Chapter 11: Weather Clearing Up

Chapter 11: Weather Clearing Up

After transporting everything back home, Zhou Yun helped Guan Yuanfeng carry his goods inside.

Guan Yuanfeng opened the door, his expression dark and serious: "The neighborhood just announced that there will be an emergency drill across the city, telling everyone not to go out and to report household member information."

Zhou Yun said: "Right, I saw the notification in the neighborhood group chat as well."

Guan Yuanfeng, however, continued: "Something's not right. I saw in the veterans group chat that retired comrades are being called back for reporting."

Zhou Yun asked: "Do you need to go back as well?"

Guan Yuanfeng shook his head: "I don't have to."

His expression was grim as he reached for the goods in Zhou Yun's hands, stacking them heavily in a corner of the hall. Zhou Yun helped him organize the medicines and food that required refrigeration into the fridge, and also arranged the dog food cans and other items neatly.

Seeing that Guan Yuanfeng was still deeply troubled and had returned to the gloomy and serious demeanor that Zhou Yun had first seen, he knew that Guan must be upset about not being able to return during this emergency.

In their short time together across past lives, Zhou Yun knew what kind of person Guan Yuanfeng was.

After the apocalypse, this retired veteran voluntarily participated in psychic powers experiments, enduring terrible pain as a side effect and awakening his psychic powers. However, he could never fully integrate with his psychic core.

He had always fought against the pain but, despite the heavy task, still took on the burden of base protection during the apocalypse, leading special forces teams on countless rescue missions. Until his death, he remained a righteous and upright person, never shirking his duty.

Zhou Yun knew that Guan Yuanfeng didn't need comfort right now, nor was he someone who would expose his wounds to others. He needed to be alone, to quietly heal. After confirming that Guan had taken his medicine, Zhou Yun said goodbye and returned to his own place, going online to check things out.

The sudden emergency drill caught many residents off guard, and even schools were closed. Only key positions such as doctors, police, military personnel, and communication or power workers were required to continue working, and public officials were helping manage the situation.

Roads were restricted, and even the internet was being regulated. Many large forums were shut down for maintenance, and news websites had disabled their comment sections. This city-wide emergency drill made everyone realize the seriousness of the situation.

There was a lot of discussion in the neighborhood group chat:

"Is this a flood control drill?"

"They say it's not for war, but it kind of looks like it... Is a world war coming?"

"Be careful not to spread rumors."

"Our community is distributing things door to door, emergency medical kits, food, and water."

"Our neighborhood is reinforcing iron doors and clearing out air-raid shelters, cars are being moved out."

"There haven’t been any reports of changes in the international situation, and there hasn’t been much to report in international news lately."

Some people with relatives abroad hadn't been able to contact them for days and were sharing their concerns in the group chat:

"There seems to be a virus outbreak abroad, and the internet is down."

"An industry forum we had overseas was also canceled, and we haven't been able to reach the contacts for days."

"My child went on a trip abroad and we've lost contact. We haven’t heard from them since. We've already reported it to the embassy."

"My child is studying abroad, and we haven't been able to reach them for days."

Zhou Yun remembered that the same situation had occurred in his past life, and at first, people only suspected a sudden war.

But later, it became known that the zombie outbreak was too overwhelming. Overseas, where communities were loosely organized, order quickly collapsed. The internet was left unmaintained, and while many videos were posted, various data centers, network hubs, and infrastructure soon failed.

In China, knowing that social panic would lead to chaos, the authorities acted preemptively to implement community restrictions, but it ultimately didn't help much.

The zombies were fundamentally fearless, forming large groups that invaded from the borders on a massive scale. Along with sporadic domestic infections spreading rapidly, the most critical factor was the arrival of the red fog, rendering the zombies uncontrollable.

At that moment, people still didn’t realize that even with strict defenses and cooperation, they could no longer maintain order.

But beyond the zombies, it was indeed human hearts that were the most treacherous.

Once people understood that the end of the world was near, all moral and legal constraints would cease to exist. All evil and greed would go unchecked.

This fleeting peace under control was the final chapter of civilized society.

Zhou Yun saw that the group had switched the topic to the weather:

“The weather abroad seems to have been abnormal lately; this rain has really gone on too long.”

“With so much rain these days, maybe that’s why there are network issues, don’t worry.”

“The weather forecast says it’s going to be sunny.”

The next day, the sky indeed cleared. After nearly half a month of heavy rain, residents in the neighborhood were busy hanging their clothes and bedding out to dry.

Zhou Yun lived by himself, and his summer clothes were simple and machine-dried, so it wasn’t an issue for him.

Early in the morning, he went to the rooftop to check the drainage and the rainwater filtration and purification system. The purified water was surprisingly good in quality—boiling it would make it drinkable, and the rest could be used for watering plants, cleaning, and even keeping fish without any problems.

With the clear weather, the sunlight was especially golden. Zhou Yun checked for soil erosion, examined the growth of vegetables and fruits, and looked at the condition of the fish and livestock like rabbits, sheep, and pigs.

Fortunately, he had prepared early, so despite the prolonged rain, the livestock pens were still dry and clean, and the animals were in good shape.

