Qin Ye had nowhere to sleep.

That’s because there wasn’t a second bed in Lu Yao’s rental apartment.

The sixty-plus-ping rental apartment had a narrow hallway leading from the entrance; at the end was the bedroom, and to the right was the living room, furnished with an old-fashioned fabric sofa that had faded, its armrests covered with lace doilies featuring a “grandma” pattern. 3

But Qin Ye didn’t mind. After letting Lu Yao know, he flopped down on the sofa and fell asleep immediately. 

After all, he used to sleep soundly in internet cafes all the time, and the sofa cushion was much softer than the chairs there. He stretched out, tilted his head to one side, and fell asleep in a flash. 

Lu Yao, meanwhile, began packing up their supplies.

He stuck Post-it notes he’d snagged from the office onto the boxes. 

Water, rations, miscellaneous items…

He sorted the bandages, alcohol swabs, and disposable gloves into separate bags by category, then propped the pool cue against the door. With one more person moving in, the house felt noticeably smaller.

With more and more stuff piling up, he had to shift the weight on his shoulders every few steps. Looking at the clutter strewn haphazardly about, Lu Yao made a decision.

It’s time to go out and find a big, empty house. 

By the time Qin Ye woke up, it was already late at night.

A desk lamp was lit in the room, its warm yellow glow spreading across the tabletop.

It felt like a small island of tranquility, surrounded by deep darkness. The clock on the wall ticked away; its sound amplified in the night, rippling out in concentric circles. “You’re finally awake.” 

Lu Yao’s voice came from behind the desk lamp. His eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

Qin Ye sat up with a start, his hair standing on end like a ring of straw: “Sorry, boss, I slept way too long.”

Lu Yao said in a deep voice, “It really has been a long time. If you’d kept sleeping, the Qingming Festival would’ve been over by now.”

Qin Ye:?!

A flood of thoughts instantly rushed through his mind.

He asked tremblingly, “Big Shot, are you saying… if I keep sleeping, this day next year will be… my death anniversary…?”

Lu Yao was speechless: “Not exactly. What do you take me for? It seems you’ve got some misunderstandings about me.”

Qin Ye thought to himself, “Big shot, don’t you even look at the things you’ve done…?” But no—just thinking about those things made him want to pull the covers over his head and sleep soundly. 

He asked timidly, “What does that mean?”

Lu Yao crossed his arms, striking a pose reminiscent of Donnie Yen’s aloof, gay-repelling demeanor: “Hmph. You’ve been sleeping for so long since you got here—it’s time to prove your worth.”

Qin Ye’s expression grew solemn. He thought to himself, Here it comes—just as he expected, this part was bound to happen.

He would use his willpower to prove to the boss that he was capable of becoming the boss’s underling! Even though, uh, even though… um… oh…

Lu Yao asked earnestly, “First off, your name is Qin Ye, right?”

Qin Ye nodded: “Yes, Boss.”

Lu Yao remained unfazed and fired off a rapid-fire statement: “A traditional custom of the Qingming Festival is going for a spring outing—tàqīng. From now on, your new name is Qin Qing, and after I stomp on you for an hour, it’ll count as tàqīng!” (tà-means to stomp on)

……????

Qin Ye: “Huh? What???”

Qin Ye felt like he was about to lose his mind: “Wait, wait, wait—boss, calm down! ‘Spring Outing’ doesn’t mean that, does it? That’s way too literal! No—boss, this… I… you… he…”

Lu Yao was disappointed by Qin Ye’s panic. He sneered, “I haven’t even told you to change your name to Qin Liu yet—what are you freaking out about?”

Qin Ye instinctively asked, “Huh? Why add ‘Liu’ to it?” 

Lu Yao replied solemnly, “Because we’re supposed to plant willow branches during the Qingming Festival.” 

Qin Ye: “……”

……!!!

Qin Ye screamed at the top of his lungs, “Hey, boss, calm down! Qingming isn’t like this at all!!!!” And is this supposed to prove its value? What the hell is this, aaaaaah—!

Due to Qin Ye’s vehement protests, Lu Yao didn’t go through with his experiment.

He had originally wanted to see if he could trick the system this way.

Although the odds were against it, there was still a 1% chance he could fool the system.

“This little brother of mine is totally useless,” Lu Yao complained loudly out of boredom. 

Qin Ye was truly at his wits’ end: “Boss, please don’t scare me—I tend to take things too seriously… And boss, are you a kid or something? Actually saying that out loud like that…”

Lu Yao sighed and walked away.

Qin Ye stood there, still shaken.

“All right,” Lu Yao’s voice came from down the hallway. “Since you’re practically a resident now, I’ll give you a tour of the place.” 

“Okay, Boss,” Qin Ye stammered.

“We keep most of our supplies here…” 

“This solar charging panel…”

“We usually keep the power banks we collect from outside here—they need to stay fully charged at all times…” 

“Over here…”

After giving Qin Ye a quick tour of the house, Lu Yao clapped his hands. “Today is the Qingming Festival—it counts as a holiday, so we’re having a big meal tonight.” 

