The Walk-in Closet Safehouse CH15
Chapter 15: An Unexpected Accident
By the time the exhausted group arrived at the commercial street, the time had just hit exactly 1:00 PM. This was even earlier than their estimated arrival time. With no water monsters blocking their path along the way, they hadn't sustained any new injuries.
After finding a spot to settle down on the second floor of a shop, the few of them quickly treated their wounds. Disregarding everything else, they immediately began searching for supplies.
The sole reason they had risked venturing out to this commercial street four kilometers away was for supplies. There was still no definitive word regarding the official shelters planned by the government, but their stockpiled food was already running dangerously low.
Because the continuous rain had caused mold to spread wildly, the shelf life of food was being slashed again and again. This grew even worse after the apocalypse; even food that hadn't reached its expiration date was showing signs of rotting. Having no choice, they were forced to venture outside.
Among the four people who had answered the recruitment to join, everyone except Cui Ye carried the heavy burden of an entire household on their shoulders. Their families were all waiting for them to bring back supplies and return home safely.
However, because the maximum capacity of the inflatable rubber boats was limited, everyone’s supplies were restricted by weight and volume. No one could carry supplies exceeding twenty kilograms, and the volume could not be too large, lest it interfere with rowing and hunting.
"Any single mistake could cost you your life. No matter how precious supplies are, you have to be alive to bring them back." He Fangzhou said. This was the very first time they had heard him use such a serious tone. Everyone nodded, promising to abide by the agreement and assemble back at the original spot in two hours.
Out of safety considerations, they still split into groups of at least two people so they could look out for one another in case of an emergency. Naturally, any supplies found would also be split equally.
Cui Ye politely declined the invitations from He Fangzhou and Wang Wei, nor did she join Wang Lei’s group of three. Instead, she left by herself. Her purpose for this trip was to train her skills and develop her talent; gold coins and supplies were secondary.
Furthermore, compared to wasting time searching for food, it was better to kill a few more water monsters to farm gold coins. In this new reality, gold coins were the only currency that mattered. As long as she could buy a train ticket, she could get to the next station. On the train, she could buy absolutely anything she could think of. This meant that as long as she had enough gold coins, she could stockpile a massive amount of [Food Vouchers] and never have to worry about food again.
This was something that the "kind" Senior Qiu Ke had told her. Although she suspected the intel provided by the other party might be fake, for "Mr. Rabbit’s" sake, she was willing to grant it a little bit of trust.
It took her half an hour of scavenging through three different shops just to find a single crate of unspoiled instant noodles. There was no telling how the others were faring. Cui Ye looked up at the sky. The dark clouds had already settled back into their original state—the red lightning had been short-lived this time. Perfect. It was time to start "fish" farming.
She quickly hand-crafted a fishing rod, but this time, she didn't need to attach any bait to it because the warehouses of the commercial street were already filled with "bait".
If she were given another chance, she never would have set foot in that second shop. She shouldn't have gone inside the moment she saw the massive wall of mold flooding the entrance, because the second she opened the main door, the stench absolutely destroyed her nose.
Even now, that "clingy" stench still lingered inside her nasal cavity. If [Friendly Tip] hadn't automatically applied a pixelated mosaic over the view, her eyes probably would have been ruined too.
As expected, even the apocalypse couldn't make cockroaches and flies to go extinct. Compared to that sea of mosaics, the water monsters actually looked quite handsome and delicate. Adhering to the principle of "well, since I'm already here", Cui Ye dragged down a crate of supplies that appeared intact. However, once she opened it, it was another thick layer of mosaic.
She had sacrificed her nose just to get her hands on this lump of filth, so it couldn't just go to waste. Therefore, she decided to use it to chum the water, letting the water monsters taste something fresh too.
Once the crate went down, there was a stir in the water very quickly. Filled with anticipation, Cui Ye pulled out her boning knife, setting a small initial goal: earn back the five gold coins from her fine!
Within her line of sight, several blurry red dots moved from afar, gradually sharpening as they drew near. Just as the water monsters were about to surface, three of them suddenly halted their movements. They stayed a few meters away and simply refused to come closer. Their milky-white, dead fish-eyes stared at the massive, dissolving "barrier" of filth in front of their prey, locking eyes with Cui Ye across the open water.
Cui Ye: "..."
'Don't tell me, they actually have a sense of taste?'
