Winn quickly restarted the fire, and Uziel picked up their only clay pot and placed it over the fire.
The water inside was brought from yesterday. He threw in two handfuls of black flour and stirred it well. Once the water boiled, it turned into a pot of black flour paste.
Uziel's clothes were still open. His clothes had also been torn by Paige yesterday and needed to be mended.
Winn put his own clothes on Paige and tied them properly.
His clothes were bigger, just enough to fit over the cotton-padded jacket Paige was wearing.
He had taken off his own cotton-padded jacket yesterday, so it was still intact.
Paige looked at Winn. He was only wearing a thin inner shirt, with a piece of straw tied around his waist.
"Paige, I think the three of us really need to talk," Winn said, looking at her.
Paige looked at him and asked, "Aren't you cold?"
Paige's body wasn't the same as before. Now she was wearing two cotton jackets, even if they weren't very warm.
With the fire burning, she didn't feel cold at all anymore.
But Winn wasn't as strong, and he wasn't wearing as much as she was.
Winn turned his face away and let out a big sneeze. "I'm a man, I can handle it."
Paige, a little annoyed, pulled him closer to the fire.
"Whatever you want to talk about, let's sit here and talk," Paige said.
As the fire warmed Winn up, he slowly started to feel better.
He took Paige's hand and said, "I know you've been waiting for someone, but whether brother can come back is uncertain.
Also, even though I don't really know what happened to us yesterday, we've already become like husband and wife.
I promise I'll treat you well from now on," Winn said, feeling a bit guilty.
Because he was the same as Paige, he had no home now. How could he treat her well in the future?
But then he thought again, at least he and his brother were adult men. Paige and her younger brother were both weak, one weak, one small.
So, the two of them still needed protection from him and his brother.
Thinking this way, Winn said to Paige with determination, "From now on, I'll treat you well, I promise. If there's food, I'll give you the first bite, then Ely the second bite, and only after that will my brother and I eat."
Paige looked at Winn and asked, "So what you mean is, if there's food, you'll give me and Ely one bite each, and you two brothers will eat the rest, right?
Just like what other people say, give us just enough to not starve?"
Winn immediately responded, "That's not what I mean. I mean that if there's food, you two will get it first…"
"Pfft…" Paige couldn't help but laugh when she saw how flustered Winn was.
"You did that on purpose!" Winn said, his face turning red.
"We grew up together. Don't you think I know what kind of person you are? I was teasing you." Paige laughed and pinched Winn's face.
At that moment, Uziel came over and squatted beside Paige on the other side. "Me too. I'll take care of you guys together."
"Okay!" Paige also pinched Uziel's face.
"Do you… do you know what happened last night?" Winn looked at Paige's calm expression, unsure if she remembered what had happened yesterday.
If she forgot, how was he supposed to tell her? What if she couldn't handle it? And if she remembered, then why was she acting so calm, like she didn't care at all?
Could it be she was pretending to be calm, but secretly thinking about ending her life?
As soon as Winn thought of that possibility, his heart jumped.
Yes, there was a similar case in the village before.
A woman was sent back to her parents' home by her husband's family. They said she hadn't given birth in three years and wanted to divorce her.
They threw the woman and the divorce letter at the doorstep and just left.
That woman acted like she didn't care. She even said a lot to comfort her parents. But once she stepped out, she jumped into the river and ended her life.
Winn looked nervously at Paige, watching her face closely for any change.
Paige looked at Winn and Uziel, then nodded. "I remember."
"Then, what do you think about it?" Winn asked Paige.
"What about you two? What do you think?" Paige asked them back.
"We, we…" Winn and Uziel looked at each other, then said to Paige, "We want to take care of you, and Ely too."
"I feel the same. Since you've chosen to follow me, I'll take care of you both," Paige said, looking at Winn and Uziel.
In her previous life, she managed to support twenty to thirty people. Even if things started off worse this time, supporting three people shouldn't be a problem.
Winn and Uziel should have felt happy hearing that Paige agreed to live with them.
After all, once they started living together, her reputation would take a hit. In decent families or those that cared about their daughters, no one would allow their daughter to marry into a shared relationship like that.
But something about Paige's words sounded strange. What did she mean by they were following her?
Did Paige say it wrong?
At that moment, Winn and Uziel still didn't know that someone very powerful had awakened inside Paige's body.
As for Paige, she sat by the fire, sorting through a new strand of memory that had appeared.
She wasn't sure if she had transmigrated or been reborn, or if it was something to do with a past and present life.
But the memories from these past ten-plus years were all very clear in her mind.
And the memories and energy that had suddenly appeared in her mind were real.
Paige believed that she had been too powerful in her past life. Drinking the soup of forgetfulness had only erased her memories, but her abilities remained.
She just didn't know how to use it before.
This time, in a life-or-death moment, she activated her energy and also awakened her past life's memories.
After fifty years of the apocalypse, less than one percent of humans survived.
Zombies were no longer slow-moving monsters. They could run, jump, and some could even fly.
But in the end, they were still brainless creatures that only knew how to kill. It was only a matter of time before they were destroyed.
However, people later discovered that among the zombies, there were Zombie Kings.
Zombie Kings could think like humans and even use strategies. In just two years, the human population decreased again.
Paige was raised and trained by the government.
There were many people like her. They had no parents and were born in incubation pods.
After the apocalypse, the human body was invaded by a virus, and people lost the ability to have children naturally.
Their surnames were given in the order of Jia, Yi, Bing, Rin.
Each batch could produce thousands of embryos, but only a few dozen to a hundred would survive.
Among those hundred, only about a dozen had outstanding abilities.
Paige was from the fourth batch and was part of the first successful group.
The earlier batches all had some defects.
It wasn't until Paige's batch that the most optimal genes were created and improved. At least for now, it was the best.
Paige wasn't the first, and she wouldn't be the last.
Because in the incubation pods, one batch of embryos after another was placed in. A few months later, they would turn into babies.
Until the problem of the virus in human bodies was solved, humans could only rely on high technology to continue their race.
And the children born from the pods seemed to have a natural kind of insulation. They had periods once a year, but no eggs were ever produced.