Apocalypse: I'm the Landlady of the Refuge

Zhan Yu approached with a few steaming sweet potatoes in hand and greeted with a smile, "Didn’t expect you guys to be up this early, have you eaten?"

"Heh..." Xu Siming gave a profound look at the currency in Zhan Yu’s hand, scoffing coldly and without good cheer.

Zhan Yu paused slightly, then quickly realized the situation.

He smiled apologetically, "My bad, my bad, I wasn’t considerate enough!"

While speaking, Zhan Yu stuffed the sweet potatoes he was carrying into Ji Wanwan’s hands, "Here, take these and eat. I’ll go buy some more. Later, I’ll tell you how to get currency inside the refuge."

After speaking, Zhan Yu didn’t join the queue and instead headed straight for the dining area with long strides.

No one knew what he said to the person serving food, but they willingly gave him a few more sweet potatoes and even threw in some buns for good measure.

Staring at the sweet potatoes, Xu Siming twitched the corner of his mouth.

Tsk, fallen on hard times, coming to eat this stuff...

Seeing Xu Siming’s distaste, Ji Wanwan elbowed him unhappily, "Hey, hey, hey, it’s the apocalypse, to have this to eat is not bad, be content."

Xu Siming’s face turned instantly mournful, and he began to nibble on the sweet potato with a bitter laugh.

As they were talking, Zhan Yu, who had gotten food, came over too.

He handed a bun to Ji Wanwan, "Miss Ji, you and Brother Xu eat first. I have to attend to the matter I promised you yesterday later."

Ji Wanwan, holding the warm bun in her hands, replied, "No worries, I’m not in a rush. You get to your things. Ah, and by the way, thanks for the bun and the sweet potatoes~"

Zhan Yu responded with an embarrassed smile, "You’re welcome."

Back in their little earthen house, Ji Wanwan placed both the bun and the sweet potatoes into the System Space, and took out two loaves of bread to share with Xu Siming. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Xu Siming was a bit baffled, "Why not eat the bun and sweet potatoes? If you’re not going to eat them, why queue up?"

Ji Wanwan giggled, "I’m afraid the bun could be made from human flesh, and as for these sweet potatoes, how do you know there are no bodies buried where the sweet potatoes were grown? Queuing up is to avoid looking too different. I never said that just because I queued up, I had to eat them."

Xu Siming, who had just eaten a sweet potato, "?"

"Ugh!!!"

"Xiao Wan, thank you. Really!!!"

In that moment, Xu Siming’s silent grievances were vividly expressed, and Ji Wanwan couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Soon after they had eaten the bread, Zhan Yu arrived.

Upon entering, he sniffed, "Miss Ji, why is there a sweet smell of bread in your room?"

The two, who had just eaten bread, shook their heads unblushingly and without a skipped heartbeat, "Don’t know! Maybe Brother Zhan, you’re just hungry!"

Zhan Yu: "..."

Could you two be any more obvious?

In the end, as he said yesterday, Zhan Yu took Ji Wanwan to see the two survivors, one of whom was Lin Changhe, and the other was named Peng Dacheng.

According to Zhan Yu’s description, after these two returned alive, they both became deputies to the chief. Lin Changhe was mainly responsible for the tedious internal affairs, while Peng Dacheng mainly dealt with fighting, fending off zombies, and other external affairs. The two were clear in their division of labor, not interfering with each other, and would report directly to the chief when needed.

Unexpectedly, Ji Wanwan who had thought Peng Dacheng would be a big and burly, fierce-looking middle-aged man, was taken aback to see a young man in front of her who seemed honest and simple, not good with words.

In broad daylight, Lin Changhe remained as genteel and compassionate as ever, eliciting a sense of closeness involuntarily, making one want to talk more with him.

Had it not been for the slight suspicion and hostility that flashed in Lin Changhe’s eyes upon seeing Ji Wanwan, she might have mistaken the man she had seen the night before for a different person than the one standing before her now.

From that brief exchange of glances, Ji Wanwan knew that Lin Changhe had recognized her.

She didn’t intend to hide it; she immediately curled her lips into a mocking smile at Lin Changhe, full of provocation.

Lin Changhe’s gaze was profound, his hypocritical facade almost shattered, but clearly, his composure was not low as a momentary sinister expression was swiftly replaced by a warm, shallow smile.

Ji Wanwan turned and left, giving Lin Changhe a look of contempt before she did.

Walking beside Ji Wanwan, Zhan Yu felt the undercurrents flowing between Ji Wanwan and Lin Changhe: "Miss Ji, do you know Vice Lin?"

Ji Wanwan shook her head: "I don’t know him, I simply find him displeasing to the eye."

Zhan Yu: "?"

Speaking of which, Ji Wanwan gave Zhan Yu a meaningful glance: "Brother Zhan, by acting the way I did just now, could I have brought trouble upon you?"

Zhan Yu’s eyebrows raised slightly, his smile playful: "Then guess, why did I agree to bring you to meet Lin Changhe?"

The smile in Ji Wanwan’s eyes deepened, not hiding her interest: "So why do you wish for Lin Changhe’s death so much?"

"Wow..." Zhan Yu remarked with an expected marvel, "Miss Ji, your directness is truly enviable..."

Ji Wanwan was not modest: "Thanks for the compliment, so may I know the reason?"

A flicker of resentment crossed Zhan Yu’s eyes as he simply said four words: "A life for a life."

Though he didn’t elaborate, those four simple words were already quite telling.

Having witnessed the events of the previous night, Ji Wanwan was not surprised to hear Zhan Yu speak such words.

She probed: "Lin Changhe seems quite amiable, so does he also kill people?"

Zhan Yu scoffed, giving Ji Wanwan a ’you know very well’ look.

Ji Wanwan tucked her lower lip slightly, not speaking further.

It seemed that Zhan Yu was aware of the refuge’s secrets, but why did he set his sights on her and Xu Siming so quickly? Wasn’t he afraid they might betray him?

As for what the truth was, Ji Wanwan did not yet know.

She no longer talked too much about Lin Changhe, so as not to expose too much.

On the way back to the small earth house, Ji Wanwan subtly brought up the orchard.

Logically, with the corpses buried so shallowly, those going up the mountain to pick fruit should have easily discovered them, yet it seemed like these people within the refuge were uninformed.

Zhan Yu’s answer was that the orchard on the rear mountain was forbidden territory, open only to those granted permission by the leader to pick fruit.

The leader said these fruits were rare, could fortify the body, and due to limited yield, they were not sold separately but distributed as rewards to those who had made contributions to the refuge.

That made sense.

At this point, whether the leader of the refuge would show up remained unknown, as well as what kind of person they were and how strong they were.

As she thought about it, Zhan Yu’s voice interrupted her thoughts: "Miss Ji, you and Brother Xu secretly went up the mountain last night, didn’t you?"

Of course, Ji Wanwan denied it without thinking: "It wasn’t me, I didn’t."

Zhan Yu’s lips twitched, his gaze resting on Ji Wanwan’s shoes.

The edges of her shoes were stained with the distinctive red clay of the rear mountain orchard. Glancing down, Ji Wanwan’s throat tightened as she stubbornly retorted: "Eh, where did this come from? The environment in your refuge is not too great, huh? The mud is so thick."

Zhan Yu: "..."

As they spoke, someone approached from ahead.

Stopping in front of Ji Wanwan, the person made a gesture of invitation: "Hello, our leader would like to meet you and your friend. Please come with me."