As he spoke, he pulled two packs of Italian military ration Type F from the bottom of the box. The stiff kraft paper bags had torn corners and were printed with Italian and English text. 

In the post-apocalyptic world, these military rations were practically a miracle item.

Both its packaging and functionality were perfectly suited to environments with no stable supply lines, high risk, and heavy workloads. After all, the core design principle of military rations is to minimize resource consumption while ensuring survival and combat effectiveness.

Italian field rations should taste pretty good; after all, Italian soldiers are the type who get “emo” without red wine, and legend has it they’re obsessed with having a hot lunch—even on the battlefield, they’d boil some pasta. …Of course, later on, they suffered a total defeat because they stopped to cook pasta during a campaign, but that’s another story. 

All in all, this demonstrates their love for good food.

Each bag of rations contains three packets, with different meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Naturally, dinner is eaten in the evening.

Lu Yao tore open the package.

A portable stove, matches, and solid fuel. Cookies, coffee, and sugar packets.

Energy bars studded with raisins and various nuts. 

There were also two cans: one of tuna and one of Italian ravioli.

Italian ravioli have absolutely nothing to do with Chinese dumplings; they’re more like a soup with meat sauce and gnocchi. 

Qin Ye, watching from the side, couldn’t help but swallow hard.

“Make your own—are you waiting for me to do it for you?” Lu Yao tossed another packet of military rations to Qin Ye.

He’d received a total of five Italian ration packs upon checking in.

Qin Ye stopped in his tracks, his eyes lighting up: “Boss, you’re so good to me. Thanks, boss!” The two set up the portable stove and loaded it with solid fuel.

Saving the matches for later, Lu Yao lit his lighter and waited a few seconds before igniting the fuel. They opened the can halfway—sealed cans shouldn’t be heated directly, as they might explode. Hot steam wafted out, carrying the aroma of saltiness, umami, and fat.

The briny scent of tuna intertwined with the aroma of olive oil.

Inside the dumpling can, the sweet-and-sour notes of the tomatoes chased the aroma of ground meat; the bright red sauce glistened under the lamp, making their eyes sparkle as well.

“Dinner’s ready,” Lu Yao said. 

Qin Ye had been at his wit’s end for a while.

For the past two months, he’d been eating almost nothing but cold food. As the hot food touched his tongue, warmth rolled from the back of his tongue all the way to the pit of his stomach—he was so moved he nearly shed a tear. 

“Boss, where’d you get all this? This is amazing.”

Lu Yao replied casually, “I’ve got plenty more of this.”

Qin Ye: “Hmm… Huh? Oh…”

Lu Yao downed the coffee that came with the military rations in one gulp: “We have a very, very abundant supply at home—much more than you can imagine.”

Qin Ye: “Uh, Boss, you’re really that amazing?”

Why did the big shot suddenly start showing off to him? Still, hearing that made him feel even more secure.

Lu Yao finished his meal quickly: “All right, I’m tired. I’ve been busy all day, so I’m going to bed. I think I’ll sleep really soundly tonight and might snore a little. I hope it won’t bother you.” 

Qin Ye: “No, no way!” 

How could he possibly say it bothers him? 

Lu Yao walked toward the bedroom, saying as he went, “This is the first time in months I’ve been this tired.” As he walked, he unzipped his pants and undid his buttons, starting to take off his clothes. He stripped down all the way. 

Startled, Qin Ye quickly turned away—out of sight, out of mind. Before long, snoring could be heard.

Deep, undulating, and full of confidence. 

In the living room, Qin Ye clutched his power bank as he scrolled through a wuxia novel he’d cached on his phone long ago. 

Some characters scaled walls and leaped across rooftops; others drew their swords in battle; still others murdered and robbed.

Suddenly, a bell rang in his head, and he recalled the few words Lu Yao had just said. The house was well-stocked with supplies.

This was the first time in months he’d felt this exhausted. He was going to sleep like a log tonight.

And the big shot even sleeps naked.

All of this pieced together into a single fact. Qin Ye felt a subtle sensation. 

He sat up abruptly and began pacing the living room. He couldn’t take it anymore.

He tiptoed across the living room to the door of Lu Yao’s bedroom. The door was ajar, and the sound of snoring boomed like thunder.

That strange sensation grew stronger and stronger. Qin Ye felt he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He walked past the bedroom, gently reached out, and pushed open the bathroom door.

Thank goodness, he saw a toilet inside. 

Allowing that strange sensation to be released. 

That was such a relief—otherwise, he would’ve had to agonize over whether to wake up the boss. After all, the boss looked really tired today, and it would’ve been kind of awkward to walk in on him naked…

After he was done, Qin Ye tiptoed back to the living room, lay back down on the couch, and checked his phone. Late into the night, Qin Ye finally grew drowsy and fell asleep.

In a daze, he sensed someone staring at him.

When he woke up the next day, the first thing Qin Ye saw was Lu Yao sitting across from him, staring intently at him. A sliver of light filtering through the curtains cast a patch of light on Lu Yao’s face.

