Holding Their Own Space, the Family Returns to the Apocalypse

39: Seriously, there are all kinds of people.”Ah, what are you doing? Let go of me! You bitch, why did you kill them? Now that they’re dead, what about us? What will we eat? Bitch! Bitch! Bitch! You’re the ones who deserve to die! A whore like you should be just like us, taken by them in turns—”

Ai Yue really couldn’t stand this crazy woman’s ravings. Frustrated by her lack of backbone, she slapped her hard and barked, ”Shut up!”

”Shut up? Heh...” The woman laughed unnaturally and suddenly lunged at Ai Yue, trying to claw her face while muttering, ”In this world, how can a bitch like you still look so well-kept? Why? You should be like that Little Girl, treated by others...”

Before she could finish, Ai Yue drew a knife and swiftly slit her throat, saying coldly, ”Just like those beasts, you don’t deserve to live.”

The other women shrieked and quickly lowered their heads, not daring to look at Ai Yue.

Ai Hui looked at the remaining women and spat out coldly, ”Don’t pin your hopes for survival on others. You’re on your own!”

Then, she led her parents out without looking back.

Ai Yue and the two others came out from the seventh floor and swept through floor by floor, killing those they had knocked unconscious. Seeing the state of those women, it was clear that not a single man here was any good.

There was bound to be plenty of food in this building; they would leave it for those poor women.

The entire building was cleared by Ai Yue and the two others. The remaining women could only fend for themselves.

Having dealt with one of their enemies, Ai Yue and the two others drove home with a sense of relief.

Life after returning home continued as usual.

While waiting for news of the Safety Tower, Ai Yue’s family trained as usual, listened to the radio, trained Dabai, and ate the exquisite meals prepared by Li Shilan.

As the days passed, the abilities of the three improved significantly. During this time, Ai Yue often took her parents down the mountain to practice on villains. Having seen blood, the couple, Ai Guosheng and Li Shilan, gradually developed the murderous aura that only comes from killing.

With the Extreme Cold approaching, the military still hadn’t released any news about the Safety Tower.

Ai Yue even began to doubt if the information she had about the Safety Tower from her previous life was actually correct.

Fearing the sudden arrival of the Extreme Cold, Li Shilan had Ai Yue move the plants from the third-floor sunroom into her space ahead of time. The family prepared for the upcoming cold; first, they rearranged Ai Yue’s room. The three planned to live in Ai Yue’s room during the Extreme Cold, as huddling together would be warmer and more convenient for meals. Additionally, using only one stove would save a lot of fuel.

During the Flood Period, Ai Yue had acquired a lot of thermal insulation cotton through her ’zero-dollar shopping,’ and it now came in handy. They covered all the walls of the room with it.

She took another bed out from her space and placed it next to her own to form one large bed, which could easily sleep four or five people. She laid down a thick mattress, thinking that when the Extreme Cold arrived, she would add another layer of padding. That way, it wouldn’t be so freezing when she took it out of the space, and the blankets could also be taken out just in time for use.

They cleared a space in the room for the stove. Ai Guosheng helped install it, placing the chimney through a circular hole specially left in the window and sealing the area around it with cement, leaving no gaps.

The floor was entirely covered with thick wool carpets.

Ai Yue looked around the room, then took out two small tables from her space and placed them on either side of the bed. She put electric heaters on them and brought out a large box of heat packs, placing them within easy reach. All the electric hand warmers were fully charged and stored in the space, ready to be used at any time.

Li Shilan suggested sealing the windows. Ai Yue agreed, so the three of them used thick plastic sheeting to cover the windows. This kept the heat in without blocking the light.

Ai Yue also outfitted the bathroom to avoid freezing her butt when using the toilet.

After setting up the room, Ai Yue went to sleep in another room, planning to move back only when the Extreme Cold hit.

Amidst her daily anxiety, the Extreme Cold... arrived as scheduled.

In the middle of the night, Ai Yue, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up as if by instinct. Before she was even fully awake, a blast of icy air hit her. She snapped awake, ducked into her space to pull on a pair of thick cotton pants and a down jacket, and immediately came back out.

In just a few moments, the indoor temperature had already dropped to minus thirty degrees and was still falling rapidly. Panicking, Ai Yue rushed to her parents’ room. What she feared had happened: her parents had indeed been frozen unconscious.

Dabai was whimpering and nudging Li Shilan’s face with its head. When it saw Ai Yue enter, its eyes flashed with joy.

Ai Yue immediately took out thick cotton quilts from her space to cover them. Ignoring everything else, she hurriedly took out five electric heaters and turned them all on. Only then did she feel a hint of warmth in the room.

After finishing this, Ai Yue tried to wake Ai Guosheng and his wife. Fortunately, the couple had good physical constitutions, and after a while, they both woke up one after the other.

Ai Yue gave them each a cup of the hot brown sugar ginger water she had prepared. Only then did they feel themselves recovering. They quickly put on the clothes Ai Yue handed them—layer upon layer until they were tightly bundled. In that short time, the indoor temperature had dropped to minus forty degrees; there was no telling how low it had dropped outside.

Despite being heavily dressed, after a while, they could still feel the chill seeping into their bones.

With a wave of her hand, Ai Yue collected everything in her parents’ room. Having a space was truly convenient; everything was settled with just a wave.

The three of them and the cat rushed back to the room specially prepared for the Extreme Cold.

They turned on the appliances that needed to be on and lit the fire. After working for a long time, everything was finally ready. The three of them each held a cup of hot brown sugar ginger and jujube tea, sitting around the roaring stove. Dawang, covered with a small blanket, squeezed in by Li Shilan’s feet and lay on the wool carpet, lapping up its meat soup.

No one spoke. For a moment, the air was filled with a heavy solemnity.

”Sigh, this time, who knows how many people have frozen to death in their sleep. And those who are still alive... I don’t know how they’ll survive this extreme cold,” Li Shilan broke the silence with a sigh.

Ai Guosheng silently took Li Shilan’s hand and patted it comfortingly.

”Actually, the cold isn’t the most terrifying part. What’s most terrifying is having nothing to eat. And then people... will treat other people as food,” Ai Yue said softly without thinking.

Ai Guosheng and his wife immediately widened their eyes and looked at Ai Yue in disbelief.

In her previous life, her parents had died tragically just as the Flood Period ended, so they had no idea what would happen later.

Ai Yue didn’t tell them that she had been eaten by others in her previous life, fearing that if they knew the truth, they would live in the regret of not being able to protect her.

Ai Yue didn’t say anything more. Afraid they would press her with questions, she deliberately changed the subject. ”Dad, Mom, we’ve been busy since we woke up and haven’t eaten anything yet. What do you want to eat?”

Ai Guosheng licked his lips, glanced at the dejected Li Shilan, and hesitated. ”Forget it, I’m not in the mood to eat.”

Hearing this, Li Shilan seemed to snap out of it. ”How can we not eat? You’re a grown man—don’t you understand that life is unpredictable? Can skipping a meal change the situation? Since we can’t change anything, why think so much? Eat!”

Ai Guosheng opened his mouth to say something but ultimately closed it sheepishly. He gave a dry laugh. ”My wife is right. No matter what happens, we have to fill our stomachs.”