Time to head down for breakfast.

Today’s breakfast is just compressed biscuits—they’ve run out of everything else.

【You’ve been eating compressed biscuits for two days straight, Host.】 So what? Is eating compressed biscuits against the law in some country?

【This isn’t exactly how one should enjoy life! As the hope of future civilization, Host, you should be more positive and optimistic!】But being positive and optimistic requires a material foundation! Give me a huge box of delicious food as a reward, and I’ll be positive and optimistic right now!

【Temporary Mission Issued: Post at least two Moments updates every day for one week】

【Mission Reward: One spin on the Green Wheel of Fortune】

【Failure Penalty: No food rewards for one month of check-ins】

【P.S.: Make sure to post meaningful Moments, okay?】

Lu Yao：“……”

Okay, got it.

“Wait, don’t eat that yet,” Lu Yao said.

Qin Ye stopped eating: “What’s up, boss?”

Lu Yao flashed a bright smile: “Let’s take a picture first—breakfast.”

Qin Ye: “Huh?”

Lu Yao: “Hehe. I’m discovering the little joys in life.” 

Qin Ye: “Huh?”

Lu Yao’s smile faded, and he said expressionlessly, “No matter what, never forget the light in your heart.” 

Qin Ye: “To be honest, boss, there’s a weird glint in your eyes right now…” 

Click, click, click.

Four photos of breakfast from various angles, one photo of the compressed biscuit and warm water clinking together, and one of the ruins outside the window against the blue sky. Then he dragged Qin Ye over to take a photo of the two of them clinking their compressed biscuits together.

Then he took two more photos of the kite. After that, he wrote the caption.

“Getting ready to go fly a kite~ We’re living life to the fullest today too~ 【heart】【heart】【heart】”

Posted it to Moments.

No internet, but with the system’s help, it was sent successfully. 

Qin Ye shuddered. “Dude, you’re being really creepy, you know that…?”

Lu Yao immediately turned on him menacingly: “If you keep this up, I’ll force you to take a photo with me and then officially announce it on Moments with the caption. ‘Thank you, everyone.’” 

Qin Ye：“……”

Qin Ye: “Big shot, I’ve made a mistake. That was a really vicious move on your part.”

“It’s good that you realize you were wrong.” Lu Yao nodded with satisfaction as he crunched his way through the compressed biscuit. “Admitting your mistake is the first step toward improvement. All right, now that I’ve eaten and drunk my fill, I posted on my Moments: I’m ready to head out.” 

As they left the residential complex, the trees lining the road remained lush, forming a stark contrast to the desolate scenery around them.

“What is the purpose of this scenery in the story?” Lu Yao asked. One dared to ask, and the other dared to answer.

“It expresses the author’s homesickness,” Qin Ye replied.

Lu Yao: “Wrong. All descriptions of scenery convey emotion. All this greenery here means someone’s going to cheat on you in the future.” 

Qin Ye: “…Dude, when are you ever going to calm down?” 

At the Xueyuan intersection, the traffic lights were still out of power.

Lu Yao could picture the red light in his mind. They stood there for a while, bickering as the wind swept past them. Then a green light appeared in his mind. They crossed the crosswalk.

The underground entrance to Linchuan Shopping Mall resembled the gaping mouth of a giant beast; the emergency lights flickered occasionally, as if someone were blinking down below.

“That’s scary as hell,” Lu Yao remarked, picking up a pebble and tossing it inside. The underground entrance sloped downward, and the pebble rolled right in.

At first, there was silence, but soon the sound of shuffling footsteps gradually grew louder. Then, a low growl. Three, four.

“Let’s give it a try—to build up our courage,” Lu Yao said.

Qin Ye gripped the axe firmly, its handle pressed against his forearm.

The first zombie slowed down a bit when it saw the light, but it soon caught their scent and lunged straight at them.

Qin Ye didn’t swing his axe straight down like a hero in the movies; instead, he took a half-step forward with his left foot, shifted his body to the side, and slashed horizontally across the zombie’s shoulder with the blade.

There was a very crisp “crack,” but the bone wasn’t completely severed; the zombie stumbled backward.

