21: Can we sleep together?

Jiang Fei walked to the window and looked down.

A man was sprawled on a wooden board, desperately paddling towards the community gate, trying to escape, but he was instantly covered by a dense swarm of rats in the water.

Soon, the rat swarm dispersed.

Only a few bloody bones remained on the wooden board.

Xiao Chuxia’s voice trembled, “How can these rats eat human flesh…?”

“They’ve mutated.”

Jiang Fei calmly pulled the curtains shut and was about to leave when Xiao Chuxia tugged at her sleeve.

“Miss, can I sleep with you tonight…? I’m scared…”

Jiang. Heartless. Fei: “No.”

She wasn’t used to sleeping with others.

What if she got disoriented in her sleep and accidentally killed Xiao Hua Lao, mistaking it for an enemy?

“Goodnight.”

Xiao Chuxia watched Jiang Fei leave with teary eyes, not daring to close them.

She kept feeling like rats would sneak out while she slept and eat her.

As a result, when Jiang Fei arrived at 2201 the next day, she saw Xiao Chuxia squatting on the sofa, looking listless, her hands tightly gripping a knife.

Her head kept nodding, clearly exhausted from lack of sleep.

“Didn’t sleep all night?”

Xiao Chuxia was pitiful and helpless: “I’m scared…”

Jiang Fei sighed, moved a chair into the bedroom: “You sleep, I’ll sit here and keep you company.”

“Thank you, Miss!” Xiao Chuxia pattered from the living room into the bedroom and lay on the bed.

But the trauma from the rats yesterday was too deep; Xiao Chuxia kept opening her eyes, observing her surroundings.

Jiang Fei had no choice but to hold her hand.

This time, Xiao Chuxia slept soundly.

The pitiful one became Jiang Fei, maintaining her raised arm posture until 1 PM.

Xiao Chuxia woke up, and Jiang Fei’s arm was stiff.

“I’m sorry, Miss, I troubled you today. Why don’t you have lunch here today!”

With that, Xiao Chuxia opened her suitcase and took out two bags of strawberry biscuits, sharing them with Jiang Fei.

Inside the suitcase, besides a change of clothes, there were over a dozen packets of instant noodle seasoning, 3 crumpled instant noodles, 2 bottles of mineral water, and half a bag of brown sugar.

The strawberry biscuits were the best food among them.

Xiao Chuxia scratched her head in embarrassment: “I hoarded a bit too little. I’ve eaten most of what I had at home these past few days, but don’t worry, Miss, I won’t ask you for any.”

“I’ve saved a lot of instant noodle seasoning packets; just add water and it’s a soup!” Xiao Chuxia proudly lifted her face, believing her idea was brilliant.

Jiang Fei couldn’t bear to look: “Clean up after you eat, then come with me to find supplies.”

Today, she had to help Xiao Hua Lao desensitize, lest she stay up all night with wide eyes again.

Xiao Chuxia: “But there are rats everywhere outside…”

Jiang Fei: “You’ll get used to it after seeing them for a while.”

Xiao Chuxia wanted to cry but had no tears, yet she also understood that to overcome her fear of rats, she had to survive.

After a quick wash, Xiao Chuxia took her knife and followed Jiang Fei out the door.

Just then, Lu Yu emerged from 2203.

He had a backpack on and an inflatable raft in his hand, looking ready to go out.

Lu Yu: “Together?”

Jiang Fei nodded.

The neighbor had quite a few weapons; bringing him along wouldn’t be a loss.

Noticing Lu Yu was energetic and showed no signs of yesterday’s weakness, Jiang Fei couldn’t help but think of that bottle of powder.

What kind of medicine could allow someone to recover so quickly?

Jiang Fei felt a little curious.

She wanted to snatch it, but she couldn’t.

—

Downstairs, it was already in chaos.

Although the rain had stopped, the rats were swarming, biting people, and eating human flesh.

Residents and people crowded in the corridors dared not sleep, fighting off rats with various weapons.

Almost every floor had skeletons picked clean by rat swarms.

The water level had already reached the 11th floor.

Jiang Fei didn’t see Li Yanping and the others, unsure if they had been washed away or bitten to death by rats.

The stairs and corridors were full of rats. Jiang Fei used a flamethrower to clear a path, occasionally turning back to tell Xiao Chuxia:

“There’s a lone rat over there, kill it.”

“Chop its head, it dies faster.”

Xiao Chuxia mustered her courage, rushed over, and swung her knife.

Her frenzied chopping turned the rat into a pulp of meat, and Xiao Chuxia almost vomited.

Jiang Fei rarely offered comfort: “Actually, red-eyed rats can be eaten. As long as you clean out their organs and cook them thoroughly, there won’t be any problem.”

“They’re also afraid of fire.”

In her previous life, many people survived by eating rat meat.

