Lan Shiru couldn’t stop laughing. “How about some dog food first? I’ve got plenty. Or if you prefer snacks, there’s jerky. Want some?”

“Woof, woof.” No, I want hotpot. This smells too good.

Alright, Lan Shiru didn’t insist. She turned up the heat and threw all the meat in.

“Oh, by the way, Jiang Xiang, can you handle spicy food?”

Jiang Xiang: ??

What’s that supposed to mean?

Lan Shiru handed a plate and picked up some meat with chopsticks for Jiang Xiang to try. “Here, try this first. Let’s see if you can eat it. If it’s too spicy, I can make a plain broth for you.”

Jiang Xiang didn’t care about broth, spicy or not. He ate it without a second thought.

Hiss. Honestly, the taste was amazing. It was a bit of a shock to the senses, but the mastiff liked it. “Woof woof,” Eat, bring more.

Lan Shiru laughed. “Good, you can eat it. But if it’s too much, just let me know. You’ll get a stomach ache otherwise, okay?”

“Woof, woof.” I know.

Lan Shiru served a huge plate of meat to Jiang Xiang—beef and lamb—and got herself a large helping too. Then she filled the pot with more broth, and the two of them—one person and one mastiff—ate happily, making satisfied sounds.

She quickly grabbed a few bottles of drinks and chugged them down, then went right back to eating.

Luckily, the space was kept at a constant temperature, not too hot, or else they would have had to pull the two of them out of the water by now.

After they were full and satisfied, Lan Shiru took the dishes to the bathroom outside the space to wash them, then returned to the space. She lay down on the bed she had picked up from the bedding section of the mall, cuddling her little treasure, and fell into a deep sleep.

Jiang Xiang lay in the dog bed she had gotten from the pet shop—an absolutely luxurious one, spacious and comfortable.

No matter how chaotic things were outside, it didn’t affect them.

They slept straight through until the afternoon, waking up a few times to care for Little Lebao—feeding, drinking, and taking care of the little one’s needs.

When they got hungry, Lan Shiru decided to make some rice and stir-fried dishes. The rice cookers were plentiful, but there was no electricity, so she could only make a big pot of thick congee in a clay pot. For the dishes, she just tossed together whatever she could find from the prep ingredients she had “borrowed” from a stir-fry restaurant—most of it was already cut, saving her time and effort.

Lan Shiru wasn’t born with a talent for cooking gourmet meals, but she could definitely fill up a stomach. Five years of independent living hadn’t been for nothing.

After eating, Lan Shiru cleaned up and put a specially made oversized vest on Jiang Xiang, trying to cover him as much as possible. His fur was really difficult to clean.

Next, she grabbed a backpack about half her height and filled it with some essential supplies—not too heavy, not too light. Most of it was for Little Lebao—diapers and small clothes. He was still on breast milk, so no need for bottles or formula.

The backpack was one she had DIYed herself, using a high-quality bag. While it was meant for disguise, she had to use it sometimes. She couldn’t let the little one be uncomfortable lying inside.

She also grabbed two large melon knives, each about ten centimeters long, and strapped them together, extending the handles to make a makeshift cleaver.

When everything was ready and she was about to leave the space, she heard a loud impact against the door.

One person and one mastiff quickly exited the space, immediately on high alert.

“Boom.”

The door collapsed, and five people—three men and two women—emerged. They paused, surprised to see Lan Shiru and Jiang Xiang.

However, neither Lan Shiru nor Jiang Xiang relaxed their guard for even a second. In this apocalyptic world, what was truly terrifying wasn’t the zombies—it was the human heart.

Without the constraints of law or morality, human nature was utterly unpredictable.

After the initial shock, the next thing that came was anger. The woman with long hair pointed at Lan Shiru and shouted. “Are you crazy? We’ve been outside banging on the door for so long, and you didn’t say a word or open it?”

Lan Shiru sneered. “Do you think you’re justified? Yelling at me just because you assume I should listen?”

“You—”

“Lin Ting, enough.” a tall, decent-looking man interrupted, frowning as he stopped the woman.

