“Then what the hell am I supposed to do? What can I do?!” Fu Hu roared, breaking down. “Get out of my house! If something happens, don’t drag my daughter into it! I don’t want to hear your nonsense!”
“Dad!” Fu Qingdai tugged helplessly at Fu Hu’s clothes.
“As long as we can stay alive, anything can be done!” Su Jin clamped his hands around Fu Hu’s shoulders, his eyes wide. “If there’s no country, we build one! If there’s no army, we form one! If we can’t hide, then we won’t hide—we’ll fight those bastard zombies to the death!”
“Everyone in your residential complex knows one another, right? Your daughter dreamed of the apocalypse before, and you sent her to a psychiatric hospital. Plenty of people must know about it, don’t they?”
“We can use that to recruit people to join us. Qingdai is everyone’s only hope. She can be the empress, or the cult leader. I absolutely will not let her be ruined in your hands!”
Fu Hu was instantly stunned and stared blankly at Su Jin.
The situation was already this rotten... and he wanted to build an army and counterattack? He even wanted to use Qingdai?
“Lao Fu, I know you’re desperate to protect your daughter, but if she stays with you now, she’ll only die,” Su Jin said coldly. “I can’t stand by and watch you lead her to her doom.”
“Qingdai and I have grown close in this time we’ve spent together, but if you remain stubborn, then rather than let her be torn apart alive by those zombies, I’d rather give her a quick death right now.”
As soon as Su Jin finished speaking, he abruptly drew the silver spear and leveled it at Fu Qingdai.
“There’s no time for you to think it over. Do you want to stay here and wait for death, or cooperate with me? One word is enough.”
Fu Qingdai stared at the dark, gaping muzzle of the silver spear, swallowed hard, then closed her eyes, pressed her lips together, and leaned her forehead toward it.
“No!” Fu Hu reached out, his voice trembling. “I agree! I agree! I’ll do whatever you say.”
Su Jin stepped back and put the silver spear away.
Seeing this, Fu Hu hurriedly pulled his daughter behind him and shielded her, watching Su Jin warily.
Su Jin sighed. “Lao Fu... I never intended to harm either of you. We truly have no choice left. This is the only road we can take. You’ve seriously underestimated the danger. I had to shock you so you’d face reality as soon as possible.”
“Since you’ve already agreed, I will protect your daughter with my life. I hope you can protect her too... I stocked supplies for Qingdai on the fourth floor in advance. I already gave her the key.”
Fu Hu looked at his daughter.
Seeing Fu Qingdai nod slightly, his tense expression eased a little.
Su Jin continued, “Your wife is badly frightened, isn’t she? She won’t recover well in an environment like this. I’ve stockpiled some honeycomb coal and a coal stove on the fourth floor. Bring over any sheet iron and wooden boards you have. We need to break the window and set up a chimney. Take whatever else you need.”
After saying that, Su Jin sat down on the still-intact sofa nearby and waved a hand at Fu Hu.
“Go quickly... I’ll wait here. When you come back and finish setting up the stove, we’ll talk. Don’t let your wife freeze.”
Fu Hu looked at his unconscious wife, then at his daughter. After a moment of hesitation, he turned and went downstairs with Fu Qingdai.
A dozen minutes later, Fu Hu returned with his daughter.
The moment he entered, he froze.
Zhang Wan was still lying on the sofa, but Su Jin was now standing by the living-room window, painting it with black paint and a brush he had gotten from somewhere.
“Director... what are you doing?”
“Set up the stove first.” Su Jin didn’t turn his head. “That strange rain didn’t only infect people—it infected animals too. I experimented with rats. Birds might get infected as well. Once an animal is infected, it becomes strongly aggressive toward other living things that aren’t infected.”
“Hiding inside isn’t actually safe. Painting the windows black... at least reduces some risks.”
After seeing the supplies piled up around the room, and with Fu Qingdai constantly praising Su Jin to him, Fu Hu felt a sudden surge of admiration after hearing this analysis.
He answered, then efficiently began setting up the stove.
He rolled the sheet iron into a cylinder, tied it with wire, sealed the seams with aluminum tape, and quickly assembled a simple chimney from the pieces.
He broke the window and replaced it with wooden boards. With that, a heating setup with some guarantee of safety was complete.
The window was covered in black paint, but the firelight from the stove made the room feel warm and cozy.
Fu Qingdai took a kettle to Su Jin’s room to chip ice and fetch water.
Su Jin and Fu Hu sat facing each other before the stove.
The two stared at the flames and fell silent for a moment.
Then Fu Hu spoke. “Director Li... were all those doors upstairs and downstairs sealed by you on the day the rain started? Did you shut off the main water valve too?”
“They won’t die of thirst in their homes, will they? It’s already been six or seven days.”
“They should be fine. Food is generally not lacking, and there’s water in the toilet tanks.”
“Ah...” Fu Hu felt slightly relieved, then asked again, “How did you find Qingdai?”
“One of my colleagues has a child who goes to the same school as your daughter. I heard about it and went looking for her.”
“Director Li, is there really no other hope in this matter? Won’t our National Intervention Bureau take any action? Also, you said the prophecy is connected to my daughter—what comes after that?”
Annoyed by Fu Hu’s questions, Su Jin pulled out a cigarette, preparing to take a few puffs.
Just as he was about to light it, he looked back at Zhang Wan, who was still unconscious, and put the cigarette away again, then said in a low, resigned voice, “There’s no action. They’re all a bunch of idle loafers. The prophecy only says there will be a great disaster that will destroy everything, and that the Savior will be able to foresee it in advance. After that, there’s nothing.”
“But my daughter is still a child! Because of a legendary prophecy... how could she possibly be involved in anything?!” Fu Hu’s voice rose slightly.
“It’s precisely because she’s a child that we have to act now and help her shoulder the responsibility ahead of time!” Su Jin said gravely. “Lao Fu, I beg you—stop entertaining fantasies. Even if the army comes to save us, at this stage we must still save ourselves. The two are not contradictory.”
“I’ll bear all the responsibility. Qingdai is just a mascot. She doesn’t need to do anything, and she doesn’t need to put herself in danger.”
Fu Hu gave a muffled acknowledgment and said nothing more.
Seeing the conversation stall again, Su Jin asked, “Lao Fu, do you have any other family?”
Fu Hu’s whole body jolted, his voice trembling. “I still have my father... I haven’t been able to reach him by phone for the past few days.”
After saying that, the man built like an iron tower finally broke down, and tears gushed out.
When Fu Qingdai returned with the kettle full of ice, Fu Hu wiped his face hastily and forced himself to calm down.
Sitting between the two of them, Fu Qingdai looked left and right.
Fu Hu took a deep breath. “Director, what should we do next?”
“Next?” Su Jin’s gaze fixed darkly on the stove. “Next, of course, we recruit talent and form a team. You’re a long-time resident. You should know everyone in this building, right? Draw up a list of names and backgrounds for me. I’ll let them out one by one.”
Chapter 27