041 An Uninvited Guest

"There's no limit to the number of times my hearing can be enhanced. Could it be related to the challenge tier? Grade A grants a permanent boost directly, while Grade C is just a trial card with a limited number of uses?"

Lost in thought while relieving himself, he raised his head to look at the bathroom's five-in-one heater unit. Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, his body jerked violently, and the stream of water sprayed completely outside the toilet bowl.

The indicator light that was supposed to stay on whenever power was supplied had gone out.

"What the... Damn it, a blackout! Didn't you guys notice?"

Before he could even shake himself dry, he pulled up his pants and hurried out of the hallway to speak to the two women who were doing push-ups.

"Pow... power's out?"

Zheng Xinyu lost her breath, and combined with the shocking news, she collapsed flat onto the floor with a soft puff.

Zhong Xiaoshan quickly jumped to her feet, rushed over to the light switch, and frantically flicked it a few times. When the light showed no response at all, she said dejectedly, "It really is out."

"Time to say goodbye to modern life, I suppose..."

Zhang Su slumped onto the floor with a heavy sigh and let out a long breath.

Putting aside computers and cell phones—which were practically useless without internet access anyway—a large portion of their stored food required hot water to prepare. Even if the gas went out, they could still use an induction cooker, but now the electricity was gone too. This sudden loss of essential utilities instantly sent a wave of panic crashing through their sense of security.

Before he even had a chance to properly revel in his new ability, the power outage completely overshadowed it.

"Th-that much snail rice noodle... is it completely impossible to cook it now?" Zheng Xinyu frowned as she looked toward her room, a look of profound regret in her eyes.

Zhong Xiaoshan quietly walked back over to the sofa and said in a low voice, "Actually, if we just need to cook things, I do know a way..."

"What way?"

Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu turned to look at Zhong Xiaoshan simultaneously.

Feeling the weight of their combined gazes, Zhong Xiaoshan suddenly grew a bit shy. Realizing her input was valued, she quickly said, "It's nothing fancy, really. Just making a fire. Building a fire to cook."

"Right..." Zhang Su realized with a start. "We've lived in modern comfort for too long and completely forgot about primitive methods!"

Zhong Xiaoshan quickly raised her hand and added, "I've learned how to make and start a fire. It's just that... it creates a lot of smoke."

Zhang Su stood up, thought for a moment, and said, "Zombies won't be attracted by smoke; if anything, smoke will impair their sense of smell. Besides, there are fires breaking out everywhere anyway; no one will care about one more plume of black smoke. Let's use the stairwell. There are windows for ventilation—is that manageable?"

Zhang Su excelled when it came to combat, but these survival skills weren't his forte.

Zhong Xiaoshan thought it over and replied, "Anywhere is fine, as long as there is wood."

Zhang Su glanced at the time, rubbed his belly, and said, "We'll build a fire for this meal, but we'll eat ready-to-eat convenience foods for dinner!"

They had plenty of snacks, but the food requiring no cooking was limited and had to be rationed carefully.

Without further ado, the three of them immediately got to work...

To gather wood, Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu went to Brother Li's place at 902 and dismantled a TV cabinet. Stripping away the outer painted panels, they found that the pressed wood particle boards inside would burn quite well.

Meanwhile, Zhong Xiaoshan used the cooking utensils from Zhang Su's apartment to rig up a makeshift stand. It looked crude and bizarre, but it held a pot quite steadily.

Since Zhang Su was a smoker, lighters were standard items around his home, and he even had two bottles of specialized lighter fluid, making fire-starting a breeze.

After a flurry of activity lasting about an hour, a large pot of snail rice noodles was served at the dining table.

"Time to eat!"

Zhong Xiaoshan was overjoyed. This was her first major contribution to the group—she had prepared a proper meal for everyone!

Looking at Zhong Xiaoshan's face, smudged with black soot and white dust, Zhang Su smiled wryly and thought, *This isn't a long-term solution. It looks like we need to speed up our timeline!*

"Speed up... our plan to leave this place?"

