On Central Street stood the Yingbin Restaurant.
Its metal rolling shutter was locked tight, and the only light inside seeped through the thin slats of the window blinds.
In the dining hall, twenty-three people bundled in heavy winter coats sat on chairs, wrapped in blankets.
Every face was clouded with misery.
They were all neighborhood residents who had ventured out in search of food and water after being cooped up until they could take it no longer.
Little did they expect the zombies in the streets to be so sharp, giving chase the moment anyone showed their face. Luckily, the zombies didn't run too fast, and the restaurant supervisor had guarded the entrance and pulled people inside to safety. Otherwise, not a single one of the twenty-three would have survived.
"Hot water's here. Everyone, have some hot tea." Restaurant supervisor Tan Hui carried a kettle, pouring hot water into their teacups.
After a scattering of murmured thanks, silence settled over the lobby once more.
Life felt utterly hopeless. Having not seen the sun for so long, even with no shortage of food and drink in the restaurant, their will to live had almost completely eroded.
Amid the dead silence, a scrawny man quietly leaned toward the person beside him—a tall, burly man whose arm was blanketed in tattoos, an entire sleeve inked down to his wrist.
The skinny man spoke weakly, his voice a pathetic whimper. "Big Brother... I don't think I can make it. I... I'd rather just die. Why don't you use your gun and give me a quick one?"
"Cut that bullshit! Where the fuck would I get bullets? Go drink rat poison and drop dead if you want to. There's plenty of that here." Irritated, the tattooed man added, "You're such a fucking disgrace! Once the weather warms up, come with me to chop those bags of rotten meat to pieces! We'll track down the boys, scrounge up some guns, and shoot our way out of the city. Since when does a living man let himself burst from holding in his piss?"
"There are no boys left, Big Brother. It's just the two of us..." The skinny man wiped his tears. "Brother, I really can't take it anymore. Dying by rat poison is fine, but I feel like I'd be getting cheated... Before I die, I want... I want to get some action."
"Get some action?" The tattooed man drew his neck back, his brow furrowing. "Action with who the fuck? You trying to get some action with me?"
"No! That... that crazy chick." The skinny man turned, pointing past another table toward a woman tending to her mother.
"I've been watching her for two days. She's the only decent-looking one here... Brother, there're too many people around. I want to drag her into the kitchen. Help me pin her down—I don't think I can overpower her myself."
"What the fuck?" Utter bewilderment filled the tattooed man's eyes.
He knew this lackey of his was a useless, horny bum whose mind was cracking under the pressure, but he had no idea the guy had lost it to this degree.
He actually had the nerve to think of doing that, and he even dared to order him around to help pin her down?!
"Hiss... You bastard, are you a fucking idiot, huh? Never seen a broad before? Can't live without a woman?" The tattooed man seized the skinny man by the scruff of his neck, tilting his head with fury. "Look at what's going on out there! Your relatives and brothers are dead, and you didn't spare them a single thought, but you're still obsessing over what's in your pants? You... what's in your fucking head, tadpoles?! Was your brain fucked by a donkey in your last life?!"
Spitting his fury, the tattooed man rose and swung a ferocious backhand, knocking the skinny man flat to the floor.
When he looked up, the entire room was staring at him.
The tattooed man didn't care. He sat back down and drank his tea.
Suddenly, the hand raising his teacup froze, his gaze darting toward a bespectacled man at an opposite table who had just spoken up.
Squinting, he scoffed. "Kid, your name's Yue Hao, right? Tell me... who were you giving attitude to just now?"
Yue Hao glanced at him sideways. "We're all taking shelter here. Do I answer to you? You came in from outside shooting a gun, and by your movements, you must have been a soldier, right?"
With an ugly scowl, the tattooed man stood up, cracking his wrists. "What business of yours is it whether I was a soldier?"
"Hah. If you want to throw your weight around, go fight the zombies. They've wrecked the whole city. You ate government rations, but I didn't see you charging on the front lines!"
"What did you say?!" The tattooed man laughed out of sheer fury, rolling up his sleeves as he rounded the table toward the man with glasses. "Never mind whether I dare fight zombies—let me teach you some manners first!"
"If I can't take on zombies, you think I can't take on you?!"
"Bring it on!" Yue Hao stood his ground, completely unafraid.
"Stop fighting, both of you!" Tan Hui, the restaurant supervisor, stepped in decisively, his face flushed with anger. "Making such a racket—look how terrified that mother and daughter are! There are still zombies outside!"
Everyone looked in the direction Tan Hui pointed.
The young woman was holding her trembling, elderly mother, continuously comforting her through a tearful voice.
"It's okay... Mom, it's okay. Once we endure this, I'll take you to find the alien, and we'll be saved!"
"She went nuts long ago. You think that's from me scaring her?" The tattooed man folded his arms and sneered.
"I'm not crazy!" Ding Jia raised her head, looking at everyone with glistening tears. "I'm begging you, please believe me! I really saw an alien! A Namekian has come to save us, with an alien spaceship! If we find a car and get out, the alien lives right in Rencai Community."
"Lives in a residential complex?! I'm sick of this shit!" The tattooed man strode over to Ding Jia, grabbed her by the collar, and hauled her to the slit in the blinds, snarling maliciously, "Fine! Let's pretend you really have an alien. Take a good fucking look for me!"
"Before any aliens showed up, we were doing just fine. Once the fucking aliens came, look at the disaster we've been plunged into! Wake the fuck up!"
"That's not how it is! What happened outside was done by the Trisolarans! The Trisolarans poisoned us!" Ding Jia cried.
"She's messing with you, Brother!" The skinny man, who had been slapped to the ground, crawled over on his belly.
"Trisolarans? Rolls right off your tongue, doesn't it? You sure make shit up fast!" The tattooed man shoved Ding Jia back onto her seat.
Immediately following with a kick, he sent the skinny man tumbling.
"Even a fucking lunatic wants to survive, while you're just a piece of trash! Go find an empty corner to drop dead in. I'm sick of looking at your face!"
From the rough shove, Ding Jia's thick winter coat was pulled open, revealing the clothes underneath.
The tattooed man caught sight of it from the corner of his eye, and his expression shifted. "...Municipal Psychiatric Hospital...? Holy hell, and here I thought you lost your mind recently! The mental hospital must've gone to hell and let you escape!"
Aggrieved tears finally broke free, streaming down Ding Jia's face.
She had escaped specifically to seek help from the Namekian. Because he hadn't called her, she had worn this uniform so he could recognize her on sight.
Seeing his misunderstanding, Ding Jia hastily pulled open her coat to display all the text printed on the uniform.
"No... I'm not. This is my work uniform."
"And you fucking stole someone's clothes on top of it!"
"Waaahhh!" Ding Jia buried her face in her hands and bawled.
In that moment, she deeply understood the exact same sense of grievance Fu Qingdai had felt.
Just then, Tan Hui walked over again, putting himself between them and confronting the tattooed man with indignation.
"That's quite enough out of you! At a time like this, I brought everyone in so we could unite and survive! You're even picking on a mentally ill girl looking after her old mother—are you even human?!"
"I'm not mentally ill..."
"Fine!" the tattooed man snapped angrily. "Tan Hui, you're a decent guy, so I won't argue with you! I know you look down on me, but I live by a street code, and I'll give you face!"
"But if certain people provoke me again next time, don't blame me when I get nasty!" The tattooed man glared at Yue Hao.
Yue Hao looked the tattooed man straight in the eye before turning his gaze to the side a second later. "That elderly auntie just passed out. Is she all right?"
Chapter 47