Apocalypse: I'm the Landlady of the Refuge

By the time the celebration party ended, the moon was already high in the sky.

To avoid everyone staying up too late and causing issues, Ji Wanwan instructed the slightly tipsy guests to return to their rooms for rest, while she herself went to see Mrs. Ji.

Going to Jiang City might take several days, and currently, both Xia Li and Qi Hao were still in her private space without anyone to look after them. This was not acceptable.

She couldn’t fully trust either System 001 or anyone else with this task, except for her own mother.

Thus, Ji Wanwan explained her reasons to her mother.

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Ji gladly accepted Ji Wanwan’s request, promising to take good care of the children.

With her mother stepping in, Ji Wanwan naturally had no worries, but thinking of Qi Hao’s Grandma, Ji Wanwan couldn’t help feeling a bit melancholic.

She shared with her mother the well-intentioned lie she had told Qi Hao’s Grandma, instructing her to be very careful and to ensure her story wasn’t exposed.

Mrs. Ji sighed deeply, her eyes full of sympathy, and reassured her that she wouldn’t be found out, after which Ji Wanwan reluctantly returned to her private space. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After giving all necessary instructions and making all the arrangements, Ji Wanwan finally settled down.

Back in her suite, she checked on both Xia Li and Qi Hao, spoke to them for a while, and then washed up and went to bed, resting up for the trip to Jiang City the next day.

As dawn broke the next day, Zhou Kai and Xu Siming, already prepared, were waiting in the dining room, ready to leave as soon as Ji Wanwan appeared.

The three of them left promptly and decisively, yet Ji Wanwan had still forgotten some things.

Two days later.

Wang Youde stood disheveled at the Inner City Gate.

The access control system issued a third warning: "Sorry, you do not have permission to enter the Inner City."

After a moment of silence, Wang Youde clicked on the system’s visit button.

"The lord is not at the base and cannot be visited at this time."

After waiting half a day without seeing Ji Wanwan return, Wang Youde felt extremely frustrated.

At that moment, returning for recharging, System 001 appeared.

Seeing someone standing at the Inner City gate, the butler System 001 diligently approached: "Greetings, distinguished guest. May I ask what brings you here?"

Wang Youde looked curiously at System 001.

It seemed to be the robot that always accompanied the lord.

With that thought, Wang Youde answered truthfully, "The lord told me to come see her today, but I’ve been waiting here all day without seeing her return."

"Ah?" 001 touched its smooth head: "But the lord went to Jiang City on a mission two days ago. Didn’t she tell you?"

Wang Youde: ? I’m the one asking, remember?

In the end, the forgotten Wang Youde silently returned to the villa.

According to the base’s regulations, living in a comfortable dormitory required points, and Wang Youde, along with other rescued individuals lacking points, had to cram in temporary villas until they earned enough points through labor to move into the dorm buildings.

Seeing Wang Youde returning dejectedly after a day out, the people in the villa began to speculate.

Some said, certainly, the lord had assigned a task to Wang Youde, but he had failed to complete it, so he was disdained by the lord and sent back.

Others said, there were many handsome men by the lord’s side, and she had taken a fancy to Wang Youde on a whim that day. Now that her interest had waned, naturally, she had kicked him out again.

Some said that Wang Youde wasn’t very tactful and had annoyed someone of influence around the lord, leading to his being squeezed out.

There were many speculations and rumors, but it seemed everyone agreed on one fact, that the lord had not kept Wang Youde by his side for employment.

This caused those who had previously been polite to Wang Youde to change their attitude towards him in an instant.

Although Wang Youde hadn’t done anything, at this moment, it was as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. Everyone in the villa could spurn him with a word, and everyone could bully him.

Visibly, Wang Youde’s previously bright eyes gradually dimmed...

...

Meanwhile, in Jiang City.

After raiding a large supermarket, Ji Wanwan was sitting in the presidential suite at the top floor of the Jiangwan Hotel, eating hotpot with Zhou Kai and Xu Siming.

Xu Siming cooked a slice of tripe: "It seems that there aren’t many high-level zombies in Jiang City. Most of the survivors we’ve encountered are ordinary people without awakened abilities. It’s really strange."

Ji Wanwan picked up a slice of fatty beef and threw it out the window.

Hearing the roars coming from downstairs, Ji Wanwan nodded seriously, "It is very strange."

She had noticed this a few days ago when she arrived with Xia Li. She took the tripe Xu Siming had just dropped into the pot, "Senior, what do you think?"

Watching the disappeared tripe, Xu Siming licked his lips eagerly and put a whole plate of tripe into the pot: "Is there a possibility that Liancheng was the initial outbreak site of the zombie virus?"

Ji Wanwan shook her head: "Senior, you are clearly not someone who watches the news. Before the outbreak of the zombie virus, there were many precursor cases across the country and abroad, which were reported in the news. You just need to browse a bit to see them."

Xu Siming choked and finally picked up a piece of the eagerly anticipated tripe: "I spend most of my time in the lab, and indeed I don’t watch the news much."

After rolling the tripe in a well-mixed dipping sauce until it was fully coated, Xu Siming then put it in his mouth.

The spicy, aromatic flavor burst between his lips and teeth, and he contentedly squinted his eyes, almost moaning in pleasure.

Ji Wanwan also picked up a piece of tripe: "Brother Kai, what do you think?"

Today, Brother Kai seemed especially silent.

"Hmm?" Holding his bowl without picking any food for a while, Zhou Kai was startled: "What did you say?"

Ji Wanwan: "..."

She lifted her eyelids to look at Zhou Kai.

Seeing that his dipping plate was barely touched and there was little food in his bowl, Ji Wanwan picked up a slice of beef and put it into Zhou Kai’s bowl: "Brother Kai, are you worried about something?"

Looking at the beef in his bowl, Zhou Kai pressed his lips together as if making a tough decision, and looked into Ji Wanwan’s eyes: "Given the current situation, the zombies in Jiang City are not high-level, and with your and Xu Siming’s abilities, the zombies here pose no threat to you.

We have already explored a small part of Jiang City, and it would take about four to five more days to complete the exploration."

He paused, then continued, "Boss Ji, I would like to go on a solo mission for three days. I will meet you here after three days and return to the base with you. If..."

He hesitated, his lips twitching as if he was about to stop, but Ji Wanwan interrupted him before he could finish: "Can you tell me what you want to do?"

Zhou Kai was silent for a while before he spoke: "Boss Ji, do you remember what I said when I applied to join the team?"

Ji Wanwan put down her chopsticks: "I remember, you said you had a necessary task and a person you must meet, so you needed to learn about the outside world and become strong enough to survive without relying on the base!"

In Ji Wanwan’s heart, as long as she acknowledged someone as one of her own, she took their words seriously, so she remembered every word each of them said.

Her eyes earnest: "So Brother Kai, you are planning to go do that task, to meet that person, right?"