Qin Ye let out a startled scream. “Hey, boss, what are you doing?”

Lu Yao replied enigmatically, “I’m thinking things over.”

Qin Ye felt a chill run down his spine: “Wh-what are you thinking about?”

Lu Yao: “Last night, I was completely unguarded, sleeping in the room without any clothes on. Didn’t that give you any ideas?” 

Qin Ye finally caught on: “You’ve been so good to me, Boss. If I’d done anything, wouldn’t that make me a beast?”

Lu Yao: “Then wouldn’t doing nothing make you worse than a beast?”

Qin Ye：“……”

Qin Ye dropped to his knees again: “Dude, what are you talking about? Dude, snap out of it! What is this cheesy old-school line? And isn’t this kind of dialogue for a moment like this, Boss!!!!”

The person in question was clearly quite worked up.

Lu Yao waved his hand dismissively: “I was just joking. Alright, I’m going to sleep. Last night, to keep you at bay, I spent the whole night faking sleep—pretending to snore so loudly it wore me out, and I couldn’t even get up to hydrate.” 

Can you really just say that out loud? 

Qin Ye’s mouth twitched slightly: “O-okay, good night, boss.”

“Do as you please. You can have yesterday’s military rations for breakfast. Also, there are books, a computer, and other stuff around the house you can play with. We’ll talk when I wake up.”

Lu Yao yawned repeatedly as he returned to his bedroom to sleep. Qin Ye noticed that Lu Yao wasn’t snoring this time.

It seems that once the boss really falls asleep, he doesn’t snore. Last night’s thunder was just for show. 

Qin Ye went to the dining table and opened the military rations for breakfast: crackers, two small containers of jam, water purification tablets, half a glass of vodka, coffee, and lemon tea. 

Sure enough, the military rations were well-stocked with coffee—staying alert was clearly a priority right from the morning. After finishing his meal, he browsed through the bookshelf again.

Right next to several survival manuals lay a stack of steamy novels, their covers featuring muscular, sweat-drenched characters. 

He silently closed the book: “Um… I’ll pass on those. What? There’s even a wuxia-themed one…” He felt a twinge of hesitation. 

After breakfast, Qin Ye read for a while longer, wandered around the room, and busily cleaned up, intending to take last night’s toilet out, but was afraid of running into zombies. 

With nothing else to do, Qin Ye started working out in the living room, huffing and puffing.

As he worked out, it suddenly occurred to him that yesterday the Boss had been pretending to sleep, but now the Boss was actually asleep. When he went to the bathroom, he noticed that the Boss had closed the door.

This was completely different from yesterday, when the Big Boss had just left the door ajar.

Thank goodness he hadn’t had any inappropriate thoughts—if he’d actually done anything yesterday, the Boss would’ve surely dealt with him on the spot. 

Working out was pretty exhausting, so after lunch, Qin Ye drank the vodka he’d brought from his military rations. But the alcohol was too strong, and he fell asleep shortly after finishing it.

When he woke up, he found Lu Yao sitting across from him, staring at him. 

The curtains were still slightly ajar, and the light split Lu Yao’s face in two.

Lu Yao was looking at him with a half-smile.

Even though he’d been through this once before, Qin Ye still let out a startled cry.

“B-Big Boss, you’re awake?”

Lu Yao said in a deep voice, “I wasn’t sleeping.” 

Qin Ye: “…Huh? What? What?”

Was this some kind of time loop? Had he gone back to this morning? For a moment, Qin Ye almost thought he’d just woken up that morning.

Lu Yao said with a cold smile, “I was worried you wouldn’t be able to keep your cool during last night’s test, so I deliberately said that this morning—revealing part of the truth to create the illusion that I’d actually been asleep…” 

Qin Ye’s heart immediately began to race. The boss’s thinking was so meticulous. 

So this was a chain of deceptions!

Lu Yao said with a cold smile, “I didn’t expect you to keep your cool so well. This guy absolutely cannot be spared!” 

Qin Ye dropped to his knees: “Boss, I really didn’t have any other intentions!”

Lu Yao said with a cold laugh, “You kneel at the drop of a hat—are you Han Xin, who endured humiliation and bore the burden? With such scheming, your second son absolutely cannot be spared!” 

Qin Ye: “…Boss, I’m just innocent and carefree! Seriously, boss, calm down!”

Lu Yao continued to sneer, “Anyone who kills people regularly knows that in today’s society, crimes are usually crimes of passion—and those who are carefree and reckless are more likely to kill, so the second son absolutely cannot be spared!” 

Qin Ye burst into tears: “……I get it now, Boss. No matter what I do, I’m doomed, right?”

Lu Yao thought for a moment and said, “Not exactly.”

Qin Ye: “Big Shot, just tell me—what do I need to do?”

Lu Yao: “You need to prove your worth.”

Qin Ye: “Uh-huh, uh-huh. How do I prove it?”

Lu Yao: “Change your name to ‘Liu.’” 

Qin Ye：“……”

Qin Ye：“………………. ”

Qin Ye looked up at the sky and sighed deeply: “Perhaps I should just leave this place alone.”