In the morning, Gu Wanyin prepared bread, milk, and eggs for breakfast with her little ones.
Hamburger didn't like boiled eggs, but he ate them anyway.
After being tormented in the apocalyptic world for over a year, the two kids were still as thin as kittens. Eating eggs to supplement their nutrition couldn't hurt.
Just as they finished eating, they heard someone knocking on the door outside. "Sister Shopkeeper, are you there?"
It was Dong Yue's voice.
Yesterday, Gu Wanyin had told Dong Yue that if she wasn't in the lobby, she could come to this room to find her. Of course, she should just stand at the door and knock, not come in.
"Coming," Gu Wanyin said.
When she opened the door, she saw not only Dong Yue standing there but also Fu Siheng.
Dong Yue looked a bit embarrassed. She smiled at Gu Wanyin and then stole a glance at Fu Siheng.
Gu Wanyin understood. After all, Fu Siheng was quite good-looking, and Dong Yue was a teenage girl. This reaction was normal.
"Sister Shopkeeper, after I woke up, I wanted to come buy some breakfast from you. I happened to see him coming out of the room next door, and he said he wanted to find you too, so I brought him along."
"Mm, he's a guest who checked in yesterday. He's staying in Room 202 next to you."
"Oh, I see. Sister Shopkeeper, I'd like a piece of bread and a bottle of strawberry milk."
Cola and Hamburger, who were inside the room, immediately ran to get these items for Dong Yue.
"And you, Mr. Fu?" Gu Wanyin asked.
Fu Siheng said, "You mentioned yesterday that you have fried rice with eggs?"
"Yes, it's next door. I'll take you to get it in a moment."
Gu Wanyin thought for a moment, then went back into the room to find a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote down the prices for the food items.
Meat dishes were uniformly priced at five points per plate, fried rice with eggs at three points, boiled eggs, fried eggs, steamed eggs, and so on at one point each, and rice at one point per bowl.
She planned to stick this paper on the wall next to the cafeteria machine.
This way, guests could get their own food, looking at the prices to choose what they wanted.
After all, once they took the food, the system would automatically deduct the points from their cards.
They wouldn't need to come and ask her how many points were needed each time.
She also wrote a large line in red pen at the bottom of the paper: All sales are final! No refunds or exchanges!
After Cola and Hamburger brought the food to Dong Yue, Gu Wanyin took Fu Siheng to the cafeteria next door.
Dong Yue peeked into the main room.
She saw the large bed, carpet, sofa, and even a TV and computer...
How wonderful! Her mouth gaped open.
To have such a room to live in during the apocalypse, Sister Shopkeeper was really amazing!
However, although she was envious, she had no other thoughts.
Since the other woman was the shopkeeper, it was only right that she lived well.
After all, it was Gu Wanyin who provided them with a safe shelter.
Gu Wanyin brought Fu Siheng to the cafeteria and first stuck the paper with the prices on the wall next to the machine.
Then, she taught Fu Siheng how to use the machine.
"Look, if you want to eat fried rice with eggs, you just do this, click here, then choose one serving..."
Soon, a steaming plate of fried rice appeared at the food outlet.
Even the usually calm Fu Siheng looked amazed.
Even before the apocalypse, he had never seen such an impressive machine!
"But remember to think carefully before you buy, because once the food appears, the corresponding points will be deducted from your card, and all sales are final, no refunds or exchanges, okay?"
"Alright, thank you."
Fu Siheng took the fried rice and a pair of chopsticks.
"After you finish, just put the plate and chopsticks in that sink over there."
Fu Siheng nodded, then asked, "Shopkeeper, you should have more spare rooms here, right? I'm going out later and might bring two more people back."
Gu Wanyin's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly, "Of course! We have more!"
Room 203 was still empty, and if she recruited one more guest, she could unlock Room 204.
So, Fu Siheng bringing two people back was perfect.
...
After finishing breakfast, Fu Siheng left the hotel.
Gu Wanyin wasn't worried about him not coming back. After all, he was strong and fit, and she had a hunch that he had an ability, probably quite powerful, unlike Dong Yue who relied purely on luck.
Fu Siheng indeed wasn't afraid, but he was still very careful on the road. He only killed two level-one zombies when combat was completely unavoidable.
Walking with a compass for a whole morning, he arrived at a small survivor base.
This base was called "Sunshine," and it housed only low-level ability users and ordinary people, about a hundred or so in total.
