[edited]

Jiang Ning’s words startled Lu Yu, and he instinctively touched his face. “Hiss…”

Being slapped in the face by a big cockroach was disgusting enough, but he didn’t expect to be bitten by them as well.

Oh, would his face be ruined? This face is his wife’s favorite!

Jiang Ning suggested, “Use iodine to disinfect, and take some anti-inflammatory medicine.”

While disinfecting, Lu Yu complained in a pitiful tone, “Wife, if my face is ruined, you won’t leave me, right?”

Zheng Weili was speechless. “No.”

The onlookers who were fed by dog food, “…”

Cockroaches were already crawling all over the house, yet the two of them were still showing affection. They couldn’t help but wonder if they had no shame, or if they were simply courting death.

After treating the wounds and continuing their struggle, with lingering fear, they sealed the balcony of 1803 again.

There weren’t many stainless steel wire meshes left, and Jiang Ning didn’t give them the remaining ones. She just suggested, “You’d better seal all the drains and put insecticide on the balcony.”

The balcony couldn’t be completely sealed. Once the air didn’t circulate, the top floor would be like a metal box roasted by a fierce fire; it would be strange if people didn’t get cooked.

A living person cannot suffocate to death, so they used the colored steel plates left in 1803. They drilled countless small holes in them.

It prevented large cockroaches from crawling in while still allowing ventilation.

In such a difficult environment, they could only make the best of it. After finishing, they didn’t forget to celebrate with a bottle of ice-cold beer.

With the two fools setting the atmosphere, Jiang Ning found it hard to stay resentful.

So, the group gathered again.

“Come on, today it’s big cockroaches; who knows what tomorrow will bring. Let’s enjoy ourselves while we can.”

Jiang Ning went home and brought back a basin of ice-cold pearl milk tea.

After drinking the ice-cold milk tea, they felt their souls coming back to life, and their pores were screaming with joy.

Lu Yu drank two large bowls in a row. “Anning, your skills are the best. Ours didn’t turn out well; the pearls are hard and dry, and the milk tea tastes powdery.”

“Who asked you guys not to store it properly? All the ingredients were spoiled by the ice.”

Zhang Chao also praised continuously, thinking about the ingredients at home. “How did you make it?”

Jiang Ning shifted the blame. “Your Brother Shen made it.”

So, the two fanboys began to flatter Huo Yishen, who unexpectedly was also a master of kicking the ball. “No, it’s because Anning taught me well.”

Ah, damn it, their also showing dog food!

Lu Yu gave Jiang Ning a playful wink. In the past, she didn’t want Brother Shen; now, look at him—he’s completely wrapped around her finger.

You know, Brother Shen used to carry a gun, but now he’s in the kitchen with a spatula, happily washing dishes and cooking soup for her.

Heh, it turns out Anning is the master of playing with love.

However, bending over for the woman you love doesn’t make Brother Shen lose face. On the contrary, he becomes more charming.

As they chatted, the topic turned to the heroic rabbit army. Lu Yu had a sudden idea. “Do you think we can eat the big cockroaches?”

Jiang Ning warned, “The big cockroaches breed and mutate so fast, and they come out of the garbage dump. Their bodies are full of viruses and bacteria. If you don’t want to die, you’d better not…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a piercing wail came from downstairs.

With the balcony sealed, everyone could only open the windows of the room and use binoculars to look down. They saw a man desperately paddling a rubber boat, with a skinny woman sitting on the boat, holding a barely conscious child in her arms.

The child was pale and continuously vomiting.

The woman cried while quarreling with the man.

Everyone listened in horror. Driven by hunger, the child instinctively stuffed a big cockroach into his mouth.

No one knew how many he had eaten. By the time the parents found out, he was already vomiting, convulsing, and had fallen into a coma.

The two were at a loss and could only take the child to the hospital.

But the hospital had long run out of medicine. Even if they went, there was little hope of getting treatment.

Lu Yu’s joke just now turned into a tragedy right before their eyes.

Moreover, there might be more than one person eating the big cockroaches.

The originally cheerful atmosphere became somewhat heavy.

Jiang Ning changed the subject, “Why did you all shave your heads?”

“We had no choice. We were sweating all day, and our hair became oily and sticky. Washing it wasted a lot of water.”

Continuous sweating meant constantly replenishing water to stay alive.

They simply shaved their hair to save water resources, especially since the extreme heat was worse than expected.

Without temperature-controlled clothing, they would have probably given in to the heat a long time ago.

This wasn’t a joke. Every day, there were cases of heatstroke and dengue fever. If they were discovered in time and sent to the hospital, maybe they could be saved, or… in the evening, there were epidemic prevention personnel at the entrance of the community to collect their bodies.

Forget it, live one day at a time, don’t think too much about it.

Coming out of 1803, Huo Yishen naturally followed into 1802 and closed the door behind him.

Coke and Doudou were playing next door, which is a rare moment of solitude for them.

Sitting on the sofa, they quietly watched some comedy variety shows to relax.

After the exhaustive cleaning, Jiang Ning felt a bit tired, and unknowingly leaned against Huo Yishen’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

Huo Yishen hugged her, and his lips couldn’t help but curl up involuntarily.

Compared to when they first met, she seemed much more relaxed.

Not just her, he felt the same way.

Huo Yishen thought that moving to the 18th floor would bring the same darkness as in his previous life.

He wasn’t afraid, and was prepared for it.

But he didn’t expect to meet Jiang Ning and her friends.

From the beginning, he guessed that her experiences were similar to his.

Due to their special professional relationship, even if he were to start over, Huo Yishen would still be relatively rational and restrained, but Jiang Ning was just an ordinary person who had experienced the cruel end of the world. But despite being covered in defensive thorns, she still harbored kindness in her heart.

Especially with her interactions with 1803, she still trusted them and helped them in secret.

He was initially puzzled, then attracted, and later, healed by her.

Yes, Jiang Ning was healing him.

She might still have secrets, but they didn’t affect him much.

Before the apocalypse, this would have been damaging to their relationship as a couple. But the apocalypse was cruel, and people’s hearts changed. Many kind-hearted people eventually turned into demons wielding their knives.

Jiang Ning’s vigilance was not only directed at him but also at her friends, and she didn’t relax around strangers, which actually relieved Huo Yishen.

When they woke up, it was almost dark outside.

Jiang Ning realized she had fallen asleep leaning on Huo Yishen, and he was still holding her. She felt a bit embarrassed for a moment.

Huo Yishen had also fallen asleep later, but he was still vigilant. He opened his eyes immediately, his voice tinged with laziness, “Awake?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Ning quickly sat up. “What do you want to eat tonight?”

“Anything is fine.” He wasn’t picky.

Cooking in extreme heat was a disaster, so Jiang Ning took out the pork rib and corn soup, stir-fried beef with green peppers, vegetables, and white rice from her space.

The two of them ate harmoniously.

The rabbits returned with full bellies and high spirits, surprisingly not competing with Coke for food.

Jiang Ning checked each one and didn’t find anything unusual, so she finally felt relieved.

Finally, the house was cleaned thoroughly, but the next day, they found the rabbits munching on something crispy again.

She couldn’t help but wonder, where did these big cockroaches come from?

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