Chapter 61
Before the apocalypse, fatty meat wasn’t worth much, but now… How many people could even eat meat? So, for Qi An, fatty meat was the peak of delicacies .
One could see how much he ‘drooled’ over Xiaomao .
“Even though a s.p.a.ce ability user’s s.p.a.ce wouldn’t completely preserve food, it would greatly slow down rotting . Especially for sealed things like canned food; they could be stored for very, very long…” Qi An couldn’t help swallowing .
The world outside would have various germs, fungi, and even black energy in the future . A separate s.p.a.ce, however, had none of those . Something with an expiration date of one year stored inside may not expire even after ten!
Speaking of, if the renowned female s.p.a.ce ability user, who was reputed to be outstanding, hadn’t taken everyone down with her by destroying her own s.p.a.ce in retaliation because her child had died dubiously, the S City secure base that was second only to B City secure base would have probably survived a little longer…
Those people were idiots . They clearly knew that the s.p.a.ce ability user valued her child the most, yet they didn’t protect the child well…
Xiaomao felt extremely uncomfortable from Qi An’s overly-tight hug, and was frightened by his gaze . She just didn’t know how to resist, and could only stiffly sit in silence .
Seeing this, Qi Jingchen said, “Qi An, let go . ”
Qi An then realised he was holding Xiaomao too tightly; he promptly loosened his grip, and kissed Xiaomao on the cheek . “Sorry, little girl, gege was careless just now . Gege likes you the most . In the future, follow gege ba!”
Since Nie Yi left such a treasure in his hands, he must properly cherish her! Later, he’ll bring Xiaomao out to search for supplies!
He could go anywhere with his teleportation, and Xiaomao could store things . The two of them were the most perfect partners!
Thinking of this, Qi An couldn’t help kissing her a few more times, getting saliva all over Xiaomao’s face .
Nie Yi’s opinion of Xiaomao promptly improved even more .
Qi An still looked like a child, and so Xiaomao wasn’t wary of him . After she was kissed, she even gurgled in laughter .
“Boss, I’ve hidden away a few things recently; let me take her to pack them!” Qi An hurriedly said . He was eager to get closer to Qi Jingchen— The food he had collected was to ensure that he wouldn’t starve in the future! He must have Xiaomao pack it up, and he must also make sure that Xiaomao never leaves his line of sight!
With that, Qi An teleported away . Nie Yi wanted to let Qi Jingchen feel his abs again, but when he thought that Qi An could return at any time, he promptly discarded the idea .
This sort of lightbulb that could burst in at any time would have to be properly educated by him in the future!
“Jingchen, do you want to go out for a walk?” Nie Yi asked . After asking, he regretted it slightly . This was a deeply painful place for Qi Jingchen, so why would he stroll about here?
“Let’s go for a walk . I stayed here for a year and a half in our last life, and I don’t even know what the place looks like,” Qi Jingchen said, walking out .
It was afternoon when they had arrived, and after running around, it was already evening .
The sun was setting from the east, and the trees on the mountains beside the secure base glistened under the last twilight . This scenery was very beautiful, but the surrounding environment…
The location B City secure base chose already had many houses, and they constructed more later on . There were many places to stay, and the management was very good . Therefore, even if the amount of people increased, it was still extremely rare to be homeless— Several people may squeeze into a house to sleep, but they still had a roof over their heads . Here, it was different .
This place was originally a village . It had some tourist attractions, and there were hotels, agritourism, and so on, but not many houses . The houses were taken over by those with supplies or power, so the majority of the regular people could only think of other ways to find a residence .
Thus, this place had all sorts of dwellings . Some ‘houses’ were just tall piles of soil with a few wooden sticks on top, and a plastic sheet covering the structure .
This village originally had plastic greenhouses for planting vegetables, and those had also been converted into living areas .
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“If she’s not thrown out, what do we do?” An exhausted female voice said, “Fine ba, since you hate to part with your mom, then I’ll leave . ”
“Where are you going? You’re just quitting just like this? Aren’t you being selfish?” the man hurried to ask .
