Xiu Jin’s enthusiasm for being a father had been dashed time and again, and he was suddenly a bit disheartened. Just then the smart butler outside the door reminded him, “Your Highness, tomorrow you are to enter the palace to see the Emperor. It’s time to rest.”

The interruption from the smart butler made Xiu Jin glance at the time and realize he had been absorbed in the game for hours.

“…….”

“I understand.”

Although raising a daughter is important, meeting father tomorrow is also important, and

A hint of coldness flickered in Xiu Jin’s eyes; he must be in his best condition to go to the palace tomorrow.

He raised a hand to touch his face, feeling a bit dry. While instructing the smart butler to prepare a serum mask for him, he moved the wardrobe in his beloved daughter’s room to cover the cover illustration he had drawn.

His darling daughter couldn’t read; what would happen when she woke and saw a string of “symbols” and a “drawing” on the wall? Thinking about their intimacy score of 50, Xiu Jin really didn’t dare to take that risk.

As for whether Bian Bian would notice the wardrobe had been moved, Xiu Jin examined it carefully. The writing he had done was right beside the wardrobe, which had only been shifted a few dozen centimeters.

Such a short distance—children generally wouldn’t pay attention to that kind of detail. His dear daughter probably wouldn’t notice.

After finishing these tasks, Xiu Jin closed the game and began his bedtime skincare routine.

On the new day, Bian Bian woke up from the trembling; she knew it meant it was morning.

Lately there had been tremors every morning. Bian Bian didn’t know what was happening, and she didn’t dare open the curtains to look outside while the shaking was on. Only after it stopped would she draw the curtains and welcome the new day.

“Huīhuī, good morning.”

The little girl first changed the bandage on the finger she had cut yesterday, then carefully looked around the house.

Then Bian Bian discovered something that made him happy.

“It seems the bad guy has left.”

If the bad guy were still here, things in the house would surely have been touched. Clever Bian Bian checked the food recovered yesterday: the water, instant noodles, bread, and even the candies were all still there.

Based on these facts, Bian Bian concluded that the bad guy had indeed gone.

She didn’t know why the villain had left, but Biānbiān was very happy — it meant she wouldn’t be eaten.

Could it be because of the dream she had?

Biting her little finger, Biānbiān tried to think. She seemed to remember having a dream in which she met the villain; she and Grandpa chased him away, and she couldn’t recall anything else.

Thinking of Grandpa, the little girl hurried to the living room. The apple peels she had put in the bag had gone dry and could no longer be given to Grandpa to eat.

She felt a little sad.

Then she looked at the apple on the table, its peeled surface now pitted and uneven; the flesh, once off-white, had oxidized into a gray-black spread.

Bian Bian swallowed, her little head automatically recalling the delicious taste of the apple she had eaten yesterday.

She couldn’t eat it anymore.

Then she remembered it was given to her by the villain, who wanted to fatten her up and eat her — she shouldn’t have eaten it in the first place.

With that thought, Biānbiān didn’t feel regretful anymore.

She hadn’t finished the water she poured yesterday; Biānbiān held the cup and drank half, and slowly ate the half loaf of bread left on the table with the cold mineral water.

The villain had left.

She wouldn’t have to hide in the supermarket anymore; it was dangerous outside, and food had to be rationed.

After finishing the remaining bread, Biānbiān rubbed her flat little belly, looked longingly at the last piece of bread, and finally held back.

But she tore open a fruit candy; the candy inside the wrapper had already started to melt, and Biānbiān didn’t waste a drop, licking it clean before smoothing the wrapper flat and setting it aside.

The cartoon pattern on the wrapper was very cute, and Biānbiān liked it a lot, deciding to add it to the little pouch she kept.

The orange-flavored candy made Bian Bian’s eyes curve like crescent moons. She tossed the eaten apple peel and the spoiled top layer of the apple into the trash. Then she pushed a chair over to the front door.

Kids think that jammed items make the door tighter and therefore safer.

Bian Bian not only pushed a chair up against the door, she went to the kitchen, found an empty, cleaned can in a corner, filled it with water, put it into a bag, and hung it on the doorknob.

If someone outside opened the door and turned the knob, the bag would swing down, the can would hit the floor, the impact would make a sound, and Bian Bian would be able to hear it.

This was the method Bian Bian had just thought of.

Once Bian Bian quieted down, the room followed suit. She tidied the desk a bit, went out to the balcony to get a broom. The floor wasn’t dirty—Bian Bian swept it daily; it was one of the ways she eased her boredom.

Locked in the room living alone, even a child will find all sorts of things to pass the time.

During this period, Bian Bian taught herself how to clean and wash clothes—skills Lu Yu had originally planned to teach her one by one after she turned five.

But before he could teach her anything, an accident happened.

Two years before the apocalypse, when there weren’t many powered people yet, Lu Yu, with B-level ability, was respected wherever he went, even though he was an old man and had a little kid with him.

In those first two years, the life Lu Yu and Bian Bian led could even be called “comfortable.” Later, Lu Yu took her to live in places where people were scarce.

Few people around meant lower danger, but it also meant a decline in quality of life.

For some things in life, even though Lu Yu never taught Bian Bian directly, she would watch and learn on her own. That’s also why, after Lu Yu’s accident when Bian Bian was alone at home, although life wasn’t ideal, she could still, within limited means, keep herself tidy.

She would think, recall the things she had unconsciously learned while living with Lu Yu, and slowly figure out how to apply them.

After cleaning the room, Bian Bian counted on her little finger and asked the little bear, “Huihui, how many days have I been wearing these clothes?”

