Capítulo 15: Chapter 15 Worry_1
After a morning's worth of training, the hot room was filled with sweat, dampening the floor.
While Zhang Yuan was busy cooking in the kitchen, Li Ming, trying to suppress his unease, was quick to mop the living room. Afterward, he retreated to his room to take stock of his remaining supplies.
Three potatoes, four tomatoes, three eggs, and three pounds of meat remained.
The rice and flour were in abundance, along with a can of milk powder with only a bit left in the bottom, a whole box of instant noodles, a box of pickles, and a box of snacks.
If they were only to consider the main vegetables, Zhang Yuan and himself would have enough to eat until tomorrow night.
If they include the instant noodles and pickles, they could last another week.
Considering just rice and flour, they could get by for more than a month.
"My spear thrusting skill is close to proficiency, and I'm almost at that level with spear blocking and handling too. By tomorrow afternoon, I might break through to the next level. Depending on how I feel physically, if I'm in good shape, I can go out directly, if not, it's not too late to rest for a day and go the next," he thought.
After closing the fridge, Li Ming walked over to the window, pulled open the curtain, and squinted at the zombies wandering in the square below.
He had been observing them for a few days now, and he noted there were seven of them. These seven zombies were unavoidable if he ventured out of the apartment building to the supermarket, so dealing with them was inevitable.
In addition to these, his floor was the fifth, and he didn't know if there might be zombies lurking on the stairs leading down. In other words, if he wanted to go out for supplies at the supermarket, he would face at least seven zombies.
And this didn't include any zombies that might be inside the supermarket itself.
Li Ming studied the zombies, noting they differed significantly from their depictions in movies and TV shows. They appeared dormant and fragile like the elderly, but at the sight of living creatures, they became frenzied, exhibiting speed and strength equal to those of normal humans.
"If I'm careful when going downstairs, I should be able to handle any zombies I encounter there, as long as there are no surprises or other monsters," he thought.
After several days of observation, he had gained some confidence, but he was concerned about unforeseen circumstances.
However... he glanced at the supermarket that was just two buildings away. Before any of these worst-case scenarios occurred, he had to ensure his own survival first!
Which meant he had to go out and kill those zombies.
Making up his mind, Li Ming took one last look before he closed the curtain and moved away from the window.
The sound of Zhang Yuan turning off the stove in the kitchen reached him. That meant lunch was ready. He stretched, cleared the table and, just as he finished, Zhang Yuan came in with the prepared meal.
The rice was also cooked in the rice cooker he had put in the room. Zhang Yuan served him a bowl of rice and went back to the kitchen to wash the pot. He didn't hesitate and began to eat.
By the time he had finished a bowl of rice, Zhang Yuan was finished with cleaning the kitchen. He called her over to eat and poured another bowl of rice for himself.
Zhang Yuan hesitated but didn't refuse; she sat across from Li Ming with her bowl of rice, engaging in light-hearted chatter and seemingly trying to overlook the events of the previous day.
Li Ming didn't say anything. After finishing his meal, he handed his bowl to the kitchen. He watched Zhang Yuan eating for a while, then took the leftovers back to the kitchen.
Li Ming laid down on his bed and before long, he had fallen into a deep sleep.
...
Half an hour of midday sleep went by quickly. Accustomed to waking up at this time, Li Ming yawned and stepped out of his room just in time to see Zhang Yuan finishing washing dishes in the kitchen.
Moving as if possessed, he walked into the kitchen, his gaze firmly locked onto Zhang Yuan's legs encased in her tight-fitting blue jeans.
Long, evenly toned...
Something stirred within him. He decided to take a chance and reached out to touch her thighs.
Zhang Yuan paused, standing still in the kitchen for two seconds before hurriedly trying to leave; her jeans masked much of the sensation, but she could feel the difference in temperature where he had touched her. Confusion gripped her.
Li Ming, however, was standing in the entrance of the kitchen, and as she tried to get out, she ended up squarely in front of him.
His heart jumped as he instinctively reached out to hold her, feeling the softness of her body while his hands wandered over her jean-covered thighs.
"No..." she gasped.
Zhang Yuan's sudden outburst startled Li Ming. He watched as she quickly retreat to her own room after giving him a backward glance.
