Li XinWen who had just entered the house rubbed both hands as if trying to calm himself down. 'I'll need to be careful not to overdo it when the time comes,' Li XinWen reminded himself, not realizing that Li JingHua was standing in front of the front door, her arms crossed over her chest, a dissatisfied look on her face.
"Did he leave? He didn't do anything else while I was in the kitchen, did he?"
Before Li XinWen could reply, as if to answer Li JingHua, the sound of a car driving away was heard from outside.
"There's your answer Hua-jie…" Li XinWen answered, smiling at Li JingHua. "You don't have to worry about him taking advantage of me anymore," Li XinWen said, as if to tone down Li JingHua's overly protective aura right at that moment.
"It's late. Go and rest. You have work tomorrow, right?" Li XinWen turned Li JingHua around and started pushing her playfully from behind as he said this.
"Off we go to sleep," he said with laughter. "Oh, and about the investment thing you mentioned before, I'm not very knowledgeable about it, so I will just leave it to elder sister. How much do you need for starters?" Li XinWen asked as they went up the stairs.
"I have about half a million in savings with me. If possible, I would like to ask for another half a million from you." Though Li JingHua had already decided on this, to ask her little brother for financial help still filled her with embarrassment. "I'll be sure to pay you back."
"Does money still have any value in the apocalypse?" Li XinWen asked.
"Well, no. Once the apocalypse starts, money will have no value at all. Financial systems and institutions shut down shortly after. It was a mess. People didn't trust each other. It was every man for himself… everywhere people stole and pillaged whatever resources they can get their hands on. The most valuable things were food and clean water. Eventually people started banding together," Li JingHua shared, wincing as if the memory was too painful to think about.
"The military eventually could no longer control these groups and an exchange system was established as form of transactions between individuals. It was fairly organized in the beginning, but some people became greedy. Some groups monopolized resources and started exacting exorbitant rates for exchanges and underground transactions became rampant…"
"It was later found that when people turned, a crystal nucleus forms in the brain. This serves as a kind of the central processing unit of zombies and connects them to one another like a network. These nuclei can also be used to increase the power of the ability users. So, when the news was spread, the exchange system also changed. The nuclei are now used just how money would be used. The higher the level of the zombie, the higher the grade of the nucleus, thus they have more value than the nuclei you get from a level 1 zombies. Collecting the nucleus, especially the high-grade ones is our priority so we can increase our strength as fast as possible."
When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned her head and looked at Li XinWen. There was a hint of worry in her eyes as she contemplated on what to say next.
"What's wrong, Hua-jie?" Li XinWen asked with a gentle smile on his face. "Worrying about me again? You know you don't have to, right? I already promised to learn martial arts. I won't be a burden."
"That's not it. In the future that I experienced, you went through many hardships because you're not an ability user. So, I was thinking... if I should let you handle the zombies alone as early as possible so that you'd get more experience. As much as I want to protect you, there will be other things that I cannot predict. Being separated in the apocalypse is normal so, the earlier you can depend on yourself, the more I will feel at ease."
Looking at Li JingHua's expression, Li XinWen couldn't help but feel touched. He then lifted a hand and pinched her cheek playfully. "Hua-jie, stop worrying too much. You'll end up with more wrinkles if you do," he said in a joking manner. "I'll work hard. So you can worry less about me. I'm actually more worried about mom..."
When Li JingHua heard the last sentence, she bit her lips and looked down on the floor.
"But I know we're going to protect her anyway! So, we just have to worry about making mom live well even in the apocalypse!" Li XinWen grinned as he turned Li JingHua around once more and pushed her to the direction of her room. It didn't take long for them to arrive in front of Li JingHua's bedroom and Li XinWen saw her to her room before saying, "Good night, Hua-jie. Rest well. I'll transfer the money tomorrow."