He returned expressionlessly, handing Chen Feng and the others three self-heating rice meals and three bottles of mineral water, keeping one portion for himself. Chen Feng and his companions widened their eyes at the sight of the self-heating rice. It had been two years since the apocalypse began—the supermarkets' food had either been scavenged clean by survivors or ruined by rats. Where could there still be self-heating rice? Before, they could trade crystal cores and some metal materials at the base for coarse food, but later, the food was replaced with nutrient fluid. Moreover, the price of nutrient fluid kept rising, and the quantity kept shrinking. In just half a year, the price had tripled. If this continued, they wouldn't even be able to exchange a day's worth of zombie kills for two bottles of nutrient fluid. Ordinary people would soon be eliminated. Chen Feng saw through the base's corrupt nature, raised objections, and was then ostracized and thrown out. While wandering outside, he ran into Zhang Yifan and the others and decided to team up with them. Zhang Yifan had saved his life, and he wasn't the type to forget a debt of gratitude. Though the apocalypse had no order left—no laws to bind people, no public morals to govern ethical behavior—there was still something called conscience. People with conscience suffered in the apocalypse. But he was a soldier. Even if social order collapsed and human civilization crumbled, he could never forget his essence as a soldier. Soldiers were meant to protect the people. But when soldiers became weapons of the ruling class, turning their blades against the people, he completely snapped. The outcome was terrible too—he couldn't protect those he wanted to, and he was cast out himself. "Was that from the girl just now?" Zhang Yifan nodded and said, "Eat up quickly. After we finish, we'll collect crystal cores and then discuss our survival plan." Chen Feng acknowledged and hurriedly ate with the other two. After they finished, they drank some water and started working. There were plenty of crystal cores today, especially around the building—piles of them in various colors, dazzling under the sunlight. Normally, to get crystal cores, they had to kill zombies first and then dig them out of the zombies' brains. But today, they only needed to bend down and pick them up. Their backpacks had limited space, and there was no way they could carry all these cores. Zhang Yifan said, "How about we find a place in the building to stash the cores here, and later I'll trade them for supplies before we leave?" "Sounds good to me." So, they immediately got to work.
Shen Yunyun returned to the trading center and took a deep breath. Killing zombies in the apocalypse earlier felt like a dream. Seeing that the day was almost over, she cleared the remaining wishes and went to sleep. To her surprise, she dreamed of Little Tangyuan and the Empress that night. She saw the Empress holding Little Tangyuan, kneeling before a statue and murmuring something. Listening closely, it seemed like she was begging the gods for help. She looked at the jade-carved statue—its features bore a slight resemblance to her own. Could the Empress really be venerating her as a deity? What a sin, what a sin. She was just a human, not some god at all. Then she looked at Little Tangyuan—she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't looked, but once she did, she was shocked. The little one had his eyes closed, his face purple, and his lips a dark, blackish purple. Good heavens, this little guy looked poisoned. "Your Majesty, please accept it. It's best to let the little prince rest in peace as soon as possible," an old maid beside her said, wiping away tears. But the Empress said nothing, still murmuring to the statue.