Looking at her firmly closed door, Li Ming was momentarily stunned, then he cursed himself. Pondering for a moment, he shook his head in frustration, his irrational behavior had been driven by pent-up desires.
Scarce supplies, looming zombie threat, an uncertain future, fragile life, no communication, no laws...
Under such circumstances, his desires had been magnified to an uncontrollable degree, leading him to make regrettable decisions.
In the age before the apocalypse, many ethically and morally challenging situations had arisen. So how much more so in the apocalypse?
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Li Ming returned to his room, picked up his weapon, and uneasily awaited the potential fallout from his actions.
If Zhang Yuan were to tell her husband about this incident...
"Worst comes to worst, I can find somewhere else to live," he thought.
A thought flashed through Li Ming's mind, to his surprise, the room across remained calm. He'd been sitting there for half an hour without noticing any movement, which left him a little puzzled.
An absurd thought rose in his mind: Had Zhang Yuan not told?
He hesitated for a moment, his heart thumping. He quickly dismissed the thought, fetched his long lance from the room, retreated to the living room, inhaled deeply, and continued his lance practice.
When his fencing had reached a decent level, his body was strengthened under the guidance of some mysterious power.
So, would the lance training also give him a boost?
This boost in strength, coupled with the enhancement of his lance skills, would give him more means to survive. Thus Li Ming trained with total concentration.
Even though it was stifling hot in the room.
"Whoosh, Huuu~"
......
"Damn it, this AI is so frustrating."
Zhang Yuan rushed a bit flustered from the kitchen to her home, and saw her husband sitting with a fan in one hand and the other hand busy tapping on his mobile phone, engrossed in some game.
"What's wrong, why did you rush back home so fast?"
Maybe it was the hurried footsteps of his wife that caught Peng Zhi's attention, he looked at her, frowning and asked.
A thought flashed through Zhang Yuan's mind, but before she could utter a word, the voice of Peng Zhi preceded her.
"Li Ming didn't want to lend us food because he thought we didn't have enough at home, right?"
At this, Peng Zhi felt threatened, he put his phone down, sat petrified for a moment, and then spoke urgently, "That's not acceptable. How can he not lend us food if he has it? Without his food, how would we survive?"
"Honey, you need to push harder, try to convince him to continue lending us food. Don't worry about paying him back. If he asks for repayment, we could just deny it or give him a few carrots. He isn't keeping tabs on what we owe him, right?"
"I must say, this food arrangement is pretty good. He has no means to calculate how much we're eating. Each time food is prepared, the two of us eat here, while he eats alone on his side. Aren't we in an outright advantage?"
"Sweetie, listen, after dinner, give him a massage. He exercises every day, right? Let him relax a bit. We'll continue to borrow food from him for as long as we can."
Peng Zhi expressed all his concerns without waiting for his wife to say a word, leaving Zhang Yuan speechless.
She pursed her lips, thinking that while he was keen to eat the other man's food, the other man was interested in his wife.
However, seeing how her husband was reacting coupled with what he said...
She eventually nodded, "Fine."
"Hey, that's the spirit. From now on, you can continue having meals with him, just bring back the leftovers for me."
Peng Zhi cheered, while Zhang Yuan kept quiet. She silently sipped water from her teacup, staring out the window as the sky darkened.
After some thought, she got up, removed her jeans and quietly slipped into a pair of shorts.
......…
"Whoosh, Huu…"
In the living room, Li Ming parried, held and lunged with his lance - three actions performed fluidly, one following the other. Exhausted, he let the sweat from his body soak his clothes and hit the floor.
Staring at the lance in front of him, the skill level of parrying, holding and lunging came into view.
Parry (Skilled 41%)
Hold (Skilled 41%)
Lunge (Skilled 83%)
"Hoo, that's enough for today. I will break through the remaining part tomorrow morning."
Li Ming took a quick breath, stood up, took a large gulp of salt water, and sat down slowly to regain his strength.
"Creak~"
The door of Peng Zhi's house opened, Li Ming turned to look and saw Zhang Yuan stepping out with some timidity in her eyes.
Under the light, her legs were irresistibly attractive in those shorts.
Wait a second…
Shorts…
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