This weapon, even just propped up at home, gave off an intimidating presence.
Chu Yian couldn't find a place to hide it, so she simply leaned the massive halberd against the wall and went back to her business.
Midday
A fight broke out in the compound.
It started when one of the previously robbed households went door-to-door begging for supplies—and ended up spotting their own belongings inside someone else's apartment.
No explanation needed.
It was stolen, clearly.
A brawl broke out on the spot.
Shouting and scuffling echoed through the entire complex—and it only got worse.
Then a thud—a heavy, sickening sound.
Followed by a woman's piercing scream:
"My child! My baby!"
A child had fallen from a building.
From the sixth floor.
Head-first.
The entire compound fell silent for half a minute.
Then someone howled in fury:
"I'll kill you bastards!"
The fight exploded.
Screams, roars, the sound of bodies slamming into walls—everything escalated.
One man, covered in blood, came stumbling out, chased by another wielding a cleaver.
The cleaver came down twice—fast and brutal.
The bloodied man collapsed with a shriek.
But the attacker didn't stop.
He grabbed the limp body by the arm and dragged it back into the building.
No one dared intervene.
The police lines were jammed.
Help wasn't coming—from heaven or earth.
It wasn't until 10 a.m. that the chaos in the next building finally died down.
Silence.
A kind of silence the compound had never known before.
No one messaged in the group chat.
No one knew what had become of the families involved.
The blood downstairs had dried.
The child's body still lay where it had landed—unclaimed.
It was despairing. Terrifying.
Some began to wonder—was this the end of the world?
Noon.
The power came back on.
Not only that, the news announced something that gave everyone a flicker of hope—a cure.
"Dear citizens, according to international disease control agencies, a major breakthrough has been made in the development of a special treatment. Please be patient. After clinical trials, mass production will begin."
"Let's stand united and fight this pandemic together!"
Not just the news—radio stations, media apps, and government alerts all pushed out the same message, as if afraid people might miss it.
Joy erupted across the compound.
Some cheered, some wept, some screamed.
A catharsis of days' worth of fear, dread, and helplessness.
Even the group chat came alive again:
[The cure is almost ready! Just hang in there for a couple more days!]
[Let's not rob or hurt anyone anymore. If we stick together and help each other, we'll make it through this!]
Some people were almost too optimistic.
They seemed to think the announcement meant help would arrive tomorrow, completely overlooking that:
The cure was still in trials.
Production hadn't started.
Resources were still limited.
The infected were still increasing.
And the robbers, the murderers—had long since lost their humanity.
Chu Yian counted the days.
Seven more until the treatment would actually be released.
The hardest days were still ahead.
But for now—just today—there probably wouldn't be any more incidents.
She opened her freezer.
Thanks to the timely return of electricity, nothing had spoiled yet, though a few things had partially thawed.
Inventory:
Meat:
Half a pound of shrimp
3 chicken legs
1 pound pork
Half a pound of homemade beef jerky
Vegetables:
4 potatoes
Half a pound of peas
180g dried wood ear mushrooms
1 winter melon
1 pack dried shiitake
Pickles:
2 and a half jars of preserved mustard stems
Staples:
7 pounds of rice
12 pounds of noodles
She'd originally stockpiled rice for one person—
But turns out, she could really eat.
Still, after running the numbers, Chu Yian figured she could stretch her supplies for another seven days, as long as she kept the meals varied.
Today's dish: Mixed Noodles.
She defrosted the shrimp, rehydrated some shiitake and wood ear mushrooms, and cut off some chicken from a drumstick for diced meat.
After cooking each ingredient, she boiled the noodles and seasoned them with salt, MSG, chicken essence, peppercorn, black pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and lard.
The end result:
A bowl of steaming, colorful, hearty noodles.
The taste?
Decent—not amazing.
But in times like this, having food at all was already a blessing.
And the noodles looked great.
That was enough.
She quickly packed up two-thirds of it to bring across the hall.
Game: Day Fourteen
Maybe it was the announcement.
Maybe it was yesterday morning's bloodshed.
But last night, no robberies happened.
Chu Yian stepped into the kitchen, thinking about lunch.
It's not that she only ate at noon—
It's just that breakfast and dinner were usually simple: porridge or leftovers.
Nothing worth sharing with the guy across the hall.
But lunch? Lunch was an event.
She still had the chicken leg bone from yesterday and decided to grab another one, debone it, and toss the bones in a pot with shiitake to make a broth.
Today's meal: Chicken Noodle Soup
The chicken was boiled separately and shredded by hand
Seasoned with chili oil and spices for a spicy cold dish
One half was light and savory, the other spicy and bold.
She was satisfied.
She split the food evenly and walked out with two bowls—
Just as Lu Qingyuan stepped out, arms full of data cables and black boxes.
He looked at her and said,
"Just leave it on the table. Come help me with this."
"Teacher Lu, what is all this?"
She set the bowls down and walked over, puzzled by the gear.
"Surveillance and early warning system."
He handed her some of the equipment while he went to install a hidden camera outside.
Along with the cameras, he also put up a few odd-looking devices inside—probably the alarm sensors he'd mentioned.
Three in total. Not bad.
"Where's your phone?"
She handed it to him.
He unlocked it and set something up.
When he gave it back, there was a new black-screen app on it.
"Use this to check what's going on outside."
"Oh, okay!"
Chu Yian took the phone—her fingers brushed his palm.
The brief contact made Lu Qingyuan pause and glance at her, but she was too focused on the app, studying it closely.
"Hey, Teacher Lu, what about those three things on the ceiling? The warning devices?"
She pointed overhead.
"They're linked defense units. Don't worry about them—I control those."
"Got it. Thanks, Teacher Lu!"
Chu Yian looked up at the gear mounted around them.
Damn. The sense of security this guy gave…
Unbeatable.