Because of this, resources were extremely scarce, the environment was poor, and fights often broke out. Moreover, if a large number of zombies came here, they had absolutely no ability to resist.
He entered the base and quickly found his elder brother Fu Sishu and sister-in-law Lin Ru.
Both looked thin and haggard, with sallow complexions. Fu Sishu's face had a sickly pallor.
They were sharing a biscuit, with Fu Sishu leaving most of it for his wife.
"Big brother, sister-in-law," Fu Siheng approached them.
"Siheng! You're finally back." Fu Sishu sighed in relief, "I've been waiting for days and didn't see you return. *cough cough*... Hey, where's Xiaoyue?"
"Who?" A look of confusion appeared on Fu Siheng's face.
"Xiaoyue! What's wrong with you?" Fu Sishu was stunned, "Didn't Xiaoyue come back with you?"
"I don't know any Xiaoyue," Fu Siheng frowned, "Didn't I go out alone?"
Fu Sishu and Lin Ru were both dumbfounded, looking at each other in bewilderment.
What was going on? How could Fu Siheng forget his beloved wife?
And Zhao Yueyue didn't come back with him! Could it be... something happened?
They knew how deep Fu Siheng's feelings for Zhao Yueyue were.
If something happened to Zhao Yueyue... was Fu Siheng pretending to forget her because he couldn't bear to mention her?
This was the only explanation that made sense.
Fu Sishu and Lin Ru didn't want to poke at his wound, so they didn't mention Xiaoyue again.
Fu Siheng didn't ask further either, and continued, "Big brother, sister-in-law, it's not safe here after all. I've found a place that's better than here, with plenty of supplies. Come with me."
"Really?" Lin Ru said excitedly, "There's such a place?"
But Fu Sishu thought more deeply. He frowned and said, "Such a place would only admit high-level ability users, right? They won't take us."
"No, ordinary people can enter too," Fu Siheng said.
Fu Sishu remembered the girl named Dong Yue he met this morning, who seemed to be an ordinary person without abilities.
Moreover, the shopkeeper didn't say she only accepted high-level ability users.
"How is that possible?" Fu Sishu still couldn't quite believe it.
"You'll see when we get there."
Regardless, Fu Sishu still trusted his brother more.
So they packed up quickly and left the Sunshine base.
After they left, two people peeked out from nearby.
"Did you hear that just now? Good environment and plenty of supplies?"
"And ordinary people can enter too! How can there be such a place?"
"But that was Fu Siheng, you know? Haven't you heard about him? They say his Fire Ability has reached level four! That's not low!"
"So... shall we follow and take a look?"
"Let's go!"
By the time they arrived at the hotel entrance, it was already evening.
On the way, Fu Siheng had killed three more level-one zombies.
They also encountered several level-two zombies, but fortunately, they had been very careful and managed to sneak past without being discovered.
Now standing at the hotel entrance, looking at the still-lit "Peace Hotel" sign, Fu Sishu and Lin Ru were dumbfounded.
"It's, it's actually a hotel? And there's electricity? The sign is lit!"
"My goodness, how many Crystal Cores are they wasting on electricity? This is such a waste!" Lin Ru said, pained.
"This place is quite magical, you'll understand when you go in," Fu Siheng explained. "Most importantly, zombies can't enter."
Fu Sishu and Lin Ru's eyes lit up.
Keeping zombies out without any defenses?
Is this really possible?
Fu Siheng led the two of them inside.
Gu Wanyin was sitting at the front desk, with Cola and Hamburger keeping her company on either side.
The three of them were each drinking from a carton of milk, leaving Fu Sishu and Lin Ru stunned.
That was... milk!
And they each had a whole carton!
This was too extravagant!
Fu Siheng's claim about abundant supplies seemed to be true! And even more plentiful than they had imagined!
"You're back," Gu Wanyin said, looking pleased as she saw Fu Siheng had indeed brought two people with him.
"Yes, innkeeper. These are my elder brother and sister-in-law. Can they stay here?"
"Of course they can! As long as they exchange items for points! However, we only have single rooms available at the moment, and each room is restricted to one person. The hotel rules can't be changed, so if that's acceptable, we can proceed with check-in."
The Fu brothers didn't see this as a problem, considering that in this post-apocalyptic world, safety and resources were the most important things. However, Lin Ru was looking around in awe, her mind blank with amazement at the hotel, and she hadn't heard a word of what Gu Wanyin had said.