As he inspected, he suddenly heard the sound of a dog barking. Zhou Yun looked up to see Guan Yuanfeng on the rooftop as well. Comet ran over joyfully, sniffing at the chicks and ducklings. After half a month, the chicks and ducklings had grown considerably and were being chased by the dog, flapping their wings in panic, making the rooftop suddenly lively.

Zhou Yun smiled. “Why didn’t you come to exercise today? It’s sunny; I’ll set up a moving target outside for you to practice.”

Guan Yuanfeng said, “I went down to check on the villa and the route to the air-raid shelter.”

“If there’s an aerial attack, it won’t be safe for us on the rooftop. If it really happens, you and I will go down to the villa. There’s a basement there. I brought some food and water down to store this morning.”

Zhou Yun was somewhat touched, but Guan Yuanfeng looked at the chickens, ducks, sheep, and pigs for a moment, then glanced up at the wind turbines, solar generators, and rainwater purification equipment on Zhou Yun’s roof, along with the iron doors installed a few days earlier… even in the hot weather, Zhou Yun was diligently making sausages, bacon, and brewing wine.

Guan Yuanfeng thoughtfully asked, “Do you have some insider information? From the hospital?”

Zhou Yun said, “The hospital is under quarantine now; it seems like there’s some kind of virus. When my contract ended, I didn’t renew it and left. Before I left, the higher-ups had already given instructions to try and convince families to cremate their deceased relatives. I was worried, and since I was at home with nothing to do, I made some preparations.”

Under Guan Yuanfeng’s sharp, almost military-like gaze, Zhou Yun explained calmly.

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. Many people had the habit of hoarding, especially given their agrarian heritage of farming and storing.

He quickly shifted his attention to shooting. “Where’s the moving target?”

After retiring, he thought he had accepted the fact that he would never return to combat, but now he realized how much he resented that. He was eager to prove he wasn’t useless.

Zhou Yun went to get the moving target, and with the wide rooftop, he opened the door to the opposite roof, connecting them together, making the distance much longer than indoors.

Guan Yuanfeng wheeled himself over, got his bow and arrow, and at the farthest point, raised it to aim at the target. Swish! He shot the practice bamboo arrow, hitting the bullseye.

Zhou Yun praised, “Such high talent; weren’t you a sniper before!”

Guan Yuanfeng said nothing. The unclear situation and being unable to contact his family left him worried, and the feeling of helplessness made him somewhat depressed, losing the desire to chat idly.

Zhou Yun picked some fresh vegetables from the rooftop. “Keep practicing, and I’ll whip up some breakfast. How about some rice noodles today?”

In the post-apocalyptic world, it will be hard to eat these kinds of things. A few days ago, I butchered a whole pig and saved the meat. There were plenty of leftover organs, so I can make pork offal rice noodles.

Guan Yuanfeng nodded. "Sounds good." He looked at the pile of chilies next to him, pointed, and said, "Make a dish of garlic chilies with fermented chilies to go with the rice noodles."

Zhou Yun then grabbed a large handful of chilies and, looking up at the increasingly harsh sunlight, saw that the rain-soaked soil in the vegetable garden was starting to dry under the rising temperatures.

He reminded Guan Yuanfeng, "It's getting pretty hot out here; you should come down when you're done." What followed would be a long period of hot weather, during which the zombie virus would spread rapidly.

Guan Yuanfeng nodded and focused on the target, releasing another arrow.

Zhou Yun went downstairs, boiled some water, and seeing that Guan Yuanfeng would be practicing for a while longer, selected a few pork bones from the previous day's batch. He took a cleaned pig intestine, cut it open, and threw it into the pressure cooker, along with some radishes and pumpkin, to cook for Comet first.

From the fridge, he took out more pork offal, cutting pig intestines, pig liver, and thin slices of pork, and marinated them. After the water boiled, he added the pig intestines first, then the pig liver and pork slices, followed by the rice noodles, quick-cooking them before serving.

He finished the garlic-chili sauce by adding scallion oil, sesame oil, vinegar, sesame seeds, and peanuts, then poured hot oil over it, creating a sizzling, fragrant topping. Zhou Yun nodded in satisfaction and, looking at the chilies, thought that today he should harvest them all and make chili sauce.

With the hot weather coming, it would be a good idea to start drying some vegetables for long-term storage. During the previous rainy days, many vegetable greenhouses had flooded. He had specifically gone to the market to buy some cheap and durable vegetables. He had already pickled some of them, and the remaining sweet potatoes, taro, eggplants, beans, mushrooms, and so on could all be sliced and dried now.

He could also harvest his giant pumpkin. After drying it a bit longer, it would become even sweeter and fluffier.

While he was thinking, he kept busy by frying a batch of peanuts and using the leftover oil to stir-fry some fresh goji leaves.

Finally, he opened the pressure cooker and served Comet's meal.

Guan Yuanfeng was finally drawn downstairs by the aroma and asked, "Fried peanuts? They smell so good." Comet had already rushed over to the dog bowl, sniffing excitedly.

Zhou Yun drizzled the bright green goji leaves with broth, very satisfied. These were a special large-leaf variety he had planted on the balcony, with leaves larger and more lush than usual.

He scooped the goji leaves out of the pot and placed them on the table, smiling at Guan Yuanfeng. "Time to eat!"