Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Cheng Zhiyu, ever cautious, didn't let the sight of the puppy completely overwhelm him. He stopped a step away and observed it carefully.

It was just a plain, round-headed little mutt—tiny, about the size of Cheng Zhiyu’s shoe, weak yet adorable, and seemingly harmless.

His caution was understandable. In an apocalypse filled with zombies, who could be sure if the puppy before him was truly just an ordinary dog?

Fortunately, it was indeed just a regular puppy.

Cheng Zhiyu set his belongings aside and tentatively reached out to pet the puppy. Its touch was warm and soft. If he ignored the cacophony outside the apartment building, it felt like any other ordinary morning, where he'd simply stumbled upon a cute puppy on the roadside and was playfully petting it.

Before the apocalypse, he had always wanted a dog. But as an overworked office drone, he feared he couldn't care for one properly, so he could only admire other people's pets to satisfy his longing.

He never imagined the apocalypse would bring him a puppy of his own.

If he left the puppy here, it would surely die. Given the circumstances...

Cheng Zhiyu immediately grabbed the puppy by the scruff of its neck, tucked it inside his jacket, and picked up the items he had set aside.

"Little Two, let's go home!"

Little Two, perched on his shoulder, rustled its leaves.

Returning the same way, Cheng Zhiyu was fortunate not to encounter any more zombies. After closing the door behind him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He set his things down and carefully pulled the puppy from his jacket, placing it nearby.

He stripped off his outer clothes and had Little Two burn them. After thoroughly disinfecting himself, he finally felt completely at ease.

Grinning, he picked up the puppy. "Little dog~ Hey? Why are your eyes closed? Are you asleep?"

Cheng Zhiyu murmured to himself, then worriedly checked the puppy. It looked chubby, and its fur was clean—nothing seemed amiss.

Why was it still sleeping?

This puppy was the first living creature Cheng Zhiyu had encountered since the apocalypse began. Its presence felt like a faint connection to the pre-apocalypse world, which was why he hadn't hesitated to bring it back.

But now... why wasn't it moving at all?

Cheng Zhiyu was concerned about the puppy's health but felt helpless. He found an old piece of his clothing, fashioned a makeshift bed, and temporarily settled the puppy inside.

Little Two had already returned to the system space. Cheng Zhiyu checked on Little Iron's condition—its survival status showed no change, still at 7%.

After instructing Little Two to watch over Little Iron, Cheng Zhiyu left the space. Having been busy all morning, he was starving.

He took out the beef, his mouth watering, and decided to make tomato beef stew.

Beef couldn't be stored for too long; it was better to just eat it.

With the new knife he'd found, he cut a quarter of the beef and put the rest in the freezer.

After thawing the beef, he cut it into chunks, blanched it, cleaned the pot, heated some oil, and added chili, scallions, ginger, and other aromatics. Soon, the kitchen was filled with an amazing scent. He added the blanched beef, poured in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and salt, then covered the pot to let it simmer.

He hadn't eaten this well in over half a month. Cheng Zhiyu was so tempted by the smell that he didn't want to leave the kitchen, but stewing beef took time, so he had to step away.

He hadn't forgotten how it took him a dozen hacks to kill a single zombie. This time, he was lucky—with Little Two's help and encountering only a few zombies, he had escaped. Next time, he might not be so fortunate.

He needed to improve his physical fitness.

For now, he had no other exercise ideas besides running, but the indoor space was too small.

After much thought, Cheng Zhiyu suddenly remembered a video he had saved before the apocalypse—a set of martial arts moves taught by a blogger. At the time, he had wanted to practice along and had specifically downloaded it to his phone. Even without internet now, he still had electricity, and the downloaded video was still accessible.

With that in mind, he opened the video—sure enough, it was still there.

The video was about thirty minutes long. Since he had nothing else to do, Cheng Zhiyu decided to follow along and practice.

When he had watched the blogger demonstrate the moves before, each action seemed simple and full of powerful grace. Back then, Cheng Zhiyu had found it incredibly cool, which was why he had downloaded it to learn.

Now, as he slowly went through the moves for the first time, many of his actions were clumsy. Even so, the thirty-minute session left him drenched in sweat.

He had a feeling this routine would be useful for improving his physical fitness.

After resting for a while, Cheng Zhiyu stood up and went to check on the puppy. It still hadn't woken up. He frowned worriedly—what was going on?

Sweaty and uncomfortable, he wiped himself down briefly, trying not to waste water. He saved the remaining water to use for watering the plants.

Lately, he had been using this water for the plants, and the system hadn't indicated any problems.

After a while, the aroma from the kitchen grew stronger. Cheng Zhiyu went in to check several times. He was young, with strong teeth, and too hungry to wait for the beef to become overly soft. As long as it was flavorful, it was good enough.

