Chapter 14
Ang lingered by the stairwell one morning, having heard that a girl living on a lower floor alone
had been raped during a break-in the previous night. The perpetrators had been masked, and their
identities were unknown.
"You and Lukas should be careful. Our floor isn''t safe anymore."
Ste, who had noticed somemotion the previous night, was puzzled as to how Ang had
missed it. But when she spotted a hickey on Ang''s neck, the situation became clear. They must
have had a wild night, while the world descended into chaos. With the utilities all cut off and no
forms of entertainment to pass the time, they had resorted to physical activities to keep themselves
upied.
In this post-apocalyptic world, survival was a challenge for anyone. For a woman, bing
pregnant was nothing short of a disaster. Ste was at a loss as to how to remind Ang of this,
considering she herself had no experience in this regard.
Unable to find the right words, she finally resorted to an indirect way of bringing up the topic. “Hey,
Ang, you have apetitioning up next month, right?”
“Yeah,” Ang replied, looking somewhat dejected. “I don''t know when this darn weather will clear
up. It''s messing up my training routine. I''ve been having to train indoors. I even used Lukas as a
punching bag yesterday.”
Ste figured that Ang must have taken precautions if she was still nning to participate in the
competition. She decided to remind Ang again once the two of them had fully epted the
reality of their post-apocalyptic world.
Upon returning to her apartment, Ste nced at the closed door of Apartment 1801.
...
In the middle of the night, before any potential burrs could make their move, Ang was
knocking on doors. When Ste opened her door, she saw Ang, bare-handed, and Lukas,
holding a knife. Simultaneously, the door to Apartment 1801 opened.
The residents of the 18th floor were putting up a united front, and the would-be burrs were
initially taken aback but soon regained their confidence, threatening, “Hand over your food if you
know what''s good for you, or don''t me us for what happens next.”
Ste retorted coldly, “Who said we have any food?”
The leader of the group, brandishing his knife, replied, “Don''t y dumb. If you didn''t have food,
why would you barricade yourselves in? We''re starving while you guys are livingfortably behind
closed doors, not caring about anyone else. How can you be so selfish?”
Actually, Ste only ate until she''s about 80% full each meal, and her energy was mostly spent on
rigorous training. However, her vibrancy was hard to hide, especially when everyone else was
visibly starving and drained. These people had reached a point of desperation due to hunger, trying
to reason with them was like preaching to deaf ears.
Tired of the pointless banter, Ste challenged, “If you''re so desperate,e and take our food.”
After saying this, she gave Ang a pointed look. Despite only seeing a few individuals knocking at
the door, they didn''t have any idea how many more could be lurking in the darkness. If they didn''t
make an example today, they would be dealing with a continuous stream of them in the future. After
a signal from Ste, Ang instinctively moved to protect Lukas.
N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.
The burrs, infuriated by the defiance of the 18th-floor residents, kicked open the stainless steel
door and charged in.
Ste sidestepped and swung her knife at the leader. Ang, who had been itching for a fight,
dodged a punch andnded a heavy blow on a man''s stomach. The man rolled down the stairs, hit
the door with a thud, andy motionless on the ground.
The resident of 1801 hadn''t moved from his spot and disarmed another man with ease. The
screams echoed through the dark, grim building.
Ste continued to sh at the invaders, intentionally avoiding vital areas but still causing blood to
stter across the floor. Six intruders hade. Three were injured, one had his arm dislocated,
and another was beaten to the brink of unconsciousness by Ang. Lukas didn''t even get a chance
to fight.
Standing at the stairwell, Ste, holding the blood-stained knife, challenged, “Do you want food, or
do you want to die?”
The leader of the group, clutching his bleeding arm, cried out, “You can''t kill us! That''s against the
law!”
“Against thew?” Ste retorted.
She pulled off their masks, revealing familiar faces but names she couldn''t recall. A couple of them
were even active members of themunity group, living seemingly perfect lives but resorting to
crime when disaster struck. She took out her phone and took pictures of them. “You can call the
police. Let''s see who they arrest.”
The burrs were faced with the united force of the 18th-floor residents, and had no choice but to
back down. “We''re desperate. We didn''t want to do this. You''re not harmed, so can we just forget
this ever happened?” They had been so arrogant, and now they were begging for mercy.
Ste looked at Ang and the resident of Apartment 1801. Both had no objections. “You''re lucky
today. Next time, you might not be. Get lost!”
Despite themotion, nobody dared to leave their apartments.
Ste and the others didn''t bother cleaning up the blood. They just closed their doors and returned
to their apartments.
Lukas, who had witnessed the resident of Apartment 1801''s skills, wanted to introduce himself.
“Hello, I''m Lukas. I just moved in a few days ago. You''re really good, what do you do?”
The expressionless man, Jasper, replied as he reached his door, “Take a guess.”
Lukas was speechless and couldn’te up with an answer.
Ang pulled Lukas away. “Let''s go.” Jasper clearly wasn’t just a regr citizen. Prying into his
business could definitely lead to trouble.
The show of force had its desired effect. Nobody dared to knock on the door for days.
Ste pulled back the curtains early in the morning. The unrelenting storm was still raging. Its fury
was battering the windows and creating the illusion that the entire building was swaying.
The storm had arrived early and had been raging for a full fifteen days with no signs of letting up.
Her worries were bing a reality. The disasters were getting worse, and there was no certainty
about when or if they woulde to an end.
Life had to go on, and each day of survival was a victory.
Snowy, Ste’s pet rabbit, was heavily pregnant and had a voracious appetite. When Ste gave
her some vegetables, she noticed blood on the cardboard. She ran her hands over Snowy''s belly.
Sensing her unease, Ste realized she was about to give birth.
New life in the midst of disaster. Once grown, they would provide a variety of dishes – fried rabbit,
rabbit sd, braised rabbit, spicy rabbit – even just thinking about it made her mouth water.
Soon, the first baby bunny was born. It was tiny, just a few centimeters long, and barelyrger than
a baby mouse. When Rosie came over, Snowy had already given birth to six bunnies. She secretly
gave Snowy two wilted cabbage leaves she had been hiding in her pocket. “Snowy has babies now.
Eat up.”
Ten baby bunnies, twelve mouths to feed in total. Ste was concerned about how she was going to
feed them all. They couldn''t just eat feed. Unfortunately, the continuous storm had left the
vegetables on the balconycking sunlight and eventually turned yellow. If it weren''t for Arcadia''s
cheating, they would have all wilted by now.
nts in Arcadia, on the other hand, were thriving. The sight of them, lush and green, was
comforting. This morning, Ste couldn''t resist plucking some spinach for her breakfast. The
produce she had grown herself tasted incredibly delicious. The two fruit saplings had taken root,
especially the old apple tree, which was already sprouting new buds. Ste kept reminding herself
that everything was taking a turn for the better.
Her days were filled with caring for her pet rabbit, exercising, reading, and catching up on her
beauty sleep. Life was quite satisfying.
She developed a new habit; every day, as soon as she woke up, she would listen to the wind
outside. Having done this for a while, she felt like a wind whisperer of sorts.
However, on the eighteenth day, the sound of the wind seemed a little off.