“Just consider me selfish . I don’t want to catch some disease from here; I still want to live,” the woman said . If it was in the past, even if she wouldn’t go so far as to be taking care of her mother in law and staying by her side while she was sick, she would still provide the money and effort that she should . But now… She still wanted to live . “I’m leaving!”
Faced with life or death, even closer spouses would become enemies . This scenario was too common in W County secure base; even parting ways like this was already good enough . In the past, there was an entire family who had killed each other just for a bag of snacks .
B City secure base arranged many jobs for regular people . As long as they were willing to work, there was food to eat, and they could also support the elderly and children, but here… W County secure base hadn’t provided food for more than a month, and the food for patrol members and such who worked for the secure base was steadily decreasing . If it wasn’t because many people had brought food when they entered the secure base, perhaps everyone would have already starved to death .
But many people still starved to death everyday . Some people would even drag the corpses home . Unfortunately, aside from encouraging people to look for food in the nearby mountains, W County secure base’s leaders didn’t care .
The environment here was exceedingly vile, and more and more people were dying . It probably wouldn’t be long before an epidemic arose and turned the place into a ghost town . During the beginning of the apocalypse, there were thousands and thousands of small-scale bases . Among them, many were left with no survivors due to an infectious disease . Qi Jingchen looked at this and blinked— Perhaps, when they laid a trap for Su Haisheng, they could make him bleed a little?
Thinking of this, Qi Jingchen waved at two nearby people .
Su Haisheng, the chief of this secure base had, if nothing else, arranged things extremely considerately . He had specially found two people to follow Qi Jingchen . When Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen didn’t call, these two would quietly follow them . Once Qi Jingchen waved, they immediately stepped forward to ask if they needed anything .
“It’s nothing much . I just think that the people here are too pitiful . I want to give them some food and medicine . ” Qi Jingchen’s face looked faintly worried as he sighed, “These people are so hungry they’re just skin and bones…”
“…” Originally a.s.suming that Qi Jingchen would want something or intend to return, the people were dumbstruck . This was the apocalypse; whoever had food, wouldn’t they hide and conceal it, without ever having enough? This person actually wanted to give away food? Was he crazy?
Qi Jingchen’s face was filled with sympathy for the common people . Seeing these people’s confused expressions, he asked, “What’s wrong? Can’t you?”
“I have to go back and ask the chief . But if Qi shao wishes to give them food, I don’t think the chief will be against it . ” This person wiped off the sweat on his forehead, thinking that the youth before him simply didn’t know his place because Nie Yi always doted on him— Wasn’t he afraid of making Nie Yi or Nie Yi’s subordinates dissatisfied by giving away food?
This person felt that Qi Jingchen’s request was too abnormal, and Su Haisheng thought the same . However, Su Haisheng didn’t oppose it at all, instead praising, “Qi shao really is kindhearted…”
“You also think so? Then you must bring out more medicine and food,” Qi Jingchen immediately said .
Su Haisheng was stunned when he heard this— He needed to provide the food and medicine? What was the meaning of this? “Qi shao, you’ve also seen our base’s situation . We are somewhat short of food . ” He didn’t know how long the apocalypse would last, and he still wanted to use supplies for roping in ability users . How could he give them away?
“That’s not true ah . If you didn’t have enough food, how could you prepare so much for my subordinates?” Qi Jingchen said, “I see that you already cooked dinner for my men, so just give it to the common people ba . ”
“How can I do that? Then your men will be hungry!” Su Haisheng said, but he sneered in his heart . This youth actually had to gall to say ‘my men’… Those people definitely weren’t this guy’s, who only had looks, and maybe— in a few days— they wouldn’t even be Nie Yi’s either .
“It’s not like they’ll die from missing one meal, right?” Qi Jingchen snorted in disdain, then looked at Su Haisheng with a raised eyebrow and blinked . “You’ve evaded it again and again; it’s not because you’re unwilling, right? How could you be so evil?”
