Seeing him in such a state, Fu Qingdai's face drained of color, and she opened her mouth to cry out.
"Cous—*cough, blech!*"
Just as she was about to shout, Su Jin reached out with a trembling hand to cover her mouth. But in his abysmal condition, his hand refused to cooperate, and a finger jammed straight into the back of her throat.
Fu Qingdai instantly shoved him away, bending double in a fit of dry heaves.
When she lifted her head, she saw Su Jin waving his hand. Understanding immediately, she clamped her mouth shut and hauled him toward the bed.
Stumbling, Su Jin managed to collapse onto the scented bed.
His expression was terrifyingly hideous, eyes wide and bulging, veins corded across his forehead.
He writhed and convulsed across the mattress like a maggot sprinkled with salt.
*Poison! It's poison! Chocolate is deadly poison!*
"*Ugh... gag!*" In sheer panic, Su Jin shoved his fingers down his throat, gagging wildly.
Fu Qingdai hurriedly grabbed the wastebasket from the floor, bracing for the worst.
After a grueling ten minutes of agony, Su Jin lay flat on his back, gasping for breath as the symptoms receded like the tide.
"Cousin... are you all right? What happened?" Fu Qingdai asked, terrified and shaken.
"No... heh... almost died." Su Jin weakly waved a hand, the palpitations finally subsiding.
Food poisoning was the very thing he had guarded against obsessively ever since crossing over to this world.
He never imagined he would still fall into a trap.
Fortunately, the toxicity of the local chocolate struck fiercely but faded just as fast.
After resting for a few more minutes, feeling his bodily functions returning to normal and his mobility restored, Su Jin pushed himself up.
Fu Qingdai asked anxiously, "Cousin, can you not eat chocolate? Have you eaten it before?"
"Yeah... I have, but never the chocolate from your world." His voice was raspy. He stood, walked over to the desk, and picked up his briefcase.
From the bag, he pulled out a bar of chocolate bought from a supermarket back in his original world.
After scraping off a small pinch of powder, he looked at Fu Qingdai. "Give me your hand."
Fu Qingdai extended her fair, delicate hand without hesitation, letting him smear the chocolate powder onto the back of it.
"*Hiss!*" A burning sensation flared across the back of her hand, and the skin quickly flushed red. Fu Qingdai jerked her hand back, clutching it fearfully. "Cousin, what are you doing? What is this?"
"Just a simple experiment... Wipe it off." Su Jin tossed her a packet of wet wipes.
It seemed chocolate from either world was lethal poison to the inhabitants of the other.
Mere skin contact was enough to trigger a rapid reaction.
A severe allergic response, respiratory swelling, a burning sensation in the digestive tract—eating more than a single square would probably kill a person.
After packing up his things, Su Jin headed for the door, saying as he walked, "I'm heading out. Get some rest, and remember to come out the night after tomorrow."
"Understood!" Fu Qingdai nodded emphatically.
Stepping out, he exchanged a few pleasantries and instructions with Fu Hu and his wife before hurrying back home.
The moment he walked through his door, he mixed two glasses of salt water and poured them down his throat.
Then he induced vomiting again, heaving until he was utterly dazed and disoriented before finally stopping.
Leaning against the bathroom doorframe, he tried to stand up, but his foot slipped, sending him sprawling awkwardly back onto the floor.
Wiping away the tears squeezed out by the retching, Su Jin felt a pang of bitter misery.
Nearly losing his life over a piece of chocolate—how had he ended up reduced to this?
Dammit all, this wasn't a life meant for a human being.
Every single day felt like having a blade pressed against his throat.
Yet time was running out. It wasn't time to rest just yet...
After monitoring himself for an hour, an utterly exhausted Su Jin headed downstairs.
The scheduled delivery time with the grain store was approaching; a truckload of grain and oil would arrive any moment.
Waiting by the entrance of the residential complex for ten-odd minutes, he saw a paneled box truck rumble slowly into view.
Su Jin waved his arms, guiding the vehicle up to the entrance of his building.
