Apocalypse: Resources consumed by women will be returned ten thousandfold.
Chapter Summary
Tian Tian carefully inspected the cookie bag again before proudly saying, "It's really unopened! However, during last year's Double 12 shopping festival, Tian Tian had stocked up on a large supply of canned cat food, and there was still enough left to last for quite a while. However, during last year's Double 12 shopping festival, Tian Tian had stocked up on a large supply of canned cat food, and there was still enough left to last for quite a while.
--Translated by likesnovel--
Tian Tian slipped through the blue barrier and hopped back into her home.
A black cat immediately bounded over.
"Meow~"
Holding up the bag in her hand, Tian Tian beamed with pride.
"Cola, look what I found! A whole bag of cookies! And it's still unopened! I'm amazing!"
Although Tian Tian possessed teleportation abilities, her combat strength was practically zero.
The outside world was far too dangerous, and she rarely dared to venture far from her shelter.
To be honest, life had been incredibly difficult lately.
Her situation was only slightly better than most people's. At least she could still find food from time to time, but she almost never managed to eat her fill.
The black cat rubbed gently against her leg, its tail swaying lazily behind it.
Tian Tian carefully inspected the cookie bag again before proudly saying,
"It's really unopened! So? Pretty impressive, right?"
Cola sprawled across the floor, looking completely uninterested in the cookies.
Food had never been a problem for him.
The cat food kibble had run out long ago.
However, during last year's Double 12 shopping festival, Tian Tian had stocked up on a large supply of canned cat food, and there was still enough left to last for quite a while.
To Cola, these cookies were no different from garbage.
At her hungriest moments, Tian Tian had even opened a few cans of cat food and eaten them herself just to survive.
That memory irritated Cola greatly.
This two-legged human was unbelievably stupid.
She couldn't even hunt!
Tian Tian took a pair of disposable rubber gloves from the freezer and put on a fresh pair.
Then she grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully cut open a small corner of the cookie bag. She took out half of the cookies before immediately sealing the bag again with a simple heat sealer. Afterward, she placed it back into the freezer.
This method minimized bacterial contamination as much as possible and slightly extended the shelf life of opened food.
At the very least, it could probably stay safe for another 8 hours.
After that...
Who knew?
Once everything was done, Tian Tian happily began eating the cookies.
The sugar- and fat-filled treats that had once been forbidden snacks for a young girl now felt like a luxurious feast.
She leaned back comfortably on her bed.
"Cookies really are delicious!"
But before long, the smile on her face gradually faded.
She glanced toward the freezer and spoke to Cola with a worried expression.
"There's only 2 sausages left, 1 pack of instant noodles, and half a bag of cookies. We need to find more food. But it's getting harder and harder every day..."
Cola didn't even bother lifting his head.
"Meow~"
As long as you don't steal my food, I don't care.
Tian Tian thought for a moment before speaking again.
"I think Zhang Yinuo's apartment might still have some supplies left. It's too dark tonight, and I can't stay outside for long. I'll go back tomorrow during the day and search more carefully."
She decided to thoroughly explore the surrounding residential buildings.
Even if she couldn't find any good opportunities, she could still locate an empty apartment and teleport inside to search for supplies.
Cola lazily flicked his tail.
Tian Tian tugged lightly on the end of one of her braids and muttered,
"It should be fine... They're residential buildings. It probably won't be too dangerous."
The moment she remembered what she had witnessed at Yida Mall yesterday, her body shivered involuntarily.
After being chased into a desperate escape by that giant orange cat, she had forced herself to return to Yida Mall.
The result...
She ran into a group of survivors heading there.
The moment she teleported down, someone immediately pulled a knife on her and robbed her.
Not only did she fail to bring back any food...
Even her backpack was stolen.
Just thinking about it still filled Tian Tian with lingering fear.
"That's right! Tomorrow I'll make myself look ugly. I'll wear some of Mom's old clothes and try to look older. Then nobody will pay attention to me!"
She tugged at a strand of hair while thinking.
"Oh, and Cola, if I find bottled water, I'll bring some back. The tap water and gas have both been cut off. Bottled water is all we can drink now."
The black cat was nearly asleep.
Yet Tian Tian felt the weight of an enormous responsibility resting on her shoulders.
She nodded firmly.
"Don't worry, Cola! I can handle it!"
...
Yida Mall.
Song Siyin and her younger brother were hiding inside an abandoned baby food store.
Surrounded by darkness, she turned on her phone once more.
The moment she looked at the screen, despair flooded her heart.
"No signal... Why is there still no signal at all?!"
Song Yuanfan immediately turned toward her in alarm.
"Keep your voice down! Don't let that cat hear you!"
Song Siyin's body instantly stiffened.
Ever since that orange cat had appeared, it had never left.
It seemed to view humans the same way cats once viewed mice.
