224: Good baby, you came at the perfect time.

Seeing that the two children had a good attitude about admitting their mistake, Si Nan's tone softened. "Mommy was just worried. If anything happened to you two, Mommy would never forgive herself for the rest of her life."

"Mommy, we were wrong. Come, give us a kiss." The two little fellows each kissed one of Si Nan's cheeks.

"Alright, go play now." Si Nan's mood instantly improved.

She turned back and asked the Eldest, "Is the food ready?"

"Mhm, it'll be ready soon. Only one dish left. Is Mommy hungry?" At eight years old, they were already quite tall, reaching Si Nan's shoulders.

The Eldest had been obsessed with cooking since he was five. To support this, Luo Sen had specifically searched for and brought back a truckload of various cookbooks—both Chinese and Western—while scavenging for supplies.

This led to everyone at Yunshu Mountain Villa waiting eagerly every day to see if the Eldest was coming over. The people in the Residential Area hoped every day that the Eldest wouldn't go out, because that meant they'd have delicious food to eat.

To practice his culinary skills, the Eldest cooked every day. He even turned 'waste' into treasure, using the simplest ingredients to make the most delicious dishes. Most of them were vegetarian, and they were incredible!

Everyone in the Residential Area was like a concubine waiting for the Emperor to flip their name tag every night, desperately hoping to be chosen to taste his dishes. The competition was fierce.

However, the luckiest ones were still Si Nan and Luo Sen. Three years ago, they stopped having to worry about their three meals a day. They could order whatever they wanted; their son was so talented he could make anything for them.

In the past two years, Luo Sen went out much less frequently. He mostly stayed to enjoy family life, as there weren't many supplies left to scavenge outside anyway. It was mainly Gu Jie and the other three Ability Users who took turns going out.

They kept the supplies they found for themselves; Si Nan didn't want them. However, one task had never ceased from beginning to end: accumulating as many crystal cores from Zombies and Zombie Beasts as possible.

The more powerful the Zombie or Zombie Beast, the more they couldn't let it go. Their crystal cores held even greater power.

Humanity had worked hard until now just to have the ability to fight against the rapidly evolving Zombies and Zombie Beasts. This included Gu Jie's group of four, as well as Jian Bing, Song Yuan, Ma Bufan, and all the other Ability Users.

Over these eight years, they had become top-tier Ability Users, with strengths at the eighth or ninth rank. Above the ninth rank was the King rank, which they hadn't reached yet.

Even the youngest, Bai Zhuangzhuang, had reached the sixth rank. An An went without saying; The little fellow was now a handsome teenager, taller than Song Yuan and Bai Zichuan.

Aside from Luo Sen, he was the second strongest. After all, he was a little Corpse King and loved playing with the Septuplets the most. It was because of him that the Septuplets would sneak out to play; every time they went to Yunshu Mountain Villa, An An would take them out.

Even though the Septuplets knew the outside world was very unsafe, they were still extremely curious about it. Moreover, each of the Septuplets had inherited their father's Supernatural Ability and were already fourth-rank Ability Users.

But their parents still weren't at ease.

After the meal, Si Nan went for a nap. Autumn had arrived with its crisp, refreshing air, and she felt drowsy.

The Septuplets were thrilled. One by one, they went to check the 'enemy' situation. "Is Mommy asleep?"

"Are you trying to sneak out to play again? Number Six, Number Seven, you two just promised Mommy before dinner that none of you would go out!" The Eldest took on his role as the big brother, warning his younger siblings with a cold face.

The youngest, Number Seven, was the most playful. She went up and grabbed the Eldest's arm, starting to act spoiled. "Big Brother, Qiqi will only go for a little while. I promise not to go far, just to the beach behind the Residential Area. There are lots of pretty shells to pick up there~"

The Eldest snorted coldly. "Heh, but there are also many powerful, evolved Zombie Fish there. You're not allowed to go!"

"Oh, Big Brother, but Wuwu really wants to go too." Number Five was a girl; she hugged the Eldest's other arm, swaying and acting spoiled.

The Eldest felt helpless. "Do you all want to go out that badly? None of you will let our Mommy have any peace of mind."

"Big Brother, we all want to go. It's so boring in the Residential Area, please?" The remaining siblings gathered around to surround him.

Looking at his younger siblings' sparkling little eyes, the Eldest felt soft-hearted. He thought for a moment and said, "Fine, if you want to go out, you have to listen to me."

He geared up the six little ones, then called over Zhou Zhi and Wang Zhan. Together, they went to the nearby beach.

The Apocalypse had turned everywhere into a wasteland, and the beach was piled high with trash. However, under the washing of the seawater, there were still stretches of clean ground. The Eldest led them to stand on this patch of sand and gave orders to his six siblings.

"You can only play in this area. No running around, otherwise Big Brother won't take you out to play ever again."

"Okay, Big Brother."

The six little ones were overjoyed. They could finally play without restraint! More importantly, even if Mommy found out, Big Brother would take the blame. Yay~

Wang Zhan and Zhou Zhi were now adults. They looked at the handsome Eldest with smiles. "Don't worry, with us here, no monsters or demons will even think of hurting you. You go play too."

The Eldest shook his head. "I'm not going. I'll just watch them."

After saying that, he took out a mat and a book from his backpack. Once he had spread it out, he sat down elegantly and began to read.

"You're working too hard, reading even in this short amount of time." Zhou Zhi and Wang Zhan both felt inferior; they hadn't touched a book since the Apocalypse began.

"Mhm, I might as well since I'm just sitting here." The Eldest looked up to check that his siblings were behaving and hadn't run out of the designated area, then lowered his head to continue reading.

Suddenly, a surge of waves rose from the sea. Zhou Zhi and Wang Zhan immediately stood up and sprinted to the six siblings' side. "There's something in the sea, leave here quickly!"

"Let's go!" The Eldest was also very fast. Within a second, he had put away his mat and book and reached his siblings, grabbing the hands of the youngest ones to run.

Behind them, three mutated Zombie Fish leaped out of the water and onto the sand, quickly chasing the nine of them.

"You're looking for death!" Wang Zhan threw out three fireballs to block the Zombie Fish.

"Come on, I'm taking your crystal cores." Zhou Zhi took the opportunity to strike, channeling his full strength into a punch that slammed into one Zombie Fish's head, blasting it back into the water.

The remaining two were surrounded by the Septuplets. The Septuplets shared a mental connection and perfect coordination. Before Zhou Zhi and Wang Zhan could even react, those two Zombie Fish had been taken down by the Septuplets.

"Oh my god, you don't need our protection at all. You could protect the two of us instead, hahaha~" Zhou Zhi gave a thumbs up. His punch just now had only sent the Zombie Fish back into the sea; it hadn't killed it.

These seven little ones had killed two Zombie Fish in the blink of an eye. Their combat power was likely superior to theirs.

Wang Zhan also shook his head. "The new generation truly surpasses the old. We're getting old."

Just as the two were happily planning to cut open the Zombie Fish's heads to dig out the crystal cores, a bomb suddenly dropped from high above, landing right to their right.

Zhou Zhi punched out in anger, a single move blasting the bomb—which was about to explode—into the sea. Then he turned and ran.

The Septuplets looked up at the fighter jet in the sky, their lips slowly curling into wicked smiles. "My darlings, you've come at just the right time. We'll take you back as a gift for Mommy; Mommy will surely be very happy."