Qi Jingchen looked at Su Haisheng with an expression that seemed to say ‘you’re actually this mean’, giving Su Haisheng a stifling sense of anger . Even Nie Yi joined, saying, “Chief Su, how could you disregard the common people’s well-being? They’re about to starve to death!”
“That’s right, they really are pitiful . ” Qi Jingchen nodded in agreement .
“Quickly go and give all the food to the common people! I think this still isn’t enough; you should bring out a little more . You must let the common people eat their fill,” Nie Yi said .
He never thought that Nie Yi was this brainless… Su Haisheng had already lost his anger due to the present situation, but after thinking about it, he figured this was a good thing . Ever since he had seen Nie Yi’s men, he had wanted to obtain them . Now that Nie Yi had given their dinner to the common people, wasn’t it playing perfectly into his plans?
He’d first win over Nie Yi’s subordinates, then kill Nie Yi .
Those who went to B City secure base had all said that Nie Yi’s relationship with Chief Nie wasn’t good, and that his relations with B City secure base’s people were even worse . Even if he died outside, perhaps no one would investigate .
Su Haisheng promptly instructed his people to give the food initially prepared for Nie Yi’s men to the commoners .
Food for 2000 certainly wasn’t enough to feed all the civilians in the secure base, so Qi Jingchen had people boil the rice and dishes together and add hot water to make congee . After that, he requested a lot of flour from Su Haisheng, boiled a few large pots of water and added flour to make flour congee .
The food was arranged like so, whereas, for the medicine, they found a few doctors and pharmacists to consult with people about their illnesses and give them medication .
As for the diseases that required surgery… everyone would rather die .
The secure base was distributing food today! And medicine!
Once this news spread, countless people rushed over .
Speaking of, even though Su Haisheng wasn’t a good chief, he had set up an ID that functioned as a temporary residence permit for everyone who had entered the base . Using this, Qi Jingchen and Nie Yi didn’t have to worry that people would come receive food repeatedly .
“My congee has meat!” Upon receiving the congee, most of them hurriedly drank it down . The person who spoke directly finished it before he dared announce this ‘nice surprise’ .
Some children were afraid of being scalded and couldn’t drink it at once, but their parents were worried that it would be robbed if they didn’t finish quickly, so they kept urging them to eat faster . The children were probably famished as well, and really did eat very quickly…
Qi Jingchen grinned as he watched this from afar, then suddenly smiled at Nie Yi . “Wasn’t I very much like a slowly blooming white lotus just now?” He had read some online novels a few days ago and learnt the meaning of white lotus .
Even though a white lotus wasn’t likeable, Qi Jingchen felt that it would be nice if he could be a white lotus .
To be a benevolent white lotus flower, there must be someone willing to collude with him . Just now, if it weren’t for Nie Yi cooperating with his play, how could they continue the performance?
“Then I’ll be the overbearing chairman who wants a beauty over his career,” Nie Yi said .
“The two of us are a good match,” Qi Jingchen lightly said .
Nie Yi’s heart skipped a few beats, and he looked at Qi Jingchen, but realised that Qi Jingchen was concentrating on watching the common people scramble for food .
He sighed and stepped back to beckon Ping Shengchao over . “Boss, you’re right . They delivered a meal to us, the most filling dish: sticky rice b.a.l.l.s with white sugar or salted vegetables packed inside . ”
“Did they say that they secretly sent food over? And not to let me know?” Nie Yi smiled .
“That’s right,” Ping Shengchao said . In the beginning, those people had been restrained to some extent, but when someone later expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ towards Nie Yi, they began to openly rope people in . They kept saying that Nie Yi was no good, and their Chief Su was excellent, and so on .
Yeah, right . If Chief Su truly was that great, how could he hide food and let others starve?
“While you’re interacting with them, let the subordinates complain about me,” Nie Yi said .