Xiao Chuxia glanced at the reddish rat meat pulp and decisively shook her head: “I’d rather die than eat it!”

However, people nearby listened to Jiang Fei’s words, picked up a rat killed by the flamethrower, and ate a leg.

“It tastes a bit like chicken.”

“Let me try it quickly!”

“There’s so much more on the ground! Go pick your own!”

The once terrifying red-eyed rats became food, and people were no longer afraid, rushing towards the scurrying rats in the corridor with their weapons.

Who wouldn’t want a bite of meat after being hungry for so many days?

Some remembered Jiang Fei’s words and even used wooden sticks to catch the flames from the flamethrower to drive away rats.

Jiang Fei did not stop them.

As long as they weren’t excessive or provoked her, there was no need to annihilate them and cut off their means of survival.

After clearing a space, Jiang Fei and Lu Yu inflated their rafts and sailed out of the residential building.

Xiao Chuxia sat in Jiang Fei’s raft.

Little did they know, as soon as they left, Xiao Guan received news from a refugee and went downstairs.

Refugee: “Oh no, Jiang Fei and them are gone, we can’t hitch a ride on the raft now.”

Xiao Guan looked annoyed, then suddenly smelled the scent of roasted meat in the air.

In the corridor, several people were roasting peeled rats.

“Rats carry a lot of bacteria and infectious diseases, how can you eat rat meat?!” Xiao Guan immediately stepped forward to stop them, but he was pushed away by a man.

“Jiang Fei said it’s edible, no problem if cleaned properly.”

“What bacteria could survive high heat roasting?”

Another person interjected: “People are starving to death, who cares if it’s sick or not, at least I can die with a full stomach!”

“You’re crazy! Jiang Fei wants to poison you with rat meat, and you can’t even see it!”

No matter what Xiao Guan said, everyone ignored him, focusing on roasting the rat meat, some even already eating it.

Xiao Guan was so angry his face turned red and his neck swelled.

These fools! Can’t they tell who’s good and who’s bad?!

How could they believe Jiang Fengzi’s words?!

Jiang Zixuan, who had come down with Xiao Guan, a calculating glint in her eyes, quietly pulled Xiao Guan aside and said:

“Now that Jiang Fei and them aren’t here, we can find a few people to go up, break down the door, and take the supplies.”

Her face was much better. She had intended to go to the man on the 22nd floor and act pitiful, but she missed her chance?

Then she shouldn’t be blamed for thinking of other ways to get supplies.

Xiao Guan was very tempted by Jiang Zixuan’s suggestion but also hesitated: “Wouldn’t that be a bit wrong?”

“Why should the 22nd floor enjoy so many supplies while the rest of us starve?” Jiang Zixuan incited Xiao Guan:

“You’re doing this so more people can survive.”

“Do you want to watch everyone starve to death?”

Xiao Guan gritted his teeth: “Let’s go!”

—

The shopping malls and other buildings near Yulan Garden had already been thoroughly searched by other survivors.

Jiang Fei and the others killed rats trying to climb onto their rafts while searching for new places.

About three hours later.

A media company appeared in their line of sight.

Xiao Chuxia’s expression was excited: “I know this place! It’s our Lin City’s internet celebrity company!”

“Many people used to live stream and sell goods there. We can try our luck.”

“Okay.” Jiang Fei controlled the raft to go there.

Lu Yu followed closely behind.

The media company was submerged by water, with only 5 floors remaining.

Jiang Fei secured the raft, then jumped inside with the flamethrower to kill rats.

Lu Yu and Xiao Chuxia, who came in later, also used their homemade torches to deal with the rats.

Before long, the rats on this floor were cleared.

“Let’s split up to find supplies, don’t go too far, and shout if you need anything.”

With that, Lu Yu took out two small flamethrowers from his backpack and gave them to Jiang Fei and Xiao Chuxia:

“The flamethrowers aren’t as powerful as the flamethrower, but they’re convenient to carry and enough to drive away rats.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Fei took the flamethrower, couldn’t help but glance at Lu Yu’s backpack again.

She felt like her neighbor was a walking arsenal, having everything.

After separating from the two, Jiang Fei went into a room alone.

There were only a few rats inside, which ran out through the broken window upon seeing the torch.

On the floor of the room were scattered fill lights, phone stands, background wallpapers, and several large cardboard boxes.

One of them was already open, containing daily necessities.

It must have been merchandise sold during live streams.

Jiang Fei opened the other cardboard boxes.

There were exquisite tableware, small snacks, and cotton socks.

Jiang Fei only collected the tableware and cotton socks into the Supermarket warehouse.

As for the remaining snacks, she put them in a cabinet to prevent them from being destroyed by rats.

She didn’t lack food.

These would be left for other survivors.

After circling the room and finding no more usable items, Jiang Fei had just come out when she suddenly heard Xiao Chuxia’s scream.