And it was thoroughly enjoying the hunt.
The darkened Yida Mall had become its personal playground.
At least several hundred survivors were trapped inside the supermarket.
And every single person who attempted to escape...
Had been hunted down and killed by the orange cat.Tian Tian slipped through the blue barrier and hopped back into her home.
A black cat immediately bounded over.
"Meow~"
Holding up the bag in her hand, Tian Tian beamed with pride.
"Cola, look what I found! A whole bag of cookies! And it's still unopened! I'm amazing!"
Although Tian Tian possessed teleportation abilities, her combat strength was practically zero.
The outside world was far too dangerous, and she rarely dared to venture far from her shelter.
To be honest, life had been incredibly difficult lately.
Her situation was only slightly better than most people's. At least she could still find food from time to time, but she almost never managed to eat her fill.
The black cat rubbed gently against her leg, its tail swaying lazily behind it.
Tian Tian carefully inspected the cookie bag again before proudly saying,
"It's really unopened! So? Pretty impressive, right?"
Cola sprawled across the floor, looking completely uninterested in the cookies.
Food had never been a problem for him.
The cat food kibble had run out long ago.
However, during last year's Double 12 shopping festival, Tian Tian had stocked up on a large supply of canned cat food, and there was still enough left to last for quite a while.
To Cola, these cookies were no different from garbage.
At her hungriest moments, Tian Tian had even opened a few cans of cat food and eaten them herself just to survive.
That memory irritated Cola greatly.
This two-legged human was unbelievably stupid.
She couldn't even hunt!
Tian Tian took a pair of disposable rubber gloves from the freezer and put on a fresh pair.
Then she grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully cut open a small corner of the cookie bag. She took out half of the cookies before immediately sealing the bag again with a simple heat sealer. Afterward, she placed it back into the freezer.
This method minimized bacterial contamination as much as possible and slightly extended the shelf life of opened food.
At the very least, it could probably stay safe for another 8 hours.
After that...
Who knew?
Once everything was done, Tian Tian happily began eating the cookies.
The sugar- and fat-filled treats that had once been forbidden snacks for a young girl now felt like a luxurious feast.
She leaned back comfortably on her bed.
"Cookies really are delicious!"
But before long, the smile on her face gradually faded.
She glanced toward the freezer and spoke to Cola with a worried expression.
"There's only 2 sausages left, 1 pack of instant noodles, and half a bag of cookies. We need to find more food. But it's getting harder and harder every day..."
Cola didn't even bother lifting his head.
"Meow~"
As long as you don't steal my food, I don't care.
Tian Tian thought for a moment before speaking again.
"I think Zhang Yinuo's apartment might still have some supplies left. It's too dark tonight, and I can't stay outside for long. I'll go back tomorrow during the day and search more carefully."
She decided to thoroughly explore the surrounding residential buildings.
Even if she couldn't find any good opportunities, she could still locate an empty apartment and teleport inside to search for supplies.
Cola lazily flicked his tail.
Tian Tian tugged lightly on the end of one of her braids and muttered,
"It should be fine... They're residential buildings. It probably won't be too dangerous."
The moment she remembered what she had witnessed at Yida Mall yesterday, her body shivered involuntarily.
After being chased into a desperate escape by that giant orange cat, she had forced herself to return to Yida Mall.
The result...
She ran into a group of survivors heading there.
The moment she teleported down, someone immediately pulled a knife on her and robbed her.
Not only did she fail to bring back any food...
Even her backpack was stolen.
Just thinking about it still filled Tian Tian with lingering fear.
"That's right! Tomorrow I'll make myself look ugly. I'll wear some of Mom's old clothes and try to look older. Then nobody will pay attention to me!"
She tugged at a strand of hair while thinking.
"Oh, and Cola, if I find bottled water, I'll bring some back. The tap water and gas have both been cut off. Bottled water is all we can drink now."
The black cat was nearly asleep.
Yet Tian Tian felt the weight of an enormous responsibility resting on her shoulders.
She nodded firmly.
"Don't worry, Cola! I can handle it!"
...
Yida Mall.
Song Siyin and her younger brother were hiding inside an abandoned baby food store.
Surrounded by darkness, she turned on her phone once more.
The moment she looked at the screen, despair flooded her heart.
"No signal... Why is there still no signal at all?!"
Song Yuanfan immediately turned toward her in alarm.
"Keep your voice down! Don't let that cat hear you!"
Song Siyin's body instantly stiffened.
Ever since that orange cat had appeared, it had never left.
It seemed to view humans the same way cats once viewed mice.
And it was thoroughly enjoying the hunt.
The darkened Yida Mall had become its personal playground.
At least several hundred survivors were trapped inside the supermarket.
And every single person who attempted to escape...
Had been hunted down and killed by the orange cat.