“Boss… Your people actually aren’t willing to speak badly of you,” Ping Shengchao couldn’t help but say . Nie Yi’s display was very powerful, and his subordinates’ worship of Nie Yi was absolute . When they heard the people who came to entice them slander Nie Yi, they were almost unable to resist beating them up .
“That’s good,” Nie Yi said, “Tell them to be at ease . I’ll settle this issue in a few days . ”
Ping Shengchao nodded, and immediately went to discuss with the others .
Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen watched for a while, and seeing that the food present was about to run out, Qi Jingchen said to the person in charge at the side, “There’s still many who haven’t eaten . You guys must make sure they eat their fill . ”
The person in charge immediately made a pained expression .
“I want to go to sleep already, but I’ll leave a few people behind to watch . You absolutely must make sure everyone has eaten . ” Qi Jingchen yawned and left .
Seeing this, the person in charge couldn’t help gritting his teeth before ordering people to bring out bags of flour . The food in a city was certainly enough for the population of that city to eat for a long time . Moreover, when their secure base had first been established, they had brought back everything from nearby food companies, supermarket warehouses, and grocery stores . They had even taken half of every person who wanted to enter the secure base’s food reserves .
Now that the vast majority of people had turned into zombies, the remaining food was enough to feed the secure base’s population for a year . It was just that Su Haisheng was unwilling to see the food in his possession decrease, which was why he was unwilling to distribute the food, instead wanting more of the regular people to starve to death to lessen the burden on the secure base .
But now… Even if he was unwilling to part, he still had to . Fortunately, a few provisions wouldn’t decrease their stock by much .
“Why are Nie Yi and his lover doing this?” When a nurse who was distributing medicine saw Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen leave, she couldn’t help speaking up . Qi Jingchen’s way of handling things was completely the same as how the Saint Mary-like white lotuses she had read of in stories would .
“Why? I wish everyone could be like them!” A girl next to the nurse said, “At least they gave everyone a meal to eat . ”
The person who had spoken up was stunned . “That’s true…”
Many people began to chat about Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen . Meanwhile, the two in question had already returned to their room .
There, Qi An was playing building blocks with Xiaomao . He immediately leapt up in excitement when he saw them . “Big Brother Qi! Xiaomao’s s.p.a.ce has a lot of food now!”
“That’s very good . ” Qi Jingchen smiled .
“Big Brother Qi, I also brought some things for you . ” Qi An dragged out a box from the side . When opened, a mult.i.tude of accessories and luxury goods, all for men’s use, could be seen inside . “Big Brother Qi, I found all these for you . ”
These days, Qi Jingchen was dressing better, and even began to wear accessories such as a wrist.w.a.tch . All had been provided by Nie Yi .
Seeing as Qi Jingchen’s heath was much better, and he was beautiful like a porcelain doll, Nie Yi couldn’t help but want to dress him up . As a result, he found a lot of luxurious goods for him to use . Now, Qi An also had found many things for him .
Qi Jingchen was slightly at a loss for words . After thinking about it, he felt that he could definitely try wearing them all .
Who hadn’t thought of wearing a few millions’ worth on their body someday? When he was in college, he had heard rumours that a certain student had worn a wrist.w.a.tch worth several thousand, and hadn’t he been very envious then? But back then, he never would have thought that he would be able to wear such an expensive wrist.w.a.tch in his lifetime . After all, a wrist.w.a.tch worth a few dozen dollars functioned just as well .
Qi Jingchen picked out a few from the pile, changed his wrist.w.a.tch, switched his jadeite necklace for a jadeGuanyin, then picked out a ring .
“Wear this one!” Nie Yi caught Qi Jingchen’s hand, took off the ring and put on another . On his hand, he was already wearing a ring of a similar model .
Qi Jingchen looked at the ring Nie Yi gave him . It wasn’t as good as the one he liked, but it was still okay… He ended up keeping it .
Seeing this, Nie Yi didn’t bother Qi Jingchen for wearing Qi An’s things anymore .
The next morning, sharp-eyed people realised that Qi Jingchen had changed from head to toe .
During the apocalypse, he had even changed his jewellery…