The Doomsday Paradise

Chapter 15: Kong Yun

Almost the moment the sound reached their ears, the three had leaped to their feet from the ground.

Not even half a second had passed when Lin Sanjiu flipped her palm and firmly grasped the chef's knife, sternly demanding, "Who's there?"

Her voice, laden with a sense of severity, fell into the surrounding darkness.

"Ah... don't be nervous, it's me, Kong Yun from downstairs."

From the dimly lit hallway in front of the nanny's room, this sentence echoed. Kong Yun's voice sounded a bit tired, yet somehow relieved: "That's great, so you have a flashlight here." Without waiting for an invitation from the three inside, she walked in on her own.

Flashlight? Where did that come from?

Immediately, all three realized what Kong Yun was referring to and inwardly cursed in dismay.

The ability polisher was apparently too bright, even visible to Kong Yun at the emergency door—just then, the sound of her slow footsteps approached from the direction of the emergency door. In a moment of desperation, Mather kicked the ability polisher towards the sofa. The little bottle turned into countless light points just before hitting the sofa, swiftly merging into it, and the room plunged into darkness.

"Huh? Why did you turn off the flashlight? I can't see—" Kong Yun complained.

Lin Sanjiu frowned slightly, quickly thinking on her feet, and said, "That was my phone just now, and it's out of battery... Sister Kong, didn't we tell you to wait at home? Why did you come up?" She paused, her doubt surfacing: "By the way, how did you know I live here?"

While speaking, she placed her hand on the corpse's leg, a flash of white light appeared, and the floor was empty.

The card had just been pinched into her hand when Kong Yun, feeling her way in the dark, entered the living room. The moment her footsteps stepped into the living room, Lu Ze lit a lighter.

In the orange-red light, Kong Yun looked a bit disheveled: her face and body were covered with a layer of damp sweat, and her hair was stuck to her forehead in strands. Sensing the gaze of the others, she smiled sheepishly at Lin Sanjiu: "The security guard told me before that you two are the owners of the penthouse. Your home is too high up; I'm exhausted from climbing up from the 26th floor..."

Although she had evolved, not everyone had Lin Sanjiu's good physical strength before their physique was enhanced.

She seemed to be no different.

Lin Sanjiu then put down the knife, still concerned about the paper that had fallen to the ground, and forced a smile: "Sister Kong, what brings you here?"

"Nothing much," Kong Yun looked a bit embarrassed, "I was just at home alone, my husband is missing, and I'm scared..."

This was understandable—the three exchanged glances, and Lu Ze suddenly showed her a row of small white teeth, smiling, "Sister Kong, it's good that you came up, it saves us the trouble of going down to call you later. You see, we specially brought some rice up, just to cook some porridge while we're at it... Would you like to have some too?"

Lin Sanjiu clapped in her mind—this reason was well found! Otherwise, it would indeed seem unnatural for the three of them to be gathered in the living room doing nothing.

Kong Yun was visibly taken aback, glanced at the rice, and then smiled: "That's great! Although this rice isn't suitable for porridge, it's still quite good. You guys rest, let me do it!"

"Okay, I'll help you," Mather hoisted the rice bag onto his shoulder and headed towards the kitchen.

Kong Yun seemed to finally give in to her curiosity about Mather, quickly following him, asking as they walked: "Your Chinese is really good, where are you from..."

Watching the two talk and enter the kitchen to start preparing the porridge, Lu Ze then discreetly handed a hard object to Lin Sanjiu. It turned out he had picked up the pieces of paper from the ground at some point.

"Right, this..." Lin Sanjiu just started to speak when the young man interrupted her: "Talk about it later."

"Talk about it later? You mean you don't plan to take her back to the supermarket?" Lin Sanjiu quickly caught on.

It seemed like a subconscious remark; Lu Ze hadn't thought much about it either. Hearing this, he frowned, his face full of difficulty. Indeed, not taking Kong Yun along seemed unkind, leaving someone who had just evolved and had little ability outside; yet they really didn't have the trust forged in life-and-death situations for her, and taking her back to the supermarket wasn't quite appropriate either.

"Let's see, maybe she has her own plans, and we don't need to decide for her," Lin Sanjiu, seeing Lu Ze's furrowed brow, couldn't help but find it amusing and offered a word of comfort.

It seemed Kong Yun was usually the one cooking at home; despite the lack of light, it didn't hinder her deft movements—she chopped two packs of vacuum-packed salted chicken into small pieces, added a bit of seasoning, and simmered it with the porridge for half an hour, and soon the air was filled with a delicious aroma.

Lu Ze, who hadn't eaten a proper meal in over a year, immediately had his mouth watering.

"Come on, it's ready to eat!"

Placing the porridge pot on the dining table, Mather found a few sets of tableware and served out four bowls of porridge. The freshly cooked porridge was steaming, the snow-white grains reflecting a bright light in the glow of the lighter. After blowing on it and stirring with a spoon, they finally waited until it was edible and immediately couldn't wait to take a spoonful.

Although the porridge was hot, it didn't feel uncomfortable going down—it was a comforting warm flow into the stomach, with the taste of the chicken porridge, sweet, salty, and fragrant, still lingering on the lips and tongue. In fact, Lin Sanjiu had eaten a more delicious salmon meal less than 24 hours ago, but somehow, this chicken porridge after the end of the world tasted as if it were from a bygone era.

