Fist clenched, Wu Tian's face darkened. "What old Wu? Your sister is 25, in her prime! What do you mean old? Bah!"
"Then, Little Wu?" Lin Yuan tentatively asked.
Wu Tian was furious, almost rolling up her sleeves to hit him. Finally, she reluctantly said, "My friends usually call me by my name. You can call me Old Wu too, whatever you like."
He scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly. "Haha, my bad, my bad. I call my female friends the same way, it's a habit."
Hearing this, Wu Tian's interest was piqued. Crossing her arms, she said sarcastically, "Oh, I didn't realize, Lin Yuan, you actually have female friends? You call me 'Old Wu' after our life-or-death bond, so maybe she's missing a word, shouldn't she be called 'girlfriend'?"
Why is this woman being so passive-aggressive? Wu Tian, who had never been in a relationship, didn't particularly mind. "Hey, it's not what you think. She's my junior high classmate, an old buddy. I even played wingman for her. We usually just play games and chat."
Why do I feel like I'm explaining myself?
Never mind.
"Alright, alright, I won't interfere with your matters. I've eaten all the meat at my place, only some canned goods and vegetables are left. But today's haul is decent. Besides your room, I have two more rooms. The power just went out, so the meat should still be fine. After I go back and change, I can start scavenging!"
Her eyes were practically glowing as she said this. Indeed, one of the rare joys the apocalypse brought was scavenging for supplies.
"I have three rooms to scavenge. It's not efficient to sort them alone, so how about we do it together? Also, I'm worried there might be leftover zombies inside the rooms, and two people can coordinate better," Lin Yuan extended an invitation. Actually, he was making his final considerations. In the apocalypse, supplies were always the most coveted items!
"Okay, if you find anything you don't need, you can give it to me, and I'll see if it's useful. When I scavenge your side, it'll be the same, I'll pick what I need, and you can do whatever you want with the rest."
Wu Tian agreed readily, holding the same thought in her mind.
"Let's start with your side first. Your sister must be impatient. We still need to wear helmets this time. I'm going to change my clothes, remember to wear an apron! This stuff is really dirty!"
Both of them knew the preciousness of time. After airing their clothes, they went back to change. At this moment, they had plenty of clothes. Then, they ran towards the building where Wu Tian was.
This time, Wu Tian was the main attacker. She retrieved some of the arrows stuck in the zombies. Two arrowheads were damaged and could no longer be used. After all, they were just training arrows, not specifically for hunting, so the arrow shafts were naturally not too tough.
Lin Yuan reinforced his anti-riot fork, grabbed a kitchen knife, and followed. This time, he was only responsible for stabbing zombies.
Arriving at the 14th floor, the zombie corpses had already been cleared. They didn't know which room to check, so they had to try each one. Before opening any door, Lin Yuan would knock a few times, listening for any movement inside.
Fortunately, this apartment on the 14th floor only had two people, no one else. They seemed to be a couple. The room was very tidy, suggesting it was cleaned regularly.
"This family has three bedrooms. We'll scavenge separately. I brought bags, so you can just pack things directly. Put the good stuff in, and the common items in the living room for now. Tools and food are the priority. You've read enough novels, so you should know better than me."
With that, Wu Tian handed Lin Yuan several plastic bags, the kind from the supermarket, both large and small.
Lin Yuan didn't waste any words and went straight into the bedroom. He wouldn't touch the kitchen, even with a teammate, he knew the importance of prioritizing in this situation.
This family's bedroom was also very tidy. On the bedside table was a family photo, showing five people. Directly above the bed was a large wedding photo of the couple, smiling happily.
"Rest in peace," he murmured.
After a silent prayer, Lin Yuan got to work. First, he packed the large headphones and speakers from the computer desk next to the bedside table. He also bundled and packed various data cables, which could be used as ropes when necessary. Inside the computer cabinet, Lin Yuan found over a dozen jewelry boxes. Upon opening them, he saw they were mostly gold, with some platinum and silver. Without being polite, he took them all, put them in small bags along with the headphones, speakers, and data cables. For the remaining small items, Lin Yuan glanced at them and threw them into a large bag, as they were common household items.