Then she puffed out her cheeks and, in a strange little voice, said, “Three days, Bian Bian, you should change into clean clothes.”

Bian Bian laughed, “Okay, thank you, Huihui.”

After settling into this apartment complex, Lu Yu searched for a lot of children’s clothes for Bian Bian. Although Lu Yu liked to dress his granddaughter up pretty, in the end times that would be too conspicuous.

So the clothes he picked for Bian Bian weren’t brightly colored; there were enough for her to change into, and her wardrobe was filled with the outfits Lu Yu had gathered for her.

Bian Bian chose a gray-blue dress and changed into it; afterward she held the hem and spun once in front of the mirror.

Wearing new clothes is a joyous thing; the desire to look beautiful is every girl’s instinct, regardless of age.

From beginning to end, the little girl never noticed that the wardrobe had been moved a short distance to the side from where it had been.

Biān Biān washed the dirty clothes in the bathroom; she washed very carefully, trying to avoid getting the clothes she was wearing wet.

It was her first time doing laundry, and not only did Biān Biān fail to clean them properly, she also took a tumble and scraped her right calf. After the wound healed it left an unsightly scar.

Fortunately, practice brought experience, and now Biānbiān was quite skilled at doing the laundry.

She was small and weak, so she rinsed clothes and then wrung them out slowly in sections, imitating her grandfather by shaking each piece open before hanging them on the balcony to dry.

The balcony was open-air and standalone, accessed through a door in the kitchen. This was also one of the reasons Lù Yǔ chose this apartment after being infected.

There was a door from the kitchen to the balcony; in case of any emergency, it gave Biānbiān an extra escape route.

At the same time, worried that zombies or other dangers might enter the room through the balcony door, Lu Yu reinforced that door as well.

Sometimes when Bian Bian felt too stifled in the room, she would take her little bear out to the balcony and lay against the railing to watch the distant high-rises.

This quiet city appeared to Bian Bian in a state of ruin.

After hanging up the clothes, as usual Bian Bian lay on the balcony and looked out.

The weather isn’t very good today; the sky is gloomy, clouds hanging low. Grandpa said this kind of weather indicates it’s going to rain heavily.

Remember to bring the clothes in later.

Bang

The sharp sounds of gunfire suddenly erupted; besides the shots, there were human voices and the roars of monsters.

Then a car sped past on the street below.

Bian Bian shrank his head back in fright.

“Du Mingyu, you won’t die a good death.”

Zhu Yuan clutched the gunshot wound in his chest, staring in disbelief at the receding silhouette of the car.

He had actually tried to kill him over a single level-3 Wood-element crystal.

Zhu Yuan coughed heavily, blood frothing at the corner of his mouth.

He was a C-rank Wind-type esper, Du Mingyu a C-rank Fire-type; the two had been college friends and had run into each other by chance recently. After some questions they discovered they were both heading to the Northern Base, so it was natural they decided to travel together.

They ran into an injured Grade-3 zombie yesterday; a Grade-3 zombie is equivalent to a B-rank esper. Fortunately it was wounded, and the two of them together fought desperately to strangle it, luckily obtaining a Grade-3 Wood-type crystal.

Crystal stones can enhance the power of ability users, but neither of them is earth-aligned, and rashly using it to heal would waste the energy contained within.

Zhu Yuan suggested that once they reached the base, they should trade this third-tier crystal stone for supplies. Du Mingyu agreed; he thought it was a great idea. They were companions, and the supplies they exchanged for would be used together.

He never even considered the possibility of keeping it all to himself.

But just now, they encountered three level-one zombies, and Du Mingyu’s bullet glanced off a zombie and struck him in the chest.

Zhu Yuan understood everything then.

Angry, Zhu Yuan gritted his teeth against the stabbing pain in his chest, raised his hand and killed the zombie lunging at him. That strike used up all his strength; the gun slipped from his grasp and his body swayed.

But a breeze passed, and Zhu Yuan caught a faint, clean scent—the particular smell of laundry detergent—wafting down from above.

He jerked his head up and saw the building ahead; on the balcony of the third floor, a skirt was fluttering in the wind.

A dress was hanging on the balcony

The third floor was occupied

The instinct to survive cleared some of Zhu Yuan’s dazed mind. He gathered all the remaining supernatural power, a strong gust forming at his feet to wrap him. Riding the buoyancy the wind provided, Zhu Yuan pushed himself toward the third-floor balcony.

Zhu Yuan “flew” upward but still came up a bit short. Fortunately, at the last moment he reached out and grabbed the edge of the balcony, using a burst of strength to haul himself over.

Then he looked up into a pair of eyes bigger than grapes.

Good heavens, it was a little girl.

Zhu Yuan’s eyes were full of astonishment.

A sharp pain struck my chest; before Zhu Yuan could speak, I lost consciousness.

Bian Bian stayed by Lu Yu’s side; he had seen countless dead people.

Grandpa said the scariest thing was humans, the second scariest were monsters, and the least scary of all were the dead.

So when Zhu Yuan stood perfectly still, Bian Bian actually felt unafraid.

The dead are not frightening.

Bian Bian stared at Zhu Yuan, who was lying in front of him stained with large patches of blood, for a long while. After making sure this uncle was already “dead,” he went back inside and dug a blanket out of the wardrobe.

The little girl half-dragged, half-carried the blanket back to the balcony, then flung it open and covered Zhu Yuan tightly from head to toe.

She even took the trouble to pinch the corners closed.

Meanwhile, on the way to the palace, Xiu Jin couldn’t help himself and quietly activated his light brain to see whether his precious daughter had woken up.

“…….”

What’s that thing covering Zai Zai’s front??