Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

The second level of the cargo hold was filled with finished desserts.

There were boxes upon boxes of cranberry cookies, almond cookies, and butter cookies, along with all sorts of small Western-style pastries. Xie Ning took over a dozen boxes of each kind.

Many freshly baked cakes and cream puffs were stored in refrigerated display cases.

Xie Ning opened one and took a look. Surprisingly, the production date was from just the day before.

’That’s pretty weird. Or did they just randomly slap on the labels?’

It had been seventeen days since the apocalypse began.

Everyone was too busy fleeing for their lives. Who would have the time and mood to make an entire ship’s worth of pastries?

Xie Ning decided to just take all the refrigerated cases in one go.

She had already used up most of the twenty-odd square meters of remaining room in her personal Space. Xie Ning could only temporarily stack these refrigerated cases against a wall in her villa’s living room.

Seeing them stacked one on top of another all the way to the ceiling, with no sign of toppling over, she finally breathed a small sigh of relief.

’This is great.’

Xie Ning went around to the bread section. She opened a random box and saw plastic-wrapped packages of croissants, sliced bread, and whole-wheat bread. Their production dates were also from the last day or two.

’Oh, these pastries must have been made right here on the ship!’

It dawned on Xie Ning. ’So that’s why the ship’s air conditioning is still running!’

’This is a floating bakery!’

She hurriedly collected another ten-plus boxes of assorted breads and tossed them into her villa’s dining room.

When Gu Chen arrived with his men, he saw the young woman in a small room, staring blankly at a counter covered in baking tools.

The young men crowded over for a look. ”Whoa,” one of them exclaimed. ”This cream has gone moldy, hasn’t it? It’s inedible. Let’s toss it.”

”Yes, the temperature in this little room is a bit high.” Gu Chen walked to her side. ”Ningning?”

Xie Ning snapped out of it, her eyes still slightly dazed.

She pointed under the counter. ”There’s someone there.”

The hair on Zhai Ruobai’s and the others’ arms stood on end as they instantly adopted a combat stance.

”They’re alive.” Feeling she’d phrased that poorly, Xie Ning quickly corrected herself. ”People! Not zombies.”

She then pulled Gu Chen over to the bread section. ”These are all savory breads, plus sliced and whole-wheat bread. Have Wu Meng take it all.”

「Five minutes later.」

They carried the adult and child they had pulled out from under the counter up to the deck.

The boy was about eleven or twelve, dressed in a well-tailored little black suit and leather shoes.

He had a head of brilliant golden hair and would have been quite handsome.

But now his face was filthy and his suit was a wrinkled mess, leaving him looking utterly disheveled.

The middle-aged man wore a white shirt with a black bow tie and sported a goatee; he had the distinct look of a butler.

After the medical team administered emergency aid, the adult and child were finally revived.

Xie Ning heard the little boy muttering in the pure dialect of Country Y, ”How did I get here? Who are you people? Where are my cakes?”

And then, she silently walked away.

’Because I feel like I’ve just robbed a cargo ship that already has an owner...’

But she wasn’t about to feel guilty. After all, if she hadn’t detected their presence with her Spirit Perception, the pair would have suffocated to death under that counter.

’The supplies I took can just be considered my fee for saving their lives.’

’Mhm! That’s right.’ Xie Ning nodded, and having thus reassured herself, she cheerfully disembarked to find her mother and uncle.

Soon, the boy’s powerful roar echoed from the cargo ship. ”Your base is going to confiscate my cakes, my cream puffs, and all the ingredients? Absolutely not!”

Song Youzhi glanced toward the ship’s deck, a bewildered look on his face. ”Why do I hear a foreigner’s voice?”

”Xiao Gu and his team rescued a foreign kid. It seems they’re the owners of this cargo ship,” Xie Ning said nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, the child’s roars continued to drift over. ”No, I don’t want points! You can’t take a single box of my desserts!”

Lu Wei’s gentle, soothing voice was completely drowned out by the child’s T-rex-like roars.

Then, she heard Gu Chen roar back in the language of Country Y, ”These are special times, so everything is being requisitioned! Cut the crap and shut your mouth!”

”What are they saying?” Song You’ai and the others asked, looking at Xie Ning in confusion.

Xie Ning gave them a rough summary of the conversation.

Song Youzhi and the others were all left a bit speechless.

Speaking of which, the base confiscating all of someone’s assets was, admittedly, a bit... harsh.

But if Ningning hadn’t found them while they were unconscious, they would’ve most likely kicked the bucket a short while later.

”How about this? We’ll leave you enough desserts for a month and give you five thousand points on top of that,” Lu Wei persuaded in a gentle voice.

”This ship is completely uninhabitable now, you must know that, right?”

”In this heat, your desserts will only stay fresh for an hour or two at most.”

”But our base can help you keep them in cold storage, free of charge.”

”Besides, you’re just one person with one stomach. You can’t live on these sugary cakes every day.”

”For your own health, accepting the base’s assistance is your best path forward right now.”

”You can use five thousand points to exchange for other supplies at the base, like vegetables and meat. Why don’t you think it over?”

The butler seemed to agree, but the child was still throwing a fit. ”No! I just want to eat cakes and cream puffs! My croissants! I don’t want anything else!”

Gu Chen cut in coldly, ”You’ll take them whether you want them or not. It’s decided.”

”Who are you?” the little boy cried. ”I’m going to report you! You... you person from Country C, you’re so fierce and mean!”

Gu Chen tilted his head at him, his narrow, charming eyes crinkling with a brilliant smile. ”You’re free to swim back to Country Y, you know. That’s not out of the question. But here, you have to listen to your big bro!”

Everyone: ...

”Gu Chen,” Lu Wei said, giving him a helpless look. He then stepped forward and patted the little boy’s head. ”Alright, stop crying. The base isn’t as bad as you think. We can even arrange a place for you to live.”

”I want to live with the woman who saved me!”

”Not happening.” Without their leader even having to speak, everyone else shot down the boy’s bizarre idea.

”I want to live with her! She’s the one who found me, she’s the one who saved me! I have to live with her!”

The atmosphere suddenly went still.

Gu Chen’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ”How did you know it was a woman who discovered you?”

Hadn’t the medical team said that the master and servant were hanging by a thread?

They had been showing signs of asphyxiation and had fallen into a deep coma. How could this boy possibly know that Ningning was the one who had discovered them?

The little boy announced smugly, ”I’m not telling you!”

But there was no need for the boy to say anything. Gu Chen was already leaning in dangerously close. ”You’re a Spiritual Ability User.”

Gu Chen emerged, hauling the boy with him.

In truth, the boy wasn’t short at all; he was nearly as tall as Xie Ning.

But being hauled around by Gu Chen, he looked like a helpless chick.

Xie Ning saw the little boy look over at her, his eyes practically glowing.

”Woman! Take me with you! This young master commands you!”

The outrageous words tumbled out of his mouth, and in the language of Country C, no less.

Song You’ai and the others were completely floored.

’Where did this kid come from?’

’What kind of ridiculous lines is he spouting?’

The corner of Lu Wei’s mouth twitched. He stepped forward and said with a smile, ”Let’s go, Ningning. Time to head back.”