The truck came to a stop, and two men hopped out of the cab to begin unloading.
The rice, flour, and oil were all packed tightly in cardboard boxes, leaving no clue as to what was inside.
As the grain store workers hauled the boxes, one remarked, "Boss, in all my time selling grain, I've never seen anyone do it like you. Boxed up tight as a drum and delivered in the dead of night—is there some kind of special reason for this?"
Su Jin forced a smile and spun an easy lie. "Nothing special. Our organization does charity work, and our warehouse was flooded recently. This batch of grain is for underprivileged children, and the packaging makes it easier to slap on our labels. I work during the day, so nighttime is the only chance I have to sort it out."
"Gotcha! You've got it tough too. We'll waive the delivery fee this time—consider it a little donation from the two of us."
The two workers looked at him with newfound respect and sped up their hauling. Ten-odd minutes later, they were done.
"Boss, everything's unloaded for you. We'll be heading out!"
"Wait a second!"
"What is it, boss?" The workers paused.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Jin said, "No... it's nothing big. I just heard there was a chemical leak at a plant in our city, and the contaminants drifted pretty high up. Normally it won't affect anything, but if it rains or whatever, make sure you don't touch the rainwater. Don't touch the tap water either—it causes cancer!"
"Oh, really? Nothing about that was on the news, first time I'm hearing it... Thanks for the heads-up, boss!"
Only two days remained until the apocalypse descended!
After a night of fitful, half-conscious sleep, Su Jin woke up with bloodshot eyes once more.
The exhaustion on his face had accumulated to the point where it could no longer be concealed.
Grabbing the notebook beside the bed, without washing his face or brushing his teeth, he quickly got himself together and headed straight out to procure supplies.
He didn't return home until dusk, and even then, his busy silhouette never paused.
He sealed every crack around the fourth-floor windows with tape and drew the curtains tight.
On the fifth-floor window ledge, he constructed a makeshift canopy to keep rainwater from getting anywhere near it.
Along the edges of the windowsills, he attached a layer of thin sheet metal and smeared it with a thick coat of grease.
The first and second floors had security grilles installed, which zombies might try to climb.
Even if they could, it wouldn't do them any good. Sharp claws or not, climbing up to this section would guarantee a slippery plunge straight down.
Once everything was set, Su Jin knocked on the Fu family's front door.
Fu Hu answered once again, wearing the same warm, welcoming smile.
"Director Li..."
"Are the supplies ready?" Su Jin's voice was deep, laced with heavy exhaustion.
He tried to force a smile, but his facial muscles were stiff, entirely unable to manage one.
Picking up on the tense atmosphere, Fu Hu licked his lips. "All... all set. Director, come in and have a look."
Stepping inside, Su Jin saw three compound bows laid out on the floor alongside more than a hundred arrows and numerous accessories, all in a variety of vibrant colors.
The solar panels, batteries, inverters, and other gear were all there as well.
At the sight, Su Jin's tense mood eased slightly. He nodded. "Very good. Just leave these things here with you. I'll be heading out the day after tomorrow to get our matter properly settled."
"Director... nothing went wrong, did it?" Noticing his off state, Fu Hu asked gingerly.
Su Jin shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. I just received word that a comrade of mine was killed during an assignment outside... Forgive me, but I won't be able to treat Qingdai over the next two days. I'll come by again the day after tomorrow."
Back home, all the supplies were fully inventoried and neatly arranged, and every bucket had been filled to the brim with water.
Su Jin sat by the dining table. His skin stung across large patches from scrubbing himself raw in the shower.
Yet now, he merely stared blankly at the cage on the table.
Exhaustion, worry, and dread were plain in his eyes. Despite the warm weather, his hands and feet trembled with an uncontrollable chill.
Inside the cage, over twenty rats constantly tried to claw their way out of captivity—just as he was trapped in this world, struggling to survive.
*Have I prepared enough? Can I survive this?*
Su Jin slowly shifted his gaze toward the wall clock. The hands pointed straight to eleven.
Once tonight passed, it would be the apocalypse...
Chapter 20