Qin Ye brought the axe down with all his might; a viscous liquid splattered onto the ground—it could no longer be called blood. The second zombie followed close behind, colliding with the first one’s fallen body and losing its footing.

This gave Lu Yao just enough time to step forward, aligning the blade straight and striking directly at the side of its neck. The alloy blade sliced cleanly in and out, but he still had to apply the force himself. The movement tugged at the wound on his shoulder, pulling the pain from beneath his skin, but this time Lu Yao clenched his back teeth and didn’t make a sound.

The third one was the fastest. A tattered ID badge still hung from its clothes. As it lunged forward, its hand reached for Qin Ye’s face. Qin Ye’s heart sank; he swung the axe handle horizontally and blocked the attack with a jolt. Lu Yao followed up from behind, sweeping the alloy blade along the zombie’s neck.

The two worked well together.

Lu Yao asked, “So, how’s it going? Getting the hang of it?”

Qin Ye retorted, “Do you mean the urge to pee, boss? I’m definitely about to pee my pants.”

Lu Yao’s lips curled into a smile. “Looks like you’re not exactly civilized either.”

Then he composed his expression. “Alright, let’s get to work. Don’t look back later.”

Qin Ye took the swallow-shaped kite out of his backpack and nodded vigorously. “Got it.”

“Open your mouth.” Lu Yao walked up to Qin Ye.

Qin Ye：？

But he still opened his mouth, even though he didn’t quite understand why.

Lu Yao said disdainfully, “Why did you stick your tongue out? Pull it back.” As he spoke, he shoved a Qingming dumpling straight into Qin Ye’s mouth. 

Qingming dumplings can prevent infection from low-level zombies, and Qin Ye’s job was somewhat dangerous. 

Qin Ye: “Cough, cough, cough. Boss, what did you just feed me?”

Lu Yao waved his hand dismissively. “Just a little Qingming snack. Alright, let’s get our roles assigned.”

Before Qin Ye could even complain that pairing “Qingming Festival” with “snacks” was downright malicious, Lu Yao had already run off.

Qin Ye had no choice but to follow the plan and fly the kite, trembling with fear. 

The last time he’d flown a kite was back in elementary school; it had been years since he’d done so.

He held the kite high and slowly let out the string with his other hand. The swallow-shaped kite wobbled twice and nearly skimmed the ground.

Qin Ye hurried forward. Just as the “Swallow” kite finally began to rise steadily, he heard Lu Yao shouting from a distance: “Swallow, don’t leave me! How am I supposed to live without you? Will we ever see each other again, Swallow?!!!” 

Qin Ye nearly stumbled and fell.

He even suspected that the big boss gave him this swallow kite for the sole reason that the boss wanted to play into this meme.

The so-called “making a whole batch of dumplings just for the sake of this dish of vinegar.”

The screams behind him grew louder and louder; his heart was pounding wildly. Following Lu Yao’s instructions, he didn’t look back—he just started running.

After a large number of zombies had left the basement, Lu Yao made his way down the slope. He hugged the walls, and the system thoughtfully displayed a map, showing him Manager Zhang Rongsheng’s location.

He inevitably ran into a few zombies along the way, but Lu Yao had now fully mastered the Alloy Bone Blade, making it quite easy to deal with ordinary zombies.

Zombie Zhang Rongsheng was deep within the parking garage—which was why Lu Yao had used the “kiting” tactic. At such a depth, Zhang Rongsheng couldn’t be lured out.

Parking Space C-37.

There was a figure by the pillar.

“Manager Zhang,” Lu Yao called out.

Zhang Rongsheng slowly turned his head. His skin clung to his cheekbones, his eye sockets were sunken, and his white eyeballs were clouded with a soot-like gray.

“I’m here to resign,” Lu Yao said.

Zhang Rongsheng, of course, couldn’t understand a word of it; he lunged straight at Lu Yao.

Lu Yao took half a step back, swung the fire extinguisher beside him, and smashed his own manager twice with a clang.

“Even though you wouldn’t grant me bereavement leave when my father passed away, I have no intention of settling a personal score right now.” 

Lu Yao tossed the fire extinguisher aside, pulled out his alloy bone blade, and rendered Zhang Rongsheng’s legs permanently immobile.