Zheng Xinyu asked with a solemn expression.

Zhang Su nodded, gesturing for everyone to pick up their chopsticks, and continued, "In the city, or rather when living in an apartment complex, our convenience entirely relies on stable supplies of water, electricity, gas, and the internet. Once we lose those advantages, surviving within this residential area will become extremely difficult."

"Especially now that the power is out. The food inside everyone's refrigerators will spoil in three to five days, a week at most. Just how much non-perishable convenience food can we possibly have left?"

Zhong Xiaoshan nodded in strong agreement, saying, "Brother Su is right. Once, when I went away on a trip for five or six days, the circuit breaker tripped at home. By the time I got back, the smell was indescribable. I didn't even salvage the refrigerator; I just called a secondhand appliance buyer to haul it away for a pittance..."

"Then where should we go after we leave?"

Zheng Xinyu asked the most crucial question.

"Our guiding principle should be heading toward sparsely populated areas. We also need to factor in water and food supplies. The general direction will definitely be the nearby suburban villages, but the most important thing is that we need to get a vehicle!"

Zhang Su muttered while deep in thought.

Zheng Xinyu tilted her head toward the direction of the main road, a worried look on her face. "If the roads out there are anything like that street we saw, we won't be able to drive anywhere."

"Not necessarily. Most of the explosions happened in the residential buildings, not many in the streets. Look around us—only the section right below our building had issues. A car is an absolute must; it opens up countless options... Huh?"

Even as he spoke, Zhang Su froze abruptly, because his enhanced hearing had picked up the sound of rustling footsteps.

"Damn, what is this smell? It stinks so bad! Could this zombie be rotting..."

A man's rough voice muttered.

"Haha, looks like that little girl is still alive! Brother Xiang, that's the smell of snail rice noodles. Lots of young people love eating those!"

Immediately afterward, a sleazy voice chimed in.

"Shit, they actually used stuff to block off the hallway completely. What a pain in the ass!"

The rough-voiced man called Brother Xiang didn't dwell on the strange smell any longer and continued, "We went through hell and high water to sneak all the way here, Chongzi. You better not have remembered wrong. If we're wasting our time on a wild goose chase, see if I don't break your legs!"

The sleazy man addressed as Chongzi replied, "Brother Xiang, there's no mistake. I cased this place several times before. That female streamer lives right in 801. Combined with the smell of these snail rice noodles, I am one hundred percent sure it's her!"

"I fucking know she lives here! I'm talking about the food, understand? The food!" Brother Xiang said irritably. Clearly, he hadn't taken on such massive risks just for a woman.

"Even less reason to worry about that. The little girl showed off during her livestreams—she stockpiled plenty of food and drinks, all self-heating hot pots she bought just to prepare for some challenge. Well, the damn challenge started before it could even begin, and now there are zombies. Damn, for a little girl to be sitting on a mountain of food and drinks, she sure got lucky!"

The sleazy man couldn't help licking his lips.

"Hehehe, her good luck is about to become ours... Chongzi, how did you even find that precious streamer in the first place?"

Brother Xiang asked with a cold laugh.

"Local recommendations, nearby streamers. She lived closest to me. At first, she even lied and said she lived in Building 10, but fuck, it turned out she was right in the next building over, hahaha!"

Chongzi couldn't help letting out a sinister, lecherous laugh.

"Don't laugh so damn lewdly, kid. Let me tell you—if there's food, I'll let you take the first shot. If there isn't any food, you stand off to the side and watch while you play with yourself!"

Brother Xiang said in a muffled, angry tone, a fire burning in his chest.

"Relax, relax, Brother Xiang. Even if there's food and drink, I won't fight you for it, hehe."

"At least you know what's good for you. Hurry up and move this—wait!"

Brother Xiang was just about to shove the vanity dresser aside when he noticed several spoons tied to the table legs. He grinned and said, "She even knows how to rig up an alarm system. Looks like besides that streamer, there are other survivors in there!"