Apocalypse: Resources consumed by women will be returned ten thousandfold.

--Translated by likesnovel--

Bai Xinjie walked into the living room in despair.

Curling up on the sofa, she silently wept.

The people closest to her had treated her with such coldness.

Her heart was filled with disappointment, to the point that she no longer knew how to move forward.

In the midst of her thoughts, Jiang Fan's face appeared in her mind.

For a long time, he had been posting messages in the survivor group, openly saying that he was willing to take women in.

*If I went to him...*

The moment the thought surfaced, Bai Xinjie shook her head vigorously.

Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

She felt as if she were becoming the kind of woman she never wanted to be.

...

Night fell.

The entire Fortune Center complex was swallowed by darkness.

Only Tang Xuerou's apartment still glowed faintly under candlelight.

Jiang Fan wasn't home.

Instead, he sat inside an empty room on the 5th floor, carefully observing the mutated frog through his perception ability.

He had been sitting there for nearly the entire day.

"This frog hunts once every 2 hours."

"Its tongue has an attack range of about 80 meters, although I'm not sure if that's its true maximum range."

"If I wait until it leaves to hunt and plant a large amount of explosives inside its nest, I should be able to kill it."

"But there are still 2 problems."

"First, I need to find a source of explosives."

"Second, the frog doesn't leave its nest every time. Most of the time it simply sits in the pool and catches prey with its tongue. I'll need the right opportunity."

"No matter what, those tadpoles are growing too quickly. If I leave them alone, they'll become a huge problem. They need to be eliminated as soon as possible."

Jiang Fan frowned as he thought.

"Then I'll start by finding explosives."

"There probably aren't any in Mohai City. If there are, the most likely place would be a military base outside the city."

"The problem is that I don't know where the nearest military base is."

He began calculating.

"Traveling on foot is too slow."

"Right now I can open dimensional portals 10 times per day. Each jump can cover up to 5 kilometers."

"If I reserve 5 jumps for going and 5 for returning, my maximum travel distance is 25 kilometers per day."

"I wonder if there's a military base within a 25-kilometer radius."

Jiang Fan continued observing for a while longer.

Before long, the mutated frog went hunting again.

The timing was almost exactly 2 hours after the previous hunt.

Now that he had figured out its behavioral pattern, he finally stopped watching.

Suddenly, his attention shifted toward Bai Xinjie's apartment.

A hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes.

The entire day, that woman had been curled up on the sofa crying.

She hadn't eaten.

She hadn't drunk anything.

It was already very late at night.

Yet she still hadn't returned to the master bedroom.

"Did she have a falling out with her family?"

The corner of Jiang Fan's mouth curled upward.

Wasn't this the perfect opportunity?

Whoosh!

His body dropped from the 5th floor and landed below.

Then he headed straight toward Bai Xinjie's apartment.

...

Inside the master bedroom, Zheng Hongxia was carefully licking the remaining crumbs of instant noodles from a bowl.

Only after every last piece was gone did she carefully store away the remaining supplies as though they were priceless treasures.

She counted them over and over.

"We'll eat the sausages first."

"Save the noodles for later."

"As for the chocolate, nobody touches it unless we're truly desperate."

The cephalexin seemed to be working.

Bai Yongxin had regained some strength.

At the very least, he could sit up now.

With an impatient expression, he said,

"Mom, there isn't even that much stuff. Why do you keep counting it?"

Zheng Hongxia gave him the gentle smile reserved exclusively for her son.

"This isn't ordinary food."

"This is our lifeline."

Bai Yongxin's eyes rolled thoughtfully.

Then he suddenly said,

"Mom, I have a way to get more food."

Zheng Hongxia immediately became interested.

"What way?"

Bai Yongxin chuckled.

"Since my sister is already going to be with that guy anyway..."

"Why don't we just give her to him?"

"The fact that he handed over so much food and medicine means he must have plenty more supplies."

"If he's going to marry our daughter, shouldn't he pay a bride price?"

After thinking for a moment, he continued,

"At first I was going to ask for 10 bags of food."

"But the more I think about it, the less worthwhile that sounds."

"How about this? We demand 50% of his supplies instead."

"My sister is beautiful. That guy will definitely agree."

Zheng Hongxia's eyes immediately lit up.

Originally, she had planned to exchange her daughter for a bride price anyway.

