?
"Thirty-two yuan and eighty cents? Down to the last coin? What good is that?" Su Jin said discontentedly. "It might buy a couple of nooses. One for each of us."
Fu Qingdai wore a troubled expression. "Cousin, this is all I found. I asked my mom for money, and she scolded me. She said she'd buy whatever I need, but I'm at home every day and have no reason to spend money."
"Cry. Throw a fit. Do I have to teach you everything?" Su Jin lightly scolded. "Besides, you can have your mom buy things too, buy something practical. You're all grown up. Why can't you use your head?"
A trace of shame and annoyance appeared on Fu Qingdai's face as she retorted, "I told her to buy me food and rice, and she cursed me for being crazy! I asked for biscuits, and she only bought me one box... what good is one box?"
"Anyway, I don't want to steal money again. I'm afraid they'll see and send me back to the mental hospital."
"Qingdai, money is about to become worthless! And I'm at your house, what is there to hesitate about?" Su Jin clapped his hands while lecturing. "You want me, an alien, to work a job here? If you don't steal, what will I use to support you? I came all the way from Orion, even brought a spaceship, you..."
Halfway through his lecture, Su Jin's heart suddenly felt heavy, and his words abruptly stopped.
Fu Qingdai sat on the edge of the bed, her head bowed low, tears falling in large drops.
She drew up her pale legs and buried her face against her knees. She made no sound, but her shoulders shook.
She tried to hold it in, then broke into sobs.
....
Outside, two figures pressed their ears to the door.
"She's crying... Old Fu, from the sounds, our daughter seems to be crying. Should I cut a fruit platter and go in to check?"
"That's detoxing, detoxing! Stop eavesdropping here, you'll disturb the director's treatment."
....
Soon, Fu Qingdai's sobs gradually faded into silence.
"Alright, crying it out is good." Su Jin softly comforted. "Steal one more time, I believe you can definitely succeed."
Hearing this, Fu Qingdai raised her head to look at Su Jin, tear stains still on her face.
"Brother... after tonight, we only have two days left... Can it only be like this? Is there really no other way?"
Su Jin's heart suddenly tightened. He kept a straight face and slowly shook his head.
"My grandpa, my grandma... and my friends... what should we do..." Fu Qingdai's expression was pained and helpless. "I know something bad is going to happen, but no one believes me! If only I were older... then so many people wouldn't ignore my warnings..."
"It's useless, Qingdai. Even if you became the world's richest person, your parents would still think they're smarter than you." Su Jin reached out, pulled a tissue from the desk, and handed it to her. "Wipe your nose. That snot is about to reach your mouth. Don't choke on it."
The girl's face flushed red as she took the paper and wiped her tears haphazardly.
"If you became an official, your parents might listen to you then."
"Why?" Fu Qingdai asked, slightly choked up.
"Having money and having power are different. If you became an official, your parents could still tell who's the boss."
Deliberately changing the subject like this, Fu Qingdai's emotions eased slightly. Her voice slightly hoarse, she said, "Cousin... what's the plan later? Where do we go? Are we just going to stay here guarding this place?"
Hearing this, Su Jin fell into thought.
He had considered what to do once the zombies appeared. There wasn't really a great plan; the best option was probably to wait in place.
They still knew nothing about the nature of the zombies. Whether it was a virus or some other mysterious power infecting people was hard to say.
Zombies were still living organisms. In theory, they could not last long without food.
Perhaps hiding in the room for ten days to half a month, and the zombies would starve to death.
Carrying a belly full of rotten intestines and guts, in this hot weather, they might explode before they even starve to death.
Zombies never died in films, but films were fiction.
Even if some mysterious force kept the zombies from starving, that was manageable too.
From Fu Qingdai's diary, the zombies moved much like humans, perhaps a little more stiffly.
They might be terrifying in movies, but in an industrial society they would be little more than moving targets.
As long as the state's armed forces mobilized, sweeping away these meat targets would be a trivial matter.
Although this world's development isn't as advanced as Earth's, it industrialized early. Based on references from bookstores and movies, they have tanks, artillery, missiles—all the same.
There's also a strategic-level weather weapon, comparable to a nuclear bomb, that is only heard of but never seen on Earth... the Cold Vault Missile System.
Logically, this world's technology isn't as developed as Earth's, but perhaps due to differences in the natural environment, atmosphere, or elements compared to Earth, they were able to develop this weapon capable of large-scale weather modification.
This weapon has only been used once in world history, causing a record of 200,000 casualties and maintaining regional low temperatures for an exaggerated period of nearly a month.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of this world's current military capabilities, putting down the zombie crisis should be straightforward. The only question is how long they can hold out until rescue arrives.
Thinking of this, Su Jin said, "The first task at hand is to survive the coming rain. We'll deal with what comes later when it happens; I have my own arrangements... Qingdai, if you feel too tense, rest well tomorrow. You don't need to do anything. On the last day, I need you to help me with something."
"What is it?"
Su Jin took a medicine bottle from his pocket and said seriously, "These are sleeping pills. Grind them into powder in advance and give them to your parents on the final evening. Wait until they're sound asleep, then come out at eleven that night. I'll need you to lend a hand then; I need to take some safety precautions."
"I understand, cousin." Fu Qingdai nodded seriously.
Su Jin showed a smile, took out his phone and earphones from his pocket. "I like sensible kids like you. Here, listen to this and relax."
Fu Qingdai took the phone with curiosity, put on the earphones as instructed by Su Jin, and soon started listening to alien tunes.
She couldn't understand a single word of the rapid, unfamiliar lyrics, but the melody was clearly quite novel.
As her attention shifted to the music and the phone, Fu Qingdai's expression gradually relaxed. She curled up sitting on the edge of the bed, her slender foot arches slightly curved, creating a soft and alluring curve.
Her delicate, white, and smooth toes unconsciously lightly pressed against the bedsheet, trembling slightly.
A few minutes later, the phone screen locked.
Fu Qingdai glanced up at Su Jin and immediately blushed deeply.
Taking off the earphones, she said awkwardly, "Brother... why do you keep looking at my feet..."
"Checking if you're good at running." Su Jin slowly shifted his gaze back, casually opening a desk drawer. "Hey! Stationery!"
Fu Qingdai narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at him suspiciously.
Su Jin kept a straight face and opened another drawer. Seeing it full of various candies, he was genuinely surprised this time.
"Candy? You've stored quite a lot of candy."
"Ah... I asked my mom to buy me more candy. I thought it might come in handy."
Su Jin lowered his head, casually took out a pack of 'chocolate' from the drawer, and opened the packaging to smell it.
The wrapper said chocolate, and it smelled like chocolate too.
It should be safe to eat. So far, since coming to this world, there haven't been any incidents of food allergies or poisoning.
He had not bought any sugar yet, and he needed the quick energy.
He didn't expect Fu Qingdai to have filled this gap. She had thought ahead.
After observing for a moment, Su Jin lowered his head and took a small bite from the corner of the chocolate.
In this world, he had made a habit of trying only a tiny bite of unfamiliar food.
A rich chocolate flavor spread in his mouth. Su Jin nodded in satisfaction.
"Your candy here tastes quite..."
Halfway through his sentence, Su Jin's eyes suddenly widened!
A flush spread visibly from his chest and abdomen up his neck. Red veins raced across the whites of his eyes, and in an instant his entire face was crimson!