The bedside table was locked. After getting the key from Wu Tian, he opened it. Inside was a jewelry box containing a pair of silver-inlaid jade bracelets, with what appeared to be jade or emerald inlaid. These were likely the most valuable items in this room. Good stuff, these would have value in the apocalypse too.
The rest were miscellaneous items, like phone chargers, but Lin Yuan wasn't picky and collected them anyway.
He didn't neglect the wardrobe by the bed either. He piled the clothes, both men's and women's, regardless of quality, onto the living room sofa, as they would all be useful.
He also collected the two pillows from the bed, leaving the quilt untouched. This was enough, and they could get more if needed, mainly because it was heavy.
He checked under the bed, but there was nothing there. It was a normal bed, without a storage compartment underneath.
This bedroom was now scavenged.
A small bag was already full. Lin Yuan placed it on the sofa and looked towards the kitchen. Wu Tian was still trying to break through ice. The ice hadn't melted even after the power outage for half a day. Strange, was this refrigerator so efficient?
Before Lin Yuan could go to the other bedroom, he suddenly heard a voice.
"Brother Lin Yuan, I've come to help you and Sister!"
Turning around, he saw a little girl wearing a mask and carrying a small crossbody bag standing at the doorway.
Wu Tian's sister?
Why did she come over?
Hearing her sister's voice, Wu Tian rushed out, her face full of panic. She ran over and pulled the little girl, checking her from head to toe. Seeing that she was unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, she got angry.
"Wu Mengyao, are you tired of living?! Don't you know what's outside?! Didn't I tell you not to come out?! Don't you remember how Mom died?!"
With that, she raised her hand to hit her. Lin Yuan quickly grabbed her arm. He knew Wu Tian's strength very well. A slap from someone who shot arrows could really cause serious harm.
"No, no, no, understand sisterly affection, don't be impulsive. We've dealt with the zombies, and they can't climb stairs yet, so it's fine."
Wu Tian flung his hand away and questioned, "They can't climb now, but what about later? You said the Type C mutated virus continues to mutate, who knows if there will be monsters that can climb walls any day now. Mom died protecting us, she held the door with all her might to prevent the zombies from rushing in. Today's explosion only attracted two of them. I sent Mom off with my own hands, and I don't want to send anyone else I love away!"
Wu Tian was extremely emotional. Lin Yuan finally understood why there were four zombie corpses on the 11th floor and why she cried so hard when pushing the corpses down.
Logically, at this moment, Lin Yuan should have hugged her and comforted her, but he didn't. He just said, "In the post-apocalyptic novels I've read, there's often a saying: if you can't adapt to this cruel world, then all that awaits you is a cruel end. You were just telling me to adapt, so why aren't you letting your sister gradually adapt?"
"But safety..."
Wu Tian was interrupted before she could finish. "No one is safe now. You and I are here happily collecting supplies. As you said, what if a zombie that can climb walls quietly sneaks up? We'll still die. Your sister will either starve to death or come looking for you and get eaten by zombies. Who do you think is safe?"
"It's fine if you're unhappy that your sister came to help you, but you're even trying to hit her. Is that how an older sister should act? She knows she has asthma, and she even wore a mask. Her arms and legs are wrapped with books. I didn't even notice her reach the door when she walked. I think she's doing quite well."
"However, Wu Mengyao, you were indeed wrong. Coming out alone is very dangerous. Luckily, your sister and I killed the zombies, otherwise, if something happened, wouldn't your sister jump off from here? You should think about your sister too!"
Lin Yuan's mouth seemed to possess a "talk no jutsu" ability, leaving both Wu Tian and Wu Mengyao stunned, standing side by side motionless, like students being lectured by a teacher.
It was Wu Mengyao who spoke first. "I know I was wrong. I just don't want to be a burden. Next time, I'll definitely be with you!"
"You dare to have a next time! When did I ever say you were a burden?!"
Seeing Wu Tian flare up again, Lin Yuan quickly spoke, "Adapt, adapt! We'll discuss future matters later. You can't keep her locked up in the room forever, can you?"
After much persuasion, the two sisters reconciled and resumed their scavenging.