Then use that bride price to find a wife for her son.

The apocalypse had interrupted those plans.

But her son's words suddenly opened up a whole new possibility.

So what if the world had ended?

People would still get married.

They would still have children.

They would still form families.

Before the apocalypse, there had been bride prices.

Why shouldn't there be bride prices after the apocalypse as well?

Still, Zheng Hongxia hesitated slightly.

"But we don't even know who this man is."

"We don't know how much food he actually has."

"What if we ask for too little?"

In her eyes, her daughter was merely an outsider.

The only people who truly mattered were herself and her son.

The two of them had to survive.

Bai Yongxin, however, smiled confidently, as though he had already planned everything out in advance.

“It must be Chen Yong!”

“Besides him, who else in our building could possibly have that much food?”

Chen Yong…

Zheng Hongxia’s expression instantly changed. Her eyes were filled with fear.

Chen Yong was the owner of a small construction and earthworks business. A so-called “capable man” in the traditional sense, and a figure with strong social influence.

Shortly after the apocalypse began, he gathered a group of people and took control of Building A.

To put it more directly—almost all the rules inside Building A were now under Chen Yong’s command.

After the power outage, he organized everyone to move to floors 22 and above, which actually saved quite a number of lives.

Of course, anyone who refused to comply was beaten severely.

In this kind of world, external injuries were practically equivalent to a death sentence…

During the relocation, he also stockpiled a huge amount of supplies. While others were still struggling to find food, his group already had more than enough to eat.

Rumor had it that Chen Yong’s subordinates were eating instant noodles **3 times a day**, and each person even had their own separate room—no need to squeeze together like ordinary survivors.

Bai Yongxin licked his lips slightly and said,

“Mom, don’t worry.”

“If my sister marries Chen Yong, then you’ll become his mother-in-law. Would he dare do anything to you?”

“Exactly!” Zheng Hongxia’s eyes immediately lit up, and her fear vanished in an instant.

Right… she would be Chen Yong’s mother-in-law!

What could he possibly do to her?

Bai Yongxin continued confidently,

“Mom, this is actually good for my sister too. If she stays with Chen Yong, at least she’ll be fed. She won’t starve.”

“There are tons of people outside who would kill for that kind of life and still don’t have it.”

In the end, Zheng Hongxia made up her mind.

“Alright! I’ll go find Chen Yong myself!”

……

Bai Xinjie curled up on the sofa.

The darkness of the night and the suffocating silence around her made it hard for her to breathe.

In the neighboring room, the family staying next door had already noticed her. Ever since the man went out to the bathroom, his gaze toward her had changed.

He had deliberately gone out to the bathroom **3 times within 1 hour**.

Bai Xinjie’s sense of danger grew stronger and stronger.

Not long after, Zheng Hongxia walked out holding a flashlight.

For a brief moment, hope rose in Bai Xinjie’s heart—maybe her mother had changed her mind and would take her back to the room.

She quickly stood up.

But what she received was only a cold glance, before Zheng Hongxia turned and left without hesitation.

Bai Xinjie’s smile froze. Tears slowly began to fall again.

……

Not long after, a man’s voice suddenly came from behind her.

“Hungry?”

Bai Xinjie flinched violently and turned around.

She didn’t know when it happened—but Jiang Fan was already standing by the window, calmly looking at her.

She asked in confusion,

“H-how did you get in here?”

Jiang Fan smiled faintly and said nothing. He simply handed her a bag of cookies.

“Want some?”

At that moment, a faint green glow appeared around Bai Xinjie’s aura again.

She shook her head firmly.

“No… I’m not the kind of woman you think I am.”

*Crack.*

Jiang Fan tore open the package immediately. A sweet aroma filled the air.

“Grrr…”

Her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.

At that exact moment, the man from the next room walked out with his college-aged son. His gaze immediately locked onto Bai Xinjie with obvious ill intent.

She panicked and instinctively stepped behind Jiang Fan for cover.

The man froze the moment he saw Jiang Fan, his face turning pale.

He hadn’t expected… there to be another man in this room at night.

“You… who are you…?”

His voice stuttered.

Jiang Fan simply looked at him quietly.

In his perception field—

The man and his son were both radiating a bright, violent red glow.

And that meant one thing…

**Maximum level threat.**