* * *
An hour later:
[Mid-tier Daily Quest: Kill Level 1 Water Monster × 3 (Completed)]
[Quest Reward: 6 Gold Coins]
The small goal was exceeded. At the same time, she successfully unlocked the High-tier Daily Quest. She had originally thought it would require killing five or more Level 1 water monsters, but she hadn't expected—
[High-tier Daily Quest: Kill Level 2 Water Monster × 1 (Pending Acceptance)]
Cui Ye froze on the spot. Although she knew that Level 2 water monsters would appear sooner or later, this was only the sixth day of the apocalypse. Had Level 2 water monsters already emerged?!
As the saying goes, misfortunes do not travel alone. Just as she fell into shock, another piece of bad news arrived.
[Your Safe House is currently under attack. Durability Damage: 1%]
"!!!"
'The residential complex has fallen?!'
Winding the time back to ten minutes ago. The main bedroom door of Rental Unit 11 in Xingfu Community, which hadn't been broken open by the water monsters that night, was now wide open. Several men carrying clubs and blades entered the rental apartment and came before Cui Ye’s bedroom door. The door was locked, but even without a key, it wasn't going to stop them.
After a few heavy kicks, the door burst backward and crashed open. What met their eyes was nothing but an empty room—a far cry from the room piled high with food that Liu Yue had spoken of. That’s right—the person who opened the door and let them in was none other than Liu Yue, Cui Ye’s former roommate. A few minutes ago, she had joined the Dawn Guild and moved to the guild base on the twenty-ninth floor.
As her initiation fee for joining the guild, she had informed them of this supply point. Just like the other members who had joined, she participated in this "requisitioning work".
She was absolutely certain that Cui Ye was hiding a huge amount of food—so much that she couldn't possibly finish it all, even distributing some to the floors above. On the second day after the apocalypse began, she had even seen Cui Ye go out and bring back a lot of supplies; both her backpack and shopping bags were stuffed to the brim. She had gone forward at the time intending to help, but the other party had walked straight into the bedroom and completely ignored her. Although she hadn't seen clearly what was inside, it should easily be enough to fill a burlap sack.
"Where are the supplies that could fill a burlap sack like you said?" The man holding the empty sack spoke with an unfriendly tone, turning his head to glare at Liu Yue.
They stared at each other. Liu Yue, who had still been immersed in her memories a moment ago, realized something was wrong. She immediately pushed the men aside and rushed into the room. The interior that met her eyes was so clean it looked as though no one had ever lived there; anyone who didn't know better would think the previous tenant had just moved out. Disbelieving, Liu Yue flipped through and searched all over the place, but she only managed to find a torn raincoat and some toiletries inside the bathroom. There was absolutely no food or water.
"Why is it like this?!" Liu Yue searched through everything once more in disbelief, but the result remained exactly the same. Just as she was preparing to go knock on Wang Zhiqiu’s bedroom door to ask if the other party had hidden the things, the other men who had come with her had already lost their patience and blocked the doorway.
"Are you playing us? There isn't even a single pack of instant noodles here! Do you have any idea what the consequences are for provoking us?"
Watching the men closing in while holding their clubs, Liu Yue was so terrified she backed up repeatedly. When had she ever experienced something like this? She had merely seen the guild recruitment message in the group chat stating that as long as one provided enough supplies, they could enter the guild and receive half a tube of Healing Potion. Although it could only reduce her infection level by five percent, it would at least allow her face to return to the state it was in two days ago, preventing her from being disfigured.
Liu Yue no longer dared to look at herself in the mirror. She only wanted to return to her previous peaceful life, where she didn't have to suffer from hunger, cold, and constant terror. However, she had only just found a way to obtain the Healing Potion, and before she could even celebrate, the whole plan had blown up in her face. Now, she might even face retaliation from the Dawn Guild because of it. Unable to accept reality, Liu Yue backed away, sliding down against the cold surface of the mirror until she was huddled on the floor.
No one noticed the dark object gradually manifesting inside the mirror.
The man, who had long since grown impatient, kicked the empty sack away with a curse. The baseball bat in his hand swung straight down toward the wall right beside Liu Yue. Still completely immersed in her own world, Liu Yue was entirely oblivious.
A blood-curdling scream tore through the air. Hiding in the adjacent room, Wang Zhiqiu covered her mouth in absolute terror, not daring to emit a single shred of sound.
Chapter Notes:
By the time the exhausted group arrived at the commercial street, the time had just hit exactly 1:00 PM. This was even earlier than their estimated arrival time. With no water monsters blocking their path along the way, they hadn't sustained any new injuries.
