Chapter 16

Irene put down her phone and went to the living room to check on Goldie. As soon as she approached the living room, a terrible stench assaulted her senses. The smell woke Irene up completely. Although it was daytime, the sun was scorching outside. The curtains at Irene's house were drawn twenty-four hours a day. The entire room was gray and hazy. Covering her nose, Irene went to turn on the light. It was only when she turned around that she saw the floor of her living room— Covered! In! Sh*t! The cub’s feces smelled revolting, and they were all soft and squishy. Goldie had trampled them all over the place. It cowered in the corner and buried its head in the makeshift nest Irene had made for it. Its nose was stuck in the pile of clothes, probably because it could not stand the stench. Irene massaged her throbbing temples and took out a gas mask from her space. She put it on and used a broom to carefully clean up the poop that Goldie had left everywhere. After tidying up the living room, Irene thought for a moment and decided to put the poop in her space as fertilizer. Soon enough, she reapplied the medicine to Goldie's leg and made it some goat milk to drink. She also found a basin and poured two bags of cat litter for Goldie to use as a temporary toilet. Pinching her nose, she carried the bag of feces into the space. Irene had been slightly traumatized by what happened last time, when Dan and the others had suddenly "aged up" in the space. As such, she had not been in the space again for the past few days. Upon entering the space, Irene was acutely aware of the changes within. On the 100 acres of land, there was a row of lush trees that were half as tall as her. Moreover, when she entered the space before this, she would feel a dull feeling in her chest. This time, she could tell that the air was much fresher. She thought back to the high-grade jade that she had bought at Dan's house. Were those jades the reason behind this huge change in the space? Did this mean that she could stay here for a longer time from now on? She carried a bag of "fertilizer" and walked straight to the row of saplings closest to her. She poured all the fertilizer onto the roots. After that, Irene returned to the side of the cabin, savoring the blue sky, the white clouds, and the faint breeze. She felt a lot more comfortable here. After spacing out for a while, she went to the wooden cabin to get two solar-powered planting robots. Once she set up the weeding and plowing functions, she placed the two robots on the wasteland and let them work. Meanwhile, she went to the area she had allocated for farming. As she went past the iron fence, the animals inside were playing leisurely. Irene patrolled the area and saw that they were in good physical condition before leaving the farm. She dragged out a hammock from the cabin, placed it on the lawn under the sun, and set the alarm for two hours. Then, she took a leisurely lap as she listened to music. Two hours later, Irene was woken by the alarm clock. She subconsciously touched the tip of her nose. There was no nosebleed! There was no tightness in her chest! She did not feel out of breath! Irene used to think that living out the rest of her days in the space was a pipe dream. Now, she was starting to think that she could achieve it sooner or later if she dared to dream! Back in reality, Irene reapplied Goldie’s medicine again and cleared its feces while pinching her nose. Goldie ate a lot and excreted just as much. There was plenty of cat litter in Irene’s space, but she had only prepared enough for herself. At the rate Goldie was going, it would use up all the litter she had hoarded sooner or later. While she could still venture outdoors, Irene decided to get more litter from the supermarket that night. Night fell, and soon she began to hear voices downstairs again. Still, the chatter was not as loud as it used to be. After the suicide earlier that day, much fewer people went out at night. As usual, Irene changed into her black street clothes and headed downstairs. When she reached the seventh floor, a small and agile figure jumped out again. What happened last night must have spooked Jenny. Today, she was wearing light-colored street clothes, and her hair was tied into a tall ponytail as always. She grinned at Irene. “I knew you would head out again tonight.” Irene stopped, curious. “How did you know I would go out yesterday?” Jenny rubbed her nose and replied honestly. “Yesterday was a coincidence, but I was lying in wait for you tonight.” She approached Irene cheerfully. “Can I hitch a ride tonight with you?” Irene had to admire her open, extroverted nature. Still, she also craved Jenny’s medical skills. Though Jenny was still a student, she was studying at a top school. She had to be worth her salt. In the apocalypse, even a simple cold could kill a person. She thought for a moment and said to Jenny, "Let's add each other on social media. In the future, if you want to go out to buy supplies, you can call me along, but you have to teach me medicine." Jenny was pleasantly surprised. She quickly nodded. "No problem." Now that they had reached an agreement, Jenny felt even more natural when hitching a ride. This time, there was no delay on the road. Irene quickly drove the car to the entrance of the supermarket. There were a lot of people today, so it took her a long time to search for a parking space. There were a lot of cars parked nearby. Irene finally managed to park in a remote corner. As soon as she got out of the car, Irene was suddenly acutely aware of a gaze on her. She frowned and looked in that direction sharply. After surviving the apocalypse for such a long time, she had a strong sense for approaching danger. Her intuition had also saved her life several times. However, this time, she did not see anything. Jenny nudged her gently when she did not move. "What are you looking at?" Irene looked away. "It's nothing." She walked towards the supermarket. There were a lot of people at the supermarket today. At first glance, it almost looked like they were here for holiday shopping. Irene had a hard time pushing the cart to the pet section. She took a dozen packs of cat litter and put them in the cart. Jenny was right behind her with a few boxes of chocolates. Suddenly, she grabbed her arm and shouted fearfully, "Irene!" "What is it?" Irene stopped what she was doing and turned back to Jenny. Jenny glanced very subtly at the men next to her, then gripped Irene's arm and stood on tiptoe to whisper in her ear. "Several of them have knives on their hips. I'm a little afraid…" Irene frowned and instinctively followed Jenny's gaze. As Jenny said, there were a few men standing not far away with knives at their waists. All of them were patrolling the crowd with unfriendly gazes. It was obvious that they were up to no good. As the situation heated up, evildoers were quicker to emerge from the woodwork. Irene did not want to cause any trouble. She just wanted to keep her head down and survive. Decisively, she set down the cart and gripped Jenny's arm. "Let's get out of here first." More heads were moving around. Jenny was a little scared. She thought about what had happened the night before, and her face went pale. She nodded and obediently followed Irene as she prepared to push her way out of the crowd. Just then, there were a few loud clangs from the grains aisle. Out of the corner of her eye, Irene saw a couple of men taking up iron rods and striking them hard against the glass display window. "Look, a bag of flour costs 800 bucks these days. I don't have the money. Do you want me to starve to death?" a man said viciously not far away. As he spoke, he picked up the steel pipe in his hand and smashed it fiercely against the shelf. He grabbed a few bags of flour, threw them into the shopping cart, and swaggered out of the supermarket. A security guard tugged at the baton at his waist and stepped forward to stop him. The man raised the steel pipe in his hand and smashed it mercilessly onto the security guard's head. With a thud, the security guard lost half of his head. Terrified screams immediately echoed around them. The man held the steel pipe in his hand, a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. "Let's see who dares to stop me!"