, and potatoes that hadn’t been eaten for a long time and were starting to sprout, she couldn’t help herself. She turned on the balcony lights, dug up the ornamental plants in the flower beds, and planted the food in the soil.
Even though she would die in one or two months.
But what if?
What if she could grow a vegetable garden?
She didn’t understand watering or fertilizing, didn’t even know if these things should be planted in the soil, and couldn’t search the internet now. But what if she stumbled upon something?
Like these kumquat, chili peppers, and scallions on the balcony. She planted them for fun, and they grew fairly well, didn’t they?
Logic told her that these few small flower beds on the balcony couldn’t sustain her.
But emotionally, that glimmer of survival instinct prompted her to do so.
As for the ornamental plants she dug up, she didn’t throw them away. Instead, she found a courier box, put a thin layer of soil in it, watered it a bit, and then threw the plants on top.
Fu Erdie planned to hang these plants at dawn, place them on the ground floor of the building, and let them live or die on their own.
After making the plan, Fu Erdie slept peacefully.
The air conditioner blew as expected, and she had a dreamless night.
The next day, before dawn, around five o’clock, Fu Erdie woke up.
She opened the balcony window and looked outside.
The chaos that had been ongoing since last night hadn’t settled down yet.
Within her line of sight, she already saw three car accidents. Cars were stuck on the road, making the already congested streets even more crowded.
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