After finding a spot to settle down on the second floor of a shop, the few of them quickly treated their wounds. Disregarding everything else, they immediately began searching for supplies.
The sole reason they had risked venturing out to this commercial street four kilometers away was for supplies. There was still no definitive word regarding the official shelters planned by the government, but their stockpiled food was already running dangerously low.
Because the continuous rain had caused mold to spread wildly, the shelf life of food was being slashed again and again. This grew even worse after the apocalypse; even food that hadn't reached its expiration date was showing signs of rotting. Having no choice, they were forced to venture outside.
Among the four people who had answered the recruitment to join, everyone except Cui Ye carried the heavy burden of an entire household on their shoulders. Their families were all waiting for them to bring back supplies and return home safely.
However, because the maximum capacity of the inflatable rubber boats was limited, everyone’s supplies were restricted by weight and volume. No one could carry supplies exceeding twenty kilograms, and the volume could not be too large, lest it interfere with rowing and hunting.
"Any single mistake could cost you your life. No matter how precious supplies are, you have to be alive to bring them back." He Fangzhou said. This was the very first time they had heard him use such a serious tone. Everyone nodded, promising to abide by the agreement and assemble back at the original spot in two hours.
Out of safety considerations, they still split into groups of at least two people so they could look out for one another in case of an emergency. Naturally, any supplies found would also be split equally.
Cui Ye politely declined the invitations from He Fangzhou and Wang Wei, nor did she join Wang Lei’s group of three. Instead, she left by herself. Her purpose for this trip was to train her skills and develop her talent; gold coins and supplies were secondary.
Furthermore, compared to wasting time searching for food, it was better to kill a few more water monsters to farm gold coins. In this new reality, gold coins were the only currency that mattered. As long as she could buy a train ticket, she could get to the next station. On the train, she could buy absolutely anything she could think of. This meant that as long as she had enough gold coins, she could stockpile a massive amount of [Food Vouchers] and never have to worry about food again.
This was something that the "kind" Senior Qiu Ke had told her. Although she suspected the intel provided by the other party might be fake, for "Mr. Rabbit’s" sake, she was willing to grant it a little bit of trust.
It took her half an hour of scavenging through three different shops just to find a single crate of unspoiled instant noodles. There was no telling how the others were faring. Cui Ye looked up at the sky. The dark clouds had already settled back into their original state—the red lightning had been short-lived this time. Perfect. It was time to start "fish" farming.
She quickly hand-crafted a fishing rod, but this time, she didn't need to attach any bait to it because the warehouses of the commercial street were already filled with "bait".
If she were given another chance, she never would have set foot in that second shop. She shouldn't have gone inside the moment she saw the massive wall of mold flooding the entrance, because the second she opened the main door, the stench absolutely destroyed her nose.
Even now, that "clingy" stench still lingered inside her nasal cavity. If [Friendly Tip] hadn't automatically applied a pixelated mosaic over the view, her eyes probably would have been ruined too.
As expected, even the apocalypse couldn't make cockroaches and flies to go extinct. Compared to that sea of mosaics, the water monsters actually looked quite handsome and delicate. Adhering to the principle of "well, since I'm already here", Cui Ye dragged down a crate of supplies that appeared intact. However, once she opened it, it was another thick layer of mosaic.
She had sacrificed her nose just to get her hands on this lump of filth, so it couldn't just go to waste. Therefore, she decided to use it to chum the water, letting the water monsters taste something fresh too.
Once the crate went down, there was a stir in the water very quickly. Filled with anticipation, Cui Ye pulled out her boning knife, setting a small initial goal: earn back the five gold coins from her fine!
Within her line of sight, several blurry red dots moved from afar, gradually sharpening as they drew near. Just as the water monsters were about to surface, three of them suddenly halted their movements. They stayed a few meters away and simply refused to come closer. Their milky-white, dead fish-eyes stared at the massive, dissolving "barrier" of filth in front of their prey, locking eyes with Cui Ye across the open water.
Cui Ye: "..."
'Don't tell me, they actually have a sense of taste?'
* * *
An hour later:
[Mid-tier Daily Quest: Kill Level 1 Water Monster × 3 (Completed)]
[Quest Reward: 6 Gold Coins]
The small goal was exceeded. At the same time, she successfully unlocked the High-tier Daily Quest. She had originally thought it would require killing five or more Level 1 water monsters, but she hadn't expected—
[High-tier Daily Quest: Kill Level 2 Water Monster × 1 (Pending Acceptance)]
Cui Ye froze on the spot. Although she knew that Level 2 water monsters would appear sooner or later, this was only the sixth day of the apocalypse. Had Level 2 water monsters already emerged?!
