"Thank heavens, thank heavens…" Su Lanzhi's hands trembled as she reheated another pot of chicken noodle soup over the stovetop and served everyone an extra meal. In the apocalypse, no family could afford such luxury anymore, yet she insisted on filling their bowls.
Wang Fang cried uncontrollably, the tears streaming down her face, while Su Long slurped his noodles without a care for the world around him. Su Yiyang's face was pale in the flickering light, but in the end, he still reached out and held Su Lanzhi's hand. "Little Sister, we owe Jing Shu this time. I don't even want to imagine what could've happened if not for her. It feels like fate, like it was destined she would come back today and just happened to call us over. Once I settle things down with my wife and son, we will go thank her properly. She saved all three of our lives tonight."
Su Lanzhi's eyes were red as she nodded, pressing her palms together in a small, silent prayer. "Amitabha, heaven really does have eyes. That child has changed a lot these past two years; she has got her own thoughts now. If she said she needed to see you, then it must've been something important. Heaven didn't let you go back for a reason."
Su Yiyang sighed, the weight of his responsibilities visible in the slump of his shoulders. "Little Sister, could I trouble your husband to drive me back? A lot of people died this time. As a community manager, I need to return and organize the reports for the district. Things are a total mess there, and Su Long and his mother…"
Wang Fang quickly stood, wiping her tears with her rough sleeve. "Please take care of Su Long for a day; I'm going too. So many buildings collapsed, we will need to dig out bodies, clothes, and supplies. Lao Su can't handle it alone. Besides, we have to recover what we can, such as food, clothes, and old furniture. We need to find anything usable before others snatch it first. With the house gone, we will stay in the plaza for now. I still have some virtual coins left. Once things settle, we will find a place to live."
She spoke calmly, but everyone knew the grim truth. If the floods in the second year of the apocalypse still gave people a sliver of hope to return home, the earthquakes of the third year crushed that dream completely. Houses were rarer than ever, and the weather kept getting colder with every passing night. Finding shelter was almost impossible now. Dozens of people were crammed into a single space, huddled together for warmth.
Jing Shu knew that scene all too well from her past. Even before the tremors stopped, crowds with baskets on their backs rushed toward the ruins, desperate to be first. They dug for food, torn fabrics, and broken furniture. Doors, bedframes; anything usable was fair game. Those things belonged to no one now. Some cried and cursed while scavenging through the wreckage of their lives. In the dark rubble, few spoke. People dug in silence, tossing stones aside, feeling with their hands to tell trash from treasure. Some went too deep into the shifting piles and got injured again by falling debris.
When everything worth taking was gone, they finally dragged out the corpses. They stripped the clothes and carried the cold bodies to the platform where corpses were collected. There, they would get a small payout in virtual coins.
Jing Shu was all too familiar with corpse-digging work. While others searched for supplies, she would shoulder her homemade basket and look for bodies. Sometimes she found half a body, sometimes just a severed hand or leg poking out from the gray ruins. She had been so thin and weak then that she couldn't compete with the men for the heavy items. But she was fast. By scavenging and piecing together remains, she could fill a basket to weigh and sell by the gram. It didn't pay much, but small scraps added up. On lucky days, she might even find a whole corpse and earn one or two virtual coins.
"Life was hell back then." She lifted her hand, gazing at her smooth, healthy fingers in the RV's soft light, and sighed.
Su Lanzhi swallowed the words she was about to say. She had wanted to suggest that her brother stay nearby; maybe rent a place in Banana Community. In times like these, families needed to stick close to take care of one another. Maybe she would bring it up with Jing An later and see if he could help. "Eat your noodles before you go," she finally said softly.
The RV returned to silence, rocking occasionally from the subtle aftershocks that still vibrated through the earth. Jing Shu drifted off again, half-asleep, until Xiao Dou's soft feathers brushed her cheek. The fat hen had learned to please her master with massages lately, though her pecking technique still needed work. Jing Shu muttered sleepily and pulled the thick, warm comforter tighter. When she opened her eyes, she saw the panoramic 270-degree view through the RV's glass windows. It showed the dim hillside behind them dotted with tents, tin shacks, and stone huts. It was nothing like the beautiful, crystalline snow world of the fifth year she remembered.
Jing An only turned on the hot-water pipe system to save fuel, so it was still a little cold in the cabin. The RV's warm lights flickered on as Xiao Dou strutted in, carrying a vibrating phone in her beak and shaking her plump tail proudly. Now that Yi Hou—the Ant Queen who had once competed with her in America—was gone, this was Xiao Dou's kingdom again. As long as she kept laying eggs, she remained the queen of the roost.
Jing Shu glanced at the caller ID. It was Li Yutian. She lazily switched to speaker mode. "Hello, Captain Li?"
Li Yutian's voice was tense over the line. "Jing Shu! I just called Yang Yang and found out you're back! Where are you now? Are you behind Banana Community?"
"Yeah, what is wrong?"
"You need to come to the Second Squad right now, same address as before. The supplies you brought a few days ago; someone took them all yesterday! Come here and I will explain in detail! Those bastards cleaned out my entire warehouse while I was gone!"
He sounded furious, and rightfully so. Jing Shu narrowed her eyes, the last of her sleepiness vanishing instantly. A chill spread from her body into the air of the RV, and Xiao Dou squawked in sudden fear before scurrying away under a chair.
"I will be there soon."
Good. She had been reborn once, and all Jing Shu wanted was to quietly grow stronger. It wasn't that she lacked the power to rise to the top of Wu City or even all of China. With her foresight and her Cube Space, she could've easily built a massive trading empire. She could've expanded safely behind the scenes, sold luxury goods, live poultry, and medicinal herbs, opened auction houses, founded a base like Qian Duoduo's Stone Garden, hired private guards, and lived like a queen. Within two years, she could've become one of Wu City's biggest merchants. But she didn't. Because in a world like this, the faster you fatten up, the faster you die.
Her low profile didn't mean she was afraid. She didn't cause trouble, but she wasn't scared of it either. If anyone thought she was an easy target, she would bare her fangs and bite their heads off. Whoever dared to steal from Li Yutian's warehouse had to have power or backing. The question was whether it was political or personal.
She changed into black leather pants and a matching jacket, slipped on her customized bulletproof trench coat and a matte black combat helmet. She strapped on a few weapons just in case and rode off on her amphibious shark submarine.
It was only a kilometer away, but appearances mattered in this era. The Second Squad and the cafeteria hadn't moved, and unless the quake had destroyed the structure, it should still be intact. The cafeteria line stretched long with hungry people. It was mealtime, and when people saw her sleek vehicle approach, they instinctively stepped aside. Whispering followed her as she passed; these days, anyone who could still afford to drive was untouchable.
After the government monopolized the charging stations, raising the price to five virtual coins per charge, even electric scooters had become a luxury.
As she passed her Paternal Third Aunt's Ai Jia Cafeteria, she spotted her aunt bustling inside among the rising steam but didn't interrupt. She went straight upstairs and found Li Yutian.