While the beef was almost done, he steamed some rice. He spooned the tomato beef over the rice, and it looked incredibly appetizing.

Cheng Zhiyu carried the bowl to the table, unable to resist taking a bite even though it was burning hot. It was too good to spit out!

He had never realized his own cooking could taste this delicious.

Cheng Zhiyu set the bowl on the table and eagerly dug right in.

Unnoticed by him, the puppy, which had shown no signs of movement until now, seemed to catch the scent of the food. Its nose twitched, and it slowly opened its eyes.

The unfamiliar environment put the puppy on high alert, especially since it was exceptionally weak—no different from a newborn.

Fortunately, it quickly determined that there was no immediate danger here.

Thinking about the reason for its current weakness, the puppy frowned in a surprisingly human-like manner. It seemed certain individuals were still causing trouble, even going so far as to interfere during its trial.

It came from a high-level planet, born into a noble royal family. Its kind had a tradition: every Crown Prince, upon nearing adulthood, had to undergo a trial in a chaotic, low-level dimension.

During the trial, most of the Crown Prince’s power would be sealed. They had to rely on themselves to survive in the chaotic low-level dimension, improve their strength, and successfully return to their home planet to complete the trial.

Failure to do so meant failing the trial.

Their lineage had few descendants, and in its generation, it was the only Crown Prince—an undoubtedly noble existence.

The trial wasn't meant to be life-threatening, so during the trial, a trace of its father’s consciousness remained in its mind. If it activated this consciousness, its father would sense it and end the trial.

However, doing so would mean failure.

Ya Er tried to sense its own body—devoid of any strength, unable to even activate the consciousness.

Those people had tampered with its trial. Now, it was no different from a newborn. They clearly intended for it to die here quietly.

At this thought, Ya Er’s gaze turned sharp. However, its current appearance was that of a young pup, and even such a fierce expression wouldn't scare anyone—it just made it look adorably fierce.

For now, Ya Er gave up on the idea of returning. Those people had underestimated it. Did they really think it would be so easy to kill?

Although it was now in the form of a young pup, it wasn't truly a newborn. It didn't need to spend centuries growing up. With its own strength, it could gradually break through the seals restraining it.

During this time, it needed to ensure its own safety.

Ya Er turned his gaze toward Cheng Zhiyu not far away. Although he had seemed to be in a deep sleep earlier, he could still sense the outside world and knew it was this person who had picked him up.

A weak yet peculiar human—clearly struggling just to survive on his own, yet still capable of such kindness...

A stomach rumble suddenly broke the silence. The puppy stiffened, a look of almost human embarrassment crossing his face. Its body was too weak now and desperately needed nourishment.

...Not that it was craving it because of the smell.

The puppy stomped its feet in place, seemingly trying to catch the attention of the human nearby. However, being so small, it couldn't make much noise.

Cheng Zhiyu was completely absorbed in the delicious taste of the tomato stewed beef and didn't notice at all that the puppy had woken up.

"Such an unguarded human," Ya Er thought to himself, making a mental note. He tried his best to appear serious yet urgent as he waddled on his short legs to Cheng Zhiyu's side, raising a paw to pat the human's ankle.

He couldn't reach any higher.

"Huh?" Cheng Zhiyu instinctively looked down and saw the puppy, which had been asleep all this time, right at his feet. Overjoyed, he scooped up the puppy excitedly: "Wow, you're awake? What a good pup, coming to find me like that!"

Suddenly suspended in mid-air, the puppy instinctively kicked its hind legs. Realizing what it had done, it froze, its puppy-dog eyes glaring at Cheng Zhiyu.

*How dare you grab me like that—put me down!*

"Aww, you're so adorable," Cheng Zhiyu didn't sense the puppy's glare at all. With those puppy-dog eyes, the wider they opened, the cuter they became. He instinctively cooed: "How can you be so well-behaved? Waking up and knowing to find me. From now on, I'm your owner. I won't let you wander around anymore."

*Ow... owner? The audacity, human!* Ya Er bared his teeth. *Look closely, I am a noble—* *squish*—the audacious human rubbed his soft belly.

Ya Er: "!!!"

*Outrageous!* He struggled with all his might.

Cheng Zhiyu thought he was just uncomfortable and quickly put him down. As Ya Er steadied himself, ready to teach this ignorant human a lesson, he heard the human mutter: "You must be hungry, right? Wait, I'll get you something to eat."

Indeed hungry, Ya Er paused his movements and decided to settle the score after he had eaten.

He glanced reservedly in the direction of the kitchen. He could already smell it—there must be more of what this human had just eaten in there.

Unaware of Ya Er's thoughts, Cheng Zhiyu got up to warm some powdered goat milk for the puppy.

The puppy looked to be only about a month old and couldn't eat anything else yet. Fortunately, he had found some powdered goat milk at the small store earlier.