As the saying goes, misfortunes do not travel alone. Just as she fell into shock, another piece of bad news arrived.
[Your Safe House is currently under attack. Durability Damage: 1%]
"!!!"
'The residential complex has fallen?!'
Winding the time back to ten minutes ago. The main bedroom door of Rental Unit 11 in Xingfu Community, which hadn't been broken open by the water monsters that night, was now wide open. Several men carrying clubs and blades entered the rental apartment and came before Cui Ye’s bedroom door. The door was locked, but even without a key, it wasn't going to stop them.
After a few heavy kicks, the door burst backward and crashed open. What met their eyes was nothing but an empty room—a far cry from the room piled high with food that Liu Yue had spoken of. That’s right—the person who opened the door and let them in was none other than Liu Yue, Cui Ye’s former roommate. A few minutes ago, she had joined the Dawn Guild and moved to the guild base on the twenty-ninth floor.
As her initiation fee for joining the guild, she had informed them of this supply point. Just like the other members who had joined, she participated in this "requisitioning work".
She was absolutely certain that Cui Ye was hiding a huge amount of food—so much that she couldn't possibly finish it all, even distributing some to the floors above. On the second day after the apocalypse began, she had even seen Cui Ye go out and bring back a lot of supplies; both her backpack and shopping bags were stuffed to the brim. She had gone forward at the time intending to help, but the other party had walked straight into the bedroom and completely ignored her. Although she hadn't seen clearly what was inside, it should easily be enough to fill a burlap sack.
"Where are the supplies that could fill a burlap sack like you said?" The man holding the empty sack spoke with an unfriendly tone, turning his head to glare at Liu Yue.
They stared at each other. Liu Yue, who had still been immersed in her memories a moment ago, realized something was wrong. She immediately pushed the men aside and rushed into the room. The interior that met her eyes was so clean it looked as though no one had ever lived there; anyone who didn't know better would think the previous tenant had just moved out. Disbelieving, Liu Yue flipped through and searched all over the place, but she only managed to find a torn raincoat and some toiletries inside the bathroom. There was absolutely no food or water.
"Why is it like this?!" Liu Yue searched through everything once more in disbelief, but the result remained exactly the same. Just as she was preparing to go knock on Wang Zhiqiu’s bedroom door to ask if the other party had hidden the things, the other men who had come with her had already lost their patience and blocked the doorway.
"Are you playing us? There isn't even a single pack of instant noodles here! Do you have any idea what the consequences are for provoking us?"
Watching the men closing in while holding their clubs, Liu Yue was so terrified she backed up repeatedly. When had she ever experienced something like this? She had merely seen the guild recruitment message in the group chat stating that as long as one provided enough supplies, they could enter the guild and receive half a tube of Healing Potion. Although it could only reduce her infection level by five percent, it would at least allow her face to return to the state it was in two days ago, preventing her from being disfigured.
Liu Yue no longer dared to look at herself in the mirror. She only wanted to return to her previous peaceful life, where she didn't have to suffer from hunger, cold, and constant terror. However, she had only just found a way to obtain the Healing Potion, and before she could even celebrate, the whole plan had blown up in her face. Now, she might even face retaliation from the Dawn Guild because of it. Unable to accept reality, Liu Yue backed away, sliding down against the cold surface of the mirror until she was huddled on the floor.
No one noticed the dark object gradually manifesting inside the mirror.
The man, who had long since grown impatient, kicked the empty sack away with a curse. The baseball bat in his hand swung straight down toward the wall right beside Liu Yue. Still completely immersed in her own world, Liu Yue was entirely oblivious.
A blood-curdling scream tore through the air. Hiding in the adjacent room, Wang Zhiqiu covered her mouth in absolute terror, not daring to emit a single shred of sound.
Chapter Notes:
- "Since we're already here" 来都来了 : A cultural slang phrase. Known as one of the four "core philosophies" of Chinese everyday life. It's a mindset of resignation used to justify pushing through an uncomfortable or unpleasant situation simply because you've already invested the time and effort to travel there.
- "Misfortunes do not travel alone" 祸不单行 : An idiom equivalent of the English proverb "misfortunes never come singly" or "when it rains, it pours."
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