Chapter 7
The young woman was the one who had fled with An Tianhe that night. Her name was Xia Yan.
Xia Yan was twenty-four years old this year. Her hometown was Qinghe City. She had been married for just over a year to a man with the surname Chen. Her husband mainly operated a building materials company in the provincial capital, and thanks to his family's connections, the business was doing quite well. Their living conditions were therefore quite good, well above the level of a middle-class family.
The two had met in university. Although he didn't completely fit her ideal type (his looks were just average) he was diligent and ambitious, and he was quite accommodating to her. On top of that, they were both from Qinghe City, so their eating habits were very similar. After pursuing her for over half a year, he finally won the heart of the campus beauty. This left countless single guys who had coveted her, heartbroken for a long time. Some even threatened to challenge him to a fight, but nothing ever came of it, and it became a running joke.
The couple had returned this time because an elder in the family was gravely ill and didn't have much time left. The old woman especially missed Xia Yan, her dear granddaughter. She had been in the hospital for a while but passed away not long after, so they had to arrange the funeral. This was why the two of them had stayed for so long. No one had expected a meteorite catastrophe to occur.
Fortunately, their parents had managed to catch a military plane and were evacuated first. Even so, many of their local relatives had perished. In particular, Xia Yan's husband was devoured by the walking corpses just two days ago, which dealt a tremendous mental blow to her.
For the past two days, she had been following An Tianhe in a daze, without a single spark of light in her eyes. They took advantage of a break in the rain to find a farmhouse to settle in. The owner was not home; they had to smash the lock to get in. Perhaps the owner was already a wandering corpse outside. It was hard to say. In any case, An Tianhe had already used his anti-riot baton to kill several lone ones on their way here.
While searching along the way, he found a steel drill rod. He sharpened the already pointed tip, then used thin steel wire and iron nails to firmly fix it to one end of the long rod, creating a simple spear. With this weapon, plus a full face motorcycle helmet, An Tianhe was able to bring Xia Yan this far.
The farmhouses in the area were very spread out. The tap water had stopped for some unknown reason, and they did not dare to touch the rain-soaked river outside. Even though a few households had wells, the groundwater was connected to the rivers, so they could only stare helplessly.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off all exits. As An Tianhe was passing the entrance to a village, he spotted a small supermarket. The houses in the village were packed closely together with many residents, so he didn't dare go in alone. He slipped into the small supermarket to take a look. In truth, despite the sign saying "supermarket," it was at best a slightly larger convenience store.
The door was wide open. At the entrance was a large pool of blood and some severed limbs, with swarms of flies buzzing around. Enduring the stench, An Tianhe intentionally made some noise outside, but there was still no reaction from inside the supermarket. He walked in cautiously, looked around carefully, and only after confirming there were no walking corpses in the small space did he begin to move supplies with peace of mind.
There was still plenty of water (cases of bottled water and barreled water) which he moved, without exception, to the cargo bed of an electric tricycle. This had originally been a delivery vehicle; the rider was nowhere to be found, and it still had four bars of battery, so he commandeered it without hesitation. Strangely, the drinks and snacks inside the supermarket seemed to have been mostly emptied by someone. It didn't matter; he took whatever was available. Food, supplies, and clothes. Nothing was to be missed.
The drinking water problem was temporarily solved. Besides the snacks from the supermarket, An Tianhe also scavenged some rice, noodles, cured meat, and other things from nearby farmhouses. In some houses, the food in the refrigerators hadn't all spoiled yet; the power outage seemed to have happened only in the last few days. Candles became their only source of light at night since then.
An Tianhe busied himself, moving supplies back to their temporary shelter, and working up a sweat. Xia Yan saw this and, though she said nothing on the surface, when he returned with the last load in the afternoon, he was greeted by the aroma of a cooked meal.
Steaming hot rice, a plate of stir-fried green vegetables, a plate of sliced steamed sausage, which he had found on a farmhouse balcony yesterday, the white radish in the soup bowl had been dug up from the cellar in the owner's yard; and finally, a small dish of Lao Gan Ma chili oil from the small supermarket.
It was just an ordinary home-cooked meal, and would have been plain in normal times, but now it seemed as luxurious as an Imperial Feast. An Tianhe's hands trembled slightly as he picked up his bowl and chopsticks. With every bite, he couldn't help but praise Xia Yan's cooking skills.
Xia Yan blushed, a spark of life flickering in her eyes. "I'm not quite used to the stove in the kitchen. I'm glad you don't mind."
This meal brought the two of them much closer. From then on, they gradually got to know each other. In their free time, they often talked and chatted, slowly learning not only about each other's backgrounds but also their respective hobbies. An Tianhe was a smooth-talker who could spin a good tale, so occasionally, Xia Yan would even giggle.
Xia Yan herself didn't realize that her originally dim eyes were now brightening, little by little.
During another lunch, they talked about their thoughts on the future.
"Brother An, do you think... do you think Qinghe will get better in the future?"
"Hmm... I still believe it will. Even if... even if it gets abandoned in the end, at least I have to survive. My parents are still waiting for me in Rongcheng. They raised me for so many years, and I haven't had a chance to properly show my gratitude to them yet. Besides, I'm not married yet. I don't want to just die for nothing."
Whether intentionally or not, when An Tianhe mentioned marriage, his eyes quickly glanced at Xia Yan. She said nothing, just lowered her head and ate in silence, but her earlobes slowly turned red.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, An Tianhe quickly changed the subject. "Sigh, if things had gone smoothly, Captain Gao was planning to take us directly to the Xianu Lake Hydropower Station upstream on the Longwan River. He said there was still a small military garrison there, a contact point. It's a shame..."
