Chapter 13: Scorching Heat, Rat Plague

Zhong Manting cast her gaze toward Qin Shen’s house. The wide-open courtyard gate and the two corpses suddenly thrown out sent her scrambling to cover her daughter’s eyes in terror.

Moments later, two more bodies—bleeding from the mouth and nose—were tossed out.

Gathering her courage, Zhong Manting crept a glance through the gate. Caught off guard, her eyes met a pair of dark, beast-like eyes.

Qin Shen stood in the shadows, his dagger dripping with blood. Corpses littered the ground around him, the bloodstains forming a grotesque sacrificial pattern.

All of them were the people who had broken into Qin Shen’s home.

Even though it was 60 degrees Celsius (140°F), Zhong Manting felt a chill crawl down her spine—far worse than when that old guy had his eye shot out.
“Run! RUN!!” she screamed.

From the window, Jiang Si picked up her binoculars and also witnessed the terrifying scene inside Qin Shen’s yard.

One body, two, three… in just a short time, Qin Shen alone had killed eighteen people.

Every wound was clean and fatal—a single strike to kill.

Qin Shen suddenly looked up at her. Tall, alert, and deadly. His sharp eyes and composure hinted at serious combat training. A special forces soldier?
No—Jiang Si recalled Qin Shen’s father had killed someone. That ruled out a military background.

That meant only one thing—he was a trained killer.

Jiang Si felt even more anxious about having such a lethal neighbor.

A man like that, pushed to the edge, couldn’t be counted on to uphold morality. Better to keep a few guns handy just in case…

Wait. Could Qin Shen already have a gun—and just hasn’t used it yet?

Jiang Si kept her eyes on him. Qin Shen stacked the corpses at his gate. Anyone who even considered entering after that, took one look and ran in terror.

Some fled so fast they nearly tripped over themselves—and no one dared approach Jiang Si’s house either.

All things considered, maybe having him as a neighbor wasn’t so bad.

Downstairs, Jiang Si took over gate duty from Jiang Linhai and casually asked,
“Dad, you just went out for the boar leg—how’d you get back so fast?”

Jiang Linhai thought for a moment.
“Qin Shen suddenly told me to run—he must’ve sensed danger. When I got outside, the hill was full of people. I ran straight back.”

“I wonder if he’s okay now…”

Jiang Si replied calmly,
“He killed everyone who broke in.”

Jiang Linhai’s pupils shrank in shock. He hadn’t expected Qin Shen to kill that many people.

Then he remembered Jiang Si had also killed someone earlier. The body was still by their gate. Worried about her mental state, he gently said:
“If people don’t harm me, I won’t harm them. But they crossed the line. Qin Shen wasn’t wrong. And neither were we.”

Jiang Si nodded and handed him a bottle of antidepressants.
“Dad, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, take one.”

What he meant to be comforting turned into his daughter comforting him instead.

Jiang Linhai smiled bitterly,
“Si Si… am I useless?”
He had wanted to protect her—but still flinched at killing.

Jiang Si shook her head.
“Dad, you just need time to adjust. In an apocalyptic world like this, being able to fight for your family already means you’re strong.”

“Yeah… it’s not easy.”
He clutched the bottle. A grown man shouldn’t be so fragile.

If not for Qin Shen’s warning, Jiang Linhai might’ve died out there. Jiang Si, who hadn’t planned to go out anymore, decided she owed Qin Shen a favor.

She pulled from her space: hydrogen peroxide, iodine, erythromycin ointment, gauze, Yunnan Baiyao spray, band-aids, cotton balls, and disinfectant. She wrapped everything tightly in bubble wrap, then tied it into a ball—adding a brick inside for throwing weight. She wrote a note to go with it.

But just before tossing it, she paused, unwrapped the ball, and removed everything except hydrogen peroxide, Yunnan Baiyao spray, and gauze.
Giving too much might expose how well-supplied they were.

Rewrapping the lighter package, she threw it perfectly into Qin Shen’s yard.

Qin Shen emerged at the sound, picked up the package, and unfolded the note. After confirming the contents, he looked up and nodded slightly toward her.

Jiang Si nodded back and closed the window to block out the world.

Just as she went downstairs, a startled shout came from the kitchen—
“Oh my god!” Grandma cried.

Jiang Si’s heart jumped. She dashed into the kitchen—only to find Grandma pulling a filthy puppy out of the stove.

The tiny pup was covered in soot and squeaking softly. Then a dark shape pushed its way out of the stove hole.

Grandma grabbed it—it was a skinny black mutt, likely the puppy’s mother.

She licked the puppy and curled around it protectively, eyes wide and pleading as she looked at Grandma, as if begging to be taken in.

Grandma gently stroked her head. The dog showed no aggression—instead, she sweetly rubbed her head into Grandma’s palm.

Seeing the bleeding scrapes and broken claws on the mother dog, Grandma turned to Jiang Si.
“She must’ve dug through our stove just to get in. Let’s keep them—they can help guard the house and ease the burden a little.”

Dogs were loyal and pure. Save them once, and they’d risk their lives for you.

Jiang Si took out two cans of meat from her space, opened them, and set them down.
“Eat. From now on, this is your home.”

The mother dog barked softly, then devoured the food hungrily.

In moments, both cans were gone. Grandma wanted to give them pork liver rice, but Jiang Si shook her head:
“She’s starved—too much food might hurt her. Give her some goat milk.”

Grandma mixed a bowl of goat milk and smiled.
“Si Si, name them?”

Jiang Si handed it off to Grandpa. He stared at the pair for a while, then declared:
“Big Black and Little Black! Simple and easy to remember!”

Jiang Linhai twitched.
Yep—definitely simple. Thankfully, they were dogs—they wouldn’t mind the names.

The tunnel Big Black dug under the stove meant the entire kitchen floor had to be re-poured with concrete—they couldn’t risk anyone else digging in the same way.

The whole family worked hard for three full days. From what Jiang Si observed, at least a third of the homes in Longquan Village had been taken over by outsiders.

Some villagers were killed, others driven out. Unable to bear the heat, some took their last chances and fled into the forest.

Corpses lay scattered throughout the village. Under the scorching heat, they began to emit a heavy, putrid stench of decay.

Despite burning mugwort, using air purifiers, and sealing their home, even Jiang Si’s family could faintly smell it.

Grandpa, standing by the window, looked out worriedly.
“Si Si, do you think there’ll be a plague?”

Rotting corpses in high heat could easily trigger outbreaks of disease.

Jiang Si frowned. The disasters in this life weren’t following the exact timeline of her past life.
“If the temperature keeps rising above 70°C (158°F), the corpses will burn into dry ash soon. That should reduce the risk of plague.”

Grandpa had just opened his mouth to ask what came after the extreme heat—would it rain? But suddenly—
A tide of dark, writhing shapes burst from the ground, swarming around the corpses and devouring them at an alarming, visible pace.

Jiang Si picked up the binoculars, her expression changing instantly.
“Rats. A whole swarm of rats!”