Lin Ting, still fuming, shot a glare at Lan Shiru but didn’t say anything more. The man turned to Lan Shiru and said. “This is our fault. Apologies. My name’s He Yong. We’re all students at B University, seniors this year. We were out the day before the acid rain storm, and it got so late we didn’t return to the school. Then we were stuck because of what happened afterward. We just managed to leave this morning. We didn’t expect the entire city of B to change like this. We arrived at the mall at noon, but when we came in, we saw everything was gone. We’ve been searching room by room, and yours was the only door we couldn’t open. That’s why we were in a rush to break it down. Really sorry about that.”

“Everything’s gone?” Lan Shiru raised an eyebrow. It seemed like many people had come here today to loot. “Well, now you see, there’s nothing here. You can leave.”

“Why should we leave? This isn’t your place! The entire mall is empty, and it could be that you’ve been hiding everything. You’re the only one here. Hand it over now!”

The three men were silent, clearly in agreement, while the short-haired woman eyed Lan Shiru with a gleam in her eyes, as though she had something else in mind.

Lan Shiru had to admit, they were sharp. She coldly scanned the room and called out to her companion, “Jiang Xiang, let’s go.”

Jiang Xiang stomped forward with his small, proud steps, looking down at the group with disdain as he strode confidently ahead.

The five of them didn’t dare stop Jiang Xiang, watching helplessly as it walked away.

Their expressions were different when it came to Lan Shiru, who followed closely behind.

Lin Ting’s face was twisted with rage. She took a step forward and reached for the bag on Lan Shiru’s back. “Leave the stuff here.”

“Lin Ting.”

“Are you asking for death?”

Lan Shiru swung the knife and turned around, but Lin Ting was yanked back by the short-haired woman just in time, narrowly missing the blade.

Jiang Xiang turned back, revealing its sharp claws.

The five of them were still shaken, especially Lin Ting who had felt the chilling cold of the knife’s edge. When she saw Jiang Xiang’s razor-sharp claws, her whole body went numb, and her throat went dry, unable to make a sound.

The short-haired woman shoved her aside. “This is just like the post-apocalyptic novels we’ve been reading. Anything without an owner can be taken, but I don’t like outright robbery. I can’t stand bullying the weak. We’re not on the same path, so let’s part ways.”

“Miao Miao, you—?”

The men were growing anxious; Miao Miao leaving was a huge loss for them.

Miao Miao ignored them and walked up to Lan Shiru. “Can I come with you?”

Lan Shiru’s body was ice-cold, and her tone was even colder. “No,” she said, calling to Jiang Xiang before striding away.

Miao Miao pretended she hadn’t heard and bounced along, following behind.

The three men, intimidated by Lan Shiru’s cold demeanor and Jiang Xiang’s ferocity, didn’t dare to stop them. Their resentment toward Lin Ting only grew. Among their group, she was the most useless.

Lin Ting was still in shock, not fully recovered. Maybe she hadn’t gotten over the previous shock yet.

The transition from a world governed by laws to a brutal, survival-of-the-fittest apocalypse was hard to adjust to.

Lan Shiru descended the stairs, glancing around. As the others had said, there was nothing left. Of course, there were still some large items that couldn’t be moved and useless things like kitchenware, household appliances, and various odds and ends. But Lan Shiru hadn’t left much behind either. What remained on the scene was nearly identical to what she had left, meaning no one had touched these things.

The food, the water, the clothes—everything was gone.

It made sense. The space was incredibly useful, but not everyone had access to it. Even if someone did, the space wasn’t very large, not like hers, where she could store anything indefinitely.

“It’s a shame these things are left behind.”

Miao Miao, enduring Jiang Xiang’s disdainful gaze, edged closer to Lan Shiru. “Hi, my name’s Miao Miao.”

Lan Shiru ignored her.

Miao Miao grinned, undeterred. Not being chased off was a good start. “I saw you guys last night.”

Lan Shiru paused and turned to face her. “What are you trying to say?”

Miao Miao quickly waved her hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I was staying at a small guesthouse last night, too scared to sleep, so I stood by the window. I happened to see you both, going into shop after shop. I thought… maybe you have one of those legendary spaces that can store a lot of stuff.”

“So, are you threatening me?” Lan Shiru narrowed her eyes.

>>>