“Here—take my resignation letter.” Lu Yao waved the resignation letter in front of Zhang Rongsheng’s eyes, then paused for a moment, took one of Zhang Rongsheng’s fingers, and pressed it against the signature line. 

When he was done, he tucked Zhang Rongsheng’s finger into his pocket—he still had plenty of documents at home that needed signing, so it would come in handy. 

That should do it.

Oh, and the work uniform, ID badge, and access card.

Lu Yao neatly placed these items next to Zhang Rongsheng.

“I know you’re busy, so I won’t bother you any further.”

With that, Lu Yao took off running.

After running a few steps, he ran back to take a photo of Zhang Rongsheng.

 As he ran out, he quickly posted it to his Moments.

“Work isn’t hard—it’s people’s hearts that are hard to fathom. From now on, I belong to freedom and the open road! I’ve quit! 【Photo】”

Photo caption: The hollow, heartless corpse of “Zombie” Zhang Rongsheng. Talk about “human nature is hard to fathom”—he even threw in a pun. 

A post like this is definitely a valuable WeChat Moment! 

Lu Yao was very pleased with how he’d handled the situation.

With his resignation under his belt, his steps felt lighter; Lu Yao sprinted out of the parking garage, wildly taking down a few zombies along the way.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The plan went quite smoothly!

This underground parking garage didn’t have any of those mutated, terrifying zombies—just ordinary zombies that moved rather slowly.

Lu Yao and Qin Ye met on the rooftop as planned. Qin Ye was slumped ungracefully against the rusty railing, gasping for breath. His back rose and fell violently, making Lu Yao itch to give him a pat on the back.

“Hey. You’re already out of breath before I even got here?” Lu Yao called out, raising his hand.

Qin Ye whipped his head around and saw Lu Yao standing there unscathed, his long, jet-black hair blowing in the rooftop breeze, his expression as laid-back as ever. 

Qin Ye instantly felt as if he’d found a lifeline and nearly burst into tears: “Boss, you’re finally here! Huff, huff, huff—you scared the hell out of me! Huff, huff, huff…”

Lu Yao took a few steps forward, his narrow, phoenix-like eyes scanning Qin Ye from head to toe: “Did any zombies grab you?”

Qin Ye shook his head: “No! Absolutely not!” He showed off his unharmed limbs: “I ran really fast—I felt an endless supply of strength.”

Lu Yao: “Alright.” 

This endless surge of strength might be another effect of the green rice dumplings. Qin Ye caught his breath: “Boss, did your resignation go smoothly?”

Lu Yao: “It went pretty smoothly. Here, take a look.” He pulled out his phone to show Qin Ye. Qin Ye leaned in, only to be met by a close-up of a zombie.

“Aaaah—” Qin Ye let out a startled scream. “Big, big, big boss…”

Lu Yao put his phone away, looking a little displeased: “Even though the manager isn’t my boss anymore, I did work under him for a while. You’re being way too disrespectful to him.”

Qin Ye was still reeling from the shock: “All right, then…”

Lu Yao said nothing, crossing his arms as his narrow, phoenix-like eyes fixed on Qin Ye with keen interest. That gaze, both scrutinizing and probing, made Qin Ye’s scalp tingle, and his face began to flush for no apparent reason.

Lu Yao stroked his chin and said, “Qin Ye, I’ve noticed you’re starting to resemble a certain kind of animal more and more.”

Qin Ye had been scared to death just moments ago, his heart racing. The moment Lu Yao appeared, a sense of security washed over him, but his heart hadn’t had time to slow down yet. With all these ups and downs, his emotions were now a bit unstable. 

Under Lu Yao’s intense gaze, Qin Ye froze for a moment, then said, flustered and annoyed, “Big Shot, you’re not going to say I look like a puppy, are you?” 

Lu Yao answered honestly, “No. You look like a Screaming Chicken.”

Qin Ye: “……” The air froze.

His already red face turned even redder. But this time, it was from anger.

“Lu! Yao!”

Lu Yao, on the other hand, was taken aback for a moment: “Why are you so mad? Okay, let’s go—let’s go home.” 

He muttered, “Don’t I usually act even worse? Why are you really mad this time?”

Qin Ye felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, but he still followed after him. “Just think of it as me acting crazy, boss.”