What made things even worse was the hunger.
The people who had risked their lives to come here in search of food discovered that the remaining supplies were pitifully scarce.
Even drinking water was almost impossible to find.
The entire Yida Mall was filled with survivors struggling on the brink of starvation.
Besides the Song siblings, there were 2 other groups of survivors hiding inside the store.
The first was a married couple sheltering in a corner.
The wife was on the verge of death.
She had been bitten by a giant mosquito, and her face had swollen up like a steamed bun.
A high fever burned through her body. She shivered uncontrollably while her skin radiated heat like a furnace.
The other group consisted of 3 young men.
They had been lucky enough to grab 2 or 3 chocolate bars.
However, one of them was beginning to collapse as well.
Driven by unbearable thirst, he had secretly taken a few sips of tap water.
Moments later, he lost consciousness and dropped to the floor.
Hungry and thirsty, Song Siyin stared at the photos of food Jiang Fan had posted in the group chat.
The frustration she had been suppressing finally exploded.
She broke down and cried uncontrollably.
"Why?! Why won't he help me?!"
"Why is he giving food to those women instead?!"
"I'm his girlfriend!"
A furious male voice suddenly roared through the darkness.
"Shut up!"
"If you want to die, go die somewhere else! Don't drag the rest of us down with you!"
"Kid! Control your woman!"
"If she doesn't stop crying, I'll kill you first!"
"Big brother, please calm down! Please!"
Panic flashed across Song Yuanfan's face as he hurriedly tried to appease the man.
"Sis, please stop crying!"
"I'm begging you!"
But Song Siyin was already on the verge of a breakdown.
Tears continued streaming down her face.
Seeing the man's anger growing more intense, Song Yuanfan had no choice.
Slap!
His palm struck Song Siyin's face hard.
She froze.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Then she stared blankly at her younger brother.
"You... you slapped me?"
Song Yuanfan shouted back furiously,
"Then stop crying!"
"Do you want them to kill me?!"
"Or do you want to attract those cats here?!"
You slapped me too...
Song Siyin felt so wronged she wanted to die.
But in the end, she didn't dare cry anymore.
She sat motionless in the darkness, staring ahead with despair in her eyes.
This was all Jiang Fan's fault!
If he had just given her some food...
Would she have ended up like this?
Wasn't it just a breakup?
How could he be so heartless?
Besides...
Wasn't the breakup his fault in the first place?
Who told him to be so lacking in ambition?
...
Jiang Fan activated his perception ability and slowly descended the stairs floor by floor.
He didn't encounter a single survivor along the way.
Not until he reached the 24th floor.
There, he found a large group of people lying scattered throughout the corridor.
No one dared stay alone.
Everyone had squeezed together into one large cluster.
The area was dimly lit, illuminated only by faint moonlight filtering in from outside.
Most people were already asleep.
Only a few remained awake, whispering quietly among themselves.
The moment they saw Jiang Fan approaching, their expressions changed.
Surprise.
Suspicion.
Fear.
They all recognized this convenience store worker.
Just a few days ago, he had killed Zhou Tianhao, one of the strongest men around.
No one wanted to provoke someone like that.
Jiang Fan walked to the fire escape door.
Then he raised his fist and slammed it several times.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The deafening noise echoed throughout the entire floor.
Everyone jolted awake.
"What happened?!"
"What's going on?!"
Jiang Fan swept his gaze across the crowd before speaking calmly.
"Starting today..."
"I will be the manager of this building."
"Who agrees?"
"Who objects?"
Everyone's expression immediately darkened.
Nobody liked what they were hearing.
Yet no one dared openly oppose him.
Jiang Fan looked at them one by one.
The yellow aura surrounding most of the survivors had already begun to show traces of red.
That meant they were dissatisfied.
Angry.
Resentful.
Thinking about resistance.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like everyone has quite a few opinions."
"If you have objections, feel free to speak up."
Silence filled the corridor.
No one dared say a word.
Even the burly men standing in the back remained motionless.
Because they knew very well—
If they couldn't beat Zhou Tianhao,
there was no chance they could defeat Jiang Fan.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman stood up.
Looking displeased, she said,
"I think... something like this should be decided through a vote by everyone—"
Crack!
Before she could finish speaking,
Jiang Fan casually raised his left hand.
The woman's body suddenly lifted off the ground.
The sound of snapping bones echoed through the corridor.
Her neck twisted into an unnatural spiral.
Her body spun through the air twice.
Then crashed heavily onto the floor.
Thud!
After that, she never moved again.
Silence engulfed the entire hallway.
Everyone inhaled sharply.
Their faces turned pale with terror.
Meanwhile, Jiang Fan revealed a bright smile.
"Oh..."
"I honestly didn't expect anyone to actually speak up."
A wave of horror swept through the crowd.
Their scalps went numb.