Mather took a sip of porridge and casually asked Kong Yun, "So, you were all alone yesterday, how did you get by?"

Because Lu Ze had to eat, he had already put the lighter aside, so in the darkness, Kong Yun's expression was not very clear. Only her dispirited tone could be heard: "Since midnight, I've been looking for my husband. The phone couldn't get through, and the security downstairs was unconscious. I drove out for a few rounds and saw many people walking and bumping around on the street as if they were mad, which scared me back home immediately. I endured until morning, and it was too hot, so I slept in my bathroom... I don't know how my husband is now."

"Then... have you noticed anything about yourself that's different from usual?"

Lin Sanjiu couldn't help but ask.

"Ah, ah? What's different from usual... I didn't notice. What do you mean?" Kong Yun seemed quite surprised, clattering her spoon against the bowl.

Perhaps her advanced ability hadn't developed yet. Lin Sanjiu thought, explaining things like a new world and evolved people would probably be more convincing after the advanced ability had developed. So she smiled and said, "Nothing, it's a long story, we'll tell you later. By the way, what are your plans for later?"

Kong Yun didn't hesitate at all and immediately replied, "I'm going home to wait for my husband, until he comes back. Maybe he'll be back at any time, and he'll be worried if he can't see me. By the way, let's eat a little faster, later I'd like to ask you to look at my husband's photo, if you see him outside, be sure to tell him to come home to find me..."

Her words seemed to have no awareness that if she kept waiting, without food or water, she would eventually die.

Perhaps it's not that she's unaware, but she's willing to take the risk— even if there's only a slim chance.

The atmosphere at the dining table suddenly became heavy. After a while, Lin Sanjiu said, "Alright, if you're short of food, we'll bring you some up."

She didn't want to shatter this woman's support so quickly. Losing hope is as deadly for humans as the harsh environment outside.

Kong Yun gratefully said thank you.

A small pot of porridge was quickly eaten clean; with Kong Yun's words just now, the three didn't delay, packed up their things, and followed her downstairs.

Every floor below the top floor has two households, and the other household on the 26th floor seemed to have been empty all along, so Kong Yun didn't lock the door when she left, and now it opened with a push.

The three were stunned as soon as they entered the house.

The elegantly decorated house was now extremely bright. The dining table, coffee table, and flower stands were filled with beautifully shaped candle holders—each candle holder had several exquisitely carved cream-colored candles. The red candle light and the faint fragrance filled the entire living room, as beautiful as a dream—also as hot as a nightmare.

Surrounded by the candlelight, Kong Yun smiled shyly, her eyes glistening with tears.

"These candles were bought by my husband on our wedding anniversary. When I got home that day, I saw the room full of candles, and he cooked for me himself..." Her voice choked, she combed her hair, pretending to be nonchalant, and found a few photo frames.

"After the anniversary, he wanted to throw away the candles, but I refused. Look, they're useful now, aren't they?" Kong Yun sniffed, her eyes red as she handed the photo to Lin Sanjiu.

In the photo was an ordinary-looking man with a very gentle smile and a set of very white teeth—Lin Sanjiu "ah"ed and said, "I remember your husband, I seem to have seen him once downstairs."

At that time, there was a very angry woman on the phone, constantly shouting something, her voice so loud that it could be heard outside the phone, which made Lin Sanjiu remember.

As soon as she said this, Kong Yun's tears rolled down uncontrollably. "We had a quarrel that day... I really regret it... If I had known we would be separated, I would never have shouted at him. He is a very gentle person..."

Mather gently patted her shoulder and sighed.

Lu Ze sat silently in his chair, seemingly at a loss for words like all men when faced with a crying woman.

After comforting Kong Yun for a few words, Lin Sanjiu straightened up, her gaze aimlessly circling around the house, then she frowned in doubt.

Upon closer inspection, this house was really strange.

The water dispenser in the living room was empty, but next to it was a full bucket of water, as if the owner had no intention of putting the bucket on it.

If the owner was not short of water to drink, the fish tank was empty, with only a layer of decorative stones and a small treasure box, sitting dry in the tank. Upon approaching and taking a sniff, a strong smell of fish hit the nose.

The strangest thing was the potted plants in this house. Speaking of potted plants, it would be better to say they were several pots that should have been planted with plants, but now the plants were all gone, leaving only pits in the soil, with faint roots still visible... A thought flashed through her mind.

"Shall I get you some water to drink? Do you have water in your fridge?" Lin Sanjiu had already walked to the fridge and abruptly asked. However, before Kong Yun could answer, she had already pulled open the fridge door.

The shelves of the fridge were almost empty, with only a messy pile of plastic wrap— the kind supermarkets use to package vegetables, with a price tag on one of them reading "Premium Organic Carrots, 14.98". To the left was a row of neatly arranged beverages, and at a glance, Lin Sanjiu could be sure: these drinks had never been touched.

It was only at this moment that Kong Yun's slightly panicked voice came from behind: "No, no, I'm not thirsty, thank you."

Lin Sanjiu closed the fridge door, looked back at the hand Mather had placed on Kong Yun, and felt as if a heavy stone was in her stomach.