Hearing this, not only did Xia Yan not continue the conversation, but her face suddenly darkened, and she even stopped moving her chopsticks. An Tianhe was stunned at first, not knowing what he had said wrong, then he suddenly realized. Her husband had died that night. Why did I bring that up? I really put my foot in my mouth. He silently cursed himself and quickly focused on eating his rice, staying silent for the rest of the meal.
After that meal, their relationship seemed to cool down again. Except for when eating and helping to move things, Xia Yan mostly stayed in her room and rarely chatted with An Tianhe anymore.
An Tianhe knew he had said the wrong thing and had sincerely apologized that same day. Although Xia Yan said verbally that he was just stating a fact and hadn't offended her, and that he shouldn't worry, her actions said otherwise. An Tianhe was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, desperately wanting to do something to repair, or perhaps even deepen their relationship.
It was only then that he understood that, at some point, Xia Yan's graceful figure had already taken root in his heart.
Perhaps it was her beautiful and moving face when they ate together; perhaps it was the loneliness and sorrow in her eyes; or perhaps it was the pair of full, snow-white breasts that trembled at the neckline of her dress when she bent over to do something; or maybe it was her snow-white thighs, which exposed themselves when her skirt was caught by the breeze.
To be honest, staying alone with such a stunning, sexy, and charming beauty day after day, under the same roof, any man would be tempted after a while. An Tianhe was clearly no exception.
He knew that if it weren't for these special circumstances, it would be difficult to even get to know a woman of her caliber, let alone get close to her. If he didn't seize this opportunity now, when would he?
Some might choose to force themselves on her, or perhaps threaten her with food and water to make her submit. But that was not in An Tianhe's nature. Over twenty years as a law-abiding citizen had long since shaped his behavior.
So, for the next two days, every time he went out, An Tianhe racked his brains, trying to think of a way to please Xia Yan, win her favor, and continue to improve their relationship.
Heaven rewards the diligent. One afternoon, while pedaling a bicycle (the electric tricycle was out of battery) through a forest near the Longwan River, he suddenly spotted a brand-new, luxurious, and overlooked small villa hidden behind the bushes. He quickly rode over.
The villa had its own courtyard, guarded by two large alloy gates locked with a thick chain. An Tianhe had been "visiting" houses to gather supplies for the past few days and had collected many tools. In the past, he would have had to climb over the wall to get into the yard but now he just opened the tool bag on his bicycle, took out a manual hydraulic cutter, and with a click, snapped the chain.
He pushed open the gate with a creak. Holding his homemade spear and wearing his helmet, he walked step by step into the courtyard.
It was a standalone villa with three floors. The first floor had a garage and huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and the top floor had an open-air terrace. He saw no signs of damage or bloodstains; it seemed no one had been here for some time. The garage's rolling shutter door was tightly shut, and the main door on the first floor was also locked from the inside. Fortunately, there was a ladder in the backyard. An Tianhe took off his helmet and climbed up the ladder to the second-floor terrace.
The glass side door here was also locked. With no other choice, An Tianhe used the other end of his spear to smash a window before carefully climbing inside.
The decoration and facilities inside were clearly high-end and luxurious; even the mattress was made of latex, very elastic and comfortable to sit on. In a porcelain bowl in the living room, An Tianhe found the spare key to the house. Unfortunately, the garage was empty, with no nice car to be seen; the owner must have already driven it away. Even the kitchen and refrigerator had very little food, indicating that the owner did not live here often.
All of this disappointed An Tianhe. He felt the villa was all show and no substance, emptier inside than a regular farmhouse. He walked from the rooms to the rooftop terrace, strolled around again, and saw nothing of importance. Just before he left, he casually glanced to the right and saw a large, cylindrical, stainless steel water tank, with several solar panels leaning against it next to it.
What was this? He walked over and saw that the solar panels were connected to the water tank, with a small LCD screen lit up in between. He looked down and saw: Power Generation: 87%, Water Tank Temp: 75°C, Water Temp: 73°C.
He had searched almost all the nearby houses, and this was the first place where a screen was still lit. Using solar power to be self-sufficient. How extravagant. But there had been no electricity inside the house, so it seemed it was dedicated to powering this water tank. He turned and walked back to the water tank. There was a transparent water level gauge on it, stopped at the 96 mark, meaning it was almost full.
But he had tried the faucets on the first and second floors, and there was no water. So where was it connected to? An Tianhe thought for a moment, then suddenly froze, as if he had discovered something, and rushed downstairs like the wind. He ran into the shower on the second floor, his right hand trembling as he turned on the shower switch.
Whoosh~~ Multiple streams of warm water sprayed from the large, square showerhead, making An Tianhe, who hadn't had a proper hot shower in a long time, incredibly excited.
Although the rooftop water tank was a single-cycle, automatic refill system, the power had been cut off in the surrounding area since the zombie outbreak in Longtan Town, and the owner of the house hadn't been back for a while. This meant the water in the tank now wasn't fresh, and its quality had certainly declined, but it was definitely a clean water source, suitable for bathing, and even for drinking!
He remembered that a few days ago, Xia Yan had said, half-complaining and half-hoping, "I wonder when I can take a hot bath. I feel like I'm starting to grow mold."
An Tianhe smiled with satisfaction. This time, he could fulfill her wish.
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