Chapter Twenty-Five: Utterly at a Loss

Zhou Ruomeng merely smiled without answering. After changing the background of the solar system to the roof lounge, she managed, in the blink of an eye, to slip into a silk nightgown. She lounged indolently on the fabric sofa, and with a flick of her wrist, a plate of purple grapes appeared in her hand. Leisurely, she plucked one from the bunch and, with an air of temptation, brought it to her luscious lips.

Xie Han was about to lose his mind. He could admit that Zhou Ruomeng was the woman of his dreams, and he’d fantasized about her more than once. But for her to act like this just as he was grappling with matters of life and death—what was this all about? He gave a bitter laugh, nearly ready to surrender. “This doesn’t seem like the right time for this, does it?”

Zhou Ruomeng spat the grape seed into the dish and laughed softly. “I just want to remind you—if you want your dream girl, you must cherish everything you have, and strive not to disappear in the apocalypse.”

The problem seemed to circle back. Xie Han was troubled; he had just told his mother about starting a company, but the core issue was that he simply didn’t have that much capital. With only a hundred thousand yuan in his savings account, he probably couldn’t even afford to rent a decent office, let alone cover all the costs of setting up a business.

“It seems I need to find a way to get more money,” Xie Han muttered, his head aching. In the modern world, his friends were all living paycheck to paycheck, and what he could borrow from them was pitiful. As for his relatives, mentioning them was pointless—at most, he’d scrape together a hundred or two hundred thousand, a drop in the bucket. “Does that mean I have to get money from the apocalypse?”

Catching himself, Xie Han cursed his own intelligence. In the apocalypse, the cities were nothing but ruins—who knew how much wealth still lay within? Take Wantian City, for example—there were over a hundred bank branches there. Even if cash was useless, what about the gold stored inside? Thinking of the central gold reserve in Wantian City, Xie Han felt his throat go dry. Even if he could take just one percent, the wealth would be counted in billions; he’d never have to worry about startup funds again.

“But… this won’t be easy,” Xie Han forced himself to calm down. He wasn’t that familiar with Wantian City; Wantian Province was at least a thousand kilometers from where he was now, in the southwestern province. He’d only ever heard about the gold reserve center from the news, and its actual location was merely rumored to be downtown. As for downtown Wantian, Xie Han finally understood the difficulty: the number of zombies there numbered in the millions. How could he possibly get the gold?

He felt a wave of frustration. Why did his apocalypse location have to be Wantian City instead of Chaoyang City? If it were Chaoyang, his familiarity with the city would at least give him some advantage. “Looks like I’ll have to go to Wantian City,” Xie Han decided. His plan was simple: travel to Wantian in the modern world, familiarize himself with the city, and thus gain a huge advantage when moving there in the apocalypse.

Tempted by the idea, Xie Han glanced at the time and realized half his allotted time had already passed. He hadn’t expected his brief contemplation to eat up so much time.

He didn’t want to waste another moment pondering. With a wave of his hand, he sent Zhou Ruomeng back into the time-space watch, but was embarrassed to discover just how strongly he felt about her. The evidence of his arousal left his face red to the roots of his hair. Damn, so that was why she’d been smiling so strangely—he’d pitched a tent, and embarrassed himself thoroughly.

He fled his apartment in disarray, but soon realized the futility of running—Zhou Ruomeng was still on his wrist no matter where he went. What was the point in struggling?

Fortunately, the area around his apartment was full of markets and stores. Xie Han was determined to fill his storage space to the brim. He’d already planned out the food: rice would draw too much attention, and his power in the apocalypse was still insignificant. To keep a low profile, he could only buy a small amount of rice. Instead, he focused on purchasing compressed foods, which were the staple in the apocalypse.

Recalling how rare full meals would become, Xie Han hesitated, then bought several five-pound slabs of cured meat. Hell, if they wanted to eat meat, they could always sneak a bite. With this in mind, he picked up a few bottles of red wine and a case of cola. If he was going to enjoy life, he might as well go all out.

When he’d finished gathering supplies, he had about an hour left. After storing everything, Xie Han wandered the streets aimlessly. Having lived through several days in the apocalypse, he suddenly found the life before his eyes so precious, so worthy of cherishing. His storage was packed to the brim, yet he still eyed many things longingly. Even a few random items brought back from here would be worth a fortune in the apocalypse.

With a sense of regret, Xie Han treated himself to a fine meal at a good restaurant before returning to his apartment and activating the teleportation function.

He emerged from the dim room to find the former bustle long gone. The streets of the apocalypse were almost deserted compared to the present day; only a few idle souls wandered about, eyes darting. Those who had survived to reach Yanglin Town were all toughened by blood and hardship, so the faces on the street were cold and hurried.

Still, wherever there were people, there was a market. The goods for sale in the apocalypse were diverse and bizarre, but food was always the most sought after, followed by gun components. The apocalypse was a state of anarchy; although Yanglin Town officially banned firearms, no one cared about that in private. When food was scarce, who cared about gun control?

As a result, the town’s authorities could only turn a blind eye—as long as things didn’t spiral out of control, they couldn’t be bothered with these petty issues.

Xie Han had originally wanted to browse the market, but since he’d been gone almost three hours, he gave up the idea and returned to his neighborhood. He had already repackaged the rice in plain white bags, and when he reached the entrance, he took out a bag of rice and a slab of cured meat from his storage. Placing his hand on the fingerprint scanner outside the door, he waited.

“Welcome home…” chimed the synthetic female voice of the smart system, and the door opened automatically.

As Xie Han stepped inside, the group lounging in the living room all stood up. Chu Tianhe, dragging his injured leg, hurried over and took the bag from Xie Han’s hand, declaring loudly, “See? I knew the boss wouldn’t abandon us. You all worry too much!”

Xie Han smiled, his gaze passing over the anxious group before settling on Qi Feiwu. The latter squeezed her hands and said, “I didn’t…” She glared at Taishan beside her and gave a huff, making her meaning clear.

Xie Han looked at Taishan, puzzled. “Why are you here again?”

Taishan seemed a bit uneasy, rubbing his hands. “Well… Boss Xie, I just came to tell you that I’ve finished everything you asked me to do.”

Xie Han, a veteran of the workplace, could see through Taishan’s little tricks at a glance. “You just came to notify me?”

Xu Qiang, who’d been silent nearby, suddenly laughed. “I bet he’s just here for a free meal.”